2015. January.

"Do you know what the spaces between our fingers are for?" Nate asked, holding up Soojung's left hand while she was stirring her fetuccine. Soojung shook her head. 

"For us to hold hands like this." Nate smiled, intertwining his fingers with Soojung's. She almost choked on her lunch, and pulled her hand. "Ya!" Nate laughed, seeing Soojung blushed. "Hey, why are you blushing?"

"That's... awkward." Soojung took a sip of her iced tea. "Stop."

Nate smiled. "Why?"

"Huh?"

"Why don't you let me kiss you on new year's eve?"

"Why are you asking me this... again?"

Nate shrugged. "I just need some assurance."

"I'm not the kind of girl who kiss some guys around."

"You're supposed to kiss someone on new year's eve."

Soojung shook her head. "Not me."

"Take it like this, Sooj." Nate shifted his body closer to Soojung, and she unconsciously leaned back to her chair. "Why don't you kiss a friend whose been in love with you for 13 years? Say, fulfill a boy's lifetime wish." he grinned.

She almost choked on her saliva, but getting back to her sense in just under 1 second and slapped Nate's head. "Don't play around with me, Nate!" earning a laugh from Nate, "But I really liked you back then."

"It was in the past. Besides... I can't."

"Why?"

Soojung looked to the mirror behind Nate and see her own reflection. She was wearing a beige sweater today and styled her hair down. It was a normal day and they were having their usual lunch at Nate's favorite Italian Restaurant. 

"Because there's somebody else for me." she said quietly. 

His eyes were scanning the crowd, looking for a particular Korean girl who was the source of his sleepless nights for the last few weeks. 

"Oppa!" his head turned to the voice he knew--and was dying to hear-- so well. There she was. 

She was wearing a beige sweater and brown pants, her hair tied in a bun, and she was coming to get him. She was here, Minhyuk thought. We were only meters apart, not miles. He wanted to cry for joy. 

"Soojungie!" he let go of his trolley to welcome her, and to his surprise, she hugged him. Here in the LAX arrival terminal, in public. But Soojung didn't seemed to care, and so did he. 

"Hey, you." she said, burying her face to the crook of his neck. 

"Hey." he whispered, because she felt so... good, and unreal.

"You surprised me, oppa!" Soojung said when she finally let go, and punched his chest lightly. "Why are you coming here?"

"Well, I have some time off, so I thought.. why not?" he said. 

"You should've called me earlier. I could ask my parents to let you stay with us."

"It's okay, my manager booked me a nice hotel downtown." 

They walked side by side to Soojung's car. She promised to take him to his hotel, and later; dinner. She told him she wanted him to meet her old friends, and she already arranged the itinerary for Minhyuk's holiday. 

"You have to see everything in LA." Soojung said on their way to his hotel. She was driving, and he couldn't say anything about her driving him because he didn't have an international driving license. "I love this city so much, and I hope you'd like it as much as I do."

"I think I will." Minhyuk said. 

Dinner was filled with laughter for both Minhyuk and Soojung. She never thought she would missed him so much, but she did. And she was glad he chose LA for his short holiday, so they could catch up with each other's life. What Soojung liked most was because Minhyuk never once mentioned about her 'situation' since July, and why she went to LA to stay with her parents and onnie. 

He was happy to see her happy. 

Kang Minhyuk never thought happiness was that easy, but being with her was easy, and seeing her laugh made him laughed too. He refrained himself for mentioning about Sulli, or even Jessica, and not telling her about the condition in Seoul, not until she asked. 

"Everything's alright." Minhyuk said. "Shinhye noona missed you." They last saw Shinhye on December, when both of them visited her filming site. That was a day before Soojung had to go to LA. 

"I know, I missed her too. We kakao each other everyday." Soojung played with her phone, and she looked kinda sad. 

"Everything's okay, right?"

"It's better." she said, didn't want him to worry about her anymore, because truthfully, everyhting's finally okay. "It's getting better each day. And I'm okay, too."