“Do you mind if I take this seat?” asked a deep, rich voice. I looked up from my book and saw a tall Asian guy with blue hair gesturing to the bench on the other side of the table. I shrugged and went back to my homework.

            He sat down and took a notebook of his own filled with scribblings in a different language. The curiosity was strong enough to have me break the usual northern rule of not talking to people not in your classes and strike up conversation with the strangely handsome man. It’s not as if my homework was particularly interesting. “That’s Korean, right?” I asked, trying to sound indifferent.

            He looked up surprised. “Yes, How—do you know Korean?”

            Know Korean? I have a hard enough trouble with English. “No. I’ve just watched enough tv on sketchy sites to recognize Korean subtitles.”

            “Oh,” he said sounding disappointed. “That’s too bad. It would’ve been nice to speak the language with at least one person.” He stared dejectedly down at his notes.

            “I’m pretty sure it’s not standard American University procedure to write your notes in Korean instead of English. Think of your poor study buddy,” I teased.

            An embarrassed smile made its way across his face.  “I don’t write quick enough in English. It’s not the easiest language.”

            “Yeah, I’ve been learning it for 20 years and I still at it. I’m pretty sure that even the English majors here actually have no idea at all and just make it up as they go along.”

            He shot me a genuine smile. “And are you one of the English majors here?”

            “Me? Oh heavens no. I can only spout so much bull a day. I’m in the hospitality program minoring in culinary.” I patted my stomach. “My world revolves around food as it should for a proper little Italian girl.”

            “Oh really? Italian. So you must have a really cool Italian name,” he said.

            “Of course. One of the best. Gabriella Mazzarino but I go by Gabby to my friends.” I held my hand out for him to shake. “I feel like it suits my personality a bit better. Gabriella sounds so refined and repressed.”

            “Nice to meet you,” he said as he shook my hand. His huge hands engulfed mine.

            “And you must have a really cool Korean name.”

            He laughed. “Not so cool. Choi Seunghyun, or, since I’m in America I guess I’m Seunghyun Choi.”

            I smiled and raised an eyebrow. “Definitely sounds Korean. Though I think you’re over estimating my ability to pronounce it.” I pointed to myself. “Don’t you know Americans are unable to pronounce stuff like that without great practice,” I teased. “Don’t nicknames exist in Korea?”

            “A nickname?” he asked. He thought about it for a second. “Some people call me Tabi. Is that simple enough for the American?” he asked playfully with an accompanying wink.

            “Tabi,” I repeated, seeing how it bounced around in my mouth and then shot him a look as something occurred to me. “It doesn’t mean anything dirty in Korean, does it?”

            He laughed. “Aish, Americans are always so suspicious. No, it doesn’t mean anything dirty or bad, just a nickname.”

            “Or anything along the lines of ‘the best guy in the world that everyone should worship’?”

            “No, that’s my other nickname. A bit long for everyday use so I only make people use it on special occasions,” he joked.

            “So what brought you to America? Or more specifically a dinky little University in New Hampshire no one has ever heard of?” I asked.

            “Because no one has ever head of it. Korea was getting a bit…intense. I needed a break with some peace and quiet.”

            “And how do expect peace and quiet with that loud hair of yours?”

            “’Loud’?” he asked, confused. “Hair doesn’t make noise.”

            “If means like shocking, busy, very noticeable extreme,” I explained.

            “Ah, I see.” He ran his hand through his bright blue hair. “What? You don’t like it? I didn’t have time to dye it back to normal before coming here.”

            “No, I didn’t say that,” I said quicker than I would’ve liked. “It suits you for some strange reason. It’s just not all that common of a sight.”

            He smirked. “It was hailed as a genius fashion trend in Korea. My hair is the least of weird hairstyles over there.”

            I nodded. “Yeah, the k pop idols seem really into going far and beyond with their hair.”

            He looked up sharply. “You’re familiar with k pop?”

            I shrugged. “I wouldn’t say familiar. I had a friend who insisted on showing me a couple of k pop music videos once. I’ve been exposed more to mando pop since my little brother is leaning Mandarin in school and likes to blast it whenever he can. I tend to prefer songs where I can understand what they’re singing.” Tabi seemed to relax a bit. “Why?” I was curious about his reaction. “Do you have something against k pop?”

            “No,” he denied. “I just didn’t think anyone here would listen to it.”

            “They don’t. They’re too busy listening to junk like Justin Bieber or One Direction to try to broaden their horizons at all.”

                “And do you have braid horizons or are you busy with junk?”

            “Busy with life. Culinary students don’t really have that much time to spend out of the kitchen and we’re not allowed to listen to music in the kitchen and when I do manage to make it out of the kitchen my roommate tends to play the only four songs she owns on repeat for hours. Tends to take the enjoyment out of music. Back home I was able to go around to the local gigs of the small bands which was fun but their music was rarely able to really move someone.” I saw the slight confusion on Tabi’s face. “You know, sometimes you hear a song and it just strikes you and you just connect with it?”

            “Ah, yeah there’s not too many songs like that,” he agreed.

            “Hey Gabby!” Tabi and I both turned to the person who yelled my name form about 20 feet away. He quickly approached and plopped himself down beside me. He eyed Tabi across the table and frowned which Tabi returned, seemingly upset at being interrupted. “You’re not replacing me already are you?”

            “Of course not,” I replied. “As if I could replace you, darling.” I turned back to Tabi to make introductions. “Tabi, this is Alex Giarrusso. Alex this is Seunghyun Choi.”

            Tabi smiled. “I thought you said you weren’t able to pronounce my name.”

            “I’d thought I’d give it a shot. Seunghyun is studying…actually I don’t know what he is majoring in. We hadn’t gotten to that yet.”

            “Business,” Tabi supplied.

            “Oh how very boring,” Alex said to me, not bothering on lowering his voice.

            I flicked Alex’s face. “Don’t be rude. Different people find different things interesting. I dare say Tabi wouldn’t find culinary as interesting as you do and you even fall asleep during the lectures.” I turned to Tabi to apologize for Alex’s behalf. “Sorry, he doesn’t know how to behave well; we don’t let him out much, the rude child.”

            “If you’re done scolding me can we head back to my room while Kevin is still in class and we have the room to ourselves?”

            “As you wish,” I said as I began gathering my notebooks to put back in my bag. Once I zipped up my bag Alex took it from me and slung it on his back. “It was nice to meet you, Tabi. I’ll see you around campus.” Alex grabbed my hand and tugged on it trying to speed me up. “Does your mother know you’re this rude? Control yourself for 5 seconds.” I waved good bye to Seunghyun with my free hand. “Good bye, Seunghyun,” I  called back to him as I walked away with Alex.