"Would you care for something to drink?"

Yukwon glanced up at the flight attendant and pulled on the chord of his right earphone.

"No thank you," he shook his head and gave her a smile.

The flight attendant's eyes flickered to something behind him, "And what about her?"

Yukwon turned his head towards the sleeping girl who was curled up against the window next to him.

"You can just leave a cup of water with me, I'll give it to her later," he said quietly.

The flight attendant nodded and prepared a cup of water before setting it down on Yukwon's small fold down table with a napkin.

He stared down at the small cup, watching the cylindrical ice cubes float and sink in the water. Biting his lip, he snuck another glance at her.

Yukwon knew she was a foreigner, probably a student traveling to Seoul. The book in English on her lap, how her eyes scanned the subtitles across the bottom of the screen during the preflight video, the way she didn't respond to the flight attendant when they spoke Korean.

He wanted to talk to her when he first caught sight of her at the flight check in counter. But when perfect English flowed out of , he immediately shied away, scared that she would judge him based on his broken English.

But now, he actually had a legitimate excuse to talk to her. Or at least, that's what he tried to tell himself.

'Do I wake her up? Or do I just wait till she wakes up on her own?'

Almost as if on cue, her nose wrinkled a little and she blinked her eyes open.

Yukwon froze in his seat, not knowing what to do. He watched her, completely stiff as she rubbed sleep out of her eyes.

When she caught his stare, Yukwon immediately diverted his attention to the lone cup of water on his fold down tray. He knew that she was still looking at him. Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw her blink once and tilt her head to the side, eyeing him curiously.

Yukwon cleared his throat and tried to recall all of the English that he had learned over the past couple of years.

"Would you like something to … drink?" he asked with just a hint of an accent.

He gave her a timid look but she continued to just stare back at him, confusion written across of her face.

He took a deep breath and lifted the cup of water, placing it on the table in front of her.

"For you," he stated quickly before drawing his hands back and folding them in his lap.

"Oh, thank you," she whispered.

Yukwon watched as she brought the cup up to her lips and took a small sip. After placing the cup back down on the napkin, she leaned back into her chair and opened the book that was resting on her lap.  

'Okay, you're doing good,' he encouraged himself in his head, 'Keep going. She doesn't think you're weird yet.'

"Ummmm, what's your name?" he asked quietly, as if other passengers were listening in on their conversation.

Yukwon felt his heart drop a little when she paid no attention to him and kept her eyes trained to her book.

'Did she not hear me?' he knitted his eyebrows together.

He cleared his throat and tried again.

"Excuse me."

But there was still no response from the girl. She simply flipped to the next page of her book and continued reading.

Yukwon's shoulders drooped and he bowed his head a little.

'She probably thinks I'm a freak,' he frowned and dropped his head onto his table in front of him.

The girl looked up at his sudden action and stared at Yukwon's defeated figure with wide eyes.  She quietly closed her book and pulled out the headphones that were hidden behind her long hair out of her ears.

She quietly placed the book next to her cup of water and eyed him with concern.

"Excuse me, are you okay?" she asked in fluent Korean without a hint of an accent.

Yukwon's head shot up and he stared back at her in disbelief.

"You speak Korean?" he asked.

She nodded her head, "My mom's from Busan and she speaks Korean at home."

Yukwon could feel his jaw drop and his eye widened but he quickly gathered himself, clearing his throat awkwardly.

"It's okay if you assumed that I didn't speak Korean," she assured, "Most people do."

"Oh I didn't …" he tried to lie but stopped when she gave him a look, "Okay, I might have for a second."

Yukwon found himself smiling to himself as she laughed and shook her head.

"My name is Yukwon," he introduced himself.

She gave him her English name and was sent into another round of laughter when he tried to pronounce it. But, of course, his thick Korean accent made it sound like a totally different name.

"My middle name is Jiyoung so you can call me that if it's easier for you," she smiled.

"Jiyoung," he nodded, "That's much easier to say."

"I would hope so," she tilted her head towards him and looked at him with a teasing smirk.

"Well, Jiyoung," she smiled as he tried to save himself from even more embarrassment, "Why didn't you ignore me earlier?"

"Huh?" a little crease between her eyebrows formed, "I didn't ignore you. I took the cup of water right?"

"No, no," he shook his head, "After that. I tried to talk to you but you ignored me and kept reading your book."

Her eyes widened in realization and she violently shook her head, "I didn't ignore you! Or well, I didn't mean to, I had my earphones in my ears."

She lifted her phone and pair of black earphones attached to it.

"Oh," he stared at the earbuds dangling from her hand.

Her eyes turned into half moons and she raised her eyebrows in anticipation of what he was going to say next.

"So, um, anyways," he quickly changed the subject, knowing his face was turning red, "Why are you going to Seoul?"

But all she could do was laugh.