It was yet another busy morning at Haneda Airport.

Tourists and locals filled the departure hall and many were excited at the prospect of leaving the country, be it to return home to their loved ones or to explore a foreign land.

Despite the early morning hours, the airport was already bustling with activities.

Amongst this lively atmosphere, there was a lone girl named Choi Eunseol, sitting at the travellers' rest area and waiting patiently for her friend to come back with a refreshing cup of coffee that she was oh-so-nicely deprived of in the morning.

Ha Eun had dragged her out of bed at the crack of dawn because that girl just couldn't contain her excitement of going back to their hometown. Before Eunseol could have even take a step into the kitchen for a cup of coffee, the cab that they had dialed arrived at their residence. Ha Eun wasted no time, immediately loading their luggage into the boot of the taxi with the help of the driver, and then pushed her into the backseat of the vehicle.

Eunseol often wonder why is she even best friends with her. But she was reminded that she would not have survived these ten years overseas without her companion. Furthermore, Ha Eun was already redeeming herself by walking to the nearest Starbucks and getting them their breakfast, which, thankfully, included her daily dose of caffeine.

As she was about to shut her eyes, her senses were hit with an aroma of coffee beans wafting in the air before her. Eunseol blinked her eyes open and was greeted with a Venti cup of coffee held right in front of her. She glanced at Ha Eun appreciatively before taking it and gingerly took a sip of the hot liquid, letting out a satisfied sigh as it warmed her insides.

“Thanks, Eun-ah.” Ha Eun beamed upon hearing the nickname that Eunseol had gave her when they first became friends. 

Her look of delight soon morphed into one of anticipation, as she began chattering away at the speed of bullet gun. “I'm so excited to see them. Do you think Jeonghan oppa would have changed much? Will he have a girlfriend? Will he even have a friend? What about Seungcheol oppa? Do you think...”

Eunseol had tuned her out already. It was one of those times that Eunseol realised how much a chatterbox her best friend could be, but nevertheless she was glad that she had someone beside her when she goes back to the familiar land she once called home.

“Good morning passengers. This is the pre-boarding announcement for flight KA801, heading for Seoul, South Korea. Please have your passport and boarding pass ready. First-Class passengers kindly head to gate 94D. The boarding gate will be open in approximately ten minutes time. Thank you.” An overly cheerful voice coursed through the intercom.

She nudged Ha Eun's shoulder, effectively snapping her out of her rambling speech. “Let's go. We'll be late if we delay any longer. Gate 94D is at the north wing of the airport, which is all the way at the other side.” Eunseol explained as she gathered her trench coat in one hand while the other held her carry-on luggage and the paper cup containing her unfinished coffee.

None of them saw it coming when a solid shoulder collided with hers.

The coffee that she was holding on her right hand spilled onto her crisp white shirt and the items tumbled to the floor. Eunseol stood there stunned, coffee rapidly seeping into the material of her button down. Her expression mirrored the silvered hair guy standing in front of her that looked the least hurt from the collision. She met his eyes and stared at him, stupefied, while trying to comprehend what had just happen.

Did he just run into me when I'm obviously standing right here?

The said guy soon recovered from his daze and started apologising profusely. “I'm sorry! I wasn't looking and I was rushing and...”

“Eunseol-ah, are you alright? Were you scalded?” Ha Eun asked, her voice laced with concern. Eunseol replied with a short I'm fine and she promptly kneel down to gather the items that fell out of her bag.

Thinking that she is done collecting her spilled objects, Eunseol rose to her feet and quickly tugged Ha Eun away from the scene. She did not bother about the stain on her shirt, yet. Instead her mind was just about escaping the embarrassing situation and the attention that they had garnered from the nearby curious onlookers.

They only made a few steps away from the area when she felt a tap on her shoulder. Eunseol whipped her head back, only to be met with the owner of the same chocolate brown eyes that collided with her minutes earlier. “Miss, is this yours?” He held out a small cylindrical container with prescriptions written on it. She snatched it away from his hand, mumbling a word of thanks before forcibly pulling Ha Eun out of the place.

“Wait,” the husky voice called out to her. What now? Eunseol mentally rolled her eyes. She was usually a person who is patient and polite, but the thought of heading home was wearing out her patience and the fact that he saw the label on her prescribed bottle did not help, at all.

He rummaged through his bag and pulled out a white dri-fit shirt, still in its plastic packaging. “I'm sorry for ruining your top. This is the only clean shirt I have now. You can just change into this if you want.” She did not prepare an extra set of clothes in her carry-on and they were going to be late for boarding, so Eunseol gratefully accepted it and nodded her head, subtly expressing her gratitude.

The silver hair boy stood at his position, watching the two girls dashing towards their boarding gate, fingers tightly wrapped around a navy blue badge. Kim Mingyu, why didn't you give this to her? He opened up his fist and and scanned the name written on it. He smirked, Choi Eunseol, I hope we'll meet again, because we both have things to return to each other.

Eunseol and Ha Eun rushed towards their boarding gate and thankfully, they managed to reach with a few minutes to spare. The flight attendant was giving them disapproving looks and was openly judging Eunseol and her coffee-stained shirt, probably wondering how a slob like her has the ability to afford First-Class tickets if she can't even take good care of her own image.

She handed their boarding pass back to them after checking the particulars and flight details against their own information. Eunseol and Ha Eun were then escorted by a stewardess through the jet bridge and to their seats. They thanked her and began settling down in their seats.

“I'm going to go get changed.” Eunseol whispered to the Ha Eun, who wasn't listening but instead looking out of the airplane, counting the number of miniature workers in the vast runway. She shook her head and laughed at her friend's childishness, making her way to the lavatory.

