I hardly slept that night, and eagerness pulled me from my bed as soon as the first rays of sun streamed into my window. After dressing, I checked my luggage once more to make sure I had everything I would need for my trip then went to the dining room to eat breakfast. HeeSoo rushed towards me with a worried expression.

“Oh, Ki-Ti! You will never guess!”

I was so frightened by the panic in her voice that I dropped my spoon--and with it the scoop of rice I’d just taken--as I nearly jumped out of the chair.

“JooHee has come down with the flu during the night. She is too sick to travel.”

Dread pooled in my stomach. “Does that mean--does that mean I have to stay here?”

She waved her hands and shook her head. “No, no. You must go. The Yoon family is now expecting you to come, and we can’t disappoint the Yoons now, can we?”

All I could do was stare in surprise; what she had just said rendered me speechless. But before the little seed of suspicion could take root in my mind, HeeSoo was off to see to her “precious JooHee’s comfort.” As I watched her go, I tried to recall a time before this when she had been so caring. HeeSoo may have been a mother but I had never seen her be motherly.

So, JooHee would not be coming with me to Jeju afterall! A wide smile stretched across my face. Of course, I needed to pretend to be worried about JooHee’s health, but the girl always had a way of making mountains out of molehills so I was sure she was going to be just fine.

Taking my empty dishes to the kitchen, I found MiJoon in there with one of the kitchen ajummas HeeSoo had hired to cook for us but who was also MiJoon’s nanny since HeeSoo didn’t have time for him.

“MiJoon-ah, I have something I need you to do for me while I’m gone.”

“What is it noona?” he asked. At six, he was missing a few teeth. On his cheeks were the remnants of flour from the bbang dough the kitchen ajumma had been kneading earlier. I watched him sometimes, when he wasn’t aware, and was always reminded of my father. I thanked the universe that MiJoon not only looked more like my father but also had his personality and idiosyncrasies. I hoped he would always stay like that.

“I need you to take care of Alma while I’m gone. Can you do that for noona?”

“What will I have to do?”

“Not much. Make sure she has enough food and water in her dish. Don’t let the neighborhood dogs terrorize her. And make sure Hee--I mean omma--doesn’t get rid of her. Okay?”

MiJoon stared off into the distance as if contemplating his answer. He could be quite the pensive child sometimes.

I cleared my throat to bring his attention back to me. I would probably need to sweeten this deal a little. “If you do this, I will offer you something special as a payment.”

That brought his eyes to me. They were a honey brown like mine and like our father’s. . . “What are you going to give me noona?”

“Something special from Jeju. Something no one else in your class has I’ll bet.”

His eyes widened. MiJoon loved taking things to school to show off to his friends. “What? What is it?”

I leaned forward and motioned that he do the same. I cupped my hand around my mouth as if to whisper a secret to him, but I said it loud enough for the kitchen ajumma to hear. “Noona will bring you a seashell.”

He frowned. “That’s not special!”

The kitchen ajumma clicked her tongue. “No, your sister is right MiJoon. A seashell is a very special thing.”

“Really?”

“Yes, especially if it’s found under the light of a full moon. They say a shell like that can bring the owner tremendous luck.”

MiJoon mouth widened into a gap-toothed smile. “Tremendous luck?”

I grinned in return. “Would you like to have that MiJoon-ah? A lucky seashell?”

“Oh, yes noona! I’m going to use it during all my tests and when I play soccer with my friends and when I want to stay up late but omma won’t let me.”

I chuckled at his enthusiasm. “So you’ll take care of Alma while I’m gone then and make sure nothing bad happens to her?”

He simply nodded his head, distracted by the ramen dough the kitchen ajumma was pulling out to cut into noodles.

“Good bye MiJoon-ah,” I said looking into his eyes. “I’ll miss you.”

“Good bye noona,” he smiled at me before turning his attention back to the dough. The kid would be a great cook some day the way he watched the ajummas cook.

I caught the kitchen ajumma’s eye and whispered to her, “You will take care of him. . . watch out for him. . .” A lump suddenly had appeared in my throat that prevented me from speaking clearly.

She shushed me with a gentle rebuke. “Of course! Don’t you worry about MiJoon. He and I are going to have lots of fun together! Aren’t we?”

The boy didn’t reply as he only had eyes for the dough she was now kneading. I was so thankful that she was kind and motherly and so fond of my dongsaeng. I left without a troubled heart on his account. He was in good hands here.

I went to my room and grabbed my bags. With them in hand, I walked towards the front door and the car waiting outside to take me away for the first time in my life to someplace new.

The Yoon’s housekeeper sat beside me on the flight from Busan to Jeju, the whole time humming old trot tunes and knitting at a breathtaking speed, her needles clacking together in time to the pounding of my seat from the child sitting behind me. I looked longingly out the window. ShiYoon was seated up in first class while the housekeeper and I were back in economy, so I had no one to entertain me on the flight. Sure, it was only an hour long, but now that Jeju was so close any length of time seemed like an eternity!

Yesterday, ShiYoon drove his sports car from Andong to Busan. I had wanted to go with him, but the housekeeper insisted that that was not appropriate, so I was stuck with her in the SUV carrying all the luggage being driven by a chauffeur. After the six hour drive--we had hit construction traffic on the highway--with nothing but the hum and conversation of the housekeeper to keep me occupied, we finally arrived in Busan.

We stayed in a hotel near the airport that night so we wouldn’t have to travel as far tomorrow. Naturally, ShiYoon and I were not in the same hotel room. He shared his with the chauffeur, and I shared mine with the housekeeper. We ordered room service, and soon after I finished eating my meal, I fell asleep as my body was tired from a combination of the long drive that day and the lack of sleep the previous night.

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