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January, 2012
When Shin Mirinae revealed to her aunt her plans for Japan some time ago, which included her request to be under her care, Han Yua was, quite frankly, at a loss of words.
Yua was single, childless, and middle-aged —a different generation than that of her young relative. She had no experience with children and her only physical memories, albeit fond ones, with her niece was when she visited New York several years ago, spending a few weeks with her and her sister's family in the city. The rest were all virtual (considering the distance between them), consisting of calls through KakaoTalk ¹, with conversations usually lasting ten minutes, tops. She mostly spoke with her older sister, anyway —Mirinae was just her kid, after all.
All in all, their relationship was relatively superficial.
However, after this request, despite her inexperience and lack of knowledge, Yua agreed and decided to try. She wanted her niece not to make the same rookie mistakes as she made and to be comfortable and adjust as soon as possible, doing measures that were within her capabilities to do so.
One was arranging "learning days"; on the weekends and days she had off, Yua would do her best to improve Mirinae's Japanese through different means, which consisted of either playing games, speaking only in Japanese for the day, or using old school textbook, pen, and paper. It provided slow yet sure bonding between the two.
Another, implemented later, was actually putting Mirinae out in the open and having her talk to people, school aside.
Han Yua was a corporate worker for a company that specialized in Korea-Japan relations, working for the PR department. Every few weeks, on a weekend night, the company head would host a party in his grand residence to celebrate their achievements during that time frame, akin to Korea's hoesik ²culture.
One weekend, right before the end of Mirinae's second year, the older asked the younger to come along to one of them, and to the former's surprise, the latter actually complied.
And so that night, after being dolled up, sixteen-year-old Mirinae was swept up into the conversations of older adults, all curious to see and get to know the niece of their coworker they only heard of.
It was through these meetings that Mirinae would come to meet Kuroo Tetsurou.
He was Yua's coworker's son —a coworker her aunt met while working in the company's Tokyo branch, before getting promoted and transferred to the Tohoku one. A coworker Yua almost considered her friend. That coworker's name was Kuroo Tetsuya.
Mirinae had met the older Kuroo first, taking note of his salt-and-pepper-hair and striking golden-hazel eyes. Even in his middle age, he was quite attractive, she couldn't help but note.
A trait he clearly passed on to his son. She glanced at his shadow, a tall boy his near-identical, younger copy with ruffled hair who stood beside him. He fidgeted with his red tie and black suit as his own golden-hazel stare struggled to meet her espresso-colored ones, which in turn made her adjust the dark blue knee-length party dress and white headband she was wearing.
