Ji Hoo parked in front of the shop and unbuckled his seatbelt.

“You stay here, I’ll bring the ice cream to you” Ji Hoo instructed her as he got out of the car.

He entered the shop and ordered two vanilla cups and gave out a frustrated sigh as he placed his hand on the counter.

He paid the cashier and walked towards the car, but when he opened the door on Mandy’s side, she was not there.

“Oh, no” he muttered under his breath and placed the two cups on the roof of the car.

“Mandy!” he called out and ran up and down the street a little, but then remembered that she liked going to the park opposite the shop and ran there. When he got to the center, he saw Mandy standing while hugging a tree.

“I told you not to go anywhere, you got me worried” Ji Hoo said as he approached near her. As she was facing the other way, he didn’t see that she was crying.

“Hey why are crying?” he asked as he pried her away from the tree

“I don’t want to go!” she wailed as she hugged Ji Hoo tightly

“But we have to go home”

“I don’t want to go home! I want to stay here!” she wailed as she squeezed him further

“Okay, don’t go, but do you want some ice cream?” he smiled at her as he wiped her tears

“Ice cream!” she looked at him excitedly

“Yes, and it’s your favorite, vanilla” he talked to her like he was convincing a 5-year-old.

“Ice cream!” she said happily

Ji Hoo took her arm and slowly dragged her to the car and handed her the cups he had bought, but the ice cream in them had melted.

“It’s melted” Mandy moaned as she looked into one.

“No problem, we’ll get another one” Ji Hoo smiled at her

“Ok!”

Ji Hoo and Mandy entered the parlor and Mandy hugged the display glass.

“Ice cream!” she shouted like a kid “I want all flavors!”

“All?” Ji Hoo asked

“I love ice cream” Mandy kept repeating without responding to Ji Hoo.

Ji Hoo let out a deep breath and ordered the server to put one scoop of each flavor in a large portable container.

He quickly paid for it all and with the container stuck in the crook of his arm; he dragged Mandy away from the display case.

“Ice cream” Mandy shouted

“I have your ice cream, let’s go”

“Yay! Ice cream”

On the ride to her apartment, Mandy had fallen asleep / unconscious, with the ice cream container still unopened. Ji Hoo carried her up bridal style to her door and somehow rang the doorbell, as he knew that after hearing the news, Niya would’ve ran back home.

“Where the hell were you?” Niya confronted him

“She wanted ice cream” Ji Hoo said

“We were worried about you bro” Woo Bin said from behind Niya

“Is this a different mattress?” Ji Hoo asked after he deposited Mandy on her bed.

“How do you know?” Niya asked him suspiciously

“I know she had a cotton mattress before, but this is a coir-foam one.” Ji Hoo explained

“She sent it back home before, so that when she got back, she could rest comfortably” Niya said

“But I see that other things are just the same; isn’t she sending them back too?” Woo Bin asked

“She is keeping the apartment” Niya said

“So the flight is for 9pm tomorrow right?” Ji Hoo confirmed from Niya as he was going out the door

“Yeah, 9pm; that’s what it said on the tickets” Niya answered

“Okay, goodnight; and call me if anything happens to her during the night” Ji Hoo said worriedly

“I will” Niya smiled sadly to him as she closed the door.

The next morning, the F4 with Jan Di and Ga Eul were having breakfast at the Gu mansion when Mandy called Ji Hoo.

“Hey, are you okay now?” Ji Hoo asked as he picked up the phone

“Yeah, I’m fine now, thanks for yesterday”

“Koi gal ni; what are friends for huh?” he laughed

“Yeah, so where are you now?” Mandy asked

“I’m at the Gu mansion; why, do you need me to come there?”

