Song Ji Hyo woke up and felt like she was herself again. She was breaking out, but it was okay - she's supposed to anyways. She went to work looking as pretty as she could, like an actress, she went to photo shoots and filming; everything she felt about everything just possibly went away. She needed to face the music later anyways, and she neeeded to choose. 

She wondered, why does she need to choose? Why is the burden on her shoulders? But she needed guidance, and she needed it fast. It feels like time envies her somehow. If she keeps delaying it, her sleep wouldn't be good but it would be long. And she didn't want that for herself. She had responsibilities, she had goals, she needed to achieve something by now. 

She needed to do something, and an idea popped into her head - let's go back home. 

Going back home does not come easy for her. She needed to push a lot of things, so she took off for Tuesday, and she would come back on Wednesday. She didn't have an issue with money, she gets paid enough for everything she does. So she went back home, she needed to be home anyways. When she arrived to her hometown, it was nice. From the big city to the harbour little town that she growed up in. The seashore, the sound of the boats honking to make sure they had enough of the day's catch, and also she missed the way the air would hit her face - the winter air was cold, and sometimes a little bit cruel, but it made her realize that she's finally home. 

'Aigo, my daughter's back home!' She didn't tell anybody prior, and her mother was outside making kimchi and storing it in big, old ceramic pots. Her mother squealed when she saw her, and she was happy that her daughter has returned. 

'I missed you.' She held her. 

'I missed you too, sweatheart.' They both went inside, and the house is empty. 

'Where's dad?' She asked. 

'He went fishing with his friends, it seems like the older he gets, the more he fishes. I'm getting sick of eating his catch.' She says. 

'Seong-hee? And the little ones.' 

'Seong-hee went out with his friends too, that kid, aigoo. He never stays at home, jinja jongmal.' Her mother complains. 'But your sister, she's at school. She has activities, so she's going to go back a bit late. I should tell her to come earlier.' 

'Omo, no it's alright.I could just meet her tonight.' 

'What do you mean? We should have dinner, everyone of us, now my daughter's home.' 

She merely smiled, looking at her aging mother. Of course, she was aging, but her mother looked the same as she was the last time she saw her, probably with much more wrinkles. The last time she came back home was around this time too, so it has already been a year. Her mother's face wrinkled, it breaks her heart knowing that she's getting older and older. 

'Have you eaten, Seong Im?' She asked as she took out yesterday's leftovers. 

'I ate while I waited for the plane, but that's hours ago.' 

'Good, good.' She sets out the table. 'I would have cooked something you like, but you came back without even telling me.' Her mother complains. 

'It was sudden.' 

'But I'm glad you're here, because your mother misses you, Seong Im-ah.' She says, and she liked how her mother calls her name. Her real name, instead of her stage name. Even her brother doesn't call her Seong Im-noona, even though that was what Seong Hee used to call her. She wasn't used to that name anymore. And somehow it felt like her mother was calling someone ele. 

'I'm sorry I didnt' come home sooner, omma.' She says. 

'It's okay, you're here now.'

After lunch she merely sat in her room, but decided she was done being in there, she coats up and went outside. The old air rushing through, feels somehow familliar but at the same time, it doesn't feel the same at all. She didn't like the old town while she was growing up, thought that she felt stifled while she was there. But as she grew older, now everything she felt here, almost felt like a dream. 

She walked through the harbour, slowly. Without any press, without the flickering shutters from the camera. I can get used to this. Never come back. Bury Song Ji Hyo and come back as Seong Im. I could do it. Run away from Seoul, I have enough money from it. They couldn't have found me here, right? 

But she realized not to underestimate the Korean press. She knew the consequences of it, everyone in the entertainment industry did. Even if she ran away, she'll get caught for sure, like she did something wrong. She still had her degree, she could just go to school around here and study. Probably. Probably. 

'Noona!' The famillar voice of her brother called her, Seong Hee was a few metres away. He ran towards her, and as usual, gave her a hug. 'Why are you back?' He asked her. 

She shrugs. 'Just felt like coming back, that's all. Missed mom, and dad too.' 

'That's weird. You never come home.' 

'You're talking as if I'm a bad daughter.' 

'Theoratically, yes. But what you see, isn't what you always get.'  

'Aigo, aigo, who are you getting all Confucious for?'

They both chuckled, then they walked around. She met some people in her past, greeted them lightly. Met her ex-boyfriend, but she hid away from him. 

'Why would you run away from him?' Seong Hee asked.

'I just, don't like confronting people from the past.' 

'You don't like confronting people in the present too.' Seong Hee says, somehow casually. 

'What do you mean?' 

'A few years ago, you came back and stayed here for a few days, and it turns out you thought you were in trouble. Guy trouble? You still haven't told me why you cried, at the party.' He asked. They stopped to get something warm, but they went back out and sat along the beach. 

'I just had a tough time, that's all.' 

'All of the years I have known you, and all of the years you have been my sister, you didn't cry when things get tough. You're that kind of noona, that takes care of others but still forgets to take care of herself.' 

'I cry sometimes.' She says. 

'But never that hard.' 

She sighs, it seems like he's not letting go of the question. And she knew, she's not going to. 

'Seong Hee-ya.' 

He rose his eyebrow. 

'Have you ever been in love?' 

'Love?'

She nods. 

'I think I have been, but I don't know whether it's actually love or merely just lust.' He answers. 'Why?'

'You're right. Your noona's in trouble.' 

'A love crisis? I thought you came back home because you had problems with loan sharks or something.' 

She laughed. 'Who taught you to speak ill about your noona, huh?' 

'I'm not speaking ill about you, I just want to know what happened.' 

She took a sip from her coffee. 'It's not like I wanted it to happen. Alright, since I don't want to tell you who it is, I'm just going to tell you in figures. I met A, and I had fun with A. We talked, and he was sweet and I thought, wow, there isn't somebody else in this world that would make me feel the way he makes me feel. But then, B comes and makes a sudden appearance in the story. B was a friend, the best friend that this noona has ever had. But then, I kept thinking about A, day and night. And I realized, I wanted to be with A. However, B gets serious; and offers me a future. A future probably so bright, that it was blinding. So what should I do? It's either to choose A or B, and I don't know what to do.' 

'That's some heavy stuff, noona.' Seong Hee reacted, somehow he had never even known that his noona had these kinds of troubles. He wouldn't have known who it is, but he knew that his noona wouldn't just fall for anyone. Abruptly, he closed his sister's eyes. 

'Noona, do you trust me?' 

'What are you doing, Seong Hee-ya?'

'Noona, I'll put my spell on you. Right now, think about me, and me only.' 

'Okay.' 

And she merely followed. 

'Now, think about mom, think about dad, think about lil' sis. Think about everyone you love.' 

'Okay, done.' She follows, their family portrait comes out. 

'Okay, now, think about nothing. Nothing at all, just blankness, just a pitch black screen.' He says. 

Nothingness, emptiness, only a pitch black screen. She did exactly just that. 

'Noona, I'll put my spell on you.' 

He waited two minutes, without even speaking, but relentlessly kept his hands on her eyes, blocking her from any view. 

'1, 2, 3,' he lets go of her eyes. In the darkness, who did you see? Whoever you have seen, it's him you should choose. But whatever it is, noona, whatever you choose, is right.' 

It was Lee Kwang Soo.