[FIC] It's Complicated

Title: It's Complicated
Characters: Kibum, OC, SJ
Rating: PG
Chaptercount: 18/36
Summary: Soojin meets a guy who turns her world upside down but then there's a few dozen others as well.
A/N: This is one of my most beloved novels (not that I wrote THAT many, but still) and I think I will forever cherish the characters in this. This story also helped me shape my view on the different members and is the first of few stories in which I used first person.

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So at seven in the morning, there I was, sitting next to Kibum on a bench on the platform where our exchange students were going to arrive. I had stayed up rather late, something about three in the morning, so I wasn’t feeling very bright and shining. Because of that, I decided to rest my head on his shoulder, since we had been waiting for ten minutes already and my eyes were tired. I told him to wake me up when they arrived and he chuckled and said he would try. I could never have appreciated his silent self more than in the next twenty minutes of our waiting - the train had a thirty minutes delay.

What woke me from my slumber on Kibum’s shoulder was not his voice, however, but that of a girl speaking rapidly in a foreign language to seemingly no one in particular. I opened my eyes and lifted my head a little, only to have Kibum look at me and smile. I looked around a bit and saw that the fast speaking girl was seated left of me and was having a conversation over the phone. The train had arrived as well and a lot of people were already finding their way towards the stairs to get their next train or bus.

Right when I wanted to ask Kibum why he hadn’t woke me up, he stood up and walked towards a reddish-haired guy a little bit away from us. Moments later they were engulfed in a conversation. I sighed and let my eyes wander further. The girl next to me was still rapidly speaking and as I came more to my senses, I realised she was speaking Japanese. A little more eavesdropping made it clear that she was talking to her mother or father, going on about how she couldn’t find the woman who was supposed to be there for her. It was only minutes later that something clicked in my head and I quickly turned to her.

“Excuse me?” I asked with my best, rather rusty Japanese skills. She looked at me surprised, probably not having expected anyone to speak her language. “I couldn’t help but overhear your conversation and.. Do you happen to be looking for the Kang family?” She let her eyes wander over my face for a moment, before slowly nodding. I immediately reached out my hand to her. “My name is Kang Soojin. I am here to pick you up. My mother was unable to come because she had to take care of something. I’m sorry for not noticing you earlier.”

“Oh..” she replied, quickly telling the person on the other line that she had found the one she was looking for and saying a quick goodbye, before closing the phone and taking my hand to shake it. “My name is Aria Yumiko. Friends call me Yumi or Miko or.. Well basically anything what pops up in their mind, really.” she then said, showing me a bright smile. I smiled back before eyeing her belongings. She hadn’t brought very much along, but I considered that a good sign. At least she knew how to pack the most important things, right? I was about to speak again when Kibum came back, the reddish-haired guy following him.

“Jinnie. Is this your girl?” he asked, to which I nodded. “Good. This is Zhou Mi.” He pointed at the other guy and then used Chinese as he continued. “Zhou Mi, this is Kang Soojin.” I bowed politely at the boy and he did the same, after which we also shook hands, exchanging a short ‘Nice to meet you.’ I then took it as my cue to introduce the girl as well, so I turned to her.

“Yumiko, these are Kibum and Zhou Mi. Zhou Mi’s a Chinese exchange student. He’s here for the same amount of time as you are.” I told her in Japanese, before turning back and using Chinese to speak to Zhou Mi and Kibum. “This is Aria Yumiko, she’s Japanese.” Bows, handshakes and greetings were exchanged all around, until everyone had greeted the others. We then just stood there, not really sure of what to say or do next. Yumiko was the first to break the silence.

“Is he your boyfriend?” she asked, pointing at Kibum. I followed the direction and looked at Kibum, who turned to look at me as well. We exchanged a short look, before I burst out laughing. I quickly shook my head.

“No, no he’s not. He’s just a good friend. We’re both studying the same. We’re Asian language majors.” I explained. Her mouth formed an ‘o’ sign as she got my meaning and she smiled. She then turned to the two boys again.

“My friends call me Yumi or Miko, it’s alright if you call me that too.” she told them in - a bit shaky, but good nonetheless - Korean. Kibum flashed her his famous dazzling smile and nodded, whereas Zhou Mi seemed to gain some confidence as well, for he started speaking Korean too.

“Most people call me Mimi.” he told the girl. Yumiko was able to keep her calm for a few moments, before bursting out in giggles. It didn’t take long for me to chuckle as well and even Kibum was grinning a little. Zhou Mi looked at us in surprise, a little baffled by our reaction.

“I’m sorry.” Yumiko managed to say in between giggles. I took a deep breath and calmed myself down and she did the same soon after. “I’m very sorry, I did not mean to offend you in any way.” she then continued, bowing to Zhou Mi. “It’s just that.. Mimi means ear in Japanese.” When she explained her reason for laughing, the boy caught on to the funny side of the situation and laughed shortly as well.

“Oh. Well then.. You can just call me Zhou Mi as well.” he told us and we all grinned.

Before another awkward silence could settle, I took one of Yumiko’s bags from the ground. “I suggest we get going. My mother is probably waiting at home by now, wondering why I still haven’t shown up yet, and I’m sure your mother is dying to meet her new temporary son as well, Bummie.” The other three agreed to my words and bags were picked up as we set towards the exit of the train station. The two foreign students talked a little on the way to the car and they seemed to get along quite well. I did have to repress a chuckle realising that a Chinese and a Japanese person used Korean to talk to each other.