“No. I’m fine; just curious, coz there were noises around”

“Is that unnie? I want to talk to her too” Jan Di said

“Me too; how is she now?” Ga Eul spoke up

“Put the phone on loudspeaker” Jun Pyo said and Ji Hoo complied

“Hey, you guys are all together huh?” Mandy said

“Unnie, how are you now?” Ga Eul asked

“I’m fine now, just feel a little funny, but nothing that can’t be cured by a cup of coffee”

Niya’s called out to Mandy from the background “Come on, we are going to be late”

“Are you going somewhere?” Ji Hoo asked

“Yeah, Niya and I wanted to go souvenir and gift shopping before we go; you know I have a big family back home” Mandy giggled

“Yeah, okay; see you in the evening” Ji Hoo said

“Bye, I love you all” Mandy said excitedly and then hung up

“I don’t know how she would do it all; a hangover, plus the tiredness of shopping, plus the long flight” Jun Pyo said “And I hate how all the flights are numbered on 24 hour timeline; it’s so annoying. 1800 hours, 1640 hours; it’s all so confusing; that’s why I like to travel on my jet” he finished haughtily.

“Oh !” Ji Hoo suddenly shouted and stood up from his seat with a panic expression on his face.

“Sunbae! What happened?” Jan Di asked

“She’s leaving”

“You are realizing that now?” Woo Bin said sarcastically

“I mean she’s leaving now; her flight is not for 9pm, it’s for 9am”

“What are you saying?” Yi Jung looked confused

Ji Hoo turned to Woo Bin “Remember Niya said last night that their flight was for 9pm, that it was written so on the ticket?”

Woo Bin seemed to be catching on “But the time is always written in 24 hour timeline”

“But why would unnie lie?” Ga Eul asked

“Because she hates goodbyes” Ji Hoo said and ran out

Everyone also ran out after him and they got into their cars and sped towards the airport.

At the airport

“The flight is 30 minutes late” Niya informed Mandy, who was sitting on a waiting bench with a portable cup of coffee in her hand.

“Ok” Mandy replied lightly and sipped from her cup

“I’m going to the cafeteria, you want something?” Niya asked

“No, I’m good” she weakly smiled at her best friend

Ji Hoo entered the airport and stopped in his tracks after a few steps and started scouring the area for any clue of Mandy.

“Do you see her?” Jan Di asked Jun Pyo

“No, but I think I see Niya” and he pointed to a girl walking back from the cafeteria section towards a bench “Isn’t that her?”

“Yep, that is her” Woo Bin said

“And there is unnie” Ga Eul pointed to a person, whose back was to them.

Niya got back to Mandy and stood beside her.

“I think we should check in now, and then we can wait in the waiting lounge” she suggested

Mandy nodded lightly and rolled up her suitcase handles to drag the suitcases on their wheels. She picked up her handbag from the bench seat and slung it around her shoulder.

“Where do you think you are going?” a voice called out to them from behind

“Ji Hoo? What are you doing here?”

“The question is what are you doing here? Wasn’t your flight for ‘9pm’?” he smirked at her

“How did you know?” Mandy asked, on the verge of tears

“You are not really good at lying” Ji Hoo smiled at her

“Thank God for Jun Pyo, otherwise we’d still be sitting in the Gu mansion having breakfast” Woo Bin said

“Huh?” Niya and Mandy looked perplexed

“He pointed out that the flights are always timed on the 24 hour timeline, but you kept saying that it said on the ticket, ‘9pm’. You got caught because of that fact” Yi Jung added

“Also your giggling was a giveaway; you haven’t giggled so much in the whole year as much you did in the past three days; nice try to cover up your lies though.” Ji Hoo said

“I hate goodbyes, that’s why I lied to you guys, I’m sorry” Mandy said, almost on the verge of tears

“Unnie…” Ga Eul said and hugged Mandy. Mandy broke down and tears started flowing from both the girls’ eyes. They all started walking towards the check in gate; the maximum point till which F4 could go.

“I will miss you guys so much” Mandy wailed as she hugged everyone one by one when they reached near.

“We’ll miss you too dongsaeng-ah” Woo Bin rubbed her forehead lightly.

“You have to promise you all will come visit.” she said

“Promise” Jun Pyo said to her

“And not forget me”

“How can we?” Yi Jung said as he hugged her.

The last one was Ji Hoo. Mandy hugged him tightly and hung on to him.

“I’ll miss you the most” Mandy said as she buried her head into his chest.

Ji Hoo lightly kissed her on the forehead “Me too” he said sadly

Mandy broke the hug and kissed him on the cheek “Bye Babu” she whispered and then she was gone through the door with her bags rolling behind her.

Finally!! Update!! yay!! please subscribe and upvote. It ecourages me to update regualrly