N

/

"Hello, there," she said to me first.

She speaks Korean, but she doesn't look like she is.

I didn't want to talk to her. She makes me feel weird. My stomach turns and tingles and it's uncomfortable.

But she might hate me if I ignored her.

I don't like it when people hate me.

"Hi," so I said, too. "You look weird."

Did it come out badly?

She didn't seem to mind. Instead, she blinks too quickly again. "I do?"

I nod. "You and I look different. Are you really from around here?"

She shakes her head. "From Japan," she says, and I nod again.

"Okay."

I turned around and left her there.

I don't know if she left, too, after that. I didn't look back at her, anymore.

Looking at her made me feel weird.

My stomach turns and tingles.