Sungmin stopped in front of his new home. He got off his car and grabbed the groceries in one hand while closing the door with the other. He started to walk towards the front door when he saw his mother talking to another lady who was standing on the other side of the fence. Both women turned towards him as he walked to his mother.

“Oh, Sungmin-ah, this is Mrs. Cho, our neighbour.” Mrs. Lee replied to the questioning look on his face.

“Oh, annyeonghaseyo.” Said Sungmin politely bowing to the lady. “Mom I have to change for the party. I’ll see you later.” He added turning to his mother.

“Sungmin-ah, Mrs. Cho owns the place. Maybe you can give her a lift when you’re going there?”

“Oh, really? Of course I’ll drive you. Please give me five minutes to get changed.”

“No no, it’s alright. I have to go there early to get the place ready. My daughter is already there.”

“I’m sorry for the inconvenience. My friends wanted to have the party this late since most of them work. They have specially taken a break from their work for me.” He apologised as it is almost time when every other restaurant would normally close for the day.

“It’s nothing. Your mother is a long-time friend of mine. I’m the one who actually found this house for her. So when she said that your friends were looking for a place for the party, I offered.” She said kindly. “So don’t worry. I’m happy to return for all the help I got from your mother during school.”

“Thank you very much, ahjumma. I’ll see you later.” Sungmin smiled and went to the house to change into something comfortable and casual to go to his gathering.

Sungmin reached the restaurant around 10.30 and he could see his friends have already gathered and waiting for him. He walked in grinning widely at his friends whom he haven’t seen for six years. His best friend Hyukjae was the first one to break away from the small crowd and walk towards him showing his famous gummy smile. Hyukjae threw his arms around Sungmin and hugged him tightly almost swaying on the spot.

“Eunhyuk-ah, I- I can’t breath-” Sungmin said trying to get out of the bone crushing hug.

Hyukjae loosened the hug and looked at his friend and pulled him into a tighter hug saying, “Aww, you still remember my nickname.”

“Of course I do idiot. We’ve been emailing each other, haven’t we?” Said Sungmin smiling, managing to break away from the hug. He looked up and down his best friend placing both of his hands on Hyukjae’s shoulders. “Wow, you have changed a lot. Who are you and where did the skinny myeolchi go?”

“Exercise.” Hyukjae replied shortly while he also took a good look at his friend. “On the other hand you haven’t changed at all. You look like the same pretty boy six years ago.”

“Eunhyuk-ah, are you going to keep him to yourself?” Kangin shouted from the table he was sitting.

“Sungmin-ah, come here!” Leatuek also joined to shouting crowd, waving at Sungmin.

Sungmin smiled at his small group of friends and walked towards them with Hyukjae closely following behind him. Hyukjae offered the seat beside him where Sungmin plopped himself down joining the ruckus. He looked around the table recognizing every face smiling at him realising how much he has missed them.

“Sungmin-ah, we only ordered some snacks and small dishes to go along with the drinks. We are gonna celebrate today!” Said Kangin opening up several kinds of alcohol beverages. “We are gonna drink to death to celebrate the return of our aegyo prince!”

“Ah, hyung! You’re still calling me that?” Whined Sungmin apparently not feeling cute already at the age of 28 but still making a cute face unconsciously. “And it seems Shindong is gonna eat to death.” He added pointing to the slightly big guy who had a soju cup in one hand and bowl full of fried chicken pieces in the other hand.

“Yah! Shin Dong Hee!” Kangin averted his attention to friend trying to stop his friend from ruining the party by finishing all the food even before the party started.

A sound of a slight chuckle turned Sungmin towards the owner of the restaurant bringing several more dishes. “It’s alright. We have more.”

Sungmin looked at his kind neighbour apologetically at which she replied, “Since it’s our Sungmin’s party.”

“Kyuhyun-ah, put the rest of them on that side of the table” She added to the boy following her. That was when Sungmin saw the slightly tall boy with a brown mop of hair from the super market, following closely behind the lady, carrying few other dishes. And he thought he saw another boy peeking through the kitchen counter but shrugged it off looking back at Kyuhyun. He was going to introduce himself to the younger but thought otherwise. He surely can’t remember me. What is he doing here anyway? Oh, he must work here.

Mrs. Cho saw Sungmin’s confusion as he looked at her son.

“Sungmin-ah, this is my son, Kyuhyun.” She said introducing the boy. The taller bowed at Sungmin with a smile which Sungmin thought was charming. Sungmin returned the smile and didn’t say anything as the younger doesn’t seem to remember him.

He turned his attention back to his friends upon the return of the lady and the boy.

“She is our neighbour and apparently my mother’s friend.” Sungmin said in reply to Hyukjae’s questioning look. The atmosphere lifted back at the excess food and was once again full of chattering.

“So Sungmin-ah, how was America?” Asked Leeteuk dragging a seat towards Sungmin and sitting beside him.

“It was good, Jungsoo hyung.” Replied Sungmin addressing his oldest friend with his real name. “I followed a music course and finished it few weeks back. But I missed home and all of you so much. So here I am.” He said feeling slightly guilty for not telling them the whole truth. Don’t worry Sungmin-ah. They’ll understand in time. And you know you don’t want them to worry about you. So don’t be miserable. You came back to enjoy, so do that. He said himself while plastering a sweet smile on his face.

“So what are you going to do now?”

“I haven’t really thought about that. May be find some music gigs?” He said doubtfully.

“Oh oh oh, I know what you can do. I just had the best idea ever.” Yelled Eunhyuk suddenly jumping up and down his seat.

“I’m not gonna do it.” Said Sungmin without even turning to his over excited friend.

“You haven’t even heard me yet.” Eunhyuk said sporting a pout which did not suit him at all.

“Okay, alright. What is it?” Asked Sungmin smiling at his best friend’s childishness.

“You know the club I work in, it holds live singing nights on every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. You can play there. You can even sing, so you won’t have to hire a singer for you. Even Kangin hyung and Teuki hyung work there. So we can all hang out together too.” Eunhyuk said in one breath pointing out all the benefits.

“Congratulations Eunhyuk-ah. You’re not as crazy as I thought.” Said Leeteuk trying to stifle a laugh and turned to Sungmin ignoring the scowling face of Eunhyuk. “Yeah, now that is a good idea.”

“But I can’t sing that well. I don’t want to make a fool of myself right after I came back.”

“Nonsense! We have seen you sing and you’re beyond good. I think our boss, Siwon is looking for someone to hire.” Kangin said joining the conversation. “He will surely hire you and even give you good pay. You got the looks and the talents.”

“Alright, I’ll come with you guys to talk to your boss.” Sungmin finally agreed with his friends. At least I can do what I wanted to do.

Rest of the night went smoothly for Sungmin. He gave up on the alcohol after few glasses since he knew alcohol doesn’t agree with him very well even though he loved an occasional wine. The crowd dispersed around two o’clock in the morning. Mrs. Cho politely refused his offer to drive her home while stating that she has to clean before leaving. And Sungmin wanted to offer his help cleaning the mess that was caused because of him but decided against it as he felt exhausted after the long flight and the party that followed. So he left the restaurant after bidding a good night.