A whole damn night, almost nine hours of hell. That's how long I have to put up with that jerk. Say, if this was a K-Drama, the reason for him to treat me like this would be me doing something bad to him in the past. For this to happen, I must have been in Korea when I was a kid or visited Korea at least once in the past. None of the above has ever happened. Then why in the hell is he doing this to me? All I want is a peaceful first journey to Korea. He's doing everything to turn this possible good-memory journey into a nightmare. Which of his evil doings should I state first? He spoke non-stop with his friend for about an hour, which was irritating. Next, he pretended to sleep when I wanted to use the restroom. It took me fifteen minutes to wake him up. Ha! You could only wake someone up if they were actually sleeping. Whenever I called the attendant, he interrupted and she would just leave after listening to his queries alone. Argh.
This sure would become a k-drama, but not of the romance genre, it would be a crime thriller. Yes, I might actually end up killing this guy before landing in Incheon. If how to annoy people was a course, I guess he is doing a postdoc in it.
It was around dinner time and I was sleeping, completely devoid of what was happening around me. When I woke up at ten, I asked the flight attendant for my dinner. She looked at me as if I was on weeds and said, "Miss, I was informed you don't want dinner".
"What? By who?"
"Mr. Park Jae Hee"
That moron was again acting like he was sleeping with his air pods on, it wasn't the attendant's fault so I said it slipped my mind and sent her. I stared at him as if that would wake him up. I wanted to shout loudly but I couldn't. What did I ever do to this man? Maybe, he's a sadist, who devours people's sufferings. That could be the only possible answer. I took out one of his air pods, no sound, as expected. He woke up and stared at me.
"When did I say I don't want dinner? What's wrong with you? How could you be this impossible and mean to a person you just met? I really hate sitting here, near you, as much as you do, okay? But I'm helpless. If you hate me so much, talk to the attendants and change your seat"
"You did say, you didn't want dinner", he says so calmly, God I want to bang his head on the window.
"Great, now you're lying too"
"...No dinner, yes slwwepp...", a voice said from his phone, oh, that's my voice. Wait, did I sleep talk? I cover my face with my hoodie and slump low in my seat. I did say I didn't want dinner. It's so embarrassing.
"Sorry", I mumbled.
"Couldn't hear you, what?", he asks, I'm damn sure he is smirking right now.
"I'm sorry, but why did you record it"
"For a situation like this", then he went back to whatever he was doing.
Just one night. Then I would never see him again. God, why should you pour a barrel of hotness and a thousand times bigger barrel of characteristics of a jerk while you made this guy? What was on your mind? This is unfair. What if all the guys I'm going to meet in Korea end up being like this? No, my Haven boys are nothing like this. He must be the only one.
Soon, my misery was over. The flight finally landed at Incheon international airport. I inhaled the air to my heart's content- waah, Korean air. I'm breathing the same air as my Haven boys now (we all breathe oxygen, you dumbass. Shhh, no logic while fangirling, goodbye rational part of my mind).
Thankfully, Godiva's dark chocolate eyes left, saving me from the painful job of bidding farewell. No, change that to mud puddle eyes. Leave the annoying memories of him behind on the flight, Jeeya. Ready to bask in the beauty of South Korea?
I hated him but a teeny tiny part of me hoped to see him and say goodbye on my way out. This might be the last time I'm seeing him, an unknown emotion tugged at my heartstrings. When I think about this after months, this could be not that bad, it might as well be funny. Why do I sound like I miss him? At least for the sake of sitting next to each other for hours, I must find him and say goodbye. I searched for him for a while. I didn't see him anywhere. (Goodbye, Jae Hee, you moron) I gave out a sigh and went to board the bus which would take me to the uni. It wasn't hard to find the bus for a first-timer like me. My excitement and my sleep were battling against each other, sleep found victory, so I slept on my way to the uni.
Oh, my HAVENS!
I was standing in the blessed dorms of SNU. It is the dorm of my dreams, just like those in k-dramas. I should make the most of it in these three months. In no time, I'm assigned a room, which I'll be sharing with another intern. There is a beautiful view outside our room. I'm in dire need of a shower, so I pull out jeans and a t-shirt and march toward the bathroom to wash away all my tiredness. What will that idiot be doing? Stop thinking about him, you stupid brain.
