My name is Miran. . .Hae Mi-ran. I am from South Korea – just outside of Seoul to be exact twenty minutes outside the city. I am 28 years old – single living at home still while searching for a new job. The company I worked for made a big mistake and was forced by the government to shut down – so I am currently with a headache trying to find a new job.
"Darling the phone is for you." My mother said – who was calling me on the house line?
I opened the door to my room allowing my mother in. My mother use to be a model – even in her golden age she looks stunning the only thing I inherited from her was her eyes and natural paleness beyond that I look like my father. We have heterochromia eyes which means instead of brown eyes like a normal Koreans we have one green eye and one blue eye. I generally wear colored contacts to give me brown eyes unless you look really close that is – I get embarrassed of having people stare at them and say they look creepy. But I was at home so I was wearing just the black horn-rimmed glasses that were several years too old and needed to be a better prescription.
"Hello it is Miran." I took the phone placing it against my right ear the multiple piercings smacking against the phone.
"You sound exhausted." Came the voice of my college friend Lifan.
Lifan is half Chinese half Korean. She got picked on a lot at school because of that and made her a bit cynical sometimes.
"Hey Lifan – what can I do for you?" I asked as I sat down at my desk staring at the classified sections on the computer.
"I heard about your job – why didn't you tell me sooner? We were just doing a huge hire at my company."
"Well I thought I would take a little vacation while I am at it." I said softly – thing is I forgot about her job hiring a huge amount of people every quarter period. . .but I also I did not want to do her work – sell ad space.
I am a journalist – blogger I am a whiz when it comes to computers and anything dealing with social media. I ran the company's blog – made sure the website worked, all tech stories were done by me. Also all the music related stuff was done by me as well.
"You take a vacation? Well that is unheard of coming from you Mi – normally you say vacations and sick days are for the dead." She said with a laugh.
"Well perhaps I am dead." I said feeling a bit down.
"Why don't you visit me for a few days?"
"I don't have enough money." I said automatically.
"Don't recall saying anything about money just cook for me, okay? Stay a week perhaps Japan will be a good retreat for you."
"I'm not sure still – plane tickets are pricey."
"Found one real cheap price is not bad – 11:10 in the morning and you will arrive at 1:45pm." She said already making up her mind that I was coming over.
All the sudden my computer beeped with a email – it was from Asiana Airlines – Lifan just bought my ticket.
"No you can't do that I can't afford to pay you back!" I cried out in astonishment.
"Oh come on Mi how many times have you helped me out in school? Think of this as payback – just stay at my apartment with me and do some cooking and perhaps fix my computer and we will be all good."
"You should go." My cousin said coming out of nowhere as he peered over my shoulder listening to our conversation and reading my email.
"Shin! Don't read my emails!" I said pushing my younger cousin out of my way – he had no sense of privacy specially entering a girls room!
"Oh is that your cute cousin? Tell him I said hello." Lifan said she always was fond of my little cousin, she has a strange taste in men.
"Lifan says hi – Shin.~" I called out to him.
"Ew girls." He said sticking out his tongue at me.
Shin has been living with us since his parents died in a train crash several years ago he is only twelve at the time of the incident. He was a only child so he is a bit spoiled so moving in with us was a big change for him. Since I'm the oldest then we have the middle sister Sumi then Ye-Jin and Ye-Rin the twins at the youngest. So Shin was stuck as the only male in the house as my father is generally out of country for work.
"He's going to be a hottie when he gets older. So I'll be at the airport at two okay?"
"Couldn't have picked like the day after tomorrow?" I queried looking at the dates noticing that it was definitely tomorrow morning and not any other day.
"Oh well that is what the computer clicked on." She said with a slight laugh – she was perfectly aware of it all!
"Well I got to do some laundry and such. . .and so forth."
"Make sure to bring nice clothes we will go out to a bar or something like that!" She said happily.
"Haaa. . .sure talk to you tomorrow." I said shaking my head and heading down stairs to tell my mother what was going on.
"Mother – Lifan just bought me a ticket to go see her in Japan for the week she got the ticket leaving in the morning."
"Oh that sounds like fun – Japan is so pretty in the summer!" My mother said happily and she went off on a tale about how she did a modeling shoot in the parks and got covered in sakura petals.
"So you actually said yes?" Shin asked looking over at me as he handed me a bottle of water from the fridge having unscrewed the top for me. "Please be careful – no need for you to get lost in the airport and never get to Japan."
"Hey I only got lost once in the airport okay! I was seven!" I said pushing him playfully. "Did you finish your homework?"
"Yes I did." He said giving me a upset look, I was always hounding him to do his school work.
"Do you want to pick up a few things at the store for me while I start laundry and such? I'll give you a little extra to pick up some candy." I said as I fished out some money from my purse that was hanging on the hook.
"Why me?" He whined as he took the money I gave him as I started to scribble down a list on the 'need to buy' notepad.
"Because you are big and strong and I am weak." I said giving him a bright smile as I placed the note on his hand. "It's nothing embarrassing."
"Can I get a soda as well?"
"Get a big one so you can share with the twins." I said as I gave Shin his jacket to wear.
