His phone went to voicemail after ringing a few more times. You couldn't say you were surprised. Maybe he was stuck in the building. Maybe he was watching a movie. Or maybe he just didn't want to answer. It's a normal reaction so you had no right to be angry at him. You decided not to leave a message and leave it at that. Just let your mom think he was really busy, which is more than likely to be the case anyway.

You reached the guest room and saw your mother unpacking. "Yonghwa's a bit tied up right now. He's not coming today."

"Oh. Well, that's okay!" she replied. "Like I said, it's fine. Just as long as I get to see him at least once. Plus I really wanted to catch up with you."

Smiling, you sat on the bed with her and gossiped about a couple relatives and family friends from back home. The day was full of laughter and comfort. It felt like you were a kid again with your mom telling you all her stories. It was a nice feeling, and the two of you got carried away for a few hours.

You went back to the kitchen to refill the tea glasses when you saw your phone buzzing and lighting up. 

One missed call from: Jung Yonghwa

He called you back. You didn't expect that. Hopefully he didn't think you were ignoring him because you pocket-dialed him or something. The two of you always did have awful timing when it came to phone calls, even when you were dating.

You picked up your phone to clear the alert and saw that he didn't leave a message either. You wondered what was going through his mind when he made the call, and you realized that he must have been wondering too. It would only make things even more awkward if you ignored it, so you called him back.

*Rin-*

Before the first ring even completed, he picked up. "Hello?" 

You gasped a little once you heard his voice. It's been so long. It wasn't the same as hearing it on TV or the radio, not that you heard it much lately anyway.

"Bab-- uh, ahem." He cleared his throat. Must have been force of habit. "Yeeun. Are you there?"

Hearing him say your name after more than a year was all the fu