Chapter Text
If someone told eighteen-year-old Kitty that one day, she’d end up here, she would’ve laughed in their faces. It’s not that she didn’t like children — or teaching — she did! But when she was young and reckless, she doubted she’d ever mount to much of a teacher. It was always something she thought LJ would end up doing — what with her immense love for English and books and whatnot. If anything, she thought she’d end up launching a dating website — or a match-making program, or even become a motivational speaker.
But no. LJ is the one who’s a motivational speaker — technically, she’s an author but she goes to signings and stuff and she talks a lot so Kitty chalks it up to being the same thing — and she’s the one who’s a teacher. A good one. A happy one. How did that happen?
The decision snuck up on her, if she’s honest. One minute, she was undecided, studying in college because what else was she supposed to do and the next, she was in that conference room, watching with wide eyes how the lives of so many were touched by doing so little. Of course, back then, she didn’t know that it wasn’t “little” that teachers did — that it was so much more than standing in front of the board and giving a lecture and being in a school from dawn to noon — but she was happy nonetheless.
She knew her purpose. She chose Education as her major and minored in Sociology — finished her degree in four years and when she got out of school, the world was her oyster. She could stay in Portland, of course — teach at the school she had attended herself, or maybe even dabble in some high school teaching as well. They were ready to offer her a job. She could go to New York like LJ had prompted her to — she could go anywhere she wanted. She had, after all, an education degree and a dream and the desire to live on very minimum wage for a life full of self-fulfillment.
She felt closer to her mom — a mom she had barely seen growing up and yet felt her presence everywhere — when she was in front of a board, looking at the eager eyes of children, staring back at her. So she rejected the job offer from Adler high school (with no difficulty because who actually wants to return to their high school as an adult? Isn’t that literally the definition of ‘peaked in high school’?), she applied for another one, on the other side of the world — she decided to be close to her mom, closer than ever.
It wasn’t like his father and Trina had any objections — if she wanted to ever do something as drastic as this (as moving to Seoul to teach at KISS (Korean Independent School of Seoul) the elementary branch with barely any knowledge of the language and simply because of the heritage and the sense of belonging she had felt on that one trip all those years ago and at every Seollal since she was a child) twenty-five was the time.
So she packed her life in a suitcase and at last, she was a teacher. Well, she is going to be a teacher. Starting Monday. As soon as she settles in her apartment — that she still hasn’t gotten the passcode to because the guy keeps saying the numbers in Korean and no translation app is seemingly good enough.
She lets out a sigh, shifting from leg to the other, tucking a strand of hair (that has inconveniently fallen out of her braids) behind her ear as she leans forwards, looking at the screen staring back at her unimpressively. “I swear I’m not an idiot,” she promises the grumpy man that is seemingly losing his patience with her. “Just… han beon deo?” One more time. The guy says instead, shaking his head, walking to push her out of the way and entering the code. Kitty tries to memorize it — it should be easy enough. 6 digits — simple base. 246810. Lovely. “Gamsahabnida!” She smiles as the man holds the door open for her to drag her suitcase (her two large suitcase s ) inside.
By the time she wrestles her luggage inside, the exhaustion is hitting her in full force. The apartment is small but cozy — minimal furniture, clean white walls, a large window that overlooks a street lined with convenience stores and cafés. It smells faintly of fresh paint and something citrusy, and despite the mess she knows she’ll make as soon as she unpacks, it feels like a fresh start. Like possibility.
She takes a deep breath, setting her suitcases near the door before flopping onto the tiny couch in the living room. Her phone buzzes against her thigh, and she pulls it out, expecting a text from her dad or Trina checking in, but instead, it’s LJ.
Lara Jean [21:02]: Landed yet?
Lara Jean [21:02]: Have you met any cute Korean men?
Lara Jean [21:02]: Or better yet — embarrassed yourself?
Kitty groans, rubbing her eyes before typing back.
Kitty [21:03]: Yes. No. And yes. Almost got locked out of my apartment because I forgot I can barely understand numbers in Korean.
Lara Jean’s response is immediate.
Lara Jean [21:04]: Classic.
