She loved Hongbin.

    Or, that was what Suzy wanted to believe. Two years in America still made her question it sometimes. She did travel to some spots with him, and they even went to Europe, but nothing stopped her from feeling a bit distressed when he would compliment her. He had always treated her as if she was above him.

    Everyone she knew was back in Korea. Jongin was working perfectly in his new company. Sunyoung was now an art teacher. Naeun and Soojung had started a clothes business together. She even heard back from Eunji who was a psychologist working in Japan. Even Woohyun had texted her one day and told her that he finally met the woman he wanted to be with!

    The world was so far from her. That was the price Suzy had to pay to be with the man she loved. She wondered if Hongbin ever noticed it. All this time, she never understood how her very atoms longed for home, that place where her essence was derived. And home was like water for her thirsty soul, which was slowly degenerating like a withered flower.

    Sometimes, the darkness of it all caged her. She could not escape it. Hongbin was studying his phD in Harvard, and she would wait for him at home. It turned out that her English was not the best, so she tutored people on the Korean language a few times.

    But she was going nowhere. America was not helping her at all.

How could she, when she had such a sentimental attachment to home? She missed them all, she missed her friends, she missed her mother.

    But Hongbin would never realise that. And she was afraid of breaking his heart. She knew that he wanted to stay in America, and that was it.

    “Why did you choose Boston?” she asked him one day.

He looked up from the paper he was reading. His dimples formed when he smiled. “I thought you’ll never ask.”

    She rested her head against his shoulder, her heart twisting into knots.

“My mother might be living here.”

    “Really?” Her breath caught in , and she gave him a tight embrace. “Let’s find her together then.”

“Nothing’s worked for the past seven years, Suzy. I don’t know if I’ll ever see her. And despite knowing her name, I don’t have any pictures of her that I could find. There’s a hole inside me, and it can’t be replaced until I find her.”

    He never noticed the hole inside her own heart.

The webcam came on. On the other end was Soojung, who looked very different from Suzy saw her last. She never thought Soojung would return to Busan to start her fashion business, because Japan offered so many more opportunities. Home called its children back in the end.

    But would Suzy be a lost child forever?

“You look great, Soojung,” she said.

    The girl managed a smile, her icy features were still the same. “So do you. But anyways, how are you and Hongbin getting on? It’s lonely without the two of you here.”

    When Soojung said the word, Suzy could not hold it in anymore. She burst into tears, and she ended up regretting it, because she had to drag Soojung into the mess.

    “Listen to me, Suzy. Tell him to move with you. Come back home. What more can you do in Boston?”

    “I don’t know.” Suzy wiped her eyes. “I don’t know how to tell him.”

“Tell him what’s in your heart. Don’t live in sadness. You’re one of my closest friends from my childhood. I care for you.” Her eyebrows knitted together.

“Come back home.”

It was at night that Suzy decided to finally spill her ideas. Hongbin had set back the ceiling to reveal the glassy roof. The stars twinkled overhead. They were so far from reach but perhaps they contained so many wishes. She wondered if her father ever watched her from above? The thought was a bit scary -- the dead being able to see you but you never having the opportunity to see them.

    There were people who believed in ghosts, or small fragments of someone’s essence left behind out of desperation.

Suzy shivered. It was not the right time to have such timorous thoughts.

    Hongbin put away his work, and stretched his arms.

“Hongbin, I need to talk to you.”

    “Yep.”

“Do you...ever miss Busan?”

    He scratched his head. “I don’t think so.”

Her heart dropped in her stomach. However, she thought of her conversation with Soojung, and for a strange reason, someone’s face flashed in her mind. That face that she wanted to forger. Heavy eyes. Messy fringe. Pointy features.

    “I’m missing home.”

Perh