I was young, barely old enough to be considered an adult, but here I was, being shipped off to a foreign country to be married to a man I didn’t even know. Why was this my fate? It wasn’t my fault my great-great-whatever owed a life debt to an old friend in Korea. Why did the family have to cash in on this now? Why did this sound like something out of a k-drama? I groaned as the plane began to descend, making the butterflies in my stomach kick up a notch.

When the plane landed, I was so lost. There were so many people and I didn’t know any of them. I could barely understand the language and I definitely couldn’t speak it. How was I supposed to survive?

There was an older man with a sign standing a little ways off from the arrival gate. I couldn’t read the writing, of course, but he seemed kind enough that I could ask him for help. Tentatively, I approached him and he understood, despite my misgivings.

“You must be Rhonda,” he said in heavily accented English.

I nodded, relief making my tense body relax just a bit.

“Come with me,” my guide said. “I will take you to your new home.”

The nervousness returned tenfold with his words. In just a few moments’ time I was going to meet my soon-to-be husband.

Said fiancé wasn’t home, which didn’t help my nerves any. After being led through the house, which was a grand house indeed, I was shown to my rooms and given some time to change and rest. My nerves were too bad to rest, so I sat in a chair in my quarters worrying myself to death.

That evening, my betrothed returned home and immediately came to see me. I jumped to my feet when he burst through the doors to my room. It took a while for me to process the moment.

He was tall, taller than me with skin so white he looked like a porcelain doll. His flushed cheeks looked really squishy and despite myself I found him to be adorable. Young, but adorable nonetheless.

“I’m Junhong,” he said slowly, carefully enunciating as he introduced himself in my language. “Call me Zelo, okay? I hope you’re happy, regardless of how you came to be here.”

I was touched. I could tell he’d worked hard on his speech so I smiled at him to show my gratitude. “Thank you Zelo. I will try my best to be good to you.”

He nodded, though I wasn’t sure whether he understood or not. He turned to the man who’d brought me here, whom everyone called Uncle, and began speaking rapidly and at length in Korean. I looked around uneasily, feeling as though I were being talked about.

“Master Junhong wants you to know that he will provide everything you ask for. Tomorrow you will meet his parents, and the day after you will be wed.”

Well that escalated quickly, I thought.

“Get to the good part! What happened for young lover boy to have to die?”

“Fine, fine, I’ll skip ahead some.”

Being married to Zelo wasn’t what I thought it would be like. We got to know each other really well, despite the language barrier. I made an effort to try and learn how to communicate but I didn’t have the results I’d hoped for. I wouldn’t be able to survive on the street, but I could talk to Uncle well enough.

Zelo didn’t really stay at the house we had together. He was always with this friend or the other, away from the city…anything to not be home.

“I thought you said you’d gotten to know each other? How’d that