The excitement was bubbling inside her as she was boarding the plane. She could not wipe that smile off her face. Traveling in business class for the first time in her life underlined and emboldened the fact that she was moving to a better place and that everything will be different and better in that place. Jessica, 26 years old executive of the world's biggest fashion e-commerce company, was recently promoted to head sales of their newest region in Asia. She had no previous experience with Korea or Japan apart from a few business trips and that big corporate party they had a few years back, when they traveled to Tokyo and ravaged the city for two and half days. God, that was fun! But no real working experience in Asia, which made this so much more thrilling. And she didn’t care what Karl and Gustav from marketing had to say about it. She earned her place. She was the one to plan the company’s most successful sales campaign and she was the one to have dinner with that disgusting TV channel director that brought them the prime time for their advertising campaign. Yes, she had to admit that the ad was fantastic and Gustav was indeed a genius. But she did all the ground work, she deserved that bonus and that promotion. And she is going to do a great job at conquering that difficult market. Despite what Karl predicted. They are just jealous.

‘God, gay people are so jealous!’ she gasped and immediately became aware of the fact that she was sitting in an airplane surrounded by people. She carefully looked around her to see if anyone heard her say something so horrible. ‘Good job, Jessica! Now, it is a tremendous luck you are not flying with that Mandy as you were supposed to. She would have definitely told on you to Peter and you would have been kicked out of that place the minute you step off this airplane. You’ve got to really start thinking through the you are saying!’ she thought to herself. ‘Okay, I’ve got to distract myself and stop this negative thought overflow,’ she decided to start working on her conquest plan. She had been thinking of it for some time already, but just hadn’t been able to get her hands on it with the job transfer and all the things she had to take care of before the move. The boarding was almost finished and steward was already closing hand luggage compartments. Jessica quickly stood up and reached out for her bag to get her laptop.

‘I really like your bag,’ she heard a voice behind her. Jessica turned around and saw a young Asian man. He was very well dressed, somewhat too flashy to her taste, but good quality high end stuff. Of undeterminable age, somewhere between 25 and 35 maybe. ‘May I ask where you got it?’ he asked.

‘Oh, thank you! It was custom made, I am afraid,’ she said turning to the man. ‘I got it on my trip to Vietnam a year ago. They do amazing things there! I love your hair by the way!’ she felt she needed to reciprocate the compliment. ‘I would have loved to do that myself, but my boss is a bit snippy when it comes to neon colors.’

‘I am very fortunate to have a boss who doesnt mind my hairstyles, even the crazy ones,’ he said laughing.

‘Yea, you are! God bless him!’ Jessica giving her most charming smile. ‘Well, anyway, it’s probably all for the better. I am starting my new job tomorrow. I am guessing it is a good idea to establish some circle and get to know people before you know I go all pink and scare them off.’

‘That is true,’ he said smiling. ‘So, are you moving to Seoul for work?’

‘Yes, I am working for Commandor and I am going to Seoul to reestablish our sales office there.’

‘Wow, aren’t you too young for a job like that?’

‘You think? You know, everyone keeps saying that! Well, I might look young but I am relentless and feisty, so I think it will all work out,’ Jessica laughed back. ‘Plus, in fashion sales it kind of helps to look young’

‘My name is Kwon Jiyong,’ he said standing up and stretching his arm for handshake.

‘Jessica Wiley,’ she quickly squeezed his hand back.

‘Do you mind if I sit in the place next to you? It would be nice to have a company on a 10h flight. I promise I will leave you to yourself, if I get boring.’

‘Sure, come on in,’ Jessica said thinking that her conquest plan of East Asia’s fashion market will have to wait yet again. She was suddenly fascinated by her neighbor. Not very tall, he was slim almost skinny. She did love his hair. It was dyed grey with random hues of light blue color, short on the sides and long and roughed up in the middle. Combined with his oversized mustard color pullover and skinny dark blue jeans torn on his knees, his look appeared as a very elaborate attempt at a casual look that was so out of place in this business class filled with suits and trench coats. This made Jess realize how boring and appropriate her outfit was. She wanted to look like she belonged here, so she dressed up in her favorite black woolen dress from Shanghnai Tang that combined traditional Chinese neckline with formality of a little black dress and her Jimmy Choo pumps. With her long black hair up, discreet eyeliner to accentuate her grey eyes and light orange lip gloss, she felt pretty good about herself when she left home. However, at that moment in the airplane she felt overdressed and uncomfortable.

