"My friend met his wife online", I told her. She didn't think internet relationships were a very good idea and told me that she didn't want to try them. I was getting ready to go home to Canada. She told me to phone her when I got back to Korea.

I didn't have to phone. The day after I got back, she called me. She was curious about my trip and my sister's wedding. I could have chatted longer but I told her that I had to go to the office and do some work. Eventually she was going to come and visit me.

The first time she was supposed to come her excuse was that she couldn't because she'd hurt her leg. Going down the steps at a subway station in Seoul she'd tripped and injured herself. It was so bad that she later had to go to the hospital. It wasn't a hospital in Seoul, though. It was a hospital in her small town about an hour away. Actually, she was the kind of delicate girl who'd go to the hospital for every little thing, but I didn't tell her that.

The following week she didn't come to visit because she wasn't feeling very well. She was just too tired. Her professor's brother had died, so she had to travel far to attend his funeral. Why was she going to the funeral of her professor's brother? Well, in her culture professors had to be treated with great respect and she wanted to show how much she respected him. Besides, he could have a great influence on her career so she had to do all she could to please him.

The next time she was supposed to visit she had to cancel because of her grandma's birthday party. She really didn't want to go but her mom was forcing her to. What was I supposed to say? I couldn't tell her not to go to her grandma's birthday party, could I? At the same time, I didn't think asking if I could go with her was the right response, so I just said that we'd arrange to meet on another day.

The day before we were supposed to meet I got another phone call. It just turned out that she had to give a presentation at her university the day of her visit. The distinguished professors had asked her to speak and she simply couldn't say no. Well, at this point I woke up and realized that she was definitely not too interested in me. I told her that she cancelled too easily and would never visit me. She laughed nervously and told me she'd come on another day, but I knew it wasn't so. I also knew that she was going to the airport that week to meet a friend because she'd told me. Unlike with me, I knew that she wouldn't

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