Sooyeon kneeled down and sat back on her feet as she placed her small bundle of flowers at the head of the tombstone.

She brushed away the dried leaves on the tombstone with her hand, feeling the words engraved into the granite beneath her fingertips.

It read:

“Sung-Ho Jung. 1955 – 2013. Beloved father. ‘Goodbye, my love.’”

Sooyeon smiled down on her father’s grave.

He was a very talented jewelry crafter, well-recognized in the Diamond-Bar, California area for his work.

He owned his own jewelry shop and through his work, has always supported Sooyeon in everything she’s done throughout her entire life.

Everything he has done was always for her.

Because of his work, he was able to send Sooyeon to the prestigious Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City where she completed her undergraduate studies in fashion design.

But toward the end of her studies there, her father was diagnosed with lung cancer and instead of pursuing graduate school right away, Sooyeon moved back to California to be with her father and help him with the jewelry shop.

Sooyeon peered down at her left arm, gracing her fingers over the various silver and gold bangles that covered her forearm.

When Sooyeon turned 10, her father began creating an especially unique line of jewelry dedicated to her.

Every year, since her 10^th birthday, he would design another bracelet for her. Each bangle was made of recycled brass material with either a Russian gold or Russian silver finish.

Dangling from each bracelet was a charm that he created himself, made to represent some sort of significant attribute that he wanted his daughter to have in her life.

A lotus flower for peace.

A crown for Queenship and Authority.

A magic lamp for light.

A compass for guidance.

She had so many, more than ten actually, and each one was special to her.

Whenever she felt she needed something, she would wear that bracelet – most of the time, she would just wear all of them because she liked the positive energy they radiated.

Most recently, for her 24^th birthday earlier this year, her father, of course, gave her another bracelet with a very unique charm.

The charm was a small, circular plate that had a very intricate design with vines twisting and tangling around one another.

He told her “The design is emblematic of the various twists, and turns, and unexpected winds in your life, representing your willingness to travel down whatever road life presents to you.”

And like an unexpected twist in her life, his illness took a turn for the worse.

Before his ultimate passing, Sooyeon had one final conversation with her father.

--flashback—

 

“You left everything…to me?” she asked, surprised.

He had just informed her that in his final will, he left everything in her hands. He sold his jewelry store and left all of his inheritance to her.

Her father laughed a hearty laugh, even in his weak state. “Who else would I leave everything to? Mrs. Kang, the bakery owner down the street from the shop?” he joked.

Sooyeon laughed along.

“Sooyeon, I need to give you this,” he said, grabbing a manila envelope.

“What is it?” she asked, taking the envelope from him.

She was about to open it but he touched her hand and shook his head.

“Not yet, don’t open it just yet,” he advised.

“Why not?”

“Sooyeon,” he began slowly, “I don’t want you to live alone.”

“But I room with Tiffany now,” she assured him. “I’m not alone.”

He shook his head. “No, no, I need you to be with someone who I can trust. Someone who will take care of you,” he emphasized.

“Abeoji, I can take care of myself,” she tried to be strong.

Sooyeon was recently diagnosed not too long ago with early signs of Parkinson’s disease – an illness, that in later stages, would not only become more apparent, but become harder to control.

“Do you see that sticky note on the front of the envelope?” he asked, pointing to it.

She looked down at the envelope, reading the sticky note. It had a name and address written on it.

“Who is this person?” she asked, looking at the name she had never seen or heard before in her life.

“I need you to go to this person,” he instructed.

But Sooyeon didn’t fail to notice that this person’s name was not only Korean, but the address led to a place in Korea.

“But…this is in Korea?”

He nodded his head affirmatively.

“You want me to…go to another country? But who is this person? Abeoji, I have never heard of this person before.”

“That person,” he began to clarify, “is someone I know who will be able to take care of you.”

“How do you know? This person has never talked to me before. Is this person a friend?”

“It’s someone whom I trust…and despite our estrangement, I know this person will do the right thing.”

“I just…I don’t understand.”

“All in due time,” he assured her, patting her hand.

She stared down at the manila envelope, tempted to open it.

“What’s inside this envelope, abeoji?”

“The real copy of my final will and some other important documents.”

“Why can’t I open this envelope now?”

“There will be a time for it,” he explained.

“How will I know when that is?”

“You will know and everything will make sense.”

Sooyeon’s head was spinning from all this cryptic talk.

“Why does everything have to be such a mystery?” Sooyeon questioned.

Her father just smiled and rubbed her arm warmly.

“Isn’t that the joy of life? The thrill of not knowing what direction it will lead you?”

Sooyeon heaved a sigh and shrugged her shoulders.

“I guess,” she agreed weakly.

