"Hyoyeon!" 

 

     Hyoyeon flinched and her droopy eyes fluttered opened.  Sunny's face was inches away from hers, a worried look plastered to it.

 

     "What happened?" Hyoyeon asked, her voice still groggy.

 

      "I think you had a bad dream." Sunny answered. "You were crying in your sleep." Hyoyeon took in the new information. She was crying? She reached towards her face and felt the dried tears underneath her eyes.  Hyoyeon looked around at her surroundings and realized that she was on a plane. She remembered that she wasn't a middle schooler anymore, but a grown-up in a plane to Korea. The food tray in front of her had not been taken away, so she must've not been sleeping for long. The lights were dim and everyone around them were either peacfully sleeping or watching the movie on the tiny TV screen. Then, she recalled what happened in her dream and jumped with realization.

 

     "Sunny! You're not going to believe this, but I had the weirdest dream!" Hyoyeon said with excitement and shock mixed into one.

 

     "What, what is it?" Sunny anxiously replied.

 

     "Well, first it wasn't a dream, but more of a memory from about 10 years ago. I think it was from when we were still in middle school." Hyoyeon explained.

 

     "Stop giving me the trailors and tell me what happened!" Sunny barked. She always did have a temper, but it was only when it concerned her friends and Hyoyeon always admired that about her.

 

     "Okay, okay!" Hyoyeon surrendered. She sighed and looked at Sunny. "You remember Hyukjae, right?"

 

     "How could I not," Sunny replied flatly while rolling her eyes. With that they continued to talk about Hyoyeon's strange dream, Sunny sticking in a side comment every once and awhile. At the end Hyoyeon was reduced to whispering because she was embarassed to think about it after so long, but Sunny encouraged her to finish. After she finished, Sunny was seething with anger.

 

     "What a jerk!" Sunny yelled. If it wasn't for the engine's loud sound, Sunny would've been the loudest sound on the plane. Hyoyeon quickly signaled for her to be quiet, to show respect for the people around them. She calmed down a bit and then continued her rant in a whisper yelling voice. "Why didn't you tell me?! I could've given him a mouthful of words that he'd never forget! Does he not know what being sensitive is?!"

 

     "If I had told you then it'd be a crime scene." Hyoyeon joked. 

 

    "'Scuse me," Sunny replied in her infamous sassy tone.

 

    "Let's forget about it, it was just a dream. Besides, there's nothing we can do about it now." Hyoyeon reasoned. "What time is it?" she added with a yawn.

 

    "Ummm," Sunny said while pulling out her phone. "1:06 in the morning, but that's probably US time, so it's around..6 pm-ish in Seoul."

 

    "We land at 12, so I guess we could stay up until it's time to land. I just can't believe that I'm actually going to my real home." 

 

 

*

A few years ago

*

 

 

     "Hyoyeon! Can you please come downstairs for a moment? Your father and I have something to tell you," Hyoyeon's mother's yells echoed in the small house. Thrirteen year old Hyoyeon bounded down the stairs and saw her parents sitting in the living room. The concerned expressions they wore worried her.

 

     "What's wrong?" Hyoyeon asked genuinely concerned. It wasn't normal to be called downstairs to just talk to her parents.  

 

     "Before we tell you, you have to promise not to be mad, okay?" Hyoyeon's mom said. What are they talking about? Hyoyeon thought.

 

     "Sure, it can't be that bad, right?" Hyoyeon said. She saw her father sigh and stand up. He walked over to the confused Hyoyeon, grasped her shoulders, and said two words that she never thought she would ever hear.

 

"You're adopted."

 

     Hyoyeon droppped to her knees and wiped away the unwelcomed tears from her eyes.  Her father tried to explain, but Hyoyeon wasn't hearing it.  A mix of emotions hit her, like a wake up call. Anger, dissapointment, shock, and curiousity all filled her heart. Not knowing how to deal with so many emotions at once, she ran straight to her room, ignoring her parent's calls.  

 

     Enclosed within the four lonely walls of her room, she thought. The first emotion to take over was anger. Her thoughts were filled with hatred and resentment towards her parents. After calming down a bit, she thought about what it'd be like in the position of her parents. Hyoyeon developed sympathy for her parents, who were probably worried sick outside.  Shock set in afterwards. Hyoyeon knew she didn't look like her parents, but that never bothered her before. But then came the question : Who were her real parents? Where were they now? Did they even care about her? Curiousity disguised it's way into her already fragile heart and asked these unanswered questions. Finally, she gathered the courage to talk to her parents about the matter. 

 

     "M-mom? Dad?" Hyoyeon's hoarse voice filled the kitchen where her parents were sitting staring at a piece of paper on the table. Remorse filled her instantly when their gazes met. Hyoyeon had seen her parents cry, but the image of her mom's red puffy eyes almost broke her heart. Immediately, they both ran over to her and pulled her into a tight hug. After the group hug, they apologized for not telling her earlier because they didn't know how she'd handle it and understanding that it was a shocking topic. Before Hyoyeon could ask anyhting about her real parents, her parents walked her over to the table and showed her the mysterious paper which turned out to be a birth certificate.  Hyoyeon's mom explained how they found her at the orphanage and decided to adopt her, while she read over the birth certificate. Everything seemed like it should have until she got to place of birth and the names of her parents. Instead of Las Vegas, Nevada, it was Seoul, Korea. As for the names, instead of the parents she grew up to know, there were two Korean names. 

 

     Suddely, she had a great idea. "Mom! If I finish college, can I go to Korea to meet my real parents? I just want to know who they are, so I don't go on living without knowing who went through the painful stages of pregnancy just for me. Plus, I want to know more about my culture. Can I please?" Hyoyeon's parents automatically loved the idea because it was true, she deserved to know more about her parents. They all agreed that it had to be after college, to make sure that she could take care of herself. They said that they'd pay for the ticket and Hyoyeon thanked her parents. She ran to her room and excitedly told Sunny over the phone about it and  decided that if they both went then it'd be much more fun. Plus, Sunny was Korean so she could help with the language and learn more about Korean culture too. With hard work and determination they both came up with the money to pay Sunny's ticket.

*

*

 

     It took a lot to get there but here she was, 5 years later on the plane next to her best friend.  Hyoyeon couldn't be more happy to go to Korea to meet her actual parents. Thoughts of what they were like drifted through her mind and eventually she fell asleep.