Vocabulary Box :

K Neh- Yes 

M Ni hao [knee-how]- Hello 

M Xie xie [shye-shye]- Thank you

M Aiyo- an expression Chinese people use, just like "Aigoo" in Korean

(Flashbacks are in Italics and Thoughts are in Italic and in this color)

“Liang Xiao Le! Did you pack your things yet?” Min Song called out to her son that was running around the place,

“Neh, Mama” Xiao le said, mixing his Mandarin and Korean. Since he was still 3 years old, he had a hard time differentiating the two languages. 

“Aiyo, Xiao le don't run around like that!” Min Song finished packing and stood up, grabbing Xiao le as she swung him around.

“Mama! Stop!” Xiao Le giggled and squirmed around.

“Alright, alright!” Min Song chuckled and placed Xiao Le down. After doing so, she held his hand and knelt down to his height. “Are you ready to go to Korea?” she asked with a smile as Xiao Le happily return with his own, while nodding fervently. 

“YES!” he said with an accented English, Min Song beamed and pinched his cheeks.

“Go get your luggage then” She stood up and grabbed her luggage as she waited for her son to come back. No later than a minute, her son returned with his Spongebob patterned duffel bag.

“I'm ready~” he hummed.

“Let's go” she smiled and took his hand. Min Song closed the door to her house and locked it, placing the house keys under the potted plant near her door steps. After looking at the house one last time, she sighed and texted her best friend, Andy, to come pick her up.

Min Song's P.O.V

Andy arrived a few minutes later with her mini van and honked at us. I walked towards the mini van and placed my luggage and Xiao le's luggage in the back of the car. After, I sat on the middle along with Xiao le and buckled the two of us up.

“Ni hao Min Song” Andy greeted me with a smile through the rear view mirror.

“Ni hao” I smiled back and waved a bit.

“Ni hao auntie!” Xiao Le smiled and waved enthusiastically, making Andy laugh a bit at his childishness.

“Ni hao, Xiao le” she giggled, “So why are you going on a trip to Korea again? I couldn't really comprehend what you were saying over the phone last night, since it was so late in the evening” Andy asked. 

"It's because I won a lottery for two to a trip to Korea for a month, and incidentally, was asked by a person in the streets who claimed to be a friend of the director of a Korean reality show named 'Hello Baby', the director actually asked his friend—him—to find a cute baby in China who would take part in the show. He also said that the pay is good so I said, 'Why not?'. And by the way he gave me a business card that seemed legit,” I said way too quickly.

“Uh... okay. Just be careful. It may be a scam, you know?” Andy looked through the rear view with a worried look. I nodded and smiled at the fact that my best friend was worried for me. But I knew when a business card looked real or not, since I'm part of business as well. Plus, I know about the show and have watched the first few seasons, which by the way, liked. “Anyways, I'm happy that you're going to Korea! maybe you could look for a dad for you son!” she winked, and I rolled my eyes at this. “Plus, weren't you saying just a few days ago that the salon you were working for is in the brink of bankruptcy and didn't you also say your pay got a little lower because of it? Well, isn't it your lucky day!” she chirped and in reply, I just smiled

"Yeah... but, it's only for a few weeks though" I looked down and fiddled with my fingers, lost in thought. 

As I thought about her words earlier, I inwardly frowned. A dad? Maybe I should. But honestly, it's hard to actually find someone who can accept me any my son—being a single mother and all. Also... even though I want to find a father for my son, I knew in the inside, that he still had a place in my heart. I was suddenly pulled back to reality when Xiao le fell on my shoulder while snoring soundly. I sighed and slightly smiled, before placing him on my lap so that he won't have any neck pains when he wakes up.

“We're here” Andy said, making me wake up from my small nap. I rubbed my eyes and yawned,

“Wake up Xiao le, we're here” I lightly shook his shoulders and he sat up straight while yawning tiredly.

“In Korea?” he asked half asleep, “No you silly child, in the airport” I chuckled and opened the car door. We both walked out but before walking away with our luggage, we said our goodbyes to Andy

“Bye bye Andy! We'll miss you,” me and Xiao Le both hugged her.

“I'll miss you both too. Don't forget to e-mail or call me, alright?” She smiled.

“Okay,” I smiled back and walked off to our gate while rolling our luggages in hand.

“Mama, what is Korea like?” Xiao le looked at me and asked with curiosity.

“Hmm... I don't know. I've been only been there once when I was six years old, because I had to visit a distant relative for something with your grandma,” I said as I gave our passport and tickets to the person behind the check-in desk.

“Here are your seat numbers and passport” she smiled as she gave the seat numbers and passport to me.

“Xie xie” I bowed and brought our luggage with us—since we didn't pack heavy. 

“Mama, where is granny?” he asked again as we sat on a chair while waiting for our gate numbers to be called.

“Granny...?”

“You're a disgrace to our family!” She slapped me on the right cheek, hard.

“I'm sorry mom... I'm so sorry” my seventeen year old self sobbed while kneeling on the floor as I held my throbbing cheek in pain.

“You're a fool! A ! If I had known that you were going to be this way, I wouldn't have given birth to you—you stupid child!” I sobbed even harder upon hearing her words. She kept spurting out words that stabbed me like knives and I can't help but regret my actions for a bit. 

“Mama?” Xiao le snapped me back to reality once again, waving his small hands in front of my face. “I'm sorry for asking you that so don't cry...” his small body hugged my leg while trying his best to comfort me. I didn't even realize that a tear drop escaped from the rim of my eyes. I quickly wiped my tears and hugged Xiao Le tightly, as if not wanting to ever let go. As long as you're here, everything is alright. I smiled to myself.

“Flight 12 going to South Korea at Gate 06 is now boarding”

“That's our flight” I picked up my luggage and Xiao Le picked up his. We walked to the plane and we were greeted by the flight attendant with a smile.

Walking to our assigned seats, we placed our luggages in the cabinet compartments  “Mama can I seat on the window seat?” Xiao Le happily jumped up and down. I was planning to seat there, but what the heck, If my child wants to seat there, then let it be.

“Sure,” I smiled as Xiao Le cheered and sat on the window seat as I sat next to him. The Airplane started to fly and Xiao Le squealed in joy. It was his first time riding a plan so I'm sure that he was going to point out every little detail that was going on outside the window with much interest.

“Look mama! The city looks so small from here!” he pointed outside the window.

“Yes, yes they do” I chuckled and laid back. This is going to be a long flight, I shook my head and smiled at Xiao le.

(A/N:) How is the first chapter? I hope it was okay! ^^ I'm looking forward to the comments~ :3 <3 and I’m sorry in advance if they're are any grammar mistakes or any mistakes in general, because I'm not really good at reviewing chapters~ plus it's really early in the morning so I’m kinda pooped! XD (it's 12:30 right now -_-) Ahaha, anyways goodnight or good morning~ ^w^ <3 Thank you for those who subscribed and commented on this story!