“Mom!” Ariel called out as she walked inside her house. She came home the morning after the concert to finish packing her things before leaving the States. 

“I’m in the office.” Mrs. Choi answered.

Ariel took her shoes off and left them in the closet by the front door. She hurriedly walked into her mother’s office who was on the computer, scrolling and clicking stuff. The printer made noises, indicating papers were about to be printed out. The papers rushed out and Mrs. Choi rolled over to the printer and grabbed the freshly printed papers. She rolled back over to her desk and laid them out on her desk and saw her daughter marching inside. 

“What is it darling?” Mrs. Choi asked calmly as she took off her reading glasses. 

Ariel plopped her body down on one of the chairs in front of her mother’s desk. “You didn’t show up.”

Luke came in seconds later and sat down on the chair next to Ariel.

Mrs. Choi displayed an honest apologetic face. “I’m sorry Ariel. My lawyer called about your father.”

Ariel rolled her eyes slightly. “He’s not my father. All he did was provide .” Ariel mumbled.

Mrs. Choi locked eyes with Ariel. “I am going to pretend I didn’t hear that.”

“Your father is deciding to make the situation worse.” Her mother added.

Luke and Ariel glanced at each other in confusion. 

Luke adjusted his position in his seat, “What do you mean?”

Mrs. Choi sighed and rubbed her face in tiredness. “He doesn’t want you to live with your aunt while you’re in Seoul, Luke.”

Luke had a blank expression on his face. “Are you telling me I’m going to have to live with him?”

Mrs. Choi hesitated to answer. She nodded her head. “I’m sorry dear. Your father thinks both of you should since he hasn’t seen you guys in years.”

Ariel held her hand in the air to stop her mother from saying more, “Wait, both of us?”

Mrs. Choi sat back in her chair and had that apologetic look plastered on her face.

Ariel adjusted her position in her chair, “I’m going to be living a dorm though. Thats what they said in the contract.”

“Yes. But your father spoke to some people at the company, and he somehow managed to pull you out of the dorms, to live with him.”

Ariel abruptly stood up, “He can’t do that! Can he?!”

“He works there, so he can.”

“No.” Luke hissed. “We’re not going to live with him. I don’t care. Call Aunt Mi-Hyun. Call Uncle Jay. We’re not going to live with Dad.”

Mrs. Choi let out a tired sigh, “Okay. I’ll see what I can do. Just go start packing.”

Chanyeol woke up at noon. He didn’t come home till 3AM. Immediately, he knocked out onto bed from losing energy. When he woke up the next morning, he was still half asleep from exhaustion. He lazily got out of bed and went to the bathroom to freshen up. After he got dressed, he started to pack up his belongings since the whole company were planning to board back to Seoul tonight. After he was done packing, he checked his phone to see no new messages from Ariel. He went outside into the hall quietly, not to wake up Kai. 

Chanyeol approached the door and knocked on it. He stepped back, but the person who opened the door wasn’t Ariel. It was a maid. 

Chanyeol bowed to the young lady, “Where is da guest who sleep here?” Chanyeol asked in broken English. 

“She checked out this morning.” The maid answered as she drove her cleaning cart out of the room. 

Chanyeol stepped out of her way and returned back to his room. Kai was already up and getting ready to leave. 

“Hey man. Did you go out to greet your special friend?”

Chanyeol laid on his bed and took out his phone to text her. 

To Ariel: Hey, I came out to say hi to you but you weren’t there?

Chanyeol placed his phone next to his body, “She wasn’t there. The lady said she checked out.”

Kai ran a hand through his mop head hair, “Is little Chanyeol sad that his special friend didn’t say goodbye?”

Chanyeol’s phone buzzed. 

1 new message!

From Ariel: I left early in the morning! I had to finish packing for South Korea. 

Chanyeol furrowed his eyebrows, he sat back up and quickly typed a message back. 

To Ariel: You’re not coming with us tonight?