Eun Sang set the vase full of colorful spring flowers in the middle of the dining table and stood back to see the overall effect. Perfect! She thought, genuinely pleased with her handiwork.

She had spent the whole day preparing dinner for her friends at her new place. It took her about two weeks to finally get settled in her new two-bedroom apartment.

Her first few week back in Seoul filled with meetings with the team handling the news program she will be working in. Eun Sang was so busy signing contracts, meeting with executives, familiarizing herself with the news program’s set-up, suggesting improvements when necessary, and editing stories that they will be airing for the first week of broadcast. In between all that chaos, she still squeezed in time to go shopping for stuff for her new place.

Eun Sang was hired to be a co-anchor for the network’s evening news and a co-presenter for an upcoming news magazine program which targets young adults. Despite her age, Eun Sang was given the job because of her impressive curriculum vitae. Aside from her spectacular GWA in college (which also helped her land various scholarships that paid for her full college education), she also amassed great work experience as an anchor for the university’s news programs. She also worked as an intern for CNN in New York, mentoring under no less than Anderson Cooper, before landing a full-time job as writer for three news programs of the network. She worked there for a little over three years before landing the job in South Korea.

Initially, Eun Sang did not plan on coming back to South Korea permanently. She dreamed of coming to visit her friends once in a while but staying for longer than a few weeks was not an option. Her life in South Korea had been difficult for her and her family so she never dreamed of coming back and reliving the horrors of her youth.

However, her mind changed when she saw the job posting on the cable network’s website. It was an opportunity Eun Sang couldn’t resist. Nothing for me to lose, and everything to gain, Eun Sang thought as she hit the send button on her email where she attached a cover letter, her comprehensive CV, recommendations from her professor and superiors, and a link to her online portfolio, all in perfect English.

Days later, she found herself meeting with the head of the cable network’s news department at a fancy restaurant in New York’s Upper East Side, discussing the job offer. And after almost two months of finishing her remaining work for CNN and processing her travel papers, she was back in Seoul. Her home.

She had personally looked for her new apartment, despite Bo Na insisting that she can do the house hunting for her even before she arrived. She doubted she could afford anything that Bo Na will find.

The place she found was located just a 10-minute walk from the train station and was near a commercial center, a supermarket, coffee shops, and a vast park. The apartment itself had two bedrooms (a master’s bedroom with an en suite bath, and another which she can turn into an office and a make-shift guest room for when her omma and eunni come to visit her), a spacious living room, dining and kitchen.

The price was much steeper than what she had initially budgeted for but the building was new, it was stylish like a hotel (they even have a doorman and a valet!), they allowed pets in the building and the building manager also took security very seriously. Besides, she had more than enough to help her start out with her life in Korea since she had managed to save money from not having to pay any student loan and her separation pay from CNN was rather generous.

She had been too busy over the last couple of weeks at her job that she only had weekends to fix her new place up. And although she pretty much had all her furniture and appliances in place, she was still waiting for several boxes of clothes, shoes, books and other personal belongings from Boston to arrive.

Eun Sang checked her watch and took off the pale pink apron she was wearing over her baby blue cut-out dress. Seven-thirty. Her friends were scheduled to arrive any minute so she made a final check on the food in the kitchen. She had made an Italian dinner, complete with green salad, cream sauce pasta, roast chicken with rosemary, and lots and lots of different cheese.

As if on cue, she heard her doorbell ring. She quickly checked herself in the mirror hanging on the wall in her foyer before opening the door for Chang Young and Bo Na.

“Congratulations on your new apartment!” Bo Na squealed brightly as soon as she opened the door and handed Eun Sang a cake box and a bottle of expensive-looking wine.

She led the happy couple to the living room, which had a large bookshelf (currently empty), a comfortable white couch with colorful accent pillows, a fuzzy rug and a lovely standing lamp with a pale yellow shade. The drapes, which were a mix of several sheer white fabric, have been drawn and tied together with colorful tassels.

“Wow, this place is nice,” Chang Young said admiring the interior. “Yeah, you did a great job finding this place!” Bo Na said obviously sounding impressed.

“Thanks. I’m sorry it took so long for me to invite you over,” Eun Sang apologized as she set the cake onto the table. She got three wine glasses and a cork screw from the kitchen before joining her friends in the living room.

“Ya, we were volunteering to help you move in but you wouldn’t let us!” Bo Na said, sounding partly aggrieved. Chan Young, being the perennial gentleman that he is, opened the bottle of wine and pour the red liquid into the waiting glasses.

“I didn’t want to disturb you guys, I know you guys are also busy. Besides, I had fun house hunting and shopping for stuff. But I’m not looking forward to seeing my credit card bill next month,” Eun Sang said laughing. In truth, Eun Sang preferred to find her new house alone. Seoul wasn’t kind to her and her family when they still lived here and she hoped that finding a new home away from her old neighborhood would help her get a fresh new start in her home country.

“So, who e