D-Day

The Incheon International Airport was buzzing with people despite the fact that it was already half-past ten at night. But the fact that it was filled with people was not that surprising. After all, it was the night before summer officially started. Of course there would be a lot of people who would be travelling to other countries around the world.

A small smile touched the lips of a young woman who seemed to be in her late twenties. She was wearing a simple pair of blue jeans and white T-shirt that reached her thighs with a black cardigan draped over her shoulders to cover her from the cold. She was dragging a black suitcase with her right hand while her left hand was holding her passport and her flight ticket.

Finally, she was free.

She would be free of everything that had been stressing her out. She would be able to escape from her suffocating life even though it was only for a short while. She would finally be able to rest her mind from everything.

Running away from her house to go on a trip alone was so not her style but she desperately needed the vacation. It was to let her stress out. She could not handle the stress anymore. That was why she had applied for the package at Tranquil Agency and she did not regret her decision.

A shiver of excitement washed over her. The next morning, her family would wake up and find that she was gone. They would only be left with a piece of letter that she had written for them so that they would not worry. She deserved this break. She needed this break.

They would understand, wouldn’t they?

A snort escaped her lips. As if. Her family was exactly the reason why she needed this vacation. Her perfection-obsessed family was the reason why she had been feeling so stressed out lately.

Im Yoona walked confidently towards the counter and checked in her suitcase. As expected, her suitcase did not surpass the weight limit so she did not have any problem with checking it in.

After that, she began to walk around the airport, feeling bored. She had twenty minutes to go before it was time for her flight and she had no idea what to do. She was just killing time by walking around aimlessly.

A sense of happiness began to fill her. Being free from her family’s clutches made her happy. It made her feel giddy with joy. They would not be able to criticise her for the next few weeks. She would finally be alone and just be who she truly was.

It was not that she hated her family or anything. In fact, she deeply loved them. She just hated how her family expected everything to be perfect. She hated how they were keen on details. She hated how they-

Without realising it, she had bumped into a young man who was surprised by the sudden collision causing her to fall. She hissed in annoyance as she realised that she had spaced out and did not realise the presence of the man.

Ah, she had always been clumsy, after all.

-expected her to be perfect all the time.

The young man held out his hand to help her up. “Are you all right?” he asked, his voice was filled with genuine concern. Yoona could not help but notice that he had a nice, silky voice. She looked up and was surprised by his handsome features but she kept her silence.

She stood up by herself without even sparing the held out hand a glance. “Sorry for bumping into you,” she apologised half-heartedly. “It was an accident.” With that, she walked away, not caring about the bewildered look on the young man’s face.

Ah, he was handsome, all right.

But he’s way too young, Yoona, she thought to herself.

. . .

Upon entering the plane, she immediately went to the first-class section. Yoona chose to sit at the back of the place right next to the window. As she was taking out her earphones from her bag, a young man sat next to her. He gave her a small smile and she returned the smile.

She plugged her earphones into her iPod before plugging them into her ears. She chose a random song to play on her iPod as more passengers began to enter the plane. She closed her eyes and began to listen to the heartfelt lyrics. The song calmed her down and just as she was about to fall asleep, the plane gave a jerk causing her to sit up in alarm. It turned out that the plane was just taking off.

Yoona chided herself for being startled at the littlest thing. She noticed that the young man next to her was trying not to laugh at her actions. She ignored him and closed her eyes once again.

. . .

The next time Yoona opened her eyes, she realised that the plane was about to land. She sighed softly to herself. She had just managed to catch a wink of sleep but it was too short, in her opinion. The time taken to fly to Jeju Island was short, after all, so it was not that surprising.

The music on her iPod was still playing and she realised that Jay Chou’s melodious voice was playing in her ears. She racked her brain for the title of the song – Rainbow, she remembered.

She longed to listen to the song till the end but then, they were about to land so she decided to stop the song. She unplugged her earphones and shoved her iPod and earphones into her bag.

Next to her, the young man was still sleeping. A frown was etched on his young face and he was perspiring so badly even though the air-conditioner was quite cold. A small whimper escaped his lips and a tear escaped his eye.

Yoona stared at him, feeling hypnotised. She did not know what to do. Her hand reached out to shake him so that he would wake up but before she could do what she had intended to do, the young man’s eyes snapped open.

The two of them stared at each other for awhile. Yoona’s eyes were wide open in surprise while his eyes showed nothing but fear. Fear of what, she did not know. Her lips parted slightly to speak but before she could say anything, the plane had just finished landing and the announcer was telling them to make sure that no belongings were left behind.

The young man scowled at her causing her to be taken aback by his rude action. He was polite just now. She wondered what he had been dreaming about that caused him to be so disturbed.

Not wanting to waste any more time, she unbuckled her seatbelt and made sure that all of her belongings were in her bag.

. . .

