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Narda Gutierrez Lozano wasn't your average foreigner living in Korea. She had arrived from the United States only a few months prior, leaving everything behind. She lived in an apartment with a friend--a room mate she had met upon arrival when she needed a place to stay--and she had a job as a primary school English teacher, which kept her half of the bills paid. It also did well to pay her other expenses when it came to her other occupation--her hobby, or rather, obsession. 

Narda--who went by Guti Lozz with everyone she encountered in Korea, except her flat mate Yeo Nari--was a sasaeng. 

Her obsession began on a seemingly normal day in which she had been online. Her friend convinced her to check out one of her favorite kpop groups called EXO, and Narda was instantly hooked. She had spent the next several hours on her computer, watching every single available video until she decided that she was in love with Byun Baekhyun, and that she needed to meet him one way or another.

She moved to Korea without hesitation, leaving her life in the United States behind. Her parents--of course--were not happy with her decision to say the least. But they knew she was prepared enough to make the journey. She had recently finished her fifth semester at the university and had search and applied for a scholarship that would provide her with travel expenses, room and board expenses, as well as a monthly stipend for her to live comfortably. It was a study abroad program that would provide her with a job, as well as school credits. She of course hadn't told them she was leaving the country in search of a boy--a boy who was part of one of the biggest kpop groups in Korea--but instead told her family she was leaving because of the job she had applied to.

The job was a teaching position for one year, and afterwards she would need to return to her country. But Narda planned that by then, everything would be different. 

It was winter time in Korea when she moved, just after the Christmas season ended, and she had the exceptional luck that--while looking for the SM Town dorm building--she found an ad for a young woman who was looking for a flat mate. Narda quickly jotted down the girl's address which had been included in both english and korean. On her first day, with her luggage trailing behind her, she walked down the busy streets of Seoul, searching for the building where Yeo Nari lived.

The apartment wasn't difficult to find, thanks to the fact that many of the street signs in the city had the english translations underneath, for tourists to get around. The dark haired twenty year old made her way into the apartment building and took the elevator to one of the top floors where the more luxurious apartments were located. 

Narda knocked on the door a bit hesitantly and waited. It took a few minutes, but a young woman came to the door, smiling politely at the foreigner on the other side of it.

"Do you speak english?" Was the first thing Narda asked the young woman.

She nodded in response. "Yes. May I help you?"

"I saw your ad about needing a room mate." Narda explained with a sigh. 

"Oh." Nari replied.

"Are you still looking for someone?" The foreigner continued.

Nari had the door open just a crack, prohibiting Narda from being able to see into the apartment. She looked back into what was her living room and said something in Korean to someone before returning her attention to the front door. "Uhm..." She began rather nervously. "I am still looking for a flat mate, but now isn't the best time..." She said, starting to close the door.

"Wait!" Narda stopped her, setting her luggage down on the ground beside her. Trying to appeal to the young woman, she began to explain her situation. "I just got here from the United States for a one year teaching position at Seoul Foreign School. They promised to pay for my housing, but they said it was up to me to find a place to stay. I've never been to Korea and I don't know anyone here. I really need this, you have to help me. I can pay up front if you'd like." She said frantically. She knew she could have easily found a different place to live in, but the apartment complex where Yeo Nari lived was the closest to SM Town's dorm building where the idols lived.

Narda thought it was no coincidence, but rather a sign of destiny at work, that someone nearby needed a room mate.

The girl inside the apartment bit down on her lip. She felt a sort of sympathy towards the foreign girl standing before her. It must have been difficult to move to an entirely new place, where she didn't speak the language, and be expected to find a place to live on her own. 

Keeping the door as close to being closed as possible, Nari stepped out into the hallway and shut the door behind herself. She was dressed in clothes too comfortable for the winter season, a pair of light grey sweat shorts and a white spaghetti strap shirt. That was while Narda felt her body succumbing to the winter weather of Korea, even in her two sweaters and jacket. 

"Fine." Nari said to Narda, her voice still understanding and polite despite Narda's persistence. "But lets go to the Kimbap place down the street. I was just about to go get some food anyway. I'll interview you there and see if I like you as my new flat mate." She nodded towards the long hallway with the rest of the other luxurious apartments, her cellphone and keys in hand. 

Narda gestured to the girl's clothes and asked, "Aren't you going to wear a coat or something? You'll freeze outside."

Suddenly realizing her attire, Nari gasped. "Right. Just give me a moment."

She opened the door just a crack and slipped inside, locking the door behind herself as though Narda would have opened it. As the girl disappeared into the apartment, Narda caught a glimpse of a dark haired young man with fair skin sitting on a couch that was straight across from the front door. She didn't get to see his face, but she assumed he was her boyfriend and that they had been spending some time together when she arrived.

Nari returned within a few minutes, now dressed in a pair of jeans and a few layers of warm clothing on top. She walked down the hallway, gesturing for Narda to follow her. The were a ways down the hallway, nearing the elevators, with the foreigner dragging her luggage along when Nari asked her, "Do you want to leave that in the apartment? If it doesn't work out, we can just come back and get them."