I take the longest shower in my entire life possible and exit to find a girl unpacking in my room. She must be the intern.
"Hi", I say and she gets up leaving her suitcase open with a cute smile. She resembles Kim Sae Ron a lot and is so cute, her smile is so honest and childish.
"Hey, are you Jeeya from India?", she asks excitedly. Her voice is like a baby's voice, so cute.
"Yeah, hi, thank god you can speak English"
She smiles at me, "don't worry about it, inside campus you would do just fine. But, outside, I'm here to help".
"Aww, thank you, and you are?", I ask her and go to my bed to get my bottle to drink water, it's been hours since I drank water. I restrained from drinking water in flight the whole night because of that idiot. I open the cap and gulp greedily.
"I'm Park Jae Hye", she smiles as she says.
I choke on my water, "Park what?"
"Hey, are you alright?", she gives me a tissue and pats my head.
"Oh, I'm sorry. It was a guy from the flight. His name is so similar to yours. I'm really sorry", she must think I'm a weirdo. Excellent first impression Jeeya, keep this up you will end up getting so many friends. I kick myself mentally.
"No sorry, between friends. So, this guy we are talking about, is he hot?", curiosity fills her caramel eyes.
"Yes, and also the biggest jerk you could ever see"
"Sounds interesting, tell me all about it"
I end up telling everything, literally everything to her. She listened to me like a second grader listening to a bedtime story, involved. Also, commenting here and there, about how rude he was. It is so good to talk with her. It's as if we have been friends for so long. The remnants of fear in me about staying alone in a new country left me after meeting and speaking with her.
Turns out, she's a chemistry intern. Her dad's a professor here but that didn't get her into this internship, she worked hard. Her mom is a housewife, she has two brothers- an elder and a younger. I didn't ask many questions, what if I scare her away?
We ordered pizza for dinner, she insisted we must not go to the dorm mess. When I said her, I only eat chicken and no other meat, she was kind enough to understand me. She even ordered the food from a place where they only make chicken. This is what I pictured, that idiot was just a bump in the road. After hours of talking and giggling, we fell asleep by two in the morning, anticipating tomorrow.
"Wake up, sunshine, it's time. We have an orientation in forty-five minutes", Jae Hye's voice wakes me up from my sleep. It took me a few seconds to realize that I'm not in my room. I'm in South Korea. It immediately brings a smile to my face.
"Did I wake you up from a good dream?", she asks hinting at something.
"No, I'm happy to be here"
"Soon, you'll change that statement"
I pout at her, "Why haven't you bathed yet?"
"When I was about to go to bathe, my stupid brother called to say he would be here in five minutes to give me something that my mom gave. It's been fifteen minutes, oh, he's outside. I'll go meet him and be right back. You wanna come?"
"Next time, say hi to him. I'll get ready"
We both left our dorm in a hurry—the orientation is taking place in a classroom in the department of chemistry. Thank God I had Jae Hye with me or else I would have only reached the classroom by evening.
The classroom was filled with around thirty students. Only, physics and chemistry, I guess. Good, few people mean I can interract well as only a few eyes will be focused on me. We find a seat at the back. A tall man in his early fifties arrives, Jae Hye points to him and says that he is her father- Park Sang Hee, a professor of the physics department, which means I might be an intern under him. I made a mental note to take good care of Jae Hye.
Then three more professors arrived, some young people along with them. I assumed them to be research scholars. The room was bustling with conversation and excitement. Then something happened, for one second, I thought my brain was imagining stuff. It's him. My breath caught in my throat. As if he heard me think about him, he looked right at me. Those choco lava eyes zeroed in on me. I quickly looked away from him.
"Do you see that guy, the guy in the black button-down?", I ask Jae Hye for confirmation, who knows my mind can actually be stupid at times.
"Which one? The one standing beside the podium?"
"Yeah, Jae Hye, he's the moron I've been telling to you. I'm screwed, what is he even doing here"
"Umm, Je..Jeeya, unfortunately, that guy is my brother", she says in a voice of I-pity-you. Then it clicks, Jae Hee- Jae Hye.
What in the k-drama!