As I walked off the plane in Busan, South Korea, I fought to calm my racing heart. I couldn't wait to see Baro-- for him to see me. The new me, Gem.

I passed through customs like zombie, claimed my suitcases, and joined the crowd at the gate that led to the terminal.

I looked at the mass of faces around me. Where is Baro? Dad's letter hadn't said sure that Baro would be there to meet me, but I had wishes for it so hard on the plane coming over that I'd convinced myself it would happen just as it had in my daydreams.

Of course, Baro would be looking for the same old ponytailed Meg. When he saw me, he'd do a double take, or maybe he wouldn't even recognize at all. 

Then when Baro finally realized who I was, he'd be struck speechless. I would give him my mysterious smile, and he'd become mine forever......

My eyes continued to scan the crowd. He had to be there somewhere. He just had to be.

Suddenly I heard a familiar male voice shout "Meg!" at the top of his lungs. "Dad!"

He grabbed me in a tight bear hug and squeezed me till I could hardly breathe. I felt my eyes start to tear up. I knew he had missed me a lot, but I hadn't realized how much I had missed him till just the moment.

"Don't you remember, Dad?" I said when I could breathe again. "I'm Gem now. Not Meg."

"Whatever you say, sweetheart," he said in a rush. "Look at you! You look beautiful." He clasped my hand. "Listen, I'm sorry, sweetheart, but I've got to run. My plane is boarding now. I'm very glad I got to see you. When I found out your flight was delayed, I was afraid I'd miss you altogether."

"Where's Baro?" I asked. "I thought he was coming with you"

"He was busy. Sandeul came instead," Dad said. That's when I noticed Sandeul standing right behind him. I tried to hide my disappointment that he was there instead of his brother.

"Gotta go," my dad said. "Love you." He picked up his briefcase and overnight bag, gave me another bone-crushing hug, and ran off toward his gate.

Sandeul was just staring at me-- he hadn't said a word. But I didn't take it personally. I knew Sandeul wasn't the talkative type. He never had together, he rarely spoke more than a few words to me. It didn't bother me-- it was just the way he was.

"Hey, Sandeul, thanks for coming to get me." I said.

"No problem." He picked up my suitcases, and we headed toward the exit and out to the parking lot. Sandeul walked a few steps ahead of me, cutting a path through the crowded airport.

"How's Baro?" I asked his back. "The same, he's at the soccer practice. He'll be the goalkeeper this year." Sandeul answered. "But school hasn't even begun," I pointed out.

"A lot of the varsity teams had tryouts and practices already." Althought my mind was on Baro and how he'd react to the new me, I couldn't help noticing that Sandeul had done some changing himself during the past year.He was taller than I remembered, and he walked through the crowd with the air of confidence. It wasn't so long ago that he'd been a scrawny, nerdy kid who depended on his big brother to protect him fom the class bullies.

I had two huge suitcases filled with new clothes and makeup and souvenirs. I knew they weighed a ton, but Sandeul carried them as if they were empty. He must have been lifting weights, I thought, and I studied his biceps are they bulged from beneath his T-shirt. He wasn't as muscular as Baro-- not by a long shot-- but no one would describe him as scrawny, either.

Sandeul tossed the bags into the back of his black car. When we were finally on our way out of the airport, Sandeul said, "I almost didn't recognize you" "It's my hair," I said. "No, not just the hair" He said. "The earrings?" I asked, touching the pearl earring in my left ear. He shook his head, glancing at me as often as he could while driving.

"My clothes?" I volunteered. Before my year abroad, I'd worn mostly baggy jeans and T-shirts. Now I had on a skiny jeans and tank top. I had spent hours deciding on this outfit. FOR BARO...

"No, it's not that, either," Sandeul said, his eyes widening. "It's really strange. You seem so different, so..." I turned and gave him my MYSTERIOUS SMILE. I had to practice to make sure I got it just right for Baro. A horn honked, reminding Sandeul that the light had turned green. "Where to now?" I asked, adjusting my seat belt. "Don't you want to go home?" He asked.

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GEM's P.O.V

If Baro had been at the house, I'd have made a beeline for home. But with Dad away and Baro at soccer practice, getting back to our little carriage house behind the Kim's palatial mansion was the last thing I wanted to do.

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"Can we go somewhere else?" I asked. "Sure. Anywhere you want to go, What did you miss the most while you were gone? "The Depot" I answered without hesitation. "I can really go for a double chocolate chip milk shake." "You know the Depot takes forever," Sandeul warned.

