Six years in the States had been a long time. A lifetime ago to a person who was 27. Eunyoung took to the American lifestyle like a fish to water and now back home, had trouble adjusting to hearing Korean spoken everywhere. In those six years, she rarely conversed in her mother tongue, even with the Korean American friends she had easily made.

During the obligatory trip home to the small town, Eunyoung stumbled over conversations with her rusty Korean. Nonetheless, she had been glad to come home. Happy to be pampered by her parents with favourite food and babied by Eunji, who had been amazed by her younger sister's transformation. The grown-up version of Eunyoung, or Amber as she was now known as, was familiar yet different. She still possessed her tomboy-ishstreak, except it was fused with a sophistication that only living in a cosmopolitan city could inject. Even as she pranced around in her old basketball gear and fooled around like a kid, Eunyoung was no longer the same naive teenager she had been when she left for the States.

Homesickness only hit the woman in Seoul, the big city that was to be her new home. Homesick not for her family that she just saw. The longing stemmed from missing her “family” in America - Kevin, her friends and colleagues – the world she had built in a foreign land.

Damn the time difference, Eunyoung squashed her urge to Skype Kevin the weekend before she started at the new office. Early that morning (late night in America), they had already spoke. She loathed how dependent she was on Kevin Woo. Yes, he may have been her ex-boyfriend but the Korean American was also her best friend and rock. Starting a new relationship had been the last thing on the then-exchange student’s mind when she arrived in LA. Falling alongside each other had been serendipitous. It was Kevin who had nursed her broken heart. She did love him, he was the sweetest human being she had ever met, and didn’t know how such an individual could be real. It was also him who correctly pointed out that she wasn’t ready to be tied down exclusively to one person after two years. The one kiss she shared with James after a night of drunk basketball – very American – had weighed down on Eunyoung’sconscience and she unknowingly distanced herself from Kevin. Honestly, she had no idea how Seunghyun did the whole cheating thing.

Kevin had let her go. She was free to date whoever she wanted and this freedom was exciting – Eunyoungnever committed to another boy again. However, the woman was still very much tied to Kevin who stood by her through thick and thin and bore witness to all her triumphs and tribulations – clinching her first full time writing gig and saving her from unsavoury first dates. He would do anything for her, at the drop of her hat, and she too for him. 

Soulmates didn’t have to be together, she understood that concept.

In an attempt to expend the nervous energy from first-day jitters, Eunyoung set off on a run along the Han River. Who would have thought a small-town girl like her would end up a resident in the good middle class area of Seoul? The exercise did her nerves and as a reward, she popped into a coffee shop for an iced Americano.Forgetting that the caffeine would pump her up again.

A lady standing right outside the shop blocked Eunyoung’s exit. As she scooted around the living obstacle, she realised that a crowd had gathered to watch two people making a commotion. Never one to mind her own business, Eunyoung stopped too.

An attractive couple were shouting at each other – the woman hitting the man with her fists. The lover’s quarrel stemmed from the man’s indiscretion with another woman. It was just like watching a movie. Well at least Eunyoung sipped at her drink as though she was in a cinema.

The zen approach that Eunyoung adopted towards infidelity as the result of her experience with Choi Seunghyun. Whenever she was regaled with stories of cheating, she barely flinched. The young woman tried as much to only flirt with singles and made it very clear from the get go that she was in it for fun. Although her track record was marred by a few s who hid their attached status but once she was out of their beds, it was their girlfriend’s problem. Those men were the cheaters.

Slap. The woman laid her palm squarely on the man’s cheek. Slap. Slap! 

Those three slaps were hard and some bystanders couldn’t help wincing in reaction. After her theat