Chapter One

Crossroad

Tiffany looked clueless as her vision shifted from her left to her right, in front of her is a crossroad. She’s contemplating on which road to take when she suddenly remembered a poem written by one of her favorite poet.

“The road not taken…”

The road on her left is wide and fully asphalt, so probably it would lead her to a crowded place while the road on her right is narrower and rocky.

“Since Jeonju is the capital more people would go there. And the caretaker said the ancestral house was located between Jeonju and Wanju County I shouldn’t take that road because it’ll just take me back to the city. Gosh! Whatever! Let’s just take the road that looked liked not always taken by people maybe something nice would happen along the way.”

Tiffany then swayed her stirring wheel to the right and took the narrower road.

The caretaker of the Hwang’s family house in Seoul said she could easily find the Hwang’s ancestral house once she got out of the capital, that it would only take her another 20 minute drive more or less. And she could just easily ask people about the house because fortunately of her, her grandfather is quite famous in the whole of North Jeolla Province.

“Where exactly am I?” All Tiffany could see are endless rows of trees from her left to right, not a single house could be seen.

She’s starting to think that she had really taken the wrong turn and got herself lost. Tiffany really don’t like this kind of place, eerie and quiet, it somehow makes her feel restless.

And to make matter worst, she starts to hear weird noises coming from the hood of her car then soon it was followed by a thick white smoke and the next thing she knew, she already halted in the middle of nowhere.

“Oh damn!” Tiffany beat her poor stirring wheel as she tried to release her frustration to the poor thing.

“Dad used to say that you’re a reliable old car! But now you’re just an old car!” She speak to herself again as she tried to open the hood of the car.

Except for the evident smoke coming from the car’s engine Tiffany no longer knows anything else. She doesn’t even know a thing about car engine except for changing tires, which her Dad insists she should learn.

Now Tiffany wants to scold herself for taking this road. If she had only taken the wider road the chance of her seeing someone is definitely sky high. She could easily ask for help but now she just stuck inside her father’s old car, in the middle of nowhere, with no phone reception or anything.

Then she suddenly remembered the argument she and her mother had a week ago before she decided to pack her bags and flew back to Korea.

“Damn!” Tiffany told herself as she angrily deleted the words she had typed on her laptop.

“You missed lunch, Miyoung-ah. Drink this hot choco first.” Her mother told her affectionately.

“What’s your problem again? Lately all you do is scream and abuse your poor laptop that I started to sympathize with the poor thing.”

“Mom, first of all please stop calling me Miyoung it sounds so old.” Her mother just smiled at her, she knows her mother loves calling her in her Korean name whenever she’s troubled because it somehow distracts her.

“It’s a beautiful name and besides we took that name from your grandmother so it’s more meaningful.”

“Exactly! You named me after my grandmother! Hence my name sounded so old!”

“But it has a wonderful meaning nonetheless sweetheart.”

“Please mother, spare me with the history of my name again. I still don’t get it why you and Dad named me after her late mother.”

“You know why.”

“I know why, I said I still just don’t get it.” Her parents named her after her late grandmother in hope that it could somehow appease her grandfather’s ill feelings towards her parents.

But even though she was already named after her late grandmother, nothing much had really changed between her parents and their estrange grandfather.

That even upon her father’s death, none from his side of the family came to his funeral. On her mind at that time, all she had were questions on why they never had once met the man that gave life to their father. Was the sin their parents did was that huge that until her father’s death, is still couldn’t be forgiven?

Tiffany’s thoughts were cut off when she heard her mother’s worried voice.

“Okay, now tell me what your problem is? Maybe I could help.”

Tiffany smiled at her mother who smiled to her in return.

“Mom, I’m running out of settings for my next novel. I think I already used all the familiar places I knew, even those I already been to. And I’ve been using one place twice already. I just can’t create a certain place.” Tiffany defeatedly told her mother her dilemma.

“Isn’t it always safe to use LA or San Francisco as neighboring cities?”

“Mom, that’s already too commonly used. Besides, the story I have in mind right now is far from the city theme, I want something classic this time around. I’ve been to Louisiana, Georgia and South Carolina and some other places in Europe too. But none of them fits the setting I have in mind.”

“Use your imaginations, Miyoung. You can create a certain place. What’s the use of you being a writer if you can’t create a place of your own? I can’t believe you took Journalism at UCLA just to become a romance pocketbook and eBook writer.”

Tiffany smiled at her mother. “And since when did you become a snob mother? Besides pocketbooks are less hassle than a full novel and eBook are the hype right now.”

Stella didn’t answer her daughter. Because deep inside she’s happy and proud to what her daughter has accomplished. Plus, she gets to always have her at home. The young woman only step out of the house when she need to meet her publisher or when her best friends are bugging her to go out with them. And after all, Tiffany is being paid well.

Her youngest Yuri is on her last year in college. Yuri is just a year younger from Tiffany. And the girl is always away from home. Yuri is always mingling with her friends or at her part-time job which she really doesn’t mind because her youngest is such a free spirited girl.

God has given her and Chanhyuk two wonderful daughters. And she can never be too proud of them in any way. She’s sure that her husband too, is proud of her little girls and is probably boasting about them in heaven. For their daughters grew up beautifully and well.

Tiffany is the typical Korean fair white complexion which she inherited from their grandmother, while Yuri has that typical Korean tanned skin she inherited from their mother Stella. Both are equally beautiful in different ways.

Stella was about to leave her daughter to let her have her own musing when she was suddenly called back. She turned around again to look at her daughter who is now looking far away in her bedroom window.

“Mom… what about Jeonju and Seoul?” Tiffany asked softly. She knew that her father’s hometown is a very sensitive topic for their family to talk about. Especially since her father died, they never once talked about it ever again.

Stella’s eyebrows met in a fine line as she questioningly looked at her daughter. “What do you mean Stephanie?” there’s a subtle warning in her voice.