2015. January. 

Soojung's old friends was loud. They talked and laughed a lot, and Minhyuk was glad they took the effort to talk with each other in Korean, clearly, something they didn't do anymore. Then again, these guys were born and raised in Los Angeles, what did he expect?

"I went to your concert in 2012." Liz said shyly. "I'm a fan." 

"Ya." Soojung interrupted. Embarassed because Liz suddenly acted like a fangirl in front of Minhyuk. She actually just knew that Liz was a CN Blue fan. 

"What? I really like CN Blue!" Liz protested, and Minhyuk laughed. "It's okay, thank you so much."

"I really really really like CN Blue." Liz continued, staring in disbelief to this stranger who actually wasn't a stranger after all, she saw him a million times in her laptop and TV. "I'm went to FNC everytime I go back to Seoul, just to catch a glimpse of you guys."

"What the hell, Liz!" James groaned. 

"You're embarassing me, Liz." Soojung tried to cover Liz's mouth. "Shut up, already."

"Why can't I.... Minhyuk-ssi, it's okay, right? Soojung never told us you're her friend."

"It's okay. Thank you for liking our music." Minhyuk bowed slightly. Making Liz grinned from ear to ear. 

"So," Nate said, trying to end the CN Blue topic completely. "What do you want to see while in LA? It's not much here, in my opinion."

"Oh, just... anything." Minhyuk said. 

And they fell into an awkward silence again.

"How is it like... back home?" James said, trying to began a conversation. "What's good?"

"Yeah, it's been years since I came home." Nate said bitterly. 

"Seoul's good. Are you guys from Seoul?"

"My parents are from Busan." Nate answered. 

"He's the only one who was born in Korea." James pointed to Nate. "He lives in Busan until he's nine."

"My hyungs were from Busan." Minhyuk smiled. "I went there a few times to visit their families."

Soojung listened to the boys' conversation, pretty sure there's still some awkwardness between the three of them, but she was glad to see Minhyuk tried to blend in with James and Nate. It wasn't easy, looking at their background; he was a rock star who was famous all over the world, and James and Nate was two normal Korean college guys, so there's nothing much to talk about between them. 

The boys clearly liked Minhyuk, because eventhough he's Minhyuk from CN Blue, he's still this humble guy and never once told them about his superstar life--unless they asked--. James even asked Minhyuk if they could drop the honorifics and called him hyung. 

"So, it's him?" Nate asked when she was alone with Soojung. They decided to grab some coffee for dessert after lunch, and Soojung and Nate was ordering for all of them while Liz, Minhyuk, and James waited at their table. 

"Who?" Soojung asked.

"Minhyuk hyung."

"What about him?" Soojung shifted her legs nervously. 

"The reason why I cannot kiss you on New Year's eve."

"God, Nate. Will you drop it?"

"I need to know, Sooj, so I can move on with my life."

"Nate..." Soojung was ready to began her long speech of 'you liking me was from a long time ago and that's probably just a puppy love and you should forget about me because I'm going back to Korea anyway and we're not going to see each other for a very long time'.

"No, Sooj. You probbaly thought that I was joking, but I'm not." Nate said, voice became so serious it scared Soojung. "I'm dead serious about my question that night."

"About kissing me? What's so serious about us kissing?" Soojung knew she's going to hurt Nate's heart with her question, but there's no other way of saying it. "I'm sorry, that's what I thought."

"It's okay. But it's everything to me. When I said I liked you, I meant it. I liked you 13 years ago, and I like you now. You said my feelings from 13 years ago was just... some kid feeling but why do I'm feeling it too, now that we're much older and already has our separate lives? Maybe because it's real and... I don't know.. I just.. like you, I guess."

She was praying for the queue to move faster and they get to the counter to order. 

"I'm sorry if that's a burden for you."

"You're one of my best friend, Nate." Soojung said, not looking at him.

"I know."

"And best friends shouldn't kiss."

"Will you kiss Minhyuk hyung if he asked you?"

"What?" she turned to Nate. 

"He's your best friend too, isn't he? He came all the way here just to see you." Nate nodded his head to the direction of their table, where Minhyuk, Liz, and James were talking with each other. 

"You can't answer me." Nate said. 

"What question do I need to answer?"

"Is he the reason why you cannot kiss me, Sooj?"

Soojung didn't know what to say, and honestly she didn't want to answer that question. 

"Is he the reason why we cannot be more than friends?" 

"Is he the reason my heart will break, and my first love will end today?" Nate continued, and Soojung swore his voice trembled as if he's on the verge of crying. 

"You can't love me." she finally said. 

"Why?"

"Because you're my friend, and friends are not supposed to love each other more than they should. I'm sorry, that's what I'm going to say. I like you, so much, just... not in that way. And you deserved better than me. Much.. much better girl than me."

"I know it's not going to end your feelings for me in one night, but please try. I beg you. Please...." they were reaching the counter now, and Soojung was more than ready to end this conversation once and for all. "Thank you for confessing, and I wished I could tell you that I'm feeling the same, but I don't..." Soojung felt her eyes getting wet and she blinked a few times. 

Nate held her hand after they sat down at their table, and Soojung tried so hard to acted like everything was normal, like Nate wasn't just confessed his feelings for her --again-- "I'm sorry." she whispered, before letting go of his hand. 

"It's okay." Nate smiled, leaning his boday towards her and Soojung hugged him for a while. "There's nothing between us, right?"

"No awkwardness."

"No hard feelings."

"Go get yourself a nice girl, Nate." 

"You too, Sooj." Nate said, looking down at Soojung who was still leaning her head on his shoulder. 

"What?"

"Go get him."