The next ten days flew by in a blur of activity for Naomi. She functioned on auto-pilot, ticking things mechanically off her mile-long to-do list. She spent most evenings making and freezing casseroles and other meals Kyungsoo could zap in the microwave. She also made a detailed list of all the financial transactions that were scheduled. She made sure all the laundry was taken care of, the dishes were put away, the bathroom was clean, and finally she set about packing her suitcases. If someone had asked her at that moment what was going on at work, she probably couldn't have given an intelligent answer. Her mind was already an ocean away.

It was after eight when Naomi heard the keys turn in the lock. She was just zipping up the large, rolling suitcase that contained everything she thought she might need from extra socks to makeup. Kyungsoo turned the corner into the bedroom, heaving a loud yawn and running his hand through his messy hair. His brow furrowed and his mouth turned down the instant he saw the suitcase on the bed. His eyes darted over to the dresser where a smaller carry-on bag and Naomi's purse rested, ready to go. Her passport and boarding pass were tucked neatly in the side pocket of her purse and a light sweater was draped over the extended handle of the smaller rolling bag.

The walls of denial he had been building up came crashing down all around him.

His wife was really leaving. He could feel the quickening of his heartbeat as it squeezed in his chest. He was trying: Trying to understand, trying to do better, trying to be there for her. But it still felt like there was this endless chasm between them.

"So..." he said, barely acknowledging the humongous elephant sitting, zipped up, on their bed.

"So..." she responded, looking at his shoulder, and the top of his head, anywhere but directly in the eye. She was sure that if she did look him in the eye, she'd see the hurt she was causing him.

Part of her, though - the part that was hurt by his admissions of avoiding her and caring more about the esteem of a peer than his own wife – wanted him to see straight through her eyes and into her broken heart. But she wouldn't rub salt into the already gaping wound that they had both inflicted on their marriage.

She turned back to the suitcase and began hefting it off the bed. After the first tug, his warm hand curled over hers and he murmured, "Here, let me get that for you."

"Thanks," was the only reply she could muster. The awkwardness that filled up every last inch of space in the room was stifling. She followed him out of the bedroom, wheeling the smaller bag behind her. When they had deposited both cases by the front door, Kyungsoo's shoulders lifted and fell with a defeated sigh.

He turned and took Naomi by the shoulders, his thumbs gently over the rounded parts of her upper arm. "Can we just pretend that everything is normal? I know it's not. I know that we're far from okay, but just for tonight? Can we just have this one night to feel like we did five years ago?" His soft, honeyed voice, wrapped around her like a warm blanket and she longed to let everything go; to let bygones be bygones and just start over with a clean slate.

She desperately wanted to be that woman she was five years ago, but she barely even recognized her anymore. Maybe she could pretend.

Just for tonight. Her posture was still tight and uncertain, even as Kyungsoo continued to rub her shoulders. He leaned forward and rested his forehead gently against hers.

"Please, let me have this one night to love you, before you go. Please," he whispered, his lips just a breath away from hers.

She lifted her head and pressed her trembling mouth to his, accepting with her actions what he was offering. Gently, he lifted her up, her legs wrapping around his waist without thought. She broke the kiss and rested her head on his shoulder as he walked them back to their bedroom.

Nothing else was said as clothes were shed and they immersed themselves in a bubble of suspended reality, loving each other as tenderly as though they might break. They let everything go, just for the night.

Any outsider would guess they were just another couple bidding farewell. They did their level best to keep any explosive, emotional outbursts under wraps. They just stood there off to the side of the security check line wrapped in each other's arms.

Naomi was torn in two over her decision. On one hand, she was excited for the adventure of a new culture, country, and experience. She could already feel a deeply buried part of herself beginning to awaken. On the other hand, she really didn't want to leave the security that she felt with Kyungsoo. That safe feeling had been rekindled as he paid more attention to their relationship and marital issues over the last ten days. Was she about to kill the tentative bridge they had begun to rebuild?

It was so fragile.

The pessimistic part of her brain shouted, "He's just doing it because you're leaving him. In a week or two, it'll be back to the same as it was before you decided to leave." But her heart hoped otherwise. She fervently hoped that he would take to heart the things they'd discussed and take a closer look at his priorities and where his focus belonged.

