Seungwan arrives at her apartment in La Ronge just before noon. She has texted Jongdae from the airport in Edmonton, and later on an hour before her arrival, demanding that he come and prepare his famous kimchi jjigae for lunch.

She already misses Korean food. She also has so much to tell him.

She’s thanks Pauline profusely for actually driving the truck through the town’s centre and pulling up right in front of her door. It saves her a lot of walking from where the big cars are usually parked.

She drags the suitcase upstairs, pushing the door open because she can hear the movement behind it. It offers no resistance.

There is Jongdae, standing at the stove and stirring something fiercely in the pot, and Seulgi who is seated at Seungwan’s tiny table. Seungwan lets go of her suitcase.

‘JD!’ She screams at him and this is all the warning he gets to move away from the fire and grab her midway as she nearly jumps at him.

‘Wendy!’ He screams back, elated. It’s not difficult to see that they are related.

‘I missed you so much! I have so much to tell y-‘ Then her brains catches up and she lets go of him, turning around. ‘Oh my god. How are you not landing in Korea at the moment?’

Seulgi stands up, offering a shy smile to the person who is a stranger yet feels as familiar as a friend. They had, after all, talked many times before they even agreed on their exchange, sharing their motivations and sometimes secrets they were not able to fully disclose to their loved ones. Yet this is the first time that they meet.

‘I am… so, so happy to see you. Can I give you a hug? You don’t even know but you have changed my life,’ Seungwan declares and Seulgi sends her a big smile.

‘And you – mine. I think… I might stay here for a little bit longer.’ Seungwan doesn’t miss the side glance the other woman sends her brother as they move to embrace. Jongdae dons a similarly love sick expression.

You horndog! Seungwan mouths at Jongdae from over Seulgi’s shoulder, looking at him with cheek. He silently scowls, offended.

Loverboy, he mouths back, proudly.

The three sit down, sharing the jjigae and catching one another up on the events they respectively missed. Seungwan tells them all about the food she’s tried (Jongdae is bitter), the passion for drawing she’s slowly regaining (Seulgi is proud) and her plans to set up her own freelance company. She tells them about Joohyun, showing them photos of the two of them. Both are happy for Seungwan, though Seulgi has already heard quite a lot from Joohyun, even before the two got together.

In turn, Seulgi tells Seungwan about her trip to the lake and the two hikes she’s taken to the mountains, the nice people she met in their community and the draft of her new book. When Seungwan sends her and Jongdae a long, pointed look, her brother finally breaks and having cleared his throat, only says that,

‘We’ll take it slow and see how it goes,’ before he abruptly stands up and dumps the empty dishes in the sink. Not many things can fluster Jongdae Kim, that’s for sure.

‘So you’re planning to stay here for a while longer?’ Seulgi confirms.

‘A month or two. Then my visa expires, so maybe I’ll go back… To extend it,’ she finishes quietly. Jongdae clinks harder on the dishes that he’s washing up.

Seungwan only grins at his turned back.  

‘Well, then you’ll need a place to stay.’

‘I can probably stay in the motel or-‘

‘Nonsense,’ Seungwan dismisses. ‘Just stay here for now. I’ll grab some of my things and go back to my family’s house with JD. Then we’ll think of something.’

‘Are you sure? I can’t possibly abuse your hospitality like this…’

‘If this situation extends, maybe you can take over my rent or something. It’s so cheap, it’s actually criminal.’

They don’t go out until much later, Seungwan doesn’t have the strength to greet every single familiar face she sees just yet. The three of them continue conversing well into the dinner time, in some cases getting to know each other better. Eventually, Jongdae and Seungwan leave Seulgi in the apartment, taking Seungwan’s suitcase and some extra things with them.

‘I’m glad you want to go home with me,’ Jongdae only says, glancing at his sister as he drives the car towards their destination. She understands the implication of his words – it’s actually been some time since she even visited. Some memories were just too painful.

‘I think… I’m ready to have only good memories of mum,’ she finally replies when he parks the car in front of the porch. ‘This trip was so amazing, so overwhelming. And I think, in many ways it felt like a closure to me. I blamed myself every day when mum died, you must have known that.’

‘Wendy-’

‘No, just… Let me.’ He nods, looking unsure. ‘I felt so guilty. I left you here with her, then she fell ill but I still didn’t come back. I wasn’t even here when she died.’

‘She loved you so much, you know that. She was so proud of you.’ Seungwan starts sobbing at the words. There is not much room for hugs since they are both still in the car, but Jongdae reaches out to her and puts his hand on her shoulder.