Once she locked the door behind, Eunseol peeled off the sticky mess that she was donning. Her eyes raked over her body in the mirror and stops right on the black ink few inches below her collarbone.

Fight your demons, it wrote.

She absentmindedly ran her finger over the bumps and traced out the letters, at the same time soothing the burn that occasionally surfaced due to the needle that was jutting in her skin only a few days prior. She unconsciously drifted back to the past, recalling what had been on the skin before it was hidden by the black ink. 

Eunseol-ah, don't think about it anymore. You're doing fine now. Just stay away from it, from them and you'll...

Her thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door followed by a nasal voice, slightly muted through the door, informing her that the plane would be taking off shortly and urging her to return to her seat.

Hastily, Eunseol retrieved the white shirt that laid forgotten on the cover of the toilet seat and scanned the back where gold lettering Mingyu and the number 97 were printed jersey-styled.

She quickly pulled the comfortable material over her head and do a last scan of her appearance. Standing only at a height of 5 feet 2, she was literally swimming in his shirt. Well, beggars can't be choosers. At least it does a decent job in covering the tatt.

Eunseol exited the cubicle, muttering an apology to the annoyed flight attendant that was standing outside. She rushed past her and quicken her pace until she reached her designated seat. She looked to the left and saw Ha Eun already asleep, with her seat belt securely buckled and headphones on blocking out the surrounding noise.

The pre-flight announcement came on, briefing the passengers about the flight details and safety precautions in Korean. Perhaps it is because of the fact that she is leaving for Korea has yet to sink in but to Eunseol, it felt too weird, too foreign for her to hear someone else other than Ha Eun speaking in Korean.

She slowly leaned her back against the soft cushion of the plane’s armchair and rested her head on the attached pillow. Her eyes fluttered close, heart preparing for the dreadful journey of two and a half hours and thereafter.

“Dear passengers, we are reaching our destination in about thirty minutes. Kindly remain in your seats and fasten your seat belts. Please stow away the tables in front of you and return the armchair into it's original position. Thank you.”

Eunseol peek her eyes open, slowly getting used to the bright sunlight from outside of the window, despite the winter season. Her neck craned downwards, trying to catch a glimpse of the metropolitan city beneath her, but all she could see was cotton candy clouds. So she turned to her left and poked Ha Eun, who was still in dreamland, in the ribs, successfully waking her up.

“Have we reached?” Ha Eun murmured, rubbing the sleep away from her eyes. Eunseol hummed, replying to her question. The former girl mimicked Eunseol's previous action and glanced out of the window.

She was greeted with a sight that differed from Eunseol's. There were giant skyscrapers, rivers and what she thought to be an overcrowded Lego city from her vantage point.

Slowly, these buildings grew in size. 

Ha Eun was captivated by the mesmerizing sight of the busy city but Eunseol was fighting to put a lid on her rising panic. It is not an everyday thing that you'll reunite with your family, one that you haven't communicated face to face since two years ago, not to mention, one of which is your twin sister

The two females were too engrossed in their views and thoughts that they didn't realise that they have touched down, until the captain's voice resonated through the cabin. “The time now in Seoul is 11.14am. Thank you passengers for travelling with Korean Air. This is Captain Lee and I hope you've had an enjoyable flight.”

Eunseol and Ha Eun took down their suitcase from the overhead compartment and join the short queue of people heading into Incheon International Airport. Her steps had been those of reluctance and unwillingness contrary to Ha Eun's light and excited footsteps. Both of them linked arms and Ha Eun skipped out with a trudging Eunseol to collect their baggage from the conveyor belt.

After a long fifteen minutes wait, the luggage began streaming out of nowhere. Eunseol had spotted her suitcase and went to the moving belt to retrieve it and after which, Ha Eun had located hers too. Together, the duo pushed the loaded trolley towards the exit.

The first thing that Ha Eun did was to inhale a deep breath of air. She angled her body, facing Eunseol and grinned at her like a Cheshire cat. Eunseol couldn't help but allow the corners of to turn up, reciprocating the smile. Home Sweet Home, she brooded, almost bitterly.

She pulled the sides of her trench coat closer to her body, sheltering her from the freezing weather. Ha Eun, however, appeared the least affected by the sudden change from the toasty warmth in the airport to the biting cold, and continued making puffs of white smoke.

Eventually, Eunseol had to flag down a taxi by herself as Ha Eun was too immersed in her silly antics. The taxi driver had kindly helped her crammed both their enormous luggage into the seemingly small storage space. Miraculously, they managed to do so.

Ha Eun began walking to them with a sheepish grin and exchanged looks with Eunseol, “Sorry, I just missed the air in Korea.” Both of them let a giggle escape their lips and proceed to board the taxi.

The view blurred as the vehicle sped on the highway and momentarily stopping at the toll gate, allowing the two to admire the scenery before them. The river that stretched far out to the oceans on both sides, giving them a grand view of the glistening water in the horizon. The buildings grew in size as they travelled further away from the airport, entering the city state.

Coincidentally, SHINee's View began to play on the radio and Taemin's light voice filtered into Eunseol's ears, calming her.

Just like that, looking at her silly best friend mouthing enthusiastically to the lyrics of View, Eunseol no longer felt apprehensive about settling down in Korea. Rather, she was at ease, knowing that if everything fails and falls on her, she'll still have this dork of a best friend to support the weight of the world with her.

 

---

 

Characters mentioned:

Choi Eunseol 

Kim Mingyu

Yoon Ha Eun ; the best friend

 

This is the first chapter of OBTS or not. Sorry for all my grammar errors!

Please leave comments below and let me know how I can improve my writing :)

-vvnixx

Word Count: 2303