“I just want you to be safe. I want someone to take care of you. You can’t always do everything by yourself,” he lectured. “Everyone needs help sometimes.”

She nodded her head. “Ok, abeoji, I understand.”

“Just trust me,” he asked holding out his hand.

“I do trust you,” she said, grasping his hand.

“Promise me you’ll find this person?”

“I promise.”

 

--end of flashback—

Sooyeon would never break a promise to her father.

I trust you, dad.

…

Sooyeon made her way through the airport with her ticket in hand, and her rolling suitcase with a dufflebag on top in her other hand.

The airport was always a busy haze of people bustling here and there and everywhere.

But Sooyeon managed to navigate herself through the busy crowd.

Now which gate is it again? She asked herself, looking down at her ticket as she walked around.

Her absentmindedness got the better of her when she suddenly bumped into someone, causing the both of them to drop their tickets on the ground.

“Oh, sorry,” she immediately apologized, bending down to pick up both tickets.

“You should be.”

Sooyeon didn’t fail to notice the edge in his voice.

As she grabbed both tickets, she noticed how extremely shiny this guy’s leather shoes were glistening.

She nervously looked up at him.

He was extremely tall.

And handsome.

But it was an almost kind of scary handsome. He had very charismatic eyebrows – one of which was raised at her with discontentment, obviously.

He looked like someone who walked straight out of GQ magazine. He was wearing a white dress shirt and nice pants. His hair was styled up and back with gel.

Sooyeon gulped as she slowly stood back up.

“Hello,” he crooned. “My ticket?” he demanded, holding out his hand.

“Oh…here,” she said giving it back to him.

He quickly snatched it from her as if she had stolen it from him.

“You should watch where you’re going, huh?” he advised, wagging his ticket at her.

Sooyeon wasn’t particularly fond of his attitude.

“Sorry,” she apologized again, except this time, she didn’t mean it as much as the first time she had said it.

He continued to glare at her with this condescending “Yeah, whatever” expression until he turned around and went his own way.

What a jerk, she thought to herself.

…

Woobin walked up to the front of the plane, following the flight attendant as she pulled a curtain out of her way that separated the first-class section from the coach section.

“Here’s your seat, sir,” she said as she pointed to one of the several empty rows of pairs of giant luxury seats.

Looks like Woobin would be flying this trip solo for the most part, much to his pleasure.

“Thank you,” he nodded his head as he moved toward the window seat.

“Can I get you anything? Tea? Coffee? A pillow?”

The woman’s eagerness was all too familiar for Woobin. And while the number of women throwing themselves at him was amusing, Woobin wasn’t interested in shopping for a date anytime soon.

“No, no,” he said waving his hand. “I’m good.”

The flight attendant bowed and walked away, disappointed obviously.

Woobin let out a sigh as he leaned his head against the leather headrest.

“Please buckle your seat as the plane begins to get ready for takeoff. We will be arriving in Seoul, Korea in approximately 13 hours. We hope you enjoy your trip and thank you for choosing Los Angeles World Airports.”

He buckled himself to his seat and looked out the window as he began to feel the plane slightly tremble beneath him, getting ready to take off.

He watched as the road beneath the plane slowly became a long blur as the plane charged forward.

Woobin’s eyes slowly closed and he began to drift off.

…

A few hours had past and Woobin unbuckled himself so he could get up to go to the bathroom.

He walked into the middle section of the plane, pulling the curtain out of his way. He slowly made his way down the aisle when he heard another person get up from her seat and talk to the passing flight attendant.

“Excuse me, Miss,” the familiar voice beckoned.

“Yes, ma’am?”

“I was wondering if there were any other open seats available?”

“Is there a problem?”

“Another flight attendant tried to help me earlier but it seems the person sitting next to me still can’t keep his hands to himself…”

The flight attendant looked around and shook her head. “I’m so sorry, Miss, but we’re completely booked with customers today.”

“Is there any other section that isn’t full? Business? First-class?” the girl pleaded.

“I’m sorry, Miss, I’m really not supposed to let our flyers switch sections.”

The girl heaved a sigh of disappointment. “Great. Thanks anyway,” she shrugged and went back to her seat.

Woobin recognized her being the girl who bumped into him back at LAX.

It was very unlikely of him, but Woobin felt bad for her.

He was normally never this nice to anyone, let alone to complete strangers, but Woobin sort of felt obligated to help her out.

…

Sooyeon kept her nose in her book in an attempt to ignore the stranger’s creepy stare and busy hands.

“So you never told me your name,” he said, his low, whisper-like voice a little too haunting for her comfort.

“Because I don’t want to,” she replied without looking at him. If there’s anything Sooyeon hates, it’s guys who can’t take a hint.

“Come on, sweetheart,” he said, his finger gliding up her knee. “Just your name.”

