A wall of cool air slammed against their faces as they walked into the airport. Seomin’s luggage squeaked behind her as she trailed behind her mother, who trailed behind Hyeyoung. The airport was a foreign world for Seomin, but Hyeyoung knew it by heart. The night sky glimmered through the glass walls, a stark contrast to the airport’s bright lights. The place was beautiful, but because of the unfamiliar process, Seomin stumbled along the process of checking in and couldn’t look at the beautiful sculptures and works of art along the way. Thankfully, Hyeyoung saved her from utter embarrassment.

As she waited at the baggage check-in, her eyes noticed a long dark mark on the pristine floors. She followed the line, but quickly averted her gaze. Seomin was only too glad to give her luggage to the baggage woman. The woman had not noticed, but from the corner of her eye, she saw two maintenance workers gawking at the black trail that circled along the airport. Seomin gave them an apologetic look before catching up to her mother and Hyeyoung. The three women walked towards security, where they would wait for Donghae. Nervous at the idea of being in the air, she started to pace, one foot directly in front of the other.

“You’ll be fine on the plane,” her mother reassured her.

“Who said I was scared?” Seomin retorted. She stopped pacing and folded her arms.

An arm slung around Seomin’s shoulder. “Still sharp, I see.” She knew who it was by the sound of his voice mixed with the confident teasing behaviour.

Seomin squirmed out of his arm and nudged Donghae. “This is my mom and this is my best friend, Hyeyoung.”

He straightened out his suit jacket and stuck his hand out. “Nice to meet you Mrs. Park and Hyeyoung. I’m Donghae Lee, her mentor. I’ll make sure to keep Seomin out of trouble.”

“Seomin’s no trouble at all,” Hyeyoung said and eyed her friend, “right?”

“Who are you looking at?” Seomin snapped. She lunged at her friend, but was stopped when a firm grip pulled her back and black sunglasses were pushed onto her eyes. “Hey!” She ripped the sunglasses off. “What are you doing?”

“Can’t have everyone see who you are. I had to change cars three times. I don’t want people to recognize either of us.”

Not liking the idea of a crowd, Seomin slipped the sunglasses back on. “Either of us?”

“You’ll find out soon enough. But right now, we need to go check in with security.” Donghae said as he slung his leather messenger bag over his shoulder.