‘I let her down. Yet another person who let her down.’

‘Oh, Wendy…’ He can now see where this is going.

‘I just felt like I became my own father. And for what? For nothing. It wasn’t even worth the sacrifice in the end, I came back here because I thought there was nothing else left for me to do out there.’

‘I didn’t know that you felt that way,’ her brother hums after a while, watching Seungwan wipe her tears. ‘I thought you resented him for having made it out of here when you didn’t.’

‘I will always resent him for leaving us, for leaving mum.’

‘But you know, he’s still alive.’ Seungwan looks up sharply at the words. ‘I’m not saying this to make you angry. But by chance, I just learnt of his whereabouts some months ago. If it was ever his intention to run away from the life he led here, he didn’t really escape far. The only difference is, he has lost us.’

Seungwan nods, contemplating the message.

‘You never left us, Wendy, not like that. You couldn’t be here but you called mum every day. Do you remember that woollen hat you sent her when she was already in the hospital? She never parted with it. She knew that you were thinking of her.’

Seungwan nods again.

‘It will take me some time to forgive myself for this, still.’

‘Then take your time,’ Jongdae replies, patting her on the shoulder one more time and then they are out of the car and enter the house.

‘Do you have some beer?’ Seungwan hangs her coat, looking around the kitchen.

‘I bought a two-four the other day, it should be under the sink.’ Jongdae’s voice is muffled as he answers from the other room. He’s gone to deposit his sister’s bag in her old bedroom.

They both sit down at the kitchen table in silence, for a while simply drinking their canned Labatt Blue and eating whatever remained of the pumpkin pie Jongdae has in the fringe with spoons.

‘I wanna tell you something,’ she finally says, looking back at him.

‘You want to go back to Korea,’ Jongdae shoots back, not particularly phased.

Seungwan’s eyes widen in surprise. She didn’t mention anything about it before, not in front of Seulgi, because she wanted her brother to know first.

‘How did you..?’

‘It was all over your face when you talked about your girl. It wasn’t hard to guess.’ Jongdae chuckles, though it sounds a little sad. ‘Have you planned anything specific yet?’

‘I thought I could try teaching English there first, see if my freelancing takes off or there is a job there, in a company… I think I really want to do this, JD.’ She gives him a lopsided smile. He mirrors her expression.

‘If you want to, then you should go. I’m just really happy that you actually want something again.’ He’s sincere.

‘I’ll help you out at work until I can. I have some interviews soon. I might be out of here around the end of February.’ He nods. It’s soon.

‘Not to be corny, but… I’ll miss my younger sister,’ he announces in his fake deep voice and Seungwan scowls. The bonding time is over.

‘Oh, piss off, we’re only off by five minutes.’

‘And yet, the very important five minutes.’ He grins at her. She swats him on the arm.

‘What about you and Seulgi?’ He shrugs, but does look a little embarrassed.

‘I’ll try my best not to blow it since she gave me a chance.’

‘That’s the spirit.’ She sips her beer. ‘She seems like a lovely person. I can’t wait to get to know her better while I’m here.’

They part ways after eleven, each going to their respective room. Seungwan calls Joohyun and miraculously, the other answers. It must be some time around two in the afternoon there and Joohyun is on her way to her next class.

‘Hello?’ Joohyun peers into the phone, accidentally getting too close to the camera.

‘I already miss you,’ Seungwan says, forgoing the greetings. Joohyun laughs.

‘Seulgi didn’t return,’ she says instead, something that has become quite obvious to Seungwan as well today.

‘I think she might be crushing on a local, you know. Reminds me of somebody.’ Seungwan wiggles her eyebrows to the camera. Joohyun laughs again.

‘I have to go now, I have teachers’ meeting,’ she says regretfully. Seungwan nods. ‘But I will call you at ten o’clock Korean time. So… seven am Canada? Is that fine? Early?’ Seungwan nods again.

‘It’s fine. Can’t wait.’

‘Sweet dreams,’ Joohyun says and disconnects soon after.

Seungwan turns off the lights, getting under the covers. Jongdae did a lot with the house in the last few years but he never really touched her old room. She’s thankful for it now. It’s comforting and reminds her of her mother.

Sweet dreams, she thinks. And hopefully an even better tomorrow.

A/N: Thank you so much for reading this, it's been on my mind for some time and I finally took some time off and decided to see this story through. Please comment and upvote if you liked. I hope you all have a good day and all the best for the New Year.

(Let's all hope that Seungwan is also recovering well. ;3)