Charlotte woke up super early the next day and made sure that everything was ready for her cousin, Tiffany. The bed had fresh sheets, there were plenty of energy drinks and her cousins favorite green tea latte mix. She ran to get dressed and grabbed her purse and headed out the door. On the way to the airport she stopped and got a couple of coffees, a bottle of chocolate milk and some doughnuts. She drove carefully and made it to the airport about 30 minutes before the flight was supposed to arrive. She sat in the chairs outside the international terminal and played with her phone. She saw JunJin’s number and debated whether or not to text him and apologize for the way things went last night. She shook her head and decided that she should just leave it alone. She needed to focus on Jacob now that he was here. She avoided all her social media and chatted with her friends on Line. They were glad that she and Jacob were going to be reunited. Thankfully she hadn’t told any of them about JunJin, it would have caused a huge storm and even more so if they knew she had basically told him she never wanted to see him again.

“Mom!”, a child’s voice cried out and Charlotte looked up and saw Jacob as they came out of the gate. She stood up and ran over to wait at the exit to meet Tiffany and Jacob. He had grown at least two or three inches since she last saw him but was as skinny as ever. He had gotten his dad’s looks and metabolism but everything else was her; his personality was as bubbly as her own and he loved to read and explore new places just like she did. She couldn’t wait to show him all the places she had discovered in her six months here. Finally it was their turn to go through and soon Jacob ran away from Tiffany’s side and straight to his mom. Charlotte caught him just before he knocked her down and dropped to her knees and hugged him tight. She felt his small hands on her neck and her eyes started to water.

“Mom,it was so cool! The plane took off and we were really high in the air, it was so cool”, he exclaimed and pulled away from her and turned to look back at Tiffany, who was tried to push a cart overfilled with their luggage.

“Let’s go help your cousin and you can tell me all about it on the drive home”, Charlotte said with a chuckle as they got up and went to help her cousin.

“So did he talk the entire flight?”, Charlotte chuckled as she grabbed a couple of the suitcases to lighten the load.

“Not the entire time, he slept for like six hours but he was talking again as soon as he opened his eyes”, Tiffany said with a tired chuckle. She looked totally worn out and the jet lag would be killer.

“Well, I bet he will sleep in the car on the way home”, Charlotte said as they reached the seat she had left, “I’ve got coffee, chocolate milk, and doughnuts, we can stop at a park on the way home and eat.” She took the heavy cart from her cousin and handed her the cup of coffee, which she took a grateful sip of.

“Let’s get outta here. I can’t wait to just be with you guys”, Charlotte said and tried not to cry. She was so happy that her son was with her again.

They loaded everything into the trunk of the car and started the drive home. They found a park about halfway home and the two women sat and drank their coffee as Jacob ran around and played happily.

Tiffany sipped her coffee and looked at Charlotte, “So how is your bird doing?” Tiffany was the only person that knew Charlotte had been kind of seeing JunJin.

“I opened his cage and let him fly away”, Charlotte said softly, “and I really don’t wanna talk about it, it’s not like we were Facebook official or anything.” Tiffany looked at her like she had just grown a second head.

“You let him go? Are you serious? I thought things were going okay”, Tiffany said incredulously.

Charlotte sighed and turned her coffee cup in her hands, “Yeah but reality set in. He’s a great guy and I really like him but I’m not even close to being part of his world.”

“But the other guys dated American women and it worked out. Didn’t Minwoo and Hyesung both just get engaged? And I remember the fans were dumb at first but they got over it”, Tiffany said and grabbed a doughnut and took a bite of it.

“Yeah well I’m different, I’ve got a kid. Single moms have a difficult time and I don’t want to cause Jinnie any problems”, Charlotte said sadly.

“How do you know they won’t accept you?”, Tiffany said and reached for Charlotte’s hand.

“I’m not going to wait and find out. How I live my life is my business. He is in the public eye and the fans critique everything idols do. I can’t heap my problems on his plate”, Charlotte