Foreign land

*Ladies and gentlemen, welcome onboard Flight 4B7 with service from Manila to Imperial. We are currently third in line for take-off and are expected to be in the air in approximately seven minutes time. We ask that you please fasten your seatbelts at this time and secure all baggage underneath your seat or in the overhead compartments. We also ask that your seats and table trays are in the upright position for take-off. Please turn off all personal electronic devices, including laptops and cell phones. Smoking is prohibited for the duration of the flight. Thank you for choosing Crimson Airlines. Enjoy your flight.*

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Listening to the announcement over the speaker, a woman let out a long sigh that has a tinge of sadness for having to leave the place she once called her home. But being a total lover for challenges and adventures as she is, going to a 'foreign land' to meet the people she does not remember makes her feel very excited and a little nervous.

Looking out the window, she took in everything she can see as she might never be able to comeback. She was reminiscing about her precious times with the old man who raised her as well as the happy and crazy memories with her close friends.

Remembering her friends, she retracted her eyes from the view outside of the window and looked at the photo album on her lap that her friends gave her before she boarded her plane. She flipped the cover revealing the first page with two photos of them as a whole. The faces in the pictures were all either grinning from ear to ear, or doing silly faces. Seeing this, the woman smiled and let out a low chuckle. Flipping pages after pages with a small smile on her pretty face, she suddenly stopped and focused on a certain picture. It was a picture of her and the old man during her college graduation. The old man's face was full of pride while holding her diploma. It was also the only picture she took with the old man. She lightly caressed the face of the old man.

'Thank you Lolo for raising me with all the love and affection you could offer even if I'm not your real granddaughter. Don't worry about me anymore. I promise to live a happy life with my real parents and will never do anything to disappoint you. Please watch over me from up there.'

Her eyes started to sting when she suddenly thought of the promise she made on the old man's death bed. Trying to control her emotions, she bit her lower lip, closed her eyes and deeply inhaled through her nose and exhaled through her mouth. When she reopened her eyes, the look of sadness was replaced with a look of determination.

She steeled herself to face the truth, to take on any problems and challenges that may come her way, and to adjust to the life that awaits her when she steps foot on the 'foreign land' that was originally her home.

"Young Miss?"

Waking up from her reverie, she blinked her eyes a few times then turned her head to her right where the voice came from.

"You don't have to address me so formally." She said as she smiles. "You mentioned earlier that my birth name is Wang Lixue, right? Then just call me by my name."