“I think I saw your friend when I walked down the corridor earlier.” Hyukjae Oppa says, taking a glance at me before he fixes his eyes on the road in front of us.

That catches my attention. I tear my gaze away from the city night lights passing by us as the car speeds up. I look at him.

“Jinhee?” I ask him.

“Was it? I don’t know her name.” He shrugs. “Usually she would greet me when she sees me, but I think she was scowling at me earlier.” He laughs.

Oh Seo Jinhee, you didn’t just do that.

“She went through a bad day.” I lie.

“Really?” Hyukjae Oppa glances at me again and reaches one hand to hold mine. “Then how’s your day?”

“Not that great.” The words escape me before I can think over what I should say.

Hyukjae Oppa turns his head at my sudden sour comment. “Something wrong?”

“No, nothing.” I stop. “Just... not that great.”

He doesn’t say anything. He steps on the brake and the car halts gently before the red lights. I see him trying to relax as he takes a deep breath and finally turns to me.

“Is it the jetlag again?” he asks really softly it’s almost a whisper.

“What?”

He shifts in his seat, and I can sense him growing uncertain with his hand on mine. “Do you think this is too fast? Am I going too close to you?”

“No.” I shake my head almost frantically. Where does he get that thought? He was so loosened up in the morning but why is he like this again now?

“You’ve been quiet.” He states, closing his eyes briefly. “And I can’t help but hear your voices in my head saying that we have that barrier. The jetlag. Sometimes I’m torn between two choices. It’s either I fulfill my want to get close to you or give you time and wait for you to be at ease with me again.” he opens his eyes to send me an intense stare. “I'm confused. Which one do you want me to do, Nana?”

I understand what he means. It's our first day of getting back together but I've been anything but relaxed with him. I'm distracted. Bewildered. Jinhee's words play in my head relentlessly but I know better than to let it get to me.

“Be close to me.” I answer finally. Undoubtedly. I don’t need another time. Six years is already too long. I don’t need another second or minute to think over what’s about to be restarted.

“I’m sorry.” The small smile on his face is apologetic and relieved at the same time as he runs his thumb over the back of my hand.

I just nod. I know I’ll always forgive him, no matter how far he had pushed me away. But I know too, that this might be unhealthy.

A few hours ago Jinhee had just made her point of my version of the moon and the sun theory. He’s the sun. Free and independent. And I’m the moon; dark and fragile without the sun. That's the truth.

The rational voice in my head says I need to think over this about a million times to be sure that there won’t be any brokenhearts anymore. But the voice in my heart tells me to give him unlimited chances because it trusts him so unconditionally. Even though he had it broken once.

The car pulls into a restaurant’s parking lot ten minutes later. I look around me, surprised at how familiar the place is. Hyukjae Oppa rounds the car to open the passenger’s door for me.

“This... we met here.” I can’t even put it into words. I’m confused. This restaurant is the one where we met the day Donghae arranged a lunch with me, but it ended up with Hyukjae Oppa showing up by my table instead of him.

I could remember his shocked expression when I talked with Daeyoung through the phone call. With his phone. Which reminds me, why did he contact Daeyoung? I thought anyone here had lost contact with him the day he went to America. If he wanted us back together, he could’ve contacted me much earlier. Why contacting my brother instead of me?

He smiles down at me. “You haven’t tasted the menus here. I should say they make great foods.”

“Uh... sure.”

“You’re distracted.” His smile fades. “What is it, Nana?”

I look at my shifting feet. “Er, your phone. It’s still with me.”

Two fingers lift my chin up until I meet his soft gaze. “Keep it.” He says.

I lift my brows. “Why?”

“Because I have you now. I don’t need it.”

I think my heart misses a beat when he says that. “What?”

“You’ll be surprised when you see the contents,” he pauses to caress my cheek. “Have you seen it?”

“No.” I find hard times to breathe regularly with him this close to me. “I don’t even know the password. I’ve only seen... the standby screen.”

Which is a photo of me at my birthday party last year. I feel my cheeks blush at the thought.

He gives me an amused smile before pulling his hand back to his side. He takes my hand and leads me toward the Italian restaurant.

“What’s in the phone anyway?”

“You don’t want to find out.” He winks at me over his shoulder, and I can only frown at his back.

I’m getting so curious now. Why is he so hard to read when I’m almost transparent to him?

Two waitresses standing by the restaurant’s double doors send us a polite bow before they push the doors open. I’m seeing the place once again. The place is big. Huge. The decoration is wonderful. There are not much variation of color in this restaurant. The red wine color is dominating, while the tables are covered in silky, white tablecloth. What makes me confused is that the beautiful restaurant is once again empty from customers.

Hyukjae Oppa stops beside me. “You like the place?”

“Yes.” I say, nodding.

“Let’s take a seat.” He puts his hand at the small of my back, leading me to a table at the center of the room. He pulls a seat for me.

“Thanks.” I tell him shyly. Hyukjae Oppa is about to get himself seated when a woman’s voice rings through the wide corridor at one corner of the restaurant.

