"Take care of each other and have fun!" Sona said as she sent us to the Incheon International Airport the very next day. The friends that Chanyeol had invited included Ziying and Jieun. We will be meeting the rest of them - Taemin and Taeyeon - inside the airport later.

"Bye unnie, I will bring back nice souvenirs for you." I said as I hugged her tightly.

Armed with my passport, my airticket and my phone in one hand, and my travel clutch in the other, I walked into the airport confidently with large strides. I wore shades over my eyes and a bucket hat on my head. I was dressed in comfortable white blouse, a pair of old ripped jeans and my trusty NikeAir sneakers.

Since it was a private vacation, SM did not publicise our flight timing so there weren't any fans crowding around in the airport waiting for our arrival. It made the whole check-in process a lot faster because we can move around pretty quickly without being blocked by the human barricades.

Once we are done with our check-in, we proceeded into the departure area after passing the custom checks. We found Taeyeon and Taemin shopping at one of the Shilla Duty Free Shops near our departure terminal.

"Oppa!" Jieun squealed excitedly as she rushed towards her boyfriend, who was smiling at her with his cheekbones flying into the sky.

"Unnie, what are you looking at?" I asked as I browsed through the new Laneign selections. Both Ziying and I went to find Taeyeon because we did not want to be lightbulbs between Taemin and Jieun.

She took the pamphlet from the counter of Nature Republic and showed it to us. It was a photo of her and Baekhyun, smiling happily with a few CC cream sticks in their hands. "I missed him. Badly." She smiled sadly. "Do you miss Chanyeol too?"

Baekhyun and Taeyeon's relationship became public two years ago. During a press release, SM stated that they were dating for only four months before the news of their relationship came into light. However, it was entirely false and baseless because the fact was they had been dating since Baekhyun became a trainee in SM, which was about 3 years before the public found out.

"Yes, I missed him. Sometimes it made me crazy. I think I am crazy." I said as I admired their photos on the pamphlet. "At least you can date him in the public now."

"No, I rather not reveal my relationship to the public. It felt like my privacy just disappeared entirely overnight. I had done things that I really regret and I had also hurt people along the way. If given a second chance, I would have done a better job at hiding my relationship." She grabbed both my hands and looked into my eyes. "Don't ever go public with your relationship. You will regret it."

I nodded, shocked by her sudden confession. Taeyeon wasn't someone who talked a lot offscreen or someone who shared a lot about her private life. She was an introvert who always bottled up her emotions. I had not expected her to be this honest with me.

"Don't worry, unnie. I will keep that in mind."

"Good good. Let's get out of here. We are going to miss our flight." She waved her eye liners. "I am just going to pay for these before we go. Wait for me."

"Are you guys ready to go?" Jieun asked as Taemin followed behind her. I tilted my chin in Taeyeon's direction, who was taking out her wallet to pay for her purchases.

"Chaeyeon-ah, are you excited to finally meet your boyfriend after so long?" Taemin asked. Jieun often brought Taemin to our dormitory to stay over. Taemin and I became friends immediately when Jieun first introduced her boyfriend to us over a dinner in our dormitory. He had an outgoing personality that radiated positive energy to people around him. Taemin once brought Ziying and I to the 93'liner idol gathering and I was able to make some friends from other agencies because of him.

"Of course! I really didn't expect him to do something like this. But I am really glad that he did." I said happily as I looked at the letter that came together with the airticket.

"Chanyeol hyung really treats you well. Treasure him!" Taemin said.

"Oppa, why hadn't you done such thing for me? We have been together for almost a year already!" Jieun whined and pouted.

"Let's go! Hurry hurry!" Taeyeon looked much happier after her buys. She pushed the rest of us out of the Nature Republic shop, towards the our departure gate.

Yaye! Chanyeol oppa ya, wait for me! Here I come!

My inner fan girl did a little twirl as I boarded the plane, excited.

-

It was an extremely long and tiring flight from South Korea to Maldives. It took nearly 9 hours before the plane finally landed safely on the grounds of the tropical paradise. The day when I received my birthday present from Chanyeol, I googled a few images and did a little research on this resort island and I fell in love with it immediately. How can someone fall in love with a place that they have never been to before?

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