mon amour ; kang taehyun

1

"Minah-yah!", she heard her name being called. Holding onto her suitcase handle and taking a deep breath in, she walked towards her aunt.

"Auntie!", she barely could muster before she was engulfed in a very warm and needed hug. "I haven't seen you in a while".

"Since you were seven. More than a decade ago. Your father thinks he can keep you away from me? Well who are you gonna live with now? Me! With me!", Hyeonsoo cheered and walked Minah towards the parking lot.

"Are we not taking the shuttle bus?"

"Oh, girlie. I am never taking the bus again. I have this baby now", she jingled her keys in the air and then walked towards a black Rangler.

"How–? I mean, is it yours?"

"Of course it's mine, what do you mean?", the woman seemed offended. "I make good money. Now, hop in, buckle up, and let's go home".

"So how's life been?"

Hyeonsoo was a researcher. She worked for a skincare company, making new products. She was her dad's younger sister, a little miracle for Minah's grandparents. She was born 15 years after the only boy in the family, and had grown to be a little rebel.

She did good in school, but as soon as her part time job allowance was enough, she'd go to raves and heavy metal concerts. She had "grown out of it". But now, being thirty, single and very wealthy, she'd take her vacation days and rave and party. Not as she used to –she was a cat mother and had a reputation to maintain.

Arriving to her new home, or what would be her home for at least her undergrad studies, Minah felt excited. She was a bit scared at first, to be honest. Her parents had always taught her Korean, spoken to her in Korean, and she had a lot of Korean friends from her neighborhood.

But it was different to move across the world and start a life solely relying in her skills. She was nowhere near a native speaker, and the anxiety of it weighing on her while on university was eating her alive.

Come to take a look at her room, that Heyonsoo had decorated just for her and had put effort into, getting her a big desk, a nice double bed, and all of her pillows and bed sheets colored different shades of baby yellow... she was finally getting excited about this new chapter in her life.

"Oh! I'm sorry. Donut seems to like your bedding", Hyeonsoo commented when the cat stretched on top of Minah's bed.

"It's fine. It's perfect; actually. I love everything about it, thank you so much", she hugged her aunt.

"It's no biggie", the woman smiled after they hugged. "So now tell me all about the course registration and when's the freshmen induction!"

Minah loved that Hyeonsoo was so excited. It rubbed off on her, too. So she became more excited about starting university and then about everything life was offering her.

The next few days were a little bit of a blur. In between her mixing up languages and jet-lag, Minah had just cuddled Donut and slept, all along wanting for her body to get used to the new time zone so she could go explore the city before classes started.

She had made a few friends online, who were attending her university too, so she wanted to meet them in person. Minah was so excited; this breath of fresh air seemed to be something she'd been needing for a long time now.

Jiwoo and Haeun both were second years. The latter studied law, just as Minah would, and Jiwoo was majoring in design and media management. They both had met at a k-pop even for a new band that had debuted: Tomorrow by Together.

Of course Minah had heard all about them. She herself was a big fan of BTS, so when they finally debuted a junior band, she had nothing but high expectations. And boy did they exceeded them. The six-member group was all Minah had hoped for and more. They were charismatic, funny, and talented. And, on top of that, she was around the same age as them.

So she obviously had clicked right away with both girls once she met them. They hugged her and gifted her Huening Kai photocards, eyes lighting up when Minah thanked them and told them the gift was perfect.

"We actually have one more gift", Jiwoo said. "So... we have tickets for the fan meeting next month!"

"Oh my god! Oh my god!", she cheered. "I could kiss both of you right now, oh my god".