Aera sighed through her nose as she walked through the plane, looking longingly at the business class that was so close yet so far away before focusing on the seat numbers that were in front of her. One day, she was going to make enough money to splurge on business class seating without batting an eye. Unfortunately, that day was not today.

As a 23-year old graduate student who was already spending way too much money on tuition and on this trip, she definitely wasn’t anywhere near able to buy a bottle of champagne, much less a plane ticket for first class. She was just thankful that her parents had bought the plane tickets for her, and that she had enough money saved up from her internships over the years to be able to pay for the trip. She was already having issues paying the bills for her apartment in the middle of the city even after her parents had been paying the rent for her.

Aera glanced down at her boarding pass to double-check the seat number – 28B. She wasn’t sure if the window seats were the A or B seats, but as she mentally read all the seat numbers, she was happy to discover that the window seats were the B seats. She was admittedly very excited about that; if she was going to be traveling for 14 hours, at least she could look outside for a bit and maybe take some really nice pictures of the sky. Because she was leaving in the evening, she’d be landing in Seoul, South Korea at some point in the night, and so she supposed that even though she couldn’t get some amazing pictures of the sun, she could get some of the night sky with the clouds. Maybe she’d even get some shots of the glittering lights on the buildings and houses from thousands of feet in the sky as they landed.

It had been a long time since she had travelled alone, much less to a whole different country. She hadn’t been to Seoul since her family took a trip there for a month over summer vacation the year before her senior year of high school, but this time she was going by her own free will. Traveling alone like this was going to be an endeavor, but if she was being honest, she was looking forward to it.

It was her cousin’s wedding, and since she was on winter break from university, she figured that she might as well turn it into a vacation. It was the best time to go spend some time with her family, attend a wedding, do some New Year’s partying, and just go sight-seeing in Seoul. Her only complaint was that Seoul could get as cold as New York did, so there would still be a lot of jackets and scarves and gloves to wear.

Despite the lonely travels, she was excited to just get some time to herself, and she hoped that the universe would be on her side to bless her with child-less seating arrangements.

Once she found her seat, she put her phone down there just so she didn’t have to stuff it in her pocket, and then opened up her carry-on suitcase and pulled out her notebook tablet. Aera put the tablet with her phone and was just about to put the suitcase into the overhead compartment when a male voice sounded behind her.

“Excuse me?” he asked. She turned to find a man looking at her with a sheepish smile. He looked American and was probably only a few years older than her, and he was wearing a puffy black jacket with a red and green scarf covering his neck. He looked like he was drowning in his outerwear, and Aera could relate as she was beginning to feel really stuffy in her turtleneck and thigh-length winter jacket.

“Yes?” Aera asked, fully turning to look at him.

“Are you sitting in this seat?” he asked, pointing to her seat. She looked at the seat, and then back at him.

“Yeah. Why?”

“Well—uh—my wife and I got separated during seat booking. Would you mind switching with her?” he asked. It was then that Aera saw him holding hands with a pregnant Asian female who was standing slightly behind him. The only reason she knew she was pregnant was because her jacket was open, showing a fairly large bump.

“Oh,” she blinked. “Of course. Let me just grab my stuff.”

“Thank you,” the wife spoke, rubbing her free hand over her swollen stomach.

Aera smiled, “It’s absolutely no problem. Which seat is yours?”

“5B,” she responded. Thankfully, it was a B row seat which meant that Aera still got her window seat. She smiled at the couple who smiled back, and she moved out of the way to let the couple settle in as she moved closer towards the front of the plane. Counting the seats, she stopped a few seats away from row 5 and watched as an air hostess opened the curtains that separated the business class from the economy class. The air hostess was holding an ice bucket in one hand and a bottle of champagne in the other, and Aera moved out of the way slightly to let the air hostess pass once she came closer. Watching the curtain sway slightly longingly for a moment, Aera promised herself again – one day she would be sitting up there. Maybe if she got a job at Morgan Stanley, they could pay for a business trip and that day would be sooner.

But first, 5B.