Sooyeon immediately smacked his hand away. “Don’t touch me,” she hissed.

But all he did was laugh. “Just how I like them: beautiful and feisty.”

Sooyeon almost gagged at the sound of his ic tone of voice. This man was old enough to be her father.

“You got a boyfriend, sweetness?” he asked, leaning in toward her face. The feeling of his hot breath against her neck was making her cringe.

“Can you please leave me alone—“

“Babe, what the hell are you doing?” someone suddenly called as she looked up.

It’s that guy.

“I’ve been looking all over for you. I told you our seats were first-class, not coach,” he said, leaning on the e’s seat.

“Wh-what?” she stuttered, looking up at him, confused.

“I said you’re supposed to be in first-class.”

“You know this guy?” the stranger asked.

“Y-Yes, of course,” Sooyeon answered nervously, springing up from her seat.

The guy reached out his hand for her to grab. “I’m her boyfriend, obviously,” he replied for her, pulling her into the aisle.

He turned to her. “Grab your stuff and I’ll meet you in first-class,” he whispered in her ear.

She nodded her head in compliance.

“I’ll see you up there,” he said aloud. Without warning, he kissed her on the cheek, and Sooyeon’s eyes widened.

She could feel the warmth in cheeks as she anxiously opened up the compartment above her seat and pulled out her luggage.

She started to make her way toward the flight attendants’ section where the curtain was when she overheard the guy whisper to her previous flying neighbor.

“I don’t like you. Go near her again and I will become your worst nightmare.”

He turned away from the creep and started walking toward her.

“You alright, babe?” he asked sweetly, placing his hand on the small of her back, still keeping up their little charade.

“Why’d you do that?” she whispered.

“You honestly wish I didn’t?” he answered.

Sooyeon violently shook her head and he laughed. “Come on,” he urged her toward first-class.

When they walked in, Sooyeon’s eyes widened with excitement. It was like entering another universe. The whole section was a pearly white, with huge leather seats that looked like they could fit two people.

“Just take a seat, I’ll be right back,” he said as he walked away.

Sooyeon’s eyes were still opened wide as well as her gaping mouth. She sat down in the closest seat and looked around in amazement.

She heard a flight attendant come out and talk to the guy. She could make out a bit of what they were saying.

“It’s fine, don’t worry about it.”

“I’m really not supposed to—“

Woobin looked over his shoulder before her handed her something like a piece of paper or money.

The flight attendant looked at it, stuffed it into her pocket, and nodded her head.

She suddenly walked up to Sooyeon and looked down on her.

“Can I get you anything?” she asked, her voice sounding a bit condescending.

Sooyeon shook her head. “No, thanks.”

The flight attendant nodded her head and walked away.

Rude, much? Did he deny you or something?

The guy took the seat next to her by the window and he smiled at her.

“Comfortable?” he asked simply as he relaxed his head against his seat.

“You didn’t have to,” Sooyeon answered, feeling bad.

“A gentleman should never deny a damsel in distress,” he said smugly.

“Excuse me, I can take care of myself,” Sooyeon replied angrily, crossing her arms.

“Well, you sure handled that one well,” Woobin rolled his eyes.

“I can leave,” she answered, preparing herself to get up from her seat.

“You really want to do that?” he said, raising his eyebrow.

Sooyeon bit her lower lip and looked at him with defeat and lowered herself back onto the seat.

“That’s what I thought,” he said.

“What’s the catch?” she inquired. “I’m not going to date you,” Sooyeon answered. That’s the last thing she’d be looking for. She doesn’t need some smug, conceited jerk trying to hit up on her…again.

“Can’t a guy just do a nice thing for once?” he answered, closing his eyes, rubbing the bridge of his nose with his thumb and index finger.

“Sorry…It’s just…I normally don’t trust strangers. If they do something nice it’s because they’re expecting something out of it.”

“You’re smart to do that,” he commended her. “But I don’t want anything from you. Just relax now.”

She also leaned her head against her seat.

This total stranger was too nice and she isn’t one to give her trust away so easily. But something about this guy seemed nice enough, despite their earlier encounter. But she decided to reflect on her judgments at a later time.

Her eyelids started to become heavy and she eagerly gave in.

[A/N]

> The bracelet idea was inspired by Alex & Ani: Positive Energy bracelets - http://www.alexandani.com/

> I actually have a lot of them and I love them!

> This is what the Path of Life Charm actually looks like: http://www.alexandani.com/path-of-life-infinity-expandable-wire-bangle.html

> Jessica's Korean name (Sooyeon) and English name will be used interchangeably throughout the story.

Hope you enjoyed this chapter and are looking forward to reading more. Please comment below with your thoughts - I'm always interested! <3

- Jasmine