December 21th

Hansol POV→

(Incheon Airport, Incheon, South Korea)

Immigration and Customs

"What's the reason for your visit?" the airport station attendant asked me while stamping my passport.

"Visiting family." Being punished.

"Very well. Here's your passport, and have a great day."

"Same to you." It's hard to speak a language that you haven't used in forever. I suppose I should stick to small words and sentences, that would honestly make everyone's lives easier. 

Thank god, the girls' family speaks English.

As I head out to the baggage pickup area, I start scanning the conveyor belt for my luggage. I didn't bring as many clothes because I just figured that I didn't need to. I brought a few warm jackets, though seeing as the winter was as harsh as I remember it to be. After a few minutes, I spot my luggage coming down the hatch. I dash off, making my way over towards them before they take another round, which I have no patience in waiting for. 

I wonder if Krystal landed before me. I begin to rummage around my carryon, looking for my cellphone. I should probably change my cellphone clock to Seoul standard time. 6:30 pm. My flight landed a bit later than I had hoped for. I better head out now and meet up with the family.

Making my way through the baggage claim area, I pass by the typical "Welcome to South Korea" sign on my right as I make it through the exit doors. Once the automatic doors slide open, and I make my way to the guest terminal where people are being picked up or catching a taxi ride. I look around, trying to find my way about. "Hansol! My boy!" I hear someone call out my first name in English. Turning around, as I spot the sound that came from the two elderly people headed my way. I recognize both of them right away. The older man and his wife, Krystal's grandparents. Behind them is their youngest son, only a couple years older than my sis. Behind them, lurking was a teenage girl who, of all people, can safely assume she has to be Yeri. 

"...Hi, everyone!" I head towards their direction to greet them properly. "Son, how are you?!" the old man walks towards me and grabs me in for a hug. "I'm good. It's great to see you, old man." That's what I've always called him. Weirdly enough, he never seems to have minded it. He's not my grandpa nor relative. When my dad and his second wife died, I was sent to live with my dad's older brother. He had a family of his own. After being there for more than a year, they decided to adopt me as one of their own.

The old man pulls me in for a firm hug, pats my back, and hugs me once more. "I'm alive and happy to see you! Look at how grown-up you've become! Look, Grandma!" He tells his wife, grannie, who then takes her turn, hugging me to death."Hansol-ah! Look at how handsome you've become! Such a good-looking young man!" She cups my face as if I was a little kid. 

Their son comes over and pats my back, as he offers to help me with my luggage while his mom is still smothering me. "Yeri-ah, look at how handsome and tall your brother has gotten!" she praises me and kisses my cheeks before throwing in another hug. While hugs are suffocating me, I take a quick second to get a glimpse of Yeri.

She's taller than three years ago; she's perhaps taller than five feet—her hair, long and curly styled at the ends. Her dark raven hair with bangs made her face tiny and brought out her cheekbones. Her eyes were big. Bigger than most. They were as big as I remembered them to be. They always reminded me of how pure she was. The larger her puppy dog eyes got, the more innocence she had shown. 

I guess she looks content with her life. 

Finally, her grandma releases me from her barricading grasp and tosses me over to Yeri.

Frowning, she reluctantly takes a few steps towards me, "hi." It's like she's being forced to. "Hey, how are you? It's been a while. You look great, Yeri." I take a few steps closer to get a better look at her—what a shortie. 

"10 years to be exact, but thank you. You look like a famous actor." Someone's in a good mood. I use this chance to pull her in for a hug, a very awkward hug, since she's grimacing through it, and I doubt she plans to hug me back. 

Yup, she's not hugging me back. "I can't believe how tall you've gotten."

"Nice try, you're late."

"Sorry, I noticed the time after I got off the plane. Getting off the plane took some time." 

"We're fine. You, on the other hand, must be exhausted," the old man says. "You must be hungry too! Don't worry, and I cooked so much food this afternoon, I got excited about seeing you both today. I couldn't help myself."

"When is sis supposed to land?" I ask as I feel a judgy stare emanating from Yeri. I notice she's not too happy when I use the word 'sis.' "She's late too," she added, sounding annoyed. Her grandmother waves off the matter, "her plane is supposed to be landing as we speak. How about this, Yeri will take you over the car so you can put your luggage in the car, so you won't need to wait for it." Wait. Do they want to leave me with her?

Just to make sure, I glance over at Yeri to see her reaction to this suggestion. Yeah, she's not looking too happy. 

"Yeah, sure." Maybe, it should give me some time to catch up with her. That or she might just ignore me the whole way there and back. "Okay," she slowly submits, "keys?" She puts her hand out in front of the old man, as he willingly hands her the car keys. "Thank you." She grabs an empty luggage cart that was left out. Grabbing my luggage, she casts it upon the cart. She starts pushing the cart out towards the parking lot. When she realizes I h