Prologue: In Four Days Time

“Sometimes we don’t learn from our mistakes

And sometimes we’ve no choice but to walk away

It’s the end where I begin.”

***

She never woke up to the soft sound of the rain drops pattering on her window. But that’s because she never slept. She was up for a whole day now, and she still couldn’t get over the fact that he was gone. It was just so sudden, and yet expected at the same time. She knew that he wouldn’t really last long, but she didn’t know that it would come too soon. Paolo.

***

He woke up to the stern voice of the pilot announcing his arrival to Seoul. Finally, after a refreshing weekend in Macau, he was back to Seoul and eager to meet up with the friends he left, or what was left of his friends actually. But that would change, because in four days time, F4 will be reunited, and this will be the best reunion they will ever have.

***

A knock on her door startled her from her thoughts. Who could that be? She turned her back from the window and started walking to the door. She passed a white polo shirt neatly folded on the dark sofa and almost choked on a sob that came up.

“Good morning, is there a Miss Lauren Christina Kim here?” the boy, no, the Fed – Ex delivery man who looked like he didn’t want to be there, asked.

“I’m Miss Kim,” she replied, eyeing the delivery guy with a hint of annoyance. Honestly, it’s still early in the morning and he looks like he was dragged here from hell and back. Well I won’t accept any iness from you.

“Good, then please sign here,” he said while giving her some papers.

***

“Yo Ji Hu my man!” he said as he put his arm over the remaining (sleeping) F4 in Seoul. “How’s it with the meds? And, where’s Jan Di-sshi?”

“Uhmmm… yeah, hi , Woo Bin. When did you come back? “ Ji Hu said as he lifted his head from his arms.

“Just came back actually. Anyways, where’s your soulmate? I don’t see her anywhere here, huh,” Woo Bin said, looking around the cafeteria.

“Oh yeah, she’s in class right now,” Ji Hu said, as he reached out for his book that he was supposed to be reading.

“Hmm… You guys live a boring life,” said Woo bin as he flicked through the pages of another medical book.

“Don’t let Jan Di hear you, she’s been practicing her roundhouse kick on that guy who kept stalking Ga Eul-sshi.”

“Ga Eul-sshi is being stalked?”

“That’s what Jan Di calls it, personally I don’t think it’s stalking. I think he’s just, hmm, I don’t know.”

“Wait, this happened just over the weekend, right?”

“Ye. But Jan Di could be exaggerating.”

“Aish.”

***

Annyeonghaseyo,

 Congratulations! Engineer-Architect Lauren Christina Kim of Aliling and Associates, you have been accepted to the “Doctor Lee Apprenticeship in Civil Engineering”. We have reviewed your application and the recommendations given to us, and we are happy to announce that you are certainly qualified for the program. This acceptance letter will serve as a…

So she got accepted. Well, that was certainly a surprise. But then maybe, it’s God’s gift to her, after all one tragedy should not rule her life, it was an exchange of sorts. If Paolo didn’t go, she might not have gotten the scholarship.

“Hello,mom?” she said, as she called up her mother on her phone.

“Lauren, yes? Any problems? You sound tired, you haven’t slept right?” her mother asked with concern.

“Uhm, yeah, I haven’t slept,” Lauren said.

“Dear, but Paolo’s parents have been taking care of it, you should get some rest, it‘s been a rough day for you.”

“Right, well I’m not here to talk about Paolo, Mom. Mom, I got accepted in the apprenticeship,” she said.

“Oh, oh, oh! Oh dear! Lauren, congratulations, I knew you’ve nailed it! Oh, I’m so happy for you. So when is this effective?” her mother asked, obviously, rejoiced.

“It’s for next week mom. I’m actually going to the embassy for the Visa application.”

“Oh don’t worry about that, I’ll just contact your uncle, he’ll give you the Visa by Wednesday. For now, get some rest. “

“Oh, thank you, mom, I’ll go now, maybe get some fresh air.”

“Okay, just take care, I don’t want you stressing over this, I know it’s hard, but please compose yourself. Use the time you’ll have in Korea to heal, okay?” and with that her mother hung up.

***

“Jan Di-sshi! Ga Eul-sshi!” Woo Bin called out to the two girls who were sitting in front of the porridge shop.

“Woo Bin-sunbae!” Ga Eul greeted him, all the while elbowing Jan Di who was still engrossed studying , or maybe she was sleeping already.

“Hey Jan Di, Ga Eul,” Woo Bin said, as he sat down and poked the (now) sleeping Jan Di. “She’s becoming more 4^th dimensional each day right?”

“Anio, sunbae, she was only up late, Jun Pyo-sunbae called her last night and talked with her for almost 3 hours,” Ga Eul answered.

“Gu Jun Pyo , you idiot!” JanDi exclaimed, obviously dreaming, fortunately for her, she sobered up once she saw Woo Bin.

