Chapter 3

♦

“Everyone you will ever meet knows something you don't.”

-Bill Nye

She stood there with nothing with shock and anxiety blazing over her body as though it was burning her alive from inside to out. Her eyes were hard and focused on the man holding a placard with her name on it. She expected to see the driver of the cab company but instead stood her very own brother. 

It was only when one of the other passengers accidentally bumped into her while pushing their trolley filled with suitcases that she realized that she had not moved for the mast two minutes. 

She walked ahead towards the man with her own trolley filled with luggages. She held her breath as she took him in. His hair had grown longer, almost covering his dark eyes that still held the same sharpness it did when she left the country 8 years ago. He had become taller, much taller than she last remembered. 

“Hi.” He said not once taking his eyes off her. His voice was deeper now but still held the same warmth and tone that she loved hearing. 

“San.” She called out “How-How did you know?” She hadn’t contacted her family in fear that they might hate her for leaving the family. Well, at least those were her father’s last words to her right before she took off so the last thing she expected was for one of them to show up.

“You think I wouldn’t know if my own sister stepped foot back home Yeon?” He said.

Without a second thought Theodora wrapped her arms around him and squeezed as hard as she could. San was surprised for a second but warmed up immediately and wrapped his arms around her too.

8 years. 8 years without contacting anyone she once loved. 8 years since she left her family and life behind to start anew. 8 years since she had seen or heard from her brother. She breathed him in just like he did. To her, he smelt like chocolates and vanilla with a dash of their childhood lives. To him, she smelt like disinfectant and spices with no reminisce of their childhood lives. 

He broke the hug but kept his arms on her shoulders. Her har was tied up in a bun. Her almond eyes were still glowing with life. Her sharp nose that he liked to squeeze when they were younger to try and make it look different than his. Her lips lined with red lipstick held a loving smile as she stared back at him. He missed her. He missed his older sister to death. Not being able to go after her, not being able to talk to and especially not being able to look for her killed him inside. But here she was, back home, back where she belonged. 

“Let’s go home? We have a lot to catch up on.” He asked, taking her trolley and walked but stopped when he realized she wasn’t following him. 

“What’s wrong?” He frowned. Theodora shook her head as soon as she saw worry fill his eyes. 

“I can’t.” She whispered. “Go home, I mean.” She couldn’t. Her father would kill her before she could step foot inside their property. She was never allowed home. Not anymore. Not after what she did. 

“I didn’t mean the so called ‘home’ we grew up in, Theo.” He smiled and took her hand in his. “I meant my home.” 

♦♦♦

Theodora Choi. It meant ‘gift of God’. Her mother had a hard time conceiving and after years of trying she was finally given the happy news of being pregnant. To her mother, Theodora was was blessing especially in the world she was living in that was as horrible as the depths of hell. But Theodora’s father on the other hand wanted something more grounded, more local, more Korean thus giving her the name Choi Yeon which meant ‘like a nature’. She had hated her Korean name. Mostly because that was what her father would use when berating her for the tiniest mistakes she made. So she made sure that the rest of the world called her Theodora and only Theodora. 

San on the other hand was more of a blessing for their father. He wanted a son. No, he needed