She may have been a grown lady, but it didn’t stop her from squealing as she fell into the arms of her mother and father. Her bags fell to the ground in a forgotten heap as she couldn’t stop hugging them, taking in the scent that she had missed so much.

“Inhee-ah! Did you miss umma and appa?” her parents cried, and her father backing away slightly to grab her luggage.

“Nae-nae!” there was some people looking at her from behind. Half was probably because they wanted to stare at the touching reunion and others almost recognized her as the famous chef in America.

 They packed in the car, talking nonstop, catching up on all the latest family news.

Until her mother started getting sneaky. “Why didn’t you bring a boy home?” she asked, almost half-expecting her to at the very least be a little interested in foreign guys.

Instinctively, her hand reached over to touch the necklace that rested on her neck. The gift from her special chingu, and after all these years she had never thought to take it off even once. “Not really,” she admitted bashfully.

“Aish! How old are you now?” her dad asked, and her mother would’ve put her hands up in the air if there was any room in their little van. “Are you still thinking about that boy?”

“Who are you talking about?” Inhee replied, but she had a feeling where this was going.

“You know, the boy that always went to your bakery?” Inhee’s mother softly smiled at the thought. “He’s famous now! The one with the curly hair that goes ‘eh-eh-eh’?”

His hair isn’t curly anymore, but she remembered clearly. Lee Jeongmin. How could she forget? From the boy she never said a word to in school, but had a hundred to tell. Their unexpected friendship came a little too late when she decided to pursue her dreams as a chef. She didn’t regret her decision, but the thought of him always seemed to pop in her head at least once a day.

Her thoughts were cut off when she felt her mother lightly prodding her shoulder.

“Don’t you worry! You’re both famous now, I’m sure it won’t be too hard for you to meet up.” she said, her eyes filled with hope.

“Anyways, how’s the shop going?” Inhee had left her parents to watch over her bakery while she was gone. It was closed all those years since she didn’t want to them to overwork themselves with their current jobs.

“Don’t worry!” her father said. “We cleaned it up for you, it’s all ready to go if you wanna reopen it.”

A small smile formed in Inhee’s lips. Reopen her shop. And now that she just got out of culinary school, she can give her customers better service that she had all those years ago.

“Can we go now?” she asked eagerly.

“But you just got back!” her mom retorted.

But Inhee wouldn’t have it, as she started bouncing in her seat. “Come on! I can’t wait anymore, if you say it’s all ready why shouldn’t we go?”

“Why don’t we meet halfway and throw a welcome back party in the shop?” her father reasoned.

“Deal!”

````

It was just like old times. For the first time since ever, she had turned the familiar sign of ‘close’ to ‘open’. Some of her original costumers came back and were wondering what took her so long, and even some newcomers discovered their “new favorite bakery” as they said.

Her parents were putting up a sign that said “Welcome Back!” in big bold letters.

She enjoyed the business of her day, every half hour or so putting in freshly baked bread on the counters and taking up special orders. She missed this.

“Whoa, noona! Aren’t you the famous chef that was in America?” a high school boy asked.

“Neh. But I’m staying here.” She said, folding up a paper bag of food for him.

He threw some bills on the counter as he continued the conversation. “Jinjja? That’s awesome! You have a big fanbase in Korea.” He grabbed his bag and ran off, waving behind his shoulder.

The girl next in line giggled. “It’s true, unnie. In fact, I saw in an interview that an idol even learned a little English just to read your cookbook!”

Inhee’s eyes widened. “Who?”

“Do you know Lee Jeongmin from Boyfriend?”

Her face froze, but she tried to hide the fact, as she numbly made the girl’s order and sent her on her way.

Lee Jeongmin. Where was he? He followed her from the states? He knew what went on with her all these years? Funny, because she’s been watching him too. She couldn’t help the small butterflies in her stomach at the thought that he was thinking about her too. Their friendship must really be infallible.

```

Outside, three boys were watching the store with close eyes. They were pretending to loiter on the curb like most people, but they weren’t like most people. Far from it, actually.

They were lucky it was a cold season, as they wore puffy jackets and hoods that covered their faces. They looked like normal students, with the tips of their mustard yellow blazers poking out of their coats and backpacks slung over their shoulders.

Just coming back from Seoul Preforming Arts High School, the three boys just happened to walk by the old shop.

But it didn’t look too old anymore, in fact; it looked like a grand reopening.

The three students lowered their hoods just a bit. Not too much that anyone would notice them, but just enough for them to see clearly.

“Doesn’t that girl behind the register look familiar?”

“Kwangmin, move! I’m too short to see!” the youngest one whined.

“There’s space, it’s a pretty big window! Sheesh… Youngmin-hyung, she looks familiar, right?”

“Omo, you’re right! It’s the girl from Jeongminnie-hyung’s wallpaper!”

Boyfriend’s maknae line pressed their faces closer to the glass. She was too distracted with her customers to notice them looking like complete stalkers.

“You’re right.” Kwangmin grinned, eager to tell the guys at home. “Hyung’s girl is jeongmal yeppeoda.”

They pressed their face on the glass with both of their palms sticked on it like a spiderman. Some people will think that they are stalkers or just obsessed with the girl inside. Some passersby looked at them weirdly and took a glanced inside the shop and to see a celebrity chef inside. They went inside instantly and bought some bread.

“Jeongmin hyung will be so happy if he knows this.” Youngmin said and smiled from ear to ear.

“Wah… noona neomu yeppeo.” Minwoo started singing SHINee song.

“Minwoo-ah... Don’t sing. You’ll hurt my ears.” Kwangmin said with still his eyes glued on this pretty noona.

“Shouldn’t we go in? We looked like stalkers standing here with our nose stick to this glass window.” Minwoo said.

“We can’t go in. People will recognize us. Let’s go back and tell Jeongminie hyung about this.” Youngmin said as the eldest one in Boyfriend maknae lines.

“Hyung is right. Kaja. I can’t wait to see Jeongmin hyung expression when he knows this.” Kwangmin said excitedly. The three maknaes started walking.

“Bye pretty noona.” Minwoo waved even though Inhee couldn’t see it because she was so busy inside. The three maknaes excitedly went back to their dorm to tell the happy news to their hyung.