Once their embrace had run its natural course, they pulled apart. Naomi swiped at her watery eyes and willed herself to get control of her emotions. This is what needed to happen. There would be no Kyungsoo & Naomi if she couldn't find out who Naomi was. Kyungsoo cupped both her cheeks in his hands and pressed a kiss to her forehead.

"I'll be right here, waiting. Just promise me, when you find you, come back to me. Okay?" He looked deeply into her eyes, his own shining with unshed tears.

For fear of a grotesque sob escaping , Naomi simply nodded silently and leaned up to place one last kiss on her husband's mouth. She let her fingers trail over his morning stubble, and tried to smile. Grabbing the handle of her carry-on, she shuffled into the line with all the other out-bound passengers.

Just as she passed out of view, she e last time and blew a kiss to Kyungsoo. He held up one hand and waved once before she melted in with the crowd of people beyond his sight.

Naomi walked resolutely through the long corridors until she found her gate. She sat down and stared blankly out the window, thinking about what she'd just done.

She and Kyungsoo had been an intertwined, cohesive - up until the last several months - entity for more than ten years. They'd known each other for longer than that. This was the first time, since Kyungsoo did a study abroad in Italy during the summer after their junior year, that they would be apart for longer than a night or two.

The weight of that realization hit her squarely in the chest. Only moments after sitting down she bolted out of her seat, dragging her suitcase haphazardly behind her, and ran to the nearest restroom.

Once inside, she locked herself in a stall and took a deep, shuddering breath. The temptation to call Kyungsoo and ask him to come back and get her was rising. She'd never been out on her own before.

Not like this.

She chuckled dryly to herself and muttered, "When you decide your life needs a change, you certainly go all out."

Having your heart broken can make you do unspeakable things.

After a few minutes, Naomi was finally able to talk herself down from the mental ledge she'd been teetering on, and wrestled her way out of the stall. It was easy to walk in, but not quite as easy to maneuver her carry-on, purse, and self out of the little cubicle. Taking in her appearance, she was surprised she didn't look worse than she did. She pulled out the small, folding travel brush from her purse and re-fashioned the low ponytail she was wearing, dampened a paper towel, and wiped her face. The skin under her eyes was a bit splotchy, but there was nothing to be done for that. All of her cosmetics were in her checked bag.

Having calmed down a bit, she wandered into the news shop and browsed through the magazines and books. She needed something that would let her mind zone out for a while. It seemed like she'd had a constant headache from all the thinking, analyzing, and worrying she'd been doing. She'd shown Kyungsoo all of her routines, all of the bank stuff, now she needed to let it all go. If she couldn't, the stress was likely to be such an enormous stumbling block in her path she'd never accomplish the purpose of this trip.

She paid for a copy of Bon Appétit, a paperback novel - A Love Not Forgotten, a bag of chips, and a drink. She wandered out of the shop, smiling as she read the back cover of the novel; romance was truly her only indulgence. She tucked her purchases into her purse and returned to her gate. Just about a half-hour later she was in the air and on her way to France.

After a long and mostly undisturbed flight, a slightly haggard Naomi disembarked in Paris and followed the signs to the gate for her connecting flight to Toulouse. She'd barely had time to settle in with her book before the plane was landing again.

She waited her turn to exit and followed the crush of passengers to the baggage claim. She'd been practicing her high school French. She'd even found an application for her phone that let her study basic phrases and vocabulary. She thought she had been doing pretty good until she asked someone - in her best French ever — where the train station was and they looked at her like she had just insulted their mother while smelling like garbage.

She was left a bit bewildered as the woman whom she'd approached gave her a dismissive click of her tongue and walked away. She stood there, a scowl on her face, looking around for an information desk, or anyone who looked like they'd be able to help her. She called out a weak, "Excusez-moi?" waving at one person and the next, trying to get just one person to stop, but was met with even more nasty glares and clicks.

Her irritation and exhaustion were giving way to that awful, prickly feeling you get in your eyes right before you start crying. She was seconds away from a full-blown melt down when she heard a voice behind her.

"Vous êtes perdue?"

Naomi turned to look straight into a black t-shirt. As her eyes drifted up, a broad, white, smile and eyes crinkled in slight concern, met hers. Then her brain kicked in and she tried to remember the vocabulary words she'd been studying. Perdu...perdu. After a moment of complete confusion, suddenly she remembered.

