“Hurry up! Only you would be late because you NEEDED coffee.”  You smiled a small smile at one of your best friends Eric.  You had been waiting 15 minutes for Eric so you could walk to class together but he had stopped to get coffee, not even calling you and telling you that he would be late.  Now that he finally arrived you both started walking towards your college. 

               “Aww Mimi you know I need my coffee!”  Eric whined.  Eric was an acting and singing major so he spent a lot of his time going over lyrics or scripts so he didn’t get a lot of sleep.  He was a dedicated student like you, who really wanted to succeed and become a Korean idol one day.

               “Aish!  Then you should have left earlier! Or called me to let me know you’re going to be late!  It’s cold and I waited forever! You’re so mean!”  You complained with a small giggle.  You were annoyed yes but he was one of your best friends that you had known since you were a freshman in high school in America.  You both had been exchange students at the same school and had connected really well since you both loved music and well frankly were the only Korean speakers at your school.

               “It wasn’t forever drama queen!  And I guess if I’m so mean then I’ll just throw away the green tea I got you.”  Eric started walking to a garbage can on their path to school but you grabbed his arm.

               “No! You’re not mean!  Can I please have the tea?”  You gave Eric a sweet smile that most guys would find adorable but Eric just saw you as a little sister.  A little sister he loved to mess with.

               “Arasso!  You can have it… If you do aegyo for me.”  Eric bargained.  You instantly frowned and smacked Eric lightly on the arm.

               “Yah!  Why do I have to!?  I buy you stuff all the time!”  You pouted a little.  You were cute but you really didn’t like going over and above to act cute. 

               “Do you want the tea or not?”  Eric shook the cup of tea precariously over the trash bin.  Why did he always make you do that embarrassing stuff!?

               “Fine!”  You finally gave up.  You REALLY wanted that tea, which he knew was your favorite kind.  You took a deep breath and smiled cutely at Eric.

               “Oppa!  Can I pweaseee have my green tea?  Buing buing.”  You cursed Eric when you saw people walking down the street look at you and whisper to themselves. 

               “Hmmm… Alright.  Here you go.”  Eric said and handed you the tea.  The cup was warm and warmed up your freezing hands.  You took a cautious sip and smiled when the warm but not hot liquid made your stomach flip in joy.

               “Happy?”  Eric asked when he saw the smile on your face.  You nodded and sipped on your tea some more.  You finally continued your walk to school and arrived just in time for their first classes of the day. Eric had advanced lyric writing and you had advanced digital art.  You both parted ways and went to class.  You always loved school when it came to art and music but other than that you weren’t really that great at it. You never failed but you weren’t the kind of student who could instantly learn something the first time.  You often would study for 5 to 6 hours for big exams or assignments just so you could get a B.  So when you walked into Digital art you felt relief and couldn’t wait to see what your teacher thought of your digital design that you had worked on over the weekend.  You had designed an album cover for your other best friend Min Hee who was already training to become an idol.  It was a simple picture if Min Hee laying on a bed snuggled under a warm blanket but what you were most proud of was the logo you had created.  Since Min Hee’s favorite flower was a lily, you decided to design a logo that wrote Kim Min Hee using the stem of lily flower and the actual flower was placed carefully at the end of her name. 

               “Ok class please submit your work and get ready for critics.” The teacher said once the class started.  You opened your laptop and dragged your album design into the folder the teacher had for work.  You were so proud of your work because it was your first attempt at something this style because you normally just drew on illustrator.  

 

The class went by fine but you were a little sad because you didn’t get to present your project today, which meant you had to wait an entire week to present.  You gathered your stuff and started walking to your favorite spot to eat lunch.   You walked by the cafeteria and saw a group of people swarming in front of a table in the center of the room.  You stopped and stood on your tip toes to try and see what was going on but couldn’t see anything other than the backs of the people swarming.  You lowered off your tip toes, shrugged your shoulders, and continued to where you were going to eat lunch.  You pulled your IPod out and put your head phones in.  You walked with your hands in your pocket the rest of the way to your secret lunch spot.  You ducked under a few snow covered branches and climbed to the top of the huge boulder that sat at the very edge of campus.  You pulled out the blanket you had packed and with your hand you brushed off the snow the best you could, then you laid the blanket down.  You loved this spot because it was high up and nobody knew about it, not even your best friends.  The view was also amazing because the boulder was about eight feet tall and looked over the vast expanse of forest that guarded the back of the college’s campus.  It was the best place for you to go when you wanted to think.  Today you just wanted to try and get some sleep because you didn’t get much sleep last night, mainly because you had been finishing some last minute edits on your album cover.  Your next class didn’t start for another hour and a half so you had plenty of time to take a small nap.  You laid back and rested your head on your backpack.  You fell asleep as you watched the beautiful puffy clouds soar across the brilliant blue sky.

