Sunday February 24th, 2013

“What, what are you doing here?” he got up from his seat walking over to her slowly. “I thought you were in Seoul with Kevin. Why are you going around when you’re still recovering from an accident?”

“I’m on break from school. My friends and I went to visit Hong Kong for the week.” This time tears really were beginning to form in her eyes. Although she had been living on her own since the divorce, she was still a twelve year old at heart and seeing her father in front of her right now was proving to be too much.

“Right, for the show.” Her father spoke under his breath. “Why didn’t you tell me you were coming here? I would have cleared the day for you.” He said louder.

“No that’s not necessary.” Yu-ki vehemently rejected. “I just wanted to drop by, and perhaps pick up a few things before heading back. You don’t need to step away from your work. I can take care of myself fine.”

“Well,” her father looked between her and his desk. “If you’re sure. I’ll have Daniel drop you off and pick you up.”

“Yes I’m sure.” Yu-ki bowed to her father. “I’ll be taking my leave now.”

“Alright.” He made his way back to his desk. “Oh and Katie,” she turned around. “Tell your brother I said hello.”

“I will.” Yu-ki shuffled her way to the door and came face to face with Daniel. “Can you drive me home please?” Her voice cracked slightly as he pulled her into his arms.

“Let’s go.” He whispered into her temple as he led them to the elevators.

The tears eventually came to a stop, but Yu-ki’s heart didn’t stop hurting. She had noticed Daniel’s wary glances through the rear view mirror, but he didn’t say anything and she appreciated that. Yu-ki remained silent and watched as the familiar scenery passed by. It wasn’t until Daniel turned off the road that Yu-ki remembered leading to her house that she finally spoke.

“Where are you going? I thought you had to turn at that last road?” She leaned forward asking Daniel.

“Well, your father got a new house shortly after you moved here permanently.” He explained. “It’s slightly out of the way, but bigger than the old one and it was closer to your school.” At the mention of school, she was reminded of her supposed classmate.

“And where exactly did I go to school?” she inquired curiously.

"You are a graduate of the prestigious Guangzhou Private Academy.”

The new house was just that, a new house. Despite having moved here for 5 years, it looked barely lived in. There were no personal touches or pictures lining the walls, it didn’t feel like home to her. The apartment in Seoul with Kris and Minseok felt more homely even though she had only been living there for half a year.

“Your room.” Daniel said pushing the door open. “Call if you need anything. I’ll be back to pick you up at 6:30.”

The beige walls of her bedroom contrasted from the almost fairy tale inspired furniture. If her room back in Seoul was a child growing up and unwilling to lose her innocence, her room in Guangzhou was the complete opposite. It was someone being forced to grow up but still held on to the past.

The interior of the room was scarcely decorated, save for a few items too big to bring overseas. While the rest of the room had signs of disturbance, the only thing left untouched was the bookcase in the corner of the room. Walking over she saw it was full with her favourite books, spines all broken from being read multiple times as well as stacks of notebooks. On the bottom shelf, a pile of yearbooks sat. The dust gathered there thicker than the rest. Gently taking the one on top, she wiped the dust from the cover. It was a simple golden emblem on a black background with text that read,

Guangzhou Private Academy 2010-2011

The spine cracked as she opened the cover like it was being looked at for the very first time. Flipping idly through the pages, she stopped on one when she saw a familiar face.

“Alright class, please take out-”

“Sorry I’m late,” 15 year old Yu-ki bowed to her teacher. “I just got in this morning. It won’t happen again.”

“It’s alright Miss Li.” Her teacher said. “Just take a seat.” He gestured to a seat in the back of the room. Walking to her seat, Yu-ki could feel all of her classmates’ eyes on her. One in particular was stronger than the rest.

“Alright class, please take out your textbook-”

“Teacher,” A male in the corner desk spoke, “Isn’t it customary for new students to introduce themselves?” He asked looking directly at Yu-ki.

“Yes, it is, but you already know everyone here. Now, if you would please open-”

“Really? But I think I would remember a face like that.” He shot Yu-ki a wink and she tried hard not to let her disgust show.

“Miss Li? But she’s hardly a new student.” Their teacher explained. “She was in your class la-”

“It’s alright.” Yu-ki spoke up walking to the front of the class. “I’ll introduce myself.” Her teacher gave a knowing nod and let her proceed.

“I am a transfer student from Canada. I speak four languages fluently. And my father is Li Kwok Yeung of LKY Group.” Yu-ki said quickly. At the mention of her father’s name she could see her classmates give an approving nod.