"The service hasn't gotten any better?" He shook his head. "Nope. It's all part of the atmosphere. If they changed, we wouldn't recognize the Depot." He explained. "I don't want you to waste your entire afternoon with me... if, you know, it's going to take forever." 

"I do need to go to track later, get some practice in for the Lake Forest meet coming up. I don't know if there's time for the Depot, and drive you home, and then to drive back to the school track."  I had an even better idea. "I'll go with you to school after the Depot. Then you can drive me home after practice, okay?"  I knew Baro's soccer team would be practicing at the school field-- maybe I'd get to see him there. 

"Aren't you tired?" "A little,but I'm so excited about being back home, I feel energized." What I didn't tell him was that the thought of finally seeing Baro who was the charming, witty brother. Sandeul was quite one. And since he and I had started high school, we'd stopped talking as much as we had when we were little kids. I guessed it was mostly my fault. Before I had even hit the ninth grade, I had a full-blown crush on Baro, and whenever I saw Sandeul, I'd bombard him with question about his brother: Where was Baro? Who was he with? When would he be home? Sandeul had probably just gotten tired of my questions.

But this time he surprised me. "You know, I never told you this, but I really admire you for getting out of Busan for a year" "It was fun and scary at the same time, and even though I had a blast and met a lot of new people, I still really missed-- well, I missed everybody."

"Maybe I'll get my chance to travel soon, see the world. You know, our family have lived in Busan for more than a hundred years. Same house, same town, same church, same schools. I plan to be the first Kim son to break out." 

It was weird the way Sandeul spoke about his family. Kim this, Kim that, as if he didn't feel he was really a member of the richest family in Busan. That was so unlike Baro, who seemed more than comfortable with his status.

"What about Baro? Doesn't he want to travel, too? I asked, staring out the window. "I don't think so. Baro's pretty happy right where he is. Captain of the Wrestling team, goal keeper of the varsity soccer team. He'll probably get accepted by Seoul University for next year. Why would Baro want to leave?" "But you do?" "Maybe it's because I'm the second son. I'm not going to become president of the Kim Tool and Die Company-- Baro will. I mean, I could be part of the company if I wanted to, and there are even some shares set aside for me, but I'd always be in Baro's shadow if I stayed. Kind of like I am now." I didn't know how to respond. What he said was absolutely true. Sandeul had always been in Baro's shadow, at school and at home. 

I'd forgotten how easy it was to be with Sandeul. Of course, that shouldn't have been a surprise. We had been best friends when we were little. We were the same agge and had the played together after school. Baro was usually off wuth his friends and didn't pay any attention to us because we were a year younger than he was. A year seemed like a lot back then.

But when we started high school, Sandeul and I had drifted apart. Everyone assumed that, if a boy and a girl were hanging out together, they must be dating. And the thought that people might think about me and Sandeul had emmbarrassed me, so I kind of avoided him. It probably wasn't the nicest way to handle things, but I wanted to make sure that Baro knew I was available to go out with him----not that he'd ever asked me.

Now I realized I might have missed something by cutting Sandeul out of my life. He might not be as muscular as Baro, or as popular, and he certainly didn't make my heart skip a beat the way just thinking about Baro did.But he wasn't the geeky science nerd that a lot of people thought he was. And as I looked at him again now, he didn't look at all like a geeky science nerd, either. He must have gotten contacts, because he wasn't wearing glasses, and I knew he needed to wear glasses to drive. He was sort of cute in a friendly way---and you could tell just looking at him that he was nice.

And his voice sounded softer that I remembered, but firm, self-assured. It almost sounded "Y". That must be because he's speaking "KOREAN!". I told myself. It felt like years since I had heard a Korean voice. Of course, the most important thing about Sandeul was that he was Baro's brother, and being Sandeul's friend gave me the perfect excuse to keep running into Baro at the Kim's mansion.

"If you did take French, I could help you with your French homework" I suggested. I pictured myself over Kim's several afternoons a week. Baro couldn't help but notice me then.

"I think you're doing a pretty good job helping me right now. How do you say Hello? "Bonjour" "Now how about 'You are very pretty'?" He stopped at the red light. "Well, there are two ways to say that. If you're saying it to a close friend, you'd say, 'Tu es tres belle.' But the more formal way of saying it would be 'Vous etes tres bella'