"Oui! Je suis perdue! Lost. I'm totally lost." She grimaced at how stupid she sounded, jumping at the man's question like it was life preserver.

"Ah. You are Korean," his heavily accented Korean, was still Korean and it was music to her ears because she could understand him, he looked Korean himself. "Where are you trying to go?" he asked, raising his eyebrows just a bit, and still flashing a ridiculously dazzling smile her way.

Jeez he's young, Naomi thought, as she looked him over once more. He had a large duffel bag slung over his shoulder, and dark jeans to go with his black t-shirt. His jet-black hair was cropped on the sides and tousled on top. He was tall and had very classic, Mediterranean coloring: tan skin, dark hair, and dark eyes.

"I need to get to the train station. I'm going to Agde."

His smile grew even wider, if that was possible, and without another word, he grabbed her luggage and said, "You are in luck! I am going the same way, to Béziers. Perhaps we can keep each other company on the ride, no?"

What on earth was happening? She'd been in the country for hours and already she was being picked up by a smooth-talking French-Korean man?

"NO!" she shouted, a bit too loudly for the circumstances, "I mean, I appreciate the help, but I don't think...I...Uh...I'm married!" Her face flamed with embarrassment and she wished that the floor would open up and swallow her whole.

The young man studied her for a moment, slightly amused perhaps, by her outburst, and then shrugged. "It's no problem. I just thought we could split the cost of the taxi to the gare. No funny business, okay?"

She looked up sheepishly and nodded, thanking the man for his help. "My name is Do Naomi," she offered her hand and a smile.

"I'm Jongin, it's good to meet you." He chuckled and continued to pull Naomi's suitcases to where she assumed the taxis would be waiting.

Jongin looked at his watch and muttered, what she could only guess were some choice curses in French, under his breath. When they got into the cab, he told the driver where they were going.

The driver peeled out and sped through the winding streets to the train station. Both he and Jongin jumped out of the car as if it was electrified and hurried to the trunk to pull out the bags. Jongin tossed a couple of bills to the driver and said to Naomi, "Hurry, chérie, the last train is leaving in about fifteen minutes."

That news jolted Naomi into action as she grabbed the smaller of her two suitcases and did her best to keep up with Jongin. They ran inside and Jongin walked right up to a computerized terminal and tapped in the travel information for both of them. This time, Naomi managed to get her credit card into the machine before he could insert any of his own money, and paid for the tickets.

He narrowed his eyes at her, but acknowledged that they didn't have any time to waste. They ran through the station, down a large flight of concrete steps, underneath one platform and up another ridiculously long flight of stairs to the platform from which their train was leaving. Naomi was completely out of breath and ready to die as they ran to the doors of the train.

Jongin held his hand out for Naomi as she climbed up into the train, and then chucked all their bags in behind her. Just as he climbed up into the train it jerked into motion, sending Naomi stumbling forward. He managed to steady her arm just before she fell, and smiled kindly.

Once their luggage was stowed, they found an empty set of four seats. Jongin took the rear-facing set of seats, while Naomi sat diagonally from him on the forward-facing seats. He promptly kicked up his legs, resting them on the spot next to Naomi, effectively trapping her into the little seating area. She couldn't help but notice how tall and strong he was, but more so, how completely comfortable he was in his own skin. If you only saw the look on his face you would think he was on a beach in Cannes holding a cool drink and wiggling his toes in the sand.

Naomi wanted that, she reminded herself; that's what she was here to find.

"Ah, oui. I love a good run for the train."

"I think that's one experience I really don't need to have again," Naomi responded, still trying to catch her breath.

"So, why are you going to Agde?" He had his arms behind his head, and looked as comfortable as one could get in second-class train seats.

"I'm going to a cooking school there," she responded, looking out the window. The fading light of day was casting an amazing golden hue over the rolling, vineyard-covered hills.

"Well, you have come to the right place. There is no better food on the planet, than here in France." He closed his eyes and leaned back, allowing the clickety-clack of the train to relax him.

He didn't bother the silence, but let Naomi enjoy the view until night fell completely. Naomi was flipping through her magazine but she didn't really feel like reading; she was just nervous about how Jongin might perceive her continuing the conversation. It certainly wasn't a crime to talk to someone, especially when that someone had been so helpful.

