Chapter 1

“Mom, how do I this? I don’t even know how things work around this country?! Why do we even have to be here? Why can’t we stay in Sacramento? Why can’t we keep our house in Rocklin? I’m 20! I should be able to live on my own!” She fumed as she hooked her skirt in place and shot her mother dagger looks

Her mom looked at her apologetically “Honey I’m sorry, you know granpa is not at his best and grandma can’t look after him alone. Your uncle has work ahd his wife is also busy with work and the kids”

“Then why can’t I just stay with Roxanne’s family or even Andrea’s! they offered! I can even stay inside the university dorm. Mom! I love You but moving to another country is too much.”

Little by little fat tears fell from her eyes. She wiped it with the back of her hand but fresh tears starts to cascade uncontrollably. “Why did we have to sell our house? Why did we have to sell the cars? Why did you have to bring me here?”

Her mother stood up from the side of her bed and slowly engulfed her into a tight hug “I’m really sorry hon, if things pick up here, we can always go back to the US and it will never feel like we even left”

“Easy for you to say, Wyeth just broke up with me” she sniffed followed by another wave of anguish sobs

“Yumiyah”

“Mom I’m Sophie!”

“You are but starting now you will have to use your real name and Yumi is a very beautiful name”

“I’ll never get used to it”

Her mom looked at her face and gently tapped her cheeks “You will eventually because you will..have too”

Her mom kissed her cheek and quietly left the room, leaving her to drown in her own misery.  Already entering her junior year at Sacramento State majoring in Social Science and Government administration, Yumi already had her future planned. She wants to be a diplomat, she wants to volunteer for Unicef right after college and wants to be assigned in a different country. It will be sad leaving her mom alone but her mom always told her to do whatever she wants to do and be happy. She is happy, with her friends from the university, her friends from their neighborhood, her friends from her part time job, her boyfriend, everything seems so perfect until that one fateful night when she accidentally walked in on her mom on the phone

“I’ll have the house staged by Saturday next week would that work?.... Yeah.. Will you be sitting in during the open house?........ I see, di we have to put my complete name? … oh name is just fine? Yeah just put in Cassandra.. nope.. no second name…okay, I’ll see you next Saturday then?.. alright thanks Phoebe”

She was staring at her mothers back as the latter just stood there holding her phone

“Mom?”

Cassandra abruptly turned around

“Who were you talking to? And what’s up with the open house? Are you on real estate?”

And she knew that she just had to tell her daughter

“Hey honey, hows school?”

Yumi slumped at one of the stools in their mini bar and pop open the soda she took out of their fridge “Tiring but happy since summer is about to start”

“Nice!” she sat beside her and took the soda from Yumi and took a swig, she flinched from the fizz that’s glided down to “Sweetheart, I have to tell you something, grandma called earlier and said that gramps not getting any better. His Alzheimer’s is getting worst and it’s getting hard for grandma to look after him”

Yumi nodded and pouted “that’s too bad, are they asking you to visit them? Because you know you can, I can take care of myself here and beside I’m mostly in school, pr you can wait till the start of my vacation and I can come with you”

Cass took a deep breath “Honey we’re moving back to Korea”  

And that’s how exactly how she ended up in their new house in Korea, and how she has been crying herself since last night, one from missing her friends, two from her recent break up and three from slowly accepting that yeah, this is where she’ll spend the rest of her life. Yumi lied on her front and cried on her pillows not even bothering if she’ll crease her clothes to school. She hasn’t even enjoyed her summer since Korea has a different educational system, and she badly needs to study the language, she can understand a bit but can’t speak a single Korean, she and her mom never spoke the language except when her mom is talking with her family. She knew her dad was Korean also but died even before she was born. She never knew her dad or even someone from her fathers side. It has always been just her and her mom.

She was accepted at Seoul University which according to her aunt is almost as the same as entering Harvard, to be very honest, she never really paid too much attention to which school she’ll be attending, she had to think if her mom can actually afford it and was just thankful that she passed for scholarship at one of the best state university in California. And she never had to leave home for that matter. So while their whole family is ecstatic that she’ll be entering that holy grail of a school, she on the other hand was just neutral.

When her tears dried up, she just lied there staring at her ceiling thinking of another plan for her plan…well scratch that she thought, what good does a plan make when people are out to turn your whole world upside down. No, she’s not upset at her family, just at the situation. Because she knew it could’ve been better.

*KNOCK KNOCK*

She looked at the door and saw her smiling

“Breakfast is ready” she softly spoke in her broken English. Yumi forced a smile and nodded “Thank You Grandma, I’ll be right down”

The old lady smiled and closed her door.

Her day was slower than the sloth at the zoo, it was even more difficult not understanding almost half of what the people around her was saying. If there’s one thing she needs to do quickly, that is to learn the language ASAP. 

It was already 5 in the afternoon when she found herself in a room full of foreigners just like her. Well technically not like her since she’s Korean but well, maybe non native speakers just to put it. A few seconds later, a man sauntered in with a pad in hand.

“Good Afternoon Everyone” he greeted in his perfect English “I will be distributing you to your coaches so by tomorrow, you’ll know who to look for”

The academy was a block away from the university so it was an easy walk to and from school.

“Yumi?... Yumi?”

That woke her up, she immediately stood up “I’m sorry?” she co