"Sweetie. Please come in the livingroom, your father and I would like to talk to you" My mother said, as soon as I walked in the door.

"Coming!" I took off my shoes and headed to the livingroom.

I saw my parents sitting on the couch. My father had no expression on his face, but my mother. Oh, my mother looked like she was going to burst out in tears at any moment.

"Um, whats going on?" I asked, slowly sitting on the other couch opposite of them.

"How was your day today?" My mother asked.

I sighed.

"The usual. I had a shoot in time square and the photographer promised me the best scenery. But of course, he changed his mind and had me under the bleachers and gave the street scene to the taller model" I rolled my eyes.

That always happens. Its risky enough that im a short model in New York, but they always give me the crappy shoots.
"I think we should fire Caleb" I said.

Caleb has been my manager for about 4 years now. He was the one who discovered me while I was working at my previous job, a live mannequin. He told me there might be some issues with my height and all being 5'2, but is this really the best he can give me? Plus he really favors his older clients. "You're only 22, you have so much more time left" He says. 

"You're right" My father said. "We already did, after your shoot"

My face brightened up. 

"Really? Who will manage me now? Did you get a big time manager from LA?" I said, excited.

"Honey, please let your father finish" My mother said.

He smiled at her.

"Your mother and I feel that your career is really getting you nowhere and we dont want you coming home every night complaining that you're never gonna make it to runway" He continued.

"Im not gonna quit modeling!" I said, standing up.

"Thats not what were trying to say" My mother tried to calm me down.

"Were telling you that we found an opportunity for you" She said.

A lightbulb went off in my head and I sat back down.

"An opportunity?" I smiled. "Is it runway material?" 

"Theres a possibilty" My father said.

"YES!" I cheered and jumped up and down. "Oh my god, I finally made it. I have to call-"

"STOP MAKING THIS EVEN HARDER THAN IT IS!" My mother yelled.

I was completely shocked. She's never yelled at me like that before.

She ran inside the kitchen and I heard her grabbing some tissue, but she stayed in the kitchen.

I looked at my father.

"Whats going on. I thought this was a good thing?" I asked.

My father sighed.

"Aaliah were sending you to South Korea to live with a high fashion model as your mentor!" He shot out.

My mouth completely dropped.

"WHAT!?" I stood up again.

"Are you serious? You guys are coming with me right?" 

My father shook his head.

"Honey, were sorry but this is the best thing for you. You will have better opportunities there then here in New York" He said.

"No offensive dad but have you seen the women there? Theyre all tall and skinny and im neither of those"

Its not like I was plus size or anything, but I wasnt skinny either. I was a normal size American.

"People like me, dont fit in there" I whined.

"Your mother and I found a great program where a highly recommended professional model takes you under their wing and mentors you. Sweety they dont care about your race, your height is something they'll just have to deal with, but this is bigger then anything you've done in New York and its a big opportunity for you to get your name out there in other countries" He said.

"You're right. This is an amazing opportunity, but why is it so far away" I whined.

"How long is it?" I asked.

My mother finally came out of the kitchen and she sat next to my father.

"The program is for 18 months" She said.

My mouth dropped again and I finally understood why my mother was crying.

"And theres no way I can get out of this?" I sighed.

"We already paid honey. Were sorry" They said softly.

I stood and ran into my room.

I fell onto my bed and cried, for hours.

~~~

I dont what time it was, but my mother had came in my room with breakfast.

"Wake up sweetie" She slowly shook me.

"Im up" I said. "I was never sleep"

It was true, I wasnt able to sleep.

"What time is it?" I asked her.

"Its 7:20am. Here eat this" She motioned me to sit up.

I got up and had the urge to use the bathroom. So I slowly dragged my feet to the bathroom and was completely shocked by my reflection in the mirror. 

My eyes were swollen and red from all the crying and I had my face and indents from the rings on my fingers.

I handled my business and went back to greet my mother.

"Oh honey your face. Nobody will sign you looking like this" She joked, and I laughed a bit.

"I wanted to make you your favorite breakfast before you leave" She said.

"Why do you speak like im leaving today?" I laughed a bit.

I looked at her face and she was emotionless.

"Are you serious!?" I sighed.

"Why didnt you tell me this last night?"

"You stormed out and I didnt want to upset you even more" She frowned. "But your flight is at 1 am, so just pack everything you think you'll need. Your father and I have your passport with us so dont worry about that" And with that she left the room. I think she was about to start crying again.

Last night when I went into my room, I called my friends and told them my situation. We cried and told eachother how much we'll miss the other, but I didnt tell them when I was leaving. 

~~~

I finished the call, telling my friends that we couldnt hang out for the last time because I had less than 24 hours to pack all my things. The hardest call was my best friend, Ari. We spent an hour on the phone, crying and telling each other how much we'll would miss one another. She insisted on coming over to help me pack. Which is why I love her, because nobody else on the phone even mentioned helping me. Although I told her that she didnt need to, Ari demanded that she was coming and hung up on me.

I began packing already so that she wouldnt have to help with too much.

A few minutes later, I heard the front door open.

"Im home" I heard her say, closing the front door.

She always referred to my house as her 'home', vice versa.

I heard her talking to my parents and then she appeared at my door.

"Oh my god, you've already done so much!" She said, seeing how empty my room was becoming.

"I didnt want to burden you on- what are you wearing?" I changed the subject once I noticed her outfit.

"I told you I was coming immediately" She laughed.

We live a few houses away from each other so I assumed she just ran down here.

"Well we cant have you looking like that at the airport" I said, laughing and digging into one of my suitcases.

"Here" I threw some of my clothes at her.

"Something to remember me by" I said.

She changed and helped me finish packing.

~~~

It was now 12am and we had successfully finished all my packing.

"Thank you so much Ari, this is why I love you" I said hugging her.

"Girls are you ready? Its time to go" I heard my mother.

"Were coming" I yelled back.

I took a look at my room for the last time, sighed, and grabbed all my stuff, leaving for the front door.

It took 40 minutes to get to the airport which meant I had 15 minutes left to spend with my parents and Ari.

We spent that time taking pictures of eachother and exchanging words like 'skype as soon as you land' and 'tell me as soon as you get a korean boyfriend' and stuff like that.

My parents wanted to take one more picture of us with my polaroid, so that I had a picture with me on the plane. We asked a stranger to take the picture for us and they happily said yes.

We all posed using, duck faces and peace signs and I thanked the stranger as I shook the picture to quicken the process.

With 5 mins to spare, they annoucned that my plane was now boarding.

We said our goodbyes and hugged again. I began to walk in line to show my ticket and I couldnt look at their sad faces anymore so I took one final look back and boarded my plane.

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A/N: How was the first chapter?