The day before...

Ami walked lazily around the market, looking at the various trinkets and fruits for sale. Vendors were calling from every direction trying to push their products. She approached a table and scanned its contents. 

"Hmm." Ami picked up a few dolls examining them before placing them back. She walked down the length of the table before something caught her eye. An old leather bound book. She picked it up and unlatched the brass buckle. "Empty..." she flipped through the old yellowed pages. "...but it's pretty cool." she opened to the inside of the front cover. She held the book closer to her face to see some scribbled letters in old faded ink. "Is that English?" she squinted and tried to make out what it read. "Margaret...Holmes...cool." Ami smiled. "Ajumma! How much is this?"

"What? I don't remember ever having one of these...but I'll sell it for 3,000 won." the lady held out her hand. Ami nodded and placed three bills on the lady's palm.

Ami collapsed onto the couch as soon as she arrived at her apartment. She held the book up above her face. She flipped it open to the first page again and bolted upright. 

"Was this there before...?" she looked over the first page, filled with words. She leaned over the book, and began to read.

Dear diary,

I picked up this journal today. He recommended I keep record of all our memories together. That boy is heaven sent, I swear to God. If this is a diary, I guess it's okay to write out my secrets. My most powerful secret is that I'm in love with him. I do hope he asks me to be his bride. I know he's foreign, and daddy doesn't think it's correct for a proper young lady to have such relations with a 'savage' like him. But he's no savage, I wish I could tell my father. I wish daddy could find the mind to sit down and just talk to him. My prince, I call him. My prince may not wear the same skin I do, but he makes me feel...extraordinary. I know this is how girls feel in those fairytales when they meet their own princes. I guess this is okay for a first entry. Until tomorrow - Margaret. 

"This cannot be real." Ami laughed and shifted her gaze to the top of the page, to the date. "April twelfth...seventeen seventy three..." she began to laugh louder. "Anyway, I'll use it as my own journal too. I'll bring it tomorrow." she placed the book on the low coffee table and shuffled into the bedroom to call her mother.