She saw a man sitting in the seat next to hers, and he was hunched over slightly, looking at his phone. He was scrolling through Instagram, and she averted her eyes, stopping herself from invading this random stranger’s privacy. She stopped next to the seats, and the man looked up at her with a questioning glance. Sending him a slight smile without actually looking at him, she tried to maneuver her phone into her jacket pocket while holding her tablet in one hand so she could lift her carry-on suitcase with the other, but it wasn’t working quite well. Aera paused in the middle of lifting her bag into the overhead compartments when her eyes landed on the man. He was an Asian man with light brown hair, a fair complexion, full lips, and high cheekbones, and Aera swore that he could’ve been a celebrity. He was wearing a black hoodie and blue jeans, and the first thought that ran through her head was wow, he’s gorgeous.

“Hello,” he spoke up, and she nearly swooned right there. The man had such a melodic voice that she wouldn’t be surprised if he actually did sing, but it also jolted her enough to realize that she’d been staring.

“Hi. Um, could you help me put this up there?” she asked, trying to fumble with an excuse to explain her staring. “I’m in the seat next to yours.”

“Sure,” he responded. He had a very slight accent, enough for her to realize that he probably was Korean. He stood up, and she moved out of the way to let him fit her small suitcase in the compartment. The man was a couple of inches taller than her, even in her heeled boots, and she made her way into her seat when the man had gotten the suitcase set in place.

“Thanks,” she smiled at him gratefully.

Standing in front of her seat, she moved to take off the jacket but cursed quietly when the end of her pony tail got caught in the zipper. Once her hair was free, she set her jacket down in the corner of the seat, hoping that she could use it as a pillow later, and she sat down with her tablet set up on the pop-out table in front of her. She then buckled up and took out her phone, checking for any notifications before she texted her parents that she was in the plane and would be turning her phone off soon. The reply came almost instantly, saying that they wished her a safe flight and that they would be there to pick her up from the airport when she landed. They had already left for Seoul at the beginning of the month to help plan the wedding, and she would’ve gone then too, but unfortunately, finals were a thing that existed in her life.

“Not a problem,” he responded once he had also sat down next to her.

“I’m Aera,” she spoke up, holding a hand out for him to shake. She figured that if she was going to be sitting next to an attractive man for the foreseeable future, she might as well introduce herself. He looked between her face and her hand before clasping it and shaking it twice.

“Jongdae,” he responded. Aera squinted slightly. The name was Korean, but she didn’t want to make any assumptions considering her exposure to Koreans was limited to a few people at school and her extended family.

“Nice to meet you, Jongdae,” she responded politely, not knowing what else to say. Once she got over how insanely attractive he was, she wasn’t sure what to do. She was never good with strangers. They settled into an awkward silence for a bit before Aera decided to take a picture of the runway and update her Instagram before putting her phone on airplane mode and looking out the window. She watched the airport staff moving luggage across the runway, and she watched a few people raising the light-up markers to guide the planes. A few minutes later, the announcement came through the speakers that they would be taking off soon.

The silence continued up till they were in the air and the seatbelt sign had turned off. Sighing, Aera her tablet, hoping to get some of her report for her internship done when Jongdae spoke up, albeit a bit hesitant.

“I don’t mean to be rude, but your name sounds Korean,” he pointed out. It had taken him almost twenty minutes to speak up, so she assumed that it took him a lot of courage to speak up. From their minimal interactions, he seemed quite shy.

“That’s because I am, or well, Korean American, I guess. I was born and raised in New York. You’re Korean, too?” she asked.

This had to be one of the most awkward conversations she had ever had.

He nodded. “So, why are you going to Korea? Visiting family?”

Aera nodded right back. “I’m heading there for a wedding and vacation,” she clarified. “What about you?”

“Going back home for winter break. I’m here for a year-long study abroad program.”

“Oh, that’s cool! What university?” she asked, putting an elbow on the seat rest between them and resting her chin on her fist. She was mentally thanking every deity she knew of – Buddhist, Hindu, Greek, Christian, whatever – that they could talk about something in common, even if that topic was school.

“Columbia.” Aera gaped, surprised at the pure luck.

“No way.”

“What?” he asked, raising an eyebrow. He didn’t seem as shy anymore, but that was probably because he was more curious than anything else.

“I go there! I’m graduating next semester with my MBA. What program are you in?”

