Her nap was more enjoyable than she could imagine; it seemed like a dream, and the bed was very comfortable. As she looked around the room, Kita knew she wasn't dreaming. She drew the drapes as the view of Gangnam came through her window. Kita smiled as she looked at the bright lights. I'm here; this is wonderful. Kita gathered her things to take a warm shower; after experiencing the soft water of Korea against her skin, she dried off and put on her robe. She walked over to the closet and thought about what to wear. She searched through the ten dresses of different styles she had packed for several occasions hanging up. Kita didn't want to get the style wrong; this meeting was crucial. It would be her first meeting with Lyle's mother, Ms. Cole. The one she thought would be the most appropriate for meeting someone's mother and potential mother-in-law was a dress she had just recently purchased. It was a very classy 1940's 1940s-style navy blue sailor swing dress trimmed in tan with a

Kita sighed deeply, thinking. “Oh, how I wish my mind was working ahead of my heart. I was so consumed with missing Lyle. I hadn’t given much thought to the past and all that I had learned later about how Ms. Cole felt when I, in the past, had agreed to marry her son. I must have pushed entirely to the back of my mind what his mother had done to prevent that from happening. Kita's nerves were now pins and needles; her heart was beating fast. His mother clears her throat before speaking, and Kita looks up at Ms. Cole, giving her wrapped attention as she rubs her sweaty palms together. “I know this may be a little forward.” Ms. Cole said as she spoke, continually staring at Kita curiously. Because she had never met Kita face-to-face in the past, all she knew was that her son was smitten with a girl of another nationality on the island. Who was not like him in any shape or form? Ms. Cole had preferred her son to marry someone from his European side or Asian descent. But that wasn’t who

That’s when he opened the partially closed front door, and Kita looked up. Kenneth burst out in an excited tone. “Oh my god! Ki..Ki...Kita! Is it you?!” He said with his eyes widened with a surprised expression on his face. He said it so loud his mother and sister heard the excitement in his voice as Suhi smiled at her mother. “Yes, Lyle, it's me!” Kita blurted out without giving the name change a second thought as she stood at the Cole Family front door threshold smiling. Ms. Cole frowned upon hearing her call her son Lyle. “Mom, you got to give her time to get used to calling him Kenneth. I know it’s not easy for her to make that adjustment.” “Why not! That’s his name!” Ms. Cole recanted. “You know they went through a lot and not good stuff when she used to call him Kenneth.” “I don’t care! If you claim to like him, you like everything about him, especially my son’s name!” “Alright, mother. I got it.” Suhi said, ending her efforts to reason with her mother. Meanwhile, Ken

Kita resumes to get control of her facial expression while trying to sound pleasant and respectful at the same time. "Mrs. Cole, we talked extensively about his dreams in Baha Mar. So, trust me, I won't make demands on Kenneth's time while I'm here. We will be as discreet as possible. I came to visit him because I missed him and wanted to see him, that's all." Mrs. Cole glanced up at Kita and continued wiping the counter. "Mmmm...I see. I'm curious. Why do you want to be with my son? Before his accident, you didn't want anything to do with him. You decided to call off everything! You even fled from your hometown to keep from marrying my son when he still willing to marry you. So why now? Is it because he's different and not himself?" ***** "Well, Lyle…" Then Kita had to catch herself. "I'm sorry, Kenneth was different when I met him again. It had been a couple of years. I didn't even recognize him as Kenneth Cole; he had concealed his identity from me for a while. I asked why he d

"Kenneth! Is that you?" The middle-aged lady said, smiling up at him and looking surprised. "Yes, it's really me! I told you, Ms. Choi, I had been in a bad accident and would look different, but it's me." He said, giving her a big hug. "Wow! But you are still my pretty boy! Come in, come in, and have a seat. Where is my manners? Who is she?" Ms. Choi asks Kenneth, acknowledging Kita's presence as she is surprised to see him with a girl who is not Asian or European. "Good morning, Ms. Choi." Kita smiled and said cheerily, then bowed. "I'm Kita Arie." "Good morning." She replies, then looks at Kenneth, who smiles back at her. The lady escorted them to a table where the seating was cushion pillows on the floor. Kita noticed a television with the morning news playing, but all the older people stopped watching the news and were watching them. All eyes were now on her and Kenneth as if they were a special news break. Then, another pleasantly smiling ahjumma came from the kitchen. "Oh