Jiwoo. 

I woke to the smell of Heejin making breakfast. It smelled like home again. I stepped out of bed to see Sooyoung and Hyunjin drinking coffee. I pull my robe close to me. "Good morning, everyone. Heejin, you didn't tell me these two were coming this morning." 

Heejin grinned at me. "Didn't have to. They came on their own." She scraped eggs onto four plates. "Plus, they can always come uninvited." 

I sat beside Sooyoung, who looked more casual. I never seen her in anything this casual in a long time. Her hair was pulled back into a messy poinytail and she was wearing a a black and white floral shirt, over a blank white one and jeans, with her old messy Converses. I grinned. This was the Sooyoung I came to fall in love with way back when. "What are we doing today?" 

"Seeing our families," Sooyoung said. "I think it's right that we go see them together...for support. You and I." She held my hand. "If you want to...we can go..." 

I thought long and hard. It was a while since I saw my parents. I did want to see them. But, I can't help but remember the painful memories from before I left. When they kicked me out after graduation. When my brother coldly treated me after he found out about Sooyoung and I. I wandered what they thought of me now. As their child. I looked at Sooyoung. I knew that because I was with her, I wouldn't face them alone. "It's okay. We can try." I swallowed my food. 

I stood in the shower, thinking about it. Would my parents look the same? Would they still love their child? I pulled my hair back into a ponytail with a bow, the hair color slightly fading a little. I set a little mental reminder to color it again when I got back. I pulled on a dress and got a pocketbook. I stepped outside to see Heejin and Hyunjin bunched up near the TV watching Pororo with banana milk. Sooyoung was just casually on her phone and then she looked up to see me. "You ready?" I nod and then we go out to a new convertible car. 

"Another one?" I sigh. She smiles and just holds the door open for me. "I should become your financial advisor at this rate. Stop splurging your cash." 

Sooyoung jumped into the driver sear and turned the key in the ignition. "I won't crash this one because I actually spent three paychecks on the down payment for this baby," she says. She looks at me and kisses my lips. "You know I love you so much. If they still don't accept you, just know, you always have me. I know I'm not much but, I got you. I'll never leave you like I did before." 

I nodded. "You will always have me too. And you better not leave me." 

Sooyoung laughed. "Alright, where we going first?" 

"Let's see your mom first...." 

It was a short drive to Sooyoung's mother's new house. It was a small home where the elderly usually live. Sooyoung opened the door for me and we walked to her door. Sooyoung breathed in nervously and knocked on the door. There was a small dog yapping and two women's voices were muffled through the door. Sooyoung grinned. "Mom finally got a dog that she always wanted." The door swung open and a woman who had Sooyoung's eyes was there. I was guessing that this was her mother. She blinked twice and yelled for her other daughter to come to the door. Another woman stood there who looked like the mother exactly. 

"Hey-hey mom. Unnie..." Sooyoung's cool demeanor was now replaced with a childish one. She looked cautious and worried. "It's been awhile." She was using a different dialect. I forgot that Sooyoung was from Busan. She grinned softly with tears threatning to pour from her eyes. I never saw this side of Sooyoung. She was more vulnerable with her mother and older sister than she was with me. These were the women who made my Sooyoung the woman she is now. Well, a part of who she is now. I knew it was difficult for her because they didn't talk to her much when she lived with her father. I would see how it broke her heart entirely whenever the phone calls would be cut short with her mother or sister. 

"It's...come in..." her mother said. We walked in. There were photos of a proud mother with her two daughters who were middle school students. Then there was a few of the mother with just one of her daughters. A dog was playing with a toy. The TV was blaring a drama loudly. Sooyoung's mother turned down the TV. "I saw you on TV last week for the opening of that museum's exhibit." 

Sooyoung nodded politely. "Yes." I'm guessing being from the countryside made Sooyoung more formal to her mother. Their dynamic was very different than the one she had with her father. "Mom, I missed you while I was gone." 

The mother smiled and nodded. She sat on the sofa and gestured for us to sit on the other one. Sooyoung held my hand tightly. "This is your girlfriend?" 

Sooyoung nodded once again. "Yes." 

The older sister came into the room with water. "I always knew that our Sooyoung had an eye for the women. I just never knew that they would be as classy as you are, miss..." 

"Jiwoo," I say. "Kim Jiwoo." 

She smiles. "I thought our Sooyoung would date a criminal. Considering who she hung out with back in middle school. She would come home smelling like cigarettes. Then when she moved here..." She pursed her lips. "Well I'm sure it didn't change that much when she went to high school." 

Sooyoung's mother took a sip of water. "Sooyoung always hung around bad people. It was something she got from me." She grinned at me. "I'm happy she found a woman who was nice. Hopefully, she won't leave you when her family disapproves of your relationship because she's dating a bumpkin. I know you're a Ha heir but, you are from Busan, first." 

Sooyoung winced uncomfortably. "I'm sure she wouldn't." 

I nod in agreement. "I would never leave your daughter because of my family's opinion of her." I intertwined Sooyoung's fingers into mine. 

The mother grinned weakly and laughed sarcastedly. "That's what their father told me before retreating to a different country and not talking to me for a whole year." 

