Choi
Eun Sun
Charles
De Gaulle International Airport
Paris,
France
I went
over this decision a million times in my head, returning to Seoul. It gave me
sleepless nights and nightmares of a past that I wanted to forget.
I argued with my boss Patrick Daniels on days end
about his decision to have me run the Hot Star office in Seoul, but he wouldn’t
choose another person. He felt I was the only qualified person for the position
of chairman and the only person he trusted. Our arguments escalated to
screaming matches and our secretaries were forced to pull us apart to our
separate offices. Until one day I couldn’t bear the arguing any more and gave
in. He wouldn’t accept my letter of resignation, turned a blind eye to my
insubordination, and wouldn’t fire me no matter how stubborn I was. Our last
conversation Mr. Daniels said to me,
“Sunny you are one stubborn Korean woman. I don’t know
why you fought me so hard on this, but I assume it has something to do with
your past. You can’t run forever and returning to your home and family
shouldn’t be a burden but a blessing. Face whatever or who ever it is that
caused you to be fearful. Be happy, you have two wonderful children and a great
career. Oh and I’m not changing my mind.”
He laughed loudly showing his pearl white teeth,
tossing his head full of blonde hair back and took big gulp of his brandy.
Now the twins and I are sitting at the airport waiting
for our flight to be called. My assistant James Moreau called ahead to make
sure our car would be at the airport in Seoul waiting for us. Mi Sun and Jae
Hwa stood in awe in front of the window watching as the planes took off on the
runways. They were excited to be riding on the big shiny bird as they called
the plane and happy to be able to see their Aunt Soon Yi. I thought the girls
would have been upset and disappointed about the drastic move, having to leave
behind their friends and school, but when at school their teacher said that’s
all they talked about. On the other hand I wasn’t excited nor was I happy, I
was nervous and anxious.
Our flight was called over the p.a. “Flight 176 to
Seoul, South Korea now boarding at gate 17b, all first class passenger please
report to gate 17b.” That was us, four
first class seats; I looked back at the exit to the Paris streets one last
time, shook off my anxiety, took the girls by their hands and boarded our
flight to an unknown future.
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