Narda crinkled up her nose. "Please. This is too heavy to carry around."

They returned to the apartment and Nari took the luggage from Narda, opening the door just enough to fit the luggage through. This time, Narda no longer saw anyone sat on the couch, but she assumed he was still there because Nari hadn't opened up the door the entire way.

For the second time, they walked down the hall with Narda following behind her. She hoped Yeo Nari would accept her as her flat mate.

-

The kimbap restaurant was about two blocks away and took them five minutes to get there. It was a nice and quiet place where there were families having lunch together. Nari led Narda to the front counter where she ordered some food. "Hello, Hana." Nari greeted the young woman at the cash register with a bright smile. 

"Hello, Nari, welcome to Lee's Kimbap Paradise, what can I get for you today?" Hana asked Nari--who was a regular customer--in Korean.

Narda only watched dumbfounded as exchange of words happened, as she couldn't understand any of it. Nari ordered herself a plate of food--it was a kimbap restaurant, but also offered other meals--and then both girls looked to Narda to see what she wanted.

Snapping out of her daze, Narda eyed them confused, "Hm?"

"I said, what did you want to eat?" Nari repeated the question which the foreigner hadn't heard at first.

"Uh..." Narda thought about it before continuing, "I'm assuming I can't get tacos here, right?"

The two Korean girls eyed her, confused.

"I'll just have anything that has meat in it, like beef." She said, looking at the menu behind Hana. Everything looked different to the food she was used to eating back in the United States. But Narda was never one to shy away from trying new things.

Nari reached into her pocket to retrieve her wallet, but Narda stopped her, taking her own wallet out. She wanted to get on Nari's good side in order to convince her to let her live at her apartment, and for that she thought it wouldn't hurt to pay for lunch. She opened her wallet and got out the Korean currency she had traded from the money they gave her for her expenses. Spreading all kinds of bills on the counter in front of Hana, she said, "Take whatever the price of the food was. Lunch is on me."

Hana grabbed a few bills to pay for the food and rang them up.

Then Nari and Narda went to find a table to sit at while they waited for their food. They found one near the back and Nari almost immediately started with the questions.

"So you said you saw my ad today?" She asked.

Narda nodded her head. "Yes, on one of those flyers you put out."

"Many people have called since I put those out last week." Nari admitted to the foreigner with a sigh, "But none of them seemed to convince me yet."

"What kind of person are you looking for?" Narda wondered.

"Well, I'm a hair stylist and my hours vary. But I'm mostly just looking for someone who will be independent and won't make a ton of noise. Also someone who is neat and tidy. Its not a lot to ask, its just been the first impression I got off the previous candidates that killed their chances." Nari explained, thinking back at the other people who had answered her ad. The majority of them had showed up in EXO gear, and though they didn't say it, they were all probably looking to catch a glimpse of the kpop group who lived very close to her apartment.

Narda assured, "I'm all those things. I promise you won't even know I live there."

And she meant what she said. Between spending her time teaching at the primary school, and attempting to meet Byun Baekhyun, she would hardly even be at the apartment. She mostly just needed a place to sleep at night.

-

The conversation continued throughout lunch in which Nari asked the foreign girl questions about her life and background, to get to know the person she might allow into her home better. By the end of it. Narda had finally managed to convince Nari that she was the best candidate to be her flat mate. She was sweet, she was charismatic, and even though she seemed to be full of energy, Nari noticed that Narda was a good person. She had a good vibe radiating off her that seemed to reassure Nari that this was the right choice.

Finishing up their food, Nari ended up deciding, "I guess I can give you a chance. What was your name again?"

"Thank you!" Narda shouted with a grin on her face. She almost jumped out of her seat to hug the girl sitting across from her, but she managed to restrain herself. Remembering the other question, she added, "I haven't told you my name yet. My name is Narda Gutierrez Lozano, but my friends call me Guti. You can call me that too if you want. That, or Guti Lozz."

"Guti sounds nice. But..." Nari heaved a warning, with a serious expression on her face. "This is a trial period. After one month I will make my final decision."

The foreigner nodded her head frantically, agreeing with anything Nari said, just so that she could allow her to live in her apartment. "That's fine, I understand. Thank you."

The girls got up and left the restaurant together, returning to the apartment.

When they entered it that time, Nari freely opened the door all the way, in a striking contrast to the way she had opened it earlier. That meant the young man who had been there when Narda arrived was probably gone. 

But that didn't matter much to Narda.

She was more concerned about finding a way to get close to Baekhyun.

-

the first update for sasaeng and we have our main character narda introduced. we also have a pretty mysterious yeo nari who didn't want narda to see who else was in her apartment. it could be nothing. haha.

anyway, i hope you all like the first chapter, and thank you loads for reading! i'll try to update this again asap ^.^

have a great day!

p.s. ignore the dude in the gif and just pay attention to mariana van ranking, who i chose to portray my main character narda. haha.

-clary xx