The night went by pretty quickly for her. After bidding each other goodbye at her doorstep, Changmin left without any second glances. YeonHee sighed at the sight and quickly went inside. She made sure the door was locked and put away her bag before making her way to her bed and sat down.

How could she have forgotten all about such an important person in her life? She was sure that Changmin isn’t just any best friend. He’s the best friend that people rarely have. She released herself on the bed and worked herself to remembering events from years and years ago again. She should try harder. There must be something that she could remember...

Around ten years ago, she could pick up little events of her arguing with her father about their departure to the US. She was just a small child when she tip-toed and screamed her refusal of following her parents to the unknown place. When she was reminded of it, she knew now how useless it was for her to waste her breath. Her opinions and demands don’t matter when the adults have bigger plans ahead of her. It left her no options and she had to leave with them, with a very heavy heart.

That’s right, something was holding her back. It was a strong feeling. Her anger back then was accompanied by a small hope, a hope that she will be given a chance. But for what? It’s only logical to conclude that she had reasons to stay. She didn’t want to leave Korea because of that reason, a reason she can no longer remember.

Maybe she was too frustrated that she forced herself to forget about that reason, so that she won’t be reminded of the heartbreak over and over again. Yes... Maybe that’s why she has forgotten. What a pity.

YeonHee pushed herself from the bed and went to the bathroom to wash up. Maybe time will help her remember. And besides, she was sure Changmin too will work hard to return the memories to her. That guy seemed too keen to return to that previous state. Either it was because of work or something else, it was clear that the friendship that was lost was something that is very important to him. She could see it in his eyes.

***

It was a bright day and YeonHee looked outside her window with envy. She envied all those people who were freely walking about and had a chance to have fun under the sun. With a frown on her face, she stepped away from the window and sat on her couch, but her gaze remained at the blue sky.

She can’t wait for the school term to start. Her life here has been worse than boring so far. She had urged Changmin plenty of times already to let her live her life. But his replies were always the same: it’s not safe yet. She don’t understand how much longer she had to wait until the press stops talking about her, or until when he would be assured that no one is looking for her here. It has been a few weeks, and Changmin was still as protective as ever. Whenever she brought up the questions, he would say ‘Just wait a little while more. I want to be completely sure.’

Suddenly there was a knock on her door and she gasped out of surprise. She quickly fixed herself and went to the door to look into the peephole. She then unlocked and opened the door after realising who it was, her nervous appearance turned expressionless.

“Hey, I brought you lunch,” he spoke softly, handing her a package of food. She accepted it and walked away towards the kitchen. Changmin pulled off his beanie and took off his bag pack before walking towards the couch in the living room. He clumsily fixed his hair along the way, acting like all of this was part of his routine.

A moment later, YeonHee returned with two bowls in her hands. She handed one of the filled bowls to Changmin.

“It’s such a nice weather outside,” Changmin commented blindly while starting to munch on his food.

“Yeah, tell me about it.”

He looked up at her when he noticed the change of her tone. He frowned. “Ya, we’ve talked about this. I still need to wait for the approval from the President. Some decisions are not mine to make.”

“But Changmin-ah, it’s already been weeks and nothing has happened. Isn’t that enough to show that I’ll be alright?” she whined as she put down her food on the coffee table.

“Well, nothing bad happened because we’ve been fairly cautious. Otherwise you wo--”

“Fairly? This is not fairly at all, Shim Changmin. This is close to paranoid!” Her tone rose with each sentence.

“Hey, calm down.” Changmin too has put down his food.

“This is worse than being at the States. I might as well stay there.” She crossed her arms and leaned back in disappointment.

“Don’t be like that,” he started to console her. “Things will settle down very soon. I promise.”

YeonHee stared into space for a while before she sighed and stood up. “I’m not hungry anymore. Lock the door when you leave.”

Changmin stared at her back view as she disappeared into her room. He knew she was tired of waiting. But this was the best he could do for her. Her demands were sometimes a bit too hard to ful