Lena sat wedged between Ahren and Wulfric, her iPod blaring and a book on her lap. Ahren had always made fun of her because she read in English, spoke German, and all her thoughts and dreams were in Korean. She thought that the reason for her thoughts and dreams being Korean was due to the fact that she had been born in the country and, while she was put up for adoption immediately, she lived in Korea until she was two or three. Her parents weren’t even sure of her age, but in Germany, they wrote her off as three when she was adopted. She had just turned nineteen before she bought her tickets to Korea.

All of her studies, however, from a young age, were taught in English. Her adoptive father thought it was important for her to understand more than one language. It was up to her, however, to ground herself in the Korean language, and she did. She had once had a pen pal in Korea, whom she wrote and often times called for two years, before the child got too busy with school. She was thankful, regardless, because it helped her understand her own language, and had clearly come in handy.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, we are beginning our descent. Please remain seated, with your seatbelts fastened, until we have reached the terminal.”

Lena turned and knocked Ahren’s shoulder, and he startled awake. “We’re landing.” She whispered, pulling her earphones out. “Are you okay?” She asked, taking in his pasty looking complexion and nauseated look.

He nodded. “Just don’t wake Wulf. He didn’t like this trip.” He said, adjusting in his chair. “Are you okay?”

She nodded. “Nervous.”

“Of course you are.” He said, patting her hand. “But you’ll be fine.” He sighed. “Where are we going to stay again?”

Lena tugged a paper from her backpack, which sat on the ground between her feet. “Some kind of hotel. The JW Marriott of Seoul?” Ahren nodded. Lena’s grandparents from her adoptive father’s side had owned two timeshares with Marriott, and offered to allow Lena to use both shares for the time allotted until she could find a place to live in Seoul. They also promised not to rat her whereabouts out to her adoptive parents, as her grandmother thought her son to be a little too intense towards Lena and her grandfather claimed to like Lena far better than any of his actual grandchildren. “We have it for two weeks, and it’s an Ambassador suite.” She sighed. “But my grandparents offered to pay for any spare time we need.”

“What a little princess,” Ahren teased. “And your parents-”

“Have no clue.” She said, shaking her head. Lena had covered her tracks, and she’d covered them well. Her dance instructor, who she talked to about the event, had called and spoken to a few places in Seoul. He managed to get her a job. She would be auditioning, but since the instructor had a prior relationship with a few of the people he’d called, and the business relationship had gone well, she had pretty much already landed three of the four positions. She didn’t want to tell Ahren because the whole reason they were leaving to Seoul was for her to be who she wanted to be.

And dance was not who she was. It was fun sometimes, and she was glad it was a part of her life, but it was forced on her, and he would beat her up about it, she just knew it.

“And how are we supposed to pay for whatever apartment we get here?” He asked, turning to face her.

Crap. He knew. “Uhm, I speak Korean, so I can get myself a job-”

“Doing what?”

She spaced. What the hell was she supposed to say? Just before leaving Berlin, she had managed to graduate from the academy. Her father had forced her to begin working towards becoming a special agent investigator something or another, and she wasn’t interested but… if she could make a call or two… “Investigating. You know, since I passed my exams, and I’m qualified.”

Ahren squinted his eyes, clearly not believing her story, but the plane jolted as it landed and he bounced around, since he wasn’t sitting correctly. “Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to Seoul South Korea. The local time is seventeen hundred hours, and it’s bri