---

In your silk pear green floral robe, you stare into the sky sitting on your Paris terrace, hands wrap around a cup of coffee that has been cooled by the late morning air. Although you see the same view every morning, it still amazes you because it is something like what you’d see in pictures.

“Are you ready to go, Darling?” Seunghyun’s voice calls out from the kitchen.

Seunghyun slides the terrace door open and sticks his head out. 

“Seriously? You’re not dressed yet?! I even called you before I left my house to make sure you were ready! Did you even pack?!” Seunghyun annoyingly picks up your mug and takes a sip from it and immediately makes a disgusted face, “ACK! You should add ‘making coffee’ on your list of ‘things-you-should-not-do-to-spare-other-human beings.’”

You shoot him a glare and take back your coffee, “It tastes exactly like Caféothèque.” You take a sip and try hard not to wince. Who knew coffee could also be burnt! You decided that morning that you were going to stick with instant coffee from now on or just go to the local cafe. 

“Hurry! Go change! We’re already running late and still need to beat traffic if we're going to make our flight home!”

“Ho ho ho...” You pull the string of your robe and let it drop and his hands fly up so fast to cover his eyes.

He takes a peek and looks peeve realizing that you have on a floral off-the-shoulder and cropped jeans underneath, “Don’t ever do that again.” He takes another look at you,  “You’re not wearing that to the school, right? You’re a speaker, not a student. Don’t be one of those old people who tries to be hip and young. Look at all those wrinkles!” His hands go up and circles your face as if it was a crystal ball. Then you punch the idiot in the stomach and he bends over with a loud grunt.

“Just to let you know, a high schooler just asked for my number the other day,” You flip your hair. 

“Probably wanted you to be his sugar grandma.” His arms cross and move up and down to block from any further attacks.

Your arm goes up to punch him in the arm, which he tries to block, just as you predicted, so you swiftly kick him in the shin. 

“AGH! PSYCHO! I can’t even believe I liked you before. What drugs did you put in my drinks?! He says rubbing his shin, “If they only knew what kind of psycho you are, they definitely wouldn’t have asked you to be a speaker.” 

“You’re probably right,” you smirk, “Let’s go! May the odds be ever in their favor!” You point fiercely to the front door.

“May the what be what flavors?” Now he looks in pain and confuses. Not a good look for him. 

“Nevermind. Let’s go ya dumb dumb.” You let out a loud breath.

“I mean geez, no need for name calling. We could stop by Baskin Robbin on the way. They have 37 flavors!” He sneers then over-confidently puts his hands in his pocket, “Who’s the dumb dumb now?!”

If he was shorter than you, you would grab his head and put it on your shoulder and his tiny head. How did he make it in life this far, you’ll never know. 

---

You are standing backstage calm and collected as if it is just another day. You have this great sense of pride because your university had asked you to come back to speak. It feels like you finally made it and have become someone of importance. You’re feeling pretty smug about it. 

“Our special guest today has been making a name for herself worldwide. She has been working hard to try and change the fashion industry with her innovative ideas and approach, while also inspiring many other fields of businesses to do the same. Making our school proud, she is our very own alumni, Nora!” 

The applauses erupt and you take a deep breath then walk out towards the podium. You notice right away all your friends and family are hooting and hollering right in the front. Your smile can’t get any bigger looking at those fools. What did they think this was? The World Cup?! You scan the audience to see if anyone was annoyed by them. Your eyes stop at some rows back, towards the left, because there he is. Even in an evenly darken room, he still glows a bit brighter than anyone else. Him, in his cool color argyle sweater vest and tie, all under his wood brown tweed coat. His thick black frame glasses are slightly covered by his fringe. His mouth curves up into a summer night smile. You must have been standing still for a long time,