Junhyung couldn’t help but stare at the girl. He’d seen her before. He knew that. He could recognise her face; there was no doubt about it. The question was, did she know him?

Thanks to his career he had changed a lot, and he looked much different than he used to. He’d done away with rectangular glasses and wore much larger, square ones. He'd also gotten many different hairstyles. Of course, like almost every other performer out there, his hair was dyed too. But looking at her, he saw that she looked the nearly same as before. Long eyelashes, oval face, sharp jaw; even the way she frowned slightly in her sleep when Doojoon kissed her was familiar. His heart started beating louder. Did she recognise him? Could she even remember? It’s been a long time.

(Flashback)
It was a Sunday evening; he wore his favourite black jacket with graffiti designs and washed out blue jeans. Walking towards nowhere in particular, he passed by the usual shops, nodding and giving slight smiles to the shopkeepers, most of whom were packing up and closing shop for the day. The warm glow of the setting sun turned the whole street orange, and it gave him a sense of comfort.

Bringing his gaze to the ground, he let his feet take him to the neighbourhood playground. He kicked the sand as he walked and headed over to the swings set, where he sat down. For the first time he saw that the place was deserted. At this time, kids were at home getting ready for dinner. Junhyung sighed at the thought of dinner. ‘Leftovers again tonight,’ he thought as his emptying wallet came to mind. He closed his eyes and looked to the pink sky. Maybe things would get better. He had to just keep pursuing his dream.

“Are you okay, mister?”

Junhyung snapped out of his thoughts and looked to his right, facing a young girl, probably about ten years old. He didn’t know why, but he studied her carefully. She had long black hair that was nearly halfway down her back, and her bangs covered her eyebrows, ending just above her eyes. He nodded in reply, giving a small smile as he asked her what she was doing at the playground and not at home. Instead of answering him, a faint frown line appeared and then disappeared on her forehead. “Liar,” she mumbled, as she sat down on the swing next to him.

Junhyung chuckled half-heartedly. The girl reminded him of his little brother. Thinking of his brother made him smile, albeit a bit sad. He was far from his family. Really far.
“You didn’t answer my question,” he insisted. She should be at home, not spending time with a grumpy stranger in the playground.

“I’m waiting for my brother.” He noticed that her brown eyes lit up at the mention of her brother. “He’s in the store.” Following her gaze, which fell upon an old noodle shop across the street, Junhyung saw the door open and a tall figure stepped out. In a flash the girl jumped up and waved a quick goodbye to Junhyung, running towards the road. The guy shouted at her, and Junhyung watched him dash across the road before she could even step a foot on it.

“Don’t just run like that, do you know how dangerous it would have been if a car came?”
The two siblings walked off, bickering over who would have become a pancake should a car have driven across.

Junhyung stood up, laughing quietly as he was suddenly in a better mood. Determined to work hard, he walked home with a lighter heart, whistling as he went. Perhaps leftovers weren’t so bad after all.

(End flashback)

Junhyung didn’t know it then, but that was the first time he had seen Doojoon.