Chapter 2

Pulling away, the girls and I carefully wipe our eyes, laughing at how we now look like pandas. "I worked really hard on my makeup." I jokingly said, sniffling a little.

"Tell me about it," Jin snorted, gently dabbing at the corner of her eyes. "I practice putting on eyeliner for months before I got this result." Shutting her eyes gently, Jin leaned in closer to show me her eyes.

I couldn't believe it, back in the days, Jin and I barely put on face cream, let alone makeup and now her eyeliner game is on point. "It looks great so all your practices payed off."

"Only on certain days," Sumin quickly said.

Eyebrows raised, Jin gave Sumin the look, and jokingly ask. "What are you trying to say?"

"Alright!" Wonwoo stepped in, wrapping an arm around Jin’s shoulder. "Let’s get you ladies something to drink." He pulls Jin away while Jihoon did the same to Sumin.

Laughing, I fell in step between the four of them. Our conversation revolves mainly around catching each others up on things that has happened since the second year of high school. Junhui and Minghao returned to Seoul again at the beginning of second year, and the group remains close, all 15 meeting up with each other all the way up to our university years. Since then, everyone have been doing their own things, but the one thing that didn’t change, was their continued friendship. Only now, instead of seeing one another all the time, they would meet up once a month.

Arriving at a somewhat busy cafe just a way from the station, the five of us grabbed a table, and started our order. The girls and I sat beside each other while Jihoon and Wonwoo sat opposite of us.

"So what happened after graduation?" I ask, holding back my laughter. What they had done during the ceremony was hilarious, and definitely them, they’ve always been silly.

"So much, dude." Jin laughs at the memories. "But in short, everyone pretty much followed their dreams."

"And were successful in it too." Sumin added, chest puffing out proudly.

I couldn't help but feel the same. All my friends reached their dreams, and are happily living life.

Urging them to start speaking, I took a small sip of the warm tea. "You guys need to catch me up, the last I heard, is that Jun started acting, Mingyu went into modeling, Hoshi, Minghao and Chan opened up a dance school. So you guys need to tell me the rest!" I said when they all looked at me funny. "Not a word from me until you all catch me up."

Slowly, they started to fill me in. Jun had went through with acting after he landed that small role in a drama back in our last year of Senior high. Mingyu had been scouted to be in the same drama, but decided to go into modeling when he was scouted by a modelling agency. Jihoon, and Hansol are now producers, both working for large music corporations. Joshua started a music school with Jeonghan and Seokmin. It was Josh’s idea to start a school, and Jeonghan along with Seokmin decided to help him out since they were both passionate about singing, and teaching. The school got really popular in the past years, now all three are thinking of hiring more people, but they’re picking on who they want. Seungkwan, the king of talks, is now an emcee, no one could resist his charisma when he’s got a mic in front of his face. Wonwoo just got his degree in biochemistry. Jin is in her last year of nursing school, and Sumin just started graduate school, continuing her computer engineering work.

"What about...?" I paused, not knowing if I should really ask this question.

"Seungcheol got his degree in business, and took over his family's company." Wonwoo quickly provided me the information, looking at me weirdly. "He's travels all over the country, and to Tokyo a lot."

That particular piece of news hit home. Seungcheol travels to Tokyo for work, and I knew nothing of it because he never bothered to contact me. "Oh..." Laughing awkwardly, I scratch at my arm out of habit. "That's news alright."

Their faces change into that of revelation, all four of their mouths hanging wide open in shock. "You didn't know." Jihoon broke the silence, looking at at me with pity.

"He never contacted you?" Wonwoo spoke softly, "Seungcheol would always tell us that he sees you when he's in Tokyo." The paused for a second before sighing, and looking away. “Then again, he would never give us anything other than the fact that he saw you.”

I could feel Jin and Sumin getting angry for my sake, so I pushed away the ache in my chest. "No it's alright, he's probably too busy since he's there for work.” Forcing a laugh, I pulled out my phone, and starting pouring through the pictures I wanted to show them. “I’ve been pretty busy these past couple years, interning with Dr. Yamamoto and studying the star system PHE-17, and with my mom’s flower shop, I was pretty much swamped. Even if he told me, we wouldn't have been able to meet either way." Changing the subject fluently, I pulled them into a discussion on the current flu epidemic.

"Oh," Sumin suddenly perks up when she saw the time. "We've to go, my mom wants to see you."

"Right!" Signaling for her boyfriend to call for the check, Jin pulls me up, and out of the booth. "She made a dinner appointment for us three. You can take care of the bills right, Wonwoo-ah?"

Even when the question is nothing short of sweet, I knew for a fact it’s anything but by how she said it. "Of course Jin, you three have fun." Then he turns to me, Jihoon as well. "It's really good seeing you again, Faye."

"Yeah, it's been so long. We all really missed you." Jihoon admitted with a small blush. “I’m glad you’re back in town.”

I felt a sense of pride building up hearing that. Jihoon isn't a very affectionate person, and Wonwoo doesn't like to say mushy things, so for them to say that to me after so long, it felt really good. "Thank you, I'm here for the week, let's make the best of it." Giving them both a tight hug, I followed Jin and Sumin out.