“Yo, Peniel!” Minhyuk suddenly patted his long term best friend as he arrived at Incheon Airport.

“Woaah, my dude - Minhyuk-ah! Long time no see!” Peniel hugged the eldest, and patted his back in amazement. “How are you? How’s America?”

Minhyuk shrugged. “Yeah, good. But Korea is still the best for me,” he said while threw his gaze around the airport carefully. It was already 4 years since he moved to US, and nothing has really changed.

He followed Peniel until they reached the car and finally stepped in to the car, when they already put Minhyuk’s luggage into the car's baggage.

“I’m glad that you already back home a day before my birthday party,” Peniel said as he started the engine.

“Yeah, so I can always attend your birthday party,” Minhyuk rolled his eyes, and they chuckled together.

***

Minhyuk finally showed up at Peniel’s party at his house.

“Aahhh, finally you’ve come, dude! What took you so long, huh?” the birthday boy immediately approached him.

“I’m sorry, traffic jam,” Minhyuk rolled his eyes and handed him a present. “Happy birthday, my partner in crime. I hope you get a girlfriend soon!”

“Haha thank you, dude. Come on, let’s join the other,” Peniel patted his shoulder and signaled the eldest to followed him. Minhyuk looked around the packed of living room where people gathered around, for dancing or talking.

And that’s when his gaze suddenly stopped at one spot. A spot where the music was seem louder than the others. His gaze glued in a girl presence, who was dancing happily in the midst of the other guests,. He immediately adored her prettiness, her perfect figure, her black long hair, her smile.

***

“This is Son Naeun, she’s my mother’s niece. And she’s just moved to Seoul from Bugang-ri yesterday,” Peniel introduced her, to his best friend, who was busying himself to playing chess with the other’s friends in one of corner of Peniel’s big living room.

“Oh, hi. I’m Lee Minhyuk. Nice to meet you, Naeun-ssi,” Minhyuk smiled and the girl bowed at him politely.

Peniel who noticed the star struck on Minhyuk’s eyes, suddenly smirked playfully. “Minhyuk hyung, let me played the chess for you. And please bring Naeun to the kitchen to grab some drink and cakes. Palli!”

Peniel pulled Minhyuk’s arm to force him to get up from his previous seat. Minhyuk awkwardly walked closer to her.  “Let’s go to the kitchen,” he asked and the girl nodded while following him from behind.

The kitchen was less crowded than the living room, and the music wasn’t really reaching the room. Minhyuk took a cup of strawberry smoothies in Peniel’s refrigerator and handed her.

“Thank you,” she said almost whispering, but it was audible enough to be heard by Minhyuk. Her voice was too soft, but it was strong enough to make his heart’s beating wilder.

He tried to act cool and threw his gaze around the kitchen. He then found a plate of brownies on the kitchen’s counter and he grabbed it. “Let’s go back to the living room. Kajja,” he signaled the youngest to follow his steps.

The music seemed louder now as the night went on. Minhyuk and Naeun sat in the corner of the room. They could easily spotted Peniel, who was dancing with a girl named Oh Hayoung and Minhyuk cringed when he saw his best friend’s clumsy dances.

“Sunbae…”

The soft voice suddenly approached his ears, and made Minyuk immediately turn his head to the source.

“Un?”

“You’re not dancing?”

Minhyuk shook his head, tried to act cute. “No… I don’t want to steal the spotlight from the birthday boy,” he turned his gaze to Peniel for a moment, before he faced her again. “What about you? You want to dance?”

“No, I can’t dance,”

Minhyuk snorted because he surely had seen the girl danced when he arrived earlier. “Are you coming here alone?”

“I was coming here with my parents. But they decided to leave me alone here, since Peniel oppa’s parents asked them to take the family dinner together,” she shrugged.

They talked and talked, and it was getting late. More guests came, and some guys had talked to Minhyuk, but he was still sticking with Naeun.

Naeun glanced at her watch and found that it was already 11 PM.

“Sunbae… It’s already late. I think I should go home now,” she suddenly got up from her seat.

“Oh, did your parents already come?” he looked at her, cursing the time for being to fast to ticking.

“I’m sure they already waiting for me in the front main room. Thank you very much for today, sunbae. Hope to see you again,” Naeun bowed and was about to turned around, but Minhyuk suddenly called her name and made the youngest turned around to face him again.

“May I know your phone number?”

***

Today, Minhyuk asked Naeun to meet up in the train station. He asked her to go the coffee shop together, and the girl agreed.

When the train stopped, the passengers suddenly became more crowded as they wanted to reach the exit door immediately. Naeun lost her balance - and suddenly banged with him. She grabbed his arm to prevent herself from falling. Minhyuk could smell her girly scent.

“I’m sorry…” Naeun apologized as she stabilized herself.

Minhyuk wanted to smile, but suddenly a stranger beside her did something suspicious at her, and for some seconds, the man immediately ran away through the crowd.

“He is a thief! He was pickpocketing!” Naeun realized that her wallet had gone from her pocket pants, and she shouted.

Minhyuk and some people who heard her, suddenly ran t