Rhine sat by the window on the airplane with her white Beats by Dr Dre over her head. The white clouds had turned gray during the night as they zoomed by in a blur. The city Rhine knew all her life was just lights below her now as she moved towards the next step in her life; Seoul. Rhine didn’t dare looked out the window at the darkening city below her for fear that she might lose it. There was no turning back now.

            The interior of the plane was as dark as its environment. It was just past eleven and majority of the passengers had fallen asleep as soon as they took off. The plane was completely silent except for the low snores of some of the passengers. The elder man to her left was fast asleep and his head kept falling onto her shoulder from time to time, but she paid him no attention because she was lost in a trance. Her mind was somewhere far away from there.

            “Congratulations Miss Leventins, you’ve been casted into YG Entertainment,” the man in his mid twenties informed Rhine as they sat across each other in the small office. “I hope it wasn’t a mistake to choose you over everybody else.”

            Rhine didn’t think much of it at that time, but now she knew it was a choice that had the ability to change her whole future. She didn’t know what she was getting herself into, but she knew that it was her chance to get back at everyone who ever looked down on her. Music was her life even if nobody approved.

            “You’re throwing away your education like this, what if you don’t succeed? What will happen to you then, Rhine?” her mother scolded her, clearly unimpressed with the idea. Rhine stood her ground and stared straight back at her mother.

            “No matter what, I’ll succeed, Mother.”

            That summer, YG Entertainment held international auditions in California and Rhine took the opportunity to pursue her career. It was worth a shot even if the chances of her getting casted were slim. She inhaled music and exhaled lyrics. Music was the only career she had interest in and she knew that she wouldn’t succeed in the Western music industry, so she took interest in YG Entertainment. It was the only company she felt like she would fit in. She promised herself that no matter how tough it’s going to get, she had to go through with it. If she failed, everyone would mock her and she would fail herself for the second time in her life. It was her determination that wouldn’t let her give up.

            “Call me when you land, okay?” Rhine’s father had said the last time they saw each other. Her father ruffled her hair and pecked her forehead, “Daddy’s little Angel will succeed no matter what.” Rhine held back tears and bit her bottom lip. She knew if she let even one tear out, everything would collapse.

            Rhine leaned back in the comfortable leather seat and closed her eyes against the darkness. Her relatives never approved of Rhine and she knew she was a disappointment to her mother, but no matter how many times she messed up, her father never looked down on her once. Her father and both her grandfathers were the only ones who she connected with. She was her father’s little angel and she didn’t want to let him down. Both her grandfathers also supported her without hesitation, but the death of her mother’s dad; Grandfather Nattapong, made her promise herself that she would make him proud. She owed it to her father and grandfathers because without them, she wouldn’t gain back her sanity and get this far.

            She was afraid to leave her home behind. Everybody despised her and she was a girl with few friends. It was due to her harsh past that made her the person she was right now. She grew up realizing that nobody would ever be there for her until the end. It was the cruel reality that friends would backstab her that made her realize she only had herself. Rhine wasn’t proud of her past because she was a fool, but she promised to avenge for her mistakes. She felt like joining YG Entertainment was a new start for her. She should be excited, but instead she was afraid.

            Tomorrow by Bangtan Boys came on and blared through her earphones, relaxing her senses and calming her nerves. The future was unforeseeable, but at that moment Rhine felt like everything was going to be okay. Other artists had it worse than she did, but they made it and that made her calmer.

*

            “Hello, I’m Rhine Leventins,” she greeted the man who was dressed casually and held a sign with her name on it.

            The man was older with graying hair that was swept to the side. He was a few inches taller than Rhine’s 167.64 cm frame. If he smiled, he would seem friendly, but at the moment he seemed intimidating. He bowed ninety degrees towards her and she quickly bowed back.

