Two weeks later, the boy formerly known as Taylor, was boarding a plane back to his home country. His hands shook uncontrollably as he shifted his small carry on bag on his shoulder and gave a shaky smile to the flight attendant leading him to his seat. 

The last time he had been on an airplane he was so young that he didn’t have a single memory about it. His heart hammered in his chest so badly that it felt like it was about to jump up and take residence in his throat. He managed to thank his flight attendant, a woman who gave him a sympathetic smile in return. 

His seat mate looked like he was probably around his age, except while his own hair was roughly dyed a coppery colour, his seat mate had obviously paid for an expensive cut and colour. The blond hair looked almost natural and if he couldn’t see that his seat mates closed eyes were almond shaped, he would have even guessed it was. 

Taking his seat careful not to bump his closed eye seat mate, the teen quickly buckled his seatbelt and shoved his bag under the seat in front of him. A soft huff from next to him made him jump but the boy next to him slept on. 

How much longer had he been on the plane to be asleep before boarding was even finished?

The fasten seat belt sign came on and everyone finished taking their seats. He didn’t pay much attention to the safety demonstration and gritted his teeth uncomfortably when the plane taxied down the runway and began to lift off. The pressure on his ears made them pop and he fought back the urge to cry out in pain. 

Closing his eyes, he didn’t realize that he had drifted off to an uneasy sleep until someone was shaking his shoulder. It was the flight attendant who had shown him to his seat. 

“Drink?” She asked him with a smile. 

He rubbed sleep from his eyes and blinked rapidly, trying to gain back his senses. “No thank you.” He said politely. From what he had gathered from tv movies, in flight drinks were expensive. He was given a very small amount of pocket money from his social worker before he was sent through the gates alone and he didn’t want to waste it before he even landed in Korea.

“Are you sure sweetie?” She asked softly, holding up a can of pop, “Dinner won’t be served for another two hours, we’re not quite halfway to our destination.”

Feeling awkward now, he bent over to pull his bag onto his lap. Sadly he pulled out his old and worn third-hand wallet and opened it. Aside from his student id, library card and a punch card for the coffee place he had worked at three foster homes ago, there was nothing in his wallet aside from the single twenty dollar bill. 

Tugging it out, he went to hand it to the lady but was stopped as the boy next to him handed over a black plastic card. “Two cokes please.” The sleep scratchy voice of his seat mate spoke. “And two bags of chips.” 

The attendant took the card and tapped it before handing over the items. A long well manicured hand reached out and took hold of the items and set them on the tray in front of his seat mate. The boy then thanked the attendant who moved to the next seat. 

Confused and holding his money, the teen made a soft sound like he wanted to call her back but couldn’t quite get the words out. 

“Here.” A can was pushed into his line of sight. “Generic knock off chips, but its better than nothing.” The bag was crinkled in anticipation. 

“Sorry?” He asked, confused by what was happening. 

“Kelly is a great flight attendant but she doesn’t always pick up on certain clues all the time.” The blond boy nodded at the sad looking wallet. “Let me guess, parents are sending you back home to visit family and cheaped out on the cash?”

Pushing the money back in its place and then back in his bag and under the seat slowly, the teen looked at the blond. “Something like that.”

“Here.” The blond said again, this time tugging down the tray in front of the teen and setting the treats. When they weren’t touched right away, the blond shifted half way in his seat and really looked into the teen’s face. 

“I’m Key.”

“Tayl…” He cut himself off as he spoke his no-longer-name name. “Umm I don’t actually know my real name.”

“Like your Korean name?” Key asked, moving to open his own drink and take a sip. “Mine’s Kim Kibum, but I prefer Key.”

“No, well yes, but no. Its a long story.” Not Taylor said, struggling to figure out how to put things into words when he didn’t really know what was going on. 

“Well by my calculations we have at least 10 hours left in this flight.” He reached over and cracked the teen’s can and held it to him. “Have a drink, god knows what we’re going to be served at dinner.” 

Sighing, the teen tried to begin, “My name was Taylor in the US but its not my real name. I’ve been in foster care most of my life but I’m going back to Korea now. My new social worker knows my name but no one told me yet.”

Nodding, Key didn’t speak. He clearly understood that it was a difficult topic for Taylor to talk about. “Do you want me to just call you Taylor then?”

“Ummm, not really.” He hoped he wasn’t about to offend the stranger who had bought him a snack. He sipped his own drink as he thought about what to say next. “You can just call me Tay for now I guess.” 

“Well that’s almost half a Korean name.” Key said, opening his chips. “How old are you?” 

Taken aback by the question, the teen blurted out “16” and then promptly choked on his mouthful of chips. 

Patting his new friend on the back, Key laughed. “So that makes me your hyung. I’m nearly 18.” 

