Finding love abroad

The Beginning

My mission in life is to find my true love. This is the story of how I fell in love for the first time and how it changed my whole life. They say a true love story never ends. Let's see how mine goes, shall we?

'Cuz the players gonna play play play

And the haters gonna hate hate hate

But I am just gonna shake shake shake

Shake it off

Shake it ...'

I turn off my alarm clock and groan, "Ugh... Just five more minutes." I close my eyes and drift off to dreamland again.

I wake with a gasp as I feel ice-cold water running down my back.

I hear few snickers escape a mouth. I turn to find my brother trying his best not to laugh, but it is in vain as he starts laughing, clutching the table nearby to hold himself up.

"You ...you should've seen your face it was priceless ha ha ha ha ha." he laughs hysterically.

I give him my best death glare while he just grins at me.

"Keith, you have three seconds," his smirk falls a bit, "to run before I roast you alive." I say sweetly.

My brother has fear written all over his face because no one wakes me up and gets to see another day. I mean it. NO ONE.

"1 ..., " my brother dashes out the door like his life depends on it.

"2 and 3...." I jolt up from my bed and run after him. I see him running outside through the back door. I didn't follow him. Instead, I go to the fridge and get a handful of ice cubes.

I run to my backyard through the front door. I spot him peeking into the house through the door. Thankfully his back is towards me. I tip-toe ever so slowly with a huge grin on my face. I pull the back of his pants and dump the ice cubes inside.

"Aahhhhhhhhhhhhh holy mother Theresa," he shouts. I am on the ground laughing my butt off as he dances weirdly trying, to get the ice cubes out of his pants. He gives me his death glare while I just smirk at him. All so soon, his glare turns into a smirk. Oh God, that is not good. I start running, and I see him following me.

"Ah, its cold its cold." I scream and laugh as my brother is spraying me with the hose.

It turns into a full-blown water fight, and we play like that for the next hour. I guess no shower today.

After my brother was satisfied with his revenge, we go back inside and get ready for the day. I wear a white t-shirt which says girl power and black skinny jeans.

I go downstairs and find my brother making dosas. I must say he is a better cook than me. I hate cooking.

He looks at me and sets a plate with dosas before me.

"Nutella or peanut butter?" he asks.

"Nutella." We eat having simple talks.

"I am going to miss you so much Ara," my brother says quietly. I look at him and give him a small smile.

"I know Kei. I will miss you too," I say with a sad smile.

You all might be wondering where I am going. I am going all the way to America to do my senior year as an Exchange student.

"After you go, the house will be so lonely no one will be here to fight with me." Keith says with a pout.

I give out a small chuckle. Even though Kei is nineteen, he acts like a baby. Our parents died two years ago due to a car crash and, he is the only family I have left.

"That's why my dear brother you have to find yourself a girl." I speak after swallowing a good piece of dosa.

"Yeah, yeah as if girls are waiting in line for me to date them." he tells me sarcastically.

I am not going to lie. Kei is handsome but, he is annoying. He pulls pranks, even if it is his girlfriend and, not just simple pranks. Huge ones.

Once, he pranked his ex-girlfriend two years ago that he is moving to Australia. He even threw a going-away party for himself to make the prank more believable.

The girl was crying so bad, so when my brother told her that it was all a prank, she took her heel and gave one tight slap across his face. That must have hurt. You can guess what happened after that. Yeah, they broke up.

I chuckle at the memory. Kei had a heel print on his face for days.

"You are thinking about the moving away prank aren't you?" he asks me with a knowing grin.

"Yes, that was epic."

"Yeah, I know." he tells me with a smirk.

"Wait for the girl who loves your annoying character. She is the one who loves you for who you truly are big bro." I tell him and go upstairs.

I see a hangouts video call request on my laptop. It is from my two best friends Anna and Divya.

"Hey, Kia how are you?" they both scream, making me wince.

"Why do you guys always scream when I answer the call?" I ask, shaking my head to stop the ringing in my ears.

"That's because you love it." Anna tells me with a sarcastic grin.

I sigh. I love my friends but, they do everything they can to annoy me. Sometimes it makes me want to kill them.

"But, we are seriously going to miss you." Div says with a pout.

"I know you guys, but you know it has been my dream to go to America." I tell them.

"Yeah, we know." Div says.

"So, I will see you guys tomorrow morning?" I ask.

"Yeah, we won't miss it for the world girl." Anna informs me.

"Love you guys."

"Love you too Kia." I end the call and sigh, looking at my room, or what used to be my room. It is hidden by the clothes that I need to pack for tomorrow.

I spend the rest of the day packing and thinking about how my life is going to change after tomorrow. I am going to be living with the Scotts. They have two boys, one who is my age and the other younger than me. I am a huge believer in love so, I hope I find the one.

It has always been my dream to go to America. I don't know why, but I always dreamed of living there. People don’t judge you for wearing shorts or hanging out with your friends or even dating as they do here in India. I just want to feel free.

I wish goodnight to my brother and get ready for bed since I have an early flight tomorrow.

"Mom, please come back home soon." Kei says.

"Okay honey. We will be home soon after meeting your dad's boss." she informs both of us.

"Ok amma." we both say. She kisses our heads, and we exchanged 'i love you'.

Two hours later a police jeep comes to our house. I run down to see my brother in tears. When he sees me, he comes to me and hugs me tightly.

"God has taken them to heaven Kia."

I wake up with tears streaming down my face. It takes a moment for me to adjust to the dark. I rub my eyes and look at the clock to see it’s 1:10.

I go to Keith's room and see the lights still on. I knock and hear a slow 'come in'. I open the door and go inside. I see him on the bed doing something on his laptop. My brother is a junior in college.

When he sees my crying face, his face falls. I have been having these dreams at least once a week after our parent's death.

He motions me to his bed. I lie down, and he whispers soothing words to me while I go to sleep.

All I can think before I sleep is, hope that my life changes after tomorrow.