"So why are you going to Buh-zeers?" She tried to pronounce it like he had, but obviously failed miserably, when he began laughing uncontrollably.

"It's Béziers, like bay-zee-ay," he pronounced it again, slower, like she was an idiot, which, apparently, she was when it came to speaking French. "I'm going to help my father. He's a disabled and is moving to a new flat on the lowest floor. He has a fauteuil...ah...how do you say?" He made the motions of pushing wheels on either side of him.

"A wheelchair?" Naomi offered.

"Oui! A wheelchair."

"That's good of you to help him. It's good to have people who love you," she mused, looking back out the window.

"And you? You are here by yourself?" He looked pointedly at her plain, gold, wedding band. She'd left her diamond engagement ring at home, partly because she didn't want to risk losing a family heirloom, and partly because she knew she wouldn't be able to wear it during her cooking classes.

Her eyes snapped to Jongin's guileless face and then squirmed in her seat, returning her gaze back to the darkened window, staring into the nothingness. "It's...complicated."

"No matter. I should not have asked."

A charged silence settled between the two travelers as darkened scenery blurred past them. Naomi was jerked awake when the train came to a rough stop and a woman's voice chimed over the intercom.

Jongin shifted in his seat and said, "My stop is next. Here," he reached for his wallet and pulled out a few bills handing them toward Naomi. "For the ticket," he said with a vibrantly white smile.

"No. Don't worry about it. Consider it payment for your help with getting me to the train."

He frowned a bit and stuffed the money back in his billfold. "Naomi, I cannot accept money for doing that. It was normal, something anyone should do."

Naomi snorted at the remembrance of how many others had snubbed her.

"How long are you in France?" His change of subject was jarring to her mind and it took her a second to process what he was asking.

"Uh. Two months. Why?"

"If you want, I could show you some of the hidden gems of the Région Languedoc-Roussillon. I could be like your tour guide?"

"Why?" Naomi was confused by his offer to show her around France and more than a bit wary of his eagerness.

He laughed and shook his head slightly. "You're funny. I like you, Naomi. You're not like other tourists women I have met. Here," he said scribbling down numbers on the back of her ticket. "That is my mobile. If you get bored with Agde and you want to explore, give me a call. Okay?"

Naomi nodded and took the ticket stub back, not that she would have any reason to call him. So she didn't see the harm. As the train pulled into Béziers, Jongin leaned forward, catching Naomi totally off guard, and kissed both sides of her cheeks. "Enjoy your stay in France, yeah?" he said, as he grabbed his duffel and bounded off the train.

It took her the full amount of time that the train was in the station, waiting for passengers to unload and load again, for Naomi to remember the fact that it was customary and completely normal for people to say goodbye the way Jongin had with her. She sat there holding her cheeks for what felt like hours. She almost didn't hear the intercom lady announce that they'd arrived in Agde.

Still in a daze, she muscled her suitcases out of the storage cubby near the door and descended onto the platform. This was a much smaller station than the Toulouse gare, and she was seriously grateful that she didn't have to go down or up any more stairs.

As she entered into the station building, a shorter man with that same Mediterranean look, but a decidedly not French accent walked up to her and asked in perfect Korean, Naomi might add, "Are you Naomi Do?"

Of course her verbal filter, which had been faulty all day long, once again malfunctioned. "You're not French! Like, at all!" she said with surprise.

He laughed and shook his head no. "Grew up in the United States in a Korean-American household. But I married a Frenchwoman. Hi. I'm Ricky Kim."

"It's good to meet you, Ricky. And it's just Naomi."

He smiled and held out his hand for one of her suitcases.

"I'm sure you're beat. Anastasie has a little snack waiting at home for you. Glad you got here safely."

"Me, too. I'm really glad to be here." Naomi played with her marriage ring.

Author's Note: Sigh, after hella long, here's the update. I promise to be more consistent, especially since this is basically the dead-line month!

Translations-

Excusez-moi? : Excuse me?

Vous êtes perdu? : Are you lost?

Oui! Je suis perdu! : Yes! Yes I'm lost!

Gare : Station, usually train station

chérie : Sweetheart or darling

Ah, oui : Ah, yes

fauteuil roulant : wheelchair

Oui! : Yes!