“You’ve been surrounded by white kids all your life! Trust me darling, it’ll be great to be with your own kind for a change. Maybe you’ll even brush up on your hangul.”

Alyssa nodded, trying hard to pretend that she was just as excited.

After all, her mother had been insanely nice about the whole thing, even through all her complaints and Alyssa felt that the least she could do in return was to be pleasant and make sure her mother thought that she was happy.

Not that she wasn’t, of course.

Korea could possibly bring with it lots of fun, food, maybe friends, and perhaps, if she tried hard enough, untangle the mess her life had become. 

Even with this in mind, she couldn’t help a sigh as she pulled the hood of her jacket over her head, glancing around self consciously to see if anyone was staring at her.

She scanned the terminal briefly to check if there were any cute boys, and finding none, sat down with a huff onto one of the waiting chairs.

“Do you feel tired, sweetheart? I don’t understand the point of having a flight at 3 am, it’s so unreasonable –“ “I feel fine mum,” Alyssa chuckled, smiling fondly at her mother who was always so concerned and protective of her.

How would her mother react if she got to know the real reason Alyssa agreed to move to South Korea?

She shook her head, her hood falling back off along with the thoughts in her head.

This wasn’t a good time to be thinking of such things, it was more important to prepare herself mentally for her new, different life that awaited her.

Alyssa nibbled on her lower lip, leaning against her mother when the older put an arm around her.

“Korea, here I come.”