            The move would be hard for Rhine for a few months because of the different culture, customs, time zones and language, but she was willing to adapt. Being a descent of Thai and Greek, Rhine wasn’t familiar with the Korean culture, but did her fair share of research. She knew a bit of Korean because of the tutoring she received a while back, but her Korean wasn’t the best and the entertainment insisted she needed more practice. Rhine didn’t argue though because she knew her first step to success was to master the language.

            Although Rhine was a troublemaker back home, she knew her manners. Sure, outsiders spread rumors about her being a bad girl, but they didn’t know what she had to endure. There was a reason why she acted like that. Grandfather Aetes and Grandfather Nattapong were the only ones who understood her actions.  Nobody else bothered to hear her side of the story.

            “Please follow me, Miss Leventins,” the man spoke in English and Rhine was thankful because she could only understand little Korean.

            Perhaps Yang Hyun-suk was aware that Rhine didn’t know much of the language so he sent a chauffeur who’s fluent in English to pick her up. Whatever the case was, she was exceptionally thankful. It would’ve been hard to navigate her way around when her Korean wasn’t that good.

            The man took her luggage in one hand while she carried the other bags and followed him out of the airport. The airport wasn’t crowded and there weren’t many people. The skies were gray, but it was humid and Rhine instantly felt sticky. The parking lot was full with people bustling around. Rhine tilted her head up at her surroundings. The buildings around her stretched high into the sky and some buildings hung signs that she couldn’t understand.

            Rhine felt herself smiled for a brief moment. Perhaps she made the right choice to come here. Seoul was probably going to be a good change for her. The thought made her relieved because the drama back home was exhausting. She couldn’t stand the rumors and the hatred that everyone threw at her. This was a new beginning for her. Finally, she felt like she made the right choice. Everything suddenly seemed good.

            “Excuse me, do you have a name I can call you by?” Rhine picked up her pace so she could walk side by side with the man.

            He walked extremely fast for someone older so Rhine had to speed walk to catch up. He glanced back at her and he made carrying her luggage look so easy that she was instantly envious. Rhine had to use all her energy to manage both the bags in her hands.

            “Han,” his voice was deep and husky, but serious. “You can call me Han.”

            “Han?” Rhine asked with uncertainty and he nodded in approval. She wanted to make sure so she repeated again, but with more confidence this time. “Han.”

            He merely nodded and Rhine concluded that Han didn’t talk much. She followed him in silence as they reached a black van and he popped open the trunk. Han helped her put the bags into the trunk and then was about to open her door for her, but she held out a hand to stop him.

            “That’s okay, I can handle this,” Rhine said.

            Han gave her a quick sideways glance before nodding and going over to get into the driver’s seat. Rhine closed the door after her and made herself comfortable. They drove out of the parking space and headed for the exit.

            “Tell me about yourself, Han.”

            Han looked at her in the rearview mirror and raised his eyebrow. He was instantly mesmerized by her different colored eyes, but tried to hide his fascination. With a calm voice he asked, “What do you want to know, Miss Leventins?”

            Rhine sighed, “Rhine, call me Rhine.”

            “Mr. Yang ordered me to refer to you as Miss Leventins,” Han insisted.

            “Nobody’s here right now, you can call me Rhine.”

            Han shook his head in refusal and Rhine sighed, realizing that Han was a stubborn man and he did as he was told by his boss. Rhine ran her fingers through her dark brown hair and looked out the window. The city was busy with people and cars zoomed by them. She looked at the people walking and her eyes stayed on a particular pair. A young girl was tugging on her father’s sleeve as she dragged him down the street while the father was laughing with joy. The sight made Rhine’s heart ache. She missed her father and felt tears prick the corners of her eyes. She was suddenly homesick.

            Rhine longed to be in her father’s embrace once again. She wanted to hear his laugh and his voice. She missed hearing him walk through the front doors right after work with a bag of candy for her. Most of all, she missed everything about her father.

            It suddenly dawned on her that she wouldn’t see him again for months.

            “Are you all right, Miss Leventins?” Han’s voice broke through her thoughts and Rhine hadn’t realized tears were already dripping down her face.

