“When did you get back?” Youngbae asked. He his lips and clasped his fingers tightly before him, betraying signs of his nervousness. But who could blame him. Before him was someone whom he thought he’ll never see again when she left.

Ha Eun leaned back in her chair and picked up her plastic cup of iced latte. “A few months ago,” she said simply. A quick glance to her left showed that Jiyong had returned to being his nervous, fidgety self after the concert. Even after a tiring 3-hour concert, adrenaline was pumping in the guys’ bodies – caught off-guard by their old friend.

“Are you staying in Seoul now then?” Youngbae asked again, unconsciously leaning forward and sliding his hand across the table towards her.

“Yes, your staff is my neighbor. He asked me to come and help out today.” Ha Eun said. “He’s a nice fellow who works hard. Take care of him for me, will you?”

A smile escaped from Youngbae. Ha Eun had stayed the same. Cautious, timid Ha Eun who only spoke up for the people whom she really cared for.

“How’s Ji Eun?” Jiyong finally asked. Ha Eun looked at the skinny man and sighed, sitting straighter in her chair now. “Unnie’s married now. She just gave birth to a boy last year and she’s also the one who called me home. Said I should stay close since I’m the only aunt.”

She pushed her phone towards Jiyong and he picked it up gently, smiling as he studied the photo of his old flame and her son. Nostalgia washed over him but it wasn’t regret. She really looked happy and that was all that mattered. A happiness that could have been his but it wasn’t his to give to the woman he once loved so deeply.

“Unnie still likes listening to your songs, although she’ll never admit it herself.” Ha Eun said as she slipped her phone back into her bag. Just then Jiyong’s phone rang and he excused himself.

Youngbae waited to make sure Jiyong was out of ear-shot before turning his attention back to Ha Eun. “You still love him?”

Ha Eun looked down and chuckled but when she looked up her eyes were wavering. “I don’t know. It’s numbed over after all this time. But Oppa never knew I liked him. Because he had unnie. When he broke up with unnie to debut, she had closure. But I never did. A part of me always dreamed that if it had been me, would he have stayed?”

Youngbae nodded silently, knowing full well what his childhood friend had gone through. Ji Eun had grown up together with Youngbae and Jiyong. Ha Eun had always tagged along since she was only a year younger. While Jiyong and Ji Eun had fallen crazily in teenage love, Ha Eun had kept her admiration and adoration for Jiyong to herself. There had only been Youngbae always by her side, the only witness to her loneliness and pain.

“You owe me an apology,” Youngbae said. Ha Eun paused thoughtfully and nodded slowly.

“I didn’t think you cared for me that much,” Ha Eun smiled weakly. “I never thought you’ll mind that I went away. When Jiyong Oppa said good bye, I thought it was the same for you too.”

And that was wrong, Ha Eun knew that even without seeing the hurt in Youngbae’s eyes. They had connected even as young teenagers, when they recognized the mutual agony. He had liked Ji Eun for a long time but he was less forth-coming than Jiyong. And they knew from young that no one could ever take what Jiyong wanted away from him.

“I’m sorry Oppa,” Ha Eun breathed. Youngbae’s chest felt heavy – it had been a crazy day of concert, learning this teenage crush was now married with a child but even more than that, his childhood buddy was back. Same but different.

“Tell your unnie I said ‘Hello’ and don’t be a stranger.” Youngbae said as he pulled his phone out. “You just got back from New York, we’re going to make up for lost time.”

Ha Eun took the phone from him and obediently gave him her number.

“Ha Eun noona looked so different,” Seungri mumbled as he pretended to flip through the magazine. He had been observing them from his corner of the waiting room, refusing to go home when his manager offered a ride earlier.

“She’s just grown up, that’s why,” Daesung said as he too stole glances at her and Youngbae. “We’ve not seen her since before our debut.”

Seunghyun stared silently as he tapped his fingers lazily against the side of the armchair. When Ha Eun had disappeared, she had left another man behind.

“You can’t just focus on the beat so rigidly,” Ha Eun’s voice cut through the silence in the dance studio. Seunghyun looked up to see the girl who was always hanging around Jiyong and his girlfriend. He recalled that this was the younger sister.

At the moment, he was too winded from the dance practice to answer her. She took his silence to mean no-objection and ventured further into the studio. “You looked like a mechanical robot. You have to feel the rhythm.”

He watched as the young Ha Eun demonstrated the exact steps he had just done but with much more fluidity. Her confident smile at the end coaxed a smile out on his face too. She walked over and stuck her hand out to him.

“Bae Oppa dances well and taught me how. I’ll teach you now, come on!”

And that was how Seunghyun found a new dance coach and friend.

But he had never been able to get close to Ha Eun like Jiyong and Youngbae. He was secondary whenever either one of them was around or even now, it seemed like the reunion was just for the three of them.