Chapter 1—The Leaving
Amara Bennett had always believed that leaving was easy. You packed a suitcase. You bought a ticket. You walked away. Simple.
At least, that was what she had told herself while standing in the middle of her bedroom at two in the morning, staring at the open suitcase on her bed. The room looked exactly the same as it had yesterday. Her cream curtains were still half-open. Her favorite mug sat on the desk beside a stack of unopened mail. A sweater she'd worn three days ago was hanging over the back of her chair. Everything was normal. Except Amara wasn't.
She folded another blouse and placed it inside the suitcase. Then she stopped. Her eyes landed on the photograph sitting on her nightstand. She and Daniel. Smiling. His arm around her waist. Her head rested against his shoulder. They looked happy. They looked in love. They looked like a lie.
Amara picked up the photograph and stared at it for several seconds before turning it facedown. She didn't cry. She had cried enough. For three weeks, she'd cried until her eyes hurt. She'd cried in the shower. In her car. At work. Once, embarrassingly, in the cereal aisle of a supermarket because she'd remembered that Daniel hated shopping and would always make her choose everything.
She was tired of crying. She was tired of wondering what she'd done wrong. She was tired of asking herself how someone could tell you they loved you while giving pieces of themselves to other women.
So she had made a decision.
She was leaving.
Not forever. Not necessarily. But long enough to breathe.
Her phone buzzed on the bed.
Mom: You sure about this trip?
Amara stared at the message.
Then typed:
I need it.
Three dots appeared almost immediately.
Mom: Then go. Clear your head. Just be careful.
Amara smiled faintly.
Her mother had always known when she needed advice and when she simply needed permission.
She put the phone down and zipped the suitcase shut.
Tomorrow, she would be on a plane to Seoul.
She had never been there before. She didn't know anyone there. She didn't speak Korean beyond the few phrases she'd learned from watching dramas. And, honestly, that was exactly what she wanted.
A place where nobody knew her. A place where nobody knew Daniel. A place where she could walk down a street without wondering whether she'd see someone who knew her story.
She picked up her suitcase.
For the first time in weeks, Amara felt something that wasn't sadness.
Excitement.
Small. Fragile. But there.
The flight was longer than Amara expected. By the time she landed in Seoul, her body felt like it belonged to someone else.
She stepped out of the airport and immediately noticed the difference. The language. The signs. The people moving around her. The unfamiliar rhythm of everything.
She stood still for a moment with her suitcase beside her.
She should have felt nervous.
Instead, she smiled.
"Okay, Seoul," she whispered.
"Let's see what you've got."
The taxi ride to her hotel took nearly an hour. Amara spent most of it staring through the window. The city was beautiful. Buildings stretched toward the sky, covered in lights. Restaurants and shops seemed to glow from every corner. People hurried along sidewalks while buses moved through the streets.
It was nothing like home.
And she loved that.
When she finally arrived at the hotel, she checked in, dragged her suitcase upstairs, and collapsed onto the bed. She stared at the ceiling. She had made it. She was actually here.
Her phone buzzed again.
Daniel.
Her stomach tightened.
She hadn't expected him to call.
She stared at his name until the ringing stopped.
A second later, a message appeared.
Daniel: We need to talk.
Amara laughed.
Not because anything was funny.
Because of course he wanted to talk now.
She turned the phone facedown.
"No."
For once, she wasn't going to explain herself. She wasn't going to listen to apologies. She wasn't going to let him make her feel guilty for walking away from something he'd already destroyed.
She got up and opened the curtains.
Seoul stretched before her.
Thousands of lights.
Thousands of strangers.
Thousands of lives she knew nothing about.
Amara rested her forehead against the cool glass.
Maybe starting over didn't have to mean forgetting everything.
Maybe it meant becoming someone who no longer needed to be remembered by the person who hurt her.
She smiled.
Tomorrow, she'd explore.
Tonight, she would sleep.
Across the city, in a penthouse overlooking the Han River, Kang Jae-min stood in front of a floor-to-ceiling window. Seoul looked different from up there. Smaller. Quieter. Almost peaceful.
Behind him, his father sat at the dining table, reading through a document.
"Your engagement announcement will be next month."
Jae-min didn't turn around.
"I know."
"Then stop behaving as though you don't."
Jae-min's jaw tightened.
"I'm not behaving any particular way."
His father lowered the paper.
"You've been distant."
"I'm busy."
"You're always busy."
Silence.
His father sighed.
"Jae-min, this marriage isn't only about you."
There it was again.
The word marriage.
The word that had begun following him everywhere.
At business dinners.
At family gatherings.
In conversations with his mother.
In conversations with his father.
Even in his dreams.
His parents had already decided.
Seo-yun.
Twenty-six.
Beautiful.
Educated.
From a family that had known the Kangs for generations.
She was perfect.
Everyone said so.
Jae-min had known her since childhood.
He respected her.
He liked her.
But whenever his parents spoke about their future, something inside him went completely still.
Because respect wasn't love.
And liking someone wasn't the same thing as choosing them.
"She's waiting for you," his father said.
"I know."
"Then act like it."
Jae-min finally turned.
"Do you ever ask me what I want?"
His father's expression hardened.
"You're twenty-nine years old. It's time you understood that wanting something isn't always enough."
Jae-min said nothing.
His father returned to his papers.
The conversation was over.
Jae-min walked out onto the balcony.
The cool night air hit his face.
He looked down at the city.
Somewhere among those millions of lights, people were falling in love. Breaking up. Getting married. Starting over. Living lives completely unknown to him.
He wondered what it would feel like to make one decision purely for himself.
Not for his family.
Not for the company.
Not for his father's expectations.
Just himself.
His phone vibrated.
A message from Seo-yun.
Seo-yun: Dinner tomorrow?
Jae-min stared at it.
His thumb hovered over the screen.
Then he typed:
Of course.
He sent it.
He didn't know why his chest felt heavier afterward.
The next morning, Amara woke up before her alarm.
Jet lag.
She groaned and pulled the blanket over her head.
"Seriously?"
Her stomach growled.
"Okay. Fine."
She got dressed, grabbed her purse, and headed downstairs.
She had no plan.
No itinerary.
No particular destination.
For the first time in years, she wasn't trying to control what happened next.
She simply walked.
She found a small café tucked between two buildings and stopped.
The smell of coffee pulled her inside.
She ordered breakfast, found a table near the window, and pulled out her journal.
At the top of the page, she wrote:
SEOUL - DAY ONE
Then, underneath:
Things I want from this trip:
She thought for a moment.
1. Peace.
She wrote another.
2. New memories.
Then, a third.
3. To remember who I was before him.
Amara stared at the words.
She slowly added one more.
4. Maybe... a little adventure.
She smiled.
Outside, Seoul continued moving.
She had no idea what was waiting for her.
She didn't know Jae-min existed.
He didn't know she existed.
Their lives were completely separate.
For now.
And perhaps that was exactly how fate wanted it.
Because some stories don't begin with two people meeting.
Some begin long before that-
with two strangers living completely different lives...
while something unseen quietly pulls them toward the same place.
Toward the same moment.
Toward each other.
But not yet.
Not today.
Welcome to TIED TO SEOUL. 🇰🇷✨
This is the beginning of Amara's story-a story about heartbreak, starting over, finding yourself again, and maybe finding something you never expected along the way.
I hope you enjoy following Amara through Seoul and watching her journey unfold.
And trust me... this is only the beginning. 👀
Thank you for reading, and I hope you'll stay for the journey. 🫶🏽
- MelaninSlaya_
