"WAKEY WAKEY! Rise and shine my dearest dongsaeng!"

I groaned. I felt like I had only slept for a minute when Unni suddenly burst into my room, screaming at the top of her lungs in an irritating voice.

I covered my ears with my pillows but no matter how many pillows I used, I couldn't block out Unni's voice. I was getting irritated. My eyes were droopy and I felt like I had not slept in ages.

"Aish! What do you want?" I said as I threw a pillow at my sister and damn, did it hit right at her head. Bullseye!

"Yah! Do you want me to beat the crap out of you, huh?"

By then, I was sitting on my bed, my eyes staring tiredly at her. I was in no mood to entertain her s. 

"Oh... Acting dumb, ay? Well, let this unni of yours teach you a lesson."

Unni suddenly jumped onto my bed... and started to tickle me.

"Who said you could throw a pillow at an older person, dongsaeng ah? Did you not learn your lesson the previous time?"

I was literally crying and laughing by then. My ultimate weakness is tickles. There was once Unni tickled me so much I ended up bawling my eyes out for one whole hour. I'm not even exaggerating.

Mom and Dad had heard the commotion and quickly ran up to my room. only to find us wrestling amongst ourselves. They could only shake their heads at us and told us to hurry down for breakfast.

After many yells to stop and buckets of tears, Unni became tired and stopped. Before she left my room, she gave me a glare as if to remind me to never mess with her.

As I sat on my bed, I sighed as I thought about going overseas to study. Now that I've thought about it, my parents never specified which country I would be going to if I were to study abroad. 

But is the country the real issue right now? I need to make up my mind and have an answer by the time I sat my fat on the dining table for breakfast. Aish! Why is it so hard?

I forced myself to walk into the kitchen even though my body is telling me no. Mom cooked my favourite: pancakes. But even after the delicious scent of pancakes wafted into my nose, I only played around with my food as I stared straight into the plate.

Unni seemed to have noticed and quickly snapped me out of my thoughts. She raised one of her eyebrows and I instantly knew what she wanted.

"Um... Mom about the studying abroad thing..."

With that just one sentence, my parents stopped whatever they were doing and looked at me, curious for my answer.

"Um... I guess uh I'll... go?" 

Mom instantly hugged me and I swear I could've died right there and then due to the lack of oxygen. Dad smiled and nodded his head in approval before continuing to read his newspaper. Unni gave me a two thumbs up and I faked a smile.

Did I make the right decision? SIgh. I guess I'll know when I get there.

I was halfway eating my pancakes when I suddenly remembered a question I wanted to ask.

"Right, Mom. Where am I going to be studying?"

She smiled cheekily. What does that mean?

"Your birthplace, South Korea."

 

 

 

Earlier on, Mom had told me we, or rather I, would be moving out in a weeks' time. Mom would be following me to South Korea and help me to settle down before she leaves after staying there for one and a half week. From what I remember on the night when Mom told me I would be studying abroad, she said I would be staying at one of her friends' house. She also said her friends' son also studied there. 

Son, huh? Since it's such a good school from what Mom had told me, he should probably be one of those nerdy guys, right? Not that I'm interested in guys anyway.

A week passed in a breeze and before I knew it, I was in the airport, saying my goodbyes. Dad, Unni and my best friend. Sojin, came to send me off. 

"WAHHHH EUN HYE AH HAJIMA! DON'T GO AND LEAVE ME IN THIS COLD AND CRUEL PLACE. I CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT YOU, YOU KNOW THAT? I- "

"Yah, Yoo Sojin. You better stop it right now. Everybody's looking at us and do you know how goddamn embarrassed- "

I immediately stopped when I say Dad glaring at me. 

"What?" I mouthed to him.

He raised his brows and nodded towards his right. I looked at the direction to where he pointed and there I saw two more women crying their balls out. I rolled my eyes.

"Eomma! Why are you crying? Aren't you gong to follow me to Korea for a week and half?"

Mom nodded her head. " I-I am. B-But everybody's crying so I'm crying too..."

I really wanted to shout, "Are you real, all of you?" but that would be rude because they're merely sending a girl off to a foreign country for three years before they ever get to see her again.

But they can still see me through skype and chat with me through other means, right? Why are they even crying so much?

"Flight to Seoul, Korea 00154. Please board the plane in fifteen minutes. Thank you."

I breathed in and out. It's time to go. I hugged each of my loved ones one by one, Unni was the last one. 

"Y-Yah p-p-pabo ah. Go get yourself a boyfriend, okay? *Hiccups* I *Hiccups* expect a picture okay?"

"Arrasso. I'll make you proud."

I walked slowly to the entrance, looking behind me every now and then. I'm going to miss them. I gave the air stewardess my ticket and turned back one last time and waved goodbye.

I gulped down the lump which had formed in my throat. I'll make them proud. Ani, I'll make myself proud. 

The new start of a brand new life in Korea,

 

 

 

begins.

 

---

 Sorry if the flight announcement thing sounded awkward. It's been long since I've been to an airport and I've forgotten how the announcements sounds like *inserts moon emoji*

xx Hyeyeon