Ai continues living as if nothing has happened, as if part of her soul hasn’t died. In front of her colleagues, she’s as professional as ever. Along with her team and the entire company. Ai has had the complete, flawless version of Vortex released. It expectedly earned Baku hundreds of billions of dollar, which meant Ai herself has been provided with enough money to live the rest of her life doing nothing. The feeling of being wealthy is indescribable of course, not that she’s greedy for money but then again, who doesn’t love it? Top universities are still inviting her for talks and meeting with the students, which she enjoys wholly since Ai loves inspiring others. She has, additionally, broaden her social life greatly. She has even been to a night club in Tokyo and tried Whiskey for the first time. Still, nothing satisfies her. Money, new friends and reputation. Nothing.
But soon, she has found something.

Walking down the streets of Tokyo when given a day off, Ai notices a piano store and a sudden force pulls her into it. That’s when Ai realizes she hasn’t touched the keys of a piano for so long, since quitting her part time job at the bar. She actually started playing it because she was forced to due to her left-handedness. Convinced that it would affect her success in the future, Ai’s parents took innumerable measures to make her write with her right hand, which turned out to create impossibly ugly handwriting and so when Ai was 11, they resorted to giving her piano courses and enrolling her into a music club at school with a view to improving the right hand’s flexibility. And surprisingly, it worked, thanks to which she can now write perfectly fine with both hands. But what Ai is the most grateful to her parents’ forcing her to play the piano for is the fact that she met Sehun at the music club. One year later, the pair became inseparable and that went on for a long time.

Looking at a pitch black grand piano in the store, Ai decides to bring it home. When she was still schooling, a grand piano was always one of her luxurious dreams. Now, she eventually has enough money to buy one without batting an eyelash.
Her next few weeks are spent on either work or piano. Whenever she finishes work, Ai turns to the piano, playing a few familiar melodies. The songs she used to perform along with the magnificent sounds of Sehun’s violin. The pop songs she had to learn to play to serve the customers of the bar. Some tracks her ears come across when she walks down the fervent streets of the city. Music somehow alleviates the hurt and emptiness in her soul.

Even when she reads online that Sehun and his wife have gone back to South Korea to settle down and are expecting, she is still able to control the enormous pain by sitting down and playing a few tracks she has just learned. She is shockingly okay.

But Ai doesn’t know that she will soon go crazy once the baby is born.
-
Sehun calls to inform her of the child’s birth in the evening, when she’s practicing the piano, her cellphone placed on it.
“Hey.”
“Hey.”
“Have you heard that Nari was pregnant?”
“Yes, I have.”
“Well, not anymore. She came out a few hours ago. She’s beautiful. We decided to name her after you, Ai. But naming her Oh Ai would sound weird so we came up with Oh Sae Ai. Pretty name isn’t it? Well it still sounds kinda weird but we don’t mind…”
Her eyes go blurry right after his fourth sentence but her mind tries to keep track with his words. Oh Sae Ai. Oh Sae Ai.
Sehun keeps on talking with pure happiness until Ai can’t take it anymore and decides to cut in.
“Yeah. It’s beautiful. I’d love to meet her one day. Now I gotta go, the boss is calling.”

And she hangs up, leaving a bewildered Sehun, not knowing she is going to tear her piano apart.
–
Looking at the ruined piano, Ai knows that she has no tears left to shed. But that doesn’t save her insides from feeling greatly bitter. Sehun named his child after her. Her. He should have known that this would not make her happy or honored at all. It’s a way of kicking her out of his life. Of proving to her that she’s no longer part of his journey. Of telling her she has become the past. Of replacing her.

He has already had an Ai in his life now, why would he need another one, which is her?

Ai thought she had got over it, but she was deadly wrong.

This is the deal breaker. She cannot anymore. Ai can no longer bear with this.

She immediately changes her number, her email address, finds a new apartment whose address she doesn’t reveal to anyone, cuts off all her contact with everyone in South Korea and refuses to see anyone coming to Baku building claiming to be her acquaintance from there.
She needs to remove him from her mind completely instead of continuing to be his friend. Or else she will go insane.
–
Two more years have passed and Ai has successfully forgotten about Sehun and the pain he unknowingly caused her. Besides not contacting, she doesn’t even read or watch anything about him. She doesn’t go online and every time his image is on TV, she changes the channel. Ai can barely even imagine how his face would look like at 28.
She did manage to avoid him, but at the expense of losing all her connection with everyone else. Her family, friends, teachers. Sometimes Ai wonders if it’s really worth it but she knows that she had to do it even if she didn’t want to. Because had she not, she would have lost her mind by now.