“But sweetheart,” he said in a sickly sweet voice. “You didn’t tell us your name. Unless you preferred to be called sweetheart, that’s fine too.” Yu-ki stayed silent using all of her will power to not run away back to Vancouver. “If it makes you feel more comfortable, I’ll tell you my name first. Wong Lik Man (王力文) at your service.” He mock bowed. “But you can just call me 王 (Wong/King).” He smirked. Yu-ki parroted his expression.

“Right, my name. How could I forget.” She feigned innocence. “My name is Li Yu-ki. Or as you may remember me to be, Katie Li.” She dropped her smile and made her way back to her seat ignoring the hushed whispers and indignant stares.

With a gasp, Yu-ki dropped the yearbook causing a cloud of dust to rise. Taking a moment to calm her racing heart, she glanced over at the clock on her wall. It was already half past 3, unknowingly 2 hours had already passed. Almost on cue, her stomach growled reminding her that she hadn’t eaten all day. Picking up the yearbook carefully, she shut it and put it back in its place.

Yu-ki made her way to the kitchen and after a few minutes of rummaging through the cupboards and fridge, she gave up and settled for take-out. Taking the time before the food arrived, she wandered around the apartment. Choosing a door at random, she gave a light push and the light. Other than a desk, an office chair and sticky notes strewn about, it was empty. The doorbell rang before she had a chance to look around.

"Coming!” She shouted towards the direction of the door grabbing her wallet along the way. On the other side was the delivery boy. After paying the boy and giving him a hefty tip for travelling out of his way, she took the food to the living room. Putting her wallet back into her purse, she looked up and noticed the three framed photographs hanging on the wall above the couch. It was the Guangzhou skyline at sunset, something that she had witnessed countless times, but these photos seemed to capture the beauty that she was never able to see.

Yu-ki spent the rest of her time watching television and avoiding her room for fear of a repeat of the last few hours. When 6 o’clock rolled around, Daniel found her asleep on the couch. Gently shaking her awake, he called her name.

“Kaitlyn, wake up. I’m taking you out to dinner.” After a few shakes, she was able to fully open her eyes and blearily smile up at him. “Hey, you ready to go?” he asked.

“Yeah just let me grab my purse.” She said reaching over the arm rest. “Actually,” Yu-ki paused in her movements. “Do you know where I kept my things?” she asked Daniel. “Like important documents and stuff.”

“You probably kept stuff in your office.” Daniel directed her to the empty room she had previously entered. “I’ll be waiting outside.”

Taking a seat in the chair, she glanced around quickly. Yu-ki picked up a bright yellow sticky note that read ‘confirm acceptance @ SNU’ and pink one beside that said ‘finish portfolio’. Going through her drawers instead, she opened the top one to find an older model of her current camera as well as external hard drives. Placing those into her purse, she went to open the next one. This one was filled with letters from various Universities all over the world. Yu-ki recognized the logos of Seoul National as well as UBC amongst the pile. Taking all of those as well, she put them into an empty folder that was lying on her desk.

“All done?” Daniel shouted from the front.

“One second.” She said as she ran to her room grabbing a back pack and placing the folder in there. As a second thought, she also grabbed the notebooks off the bookcase and put those in her bag as well. Walking over to the door, she noticed a single green sticky note on her side table. In a room of extreme organization, the note stuck out like a sore thumb. She walked over to examine the square piece of paper.

‘Thank Lu Han.’ The three words confused her. Did they know each other? When Yu-ki asked that question, he had responded so vaguely. Ripping the note off the desk, she shoved it into her purse and went to meet Daniel at the door. While putting on her shoes, she noticed the set of photographs once again. A style she had only seen once before.

“Those framed photographs in the living room, of the skyline, they’re not mine are they?”

“No, those were a congratulatory gift for your acceptance to Seoul National.”

“Do you happen to remember who the sender was?”

Ladies and Gentlemen, we will be arriving to Incheon International Airport momentarily.

“Yooki,” Jongin lightly touched her arm. She blinked twice regaining her focus. “You alright? You’ve been out of it the whole time. Did something happen?”

“I’m fine.” She smiled. “Just upset to be leaving already.”

“Well, we can always go back.”

This is the longest chapter I wrote. It's almost 2000 words. Umm, this is a very important part as it explains a good chunk of her past and pretty much everything will stem from here. This is literally the moment she became Li Yu-ki and no longer Katie. 

For those of you that might not have made the connection, the boy with the piercing gaze in chapter 53 was her old classmate as described here. Unfortunately it's not one of the boys. He may or may not be making a reappearance, but his role is quite important. Also, I'm not sure if I made it clear, but Katie is not short for Kaitlyn. That is why she was able to recognized Daniel, who is her father's assistant (Re: Chapter 41) he is the only one who calls her that. He is also 28 years old and is like an older brother to her so no, he is not a love interest.

Oh and this all took place yesterday (Feb 23rd) except for the last bit with Jongin.