|| Incheon International Airport ||
 

“To look or not to look, that is the question,” you mutter to yourself as you lightly tap the small green booklet on your palm. You puff out your cheeks, bite your lower lip, and contemplate whether to just leave the stray passport at the service desk, or continue your strenuous search for its mysterious owner.

After having plucked all the “I should/ I should not” petals of your imaginary flower, you decide to resume your quest for the sole purpose of killing time—three and a half hours to be exact.

Because of the unplanned detour your connecting flight was forced to take, you arrived at Incheon earlier than expected and now have nothing better to do. The "arriving early" part would have been good news…if only your dad hadn’t specifically sent his most trusted drivers to come pick you up. According to the memo Secretary Ji sent you, they were to follow strict instructions on how to deliver you safely to the Ga residence without alerting the media. This means that they were to arrive on the dot—not a minute early nor a second late.

Having made up your mind to complete your mission, you make your way through a pool of people who just exited the plane with the passport tightly cradled in your hand. You crane your neck to the best of your ability and scan the crowd, trying to spot the handsome man pictured inside the cover.

However, a little over five minutes into your search, you quickly realize finding him—if he’s still in the premises that is—is no easy feat. In this massive sea of black locks speckled with platinum blonde, ash brown, and reddish orange, spotting this stranger is close to impossible.

"They’re all starting to look alike," you breathe out with a click of the tongue, somewhat frustrated.

You glance at the guy's picture a second time and read the name printed on the side: Kim Junmyeon. "Kim Junmyeon-ssi. Junmyeon-ssi," you repeat quietly to yourself, “Just where in this massive place did you go off to?”  

Assuming he’s no longer inside, you make your way towards the airport exit with your small luggage in tow. And as the automatic doors open, a refreshing breeze passes by, lightly grazing your skin. "Ahhh~ this weather is so nice," you say out loud as you stretch out your arms.

After taking a moment to appreciate the warm sunny afternoon, your eyes go back to surveying the swarm of people waiting for the next available taxi to pull up.

Just then, a guy wearing dark square sunglasses stops a few feet away from you.

You examine him from head to toe, trying your best not to make it look too obvious you’re checking him out. He's dressed in a solid gray pullover sweater over a denim long sleeve shirt, skinny black jeans, and black Supra skytop shoes—an outfit that looks very familiar.

Oh-! He was on my flight, wasn’t he? Could it be…?

You take a final glance at the passport picture then look back at the young stranger. “They look alike,” you mumble to yourself while comparing the two.

The guy releases his grip on the small luggage next to him and readjusts the dark brown leather backpack strapped behind his back. He glances at his phone then looks around as if searching for his ride.

Almost certain you’ve found your mystery man, you lean forward, letting your light brown hair cascade over your shoulder. "Excuse me," you call almost in a whisper. After being abroad for so long and despite practicing it frequently at home, you’re still not very confident in your formal Korean.

"Yes?" the guy replies surprisingly and turns towards you.

"Ah, an-annyeonghaseyo," you bow slightly, "um, do you happen to be—no—are you, perhaps, Kim Junmyeon?"

The stranger gives you a questioning look followed by a slight nod in response, "Yes…can I help you?"

Obtaining the answer you were hoping for, you smile in relief and hold out his passport with both hands, "Here."

He takes the small booklet cautiously from your hand and opens it. After reading its contents, he meets your eyes with raised brows as if waiting for an explanation.

"I found it on the floor underneath the seat across from mine as we were getting off the plane. You must have dropped it when you were retrieving your luggage from the compartment…" you trail off, not exactly sure of what else to say.

Without letting another second of awkwardness go by, he nods in understanding and flashes a charming smile, "Thank you. And I’m sorry for making you go out of your way to find me.”  

“Oh, it’s no problem,” you reply, returning an equally sweet smile and stopping at that. You figure it’s better to let him think you did it out of the goodness of your heart and not because you simply wanted to kill time.

With the same smile still intact on his face, the guy holds out a hand. "My name's Kim Junmyeon—" he began, but quickly pauses as if something's got his tongue. He bites his lower lips then lets out a shy laugh, "But you already know that."

How cute. You think to yourself before letting out a similar laugh and shaking his hand. “Yes, I do…and it’s nice to meet you. I'm G—Mi Young,” you introduce yourself, purposely leaving out your uncommon last name.

As the daughter of the wealthiest man in Korea—the heiress who just returned to her country after a twelve-year long absence amd the one whose name is posted in almost every form of media—you wanted to keep your arrival a secret even just for a while. For as long as you can help it, you wanted to keep the paparazzi and everyone else from fawning over you like you’re some kind of spectacle.

Please Subscribe to read the full chapter