I'm Minhyuk. I'm in my late twenties now. I took off from the plane and went down.  It's been ten years since that day. I opened my phone. I saw them. It's been a while since I've seen them. Their smiles,  their happy faces. I saw her. She’s smiling ever so beautifully, as she would, usually.

How are you now, Byulyi?

“Par!” I smiled seeing him. It’s been ten years, indeed, but Chandong’s gotten more physically built. I guess marrying and ending up as a PE professor and a basketball coach made him like that.

Yes, you saw it right. Chandong, the fool ten years ago, eventually got married two years ago. And he’s now a university basketball coach. He has a kid, too. I went up to him and we had a small brohug. You know, those stuffs. “I can’t believe Seulgi allowed you to pick me up.” I chuckled. Seulgi, his wife, yes, the two eventually got together. I heard she became a university professor in the same school as Chandong. Well, if your husband is as handsome as Chandong, you cannot help but be protective.

“Dude.” He groaned. “Look, getting her permission was like, finding a needle in a haystack which was super super hard. And like, I have to pick Chia up from nursery school so we should get into the car right now amigo.” Chandong picked up one of my luggage and I pulled one. We went to his car. It smelled like baby’s cologne which is understandable, since he has a two-year old daughter. I heard the little girl likes scents, too, so I brought some home from Korea.

“How’s Byul?” I asked.

“Not fine since you left, but the girl managed. You know her. She loves you a lot.” I nodded and I can’t help but feel guilty.

Ten years ago, my father sent me to go to the law school in Korea. I mean, I would be okay with it if I was on my own, but Byul..

I wanted to be hers.

I wanted to call her mine. 

But fate decided that maybe, well, maybe not that time.

Maybe now?

“What did you buy Seokmin and Yuna?” I snapped out of my thoughts when Chandong began speaking. Yes, I came back for Seokmin and Yuna’s wedding. I would’ve came back two years ago for ChanSeul’s wedding, but it was only a civil wedding. They’re gonna have their church wedding this year, too.

“I’m gonna buy here. I mean, why would they want to buy a karaoke machine when they bought a condo?”

“Yah, it’s Seokju we’re talking about here. It’s natural that singers would want to buy a karaoke machine.” 

I raised a brow. “They’re singers? But I went against Seokmin in a case back then?” Yes. I’m now a prosecutor. I quit my job in Korea though. It took me this long to quit that job. I had an amazing offer. 

“Atty. Seokmin sa umaga, Dokyeom sa gabi* [Atty. Seokmin in the morning, Dokyeom in the night]”

I sighed. Seokmin is also a prosecutor now and he left the law world in Korea when he decided to settle down. Yuna, like Seokmin, is also a prosecutor, too. She used to be in the industry, but yeah, the kids want to get married. 

It didn’t take long for us to get to the university, where Chandong was supposed to get his study materials (?) from Seulgi. Honestly, I don’t know why he needs study materials when he’s a PE professor. We parked in the front gate and we waited for Seulgi to come out. Eventually she did. 

She still has her monolids. Her hair is now back to brown, looks like she decided to get rid of the annoying orange hair. Come to think of it, Mingyu also tried that hair color. You can google it. Mingyu orange hair. It’s a disaster. Speaking of Mingyu, I heard he was transferred to Byul’s department last year. Mingyu is now a forensic scientist. “Hey, this is the thing you asked me to get.” She gave Chandong a folder and he accepted it. She smiled as she saw me. “Welcome back, bonehead.” 

“Your name-calling habit never died.” 

She shrugged with a sheepish smile. “We should drink at Joohyuk’s tomorrow. After we visit her.” 

I smiled sadly with a nod. She still pulls my heartstrings. She was a good person. “Wife, I’m gonna pick up Chia now.” Chandong excused us and waved his wife goodbye. Seulgi smiled before going back to the university. Chandong and I drove off and went to our next stop, Chia, my goddaughter’s nursery school. “Hyuk.” He suddenly called me. 

“Yeah?” 

“If Hyeri was alive right now, would she be the brightest star today?” I saw him smile grimly. He still – We still take her death to heart. We never found out why she died. Until now, it’s an unsolved case of hit and run. 

Ten years ago, after we found out that Hyeri was hit by a car, the whole squad ran to the hospital. We saw Bogum. His arms bloodied from the blood Hyeri bled. He was crying. Before I knew it, Byul was crying too. In the end, we were all crying. 

When her coffin was buried, the pastor asked us to look one last time on her happy smile that was pasted on top of the coffin. It broke our hearts. Everyone was crying. 

But we never found out why she died. 

“Hey Chandong, can you drop me off somewhere? I know my way from here.” I asked him. He actually raised a brow and sighed. 

“Fine.” He pulled over and dropped me off. “I’ll drop your things in your house. You know the way home, right?” 

I nodded. “Yes, thank you.” He smiled then went off. I actually asked Hyunsik of his workplace. It’s a recording studio. Hyunsik is now a singer-songwriter. And believe it or not, he didn’t end up with Wheein. He