“Psychology. It was a graduate studies program offered by my university in Korea,” he explained, a small smile on his face. He spoke thoughtfully, as though he were translating from Korean to English in his mind before speaking, but his pronunciation was much better than she had expected it to be.

“Your English is really good for someone who’s only been here for a few months,” she pointed out, impressed.

“I took a few English classes before moving out here, and one of my friends grew up in Canada before he moved to Seoul. He practically forced me to speak to him in English every time hung out,” he explained, laughing slightly.

Aera smiled at that, and she admired his tenacity to study English like that.

“How’s your Korean?” he asked her.

“Decent,” she replied, scrunching her nose slightly. “My parents spoke to me in Korean at home, but it’s hard to stick to it when you’re surrounded by English everywhere else.”

“If you’re not comfortable with Korean, we could stick to English,” he offered. Aera raised an eyebrow, surprised at how bold he had gotten compared to the beginning of the conversation.

“So, this conversation is going to continue for the rest of the flight?” she asked, teasing him.

The tips of his ears turned slightly pink. “Well, I mean, only if you want to. I just thought that maybe the flight would get kind of lonely because it’s 14 hours long, and we have nowhere else to go. But I understand if you feel uncomfortable with it,” he rambled. Jongdae probably would’ve continued if Aera hadn’t laughed. Besides being good looking, he was also really accommodating and kind, and Aera suddenly decided that she didn’t want to be left alone for the rest of the flight.

“No, no. I’m just teasing. I’m happy that I’m stuck with you for the next 14 hours of my life. And please, I could use the Korean practice.”

“And I could use the English practice,” he grinned at her, and she grinned right back.

Even though she didn’t get her business class seat, there was no screaming child near her, and she was sitting in a window seat next to a handsome Korean man that her mother would definitely approve of.

~~~

A few hours later, she and Jongdae were watching Iron Man 3, courtesy of the free in-flight entertainment, and Aera had forgotten all about her work for the internship. Aera was sticking by the fact that she had taken time off from her internship, and her vacation began the moment she stepped onto the plane. Besides, she was determined to spend time with Jongdae considering she might never see him again once they parted ways at the airport. Thinking about it made her feel conflicted considering she had just met the man, but he was so sweet and funny. Aera realized that it had been 3 years since her last relationship, and she was annoyingly lonely. They had clicked really fast, falling into a bantering conversation that wasn’t antagonistic at all, but rather, somewhat fond.

The two of them had argued for a while to figure out which movie to watch, but they quickly agreed on watching a Marvel movie upon seeing the movies come up in the selection. His favorite Iron Man movie was the third while hers was the first, but they somehow agreed to watch both in chronological order but skip the second because it was the worst one. Over the course of the first movie, they had sort of ended up squished together because there was an earphone divider to attach two pairs of earphones to one port for the TV screen, but the screen that they were using was in front of Jongdae because Aera had set up her tablet on the pop-out tray in front of her. Eventually, she had just settled for pressing her head up against his shoulder as she curled a leg underneath her, the other one dangling, and neither of them acknowledged the movement. Aera was afraid that she would mention it, and he would realize that it wasn’t a thing that normal people who met simply a few hours ago did and would push her away.

They had separated and had gone back to sitting normally for dinner, just chatting about their individual programs at Columbia before starting the third movie. She learned that he was planning on teaching psychology to students in high school, but that really wasn’t a course that many Korean high schools offered. Either way, at least he would have a graduate degree in education and psychology, so he did have some job options. She told him that she really just liked math because she was good at it, and then decided to make it her career.

Once they were well into the third movie, somehow they had started using Aera’s tray as a stand for their drinks, and the tablet was closed and forgotten. The lights in the airplane had dimmed as most of the passengers had fallen asleep. Every so often, one of the air hostesses would walk by, asking if they needed anything.

“You know,” Jongdae started in Korean, whispering to avoid waking the people up around them, when they were about 30 minutes into the third movie, “I wonder if Tony ever got therapy after what happened with the Battle of New York.”

Aera scoffed. “He definitely needs it after all the stuff he went through,” she replied in a low voice, also in Korean.

“Well I mean, it’s kind of too late for that now.” She gasped, pushing herself off of him.

“Don’t even mention that,” she pointed out, wagging a finger in his face.

“It’s been a year since Endgame came out,” he replied. “Get over it.”

“It’s too soon!”

“No, it’s not.”

“Yes, it is.”

“Just shut up and watch the movie.”

“You started talking,” she hissed, smacking him in the arm with the back of her hand.

“Why are you so violent?!” he groaned, rubbing the inflicted area.

“Just shut up and watch the movie,” she mocked. He rolled his eyes at her before turning his attention back to the movie, and she did the same. She ended up pressing herself up against the arm she had hit, and she felt his muscles flex ever so slightly against her own arm, even through her thick turtleneck sweater and his hoodie. Aera resisted the temptation to smile at his attempt to impress her with his muscles, and she just snuggled up closer to him.

Her attention was completely on the movie for the rest of its duration that she hadn’t even noticed that Jongdae hadn’t made a single comment. Moving away from the man, she realized that his head was pressed up against the headrest, eyes closed. His chest was moving up and down slowly as he breathed in deeply through his nose and slowly out through his mouth. Smiling, Aera gently removed the earphones from his ears and turned the screen off. Aera let out a sigh of relief when Jongdae didn’t even stir as she moved. She shuffled back into her seat carefully, and then opened the window shutter to look out the window.

The night sky was dark, but she could see the brightness of the lights from the wings of the airplanes. The plane looked as though it were suspended in the gray clouds, and she wished that the clouds would part slightly so she could see the ocean that they were currently flying over. She reached for her phone, turned it on, and took a picture of the sky before turning it back off. She set it down on top of her tablet and closed the window shutter again. She wiggled around in her seat for a bit, carefully as to avoid jostling Jongdae since the arm rest was up, and she took off her shoes, crossing her legs underneath her, and then draped her jacket over her chest and legs and closed her eyes.

It must’ve been maybe ten minutes after she had closed her eyes and was almost asleep when she felt a weight fall onto her shoulder. Opening her eyes slightly, she nearly jumped in her spot. She willed herself to calm down before she accidentally pushed Jongdae’s head off of her shoulder, effectively waking him up. It probably wasn’t the best position for his neck considering she was shorter than him, but he was slumped so far down in his seat that she didn’t have the heart to wake him up. Taking a deep breath, she let him rest his head there, and she pressed her cheek against his head, his hair tickling her face slightly, but regardless of the fact that he was still essentially a stranger, she fell asleep quickly.

