My mind was in a frenzy, but i kept calm for Joesph's sake. He seemed to be calm, but his pale features betrayed his true feelings. He was terrified. Absolutely. I understood him. His dad just died and his mom left him. What kind of 13 year old would not be distressed? I had to be strong.

Going on the internet, I looked up the fastest and cheapest time to go to Korea. There was one that left in three hours. I estimated thirty minutes to pack, an hour to hire a taxi driver and go to the airport, and another hour for security and all the other things they did at the airport. After realizing that the plane only had separate seats, I immediately went back and looked for other times. I wouldn't let Joseph out of my sight. 

By the time we got the airport and bought our tickets, there was an hour left until boarding time. I bought my brother a bag of candy, something I would never had done under normal circumstances, and sat down nervously in the gate. An hour passed and more people filled into the gate. Joseph clutched his boarding pass tightly and cuddled closer to me. I smiled and his hair. A lady's voice came over the PA system and called for first class passengers. I told him to gather his things and we began to walk over to the entrance. A Korean man who couldn't understand english said,

"Excuse me, ma'am. Can you tell me what the lady said? I am new here and I'm not completely fluent in English yet," He smiled warmly.

"Sure. She said that first class is boarding now,"

My stuttered Korean made me blush. 

"Oh Thank you. I need to board.. Hey! I have the seat right next to yours!"

I blushed even more deeply. What if he talked to me? Joseph began to giggle at my expression. Then he laughed louder. The man also started to chuckle. We all laughed. He was a nice man. Whew~

Soon the lady called our number and we all boarded together.

Once on  the plane, the man opened his bag and took out a folder with pictures in it.

"Do you like Shinee?"

"Uhm. Do I like shiny things? I guess. But if they're overly sparkly, I don't like them. "

He started to laugh again.

"No. The Kpop group Shinee. Because I have tickets to their concert which is this Friday. I was going to give them to my daughter, but she is busy that day. Do you want them?"

I shook my head and explained to him that I lived most of my life in America and that I wasn't interested in Kpop. He shook his head in mock disbelief and laughed. 

"Think on it. If you change your mind before, go with your brother. You might enjoy it!"

I nodded in thanks and tucked the ticket in my bag's small pocket along with my old house key.

The ride was long and boring. There was a stop in Los Angeles but the man stayed on the plane. 

When I opeed my tired eyes, the airplane was about to land. I rubbed sleep out of my eyes and began to gather my things. The blue polyester airplane blanket I got was filled with static and it stuck to my hair. Joseph was still asleep. I gently shook him awake and put his book in his backpack. The seat belt sign turned off and I reached up to retrieve our bags. 

When we got off of the plane, the first thing I noticed was HOT.

I took off my cardigan and stuffed it in my bag. my tank top was sticking to my skin and my neck glistened wth sweat. UGH!

We said goodbye to the man, whose name turned out to be Lee Jae Su.

I went to the money exchange place and changed the remainder of the money into korean cash.

If this is all we have left, then Mom must be starving. I thought, sadly.

Luckily we had enough to eat.

I called a taxi driver and showed him the address that Mom left us. The man was smoking and when I opened the door, his rude gesture suggested that he was slightly crazy.

"Where you going, you lil girl? Hah! As if I care. I'm just the driver. Hah" he snorted and choked on his spit. Seeing the address I gave him, he screamed loudly and snorted again.

"GIRL! You want me to drive you to BUSAN from INCHEON?? NAW I would kidnap you first. HAH! Just kidding,"

I still wasn't sure if I should get in the car or not. I decided against it and asked for the paper.

"NAW NAW I'm not letting you go so easily. Get back in here car. Hear me? Get back in!"

He grabed my wrist as I reached for it. I yelped, I wasn't fond of strangers grabbing onto me. He pulled me closer and I could smell his cigar.

"That's quite enough sir! Let go of the girl, she's with me." the man from the airplane came out of nowhere. He was holding Joseph's bag and Joseph had a smug expression on his face. I guessed that Joseph found the man and asked him for help. 

The man let me go, bowed nervously, and drove away. 

"Wow. He just listened to you!" Joseph exclaimed.

The man smiled and took the paper with the address on it, which I hadn't noticed I had reclaimed, and said, "Hop into my car, kids, I'll take you home."

When we finally reached our grandparents' house, I was exhausted. The short nap on the plane had not energized me. After thanking the man and watching him leave, I knocked on the door tentatively.

"Who is it?" a sweet voice called out. 

"It's us, your grandchildren. We need your help, our dad just died and our mom sent us here."

"Grandchildren? We aren't that old,"

A young lady opened the door. She wore a flowery apron and held a baby's bottle.

"Oh. I'm sorry. I must've gotten the wrong door!" I rechecked the address.

"Is this your house?"

"Yes it is. Wait. You say your father died? Oh!I'm so sorry! Come on in!"

She gestured for us to come in. She must've been wealthy; the apartment was large and filled with expensive-looking furniture. She motioned for us to sit down on her couch and we told her our story. She didn't comment. She only sighed and nodded, her eyebrows furrowing as I told her about the mad taxi driver. 

"And so we expected our grandparents to live here, but, apparently not,"

"Yes. They moved out a couple years ago. I don't know where to though. I'm sorry to hear this! But I can't help you. My husband has a strict rule about taking in people. I would like to help you, but I don't know how!"

"It's okay, ma'am. You've helped us enough by listening to our story," Joseph said, smiling sweetly. 

"Wait here for a minute. I might be able to get you some money," she said.

"Thank you so much, you're too kind," I said, politely.

She came out a few minutes later with an envelope filled with a 500,000 won, equivalent to about 500US dollars. We thanked her heartily and apologized for taking so much from her. She waved it off and wished us good luck. 

But even the money she gave us and her polite behavior could not erase the blunt truth that we had been rejected.