On our way to my house, Kibum was driving, I asked the two some questions about their studies and their reason to come to Korea. Yumiko told us that she was an art major, only in Korea because of her interest in the country and language, whereas Zhou Mi was trying to get his diploma as a cook, coming to Korea to learn more foreign dishes. I admired their courage, for I would never be able to leave behind all my friends and live in a different country for six months.

Once we arrived at my place, I wished Kibum and Zhou Mi a happy trip and lead Yumiko inside. There was not much going on at home, but both Kibum and I had decided to show them around the house first before taking them to school with us. We could let them meet our parents as well that way before they were dropped in an unknown school. We did miss Japanese class and History of the Art because of that, but well.. None of us really cared.

I showed Yumiko around, introduced her to my mother, helped her put her stuff away in the guest room and offered her something to eat. She declined the latter, saying that she was really curious as to see what my school looked like. Therefore I got out my old friend, a battered but still driving Hyundai from back in the day, and we drove to school. On the way I told her about my rather large group of friends. She merely smiled and said she would have lots of people to get to know then. I could only agree.

Once in school I looked around the parking lot to see if I saw any cars I knew. There was Hangeng’s, Jungsoo’s and Kibum’s, so I figured everyone was basically there. I took Yumiko to the reception where they had told me she would get her school stuff. They indeed gave her a map of the school there, making sure that she understood all the icons on it, and a bunch of other papers with information about basically everything. Giving it all a short look, I had to admit the school did give a nice amount of information to the exchange students.

Right when we were about to set off to her first class, a boy entered the room as well, coming straight towards us. He gave a short bow in greeting and then reached out a hand.

“Hi there. My name is Lee Sungmin. I was asked to get the new student in case she got lost along the way. I see you have a guide already, but maybe you’d like to come with me anyway, since I’m having mostly the same classes as you do.” he told us, or mostly Yumiko, who nodded.

“My name is Aria Yumiko. You can call me Yumi or Miko.” she told him, using her best Korean again. I smiled at her words. “I’d be happy to accept your offer, if of course, you are okay with it, Jin.” She turned to me with those last words so I grinned and nodded.

“Sure. Go ahead, Miko. You’ll be able to get to know one of your classmates already.” I told her in Japanese, before turning to the guy and going on in Korean. “Very nice to meet you, Lee Sungmin. I bet we’ll see each other around.” He smiled back at me after those words.

“That would be wonderful. I’ll see you later then, Soojin.” he replied and with those words he walked away. Having no other choice than to follow him, Yumiko quickly smiled at me before running after the guy. I stood there for a while, wondering how he knew my name. When I finally snapped out of it, I quickly set for my own class, having the luck to make it right in time.

After yet another difficult class of Chinese, I made my way outside and waited for Kibum. He told me Zhou Mi had gotten a guide as well and that he had agreed to meet the Chinese guy again near the soccer field. I realised I had no idea where to find Yumiko, so I decided to just go along with Kibum. We calmly made our way to the soccer field where Zhou Mi was already waiting and had a little small talk there. The Chinese guy told us about the nice people he had met during his class and went on explaining about a few Korean dishes that had been hinted to him. I listened with interest, smiling when I realised how much he really loved cooking.

We had stood there for about ten minutes when someone suddenly called my name. As we looked back, I saw Yumiko coming towards us with Sungmin and another guy. She quickly said hi to us all, then introduced the two guys as Sungmin and Ryeowook. I shook Ryeowook’s hand, as did Zhou Mi, but Kibum just grinned, greeted them with their names and gave them a slight punch on the shoulder, after which they had a little brotherly hugging session. It was obvious that he knew them, but I had no clue where from.

After we all got introduced to each other, shook hands and revealed names we stayed and talked a little more. The boys easily became acquaintances with each other, but I remained a little distant, still unsure as to how Sungmin had known my name. We spent quite a while happily talking, not really caring about any possible classes anyone might have. During that time the four of us being familiar to the school kept giving the two exchange students lots of information about the where and how of all the important stuff.

In the end, Sungmin and Ryeowook had to go when mister gummy smile walked by, together with another gorgeously good looking guy and a kind girl who smiled at us and waved as they walked by. It was only when gummy smile took a soccer ball out of his backpack that I realised they were the popular group Kibum had told me about. That explained how he knew them, but not how they, or at least Sungmin, knew me. So I asked Kibum, because he seemed to know basically everything.

He told me gummy smile’s name was Hyukjae, one of Jungsoo’s cousins. Ryeowook and Sungmin apparently were the guys who everyone thought of as gays and the other guy that passed by was Siwon, with Sung Yeon being his girlfriend. I tried putting all the information in my head, but it was difficult, so in the end I just turned to Yumiko and offered her a good homemade lunch. She gladly accepted, after which the four of us set off to the parking lot, happy that the school day was already over.

We hadn’t walked twenty metres, however, when we crossed another guy on his way to the soccer field. He smiled and lifted a hand in greeting to Kibum, who, in his turn, exchanged yet another fist bump and greeted him with ‘Hi there Donghae.’ I watched it in wonder, giving the guy a surprised look, before realising that I knew him from somewhere. Donghae looked at me shortly as he greeted all of us and then walked on. I couldn’t help but look back at him once more, only to see that he was looking back at us as well.

If I have a wild guess at exactly when, where and how all the trouble started, it was probably that day, there at the soccer field, when I locked gazes with the then still unknown guy called Donghae. We both turned our heads away immediately after noticing the other was looking as well, but I would remember that moment for a long time after.