"Then it has to be diet." He grumbled as he headed out of the door, he would be grouchy about doing things but as long as there was a decent incentive he would do it.
"So just a week?" My mother asked as she started dinner.
"Yeah. I'll leave a list of things that need to be done but I'll make sure all the major things are done before I leave."
"Good thanks darling."
As I started a load of laundry and piling up my jewelry and other materials I would be needing on the bed into the suitcase and backpack I used to travel with. Making sure my camera was there and all the accessories that went a long with it, slipping in my tablet and laptop with me as well. I packed more electronics than anything else, only a few pieces of jewelry as mine was very simple. I had the music playing softly the newest album by EXO with Cloud 9 playing I was huge with k-pop music it was something I always loved to listen to.
Heading down the stairs to the side room with the laundry I went to switch over my laundry to the dryer, I heard heavy coughing. Sighing I knew who it was, slowly making my way over to the room near the side room I knocked on the door gently.
"Sumi are you okay?" I called out to my younger sister, I opened the door popping my head in long black hair falling into my eyes as I did the highlighted strands of pink hair intermingling in.
"Oh – Miran I am okay. Just feeling a little weak today." She said softly, looking at me she was a spitting image of mother just minus the eyes she had dark brown eyes.
"Did you take your medication?" I asked looking at the pile of medicine by her bed as she was curled up under the blankets looking tired.
"I just did what are you up to today?" She asked as she beckoned me into the room by patting on the bed.
"Well I am going to see Lifan for a week in Japan. I will make sure all the major chores are done before I leave in the morning."
"In the morning? Did she 'insist'?" Sumi questioned a pleasant smile playing on her thin lips.
"Yes she just bought them for me." I said shaking my head, I didn't have a job and not much money saved up for extra activities.
"That is nice of her she is a sweet person." Sumi said softly her voice sounding hoarse from lack of talking.
"Did you practice your English today?" I asked noticing a collection of books on her bed.
"Yes I did I started reading that book you got me, some of the words are confusing so I have to have my dictionary out.
"Well let me know if there is anything that you can't figure out. I have a few things I must do before I leave in the morning."
"Have fun – can you take a lot of pictures for me?" She asked sweetly, coughing a little as she did.
"Of course." I said as a gave her a smile, my sister was very sickly and couldn't leave the house for long periods of time she would fatigue so easily and get ill easy.
She started showing these symptoms two years ago, doctors aren't quite sure what is wrong with her yet so she is on a lot experimental drugs. I didn't quite approve of all the medicine but it seemed to make her more comfortable so I couldn't bicker too much about it. So I always made sure she takes her medicine and have her refills when needed.
I cleaned up the living room, weeded the small garden out back, did the rest of the laundry, made lunches for everyone for the week that I would be gone. I just naturally assumed the majority of the household tasks now that I am without a job and living at home still, it was the least I could do. It was late in the night almost nine I was finishing up making cookies for Lifan – in cat shape as she loves the little felines. I frosted a few of them and put them in the fridge hiding them from sight in hopes that no one would spot them and eat them during the night. Writing a list of the things I didn't get to which was mainly, the bathroom and grocery shopping so I left a detailed note on how to take care of all of that for mother and Shin to take care of while I was gone.
"Aren't you leaving first thing in the morning, Miran?" My youngest sister asked.
"Yes I am Ye-Rin – I am about to go to sleep right now I just wanted to make sure things were all set for you guys while I am gone."
"You always think about our well-being." She said sweetly as she wrapped her thin arms around my waist holding me tight.
"You are my family so of course I do. Please make sure Sumi takes her medication – I will text her but still would like it if you would so as well." I said knowing that Ye-Rin was more mature out of the two and would remember to do so.
"Oh course!" She said happily a huge grin on her face. "I will make sure."
The sun wasn't up by the time I placed the backpack on my back and grabbed tightly onto the bar of the rolling luggage cart. This was going to be a long trek to the airport. . .should I fork over the money for a taxi? Looking at the clock what taxi company be awake at this time? Unsure I opened my Uber app I used it sometimes when I couldn't get to the subways, I didn't have a license as I used public transportation and my bike for all my moving around. There was one car available, Shin sat outside waiting with me until the driver arrived then scoping out the car and the gentlemen driving the car, swiftly writing down the license plate number. He didn't like to state it but he did always look out for me, it made me happy to know he was doing that for me. Shin texted me as soon as the car pulled away and I had told the driver where I needed to be, he gave me a bit of a laugh saying I was going to be quite early. Though I was a stickler on being early to everything, I can't stand being late the annoyance that could put on someone else just bothers me to even think about it.
Arriving at the airport it was fairly quiet as it was Tuesday morning so it wasn't a high traffic day like if it was the weekend or Monday. Tipping the driver and giving him one of the cat cookies I followed the path to check in. Going through security and all the proper channels I made it into the main part of the airport, there was a few restaurants opened selling coffee and pastries. Shin had made me a cup of coffee that I had drank on my way over here and I had a cat cookie as well but I was still feeling a bit peckish – flying makes me nervous and I tend to eat when I am nervous. Stressing? Don't eat – nervous eat! Granted this was a short flight – I had to make a trip to England once in college I think I ate a week's worth of calories in that flight.