“Hyung.” Tay tested the word out, rolling it around on his tongue. It wasn’t like he hadn’t heard the word before or even said it, but it was the first time that he was going to be able to use it in real life. 

“Do you even speak Korean?” 

Tay smiled into his can, “Yes.” He began, “I started teaching myself a few years ago. I’ve wanted to go back to Korea for as long as I can remember so I figured that the best thing to do was start learning the language. I’m sure I’m not great and my pronunciation is crap sometimes, but I think I can get by.” 

“Cool.” Key nodded. “Do you want to practice?”

Nodding enthusiastically, Tay grinned. “That would be awesome.” He said switching to Korean. 

Key grinned back “Ahh my new dongsaeng, this flight isn’t going to be nearly as boring as I thought.” And with that, he burst into speech, telling Tay all about his life and his family and his friends. An only child from a wealthy family, his parents were rarely home and his grandmother had raised him until her death the last winter. He was currently returning to Seoul from New York on a single stop flight after a post Christmas shopping trip. 

His parents didn’t care, as long as he didn’t stay for more than two weeks and didn’t spend more than three digits shopping. His school was starting again in two days and he had to be back for the start of classes otherwise his spending limit would likely be severely decreased for the next semester and he was flying coach because he’d changed his first class ticket for a bit of extra spending money. 

Key became even more animated when he found out that Tay was going to be attending a boarding school near Seoul. His excitement hardly dwindled when Tay couldn’t tell him which school and that it wouldn’t likely be the same one he went to. 

“Well no matter what, hopefully our schools aren’t too far apart. I’ve got a car so I can come pick you up on weekends and we can hang out.” He seemed so excited for it that Tay couldn’t help but be excited himself. 

“You’ll have to give me your number and we can plan to meet up.” Key dug out his phone and unlocked it. 

“I don’t have a phone.” Tay said feeling embarrassed. 

“Right.” Key nodded as if it didn’t phase him and he dug out a scrap of paper and a pen from his own bag. He scribbled down his number and handed it to Tay. “Well here’s mine so you’ll be able to call me from a school phone.” 

Tay folded the paper and put it into his pocket, agreeing to call Key the moment he knew what was going on. 

Dinner was served shortly after that and the teens traded food back and forth. A movie was scheduled to begin after the mess was cleared and Key dug out his own headsets, situating them so that they could share earbuds. 

Tay found himself drifting off again, seeming to catch up on all of the sleep he had missed since the announcement that he was heading back to Korea. 

Key shook him awake before the plane was set to begin landing. “Now don’t forget to call me.” He brandished a long finger in Tay’s face, “Don’t make me have to hunt you down.”

Tay grinned, “I promise.” 

They exited the plane together but where Key had to head off to baggage claim, Tay was forced to head through customs alone. 

Strange smells and the loud, unfamiliar sound of Korean being spoken rapidly and at high volume and his brain was forced into overdrive as he tried to adjust to the new overflow of language. 

He emerged from the inner part of the airport to see a severe looking man holding a sign with his Americanized name on it. The man didn’t speak as Tay walked over to him, he simply turned and walked away as if expecting to be followed. 

Scurrying after him he was grateful that his carry-on bag was only a small battered brown suitcase and that it wasn’t heavy with possessions. 

One of the very few times that he was grateful that he didn’t have much stuff. 

The smell of exhaust and sweaty bodies hit him like a wave as they walked into the heat and sun out of the airport doors. A long line of cars waited to pick up travellers and his new handler moved towards a sleek black car. 

Stomach rolling, Tay swallowed hard and tried to follow without bumping into the crowds of people fighting for a car. 

Bumping and apologizing, Tay felt his stomach heave and he couldn’t hold it in as his nerves caught up to him. Turning around so as not to lose his airplane dinner on the strangers in front of him but he miscalculated and misjudged the distance of the person behind hime. 

Vomit covered shiny black shoes that jumped back in disgust. 

“Watch it! Oh this is just great!” The tall, black haired man yelled, kicking his feet in a sad attempt to clear the mess from the leather.

“I’m sorry!” Tears sprang to his eyes and the young boy flinched when he saw an arm raise in front of him. 

“Hey, calm down, I’m not going to hit you or anything.” Through wet eyes, Tay thought that the man looked too young to be dressed in such a formal suit but he couldn’t really make out any facial features. 

An angry snort from behind him signalled that his handler was there before a handful of bills were towards the puke covered stranger. 

Tay opened his mouth to apologize and the dark haired boy in front of him flinched like he thought he was about to be puked on again. Sad, embarrassed tears began to form in Tay’s eyes, but before he could actually apologize large rough hands gripped his shoulders and pulled him away. 

There was no point in struggling and Tay allowed himself to be pushed into the car. His handler moved to the front passenger seat and without a word, the driver pulled out.