Day 1

It was exactly twelve midnight when Im Yoona descended from the plane. She retrieved her suitcase and began looking for the tour guide that Tranquil Agency had promised her. Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw a young woman hold a banner that read: Tranquil Agency’s Tour Guide.

Relieved that she finally spotted her tour guide, she made her way to the young woman. Once she reached the tour guide, she greeted, “Hello. I’m Im Yoona. I’m one of the people who applied for the package trip to Jeju Island. I’m assuming you are my tour guide?”

The young woman beamed at her happily before nodding her head. “Yes, I am your tour guide, Yoona-sshi,” she answered in a chirpy tone. Then, she tilted her head slightly. “Ah, I forgot. My name is Jung Soojung. It’s nice to meet you.”

Yoona opened to reply but before she could do so, she spotted the young man whom she had bumped into earlier. The young man was talking on the phone while approaching them as a young woman was trailing him from behind, trying to get his attention.

As the two of them got closer, the young woman’s words were clearer. “Excuse me!” she yelled at the young man but the young man blatantly ignored her, too engrossed in his phone conversation.

The young man was speaking in rapid Chinese and Yoona did not even understand one bit of it. He stopped right at where Yoona and Soojung were standing. The two young women stared at him and the other young woman with wide eyes.

The young woman who was trailing the young man tapped his arm but the young man just shrugged it off. He seemed agitated as he was practically spitting his words to the other person on the other line in Chinese. At long last, he let out a sigh and spoke in Korean, “If you come here, I swear I will kill you.”

Yoona’s eyes got wider and the young woman who had been trying to get his attention shrank back in fear. The young man hung up and turned to the young woman and looked at her in annoyance. “May I help you?” he asked as politely as possible which totally contradicted his earlier words to the person on the other line.

“I-I, um, I-” the young woman stuttered. She took in a deep breath before saying as fast as she could, “You see, sir, our suitcases are the same colour and pattern and you accidentally took mine. I know because my suitcase has that strawberry keychain hanging on one of the zips and yours don’t.”

The young man stared blankly at the young woman. He raised his eyebrows questioningly as his face showed nothing but pure confusion, indicating that he had not caught any of the words the young woman had uttered earlier. “Excuse me?” he replied.

The young woman let out a sigh before repeating everything that she had said earlier only at a slower pace this time. After a few minutes, the two people exchanged the suitcases that they were holding and the strange thing was, they remained standing there next to Soojung and Yoona.

“Did the two of you apply for the package trip from Tranquil Agency too?” Soojung asked them, speaking for the first time since the two of them had gotten to the spot where she was standing.

“Yes,” the young woman replied enthusiastically. “My name is Choi Jinri.”

“I’m Luhan,” the young man responded.

Silence soon enveloped them as they waited for the other two people to arrive. The atmosphere was awkward ever since Jinri and Luhan arrived and Yoona could not help but feel annoyed at them for ruining the warm atmosphere she and Soojung had created before their presence.

Soon enough, another young man approached them with a scowl on his face. His face was wet, indicating that he had washed it earlier. Yoona immediately recognised him as the young man who had sat next to her in the plane earlier. The young man stopped when he had arrived at their spot and his eyes landed on Yoona. The young man scowled at her again before looking away.

Yoona blinked at his sudden show of dislike towards her. It was then realisation dawned on her. Ah, she had seen his vulnerability, after all. Of course he would resent her. If the atmosphere was awkward before, it had become sour now.

“What’s your name?” Soojung asked, trying to lighten the atmosphere but to no avail.

“Oh Sehun,” he replied emotionlessly. He fidgeted slightly and his mind seemed to be elsewhere.

Yoona could not help but feel that he was very rude despite the fact that he had actually smiled at her earlier before his nightmare. Just then, another young man walked towards them. His eyes were half-closed and it was obvious that he was sleepy. As he approached them, Yoona noticed that Soojung had gone pale. “Holy crap,” she heard the tour guide mutter to herself.

When the young man had reached them, he looked at the people, his eyes still half-closed. “Which one of you is the tour guide?” he asked sleepily as he yawned.

“Me,” Soojung spoke up quietly.

The young man diverted his gaze towards her before his eyes widened. “You?” he asked in what seemed like utter disbelief.

“Yes, it’s me, Jung Soojung,” the tour guide replied with an edge to her voice. “Don’t worry. I’m not happy to have you as one of my clients either, Kim Jongin.”

If the atmosphere was sour before, it had become foul.

Im Yoona had a feeling that her precious vacation was not going to be as relaxing as she thought it would be.

Author's Note: Hello everyone! This is the first chapter and I hope you love it. I tried making it funny but I wrote this when I was stressed out so it turned out to be a little bit angst-y. Nevertheless, I am still proud of the first chapter. Thank you for commenting, subscribing, reading and upvoting! I really appreciate it! Enjoy reading the next chapter! :)