The thick envelope in Seomin’s hand held her future. She plopped onto the bed and slid her finger under the top flap. She turned the manila envelope over, and a thick stack of papers slid onto her lap. Seomin skimmed through the papers. There were forms, contract information, and the flight ticket. Her flight was scheduled for July 21st at 10:45pm. Seomin couldn’t wait to finally fly on a plane, even if it was only three hours. She wanted to see the wisped clouds and the tops of buildings from afar. That is, if her mother would allow her. Seomin had three days left. She should have listened to Hyeyoung; listening to Hyeyoung seemed to work in her favor.

Seomin picked up her phone. “Hyeyoung what should I do? How am I supposed to tell her I leave in three days?”

“WHAT?”

“ !” Seomin screamed and disconnected the call. She looked at the screen and groaned. ‘Mom’ was just below 'Hyeyoung' in her contacts. Seomin jabbed at Hyeyoung’s name.

“Hello?” a sleepy voice responded.

“I’m– were you asleep?”

“Yeah, but its good you woke me up. I need to finish my portfolio to keep my conditional acceptance offer,” Hyeyoung sighed.

“I’ll just call you later then.”

“No! You wouldn’t call if it wasn’t important!”

“Okay, well I’m doomed! IwasgoingtocallyouforadvicebutitturnsoutIcalledmymother,” she blurted. After taking a deep breath, she continued, “She knows I’m leaving!”

“Didn’t I tell you to tell her earlier? She could have thought about it for a few weeks, but now she’s got a few days. You better not avoid her at home, Seomin.” The line went dead. Hyeyoung must have been extremely tired to just hang up on her.

Seomin lay in her room as the air conditioner spluttered and failed to cool their basement suite. She wiped the nervous hot sweat from her forehead as she ran through possible scenarios. Countless scenarios later, she heard the door groan open for her mother. Seomin peeked out of her room to see sharp eyes stare back at her. She gave a meek smile and followed her mother into the kitchen. The microwave hummed along with the clink of mismatched plates, bent forks, and cloudy glasses.

“So…” Seomin trailed, “How was work?”

“I had an