“What did you just say?” A short-haired woman in her 20s shouted in front of the check-in counters at the Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), startling the passengers around her. “My flight has already been delayed for two hours and now you’re telling me it’s been delayed again to 5 AM tomorrow?”

“I am sorry, Ms. Kim. Due to the latest regulations regarding air travel, we needed to delay the flight so the cabin crew will have enough rest. When we had that all sorted out and ready to go, we received a weather advisory from Incheon saying that they are canceling flights to and from Incheon International Airport (ICN) due to inclement weather.”

“What are you teaching your pilots then? They fly thousands of miles every single day just to act like sissies when faced with inclement weather!” The woman known as Ms. Kim made a quoting gesture with her two fingers. She was visibly livid, but nobody seemed to know why. Although the other passengers were annoyed, that was the extent of their discomfort. This information had already been relayed to the passengers a couple of minutes ago and they all understood. All except for one.

“As I told everyone earlier,” the woman behind the check-in counter said, showing restraint with her tone in hopes of keeping her job without losing her sanity, “ICN authorities report zero visibility within 300 km of the airport due to a winter storm. It would be dangerous to travel if we do not follow their warning.”

The calm demeanor of the check-in agent seemed to have done the trick as the distraught woman walked away from the counter with a dejected face. The other passengers gave her space mainly because they did not know what to do. However, this proved to be just a quick respite as the woman charged the counter again.

“Listen, Miss--- Miss Victoria. I am getting married in two days--- no, tomorrow. ing time zones. The bride has been on my for accepting this business meeting and I assured her that I can get back in time for my wedding,” said Ms. Kim, whose eyes were slowly becoming watery. “If my flight is delayed for another twelve hours, I will miss my wedding.”

Victoria’s expression had now changed from annoyed to sympathetic. She was not aware of the rampaging passenger’s situation. She has encountered many irritating passengers who had been aggressive because of flight delay announcements, but none of them had the brevity for their reason like Ms. Kim’s.

“I am sorry to hear that, Ms. Kim. Rest assured; we are going to look at alternatives for your situation so you do not miss your wedding.” Victoria picked up the phone behind the counter and started making phone calls.

Ms. Kim just stood there frozen. She did not know what to do or say anymore. She had trusted the heavens too much in giving her a seamless journey back to Korea. It seemed like Mother Nature had a different plan as she decided to introduce a winter storm on the day she was going to arrive home. She walked away from the counter again, through the crowd of curious onlookers and found a seat a good distance away from the crowd. She pulled out her phone and dialed her fiancée’s number.

A cold voice answered the call. “Hello, Chaewon.”

“Minju, hello. I—”

“You are not going to make it, are you?”

“They delayed my flight again to 5 AM tomorrow---”

The voice interjected again, “5 AM? Twelve hours from now? You are going to miss the wedding!”

Chaewon rubbed her eyes, resigning to her fate, “It looks like it. I am really sorry, Minju—”

“Listen here Chaewon,” Minju interrupted the woman again, “You went there to close a business deal for your father’s company. I’m just reminding you that I’m only marrying you for the business partnership between our families. We have tried to make it work before, but we know that we both have our own priorities.”

The woman on the other line paused. Chaewon could hear the other take a deep breath before continuing, “You said you were going to prioritize us over the company. You said you were going to choose me over the presidency. But you didn’t. You didn’t do it two years ago, and you didn’t do it today. Nothing’s changed, Chaewon.”

Chaewon could not respond to her fiancée’s rant because it was true in most ways. She did not expect that she would hear the same thing that her mom told her dad, who was the company CEO then, when they divorced during their company’s heyday, and she was not even a CEO yet.

“Maybe it’s time to let me go, Chaewon,” said Minju on the other line. Chaewon knew her fiancée long enough to recognize her voice when she is about to cry.

“We know we both fell out of love long ago. It’s time for us to choose ourselves, no, it is time for me to choose myself over us.”

“Minju, please don’t do this.”

“The wedding is your last chance. If you do not show up at the altar, it’s over.”

The line went dead, leaving Chaewon speechless yet again. After a few seconds of pacing around while thinking about what to do, she approached the check-in counter again, but gentler this time. The passengers recognized her and made way, half-expecting another explosive show again.

“Victoria, any progress?”

“I have been making some calls, Ms. Kim. We have been monitoring the situation in ICN so that when the weather advisory clears up, we can depart right away.”

“How about other airports?” asked Chaewon, who was slowly getting desperate.

“I have not checked those yet since there are no direct flights to the other airports in South Korea from here.”

“Excuse me,” a high-pitched feminine voice was heard from behind Chaewon. “Can I make a suggestion?”

Chaewon turned to the woman who just spoke. The woman was wearing a mask, a requirement nowadays, but the mask fails to hide her beauty as it exposed her bright eyes and part of her fluffy cheeks. Her blonde hair complimented her fair skin and matched with her winter season inspired outfit.

“I’m all ears.”

“Do you want to go to Haneda with me?” asked the stranger in Korean.

Chaewon blushed at the directness of the stranger. The straightforward nature of the question surprised her, but what puzzled her more was how the stranger knew that she was Korean. She also noticed that the stranger had an accent, which meant the woman can speak another language beside Korean and English.

Nevertheless, Chaewon remained suspicious of the stranger. “What? Why would I do that?”

“Sorry if that seemed weird. My friend who was supposed to come with me decided just now to stay here in LA for a couple more days. She lives in Busan and what we had planned was to go to Japan through Haneda to visit some of our friends and she would take a flight to Busan from Haneda to get home.”

Chaewon nodded as she saw where the stranger’s train of thought was going. “I can fly to Haneda and find a flight to a different airport in Korea!”

The stranger smiled through her mask, “Yes. Would that be possible, Miss Victoria?”

The check-in agent picked up the phone again to make some calls. After a few minutes of talking and nodding, she hung up and smiled at the two women, “We can get you in to the flight to Haneda that leaves in an hour, then have you go on a flight to Gimpo International Airport after an hour layover. Will that work for you?”

Chaewon beamed at the check-in agent and said, “Yes, I will take that! Thank you!”

She then marched over to the stranger, who still had a big smile on her face. What the stranger did not expect is for her to be enclosed in a tight hug from the formerly distraught woman at the counter, causing her to tense up. She was thankful that masks were a requirement these days because they hid the tinge of red forming in her cheeks because of the sudden action.

Sensing the stranger tense up to the hug and the awkward atmosphere around them, Chaewon let go of the woman.

“Thank you so much! You saved my life, Miss…?”

“Hitomi. Honda Hitomi.”

“Thank you, Miss Hitomi. My name is Kim Chaewon. Nice to meet you,” Chaewon was starting to feel the awkwardnes