Her Astronaut

✯3✯

As the morning hurried along, Nova breezed through her to-do list. Each time she crossed off another task, her shoulders felt metaphorically lighter. With her final destination downtown to the hotel where the artists would be staying, she left her favorite errand for last.

The Korean Supermarket.

Upon moving in with her Aunt Jenn during college, she quickly became acquainted with Koreatown. They would frequent the store on weekends to stock up on their favorite rameyon, and snacks before gorging themselves at the food court.

In spite of the fact she had abandoned some hobbies after Jenn's death, anything related to her aunt's culture, Nova clung to. As cheesy as it sounded, she felt Jenn's spirit the most in these particular situations. It embodied who she was as a person.

Nova truly had no culture that she could call her own. That is outside of the hyper-right-wing evangelical patriarchy that was forced down her throat until she walked away after graduating high school. When she finally was free of those who raised her, it was only natural that she was eager to learn more about the background of the one who gave her a second chance at life.

Although it wasn't her ancestry, she always appreciated how much Jenn willingly shared her Korean culture and traditions. Even with never visited Korea before, she felt more connected with it than her home country.

Nova made the choice to start learning the language and even hangul very shortly after moving to California with Jenn. Thanks to her aunt's tutoring, memorizing Kdrama scenes, and good ol' Duolingo, it didn't take long for Nova to become fluent in Korean. By 25, she was able to talk to the vendors and business owners in Ktown with ease.

Pulling into the parking garage, she couldn't help but smile as she pulled into her unofficial spot. Frequenting this particular location the most, she also picked the same place to park her car whenever it was available.

It's the little things.

Stepping out of her car with the shopping list open on her phone, her phone began to chirp as the caller ID showed her direct supervisor.

*RODRIDGOOOOO CALLING*

Pulling out her AirPods, she quickly placed one in her right ear before answering.

"여보세요"

"Damnit Nova, you know I don't understand what the fuck you are saying."

"Roddy, our company is currently about to spend the next 2.5 weeks taking care of artists from South Korea along with all their staff. The least you can do is figure out that I just said hello."

"Oh, I thought that was annie-yong... not yoboso."

"It's *annyeong* but only when you are being casual. For all our guests, you better be using formal speech such as *annyeonghaseyo*. Besides, I said *yeoboseo* which is how you greet each other over the phone."

"Yo-bo-say-yo. Like that?"

"Just leave the talking to me or the translators. Please, I beg of you."

"Hey, there has to be something I can say that will be useful?"

" 미안합니다"

"Say what??"

"Repeat after me, mi-an-ham-ni-da."

"Not until you tell me what you are teaching me. I'm not falling for that trap again."

"It's an extremely formal way of apologizing. Memorize it. You're gonna need it."

"Fucking brat."