1. The Real Me.

I walked to the airport lady and gave her my ticket. I was still holding on my phone while trying my best at multitasking. “ I got to hang up. “  I said to my boyfriend. The only thing I could actually hear was him sighing over the phone.

“ Come back, Mei" He breathed out. "We could fix this here. Going all the way to China won’t change anything. “ He tried to convince me for the thousandth time.This time, I was the one closing her eyes out my out of exhaustion.

 “I made a choice, babe. I need some time alone. If ever you really want us to work this out, just let me go there in peace." I said before hanging up drastically. I smiled at the airport lady who was looking at me weird. Of course, she had to overhear the last part of the conversation, and now, I was looking like the girl who was overly mean to her boyfriend. Nice. 

She shrugged at my questioning look and then gave me my ticket back. “ Have a nice flight miss. “ She said politely. I smiled shyly after I understood I spoke quite loudly and took back my ticket before entering the plane. I found a seat near a window then let my back heavily hit the back of it. The flight was going to be quite long already.

I looked at the window as the plane was going higher and higher. It’s been years since I last visited my grandparents. My parents and I used to live with them when I was younger. We were quite poor at the time. That was before my parents succeeded to build a great company. Since that, we moved to Korea, where my mom is from.  I think she wanted to be closer to her side of her family after spending nearly 8 years in China after her marriage. My grandparents helped to raise me and I basically looked up to them as my second parents. I always have had a really good relationship with them and every moment spent in their company still lived in my memory.

I finished growing up in Korea, where I learned to know my mother’s family more over time. I attempted private schools ever since my parents got the money to send me to them, leaving my old friends from the public schools behind. That’s where I found my actual boyfriend. He was the school bad boy and I was the new innocent girl. Within two years at this school, he took away my innocence and I was officially his girlfriend. Slowly, with time, he became a lot sweeter and less of the bad playboy he was. Until we reached the two years mark. Then, for an unknown reason, he started to act all flirty again with all the beautiful women he met. It’s when I saw him acting with my cousin that I started to get suspicious. I found out that he was seeing other girls also. Although he promised he never kissed or slept with them, our relationship became a big disaster from this point on. I guess you can’t really change someone forever. Even if you try really hard.

I was still looking at the window when I started to saw the beautiful landscape I missed so much. The beautiful mountains and the rivers of the countryside. I missed that so much. Spending my afternoons with my grandpa, fishing at the lake, was a lot funnier than shopping all the time with my mother in the big cities. I have always been that kind of girl. A countryside type of girl. Totally in touch with nature. I was totally sick of the city, to be quite honest. That’s why I thought going back to where I was really from would be a good idea. Before working on this relationship and trying to make it work, I had to try to love myself first and, to do that, I had to feel 'in touch' with my true self.

We landed at the airport and I couldn’t stand to be inside the airplane any longer. I wanted to get out, to smell the fresh air of the river near my grandparent’s house, hugging them and tell them how much I missed them.

I walked out of the airport entrance and looked for my grandparents. There was a real crowd gathering near the place I came through. I felt like I was almost about to aim for the impossible by trying to find my grandparents through that never-ending pound of people. Sure enough, family always finds you. I finally saw my grandpa with his cane walking toward me with a smile after near 15 minutes of 'standing and search', a really poor technic, I must concede. “ Grandpa! “I said, finally running toward him.

 He smiled and hugged me as I ran into his arms. I was welcomed by his old charms right away.  He caressed my hair, making me feel like a little girl again.  “Look at the beautiful lady you became. I now understand your parents when they decided to keep you for themselves. Someone might want to steal you, young diamond. “ My grandpa said while smiling.

I smiled too. Honestly, how couldn't I?  “ Don’t be silly, grandpa. I am not pretty compared to grandma. I saw so many pictures of her when she was younger. There is no way no one could ever beat her.” I said looking at him. He took my luggage even though he was walking with his cane.

 “ I won’t deny my Fei will always be the most beautiful woman to me, even to this day, but you are surely not her granddaughter for nothing. “ He said, winking at me and pinching my cheek.

 I giggled softly. “ Where is grandma? “ I asked happily.

He smiled lightly back at me “ At home." I hummed. "Cooking dinner, what do you think? “ He said, joking. I always loved my grandparents. My grandpa was such a gentleman. Seeing him in person for the first time in ages reminded me of how sweet he was. My boyfriend had nothing compared to him. I guess this type of men disappeared with time. I was surely not born in the right era.

He led us to his old car in the airport parking. He still had the same car he had since I was young. “ Didn't my parents send you a new car a few years ago? “ I asked him, reminding the gift my dad offered him at Christmas 3 years ago.

He rolled his eyes. “ Your father knows how much I love this car. I sent that piece of metal back to him. I don’t want another car, this one followed me all my life. I never complained, neither did my Fei. “ I smiled. So down to earth. Just like I aspired to become.

Once well sited inside the old cabin, he started the engine. It was noisy and quite small but it drove us to the house, and that was all we needed. I smiled as I recognized the countryside I grew up in. “ The treehouse we built when I was five! “ I said pointing to the little house near the river. “ Didn't you destroy it? “ I asked surprised.

 He looked at me, confused. “ Why would I? It’s a great memory. I just renovated it a bit for the