            She wiped the tears away and sniffed with a light chuckle. She couldn’t believe she just bawled in front of a stranger like that. Rhine nodded and met Han’s warm brown eyes in the rearview mirror. She weakly smiled to reassure him that she was okay, but deep in her heart, she wasn’t okay.

            “I’m fine,” her voice was weaker than she wanted and she cleared as she avoided his eyes.

            Han was uncomfortable around girls when they were down so he quickly changed the subject, afraid that Rhine would break down right there and then and he wouldn’t be able to do anything.

            “Your eyes are stunning by the way, Miss Leventins.”

            Han wasn’t one to compliment others, but it was the truth. Her eyes were the most beautiful eyes he had ever seen. Her left eye was golden brown and the other one was a stunning electric blue-ish gray. Han never thought it was possible to have an eye combination that hypnotizing.

            Rhine self-consciously brought her hand up to her eyes and turned her head away. She had always been self-conscious about being a heterochromia iridium victim. Her eyes were one thing about her that differentiated her from the others. All through her childhood, everyone made it obvious that she didn’t fit in because of her appearance. The fact that she was mixed also didn’t help either. Everyone’s first impression of her would be her eyes and then the fact that she was mixed. Other than that, nobody remembered anything else about her.

            “Thank you,” Rhine murmured.

            Han sensed her discomfort and he wondered what he did wrong, but wasn’t aware that she was self-conscious about her eyes. It never occurred to Han that anyone would be self-conscious about eyes as gorgeous as hers so he brushed it off and thought she was feeling uneasy about something else.

            “I heard you rap, Miss Leventins?” The silence was making Han feel uncomfortable so he decided to start a conversation. It was going to be a few minutes until they reached their destination so he found no harm in conversing.

            Rhine nodded, “Yeah, I do.”

            “Mr. Yang was quite impressed with your talent.”

            Rhine was flattered to hear that. She thought her skills were average compared to the others, but knowing that Mr. Yang was impressed made her feel good. It felt good to have someone as high as Mr. Yang compliment her skills even though she felt like she was lacking.

            As they talked further on, Rhine got to know Han a little more along with the entertainment and the city. She learned more about this place while talking with Han than she ever did while researching.

*

          They parked by YG Entertainment and Han got out as Rhine followed. As she stepped out onto the lot, she took a glance around the place and it dawned on her that this would be her new home. Her future was here and there’s no turning back. At the same time, it was frightening yet exciting.

            “Mr. Yang is currently busy during this time so you are scheduled to meet with Mrs. Yang,” Han explained as he locked the car and headed towards the doors. “She’ll tell you what to do and give you the things you need and then I’ll take you to your dorm.”

            Rhine nodded in understanding, “Okay, I understand.”

            They entered the building and Rhine’s eyes wandered around. The lobby was quite big and a few staffs milled about. As the staffs passed by, Rhine quickly bowed ninety degrees and greeted them as best she could in Korean.

            “Come on, Mrs. Yang is waiting for you.”

            Rhine quickly followed after Han. She was mesmerized by everything she saw. The building was gorgeous and she saw pictures of the other YG artists hung on the walls. The pictures made her wish her picture would be hung up there one day. She wanted to be big and successful. Her determination to become successful was bigger than anything and all she wanted was to make her family proud.

            After they climbed a couple staircases, they stopped at the end of a hallway and Han turned to face Rhine. “This is Mrs. Yang’s office. I’ll meet you after you’re done.”

            Rhine nodded and she became nervous. It was her first time meeting Mrs. Yang and she was afraid she would make a mistake. Her palms became sweaty. Han knew she was nervous so he managed a smile.

            “You’ll be fine, Mrs. Yang is kind so it’s going to be okay.”

            Rhine forced herself to nod and smiled weakly, “Okay.”

            “I’ll meet you here, okay? Fighting!”

            Rhine watched Han head back the way they came and she turned around to face the door in front of her. She took a deep breath and knocked on the door.

            It was now or never.