Sooyoung sighed heavily in discomfort. "He was homeless and had to leave the country-" 

"Your father left me to tend to you ingrateful children! Only one remained faithful to me, but you- you-" the older sister came in and whispered something to the mother. Sooyoung's mother breathed in and out.

The sister turned to us. "I think it's best that you two leave. I'm sorry. We'll keep in touch." 

I hold Sooyoung's hand tightly as she pulled me outside as we left the house. We get into the car. Sooyoung blankly looks at the road. "My father was homeless in Taiwan. He didn't want to leave us, but grandmother banished him out of the country. She didn't recognize him as her son as soon as I was born. She never approved of my parents' relationship. But, he made a fortune out there. And then he brought new money to old money." She paused. "When my mother was paying off my sister's college, I had to live with my father because whenever my mother got drunk, she would abuse me. Plus, the finances were too short for all of us to live in the apartment we were in. My father cared for me all through high school." She turned to me. "I love my mother. The broken family that I'm in..." She grins. "I wish I changed my life to be honest." 

"Do you sometimes wish that you lived with your father in the beginning to see it all?" I ask. 

Sooyoung shakes her head. "No. He wouldn't want me to see him struggle. And he never wanted me to struggle. He tried to reach out to my older sister as well, but she was filled with the same anger." 

I put my arm around Sooyoung's shoulder. "I love you, Sooyoung. The same thing that you told me...if you have no family, you'll always have me. And...if you want to...we can always make a family." 

Sooyoung grinned. "With a little dog or two. Name one Kokomo and Ducky." She wiped a tear. "Or we can have a little kid of our own. Live out in Europe." 

I held her free hand and put it on my thigh. "I was thinking we move to Australia. I got an email from a professor. If I complete my coursework early...well you know Korean courses are overcredited compared to the European school I'm going to...she sent a tape to someone and they want me to be a regular in Australia..." 

"When were you going to tell me?" Sooyoung asked excitedly. "My father owns some neighborhoods in Australia! That's perfect." 

I grinned. "It's something to consider. I have another year to finish. Then, I can complete my studies there. The professor said I deserve something greater than Europe. She saw me somewhere like the Opera House." 

Sooyoung kisses me. "I am so proud of you." 

+

When we got to the door of my parent's house, I felt my nervousness go away. Sooyoung stood by my side. My mother opened the door. She gasped and stood back in shock. My father came and widened his eyes. I couldn't even speak myself. They stood aside so we can walk in. My mother gave me a hug and it caught me off guard. My father joined in awkwardly. I felt his lips press against my forehead. "Our Jiwoo." 

"Where's oppa?" I ask. 

"Military enlistment." Dad held his hands out to point to a new sofa. "Sit down." Sooyoung and I sat together. "So this is the girlfriend..." 

"Yes." I smiled at Sooyoung. 

Mother sat across from us. "I would tell your brother to come, but his beliefs are still strong. We learned a lot while...you were away." She folded her hands atop her lap. "We want to apologize for how we acted before." 

My father nodded. "It was probably hard. We are. Sorry." 

I felt like crying tears of joy. "You know...I learned to forgive people who have hurt me. Because if I don't....I would harbor those negative feelings and sit there in pain. It was a few hard months in France. I got beat, cheated on...then I found Sooyoung again. She taught me the power of forgiveness and also how to love again. How to live happily and in my truth." I held Sooyoung's hand. "If soulmates existed, I think she'd be mine. She came when it was cold...and warmed me up again." 

My mother and father grinned and started laughing. "Okay, what dramas have you been watching lately?" 

"I missed a lot," I laugh. "I date a really soft-hearted person." Sooyoung rolled her eyes and kissed my cheek. 

"Thank you for your forgiveness," my mother said. "We can now live in joy as well. Knowing we have our kids...one day your brother may come around...but know...we are still family. We love you." 

"I love you all too." 

+

Sooyoung and I sat on the roof of her father's first Korean manor. We were looking up at the sunset. It reminded me of my first night there when we were labeled as "best friends". She leaned on my shoulder. "This is the most at home I ever felt since we landed." She kisses my shoulder. "Now...I feel like no matter where we go, I'll be at home as long as I'm with you." 

I grin. "Really?" 

"I thought I would want to stay here...but I want to go around the world with you. Let's travel before we settle down." 

I hold her hand. "Korea may be where I was born, but my heart is with you. Thus...wherever you go, I go too." 

Sooyoung lifts my chin. "Kim Jiwoo, singer. Will you take me...Ha Sooyoung, photographer and heir of Ha Industries...as your...heart?" She reaches into her pocket and opens a box. "I'm not trying to rush you into marriage just yet but..." There were couple rings (one burgundy gems and the other had peach gems). I widened my eyes. "You know how they do in Korea." She held the burgundy ring and placed it in my palm and she took the other ring and placed it in her palm. "Now, let's promise each other...that we'll take on the world together. Also, to bring the better out of each other." 

I repeat what she says and then placed the burgundy ring on her finger and she did the same on mine with the peach ring. We kiss as the sun to make room for the moon. Spring had truly come to Korea as the first cherry blossom leaf bloomed in front of her father's home.