Chapter 1

Months later, she never heard from him again. Of course, there were the occasional Facebook updates here and there, but that promise he made about having to talk about that confrontation was always pushed back. Knowing he would put it off, Samantha had to act as if his behavior did not affect her. The last thing she wanted was to worry her best friends.

After enough thinking, she finally gained a full understanding of what he meant when he asked her that final question. Dongwoon, being the patient best friend, tried his best to convince her not to get her hopes up. She had her hopes up for nothing. She thought maybe she and Jeremy could be together if she was patient enough to wait for him. Ailee and Dongwoon both knew Samantha had no patience left, so that was why Dongwoon had to stick around to help her understand. “He already gave you an answer, Sam,” Dongwoon finally said. “You just don’t know it yet.”

She gave him a look of confusion. “What is that supposed to mean?” she asked impatiently. “He just left me with an open-ended question. I’m sure he—“ and then it slowly started to hit her. Dongwoon knew it the whole time.

Upon her realization, Samantha broke down. Dongwoon shifted uncomfortably on Samantha’s couch as he patiently waited for her crying to calm a bit. Dongwoon took out his phone to send Ailee a quick text: “She’s crying. I think she now knows what he actually meant.”

Immediately, his phone chimed. “Great. I’ll talk to her tomorrow. Thanks for sticking around for her. –Ailee”

The underlying message was that Jeremy knew it wouldn’t work out. Samantha cried because he gave up without even trying. She realized she wasted her breath defending him. It’s time to let him go, Sam, she thought. But I can’t let him go without some bit of closure. I want to hear him tell me himself. He owes me that much before I can move on.

Yet, here she was feeling empty over him. “I’m sorry I didn’t listen to you and Ailee,” Samantha said in-between sniffles. “I feel so stupid for getting my hopes up.”

“Sam, you know me and Ailee are always here for you,” he assured her. “We may not agree with the decisions you make but as your best friends we support you. Now that you know, you’ll be hurting temporarily but the Sam we know will be over this in no time.”

“Why is it so hard?” she cried.

“We never said it was an easy thing to do,” he comforted her. “But I know you’ll be fine.”

“Thank you,” she smiled then pulled him close to embrace him.

According to Nicky, her brother was headed to Thailand for the year.

Despite not talking to him anymore, Samantha still maintained a friendship with his sister, Nicky. Nicky knew Samantha had feelings for her brother but chose not to call her out on it because 1) she might be wrong and 2) she’d be embarrassed if she was put into Samantha’s position. She showed no signs of opposition to the younger girl’s feelings for her brother because she genuinely liked Samantha and understood the idea of not helping the way you feel. Nicky was only five years older but Samantha felt as if they were the same age. They had so much in common which was one of the reasons why they got along so well the first time they met. They bonded a lot more when Nicky was going through a break-up with her boyfriend and Samantha gave her advice. It was as if they were meant to meet, Nicky had said.

Samantha saw this as her only chance. She had saved up a lot of money in the hopes of taking a year off to travel. Going to Thailand sounded like a nice opportunity to go sightseeing and learn a bit about where her culture, so why not? Besides, it would a plus that he would be there because she can finally gain a bit of closure before it’s too late. He once mentioned to her about going to Thailand and bringing home a wife. She knew he was joking but Samantha was angry about it. There really was no reason for her to be angry knowing they had no relationship to begin with but she couldn’t help it.

This was going to be fun, she thought.

The next morning as she boarded her plane, she started second guessing herself, “This isn’t creepy. Not creepy at all,” she muttered.

She couldn’t find him anywhere. Maybe he took a different flight? She thought but didn’t think much of it. When the flight set off, she put on her headphones and drifted off to sleep. Samantha realized she hadn’t slept properly in so long due to her countless nights of crying and thinking about him.

Why did he have to make her feel this way? She thought. This was supposed to clear her head but she can’t forget him. She hoped this feeling will somehow go away soon.

Hours later, the passenger who sat beside her shook her awake. “Hmm?” Samantha woke up confused.

“We’re here,” the man told her.

“Okay, thanks,” she said getting up to leave.

When she entered the airport, something seemed off. Samantha felt as if she wasn’t in Thailand. The air did not seem all that tropical and there was nothing Thai about it. ! Her eyes widened when she read the sign: Welcome to Seoul. I’m in South freakin’ Korea?!

It slowly started to come together when she realized she boarded the wrong flight. She had forgotten the flight to Seoul and Bangkok left at around the same time and because the thought of Jeremy took over she was too distracted to notice. “Damn it, Jeremy!” she muttered angrily. “This is all your fault!”

She used most of her money for the plane ticket so she was stuck here. Her plan initially was to look for a job when she arrived but since she was not at her destination; Samantha was literally lost in translation.

Samantha was only left with two options: she could call her family and tell them what happened so they could try to send her money, or she could stay here and find work so she could save up for another ticket to Thailand. Option number one sounded like a horrible idea because her family would start panicking and worrying over her. She would hate for that to happen. All that’s left was option number two.

Looking around a familiar poster caught her attention: Welcome to the Beast Airlines. Dongwoon was here! She immediately fished inside her grey tote bag for her phone so she could call her best friend to let her know she was here. I wonder what he’d say, she thought. That fool better be happy to see me.

Just then, someone bumped into her. As a result, Samantha tripped on her feet prompting the contents of her purse to fall out. Great, my day just keeps getting better and better, she muttered as she started gathering the fallen items.

“Omo! I’m so sorry!” the guy exclaimed in Korean as he helped Samantha gather her belongings.

“Don’t worry about it, dude,” she spoke to him in English because she clearly did not understand what he was saying. But she was pretty sure he was apologizing.

His eyes immediately went wide. “You speak English?!” he exclaimed in English.

Samantha gave him a look of confusion. “Uh, yeah,” she answered nodding slowly. “And so do you, from what I notice.” She proceeded to grab her things but he stopped her. She looked back at him.

“Let me help you,” he said. “This is all my fault.”

“Well, if you insist,” she said allowing him to help. As he picked up her things, she studied him. He wore a red hoodie under a black jacket, along with a matching Chicago Bulls baseball cap, not to mention some diamond studded earrings. Overall, he was a very good-looking guy.

“You sure carry a lot of stuff in that purse of yours,” he remarked after he gathered everything.

“I’m a girl,” she retorted. “What do you expect? I basically live in my purse.”

He chuckled. “I think that’s everything,” he finally said. “Again, I’m really sorry about all of this..—“

“Right! Where are my manners?!” she gleamed. “I’m Samantha. And you are…?”

“Peniel,” he shook her hand.