Page 1 of When Worlds Collide
Chapter 1
December 11th
“Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking.
“We are now beginning our descent into Incheon International Airport in Seoul. The current local time is 4:25 AM, and it is December 11th. The temperature on the ground is approximately -7 Celsius, so please do wrap up warmly. The weather is otherwise clear, with a light breeze.
“We expect to land in approximately twenty minutes, and we’ll be taxiing to the gate shortly after arrival. Please ensure that your seat belts are fastened, seat backs and tray tables are in their upright and locked positions, and all carry-on items are properly stowed.
“On behalf of the airline and the entire crew, we’d like to thank you for choosing to fly with us today. We hope you had a pleasant journey and look forward to welcoming you on board again soon.
“Enjoy your stay in Seoul, or safe travels to your next destination.”
A smile stretched the tired muscles of my face, even as butterflies took flight in my stomach. I took in the view through the small, circular window on my left. Below, however many thousands of feet, the bright lights of Seoul stretched for miles in every direction, a smattering of individual pinpricks of light, not unlike the bright stars still visible in the pre-dawn sky, but so much closer to touch than their heavenly equivalent. But there was only one star I was interested in, and he was down there, somewhere.
I leaned my head back against the padded headrest, having just put back in an upright position from the fully-reclined bed it had been for much of the flight. Not for the first time in the past thirteen hours, I looked around my little cubicle with a bemused smile, taking in the cupboard where I’d laughingly stored my trusty little dinosaur rucksack, the shelf with all the sample-sized cosmetics and a still-wrapped set of pyjamas, and to the pocket-doors that closed me off from the rest of the cabin.
If you’d have asked me this time last year what my life would look like – flying in first class from LA to South Korea would not have been on my bingo card.
For a moment there, at the airport, it had seemed I might not be flying at all.
16 hours earlier, LAX
“Jihoon, I’m here.” I said breathlessly, trying to tamp down the anxious mix of excitement and intimidation at the swirling crowds of people winding around me, hurrying in varying levels of speed, but all hurrying. I stood as an island with my three bags, trying to focus so I could hear Jihoon, holding my phone tightly to my ear.
“Ky, I’m so sorry,” he said, sounding harried.
“What? Why?” I frowned as a man pushed rudely past me, but I kept my ground.
“I can’t get you onto my flight. Passenger manifest, they can’t change it.” He sounded frustrated, and I felt my heart sink.
“Oh. Well, that sucks,” I admitted, trying hard to keep my tone light. “But it’s okay, I don’t need to fly out tonight, we can re-”
“Kaiya,” he interrupted me. “I’m getting you on a flight. You are coming to Korea. This is happening.”
It was so loud in the terminal that I could have imagined it, but I thought I heard his voice catch, just a little.
“Youngsoo is booking you a ticket now, hold on.” His voice faded, and I heard rustling, like he’d pressed his phone to his chest. I heard muffled voices too indistinct for me to make anything out over the noise from all around me. He spoke again, clearer this time.
“It’s done,” he said, “you need to go to the airline’s booking desk to get your ticket.”
“Oh,” I said, faintly. As easy as that.
“Kaiya? Are you okay?”
“Hmm? Oh, yes. It’s just… are we really doing this?” I tried to make myself heard over the cacophony of sound that streamed around me.
For a moment, the line was so quiet that I pulled the phone away from my ear to peer at the screen, confirming the line hadn’t dropped. I pressed it back to my ear.
“Do you not want to?” There was an evenness to his tone that anyone else might have interpreted as ambivalence, but I knew meant he was trying to be open-minded.
“I do want to.” I said firmly. “It just feels a little nuts, don’t you think?”
He laughed, a little chuckle that inexplicably made my toes curl in my Vans.
“This feels like the most normal thing I’ve done in my whole life.”
“Moving your girlfriend to Korea?” Even though we’d been using those titles – ‘girlfriend’, ‘boyfriend’, for a handful of months now, it still gave me a thrill.
