From the bus station we were picked up by one of Jaeson’s school friends and driven to the airport in a hurry to meet Hana and Thalia, and Mr. Donnahue. By habit I bowed, and he bowed back. Right. I’d forgotten that he lived among Koreans for two whole decades.

“Alright ladies,” he said in his booming voice. It was honestly most fitting for a man of his status. “And gentleman,” he added with a nod at my brother. “Are you ready?”

“Yes, sir,” we all said.

“Go get’em. Have fun. And if anything happens to my sweet little daughter, you can find yourselves your own way back home,” the older man said solemnly. As the three of us glanced at each other in fear, he broke into laughter. “Kidding. Just kidding.”

“Bye, Daddy,” Thalia said, giving the man in the black business suit a great hug. “I love you.”

“I love you, too, Tilly.” One thing I noticed as we left to board the plane (thank goodness for private aircrafts not having as many security laws), was that he never looked away until we were out of his sight, always smiling, always waving.

‘Well this is a plot twist. I wake up and you’re back in LA. In a plane. Did you fly back home already?’ Jongin asked.

I chuckled to myself. Shhh, Jongin! Don’t talk to me, I’m excited. I might accidentally think about the surprise.

Instantly I felt him detach himself from me. It was hilariously adorable how cooperative he was.

In order to busy myself, I took to scrolling down my tumblr dashboard using the jet’s WiFi. Rich people, I swear… No one will hear me complaining, though.

I watched a few episodes of Dongsoo’s drama, “Library Love”, which I had fallen behind on, and I got myself caught up. It was amazing to think I had once been on stage with the boy who was on my screen.

Thalia and Jaeson kept each other busy. Currently, my brother was teaching his girlfriend some Korean. She kept asking how to say different words, or phrases, like an ambitious student. He tirelessly answered her, grinning from ear to ear, and helping her get the pronunciation just right. She was good at that anyway, only a couple of touch-ups here and there.

Hana was working on an essay she had to do for Anthropology. At around the halfway point she got bored of that and started taking pictures with her camera. That was also short-lived, as she moved on to working on a Photography assignment.

The staff was super nice. The woman who gave me my apple slices with caramel sauce started a chat about me and my life. Of course I was looking for a distraction, so I was all for it. We talked about how she had a younger sister in Journalism, and how maybe we’d meet somehow if I ended up going to the same school. She told me about her boyfriend and his kids, whom she loved as if they were her own, and talked about how being a stewardess wasn’t easy with family.

For the rest of the flight, out of sheer boredom and nothing better to do, I fell asleep.

Around half an hour before landing, Hana woke me up to suggest I change into something warmer. I opened my eyes to find that the others already had, and decided it wasn’t a bad idea, glancing at my shorts and flimsy t-shirt.

From my backpack I took out a pair of black leggings, an oversized black knit cardigan, and one of the shirts my mom got me for my birthday. “hEart, Mine’d, SeOUL” it wrote in black on the white cotton, making reference to their upcoming album and the third in the trilogy, SeOUL. I changed into those in the bathroom, and when I got back out I pulled some black and white striped knee-high socks over my leggings and slipped my feet into Timberlands rather than the Chuck Taylors I was wearing before. I wrapped a grey infinity scarf around my neck and called my outfit complete.

The seatbelt light and I sat back down, buckling myself in. Hana glanced over at me with a goofy smile, and I’m sure I had a similar one on my own face. My stomach did somersaults and my heart pounded in my chest as we got closer and closer to my beloved home country.

It felt like a current was going through me the moment I felt the plane’s wheels touch the ground. I waited impatiently as we taxied around, looking for a spot to disembark. Finally it appeared that the pilot had found one and we all picked up our bags and waited for the door to open. Thalia was the first one out, followed by Jaeson, and then me, and lastly, Hana.

“Woo!” Hana yelled, breathing in the fresh Korean air.

Thalia shivered, and my brother hugged her from behind, albeit shyly. “I’m not cold,” she said, “just excited.” She held his hands in her own, and they walked like a pair of penguins.

We got our luggages and made our way to the inside of Incheon airport by shuttle bus. I could not stop my heart from pounding.

“Well, Daddy’s got us a hotel booked. Two rooms,” Thalia was saying. I couldn’t concentrate on the rest for the life of me. I was enthralled by my surroundings.

The skies were blue and white, and the air was crisper than California, that’s for sure, but by no means cold. Besides, having made the trip multiple times, even in the winter, I was used to it. The block Hangul writing was a sight for sore eyes, and it excited me to find out that my Korean hadn’t at all deteriorated over the time away when I could read and understand all of the words.

“Jinhee,” Hana whispered, nudging me. I looked up to find all three of them staring at me expectantly.

“I’m sorry, I wasn’t listening. What?” I asked.

“Are you okay to sleep in Jason’s room?” Thalia asked.

I shrugged. “I do it every day,” I said, “I don’t mind.”

“Cool. Hannah and I will share the other room, then.”

We made it to the famous international airport, and outside, we hailed a cab to take us to the hotel in Seoul Mr. Donnahue had set up for us.

The air was lovely. The driver seemed to find me strange as he glanced over often. He asked my brother, who was sitting next to him, if I was okay.

“Yes,” I told him, “I’m just happy to be home.”

It wasn’t like I’d ever lived in Korea or anything, but we went often enough that I knew my family’s neighbourhood like the back of my hand. Besides, it was literally in my blood. I loved this place, and it’s air, and it’s culture.

It wasn’t very long, only half an hour, but I was sick of tight places already. From the bus, to Jaeson’s friend’s car, to the airplane, I was in dire need of open air. So as soon as I was out of the car, I started moving my legs, almost running in place.

“Come on, let’s go for a walk,” I suggested.

“Jinhee, aren’t you tired?” Hana asked.

“Let’s check in first,” Jaeson offered. “If they won’t go, I’ll go on a walk with you.” Of course he understood me. We were together all of that time.

In all honesty, I wanted nothing more than to just go and find Jongin now, but one peek into his brain told me he was busy at a fanmeet. By the time I’d get there, he’d have already left.

“I think I’m gonna pass out,” Thalia said, leaping into her bed. “It’s midnight in LA.”

Hana wordlessly followed suit in her own bed.

“Come on, Jinhee,” Jaeson said. “Let’s leave these sleepyheads alone. and take a walk.”

The evening air embraced my skin with it’s claws, as i