SOUL DEEP

A Stranger In My Own Home

"Here." Her mother handed her a piece of paper "In case anything goes wrong, you can take a taxi to your Uncle's house."

"Great!." So-ri snapped as she snatched the paper from her mother's grasp and glanced at it. Her uncle's house was somewhere in Gangnam District.

"You sure you packed everything? You didn't forget anything?."

"Don't worry, you won't ever have to see me again."

"Honey, don't behave like you're going to exile, you're going home, to family."

The operator announced her flight and So-ri dragged herself up and turned to go.

"Wait, don't forget to call me as soon as you land, alright?."

No reply.

"Can I get a hug before you leave, at least?."

So-ri's chest thumbed painfully as she sneaked one last glance at the stranger behind her.

"Goodbye, mother." She whispered and walked away without a backward glance.

* * *

She glanced at her phone again.

Ugh, can this plane land already? So-ri thought.

She was alone in the First class section and getting lonelier by the hour.

Eventually, she plugged in her headphones and tried to relax as she listened to music.

But she found relaxing impossible.

She was already missing her friends, she could see their fair well all over again in her mind's eye

"You're leaving for Korea? When Will you get back?."

"I don't know, but I'll be gone for a few years at the very least.."

"Years?!."

"You don't mean that do you?."

"You're pulling our legs right? Aren't you So-ri?."

Too overcame by emotion, So-ri could only shake her head.

And the waterworks broke as everyone dissolved in tears.

So-ri wiped her cheeks on the plane.

"C'mon so-ri, stop crying already.." She muttered to herself.

By and by, she drifted into a fitful sleep.

* * *

At Seoul Airport:

"What do you think she looks like?." Ji-Ah asked her twin

"How should I know?." Ji-min replied as she scanned the people walking past them "All we have are old photographs of hers, I have no idea what she looks like."

"Shouldn't we write her name on a piece of paper and hold it over our heads like those guys over there?." Ji-Ah pointed.

"Don't be dramatic. I won't be caught dead displaying an antic like that."

"But we have to find her and take her home, in case you don't remember, she doesn't know the way, how do suppose we're to do that without flashing her name on a piece of paper?."

"It's the dressing."

"Dressing?."

"Well, she did grow up overseas, how do you think she'll dress?."