“Hey beautiful.”

Two strong arms wrapped around Amina’s body, causing her to go into complete shock.  In that brief second, dark memories of a similar incident flashed before Amina’s eyes and her mind went into overdrive.  She whipped around, her fists balled up in pure defense.  Just as she was about to unleash on the unsuspecting stranger, his familiar face took her by even more surprise.

“David!” Amina exclaimed, her heart caught inside .  It was David Lee – her family childhood friend and former betrothed.  She blinked rapidly and let out a shaky sigh; covering her near debacle with an over-excited hug.  As Amina clung to his tall frame, she closed her eyes and used the moment to collect herself.  That was so close!  “W-what… what are you doing here?” Amina sputtered, right as the sound of heels clicked-clacked loudly in the background.

“We came to pick you up.”

“We?”  Amina asked in confusion.  She looked around his body and found Hanna striding over with a mischievous grin on her face.  “Unnie, what is the meaning of all this?” Amina asked.

Hanna parked a hand upon her hip and motioned towards David.  “Meet my candidate.”

Amina’s eyes bounced back and forth between the two, as the dots slowly connected.  “You?  You’re applying for the job?”  She quickly looked over David and found that nothing had really changed.  He was broad shouldered and of tall physique – built, but not overly so.  His hair was cropped shorter than before and his wardrobe was more refined.  He was her old best friend… all grown up.  The more she looked at him, the more delighted she became at the prospect.  “That’s great,” Amina nodded, her voice turning melancholy.  “That’s really great!” she stressed, this time more cheerfully.  “Appa would’ve been proud to have known of your interest.” 

David grew somber and nodded in return.  “I would like to think so,” he solemnly replied.  His eyes shone with remorse.  “Mianhaeyo.  I meant to come when I heard the news, but being engaged and all…”  He uneasily trailed off.

Amina nodded with understanding.  She was aware of their customs.  It was considered bad luck for engaged couples to attend funerals.  “How is Su-Bin, by the way?”

Hanna stepped behind David’s line of vision and vehemently shook her head.  But her eye daggers went unnoticed as Amina steadily waited for a response.

“Ahh…”  David rubbed the back of his neck and painfully smiled.  “She’s good.”  He shoved his hands inside his pressed slacks and nodded.  “She’s back in L.A. and working for a private law firm.”

“That’s good,” Amina smiled.  “So when’s the big date?”

David compressed his lips into a tight smile.  “I don’t know.  It keeps changing.”

“Oh.”  Amina’s mouth hung in an ‘O’ as everything slowly pieced together.  His pinched expression.  The curt response.  A cloak of sadness coated her eyes as she quietly nodded.

“We’ve, uh…”  He let out a bitter half-laugh.  “We’ve been off and on these past few months, to be quite honest.  We sort of had a disagreement when I told her about my opportunity to come work at KT.” 

“Mianhae,” Amina brows drew together.  The last time she met Su-bin was over a year ago – around the same time she and Youngbae had met.  At their meeting, it seemed that David and Su-bin were very much in love.  In fact, it was the couple’s preserving love that gave Amina courage to pursue a relationship with Youngbae.  “I hope we weren’t the cause of your fight.”

David shook his head negative.  “Actually, it goes beyond that.  Since our engagement, things have been a bit off.  We’ve disagreed about where we would settle down.  She likes it in the States and I…”  He gave Amina a small smile.  “I’ve always wanted to come back home after my studies were finished.” 

Amina’s face scrunched up with sympathy.

“But I guess we should’ve discussed those types of matters before the engagement,” David smiled sheepishly.  “You know, like the usual things couples talk about before getting married.”

Hanna snorted.

They both turned to look at her.

Hanna pressed a hand at the base of her neck and delicately cleared the invisible congestion away.  “Mianhae, sore throat,” she explained and waved her hand.  “Please… keep going,” Hanna implored David before giving Amina a small smirk.

The shorter girl arched a brow in challenge.

“Enough about me,” David smiled, inwardly glad for the interruption.  His eyes quickly appraised Amina up and down.  “What about you?  Hanna said you’d changed, but I didn’t realize that you were… pregnant.”  He said the last words in awe.

“I am,” Amina beamed proudly.  She placed a hand on top of her curving belly.  “Five months now.”

“Well, congratulations,” David grinned.  He looked around the busy airport hallway.  “So who’s the lucky guy?”

“You don’t want to know,” Hanna muttered, as she checked her cuticles.  She really needed to schedule a manicure soon.

Amina’s eyes gleamed with merriment.  “Don’t listen to her,” she ordered David.  “She’s just a bit cranky because she hasn’t been with a man in over two years.”

“Mimi!”

David chuckled to himself while Amina widened her eyes with mock innocence. 

“Isn’t this nice?” Amina mused in a sing-song voice.  She opened her arms and encompassed them in loose group hug.  “All of us… back together again.  Only, weirder, because it’s been so long?”  Amina stepped back and impishly tilted her head at Hanna.  “We should invite Miki for an outing one day.”

“Mmm, but can we eat first?” Hanna whined.  “I’m starving!”