Shaking her head, Kitty stretches before deciding that she needs food. She could order something, but there’s a convenience store right across the street, and honestly, nothing sounds better than instant ramyeon and maybe a bottle of banana milk.
She grabs her wallet, shoves on her shoes, and steps out into the cool night air. Seoul is still buzzing despite the late hour (is it late? It’s not like Kitty has spent the better part of her youth dancing it up in clubs (she has — just not since she was twenty-three and young and not yet a substitute teacher at the local school)) — neon signs flashing, the hum of conversation, the distant sound of a busker playing guitar. It’s overwhelming in a way that makes her feel alive.
The bell jingles when she steps into the convenience store, and the familiar sight of brightly lit aisles and shelves stacked with snacks instantly soothes her. She weaves her way through the store, grabbing a cup of shin ramyeon, some kimbap, and, of course, banana milk.
It’s when she turns the corner toward the fridge section that she almost crashes into someone.
“Ah, sorry–” she starts before freezing.
“괜찮아, 그것도 내 잘못이었어,” the man says — from which Kitty does not understand a word — but the lack of understanding isn’t the reason she cuts herself off. It’s just that — she’s sure she has seen him somewhere before. Not in a phantom like way you recognize a celebrity — but like he’s familiar. From another lifetime entirely but familiar. She narrows her eyes. The guy seems to notice that she has held her breath, not having said anything for a solid minute. “괜찮으세요?” he clears his throat.
“Sorry — I can’t speak Korean,” Kitty shifts, shrugging. Maybe she’s wrong. Mistaken. How would she know anyone here? She’s been here less than a day and she doesn’t know any Korean, Seoul citizens except for Dae and she’s hasn’t been–
Dae!
That’s it. Yes!
She doesn’t know the man in front of her but she knows the boy he used to be — average-height and built and dark eyes and dark hair and an admirable jawline and the creases under his eyes when he looked at her through their grainy screen. “Dae?”
“Sorry, do you know–” he starts but he stops himself, his eyes narrowing and then widening in recognition, a surprised gasp leaving his throat. “Kitty?” She doesn’t blame him for not recognizing her sooner — it’s not like she’s the same person anymore. She hasn’t changed much but she’s no longer a pimple-faced, brace-wearing energetic maniac (she is, minus the braces and the pimples that come after a stressful day but Dae doesn’t know that !) and it only makes sense for Dae not to recognize the girlfriend he had a million years ago. Does she even qualify as that? “Kitty Song-Covey?”
“The one and only!” Kitty smiles. It’s truly lovely to see him. They didn’t end on bad terms — to be honest, she’s not sure how they broke up. It just fizzled out — they got busy with senior year and college applications and they just… stopped talking. It wasn’t some emotional throw-out that had Kitty crying. She just missed him sometimes on her phone. And then she went to college and went to a couple of frat parties and she forgot all about him until this very moment!
Dae Heon Kim! In the flesh!
“Woah,” Dae takes a step back, his eyes running through her like he’s analyzing Kitty. She doesn’t squirm. It doesn’t matter that she hasn’t taken a shower — yet! She didn’t know she was going to run into her ex! — or that she’s probably looking like hell. Dae is there! A blast from the past. And although he is still objectively handsome, Kitty doesn’t see herself getting on all fours and–
Jesus. Presumptuous much? “You haven’t changed at all,” he chimes, smiling.
“Now, we both know that’s not true,” she laughs, “I’ve gotten older.”
“I mean aside from the aging thing.”
“Are you calling me old?” she smirks, teasing, pleased when he chokes on air, letting a giggle out. “Breathe, man — I’m only joking.”
“How long has it been ?” he asks, leaning against a shelf. “What are you doing here?”
“Too long,” Kitty shrugs. Years. If she starts counting, she’ll get a headache. But it’s been long enough that Kitty was on the cusp of forgetting how he actually looked. “A couple of years, no? I’m here for…,” she pauses, taking a deep breath, “...you.” Dae’s eyes widen, once again his cool lost and his lungs gasping for air. She had forgotten how easy it was to fluster him. “Jesus. Dae! Calm down! I’m here for a job! Don’t die, please.”
