"Honey, are you ready yet? Your dad is waiting downstairs!" I heard my mom yell. I immediately stopped what I was doing and stood up straight at her words. Dad is here!

I immediately turned around and made my way downstairs as fast as my feet could take me. And right she was cause standing at the doorway was my dad whom I hadn't seen for the longest time.

"Dad!" I cried out and ran up to embrace him. He caught me in his arms and let out a chuckle as I held a tight grip on him. I couldn't believe that he was really here.

"How has my little girl been?" he asked.

"I've missed you dad," I said, my voice muffled as I had my face buried in his black suit. He pulled back so he could see my face clearly.

I could clearly see that he had gotten older from the last time I saw him. A few gray hairs could be spotted on his head but what hadn't changed was his cheerful, fatherly smile which I had forgotten how much I missed till this very moment.

"It seems like my little girl isn't so little anymore," he stated and smiled so the wrinkles near his eyes became more visible. I laughed. “Of course not, last time I saw you was two years ago.”

* * *

With difficulty, I finally managed to place my huge red suitcase inside the trunk of my dad’s shiny silver car. I breathed out in relief and proceeded to close the trunk of the car before I went up to the passenger seat. Opening the door, I went inside and put on the seatbelt, waiting for my dad who had been catching up with my mom the past 15 minutes. I only had to wait a couple more minutes before he opened the door and sat himself inside the car. The seats were incredibly comfortable and I couldn’t help but feel proud at his accomplishments – the mere thought of my dad owning a car two years ago would have seemed like a joke.

"Are you ready?" he asked me with a smile. I looked at him and thought his smile seemed a bit stiff but I brushed it off. The car ride to Daegu from Seoul was three hours long and he was just about to drive back to Seoul for another three hours – no wonder he was tired.

I nodded my head and waved goodbye to my mom who stood outside of the house. “Take care honey, I love you!” she called out. I smiled and barely got to reply with an “I love you too,” before my dad sped off in the direction of my new life.

* * *

The car ride to Seoul was awkward to say the least and I couldn’t quite understand why. Our conversations were short-lived and my dad’s replies were no longer than a couple of words, making me unable keep the conversation going. Although he did seem distant, I once again brushed it off as him being tired.

I dozed off a couple of times on the way there. By the time we arrived to the city, darkness had already engulfed the sky as we were stuck in the busy traffic.

“I live 10 minutes away from here,” my dad suddenly said and cleared his throat. “Are you tired?”

I looked at him and nodded. “A little bit. But you are the one driving so you should get a lot of rest when we arrive,” I said and looked out of the window, noticing the car moving forward in a slow pace.