David laughed, his baritone voice loud and clear.  He was enjoying all the familiar crazy banter.  It felt nice to be back home.  He gazed fondly at Amina.  “Alright, let’s feed her.”

His phone vibrated in his hand.

Hanna’s here.  Leaving the airport now.

Youngbae stared mutely at the text message, his mind still reeling from the event that occurred just moments ago.  He didn’t know what alarmed him the most – the fact that he just witnessed another man hugging his wife.  Or the fact that he recognized the tall stranger the second Amina hugged the man in return.  It was the same guy.  The fiancé that brought the flowers to the hospital.  The fiancé that attended Jiyong’s jewelry gala with Amina in attendance – the same night he discovered who she really was.  The same feelings of insecurity and uncertainty he felt all those times flooded back to him.

“You alright, man?”

Youngbae glanced over and met Jiyong’s concerned gaze.  They were on their way to headquarters and neither one had yet to say a word about what had happened.  “Yeah,” Youngbae nodded, his voice gruff with emotion.  He swallowed hard and cleared his throat.  “Yeah, I’m good.”

He stared out the window and watched as the buildings flew by.

“I didn’t know worked at YG.”  David turned around in the passenger seat and cheesed at his old friend.  “Since when did you become a groupie?”

Amina cringed.  “Technically, I’m a fan mom.”

Hanna’s lips twitched.  She switched on her blinkers and slowly eased into traffic.

“I kind of… just ended up there, I guess,” Amina laughed depreciatively.  “I came back from New York and was in-between jobs.”  She opened and closed and quickly thought of ways to end the discussion fast.  “And a friend of mine told me of an opportunity there,” Amina shrugged unconvincingly.  “So I took it.”

David stared at Amina, taking in her overly bright eyes and slight upturn of her lips.  He could always tell when she was lying.  But he decided to play along instead.  “New York?”  His eyebrows furrowed.  “When and how long were you there for?”  He let out a lop-sided grin.  “Or should I say, ‘Why were you there in the first place’?”

“Yeah, Mimi,” Hanna quipped, eyeing her cousin in the rear-view mirror as she drove.  “What were you doing in New York?”

Amina narrowed her eyes.  Leave it to unnie to insinuate things.  “I went to school.”

David arched his brows.

“I got a scholarship to NYU.”

“Wow.”

“Neh,” Amina nodded matter-of-factly.

“So… was this before or after your parents cut you off?” David impudently asked.

Her lips parted in surprise.  “How did you know about that?” Amina swiftly questioned, feeling taken aback.  No one knew about her circumstances outside of her family.

No one.

David scoffed and shook his head.  He turned around and anchored his elbow on the window sill, his chin in thought.  “I get a call from umma… early last year.  In fact, less than a week after Su-bin and I last visited.”  David angled his body so he was talking to both Hanna and Amina.  “I thought it would be a perfect opportunity for me to tell her about not going through with the arranged marriage.”

Amina leaned forward to hear more.

“But come to my surprise, umma informed me that the marriage was off.”  His eyes became downcast.  “She said your umma was so upset, she cried for days.  Had several nose bleeds and couldn’t sleep.”

Amina clenched her teeth and looked away.

“Naturally, umma went on and on about what happened.”  David’s voice grew quiet.  A large part of him still felt guilty for the entire mess.  “Why didn’t you wait?” he chastised, his eyes disapprovingly aimed at Amina.  “I told you I was going to speak to my parents.”

“It just happened,” Amina weakly explained.  “My umma found out through the media-”

“But if I would’ve let my parents know as soon as your umma found out, you wouldn’t have been cut off,” David reasoned.  “I would’ve broken it off first.  Then the fault would lay on me.”  He compressed his lips into a tight line.  “And we both know my parents are more reasonable than yours.”

Amina bowed her head, her mind racing back to the confrontation she had with her parents that fateful January day.  “Mianhae,” she regretfully replied.  “I wasn’t… I wasn’t thinking.”

David worked his jaw back and forth, disappointment lining his eyes.  “You were in New York… how long?”

“Until the funeral,” Amina absentmindedly replied, her energy leaving her.

“Over a year,” David noted.  “Over a year… we were in the same country.  And you didn’t even call to let me know what happened.  Kind of rude, don’t you think?  Considering how long we’ve known each other.”

“Mianhae, David oppa,” Amina drawled out sarcastically, even as she felt her ears burn in shame.  She lowered her gaze to her lap and reflected on all the things she could’ve changed but didn’t.

Hanna remained mum on the subject.  She knew perfectly well why she didn’t receive any calls.

A long silence lingered inside the car cabin.

“Are you still with him?”

Amina looked up and met David’s brown eyes.  They were steady and filled with protective concern for her well-being.  “Neh.”

He lifted his chin in acknowledgment.  “Is he good to you?”

Amina nodded with conviction.  “Neh.”

Hanna viewed the rearview mirror, checking Amina’s response for herself.

David nodded quietly, satisfied with Amina’s reply for now.  “Then that’s all that matters.”

Youngbae shov