My room looked bare from ceiling to floor. All that was left were the few boxes I’d yet to ship off. In a way, I was almost relieved to see the monstrous task of packing up my entire life over with, but I was also hit by the weight of what I’d just done. I was leaving, running away more like, to pursue something that I’d never even considered.

The job offer had been unexpected. I’d been working for only six months at my old company when I got the call asking for me to come to Seoul and be an editor for The Now magazine. Not only was it a fashion magazine, but it was also far, far away from California. That’s all I really needed to know before I agreed to crossing the Pacific and leaving my current life behind.

My mind jumped from thought to thought as I trudged down the stairs. The box in my hands was the last of many that I’d prepared to be sent in the past few days. With each step I took down to the ground floor, the box seemed to grow heavier. Its contents were light, but its meaning dragged me down. It was a sign of the completion that I’d been fighting towards for days on end.

“You all finished up there?” My father spoke in a voice that almost mimicked curiosity when my foot finally hit the hard wood of the first floor. He wasn’t happy. I knew he wasn’t happy with any of this. After everything that had happened though, I think he understood my position; and it wasn’t like he hadn’t tried to get me to move to Korea when I’d started college anyway. No matter what his feelings at the moment were, he and I both knew that nothing he could say would change my mind.

“Yeah, this is the last box. Are you sure you and Leo will be able to get all this shipped out?” The question I asked was more of a formality than it was an actual question. There was no doubt in my mind that the boxes would arrive to me in Korea. Conversation had to be made with him though, no matter how awkward and useless it was.

“Don’t worry about it. We got it handled on this side of the ocean.” The remark was meant more as a jab than as reassurance; that much I could tell. I didn’t let it bother me though. My mind was already set on what I was doing. No one was going to stop me from doing it.  It’s just time for me to move on.

-*-*-*-*-*-*-

With a few last goodbyes from my sister and a few random friends who stopped by, I was on my way to the airport. The taxi ride was silent and I was happy about that. This ride was one of the few that I didn't really want music for, even if I typically wouldn’t be caught dead in a car without it. I needed the time to think. Although I wasn’t changing my mind about leaving, I still hadn’t let it fully sink in that I was going after all. Up until now it had just been a decision, and decisions can always change, but doing it makes it an action and after you act, it’s impossible to undo what you’ve done. That’s something that my mother always told me. It had seemed stupid at the time, but now I understood. The gravity of something changes when you act on it. You change when you take that final step.

The window showed the California sky as it slipped in between buildings and the occasional bird. I’d always loved the sky here. I wasn’t much of a cloud watcher, but the sun, the sun was the most beautiful thing to watch at the end of a long day and I’d made a habit out of watching the sunset for as long as I could remember. It was almost therapeutic at this point, and breaking the tradition wasn’t even a thought I could comprehend. If I held on to anything from California, it would be the sun.

The airport came into view quicker than I might’ve liked. I had booked a later flight with futile hopes of A) not missing the flight all together and B) attempting to see my last Californian sunset before I’d have to go. I knew that it would be impossible seeing as the sun setting before 5 pm in the middle of August was unheard of. As the taxi rolled into the drop-off area and the driver got out if his seat to remove my 2 suitcases I knew the sunset I’d hoped for was not coming. I thanked him and paid before entering the bustling airport. People were running around like there was a sale going on as they held on tight to their children’s hands and made an effort not to run over other people’s feet with the wheels of the luggage. I smiled watching them as I slowly made my way to the desk. Airports were such a struggle for some, but I’d been in them so many times on the vacations I’d taken to and from Korea that now they just seemed like another halfway point on a journey I was all to use to. The only difference between those vacations and this was that I wasn’t planning on coming back any time soon.

With little effort, I managed to board my plane and find my seat. I was one of the first to board and that meant I had some time to waste. I pulled out my phone and headphones finally accepting the fact that I needed some music to drown out my own thoughts. It was getting tiresome hearing my own voice in my head for the past few hours.

As I got out my phone from my carry-on and clicked the top button to wake it up, I saw my lock screen and had to take a deep breath to maintain my composure. On the screen sat me and another girl. We were on a couch that was placed in what I knew to be the living room of her apartment with me reaching for the phone taking the picture and her looking at me. Her eyes held nothing but a smile and her face seemed to rest easily as she looked at me. My own face was one of playful anger as I stretched my arm uncomfortably far to make an attempt at grabbing back the phone that had been taken from my hands only seconds before. As I looked at the picture, I felt a tear rise up and fall from the brim of my left eye. That’s all I’d allow myself. I’d have to remember to change my lock screen later.

I wiped away the tear from my face and placed the headphones in my ears after sticking the jack into my phone. With a few simple clicks, I heard the sounds of a melody I liked and allowed my eyes to shut as my head rested onto my chair. I knew one of the flight attendants would wake me up when I needed to shut off my phone so I didn’t worry too much. For now, I was tired. A nap was the only reasonable thing I could think of doing, so that’s what I did.

-*-*-*-*-*-*-

“Come on, give me back my phone! You’re going to waste all my storage taking these stupid pictures and they probably won’t even look that good.” I yelled lightly as I attempted to reach for my phone. I had been scrolling through Twitter when I felt the phone slide from my fingertips and heard a light giggle escape from the girl beside me.

“Just give up already. It’s my phone now.” She spoke with a laugh in between her sentences. Although she was shorter than me, she still managed to keep the phone out of my reach as we sat on the couch. At this point I was practically on top of her as I attempted to grab my phone, still making no headway in getting it back. She seemed to notice my position as well and placed my phone on the table beside the couch before she reached to wrap her arms around me and pull me closer to her.

“Let me go!” I was now laughing thoroughly and was unable to maintain my false anger like I had been before as her fingers tickled my sides slightly with her still holding me close to her.

“I want – my phone back – you loser.” My words came out between giggles and squirms as I tried to get out of her grasp. I could tell that my resolve for getting my phone back was dwindling though. Instead of continuing my pursuit in getting my phone back, I found my hands slowly drifting to try and pry her hands away from my sides.

“Loser? You’re the one who wasn’t watching the movie with me. I think you’re the loser.” She spoke a little more seriously this time and stopped tickling me. I looked at her face and saw her pouting and not looking at me anymore. Although she was no longer tickling me, she still held me in her embrace and I wasted no time in hugging her back.

“I’m sorry babe. It’s a good movie and all it just that we watched it last night too…” My speech trailed off into a whisper as I tried my best to explain my position without making her upset. I knew that this was her favorite movie, but I really hadn’t wanted to watch it all over again.

“You’re right. It is kind of boring this soon after watching it right?” I looked at her again and saw that her pout had disappeared and was replaced with a smile. I was glad that I hadn’t upset her, but with her sadness gone, my mind redirected to the phone that sat behind her.

“Well now that we’ve sorted that out, can I pretty please have my phone back?” I asked pleadingly, while also making another attempt at grabbing it. She caught my hand and managed to grab ahold of my other one when I tried using it to snatch my phone back.

“You most definitely cannot have your phone back right now. I’ve just thought of something that is so not boring and there is no way you’d rather be on your phone instead of doing what I’m thinking of.” Her confidence confused me, but I was intrigued. I was really bored and my Twitter feed only had so many new things to look at when I’d been refreshing it consistently for the past hour and a half.

“And what would that be?” I asked matter-of-factly not expecting the best answer. Although I was growing bored with my phone, I could think of nothing that would be even slightly entertaining at this hour of the night. I was about to ask again when she showed me exactly what she had