~~~

Aera woke up to a light humming next to her ears, and at first, she scrunched her nose, trying to figure out why her neck was killing her, why she was so warm, and why someone was humming in her ear. Granted, that last one wasn’t so bad. The person had an incredibly soft voice that would sound amazing if they were actually singing. Slowly blinking awake, Aera found herself staring at the back of an airplane seat.

Right.

She was on her way to Seoul, and she fell asleep with her cheek on top of Jongdae’s head, and yet, she didn’t feel the telltale tickle of his hair against her cheek. Instead there was a warmth radiating from the broad, soft shoulder her head was resting on, and the humming was now accompanied by the occasional flip of a page. She made a mental note to ask him about the singing later.

She tried to move a bit to get more comfortable, but her twitching caused Jongdae to flinch under her, and she realized it was time to move. She straightened out, hoping her hair wasn’t a bird’s nest, and rotated her neck. Hearing the cracks made her wonder just how bad the neck pain was going to be once she actually slept in a proper bed, but that would be an issue for later. Patting down her head, she turned to find Jongdae smiling at her. He was holding a book in English, and from where she was sitting, she couldn’t see the title.

“Good morning,” he greeted in English. Aera smiled back. She was thankful he spoke in English because she didn’t think she was awake enough to process Korean.

“How long was I asleep?” she asked, groaning as she stretched as best as she could in her seat. Her jacket was still in her lap, and she reached down to put her shoes back on so she could go to the bathroom and attempt to freshen up slightly. Thankfully she had a few disposable finger toothbrushes and mouth freshner in her purse.

“Uh, maybe 5 or 6 hours? I only woke up about an hour ago. Thanks for letting me sleep on your shoulder,” he said, ducking his head slightly.