“You scared me!” Dae scoffs, but an amused chuckle sits on the corner of his mouth. “I was just debating how to tell you that I’m engaged.”
“Way to let me down easy,” Kitty smirks, crossing her arms on her chest. “Rest now. I’m not half-way across the world for my ex-boyfriend.”
“Yeah, a job, you said,” he nods, pushing his hands in his pocket. “What job?”
“Teaching,” she shrugs. His eyes widen — once again. “Yeah! I know! Me and teaching — who could’ve guessed?”
“I mean, yeah, that,” he smirks. She still remembers the time she tried to ‘teach’ him about Harry Potter. Needless to say, it decidedly did not go well! It ended with them not talking for three days after Kitty lost her shit on him and blocked him after he called Quidditch wanna-be Basketball. She still stands by that decision. “But also that you’re here! In Seoul!”
“Figured it was time for a change of scenery,” she replies. She definitely can’t get into the whole ‘mom’ aspect of it and how. So she just… doesn’t. “It’s a long story.”
“Then we have to catch up,” he smiles. “It’s not often you run into an old friend in a convenient store.”
“Definitely not,” she agrees.
“I’m meeting a couple of friends. You should come along, too! It doesn’t hurt to know more people in a city like Seoul.” And she is going to disagree? Well, what better thing does she have to do? Have spicy Buldak and pretend she’s not effectively losing her mind, spiraling over the fact that she is hundreds and thousands of miles away! And, well, she might not have known it, but she did miss Dae. he used to be important to her — important enough to warrant her wanting to move to Seoul when she was sixteen. Well, her dad didn’t agree then. Better late than never, she supposes. “Earth to Kitty!”
“Oh, yeah, sorry,” she trips over her words. “Yeah! A night out is good — I’m in!”
—
Kitty didn’t exactly plan on having a night out on her first day in Seoul. If anything, she thought she’d be buried under blankets, aggressively FaceTiming LJ and ranting about how she doesn’t know how to turn on her heater. But here she is, following Dae through the bustling streets of Hongdae, a cup of banana milk in one hand and a mild existential crisis in the other.
“This place is crazy,” she murmurs, taking in the neon lights, street performers, and waves of stylishly dressed people. Seoul at night has an energy unlike anything she’s ever felt before.
Dae chuckles. “It’s a lot, huh?”
“A little,” she admits. “But I like it.”
He leads her into a cozy little bar, the kind that’s neither too loud nor too quiet, just the right level of chaotic. A group of people is already gathered at a table, talking animatedly. As soon as they spot Dae, they wave him over.
“Everyone, this is Kitty,” Dae introduces, placing a hand on her shoulder like she’s a puppy he just found on the street. “An old friend from back in the day.” She lets herself look at them as they try to measure her up and figure out if they’ve heard of her. There are six other people there in general — a tall man with a tan who is clearly not Korean, his arm snaked around a shorter, but fit guy (too close to be just friends so she files them in her head as dating or close to it), there are two girls, one decidedly Korean and the other decidedly not, sitting next to each other leisurely, a girl who smiles widely at the sight of Dae and moves to settle at his side and Kitty definitely doesn’t miss that Dae’s arm curls around her like second nature (so she assumes that’s the fiance) and at last, a guy standing, his eyes narrowed to a slit at the hover over her, his expression unimpressed and measuring. She tries to remember if she can recall anything at all about this group of people from almost ten years ago — her mind is blank, though.
“Hi,” she says sheepishly — people have never been her problem but she can still feel the heavy gaze of the people surrounding her and she can’t help but fidget. “I’m Kitty.”
“Dae already established that, no?” The last guy speaks, his voice arrogant and bored and decidedly British and it’s like something switches inside of Kitty — uh, so that is the kind of person he is. Rude, thinks too highly of himself, well, a Londoner, if you will.
“Way to make first impressions, Min Ho,” the tan guy rolls his eyes, standing up and extending a hand. “I’m Quincy — Q to my friends. In fact, do not ever call me Quincy.” Kitty accepts the handshake, liking that he has a warm smile and that his eyes wrinkle when he does so. “And this handsome guy is Jin, my boyfriend,” — he nods his greetings and Kitty returns it with a smile — “These two are Yuri and Juliana,” — “nice to meet you,” Juliana says and Yuri lifts her arms to drape it over her shoulders with a smile; the sort that makes you feel like you should run and hide — “And that, of course, is Min Ho. You should excuse his rudeness — he thinks it makes him cool.”
