Kyong knocked on the door of the simple colonial home that belonged to Elliot. He had a bottle of Gowoon Dar. Elliot opened the door, clearly very drunk and having a hard time standing upright. His eyes went straight to the bottle of alcohol in Kyong’s hand. “Kyong’s got the goods!” he shouted, laughing. “Come in good sir,” He stepped aside and Kyong walked in, observing the room. There was an open room, lounge chair covered in teenagers, all with red cups in hand, a stairwell to the right and a kitchenette ahead. 

“Where should I put this?” Kyong gestured to the bottle in his hand.

“I will take that!” Elliots grabbed the bottle enthusiastically, unscrewed the lid and took a bg swig. Kyong winced, knowing that it wouldn’t go down smooth if you drank it like that. And just as he had expected, Elliot started sputtering.

“What is this?” He exclaimed.

“It’s a fine Korean drink.” Kyong was holding in a stifled laugh. ``Of Course it is.” Elliot was rolling his eyes now and turning his back to Kyong, “Jemma.” He called out to a girl walking by, “Come and keep a lonely italian company.”

Kyong touched his back, “Where’s Enock?”

Elliot nodded his head in the direction of the kitchenette. 

Kyong walked over to where Enock was standing, only the vibrate of his phone made him stop before he reached his friend. He pulled it out of his pocket and looked at the screen. Louella. He had promised to call her ‘tomorrow’. Tomorrow was now days ago and he hadn’t so much as texted her. It's not like he didn’t want to. He definitely wanted to. He just didn’t know how to gain her forgiveness. Who was he kidding? He already had it. Louella was the most forgiving heiress that side of Soul… especially when it came to Kyong. He decided to head back outside and call her. Turning away from Elliot, who hadn’t even noticed him yet, he made his way back through the living area, which he noticed was decorated with family pictures in small frames and had vases with fake flowers. Can’t they afford real ones? And where are the paintings? He thought, as he exited through the door and was finding himself on a porch, falling back into a horizontally long wooden rocking chair. 

“Hey Lou,” He breathed into the phone with a sigh. 

She didn’t answer right away, but he could feel the air between them. It was hot and sticky. It was uncomfortable. There were words unsaid that needed to be out - mostly on Louella’s end. “Go on then.” He encouraged her.

“Ha! Go on then!” She mimicked. “You sound so American.”

His chest stopped rising and falling at the sound of her voice. “No I don’t.” He said slowly. Carefully.

“How don’t you?”

“They make fun of me for the way I talk.”

Louella breathed out, her breathing sounded choked, like she was holding back tears. 

“They make fun of you?” She asked, vulnerable. Just at that moment Enock burset through the door, clearly very drunk and bringing the booming sound of music with him.

“Come and join the party!” he slurred, slapping Kyong on the back, hard. 

“You’re at a party?” Lou was so disappointed that it made Kyong shrink to his childlike self.

“Kind of.”

“Are you even trying to come back home?” She was crying now.

“I will be in, in a minute. I’m just on the pho-” Kyong started, looking up at Enock. But when he heard the silence on the other end, he squeezed his eyes shut, pushing his thumb and forefinger into them to see stars, before following Enock back inside.

“It’s all about southern hospitality.” Elliot grabs Kyong by the shoulders, shaking him - clearly drunk out of his mind. “When you're in my house, you will always be greeted with the warmest of welcomes…” He cocks an eyebrow and looks over to the girls on the couch, lowering his voice, “the warmest of company, and the best of food” he tips his head back to gesture toward the kitchen. “Nice clothes by the way.” He looks Kyong up and down, clearly impressed. “Even if you’re shit at basketball.” 

Now Kyong finally says something, “Hey!” 

“I’m just kidding. You’re not bad. Not a patch on me, though.” Elliot turns, hitting him in the stomach, “nice clothes by the way. Much better.” He rolls his eyes as Elliot falls into the sea of girls on the couch, and walks toward the nearest wall and leans against it. 

Enock appears next to him passing him a drink, “Want to talk about it?”

“Talk about what?” He muses, turning his eyes to Enock, though his head stays in contact with the wall. Surely Enock couldn’t tell that something was up… Kyong had always been so good at concealing his inner turmoil.

“Come on man. I can see you’re troubled.”

Kyong breathes out, “you really want to know?”

“I wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t.” Enock takes a sip of the drink in his hand.

“I miss my mother.”

“Was that her on the phone?”

“No, that was Louella. She’s my best friend back home. She’s mad at me because I didn’t tell her I was leaving when I did.”

“Oh man, she's keeping tabs!” Enock slaps his leg, “Sounds like she’s got it bad.”

“What?” Kyong doesn't know what ‘got it bad’ means, “Got it bad? What do you mean?”

“Oh man!” Enock’s slapping him on the back, “This girl, Louella, likes you.”

“Ofcource she does. She's my best friend.”

“No! Come on man, pick up what I'm putting down. She loves you, with a capital ‘L’.”

“No, no. I've known her since I was little.”

“So?” Enock’s eyebrows are raised and he's not holding back his amusement very well. 

Kyong looks at him, really thinking. He thinks back to the time that he last saw her. He thinks back to all of the things they have shared and how they both reacted when their hands accidentally touched. How he liked it. 

“Oh man. Are you just realising you like her too? Oh this is good! I’m a matchmaker!” Enock is clearly chuffed with himself. He then says something that turns Kyong’s skin cold. “If you need advice, why don’t you call your mom, since you miss her? It might be a good conversation opener.”

“I… can’t.” Kyong almost chokes on the last word. 

“Why not? Because of the time difference?”

“Because I don’t have a mother anymore.”

Enock frowns and then starts to shake his head. “Oh no, man, I’m so sorry. Did she leave y’all? Jamie over there, his ma left, and-”

“She died.”