“It’s no problem,” Aera laughed. “Besides, I ended up using you as a pillow, anyways.” She couldn’t get used to how he would get so shy sometimes while being so bold at other times. She turned her attention back to the screen in front of her and clicked through the options to see how much longer there was in the flight. They were about ten hours into the flight and currently flying over the middle east. They’d reach in just under five hours, so at least she’d get some food in her before they landed.

“I’m going to go to the bathroom,” she announced, and Jongdae nodded as she moved his legs slightly to make room for Aera to walk past him with her purse.

Quickly doing her business, she washed her face, put on some face cream, brushed her teeth, and hoped that the rest of the flight would fly by just as the previous ten hours did.

And yet, she also wished that it wouldn’t end because then she would have to part from Jongdae. They were just seatmates, and that didn’t mean anything — even if Aera wanted it to mean more. It was so stupid. He was only going to be in New York for another 4 months starting end of January before he would move back to Korea permanently, and then she wouldn’t see him again. Why was she setting herself up for heartbreak?

And yet, she knew that if she didn’t try, she’d regret it. This trip was going to be a trip where she stepped out of her comfort zone to travel to a brand new country herself and try to immerse herself in her parents’ culture. It was time she tried. With a mental cheer, she walked out of the bathroom, and nearly crashed into an air hostess carrying an ice bucket from the business class. Aera nearly rolled her eyes at the lady, but she managed to stop herself just in time to apologize to the air hostess before walking away.

Apparently her immediate change in mood was evident because Jongdae asked what happened when she sat down.

“Nothing,” she sighed, getting comfortable in her seat. She opened the window shutter and looked out at the dark sky as she spoke. “It’s just that I hate flying economy. It’s just so uncomfortable, and things are just so much harder than they need to be. A life goal of mine is to fly business class.”

“Well maybe with your business degree, that day is closer than you imagine,” Jongdae joked, closing his book. She appreciated that he was trying to pay complete attention to her, and now that the book was closed, she could see that he was reading The Girl on the Train. The fact that he liked crime novels was an interesting tidbit of information to add to her mental folder regarding the man sitting next to her.

“I’m just hoping that I get a job at Morgan Stanley or something and they pay for all my flights. That’d be the life,” she sighed, leaning her head back against the seat as she turned back to look at Jongdae.

“Unfortunately, that won’t be part of my life,” he responded with a small smile on his face, and Aera grinned.

“Hey, maybe I’ll be rich enough to pay for your flights to come visit me,” she offered. After a moment of silence, she processed just exactly what she offered before she slapped her hand over .

Where was her goddamn filter when she needed it?!

Either way, there wasn’t anything she could do about it now, so she could either try to explain herself or just roll with it.

Removing her hand from , she sheepishly grinned. “Look at me already becoming a sleazy businesswoman. I’m already trying to weasel myself into your life by trying to stay in contact.”

“It’s fine,” he grinned, moving his hand to gently rest upon hers. Aera felt her heart rate rocketing. “I’d like to stay in contact. The person who made this flight bearable deserves some respect, after all. Besides, you’d never be sleazy.”

Aera could tell that her cheeks were absolutely burning, but she smiled anyways. At least she made some progress, even if that progress came at the cost of her dignity. Jongdae let go of her hand and turned back to his book.

Thankfully, an air hostess came by with a drink cart right then, and Aera got some green tea and a pack of chocolate chip cookies that Jongdae also got, except with hazelnut coffee.

“So, this is a weird question,” Aera spoke up after a few minutes of silence, “but were you humming when I woke up?”

Jongdae looked sheepish for a moment before nodding. “Yeah. There was a song stuck in my head, so I guess I just ended up humming it.”

“You have a really melodic voice,” she complimented. “Do you sing often?”

“I was in my family church’s choir growing up.” Aera couldn’t help it, but she let out a laugh. “What?” he asked, raising an eyebrow at her.

“You were a church oppa,” she grinned.

“Oh my god,” he groaned, turning his face away from her to look up at the ceiling. “How do you even know about that?”

“Hey, I may not have grown up in Korea, but I grew up in a Korean household. So, how many girls asked you out?”

“None,” he grumbled, turning his attention back to the book as a clear way to try to ignore her, but she wasn’t going to let it go.

“That’s hard to believe,” she pressed. “Come on, you’re objectively handsome with a nice voice. You had to have female admirers growing up. If I grew up with you, I probably would’ve asked you out at some point.”

