It had been around sixteen months since she left Ireland, when she received a letter inviting her to go back again to celebrate her birthday there.  The invitation was signed by both Hweji and Myungsoo, which she found pretty adorable, but it only included one plane ticket. 

The flight was in just a couple of days, which gave her no time to buy another ticket, but Sungyeol made sure she wouldn’t decline the offer from her ‘dearest friends.’  Although he said that initially, he admittedly just refused to let her miss her chance to go and see her man again, even if that meant he and Dongwoo would have to take care of her little tiger by themselves for a whole week. 

The flight was extremely long, longer than she remembered, but as soon as she arrived she felt her energy return at once.

Kim Sunggyu himself was standing there, clad in ripped jeans and a leather jacket, looking as dashing as ever, and she wasted no time to run up to him and jump into his arms, hugging him tighter than ever before.  Sunggyu’s arms felt strong around her as he lifted her up with a bright smile on his face;  he looked up at her adoringly, and Yoojin almost leaned down to kiss him.  She had to stop herself though, and just flashed him an equally bright smile back. 

It took her a moment to realise, once he let her down, but when she finally noticed the luggage next to him, her face fell.

“It’s my first time returning after six years. Why did you decide to come back today of all days? You could have told me.” 

“You’re one to speak,”  she scoffed,  “And Hweji didn’t tell you?”

“Hweji knew? Wow. I think I’m beginning to understand…”

Yoojin’s gaze fell to the person standing behind Sunggyu, who then straightened up and tensed under her questioning stare.

“And Myungsoo?”

Sunggyu turned around also to glare at the man in question.

“I’m sorry, okay? Happy birthday, Yoojin. The fault isn’t mine though.”  He shrugged.  “I didn’t even know he was returning to Seoul today until he announced it this morning.”

“And this is why I hate surprises...”  she playfully smacked Sunggyu’s shoulder,  “Hope you stay there long enough until I return because I’d like to talk to you about a lot of things that we couldn’t say in our letters.”

Sunggyu smiled, nodding.  “I’ll be waiting then.”

He leaned down to quickly peck her cheek before ruffling her hair and heading off towards his gate.

-

As soon as they arrived at Hweji’s place—or was it Myungsoo’s, or both—the elder girl greeted her with open arms, giggling as she told her about Sunggyu’s online fan sites overflowing with pictures of the two of them at the airport.  Yoojin didn’t even know there had been any pictures taken.

“You guys looked so immensely in love and perfect for each other that most of the fans are pretty supportive of this revelation!”

“What revelation? Don’t be delusional. Hweji, you weren’t even there.”

“But I was,”  Myungsoo said, moving over to Hweji’s side.  “And that was quite a revelation alright.”

“Guys, can you please stop and just tell me where the cake is?”  Yoojin laughed a bit.

In the evening, when the mini birthday party was coming to an end, the two girls decided to go out on the balcony for fresh air.

“I’m sorry about the main surprise of the evening suddenly taking off without warning us.”  She paused for a moment as if a sudden thought came to her, and then smiled.  “Actually, this just shows the two of you are meant for each other. You did the same back then!”

Yoojin scoffed,  “Are you telling me he hasn’t dated anyone while I was away?”

“Well, he did see someone for a while. But it didn’t last long, so he’s single now.”  She winked.  “And from the airport scene earlier I think it’s pretty easy to assume that he still has lingering feelings for you.”

That’s when Myungsoo appeared at the door briefly.  “Lingering? I think his blatant love for her was glaringly obvious today. I call that passion. Anyway,”  he threw a phone to Yoojin, which she barely managed to catch.  “Mind if I borrow my girlfriend for a moment?”

Yoojin watched as Hweji almost stumbled out of there giddily, leaving Yoojin alone on the balcony.

Then she noticed that the phone was still on call to someone.

“Hello?”

“Yoojin?”

“Sunggyu?”

“Yeah,”  she heard him chuckle,  “I had a feeling he’d put you on, even though he told me it was Hweji who had something important to tell me.”

“Never trust those two,”  she said, taking a glance inside to see the couple in a seemingly deep conversation.  “Wow, I hope I’m not witnessing a break up. It seems serious.”

“I wouldn’t worry about it. They’re tight.”  Sunggyu told her.  “How are you?”

“A bit cold, and alone. I miss you.”

“Just imagine I’m there with you, warming you up like I used to. Look at the stars too if it helps.”

Yoojin thought it was a pretty pitiful attempt at being cheesy but didn’t mention it.  It was still cute nonetheless.

“The sky is overcast.”

Then there was silence for a while. 

“How are you?”  She asked.

“Jet lagged.”

She giggled. “I figured.”

“Did you hear my album yet?”

“Album?”  Yoojin looked inside the apartment again, puzzled to see that Myungsoo was explaining something to Hweji while she was covering with her hands, looking like she was about to cry.  “Do you know what’s going on inside right now?”

“No? Why? What’s up?”

“Myungsoo just made Hweji cry.”

“What?”  Sunggyu sounded a little alarmed now too.

“I don’t know. Hold on, I need to go and beat him up. Let’s talk tomorrow—”

“Wait. Don’t hang up yet.”

She breathed.  “Okay.”

“I miss you too.”  Sunggyu finally said quietly.

Yoojin had almost forgotten when she accidentally let that slip earlier.  She thought he didn’t think much of it so hearing him say it now caused a rose blush to appear on her cheeks.  She was glad he couldn’t see how happy it made her to hear him say those words.

“Make sure you ask Myungsoo about the album then, okay?”

“Yeah, okay.”  At the mention of Myungsoo, she turned to look inside again.  She gasped.  “Oh my god— He’s proposing!”

The phone line stayed silent.

Yoojin commented again,  “Wow! This is amazing.”

She knocked on the glass to get their attention before giving them a thumbs up with a bright smile on her face.  She even tried to clap her hands while at the same time trying to keep the phone between her cheek and shoulder. 

Her excitement was met with bright smiles from the newly engaged couple who then kissed.

“Yoojin,”  Sunggyu’s voice snapped her attention momentarily back to the phone call.  “I have to go now. See you soon.”

“Wait—”

He hung up.

Hweji returned to the balcony to show off her engagement ring with excitement.

Unfortunately, as opposed to what she had seen moments ago and how she thought Yoojin would feel after the phone call with Sunggyu, Yoojin’s spirits seemed even lower than before.