Chapter 5

Once Seohyun had finish unpacking some of her things, she opened her tablet and was about to call the kids, “damn” she murmured “it’s 3:00 AM in San Bruno” as she saw her phones clock. She reminded herself to adjust this. 16 hours time difference is very very difficult. It finally hit her that she is practically living on the other side of the world. Are her kids OK? Were they able to finish their homework? Did they lock up as per my instructions? She was hit by homesickness which eventually made her cry again questioning if this is was a right move for her. Before she left for Korea, she had one of those talks with her grandparents. Her grandfather is 92 and her grandmother is 78 both old and wise but just what she needs in her life. She had always been very close to them, in fact much closer than her own parents. She was also a product of a broken family another reason why she held on for so long to her marriage with Kyuhyun, of all people who would now how her children would feel, it was her. She was on their same situation couple of decades back the only difference is Seo was an only child. She dealt with sadness alone but thankfully she had her grandparents who love her so dearly.

During her slow Sunday afternoon with her grandparents, her ever so wise grandfather told her

“I want you to go because it’s time for you to fly. You have always had those pretty wings Joohyun but somehow time and fate seem to be clipping them everytime you are ready. A person will never know how deep a water is until they actually dive into it. You will never know what the world can offer if you don’t go out there. Never think about the money that you will be using and loosing. We can simply earn it back but it’s time that we can’t. Time is the only thing we can never get back and so we want you to venture out there. If it’s studying that you want to do go ahead do it. If then you feel you are no longer happy you can always come home. What’s important is that you tried. Do not worry about your kids, your mom is with them, we are also here. They are already big kids who also want what will make you happy, they can fend for themselves. You have raised two wise kids with a good head on their shoulder and with that you can never go wrong.”

Her grandmother held her face and said “Open those wings Joohyun and soar high if you’re tired of flipping you can just let go and know that grams and gramps will catch you”

She cried hearing this. How can two people have such warm hearts who knows exactly how she feels? If her kids are her backbones her grandparents are her sanctuary. It had always been them whom she ran too for everything that goes wrong with her life. Their words are wise overtime and listening to them has shown her which path to take.

Her grandparents are hardworking people. Her granddad a military for the US government her grandmother owns Elsa’s one of the largest boutiques in San Francisco. Aside from her own shop downtown, she also in partnership with Macy’s, Sears etc.. She had attended a number of fashion shows for her grandmom but was never really into clothes. She also attended all her gramps awarding but was never really into community service. They thought that she was just too young to really know what she wants. Boy where they surprise when she ask her mom permission to join the Motor club at the age of 10. Her mom bewildered with her choice of club when she doesn’t even know how to drive. She explained that she will start with Go-Carts. Her father, an architect, for some reason agreed and so that’s where she discovered her love for speed. She was a member of NASCAR and has competed at the age of 16, one of the youngest female racers. She didn’t win the competition but she and family were so happy that she was able to even compete. She also did drifting which her mother disagreed only because it’s too expensive since you have to change tires so often.  Her father then said no more just to avoid another heated argument with his ex-wife.

Seohyun wiped her tears and smiled remembering those times. She sigh and chanted

“Come on Joohyun this is only for 2 years how bad can it be? You can always go home anytime it’s not like your forbidden too and theres Skype, Facetime and however way you’d want to call your kids”. She looked around her room and stood beside the window wondering what time it is. If it’s around 3AM in California then it’s around 7PM here in Seoul. She just decided to text her kids that she had arrived safely and to call her once they were awake and little did she know, started to doze off.

Morning came and when she woke up the sun is shining through her curtains. She checked her phone and found a message from her kids telling her to rest and will just schedule their Skype call the soonest she’s settled in. She sigh, her first day in Seoul dear God let this be a start of a beautiful beginning.

She went out to check the time and freshened herself up. She doesn’t hear anything from Yonghwas room and just assumed that he might still be sleeping or had already