Again, where was her filter?

“Are you always this curious?” he asked, thankfully ignoring her latter comment. He wasn’t so shy anymore, and Aera was happier than she should’ve been that he was opening up to her more.

“Yes, yes I am. Besides, K-dramas have taught me plenty about how loved church oppas usually are.”

“Clearly you must like them if you would’ve asked me out,” he commented. “Are church oppas your type?” Aera scrunched her eyebrows up for a moment, contemplating the question as she decidedly pretended to not hear the first part of what he said. She wasn’t expecting him to answer her question with a question, but she’d let him have it since she wasn’t sure if she was actually pushing a line that he didn’t want to be pushed.

“Not exactly? It’s a perk if the guy can sing, but he doesn’t have to. Plus, it’s not like girls like those kinds of guys just for the singing,” she laughed. This time his eyebrows scrunched up.

“What do you mean?” Aera tilted her head to look at him.

“I mean that most church oppas are the good guys in front of others but are actually rebellious more than the others. A bunch of the guys I knew growing up would sneak out and smoke because they thought it was cool. Then they grew up and grew a brain. But while they pretended to be rebellious, it actually attracted a lot of girls.”

“Well, I can tell you that I wasn’t like that. I didn’t have time growing up to smoke,” he laughed. “I was actually too busy studying to do that.”

Aera pretended to be upset. “Damn it.”

He cracked a smile at that. “I did get asked out a few times, but I never said yes to any of the girls till I got into college. I didn’t want to disappoint my parents by working so hard on studying only for a relationship to distract me. It was easier to manage my time by then, so I started dating.”

Honestly, Aera should’ve made it clear whether he was currently in a relationship about, oh, seven hours ago, but there wasn’t much to be done except maybe jump out the plane if he were actually in a relationship.

“Are you...dating anyone right now?” she apprehensively asked, playing with the ends of her ponytail, a habit she had when she was nervous.

He shook his head.

She let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding.

“Okay, just wanted to make sure I wasn’t going to land in Seoul only for a girl to attack me for falling asleep on her boyfriend,” she replied, falling back on her sarcastic personality as a way for her to feel less awkward.

“Is there anyone I should know about that might stalk me in New York a month from now?” he asked, mimicking the way she had structured her question. If she didn’t know any better, she’d say that he was just as curious about her relationship status as she was, but that was just ridiculous considering she was crushing on a man she’d known for not even a full day, and certainly a psychology graduate student would be smarter than that. Math geeks were bad with emotions.

She shook her head. “Haven’t dated anyone since I was 20.” He nodded thoughtfully, and the conversation turned into a lull, but it didn’t really bother her.

Opening the window shutter, she wasn’t surprised to find it still mostly dark, but she took out her phone and took a few pictures either way. At some point, Jongdae asked what she was doing.

“Oh, I sort of have a photography Instagram page, so I decided to take advantage of being up in the sky.”

“That’s cool! You’re going to have to tell me what the account is once we land.”

“Will do,” she promised. Even if it wasn’t her number, at least she’d get his Instagram account, and that was enough for her.

Jongdae sent her a bright smile and went back to his book, and she decided that she should get at least some of her report done for her internship. Pulling out her tablet and her earphones, she mentally thanked herself for deciding to put a Spotify premium membership in her budget a few months ago because she needed music to focus the majority of the time. She somehow threw herself into her work, and while it wasn’t rare for her to become very motivated to get her stuff done, it was rare for her to work so quickly. Aera had a suspicion that it was because of the fact that she didn’t have access to WiFi and had a fleeting thought that maybe she should turn her WiFi off when working on reports from home.

She doubted that she would do that, though.

After about an hour of staring at her screen, she paused her music, and stretched her arms out. She turned to look at Jongdae for the first time since they last spoke, only to find him looking at her. She knew that he had gotten up once at some point, but honestly, she didn’t fully register it.

“Got a lot done?” he asked. “You seemed to be in the zone.”

“Yeah, surprisingly. What about you?” she asked, looking down at the book.

“I finished it a while ago. I just didn’t want to move to put it in my suitcase,” he laughed. “I’ve been watching a movie,” he replied, pointing at the screen.

“Oh,” she