"Attention to all passengers. We have reached the border of Korea and will be arriving at Incheon Airport in a few more minutes. Please fasten your seatbelts. Welcome to Korea."

Welcome to Korea.

Welcome to Korea.

For once in my life, the announcement didn't make me excited at all. I felt depressed.

It had been three years since I left Korea. Three long years of adapting to a new environment, making new friends, carrying out daily routines, and a lot of taking photographs and dancing. How bad it was to leave all those things you had struggled to adapt to, and landed right into the heartbreaking memories which were the very reason why you were willing to adapt in the first place. And having all of them coming to surface of my mind in a blink of an eye made my stomach churn.

I closed my eyes in distress, trying to ignore everything except the music I was listening to.

Our memories that were left alone
You can’t see me, right?
I hope you come back to me
I can’t endure through this

The lyrics caught me off guard. Forget about listening to music. I was in no mood of listening to sappy, sad songs. I sighed. After deciding what to do in a few minutes, I gave up and tried to sleep. I had lack of sleep these days and I didn't care if it was only for a while. All the stress and mental-illness took the toll on me.

"Noona, noona, we are arriving soon. Don't sleep yet."

I felt a slight nudge on my arm. I opened my eyes lazily and looked at the boy who woke me up. He has a pair innocent dark brown eyes which were staring at me intently. Instead of giving a leave-me-alone look, I forced a small smile and patted his head gently. I couldn't resist his innocence.

I turned off my iPod and put it inside my bag. I observed the view outside the window. White clouds hanging on the cerulean sky, buildings and houses spread all over in dots. Even so, I despise the display of beauty in front of me.

-Flashback-

"If you don't want to hurt him, then you better get away from here."

I raised my head with a blank look. "Why should I? I've done nothing wrong."

I seemed to provoke the girl standing in front of me, who trapped me in a corner with her 'friends'.

"Yeah. May be you haven't. But you are about to if you don't leave."

"You can't make me."

The girl chuckled. And suddenly she gripped my shoulders a bit too harshly.

"Of course I can. And I will make you. Or you'll see him and his family breaking down because of you."

"I don't know what you're talking about. Do you think I believe you? You're a sick liar." My voice trembled in anger. I shoved her hands away and it was surprisingly easy.

She crossed her arms and threw a mocking look. "If you say so then check out tomorrow's newspaper and you'll be sorry."

I squinted my eyes. "Park Hyejin... What are you exactly planning to do?!"  I gripped her sleeve until it crumpled in my fist.

She merely smirked in response. An evil smile which screamed terrible scheme. She slowly slanted her body into mine, whispering to my ears.

I widened in shock. I could not fully digest what she said to me as my mind was filled with panic.

All I knew it sounded trouble.

-End of flashback-

I couldn't forget that day. The only thing that kept me and him apart. But it wasn't like you think. I didn't move from Korea due to that reason only, yet I couldn't deny it was one of the main reasons. It took long enough for me to return to Korea. My mom and dad had moved a while ago. The decision of returning back was made by me and me alone. Mom and dad understood my situation and let me think without burden, which I was thankful enough, because when I got back, I didn't want anything to do with him.

Bored, I opened my journal which I always brought along with me. It is one of my treasures that I would always cherish. The journal contained photographs taken by me for almost 7 years. I smiled as I flipped the pages one by one. I tried to fill my brain with cheerful memories when I was in Korea to help me ease my nervousness. There was my best friend Soonhee playing at the beach, my classmates on a field trip, then a picture of Soonhee again who winced with a funny face while trying to open a wine bottle. I laughed at those moments. I wondered how Soonhee is doing right now. Words couldn't describe how much I missed her. I really hoped I could meet her in Seoul.

Without realizing, the plane had finally touched down. When other passengers had picked up their belongings from the compartments, I unfastened my seat belt and prepared to leave my seat. However all of a sudden, a huge luggage fell onto my back.

Wham!!

Ouch.

I slowly straightened my back. And as expected, it was severely excruciating. Goodness, I don’t think I can walk straight with this pain.

“Ah, mianhae. Gwenchana?” I shifted my gaze towards the source of the sound; apparently it was coming from a guy.

“Neh, I’m alright.” I smiled softly. I tried to endure the pain but it was too overwhelming I couldn’t even stand properly. When the guy who dropped his luggage saw me wincing, he grew concerned.

“Hey, you’re not okay. Let me help you walk, do you mind? I’ll get you to the clinic as soon as we get out.”

I stared at him for a moment. I found myself stuttering between the pain that inflicted my back and my indistinct response. Without waiting for my reply, he wrapped his arm around my shoulders and helped me walk along the cabin.

The stewardess smiled at us and bowed slightly. “Welcome to Korea. I hope you enjoyed your flight.”

I cried in my mind. My uneasiness of returning back to Korea had been instantly wiped out by my aching back.

Welcome to Korea indeed.

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So here it is! The very first chapter. I hope you like it. Please drop a comment and subscribe :)