Mi Kyong's POV

I pull my luggage alongside me as I arrive in Korea, walking through the airport to find Vic who was coming to pick me up.

“Athena! Over here!” I hear a voice call me. I look in the direction of the sound and see Victoria beckoning me over with Zhou Mi standing behind her. I wave toward them and quickly make my way over, heels clicking against the marble flooring.

“Hey, it’s been a while!” I say laughing, pulling Victoria into a hug.

“I know, I saw you yesterday.” Victoria replies with a grin plastered upon her face. We break away from our hug and I lock eyes with Zhou Mi.

“Good to see you.” He says, shaking my hand.

“Likewise.” I reply, with a firm shake. He takes my luggage from me and Vic walks alongside me.

“So, how was yesterday?” Vic asks and I groan.

“I don’t even want to talk about it.” I say dully and Vic frowns.

“Did something happen?” Vic asks.

“You could say that.” I reply and Vic makes a face but doesn’t pressure me on it. “How about you?” I ask and Vic rolls her eyes.

“After Nicole’s, Zhou Mi and I got on a plane and flew straight back here. We only woke up a few hours ago to pick you up.” Vic says and I feel a pang of guilt shoot through me.

“You know, I could’ve taken a cab or something.” I say, trying to ease the guilt.

“And miss seeing my best friend return to Korea for the first time in what, five years? Not a chance!” Victoria says grinning. After over a decade of friendship and not yet had Victoria ever failed to make me smile. We make our way over to their black car and I get in the side, Victoria gives up the passenger seat and joins me in the back.

“Where to ladies?” Zhou Mi asks, a trace of smile on his face as he rests his arm on the passenger seat looking back at us.

“Where else? Home of course!” Victoria says smiling cheerfully and Zhou Mi laughs, turning around in his seat and ignites the engine. Home. I’m going home. “What’s wrong?” Vic asks me and I turn around to look at her.

“What do you mean?” I ask.

“You scrunched up your nose when I said home.” Victoria says.

“I just haven’t been home in so long, I can barely remember what it’s like.” I say.

“Well soon enough, you’ll have a home of your own with a handsome husband.” Victoria says, smiling over at Zhou Mi, who reaches back and grabs her hand. I smile at the cuteness of the scene.

“So, what are you going to do first?” Victoria asks me excitedly a few moments later.

“Oh honey, let her relax.” Zhou Mi says rolling his eyes, “Vic has been planning around your schedule ever since she blackmailed your secretary for it. Trust me; while you’re here, you aren’t going to have a moment of peace and quiet.”

“Come on, she hasn’t been back in so long! I was excited, okay?” Vic says pouting and Zhou Mi chuckles softly under his breath.

I laugh at their playful banter, “Alright Vic, what do you have up your sleeve?”

“We’re going to see a concert tonight.” Victoria says with a twinkle in her eye.

“Well alright, but I need to make a trip home first.” I reply, “Besides, I still need to check into my hotel.” Victoria gasps.

“You mean, you aren’t living at home with your parents?” Victoria asks and I shake my head.

“I haven’t been home in so long, it feels wrong to live there, I don’t want to burden my parents either.” I reply.

“That’s nonsense Athena, and you know it.” Zhou Mi says to me, looking at me through his rearview mirror.

“I agree. You can’t come back to Korea and stay as an outsider!” Victoria says.

“Isn’t it weird that I feel like a foreigner to my own country?” I ask myself.

“Well, we’re here.” Zhou Mi says, parking in front of my house. I step outside into the cool December morning, snowflakes falling gently from the grey sky. “So are you going to tell them?” Zhou Mi asks me and I sigh contentedly, trying to relish the last few moments of quiet before I entered the busy commotion of my house.

“I’m going to have to eventually, aren’t I?” I respond, not sure more to him or to myself. Victoria lays an encouraging hand on my shoulder and walks into the house.

“Mr. and Mrs. Park!” She greets cheerfully, with big hugs. “How have you been?”

“Oh! Vic! Thank you so much for the blankets you brought last week, they’re being put to good use.” My mother says, hugging Vic back happily. I feel a sudden onslaught of guilt after having left my responsibility to care for my parents on my best friend. After all these years, I was finally seeing what I had been to ignorant to see before.

“Tell us, Vic, what brings you here today?” My father asks, pulling Zhou Mi into a hug as well and I realize just how grateful I am to Victoria for taking care of my family all these years.

“Well. I have a special surprise for you, straight out of America.” Victoria says and I step out. My parents gasp and run over to me.

“Mi Kyong? Is that really you?” My mother asks, touching my face, eyes watering. I feel my own eyes prick with tears as my mother pulls me into a tight embrace. Mi Kyong. I hadn’t been called that in a long time. Being in this house again made me feel like that once vulnerable, innocent and naïve girl I had once been.

“It’s good to see you sweetheart; I hear your business is doing well.” My dad says and pulls me into a hug too. Behind him, I can see various newspaper clippings being carefully cut out about my business and a whole wall of DVDs of my various interviews on television and news reports of my business were carefully put in cases and lined up by date along the bookshelf.

It hit me. I was home. Being in my father’s arms made me feel like the little girl I once was, it made me feel safe and protected. I started to cry, not being able to hold back after the many years I had spent taking care of myself. I cried, out of relief and out of all I had put myself through. I felt like the prodigal son returning to the warm embrace