93 Million Miles - Jason Mraz

Hover

The slight turbulence from the flight made Aerin internally curse. The plane was already bigger than the usual planes she rode and yet she still managed to feel slightly dizzy and nauseous. Having a large suitcase to carry around didn’t help either. Although Aerin didn’t bring much with her, it seemed as if her luggage weighed the same as dozens of hollow blocks. Could it be because she brought twice the amount of shoes this time? But all of those were light. Could it be because she brought a few snacks and chocolates that couldn’t be bought in South Korea? But she only brought a few of those. Or maybe it was just a side effect from the jetlag she had acquired during the trip. That was plausible, but she wasn’t really sure. It was her first time experiencing this condition after years of going back and forth between Seoul and California, and it was surely an experience she wouldn’t want to repeat again. Maybe I should sue the inexperienced pilot.

Pulling her suitcase with much difficulty, Aerin stopped in her tracks as she narrowed her eyes towards the resting area. It was already half past 11 and she was sure that it was the exact time of her arrival that she told her dad. He couldn’t possibly be late, could he? Not right now when she could barely move with her heavy luggage.

“Our dear Aerin,” spoke a voice all too familiar to Aerin, causing for her to stay still. “It’s been awhile.”

Much to her delight, she turned around, and it was indeed Heegun. “Hey Dad, I’m back.”

Ruffling her hair, Heegun then grabbed Aerin’s suitcase from her, much to the girl's relief as she could no longer continue to carry it. Aerin was happy to see Heegun again. For a split second, she thought she would have to wait for a few more hours until she would be fetched from the airport. But then again, Heegun was never late. He had always been the one who greeted Aerin in the airport and had been doing it for almost ten years now. It had already become an annual ritual for him to go to the airport during the first week of summer. It was a time where he and his only daughter would meet after a year of almost no contact with each other.

Pulling the brown suitcase towards the parking lot with Aerin following behind him, Heegun took a small peek towards the girl. “So how was the flight?”

“It was…” Aerin pondered, pressing her lips into a thin line as she stood in front of an old familiar black BMW. So he still uses this junk. “It was fine, I guess.”

The flight was far from fine. There was lots of turbulence and the pilot was inexperienced was what Aerin wanted to say. However, she didn’t want to sound like a whiny kid who could’t even take a small amount of aerial disturbance. Even if she did tell him the truth, nothing could have been done anyway. It would only prompt unnecessary questions and she didn’t want to dwell on needless things like that. She wouldn’t ride the same plane next time, so it was better to just move on and forget about the flight.

Besides, the trip as a whole was quite peaceful in all honesty. Minus the annoying shaking of the entire plane every once in a while.

“That’s good then,” Heegun smiled, loading the back seat with his daughter’s suitcase before getting in the car. After buckling his seatbelt, he then turned the car key, causing the old machine to sputter and come to life. “Are you hungry though? If you want we could eat out first before we go back to Busan.”

The thought of eating out was a bit tempting for Aerin, but the length of time it would take to drive from Seoul to Busan would be at least four and a half hours. If they stuck around for any longer, she would have been wearing the same set of clothes for a whole twenty-four hours, and that was something Aerin didn’t like at all. She didn’t want to stink, especially with how she was sweating like crazy due to the heat. “I’m fine. Maybe we should just go to a drive-thru or something so we could eat on the road.”

“Good point,” Heegun said, pressing his foot on the gas pedal and the car slowly started to move. “How’s McDonald’s?”

“Sure. Just a plain cheeseburger and a Mcfloat for me,” Aerin said plainly, lowering the glass windows as she saw her father nodding out of the corner of her eye. She was actually hoping to eat some native foods such as ddeokbokki or kimchi jun. Aerin was fed up with McDonald’s greasy food, but she didn’t mind, since she was really hungry. The plane food didn’t match with her tastes so she wasn’t able to eat much, but right now, she was willing to eat anything that was given to her. Besides, she would have plenty of time to eat the local food that she wanted. McDonald’s will do for now.

After dropping by the nearest McDonald's, Aerin and Heegun eventually entered the Gyeongbu expressway, the road that connected Seoul to Suwon, Daejeon, Gumi, Daegu, and Busan. Throughout the ride they took bites of their Cheeseburgers and drinks. For Heegun, he managed to finish his share for about an hour after entering the road whereas Aerin quickly finished hers in about 5 minutes. She was hungry, and her father was a bit amused at how fast his daughter could eat as he chuckled lightly, much to Aerin’s comfort.

The ride was silent, but it wasn’t awkward. Heegun would occasionally ask Aerin about her life in America to which she would only respond with a simple "yes" or "no." It wasn’t that she was being rude. Rather, her father’s questions were just naturally like that, ones that could be answered with a few simple words. He didn’t ask or say things in a complicated way but preferred going straight to the point—a trait of which Aerin found really convenient.

After about four hours, it was only when Aerin decided to avert her gaze from the window and look in front that she noticed the small picture attached on the right side of the windshield. It was a picture of her younger self together with her dad and her mom. It was a picture that had always been there, a picture that she had seen every summer after her arrival. Although Aerin knew every detail of how the picture looked like, it still managed to make her feel a bit queasy. He still keeps on to things like this, much like how I always did. Seeing how much the resemblance between her and Minae’s outer appearance were similar compared to how it was with Heegun, Aerin couldn’t help but be disappointed.

Although a man of few words, Heegun was quite well-known. He was a hardworking and intelligent man who was admired by many people. Kang Photography was the living proof of that. He had started the company from scratch and eventually established the business on his own, an achievement that earned him respect from many. Not only was he intelligent, but Heegun was handsome and youthful-looking for a thirty-seven year old man—the main reason why he managed to win Minae's heart. It was also an attribute that Aerin would have liked to inherit but unfortunately didn’t, much to her disappointment.

Her father was the silent type. It wasn’t in his character