“Welcome to Korea Airlines. We are happy to have you on board our flight today. Please take as seat as soon as possible. and buckle your seatbelts as we will be taking off shortly.”

She quickly put her carry-on luggage in the overhead compartment and took a seat. Everything went smoothly this morning. No one had recognized her, not even those who were looking directly at her passport, but then again they were all women well into their fifties. They wouldn’t know. In fact, she had gone so far to disguise herself as to cut her hair short and dye it black. She wore glasses and had no makeup on. From first glance, looked like any other Asian girl, but in fact, she was Victoria Song, leader of the popular girl group f(x) … or at least she was the leader.

She had taken had taken the train to Jeju Island yesterday afternoon after she finished packing her things. She stayed there overnight and tried to clear her head. She tried not to think about him, but she couldn’t, She missed him already, but every time she thought about him, it was as if her heart was being ripped out. A big part of her wanted to stay, but at the same time, she had to leave. She had managed to get a plane ticket to the one place she knew no one would expect her to be. It was a one-way ticket. She didn’t know when she would be coming back, nor had she had any plans to return.

She looked out the window. The towns and cities became smaller and smaller until they were no more. She could see the ocean shrinking through the clouds as they gained altitude. She sighed. She had been in such a hurry that she brought nothing to read or do on this twenty hour flight.

She looked around her. She was seated beside a young girl and her mother. There was another young family behind her, with a baby who was peacefully sleeping. She envied them. She had always envisioned herself as a mother and she had even thought about starting a family with him someday, but it wasn’t going to happen now.

She scrolled through the little screen in front of her, but found no movies that she wanted to watch. Then, she saw something that caught her eye. She saw him … on the front cover of Hallyu Weekly.

“Excuse me. Can I see that magazine?” She asked the girl seated next to her. The girl looked to her mother, who smiled and nodded and handed it over to her. Victoria took the magazine from the girl and looked at the picture. When she saw the picture of Nichkhun, her heart started racing and her chest tightened. But what she focused on was the other picture. It was a blurry picture, but she still recognized it because she was there; it was of Nichkhun and that girl. She remembered that night so vividly. How could she forget it? She read the caption accompanying the photos, “2PM Nichkhun’s New Love”.

She froze. She quickly flipped to the article and scanned its contents. The girl was the new leader of a group called Gravity, who were set to debut soon and it was Nichkhun who had accompanied them on their recent interview tour. And then she remembered. She remembered why she had thought that the girl looked familiar. It was because she had seen her before, in a picture in Nichkhun’s room. She had asked him about it and he had told her that the girl, Soo Yeon, was like a younger sister to him.

She continued to read the article and saw the line that solidified her suspicions. It said: “Representatives from 2PM do not deny the possibility of a blooming relationship between 2PM’s Nichkhun and Gravity’s Soo Yeon.” At that very moment, her world fell apart completely. Up until then, she had doubted what she had seen, hoping that she had misunderstood the situation, but now, she was sure. Her hand found the ring that hung around her neck as she tried to hold back her tears. She didn’t know what to do. All she knew was that whatever happened, she would have to try to get through it.