 

                                                            BUZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

               Your eyes slowly fluttered open when you felt your cell phone vibrate in your bag.  You sat up and dug your phone out of your bag.  You looked at the screen and saw that Eric had texted you 10 times and called 5 times.  Why was he trying to get a hold of you so bad?  You opened the messages and read them.

               From: EricOppa

1. Mimi!  Where are you?  You seriously need to call ASAP!

2. Yah!  Hurry up and pick up your phone!

3. You are going to be sooooooo surprised when you hear what I have to say!  But you have to answer first!

4. I guess you don’t want to know, do you?

5. Mimi? Why aren’t you answering?

6. Are you dead?  Don’t answer if you’re dead.

7. Ok, yes I read that last one again. 

8. If you don’t answer soon then I will take all your tea!

9. MIMI!! KRIS IS HERE!

10. WHERE ARE YOU!?!?!?!

 

Kris?  Does he mean Wu Yifan?  Wait, WHAT!?  KRIS IS HERE!  You gathered your stuff up and carefully jumped down from the boulder.  You sprinted all the way to the front of the school.  You pulled out your phone because in your haste you threw it into your bag, and called Eric.

               “Where are you!?  How could you not answer any of my calls or texts!?”  Eric whined into the phone.  You ignored his questions and instead asked one single question.

               “Where is he?”  You asked in a serious tone.  Eric paused on the other side of the phone. 

               “You’re not going to kill him are you?”  Eric finally asked after a while.  You rolled your eyes even though Eric couldn’t see you.

               “Of course I’m not!  Where is he?”  You asked again.  You were getting annoyed and just wanted the answer.

               “With me at our sound booth.  The door is locked and I won’t open it until you promise you won’t kill him.”  Eric said.  You wanted to say that you promise nothing of the sorts but you needed into that room.

               “Fine. I promise.  I’m on my way.  I’ll be there in two minutes.”  You hung up and ran to the recording studio as fast as you could without running into anyone.  When you finally reached the recording studios you raced up the stairs to the third floor since the elevator was out of order.  You went to the booth that you and your friends had rented out for the year but stopped with your hand on the door handle.  You had been so eager to get there, that now that you were you had no idea what you were going to do.  Could he really be there?  What were you going to say to him?  What was he going to say to you?  Your mind was racing with so many thoughts but you pushed them back and focused on slowing your breathing that had apparently picked up because you were nervous.  You took one last deep breath and turned the door knob.  You peeked into the room but didn’t see anyone.  You slowly walked in and saw two backpacks resting against the couch that was against the farthest wall.  You recognized Eric’s but not the other one.  Then you heard voices coming from the sound booth.  You walked towards the sound board and looked into the recording booth.  Eric was there talking to a guy who was next to the door of the booth, which was out of eye sight from where you stood by the sound board.  You pressed the intercom button that sounded into the booth. 

               “What you did was horrible dude.  She was hurt bad.  I’m seriously afraid she is going to hurt you when she sees you.”  Eric said.  You knew exactly what he was talking about and honestly you didn’t know how you would react.  You held down the speak button and leaned towards the mic.

               “Eric?” You asked.  You saw him look towards you with a surprised look.  The guy next to the door stepped forward.  The guy was really tall and handsome with high cheek bones and a serious look.  He had dark brown hair and brilliant brown eyes.  He was still as good looking as you remember and when he spoke he had the same deep voice that had comforted you so many times when you were little.

               “Hey Eun Mi. How are you doing?” Kris asked.  You couldn’t help but stare at him in shock.  Did he just ask that?   Oh Eric was right.  He may be your older brother but you were going to kill him!