“It makes me remember who you are,” Min Ho scoffs. “Don’t you remember her guys? Kitty? Dae–”
“And this is my fiance, Eunice!” Dae interrupts the rude man — Min Ho — and tugs Eunice forward. “The one I told you about!”
“Oh, yes!” Kitty chirps. She had guessed as much. Eunice is beautiful — cute can charming and tiny and so fucking beautiful. Kitty had the overwhelming urge to hug her. Instead, she extends her arm. “You are so much cuter than I imagined! Congratulations.”
Well, she doesn’t know why she said that but while Min Ho winces and rolls his eyes with a groan, Eunice smiles the biggest, loveliest smile she’s ever seen and pulls her into a hug. “So nice to meet you!” she returns. “From where do you know Dae?”
“Oh, it’s a long story,” Kitty says when they pull away. “Do you have all night?” Eunice laughs as they all sit back down around the table.
“We actually met like fifteen years ago, I think,” Dae says once Eunice is safely settled against his chest. Min Ho scoffs. What the fuck is his problem?
“Now, you’re overselling it,” Kitty laughs. “It was more like ten years ago,” she shrugs. “My family and I were visiting Seoul and I asked him to take a picture of us and we started talking after that. We sort of… dated for a while.”
“Long distance,” Dae quickly amends. “And you know, it just fizzled out. I didn’t think I’d ever run into her in a convenient store, to be honest.”
“I didn’t think I’d ever be in Seoul again — things change,” Kitty shrugs.
“Indeed they do,” Q blinks, tilting his head. Okay, maybe it was not the best idea to mention that you were dating in front of someone’s fiance but Kitty didn’t mean it like that. “What brings you to Seoul then?”
“I’ve accepted a teaching job here,” Kitty nods, glad that the subject of the conversation is no longer her two-year-long over the phone relationship with a guy she had almost forgotten about. “At KISS? Do you know it?”
“KISS?”
“Yeah — Korean international school of Seoul? The elementary branch–”
“Yes, Kitty, we do know KISS,” Yuri interrupts her with a chuckle. “We all studied at KISS.” Right. Dae did go to school there. How could she forget when she was practically begging her father to let her attend that school all those years ago? It’s almost comical now. “My mom used to be the principal there.”
“Really? That’s so cool!”
“Is it?”
“Oh, me saying that makes me terribly uncool,” Kitty scoffs at herself, wincing apologetically, “I just got a little too excited. I tend to do that, you know — fly off the handle and… Anyway, I’m getting ahead of myself. Is she still the principal?” She can’t be. Because Kitty knows the principal and it was definitely a man. Unless, she doesn’t know the principal and she got scammed and she moved here for nothing and now has to pack her bags and move back to Portland with her tail tucked between her legs.
“No, she’s not,” Yuri shakes her head. “She decided she wanted to find the meaning of life or something — some feng shui shit. I never pay attention. But even if she were, you wouldn’t have run into her. She ran the high school branch.” Right. Kitty keeps forgetting there are so many branches. Glad this is not a job interview — being forgetful would not work in her favor.
Kitty hums, nodding as she absorbs the information. It’s a relief that she’s not about to be scammed out of a job before she’s even started.
“I guess it makes sense,” she says, swirling the straw in her drink — not hers, actually. One of them just shoved a drink in her hand. Probably it’s not entirely wise to drink from it but she doubts Dae’s friends are trying to roofie her. Everyone but Min Ho, at least. “I mean, who wouldn’t want to just drop everything and go ‘find themselves,’ right?”
Yuri laughs, tilting her head. “You say that like you’re not doing the same thing.”
Kitty opens her mouth to argue — but stops. Because, well… damn. That’s exactly what she’s doing. Just with a little more structure and an actual paycheck and history involved. “Touche,” she concedes with a grin.
“So, elementary school teacher, huh?” Q leans forward, resting his arms on the table. “You any good with kids?”
