December 27^th, 2002.

“You… are… such… a… cheater…” Seon Yul was crouched over, both hands on her knees for support, panting for breath.

Young Saeng stood smugly next to her, basking in his recent victory over her.

“So, I shall be seeing you tomorrow. You’ll have a busy day ahead of you, so you better rest up, young one.”

“What do you mean I’m going to have a busy day tomorrow? You don’t know what I'm doing tomorrow. And don’t call me ‘young’ when you’re only 2 years older than me!” Seon Yul snapped.

“You owe me a day as my servant because you lost the race, duhhh genius,” he replied. “See ya tomorrow morning!” He ran off, waving behind him, into the house next to hers.

“Wait!- What?!- Hey!- You!- ARGH!!!” Seon Yul created another snowball from the snow by her feet and threw it towards her oppa’s retreating figure. He slammed the door shut, just as the snowball splattered into it. He opened the door enough to stick his head out and blow a raspberry at her.

“AISH! Stupid oppa,” she muttered as she made her way into her own home.

“Omma~ Appa~ I’m home,” Seon Yul announced. She received silence in response. Of course, no one was usually home, so she was pretty much used to being alone.

She trudged up the stairs and went to her room to fetch a pair of clean, dry clothes to change into. After she hung the clothes on the rack in her bathroom, she stood before the mirror and studied herself. At 14, she was at an age when pimples and acne were introduced as a result of so-called ‘teenage hormones’; Seon Yul felt that she had it worse than other teens her age. Even though her skin was improving, she considered her skin to be her greatest physical complex. Her chocolate brown hair was not too short, not too long, but overall, not too special either. At 5’3”, she stood below most of her classmates and peers, who she liked to say were simply ‘abnormally tall’ whenever they asked “How is the air down there?”

She sounded hard on herself, but perhaps it was because her best friend was practically Gyeonggi-do’s living ‘prince’. Young Saeng seemed to have it all: the looks, the talent for singing, and a genuinely good personality. Talent scouts must have picked up on this too, because he was currently in the early stages of training in an entertainment company. She shuddered at the thought of what he would say if he ever heard any of her thoughts about him: she could see his infamous smirk already.

Shaking her head to rid herself of thoughts of Young Saeng, she freshened up in a steamy shower, not wanting to get out and have to face the freezing cold December weather. According to her, 2002 was colder than last year, but it was probably just her imagination as always. She got out, dressed, and towel dried her hair when she heard her parents chatting downstairs. Guess they’re finally home, she thought as she made her way down the stairs.

“Omma, Appa, you guys are back,” she said as she gave each of them a kiss on the cheek. “How was work?”

Her parents glanced at each other. “Oh, you know, the usual,” her father answered after an awkward pause.

Seon Yul scrunched her eyebrows together in suspicion, but dropped it after she saw dinner set up on the table. They must have prepared it when she was in the shower.

Her parents took a seat at the dinner table and she sat down as well. The meal was quiet: this made Seon Yul even more curious about what her father had meant when he said, “Oh, you know, the usual.”

“So, whatsup?” Seon Yul asked as if she were inquiring about the weather.

Her parents glanced at each other in the same way they did when she had asked them how work was. There was a prolonged silence that caused a thick tension in the kitchen. Finally, her mother sighed.

“Seon Yul, we have something important to tell you.”

Seon Yul’s stomach turned: she had a feeling this wasn’t going to be good, and over the years, her feelings had tended to be either completely correct or freakishly accurate.

“Your father has been promoted to head manager of his department…”

“Oh,” Seon Yul said. Maybe my gut was wrong this time around. But her mother’s sentence didn’t seem to be finished.

“…which means we will be moving to America.” Spoke/thought too soon.

Seon Yul flipped out. “WHAT?! What do you mean?!”

“We. Will. Be. Living. In. The. U.S.” her jokester of a father slowly emphasized the obvious. His wife and daughter both gave him a death glare. He went back to picking at his food.

“Sweetie, this is a good thing. We’ll be moving into a bigger house in California, and best of all, I don’t have to work anymore. Your father will be making more money than the two of us were put together,” her mother explained.

“B-b-b-u-u-t Omma~~~” Seon Yul whimpered. “What about my school? What about my friends? What about–?” Young Saeng, her mind finished for her.

“We’ve already unenrolled you from your school, and I'm sure your friends will understand when you explain.”

Seon Yul’s mouth dropped. Already unenrolled me? It was just after Christmas and school was out for winter break; she was stumped at why they did all of this so fast.

“Wait… then… when are we leaving?”

“Our plane leaves January 2^nd of next year,” her mother said softly.

Seon Yul’s whole world spun. It was, she believed, December 27^th today… or was it? She couldn’t think straight anymore.

“That’s… so soon,” she gulped.

“We know, honey, but the whole family needs time to settle in and adjust, especially before you start school,” her father said.

Her food suddenly looked less appetizing. She pushed her plate away from her. “Omma, appa, please excuse me…” She got up from the table and walked towards the stairs. Her mother started to get out of her seat to follow her daughter, but her husband put a hand on her arm, telling her to sit back down and let Seon Yul be alone for the rest of the night.

Seon Yul sat on her bed with her knees pulled up against her chest. Her arms were wrapped around Daengie, her big plush dog from Young Saeng. He had given the toy its name when he gave it to her as her 10^th birthday present. Seon Yul held the dog at arms length in front of her.

“Daengie~ why is life so hard?” she asked. Daengie’s big dark marble eyes stared back at her. Seon Yul sighed and returned to hugging it instead.

She rocked back and forth as she thought about the news her parents had just broken to her. “…We will be moving to America… We’ve already unenrolled you from your school, and I'm sure your friends will understand when you explain.” The conversation kept replaying over and over again in her mind. Her head snapped up.

Crap, she thought, how am I supposed to explain this to my friends? Every one of her close friends was out of town for the winter break, and she wasn’t planning on calling any of them at this time of night. She unraveled herself from her fetal position and grabbed her cell phone that was lying on the bedside table. She sent a text message to each of her friends, explaining the situation. Scrolling down her address book, she finally made it to Young Saeng’s name. Her heart felt like it had sunk to the bottom of the deep ocean. She stared at his contact picture, which showed him winking with puffy cheeks and a victory v to top it all off. Just then, she received a text.

Seonnie-ah, don’t forget to sleep early because I’m gonna give you a lot of work tomorrow! So you better not reply to this text otherwise I’ll know you’re awake! – Saengie.

Seon Yul saw her vision blur. When she lifted her hand up to her face, she realized she was silently crying. Her other friends may have to wake up to her text message, but not Young Saeng: she would tell him in person tomorrow.

Closing her cell phone and putting it back on the bedside table, she brushed her teeth and prepared for bed. Under the thick quilt, she slept on her side and hugged Daengie as she cried herself to sleep.