Baro’s flight didn’t come in until the afternoon so Min Ki and I went to have an early lunch. We’d just gotten seated when I looked up and spotted a familiar face. I wrote a short note on a napkin and got a passing waitress to deliver it to the other table.

Yah, Choi Minho! Anna wins!

Minho’s eyes narrowed as he read and when he was done his head snapped up. He turned this way and that before finding me. He got up from the group of guys he was with and slid into the booth across from me.

“Hello Minho,” I said pleasantly. “It’s been a while, hasn’t it?”

“You could say that. Who is this little one?” he asked.

“I’m Min Ki,” he said, looking up for only a second from the piece of paper he was drawing on.

“The one who gave you that ring-this is his son, isn’t it?”

“Does it make a difference?” I asked.

“No. I guess not.”                            

“So how have you been Minho? You’ve looking kind of tired on broadcasts lately.”

He shrugged. “I can’t complain. Besides, I can’t get better if we don’t work hard.”

“Still as competitive as ever I see.”

“Yeah. There’s only one person who’s ever bested me that I haven’t had the chance to really beat.”

“You must really hate that.”

“Just a little. She seems to be doing well for herself so I can’t really hold a grudge against her.”

Minho ended up eating with Min Ki and me. Afterwards, CAP and I went to meet Baro at the airport which didn’t actually go well. In the almost year I was working with Chan Hee, there weren’t any pictures, stories, or gossip on any website. Right now, however, there were hundreds of screaming fangirls with camera phones in the way.

“I think we’re going to have to go to Plan B,” CAP said quietly.

I nodded slowly, looking at the mass of girls pressing dangerously close to Baro and Sandeul. There was no way Baro could come with us at the moment. I sat back against the seat and text Baro to make his way on his own. He replied that he’d try to get away ASAP.

“I guess we should get going then,” I said to CAP. He nodded and pulled away from the curb.

Twenty minutes later, CAP, Min Ki, and I were leaving the lab. All it had taken was a mouth swab from each of us and it was over. As soon as Baro got his done, it would be approximately three days until we found out, but the nurse was sure to note that it could happen sooner.

After dinner I got a message from Baro wanting to meet up. I had no idea what he was up to, but I agreed. Besides, my mom wanted to spend time with Min Ki so I let her keep him for the night.

“Hey.”

“Hi,” I said shyly.

“I went to the lab.”

“Okay.”

“Why are you acting like this?”

“Why did you ask me out here?” I asked. We were out in Namsan again.

“I wanted to take you back up. Remember, our locks are up there?”

“I remember.”

We made our way up Namsan Tower. It wasn’t as harrowing as before but maybe I was just a bit more mature. We walked side by side to the lock garden. Even though a lot of time had passed, it was easy to locate where we’d hung our locks.

“Here,” Baro said, handing me the note he’d written. “You read mine, I’ll read yours, and we’ll get hot chocolate after. You still like hot chocolate, right?”

I nodded. “Last time we were here you had a grape er,” I pointed out.

He reached down and rummaged in his jacket pocket. “You mean like this?”

I had to grin. “Yeah, like that.” I took the lock from him and walked a little ways away from him. My eyes started to tear up while reading the words scribbled on the page.

Love at first sight,
an encounter of fate.

When things are hard
I’ll lend you my shoulder to lean on.
Only for you whenever you need me.
Call me whenever,
I will go.

I love you, I love you
It’s not enough with those words
When I’m tired and exhausted
I see your eyes and
I smile again my baby

You are my girl, you know
For you, who was sent by the heavens

I love you girl

We didn’t say a word to each other about what we’d written or read. We just took the time to enjoy the fragile peace that came from living in the moment. For the first time, I found myself praying that Baro was Min Ki’s father. I’d never realized the depths of his feelings for me until now. The scrap of paper in my pocket had reignited all the things between us that I’d been suppressing.

Baro took me back to the hotel and walked me up to my room. He kept giggling and acting like a shy school boy and it made me feel nervous too. This was kind of ridiculous. We were adults now! Why did we still have this effect on each other?

We stood outside the door for who knows how long, foreheads pressed together, not saying a word. It seemed as though we’d gone back in time and any moment now Jin Ae would come yelling at us to stop making googly eyes at each other and get a move on. Even now I could see the corners of Baro’s lips curve up as though he was remembering the same thing I was.

“Goodnight Sunwoo,” I finally said.

He kissed my cheek and my faced burned from blushing. “Goodnight love.”