‘So what about you, why are you flying to Seoul?’

‘I live there. I was in London for business for a few days. So, flying back now.’

‘Ah, ok. What do you do?’

‘I am in entertainment industry’

‘Really? Wow! Can you imagine my good luck? I haven’t even started my trip to Seoul and I already meet somebody from Korea’s entertainment industry! This is a definite good sign,’ Jessica said laughing.

‘Oh, well, I am not sure how useful I could be for a big boss like you,’ Jiyong giving away a humble smile and awkwardly moving in his chair.

‘Well, in that case, you can go back to your seat,’ Jessica said with straight face. It took a few seconds before he realized it was a joke and his face brightened up with a biggest smile again.

‘Argh, you almost had me there!’

‘Yea, I saw that!’ Jessica paused thinking of something. ‘I should probably read that article on cultural awareness that HR sent me! So, tell me, what is the biggest difference between British and Korean humor?’

Jiyong thought of it for a while. ‘I guess we are not very sarcastic as you are,’ he said slowly. ‘And even in our humor, we are aware of others’ feelings and try not to hurt them,’ he paused. ‘Unless it is someone younger than us, of course,’ he added smiling. ‘And by the way, I also think gay people are so damn jealous!’

Jessica felt immediate rush of blood to her face. But she quickly recovered her self-control and shrugged off the embarrassment giving him the most adorable smile which conveyed so many meanings, anything from “oh, you heard that, huh?” to “I really did not mean it at all”.

‘Oh my God, I hope no one else heard that!’ Jessica panted. ‘That was an absolutely stupid thing to say. One of my best friends is gay, and he would have killed me, if he had heard that.’

‘Don’t worry, I don’t think anyone else could have heard it. I was sitting closest to you and I barely heard it,’ Jiyong reassured her.

‘Dear ladies and gentlemen, unfortunately, due to weather conditions we are not getting permission to take off until the storm has subsided,’ they heard the pleasant voice of the flight attendant. ‘Our next scheduled time of departure is tomorrow 6 am. We will be providing overnight accommodation at Hilton Heathrow for our out of town guests. Please follow airport personnel for the directions to the hotel.’

A common gasp of displeasure ran through the airplane raising the noise level inside to where it covered the hum of engines. The sound of people standing up, exclaiming their annoyance, sound of luggage compartments opening and closing, the whole plane suddenly came to life.

‘Oh my god, can you believe it? Its not even raining!’ Jess felt annoyed. This ruined her plans of getting one day on the weekend to somewhat adjust to the new place. She had a meeting on Monday that she had to attend and she would now be flying right into it.

‘Are you going to stay in the hotel?’ Jiyong raised his voice to cover the noise.

‘Yea, I guess that would be easiest, I would hate commuting back and forth to the city for a few hours of sleep.’

‘My friends are having a party in the city. I kind of felt bad for missing it, but I guess now I can make it. You are welcome to join me if you want. It would be fun!’

‘Ah, that is very nice of you, but I think I will pass. I will need to prepare for my meeting on Monday, I might as well use this time for that.’

‘oh, you workaholics are so boring!’ Jiyong smiled, ‘well, anyway, give me a call if you change your mind.’ He pulled out his business card case and gave one of them to her.

‘Oh, wow, even the Instagram account! Very detailed!’

‘Well, social networks are kind of big in what we do,’ he replied.

‘Of course! I keep forgetting that I am sitting next to celebrity. Thanks! I will keep this close to my heart!’ Jessica said pulling out her weekend bag out of luggage compartment and packing her laptop in it.

‘All right. I guess I will see you tomorrow, unless you change your mind,’ said Jiyong and headed out first.

Jessica was left to pack her stuff that she so lovingly spread around her seat 20 minutes ago preparing for the eleven-hour flight.