She would also question herself about her decision. Helping him leave. She wonders whether it was a mistake or not. Maybe yes, maybe no. But one thing is for sure, their fate could have been different. Had she been more selfish, she could have just told him to stay or done whatever it took to make him stay. Had she been more selfless, she could have just abandoned her dreams and left with him, leaving the senior year, the graduation, the scholarship and Vortex behind. Either way she could have ended up with him. Even if he didn’t have any romantic feelings towards her, she could have won his heart if she had attempted to.

But Ai was somewhere in between and that destroyed her to the core.

Drowned in her own thoughts, Ai is unaware that one of her coworkers, Riley has stepped in the office for a good 5 minutes. Riley Cooper is a bright young man, a fresh graduate who has just stepped out of Princeton a few months ago and chose Japan to start his career. As young as the boy is, he is incredibly intelligent, enthusiastic and professional. One of the most potential interns Ai has encountered in her opinion. His only drawback is that, well, he acts like a ert. Maybe she’s overthinking but really, his gestures sometimes creep her out, just like they’re doing right now.

“Miss Lee, you seem distracted."says Riley with his eyes staring at Ai’s face interestedly. To Ai, however, his gaze is scary as hell. Ai knows she shouldn’t show that she is bothered by the presence of her employee, but she can’t help it, especially when he’s smirking, sending shivers down her spine.

Ai gulps before answering with the most cheerful tone she could bring out.
"Hey, Riley. Didn’t know you were there. I was just thinking about some personal stuff.”
“Mind sharing it with me, Miss Lee?”
“Well it’s nothing, really. And just Ai is fine.”
“Then I might as well start calling you Ai, right?"Ai nods, letting him continue."Well, I don’t know what it means in Korean, but during my stay here, I have found out that Ai means Love in Japanese.”

She looks at the young male and mentally curses him. Calling her Ai does not equal talking to her like flirting with a college student in a bar. Ai is 6 years older than him for God’s sake.

But bottling up her irritation, she replies, yet somewhere in her voice carries a slight mocking tone.
“Yes, I know that. I have been here for 10 years now.”
“Aren’t you one interesting girl, Ai?”
That cocky tone and scary smirk once again annoys her and this time Ai cannot hold it in anymore.

“What the hell, Riley? Just to remind you, I’m 6 years older than you and I am perfectly capable of firing you so watch your mouth, Riley Wade Cooper.”

Ai is about to storm out of the room when the creepy intern grabs her wrist harshly, causing her to yelp in pain. Before Ai is able to react, Riley has already pinned her against a wall. The female is seriously freaking out. He is one hell of a intimidating creature.
“What are you doing? Riley, stop fooling around."says Ai, who is now downright afraid but manages to pretend to be strong.
"You have no idea how badly I want you, Ai.”

Riley Cooper is looking like a monster wanting to eat her up, making her want to vomit right then and there.

It’s an honor being ually desired for an unattractive, almost 30 woman like Ai. But in her case right now, she can’t help feeling disgusted by the sinful face of Riley.

And she knows this is a day she will never forget.
-

Getting off the plane which took her back to Seoul, Lee Ai realizes she has been gone for too long.

Ai feels almost guilty. For leaving behind her origin, her roots. She doesn’t even know the name of the current President of the Republic of South Korea. New celebrities have appeared and she can’t even recognize any of their faces. She no longer remembers the taste of any traditional dish her mom used to cook. And to top it all off, she feels weird speaking Korean with a fellow Korean.

But it doesn’t matter, because now she’s coming back.
Ai has nowhere else to go anyway.

Ai has decided to return to her home, where there is only her mother left. As she reaches the place, Ai stands still for a moment. The house is completely different. The color, the gate, the front yard, all changed. The plants on the balcony and the big orange tree in front of the house, all gone.

But her mother is still sitting on the old white armchair, reading a book. Her hair has been so grey Ai’s heart aches a little bit.

“Mom.”

The middle-aged woman looks up, only to gasp in shock. Her youngest daughter has returned. Ai has returned.
The mother and the daughter look at each other, both silent for what feels like an eternity, after which the former reaches out to her child, caressing her every feature.

“Here you are. I’ve been waiting for you forever.”

Only now does Ai acknowledges how much she had missed out on. Her sister got married right after she cut off all the connections here and soon gave birth to a baby boy. Ai smiles bitterly. Great, she doesn’t even know she has a nephew. Her father’s second wife who he married before Ai even went to Japan for study also gave him a son last year. Good for him, Ai thinks. The man has always wanted a son. Her mother, well, is still single, the only change is that she has aged and is retired.

