The first time Kwon Boa meets her infant niece, it isn’t when she was born or when she was baptised or even for her first birthday. Boa figures a part of her will always regret that, not coming to see the baby sooner, but circumstances have made it difficult. Her brother had married an American and was so head over heels in love that he willingly moved all the way to New York to live there permanently, the setting of his happily ever after with his wife and future children. Since then, her relationship with her brother has been mostly comprised of long distance calls, inbox messages, hopeful promises and apologies for promises that aren’t kept. 

She swears with all finality and conviction that she’s going to make it up to her brother, his wife, and their baby, work commitments and people’s demands be damned. She books a flight and thinks of all things Korean that she wants to bring to New York, all the things she knows her brother loves and misses, all the things she wants to introduce to her sister-in-law, all the things she wants to buy for her niece. She thinks of all the places in New York she wants to go, all the diners and pizzerias she wants to eat in, all the kinds of people she wants to meet.

The first time Kwon Boa gets the chance to meet her infant niece is filled with hope and excitement. But life, as always, never goes the way you expect it.