"We're here, Ji Hee. Wake up," mom woke me up. It was late at night. It took me a minute to realize what was happening. Then I remembered. We left Seoul. We came to Gwangju to start anew.

We got off the van. I could see the house from the faint street light. It was as big as our old house. Maybe a little bigger. It appeared to be a two storey house. Suddenly the porche lights and an old lady came out of the house.

"Madam," she called out to mom.

"Oh, ahjumma," mom said.

"Come in madam. Everything is ready in the house," she said.

"You two go in. I'll come in after finishing this up," dad said. He was talking with the driver.

"Okay," mom said and turned to me. "Come on, Ji Hee. Let's go in."

The lady led us in to the house. She the hallway lights. "Have you had dinner, madam? Are you hungry? I can make something quickly, if you want."

"No, ahjumma. It's alright. We already ate."

"Then let me show you around, madam."

"Mom, I'm kind of tired. Can I just go to bed?" I spoke for the first time.

"Of course, honey," she said to me and turned to the lady. "Where are the bedrooms, ahjumma?"

"All upstairs. Let me show you."

She led us to the upper floor. "There are,four bedrooms, madam," she said as we climbed the stairs. Then she led us to a room. "This is the master bedroom, madam. There are three other bedrooms. Young miss can sleep in any one of those. One has a balcony attached to it. The view is beautiful there."

"I'll take that one. Can you show me the way, ahjumma?"

"Yes, miss" she said and led the way to my new bedroom. She opened the door and handed me the key. "Here is your room, miss."

"Thank you, ahjumma. You can go now."

I was too tired to do anything. So I just changed in to my pajamas and jumped in to bed. I was so tired I didn't even care to at least look around my new room. It can wait till morning. I soon fell asleep. I didn't wake up again until a nightmare woke me up.

The next morning, I woke up late. I must've been more tired than I thought. It took me a few seconds to realize where I was.

For the first time, I looked around my new room. It was spacious. There was only the bed, a table with a spinning chair and a wardrobe. The walls were painted white and the furniture were black. The floor had white tiles. I immediately started to love the room.

I got out from bed and went towards the big glass sliding doors - the entrance to the small balcony. I opened the sliding door and stepped out to the balcony. A slight breeze hit my face.

I was dumbfounded by the view. It must be the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. I could see all the house to a far far away place. The ones that are close are bigger and it gets smaller as it goes far. Trees from place to place. Beautiful gardens with flowers and shaped bushes. I wondered how it must look like at night.

I stepped out of the balcony with a little hesitancy and got ready for the day. Even the bathroom looked beautiful. It was also black and white, just as I liked it. I took a long hot bath and dressed myself to go downstairs.

I could hear my mother's laughter as I went towards the kitchen. The ahjumma from last night was laughing along with my mom.

"Good morning," I said as I entered.

"Oh, Ji Hee-ah," mom said as she saw me. "Did you sleep well?"

"Okay," I said. "What's for breakfast?"

"Cereal. We have to go grocery shopping. There's nothing much in the house."

"Okay," I said and got myself a bowl of cereal. "By the way, ahjumma, what's your name?" I asked the lady from last night.

"Yo Min, miss," she replied.

"She's our maid," mom said.

"Oh, okay. Nice to meet you, ahjumma."

She smiled at me and got back to work. I finished my bowl of cereal and got up to take a tour around the house.

I first went upstairs. There were only bedrooms as Yo Min ahjumma said. I checked out the other rooms. The master bedroom was bigger than mine. The other two bedrooms were rather smaller. They didn't have tables. They only had bedside tables.

Then I went downstairs. There was the kitchen, the dinning hall, the tv room. Usual things. At the back of the house there was a sliding glass door that led to a small garden. It had grass grown nicely and evenly. At the corner, there was a white swinging chair. I went to it and sat on it, swinging myself. It felt good. The garden was beautiful. There were flowers and shaped little bushes. I decided that this is my second favorite place in the house, the first being my room.

That night as we all sat down for dinner, dad brought up the subject of my new school.

"Ji Hee-ah, you'll be starting to go to school again on Monday. Go out with your mother tomorrow and buy the necessary stuff," he then paused for a while before continuing. "Do you think you're ready?"

I thought about it for a minute. Was I actually ready? "Well, it's not like I have a choice, do I? I have to go anyway."

The rest of the dinner went silently.

That night there was only one thought I had in mind. 'I only have one day to prepare myself.'