“Woo Bin-sunbae, when did you come back?” Ga Eul said as she straightened herself up.

“Just 3 hours ago actually, I came by the university actually, Ji Hu said that you’d be in calss, guess he was wrong then,” Woo Bin replied. “But then, you two are here now, so this makes it easier for me , let me just call Ji Hu, we’re going to talk.”

“Hey Ji Hu! Porridge Shop now!”  Woo Bin said, while talking on his phone. He turned towards the two and winked.

***

“You’ll be alright there, Lauren?” her mother asked, as she fussed over her in the NAIA Terminal 3.

“Yes, mom,” Lauren said with a sad smile as she came forward to give her parents and sisters a hug each.

“Ate, we’re going to miss you,” her sister said, while hugging her. “Study well there, Ate, so that you’ll become an associate once you come back.”

“Ate, you enjoy yourself there, and forget Kuya Paolo for now. You need to concentrate,” her youngest sister said. “And then, don’t forget our pasalubongs ah!!”

“Lauren Christina, take care of yourself. And no matter what happens we’ll always be proud of you. We’ll miss you very much,” her father said while he hugged her.

“Ehh, you all, I promise you things will turn out fine for me,” Lauren Christina said with a bright smile. “And, I’ll do my best there, I’ll study really hard, and I won’t forget your pasalubongs. Besides, I’ll only be gone for a year, and it’s not the first time I’ve been away right? Besides, it’s an opportunity. Don’t make me miss you people right now, or else I may not be able to board the plane.”

They must have made a sight. A family of five all dressed in black, one crying, one desperately trying not to cry, and the others quite happy but obviously sad with the departure of the family’s eldest. Today is Lauren Christina Kim’s flight to Korea. She’s off to continue her studies in Civil Engineering in the prestigious Shinwha University, and hopefully in the process, be able to forget him. And she swears, she would get over him. He wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.

***

“So now that our Yun Ji Hu is finally here, this is the important announcement you have all been waiting for!” Song Woo Bin said, a tad too dramatic, even for him. He asked Master to have the porridge shop currently closed for business just for his “important announcement”.

“Sunbae, do you know that since we are not entertaining customers now, that we won’t get our pay for the day?” Jan Di asked, obviously pissed at the way Woo Bin is keeping them. At the rate that he’s going, they’re going to lose an hour’s worth of customers. She sighed, but really, it’s not such a big loss, the porridge shop’s busy period would start in two hours or so. She was only feeling pissy because Gu Jun Pyo kept her up the whole night.

“Yah, Geum Jan Di, relax, this is not going to lose you an hour. It’s just that in four days time, we’re going to hold the best F4 reunion!” Woo Bin proudly said, obviously enjoying the fact that he was THE bringer of good news.

“Reunion?” Ga Eul asked, obviously at a loss.

“So, Jun Pyo and Yi Jung would be back by Saturday?” Ji Hu asked, more awake and happier now that an F4 reunion is on the way.

“Kre? But why, why didn’t Gu Jun Pyo tell me last night? After that pabo kept me up, aish. So what do you want us to do? Shouldn’t you two be the ones planning the overalls? Why drag us here too? You’re the ones who party like crazy,” Jan Di asked, now even more pissed because she can’t believe how Jun Pyo’s arrival was kept a secret from her.

“Hmm, will it be a surprise for them?” Ga Eul asked, she already has some plans forming in her mind, and most of the plans for the Casanova would enlist Woo Bin’s help, so now would be a good time for her to bring it up.

“Hmm, now that you brought that up Ga Eul-sshi, maybe we could go for both, after all the F4 will be finally complete after four years, there’s bound to be some big celebration, but we also need to have our own private celebration, right?” Woo Bin said, mulling some thing over.

“Then it’s done, the private party will be organized by us,” Ji Hu said while pulling Jan Di in one armed hug. “We’ll do the private thing, we’re really not the social ones in the group.”

“What he said,” Jan Di said, she couldn’t really be bothered with who’s going with who to do whatever it is, but she was secretly thankful to Ji Hu-sunbae for quickly volunteering for the private celebration part. Everybody knows that Jan Di can’t stand talking to party organizers and would rather take everything on her own.

“Then that leaves us, Ga Eul, with all the glamour and the big ones!” Woo Bin said, as clapped his hands and smirked at Ga Eul.

“Krom, Sunbae, I have some plans already,” Ga Eul said. You better get ready for me So Yi Jung, you will regret the fact that you never messaged me.

“Ga Eul-sshi, I don’t like that gleam in your eyes, whatever your plans are, we will never include a public dismemberment for Yi Jung,” Woo Bin said and everybody laughed, even Jan Di who seems to have gotten over her pissy mood already. The four friends were just happy that in four days time, their little posse would be complete.

***

In four days, F2 would become F4 once again.

In four days, Lauren Christina Kim would start to be herself again.

Just in four days.