Kitty scoffs, placing a hand over her heart in mock offense. “Excuse you, I’m great with kids.” Q shrugs noncommittally and Kitty is about to start a rant about exactly how great she is with kids but Min Ho’s snort stops her in her tracks, turning to face the man with a glass of gin in his hand. “Is that a problem?”
“None at all,” Min Ho says, cocking an eyebrow, “except that everyone thinks they are great with kids until they are… well, actually with kids.”
“Excuse Min Ho,” Q says before she can retort something — and say that she has dealt with kids. Briefly. When she was fresh out of uni. Thinking of it now, she better not mention that — and glares at Min Ho. “Min Ho here thinks having a kid makes you an expert in them.”
“Doesn’t it?” Min Ho glares back, raising his glass to his mouth. He has a kid? Isn’t he the same age as them? She assumed all of them were more or less her age. But it is entirely possible that he has great skin and is actually a couple of years older than them, no? Koreans are infamous for their skin care, so–
“You have a kid?” she asks before she can help herself.
“I’m just saying you don’t seem the type to be able to deal with kids,” he ignores her question, shrugging before taking his phone out and checking the time. A frown settles between his eyebrows and he breathes out, pushing his phone into the pocket. Kitty doesn’t even get the chance to reply to him before he stands up. “Well, it’s been… swell,” — the way he says it makes Kitty think that he’s not been swell at all — “but I’ve got to go.”
No one seems to be surprised by this early departure. No one but Kitty. Do they do things differently in Korea? Can people just get up and leave in the middle of a conversation with some absurd excuse? And/or start hating someone randomly just because?
The conversation carries around her, moving from one topic to another and it’s only in the middle of Juliana’s rant about how Switzerland does things differently from Korea that Kitty is able to lean into Q — who seems the like friendliest among the bunch and currently looks bored out of his mind with Juliana — and whispers,
“What’s with him?”
“Who? Dae? He’s just awkward in general, don’t take it–”
“No — him. Min Ho. the guy who just left?”
“Ah him,” Q chuckles. “Still haven’t moved on from that?”
“Should I have?”
“I guess we’re used to it by this point,” Q shrugs, “I didn’t think about how it’d look to people from the outside. Don’t take things he says to the heart, though — he’s always tired. It’s mostly that. And well, he’s naturally an asshole, too — but we find it endearing. You will, too, if you hang out with us enough.” Well — that decidedly doesn’t answer her question but since she doesn’t know Min Ho (or anyone there, really) she can’t dig because she doesn’t know where to look and Q does seem like he’s decidedly said all he can say.
So she lets it go. The best revenge is not to let the British asshole ruin her night, after all.
—
Dae’s friends are lovely. She tells them as much when they part for the night — a bit tipsy and certainly a lot happier than when she stumbled through her apartment earlier that night, feeling like she was alone in that country — and they exchange numbers. Well, everyone but Min Ho-si but that’s a given. In every group, there is always one person everyone tolerates and no one knows why they keep them around.
In Min Ho’s case, Kitty thinks it’s because he seems rich (she’s not a fool and anyone can recognize that Yuri and Min Ho are objectively the best dressed — read that dressed in designer clothes from head to toe — in their group). But back in her own apartment, she doesn’t have any more time to spend obsessing over a stranger who seems rude.
She looks around — at her unpacked suitcases and her simple place and the fact that starting on Monday, she’ll walk into the school as the home room teacher — and social science! How crazy is that? — and get to know little kids. This is the dream: living in a foreign country, moving there without even properly knowing the language and doing what she loves while meeting a group of strangers!
As she flops onto her bed, her phone vibrates with a message.
Lara Jean [01:13]: So, did you embarrass yourself again?
Kitty grins, typing back.
Kitty [01:14]: Ran into my ex (Dae) at a convenience store, met his fiancée, and got judged by a random Korean dude with a mean British accent who thinks I can’t handle kids and may or may not have a child of his own.
Lara Jean [01:15]: …You were there for HOW many hours??
For enough hours apparently, she thinks with a smile. Enough hours to make her tired, at least. Enough hours to make her close her eyes and go to sleep the instance her head hits the pillow.