It was the weekends and Jisoo’s parents has been bothering their child to come home and visit them. Jisoo is contemplating though, her parents will kill her when they find out she got into a relationship with a “foreigner” much worse, a girl. Her parents have always hated those who lived outside of the borders of Korea especially Koreans who left their country.

Jisoo remembered having Korean-American neighbors while growing up and her father would always say things like, “They’re Koreans yet they keep on speaking English, what a shame.” or “Those who decided to leave the country shouldn’t have come back.”

She never shared her parents’ visions though, for her people who choose to leave their home land has a reason and other people should respect it and if there are foreigners they should be welcomed warmly. Now that she’s in college, she gets to meet various kinds of people and when her parents found out she’s been hanging out with foreigners it was a shock to them.

“Are you sure that your parents will like me?” Jennie asks as she gets their stuff from the train’s compartment. Jisoo decided that she’d come home and introduce Jennie to her parents. “They’d like you, just don’t tell them that you used to study in New Zealand and that we’re in a relationship,” Jisoo said.

Jennie didn’t like the idea of hiding their relationship. She’s used to being proud of who she is and what she is. She never tried to hide anything, she was liberated. It was the culture that she grew up from but things are way different here in Korea and she needs to adjust things if she wants things to work with Jisoo. Plus it’s not like they’ll forever hide from Jisoo’s parents, they’ll just take things slow for the mean time.

They were warmly welcomed by Jisoo’s father as soon as they got off the train. Jennie stood awkwardly there while Jisoo and her father take their moment. She was holding their luggage for the weekend and it was quite heavy.

“Oh dad, this is my friend,” Jisoo said once the hug ended. Jennie dropped their bags and bowed 90 degrees, just like what Jisoo taught her to do. “Oh, you’re very pretty!” Jisoo’s father complimented her.

“Thank you, you look great too,” Jennie replied back politely.

“What’s you name dear?”

“It is Kim Jennie sir,” Jennie answered. Right then and there, the smile of Jisoo’s father turned into a frown. He looked quizzically at Jisoo, the girl knew her father already realized that somehow this is one of her foreign friends.

“Don’t you have a Korean name dear?”

“My parents were quite modern so they simply named me Jennie,” Jennie explained. Jisoo’s father didn’t say anything else after that and just led them to the car. On the ride home, Jisoo held Jennie’s hand while her father quietly drives them home.

Once they got inside the Kim household, they were welcomed by the aromatic smell of Chicken Ginseng soup. When they got into the dining area, Mrs. Kim was putting side dishes on the table.

“Jisoo-yah, you’ve gotten thinner what have you been eating there in the city?” Mrs. Kim was too busy analyzing how her child looks to notice Jennie. She only noticed her when Jisoo pulled away and pointed out that she’s with someone.

“Ma, this is Kim Jennie, she’s one of my University friends,” Jisoo introduced the younger girl with a smile. Jennie did what she did earlier and bowed 90 degrees.

“Oh hello dear! It’s been a while since Jisoo brought a friend home,” Jisoo’s mother said. “Why don’t you guys sit down while I get the soup?” Mrs. Kim gestured for them to sit down.

Jisoo is laughing inwardly at how awkward Jennie looks like right now. She’s trying her best to look nice and kind. She doesn’t usually smile but because Jisoo’s father has been staring at her the whole time, she’s putting up a very nice image.

“This will be a very long day,” Jennie told herself.

_____

There were only few people working at the office right now and Nayoung is dying from boredom. She used to bother Sejeong when she got nothing to do but since their falling out she rarely visits the girl. They barely talk to each other even if Sejeong’s desk is just in front of her office. She secretly asked their department manager to move Sejeong’s desk to where it is now so she could monitor if someone is trying to court her girl.

Nayoung is playing with her pen when her secretary walked inside her office. “Um, Ms. Kim there is someone who would like to see you but they haven’t booked an appointment,” her secretary said. Her brows creased, thinking who might be visiting her without an appointment.

“Who is it?”

“They said her name is Ms. Shin Bora. Should I let her in?”

Her eyes beamed after knowing who it was. “Yes and please get us a reservation at my favorite restaurant. Cancel all my meetings for the afternoon too if I have any,” Nayoung said as she stood up from he