“Kindly turn off all personal electronic devices, including mobile phones and laptops…” The in-flight announcement sounded as it was about time to take off. Moonbyul looked up for a brief moment, registering the message before looking back at her phone screen. Work, work, work, even on her vacation.

“I’m sorry, miss.” A voice said politely, but Moonbyul paid no attention. “Please kindly turn off your mobile phone.”

She sighed loudly and put down her phone. It was just one text message. Did they have to be so picky about it? She looked up at the person standing beside her and paused for a moment. With her hair neatly tied up in a bun, and in her perfectly ironed uniform, the person was hard to miss. No wonder the voice sounded familiar.

The flight attendant was visibly taken aback as her eyes widened. The person sitting in front of her had ash brown hair, clearly different from the way she remembered it.

“Hey,” Moonbyul greeted with a smile as she took one brief look at her phone before turning it off. What a reunion, she thought. It had been almost a year since they separated, but the way the other person made her feel was still the same. “Flying again?”

The other person returned the smile, a bit awkwardly. She knew she would have to see Moonbyul again, but not like this, not at work. She was about to reply but her colleague interrupted.

“Solar, why are you still standing around? We’re about to take off!” Her colleague whispered in her ears before pulling her away.

Maybe later, Moonbyul thought.

The plane took off shortly and soon it came to a cruise. She took out her book and started to read it but was distracted when the flight attendants started walking down the aisle. She craned her neck out slightly to look for Solar and a cart appeared dangerously close to her. She looked at the hands around the handles of the cart and gulped nervously.

“Is there anything you need, miss?” The voice sounded distant. It was too polite.

Moonbyul blinked as her mind went blank. It had been almost a year, yet she still had the same effect on her. She bit her lower lip in attempt to snap back to reality and blurted out a random order. “Tea, please.”

Solar raised an eyebrow, as if questioning her, but she nodded anyway. She handed over a cup of hot liquid which Moonbyul took absentmindedly. Still as dumb as ever, she thought. Suppressing a smile, Solar turned her attention to the handsome young man beside Moonbyul.

“Anything for you, sir?”

Moonbyul looked straight at the seat in front of her as she brought the cup to her lips. She heard the man beside her flirt with Solar and unknowingly, she clenched her cup too tightly. How dare he, she thought as the scalding liquid scorched her tongue. She hissed as she placed the cup down.

“Is everything alright?” Solar asked, diverging her attention back to Moonbyul immediately as she heard the disturbance. She burnt her tongue again, didn’t she, she thought.

“Yes, yes, I’m fine.” Moonbyul waved her hand and stuck her tongue for a brief moment. Why must she always be so embarrassing in front of Solar? She ran into her and fell when they first met, burnt her tongue on their first date, and many more moments which she did not want to remember.

Solar took a quick glance at Moonbyul whose head was down and muttering something incoherent. She never understood how such a scatterbrain like her could become an inspector but then again, she never understood a lot of things about the other person.

“Here’s your coffee. Enjoy the flight.” Solar handed over a cup to the man sitting beside her. The scent of hibiscus and coffee lingered as the man withdrew his arms.

Moonbyul frowned and as if realising something, she looked at her cup. She ordered tea, didn’t she? She took another sip and it was clearly not tea. It was coffee. She turned her head back to the aisle but Solar was already making her way to the front. She stared at the dark-coloured liquid in her cup and a small smile found its way to her lips.

It was a long flight to Madrid and all Moonbyul did was to read, and think about Solar, sleep, and dream about Solar. The plane touched down and after a while, she wobbled out of the cabin, with Solar standing at the entrance bidding her goodbye.

“See you later,” Moonbyul said as she exited, though she was not sure if Solar heard her.

After retrieving her luggage and going through the necessary procedures, she was finally at the arrival hall. Honestly, it was refreshing to go on a vacation once in a while. They were right, she needed a break, rather than restricting herself to the boundaries of her desk. The recent case was stressing her out as well. They were going nowhere and she hated it when a case remained stagnant.

She wandered around aimlessly, her eyes keeping a lookout for any crew members from the flight earlier on. Just then, from a distance, she saw a figure in a light blue uniform walked in her direction. The way she walked was still as elegant as ever and Moonbyul still remembered the way she tucked the loose strand of hand behind her ears.

“I’ll see you at the hotel then?” A man in uniform smiled before leaving Solar and Moonbyul looked at him warily. Just a habit, or maybe she was just jealous.

“Hey…” Solar greeted uncertainly, standing at a safe distance away from Moonbyul. “Never thought I’ll see you in a foreign country.”

The both of them were workaholics, they barely had time to see other, which was partly the reason why they split up. Moonbyul was too attached to her work and Solar had to travel very often. There was another reason though, when Moonbyul initiated the broke up, which Solar did not know and she did not tell either.

“Well, me neither. I guess I really do need some time off.” Moonbyul touched the back of her neck, a gesture she would do when she was nervous. She did it so often that Solar caught it after just three meetings.

Solar took a step forward and reached out for Moonbyul’s hand that was still on the back of her neck. The latter froze as she let Solar guide her hand down to her side.

“Relax. We’re still friends, right?” Solar smiled. “Just be comfortable.”

Moonbyul blinked again. Right, she told herself. Friends. They agreed to be friends when they broke up. It would be easier that way, but was it really easier for her? Back when they were still together, Solar never crossed her mind during work, but for the past year, that beautiful face of hers appeared unexpectedly.

“Where are you heading?” Solar asked.

“To the hotel,” Moonbyul replied as she showed her destination of the small screen of her phone.

“Oh, I’m staying there as well. I guess we can share a cab?” Solar offered, and there was no reason for her to refuse.

Moonbyul mentally thanked the two babies back at the station for pushing her on a trip, because she would not have the chance to meet Solar again so soon if not for them. They walked out together, hands carelessly touching.

And in the distance, unknown to them, the shutter went off.

-

A/N: I'm not going to tell what genre this story is going to fall under. Guess away~