The airport was musty, filled with various scents of multiple people of different cultures, muttering numerous languages. Yoona walked out of the arrival section towards the entrance as the voices of chatter slowly turned into ambient noises that she began to ignore. It was raining. The ground was wet and people were running covering their heads with their luggage, hoping to keep dry from the wet splatters as they ran into the taxis. Yoona sat on the bench at the pickup point.

“She’s late. Again,” Yoona grumbled silently.

From her seat, she looked out upon the fields facing the airport. It was drenched and muddy from the rain, which reminded her of herself ten years ago. She always had a love for sports. Maybe that was why she never mingled very well with the other girls. Maybe that was why people always called her ‘The Rich Tomboy’ behind her back.

It was ten years since she met Alan in that very field. Ten years they had been together, and then suddenly poof, he disappeared. Alan stayed back here when Yoona left for Japan for her boarding school and things were tough, but somehow they managed to remain together. Perhaps maybe the feeling of losing someone that dear just because of parental decisions was too unbearable. Her life was here, not in an alien country. She was lonely there. Her Japanese was barely conversational, and definitely far from excellent, which made things much harder. She lost count of the number of times she broke down there, and she had nobody to hold onto for comfort.

She could always remember the times when she felt depressed after school, ran back to her dorm, shut the door and fell to the ground, crying. Then Alan would give her a call, she would answer in tears. She would stay up all night, talking to him. He got her through her tough times and she will never forget that.

Then the calls stopped coming two weeks ago. She tried to reach him but there was no answer. His house phone too had been disconnected.

A honk interrupted her thoughts.

“Ma’am?”

Yoona grabbed her luggage and entered the car.

“Yuri you are late! What kind of a driver are you?”

“Sorry ma’am. I was busy preparing your room for your arrival.”

“That makes you a lousy servant of the house too.”

“Yes ma’am. S-sorry ma’am.”

Yuri tried to ignore the sting in that comment. Yoona was a tough child to look after, but Yuri loved her all the same. She treated Yoona like the little sister she never had, sacrificing everything for her. Yoona’s occasional cruel, painful remarks often tear Yuri’s heart but she couldn’t do anything but hope that Yoona would see the wrongs in her ways. To Yoona, Yuri was just a servant but to Yuri, Yoona was so much more.

“Ma’am? How was your day?”

There was no response.

“Ma’am?”

Yuri turned around and saw that she plugged her ears with her earphones and was peering outside the window. Yuri turned back and continued driving quietly. There were so many things Yuri wanted to ask her.

How was Japan?

How are things?

Did you make new friends?

Instead, she kept the questions down.

“Maybe later,” she thought to herself.

It was a ten minutes’ drive from the airport to the mansion.

“We are here, ma’am.”

Yoona opened the car door and stepped outside, gazing at the house. It has been awhile.

“Go on in ma’am. Taeyeon is inside.”

“You and your elder sister are still here, huh?”

“Yes ma’am. Both of us still look after the house.”

“Beat it Yuri. My parents had passed. You have no obligations left here. Why don’t you just leave?”

“Because we made a promise to your parents,” a voice behind said.

“Taeyeon,” Yoona turned around, “No greetings for your mistress?”

“Yoona. We stayed because your parents trusted us to take care of you and raise you. But looking at you now, we may have done a piss poor job.”

“I could fire you, right here, right now.”

“You can, but you won’t. You can’t survive without me or my sister. You don’t even know what to do when we are gone.”

“Alright, that’s enough!” Yuri broke the two of them up before it got ugly.

“Carry my bags in Yuri,” Yoona said before she walked off into the house.

“She never changed.”

“Shhhh sis. We don’t want to her to hear that! She had just returned from her boarding school abroad. She’s tired. Besides, her parents’ funeral is a fortnight from now. Give her some face.”

Yuri brought the luggage into the house while Taeyeon drove the car into the garage. Yoona was standing in the living room, folding her hands while she peered through the window into the meadows. Yuri remembered Yoona spending her whole childhood in those meadows, running and chasing the chickens, milking the cows and even playing fetch with Sam, the house dog. Yoona was so little back then.

“Shall I put them in the master’s bedroom, ma’am?”

“No. Leave them in the living room. I’m not staying here.”

“Wh-what do you mean? But this is your home.”

“No, Yuri. This is my parents’ home. And they are gone.”

“This house is your heritage, ma’am, and your family treasure.”

“Doesn’t mean that I will accept it.”

“But how can you say that? Why not?”

Yoona turned around and faced the servant.

“Yuri, I am not in the mood to argue with you.”

“What they did was for your own good, ma’am. Can’t you see it?”

“Don’t be stupid, Yuri,” Yoona snapped as she walked into the kitchen.

Yuri sighed and followed the mistress of the house.

“Ma’am, I don’t suppose I can convince you to stay? At least until after the funeral?”

“Well,” Yoona grinned at her, “If you can treat me with your delicious chicken pie, I might reconsider.”

Yuri smiled and nodded.