“Yes, Chaeri. Eomma will be home very soon, but I’ll have to meet someone first... No no no, I won’t be long, but if...” the woman appears from the seemingly endless corridor, looking startled at the sight of Hyukjae Oppa standing before her.

She’s gorgeous, her hair is light brown and wavy, spilling over one of her shoulders. Her phone hangs in the air as she stares at Hyukjae Oppa for a few seconds, and then me. A more surprised expression hit her face before she stutters into her phone.

“Chaeri, honey, Eomma will call you later, okay? Be a good girl.” Her eyes are still wide when she shuts the phone. “Hyukjae-ah,”

“Noona,” Hyukjae Oppa replies with a grin. And then reality strikes me. The beautiful familiar woman; it’s Sora Eonni. He wants me to meet his sister.

She shifts her eyes to me again. “Hyukjae-ah, this is...”

“Nana.” I can almost hear the proudness in his tone.

Before I can comprehend anything further, Sora Eonni runs up to me and crushes me in her arms. “Oh my God Nayoung!” she squeals. She releases me only to cup my face in her hands. “Oh God, is this really you? Nayoung? Kang Nayoung? Oh my, you’ve grown up very well. You’re so pretty, and taller, and....” she seems lost for words for a moment, smiling so widely. “And you’re here.”

“Eonni,” I choke out. Suddenly I can feel tears stinging my eyes. The emotions waving inside me are almost unavoidable.

I missed her. Lee Sora has been nothing but an amazing older sister to me. She took care of me and let me talk through any girl-talks I couldn’t share with Daeyoung. She was an important figure to me. And sadly, she was gone, too. All of the Lee’s I knew was gone six years ago.

“God, Nayoung, I missed you so much.” She rubs the side of my arm. “How are you, beautiful?”

“I’m good. Great.” I bite my lips to contain the overflowing happiness. 

“You look great.” She nods her approval, before turning her head to Hyukjae Oppa. “Lee Hyukjae, it’s a huge surprise.”

“It is.” He is throwing his best grin again, but Sora Eonni replies him with a slap on his arm. “Ow!”

“And you didn’t tell me you had her back?”

“I’m here now and was going to do that, if you haven’t realized.” He grumbles, rubbing the arm his sister just slapped. I can’t help but release a giggle at their unique way of interacting. It makes me remember the old days.

Sora Eonnie ignores him and returns her attention to me, scanning my face as she tucks some strands of hair behind my ear. “Oh God,” Sora Eonni breathes. “I thought everything wasn’t going... good. The last time Donghae reserved this place it didn’t end very well for the both of you.”

“That sneaky bastard.” Hyukjae Oppa mutters.

I turn to him. “It wasn’t you who reserved the place?”

“No, it wasn’t me. I wouldn’t arrange anything to put you anywhere near me if you’re not feeling comfortable around me.” He pulls me from Sora Eonni to his side. “But you know Donghae. Weird ideas always pop into his head and,” Hyukjae Oppa shakes his head and sighs. “Well that restaurant reservation was one of them.”

“Oh.” Is my only response, speechless.

All I could think the moment I saw Hyukjae Oppa appearing at my table was that he didn’t care at all about my feelings. I didn't know Donghae was arranging the encounter. He has been doing so much for us, but I don’t know if I need to thank him for that or just let Hyukjae Oppa cut his head for causing all the misunderstandings.

Sora Eonni smiles. “Take a seat. We’re going to have a long chit chat night to catch up.”

Hyukjae Oppa is all smiling and holding my hand on his lap through the whole hour. Sora Eonni tells me what she’s been up to, how her life’s been going. Turns out this restaurant doesn't belong to Donghae's friend like what he said a few days ago. This restaurant is owned by Sora Eonni, and is Hyukjae Oppa’s gift to her for her birthday. I know she’s been the biggest fan of cooking, especially western cuisines, and her loving brother was taking it to his full attention.

Hyukjae Oppa releases my hand when his phone rings. He holds up a finger, signaling for us to wait for a moment, and stands up to take his call.

“It’s really a surprise. I missed my little sister so much.” Sora Eonnni smiles warmly to me. I turn to her and blush, realizing my full attention has been on Hyukjae Oppa all the time he shoves his hand into his pocket and talks into his phone. “When a staff told me a Mr. Lee was going to book the whole restaurant with his date, I thought it was Donghae again bringing his partner here. I wouldn’t have thought Hyukjae would be free for a dinner date at the moment. And I thought things weren’t going very smoothly between the two of you.”

I glance back distractedly at Hyukjae Oppa who looks engrossed with his phone call. “Has he been that busy?”

“Very.” She says. “All the years he spent were entirely for work. He barely had a private life to take care of.” I look at Sora Eonni when she pauses to release a heavy breath. “He shouldn’t have pushed himself that hard. I know he’s a workaholic. I know he wants everything to be perfect as he wants. He doesn’t want to mess up anything anymore. But I don’t like the way he pays so little attention to himself. He acts like he has no limit.” She shakes her head. “But what can I say? Guilt has been eating at him.”

My ears perk up at the last sentence she speaks.