I thought i had fallen inlove with south korea.

I smiled as i looked around the old restaurant I found though an alley in Insadong. it felt so authentic, eating samgyeopsal there. The walls were wooden, the place didn't have air-conditioning, and nowhere was it fancy, I loved it.

I closed my eyes and inhaled.

Ah, the smell of freedom.

...I opened my eyes, and immediately turned my head to the direction of the sudden burst of laughter on the other side of the room. It was a group of guys. I was about to turn my attention back to the food infront of me when one of them caught my attention. Unlike the guys he was with, his silver white hair could make the whole room stop and stare....

...He was quite cute. Wow, I muttered to my self. ...

He had a nice smile; a defined jawline, too.

Even with the green jacket he had on, I could tell that he had a broad shoulders. He was the perfect combination of manly and cute.

I wondered if he were celebrity. But then again, I was pretty knowledgeable when it came to K-pop.

If he were famous, I would have surely recognized him. But he didn't seem familiar

Then, as if there was some sort of pull, his eyes found mine.

If i had been in kdrama, I would have been the shy girl that would look away ang blush.

But I wasn't in one.

Being myself,I didn't avert my eyes. I just looked back at him. So what if I was caught staring? He couldn't sue me for that. Sure, he might have thought that I was crazy stalker girl, but it wasn't .

Like I'd see him after that night.

I watched as his grin morphed into a close-lipped smile, and he tilted his head at me in curiosity. The corner of my lips turned into a smirk, knowing that i had caught his interest. A small part of me wondered if he would come over--

Whoa.Stop right there. Lets not get away in over our heads here, Yumi!

Our eye contact broke when the ajumma who seemed to own the store came with my second round of rice, one that i had ordered earlier.

Yes, I was a heavy eater and food must always come first.

"Kamsahammida, ajumma," I said, smilling at her.

She bowes. "Ne."

"Jeogiyo!" I called quickly, before she was able to leave my sight. "Mul,Juseyo."

"Mulyeyo?"

I didn't know much korean, but thankfully I knew enough of the language to know how to ask for more water. Everything there was spicy, after all. I even thought of buying some milk to drink from the convinience store after dinner.

I nodded." Ne"

when she walked away, I picked up my chopsticks and was about ready to dig in.

But then, I suddenly couldn't help but feel a tingling sensation at the back of my neck.

It was as if someone was watching me, and I could not help but do something about it. So i stopped and put down my chopsticks, raised my head, ang looked around. That was when I saw the guy with the silver white hair still looking at me, oblivious to his rowdy friends around him.

My eyes narrowed.

Then I thought, why wouldn't he look away?

I wasn't that beautiful. Sure, Sometimes I turned heads in the Philippines, but that was only because I was half-japanese.Here's the gist --fair skin plus big wide set eyes, and then the silky long hair, which apparently appeals widely to their beauty standards. If I have to be honest, I reminded myself of sadako from the ring.

Huh. Now that i think about it, That's the probably the reason why I like her so much.

In seoul though, my features blended in so much with eveyone else's that people would think I was a Korean, too. So I didn't get what that guy's problem was.

He still kept his eyes on me.

If I started a staring contest with him, my rice would have gone cold. And I didn't want my rice to get cold. But if I was the first one to look away, I would have appeared weak.

Weird thinking, I know.

My papa didn't raise me to cower so easily. There is no way that I would back down from a staring contest with a complete stranger I probably wouldn't have the chance to even see again ( but for some reason I care so much about.) It would have been an easy win.

But.... I was hungry.

I sighed inwardly.

I gotta do what I gotta do.

3...

2...

1...

I flashed him the most charming smile I could muster. I didn't wait for his reaction. Casually, I turned my eyes back down to my food.

Since it was a small restaurant , I could clearly hear his chuckle all the way from their table. His friends asked him what was up, but I didn't Understand the rest of what they said because it was the only thing that I could catch. It was like they were speed talking or something, and my brain simply cannot keep ut at that moment, From my peripheral vision, I saw him shake his head.

I was trying to appear nonchalant, pretending I was too focused on my food to do anything childish like--I dont know-- eavesdropping on a conversation that I couldn't even understand.

But then, he said something that I very well understood.

It was a small word that escape from his lips.

A small word that made me freeze.

A small word that made me apparently poetic.

I mean, it didn't make me blush or giddy or anything. It just... i dont know. It just caught me by suprise, I guess.

As sneakily as I could, I looked up and glaced at him.

Crap. he had obviously been waiting for me because as soon our eyes met again, he smiled and repeated what he said.

"Gwiyeobda" Cute.