Afraid as she is of mentioning Sehun, Ai is dying to know how he, his wife and his daughter are doing.

“Mom, do you hear anything about Sehun?”

“I don’t, Ai. I haven’t seen him for years. Gosh, I miss the boy. A few years ago I could watch him on TV but now my eyes are too weak for any kind of mass media so I basically know zero about him now.” Replies Mrs Lee. No, scratch that, she’s no longer her dad’s wife, she’s now a Kim.“Oh, but about 2 years ago some boys came over here, claiming to be his friends and asked if I knew anything about your whereabouts but of course I didn’t.”
Ai frowns but says nothing.

“Ah, I almost forgot. An envelope was sent here last week and it was for you.” Her mother speaks, walking to the kitchen before coming back with an envelope on her hands.
Ai reaches out for and opens it.

It’s an invitation to the high school reunion. In 2 days’ time.

Holding it in her hands, Ai smiles faintly. It’s about time for her to see her old friends’ faces again. The girls may be there. So may Mrs. Park, her favorite Math teacher.

Sehun may also be there. A sudden thought appears in Ai’s mind, making her flinch. The girl, however, quickly regains her calmness.

After all she’s been through, facing Sehun may not be too big a problem.
-
The has finally arrived. Looking at herself in the mirror, she feels kind of dissatisfied. Once again, she couldn’t sleep soundly last night and now her eyes are bloodshot. This should not stop her from being reunited with her friends though.

Kissing her mother on the head, Ai exits the house. When she was young, Ai never thought there would come a day when she would have such affectionate gestures. But now, at 28, she realizes how little she had done for her loved ones and how she should try her best to make up for the lost days she caused.

The hotel venue is full of familiar faces. She feels like she has met each one of them, but now, if asked to say their names, Ai wouldn’t remember to be honest. She looks around and brightens up at the sight of her friends. All of them. Minri, Hyesung,and Seunghee. Her friendship with Sehun was wonderful, but he was a boy after all and there were things only girls could sympathize with. These three did a great job at that in her opinion.

Spotting Ai, they also widen their eyes, Seunghee even puts her hand to to cover the look of shock on her face. Without thinking twice, both sides run towards each other.

“Lee Freaking Ai! You’re alive!” Yells Minri. She may look older but her enthusiasm seem to have not decreased yet.
Hyesung whispers into Ai’s ears.

“Welcome back, Ai. I’ve missed you so much. We all have.”
The latter only nods, indicating she feels the same.
-
Sehun’s friends are here. Does this mean he’s also here? Ai thinks, tightening her body. It’s okay. She keeps telling herself. Just apologize for not contacting and make up some excuse, he’s longer capable of making me more miserable.

Just like what she has expected, Sehun showed up behind the guys, who have now noticed her presence and are looking at her, taken aback. Their expression soon turns into such deep concern that Ai can’t help but feel amused. No need to be so worried for me, it’s not like he’s going to murder me or something.
Shortly after, Sehun looks up and also looks at her in disbelief, shocking Ai completely.

Because his face is not the same anymore. It’s no longer glowing with confidence, passion and joy.

It’s dark. His eyes are dark and full of emptiness.

The disbelief look on his face quickly turns into the expression of anger.

She can handle this. Ai reassures herself before walking to where he and his friends are standing. With much difficulty, she opens to speak.

“Long time no see, Sehun."Ai then diverts her gaze towards the other guys to greet them and turns her head back to Sehun to continue."Sorry I haven’t called for ages. I was caught up in some issue but all fine now.” The guy still remains silent, his anger not faded one bit.“How have you been? How are Nari and Sae Ai been doing? I said I’d go see her but I haven’t-”

Junmyun immediately stops Ai as soon as the names are mentioned and pulls her to the side, staring at her surprisedly.

“It’s not time to talk about them, Ai. Damn, you haven’t known yet, have you?”

Know what?
“Let’s go out and I’ll explain.”
When Junmyun is about to drag her out of the hall, Sehun’s voice springs up, cold and scary.

“No need, Junmyun. Tell her right now and right here. In front of my face. Tell her.”

The shorter male gulps, looking at his other friends who are now also looking intense. After a long while, he finally reveals the truth to Ai, the traumatizing truth she hasn’t heard of for 2 years.

“Nari and their daughter passed away 2 years ago, not too long after she was born. Car accident.”