The place the guys managed to get was a five-star restaurant, private dining. But it wasn’t like I even bothered about the food or the atmosphere. I wouldn’t even mind if we were eating at a shack.

The guys were tired, sweaty, but never stopped bouncing. Glasses raised, they shouted at the table “WE ARE ONE!” and clinked their glasses together (they were just drinking root beer, since Sehun and Kai were still underaged.) But I could tell the sound of the glasses clinking against each other made them feel the struggle and success that led them to where they are now, no matter what they were drinking.

I smiled for them, and raised my own glass and clinked it against Joonmyeon’s. “Way to go, boys.”

“We did it,” said Chanyeol. “We did it.”

“And it’s not over yet,” said Jongdae. “China, here we come.”

“You guys are going to China?” I asked. “When?”

“Hopping on the plane tomorrow morning,” said Minseok.

“T-Tomorrow?” I sputtered. “That early?”

“It’s the second round for the showcase. We’ve already packed. So after this we go home, go to sleep, and get ready for another day,” he said, gulping down his drink.

“But I’m tireeed,” Baekhyun whined.

I didn’t know they were flying off to China the next morning. I turned to Kris, ready for an explanation. But he wasn’t even paying attention. Did he even hear what we said? He was too busy staring down, and when I leaned over I noticed he was staring at his phone.

I reached out for his hand, but then pulled back. I was about to say something when he suddenly stood.

“Hey,” said Tao, busy taking another shrimp, “where’re you going?”

“I’ll be right back,” said Kris, and he took off.

I turned to Krystal, hoping she’d see my curious reaction, but she wasn’t looking my way. So I got up, put my glass down, and started running. I thought I could catch up to him, but by the time I reached the front area of the restaurant he was already gone. I followed my gut and walked out of the restaurant.

And there he was. Just standing. I didn’t even know if he saw me, so I slowly walked over, stomping my foot to announce my presence.

“If you don’t get inside you’re gonna catch a cold,” I told him. “And Tao’ll finish all the shrimps.”

“What’re you doing out here?”

“Telling you to get back inside, what does it look like I’m doing?”

I thought I saw him smile, or at least try to. It was a fail, and he turned away, back to his phone. The way his eyes looked made me realize he was finally reading the message that was left for him, just before the show. It didn’t look like he’d replied yet.

Then his phone started ringing. It rang for quite a while.

“Aren’t you going to answer that?”  I said.

He didn’t reply, didn’t even look at me. And finally, the ringing stopped. He let his head fall. I moved closer, close enough to see the caller ID. I knew exactly who it was.

“Why didn’t you answer it?” I asked him.

“’Cause it’ll just make me feel worse if I do.” He took one more look at his phone and then dropped his hand with a sigh, and I could see his breath flowing in the cold air.

“At least get back inside. It’s freezing.” I didn’t know what else to say. I stood beside him as I watched the pained look he had on. I knew that look. Homesick. That was the name for it.

“Sometimes,” he said, “I regret it. And sometimes, there’re moments I wish I hadn’t done this.”

“Don’t be like that,” I told him. “Come on. Look at me.”

He turned and faced me.

“Maybe…sometimes…you’d feel like you’d done the worst thing,” I said. “And maybe, you’d wish you could even turn back time. Best thing for you to do is to not regret. And instead, look at the good things. There are good things, right?”

“Are you trying to cheer me up or something?”

“Shut up, I’m not good at this, but at least I’m trying,” I said, and it made him laugh. “Today’s your day. Make it your day.”

He looked at me for a long time, and then finally released a genuine smile. “Thanks. I should listen to you more often.”

“You should,” I said, grinning back at him. “And you should also be thankful that I’m not kicking your .”

“W-What’d I do?” he stammered.

“Trust me,” I said. “A lot.”

I stared at the phone in his hand.

“What?” he asked.

I raised my brow, looked up from the phone to him. “Wow. You’re still not going to tell me how you snuck a picture of me without my permission?”

His eyes had never been so wide. They were as wide as Kyungsoo’s.

“A-hah. Oh. That. Hah.” He was awkwardly looking from left to right, up and down, busy trying to avoid eye contact. “I just— I thought it was a nice shot. Right?”

“No. I don’t like my side profile,” I admitted with a tight fro