Listening to the new EXO album bobbing my head to the music as I prepped myself for the flight, I had bought myself a chocolate bar and some gum. The cheapest I could find I wasn't going to waste what little money I had left on airport fare that was crazily priced, had I thought about that earlier I would have had Shin bought that stuff at the convenience store yesterday. I connected my tablet to the airplane's free wifi and logged onto my tumblr and browsed through it awaiting the time for my flight to board.
~~Time Skip brought to you by Jonghyun's beautiful lips~~
The sun was shining like crazy looking around I started to feel a bit overwhelmed – there was a lot of people in the Haneda airport. I had texted Lifan about my arrival that the plane arrived a few minutes early and that I would meet her at the luggage claim. While I was at the luggage claim I spot to rather handsome men talking to each other – I was in the process of switching language mode I had fortunately gotten my father's talents with languages. I knew Korean, Japanese, Chinese and English and a little bit of German – I just seemed to pick them up easily without much problem. Writing in Chinese was hard for me for some reason it always looked so messy so I tried to avoid that much as possible. The two men seem just to stick out to me they were waiting for their luggage just like me and a huge pile of people but they just seemed so beautiful I caught myself keep sneaking a peek at them. They were both dressed in nice suits, wearing press badges I couldn't make out the logo it was a local Japanese company I could tell that and that was about it – I need new contacts on top of new glasses once I get a new job! They looked like they were friends, about the same age they were about the same height as well. The taller of the two had darker brown hair with big brown eyes that sparkled as he scanned the room and the carousal ring for his luggage. The shorter had lighter hair it was like the color of honey I could see the sun flashing off some earrings he had on his ears.
"MIRAN!" Lifan shouted out happily as she spotted me in the crowd, I guess the giant backpack shaped like Tortoro is really noticeable.
Instantly the slender college friend of mine wrapped her arms around me tightly nearly knocking me over, a flash of a camera made me blink as I was temporarily blinded. Lifan was big on surprise photos, she said they made for the best memories for her blog. Her hair was done up in a messy bun no matter what she did to her hair it looked messy it always drove me crazy I unconsciously went to straighten up a few out of place strands but she batted me away.
"Those two hotties are staring at us." She said as her eyes landed on the two men I was looking at earlier.
They both winked at us then in sync picked up their luggage – hey there is my luggage quickly prying myself from Lifan rushing over to the conveyer belt I hefted the big case off the belt. There was a strap that was caught on one of the slats of the belt and I couldn't break the thing free of it, I kept tugging but nothing was happening it was really stuck. Panicking I kept trying to tug on it but I felt like the bag was going to break. Then all my clothes would be flying around everywhere – fear just hit me if that happened all these people would see stuff like my underwear. . .a bit of red flushed to my cheeks as I thought about those handsome men walking past me.
"Hey don't you two see that this lady needs help?" I heard a voice growl from behind me as someone approached the two men.
"What boss?" One asked – looking their way they were staring at a group of girls a lot younger than they are who were standing by the mirrors preening.
As I was panicking Lifan had tried to pull on the bag herself being in more physical shape that I am she thought she could free it.
"Sir can you please shut of the belt for a moment please, this lady's luggage is caught on the belt." I heard a smooth voice call out to the person manning this carousal's station.
"Oh yes, sir." He said giving the man a slight bow then hitting the red stop button.
I heard footsteps behind me as I was trying to pry the strap free from the slat but my nails were freshly trimmed so they were quite short and nice painted in a shade of pink and blue flower print. A large set of hands appeared in front of me easily as if I had just wiggled it loose for him the strap came free of the slat of the belt. Lifting up the bag the man handed it over to me a smile place on his handsome face – he was easily six foot tall, really dark brown eyes that could easily be described at milk chocolate and dark brown hair that was slicked back revealing a broad forehead.
"Thanks so much." I said taking the luggage setting it on the ground next to me bowing to him.
"No problem – thankfully it didn't break on you make sure that the straps are all tucked away safely next time. Sorry that my employees didn't stop and help in the first place." He said looking over at the two men that were now standing not too far from us.
"I will make sure to do that thanks – oh here have a cookie." I said digging out a cat cookie from the backpack and handing one to him. "Thanks – it's a sugar cookie – it's a healthy alternative one though made with applesauce instead."
"Though you can't tell swear she says that just to make me feel better about myself." Lifan said knowing that I always do my best to make all treat items healthy as possible.
"Oh thanks."
"Come on boss we will be late, is Kaoru waiting for us at the pick up terminal?" The shorter one asked.
"Thanks again – have a good day." I said as I bowed again.
"Stop flirting boss."
"Shut up Minato." I heard him growl at the taller man, then leaving Lifan and I alone having eaten almost all of the cookie already.
"Well that was interesting? The three of them were so hot." Lifan said happily as she picked up my rolling luggage towing it behind her as she went to the taxi terminal. "I had to take a taxi this morning mother had the car so I'll pay for it."