“Miss Song!”

I whipped my head to the direction of where that was coming from, only to find my driver waving at me with my name printed in bold on his board.

“Hello, Mister Park.” I greeted, Korean words feeling unfamiliar on my tongue. “How have you been?”

“I should be asking you that, Miss Song. It's been quite a while. Five years is far too long.”

Nodding wistfully, I repeated his words. “Far too long.”

“Come along now,” he started guiding me through the crowd of people at the airport. “I'm sure your parents will be happy to see you back.”

“Wish I could say the same.” I muttered, as memories flashed through my head. What my parents did to me were a big mistake, and regretted my decision. I didn't want to see them.

“Come on now, I'm sure they love you,” he replied. “That's why they sent you off to China to study. I heard you've completed your internship too, right?”

“Yes, that's right,” I nodded affirmatively. “Four long years studying and one working in a foreign country. I'm sure they love me.”

He chuckled. “But you can speak the language, right? It's not so foreign to you. Did you enjoy your time there?”

I hummed, not wanting to answer him. Honestly, the answer was at the tip of my tongue. No, I missed Korea, I never wanted to go, I missed him. But all was said and done, and sadly, time machines didn't exist.

“You can go to sleep, Miss Song. Traffic's quite bad right now.” Mr Park relayed.

Peering outside the window and finding that the cars on the road were unmoving, I whipped out my phone and dialled the number I knew by heart.

It took a few rings before she picked up. “Hello, who is this?”

“Hi, Seungwan.”

“HYEJIN?! SONG HYEJIN?! TELL ME THIS ISN'T A DREAM! THIS IS A KOREAN PHONE NUMBER!”

I chuckled. She was still the same. “Yeah, this is me. I'm back in Korea right now.”

“YOU OWE ME A GIGANTIC EXPLANATION! WHAT THE HELL?! WE HAVE TO MEET UP!”

“I'm stuck in traffic right now,” I said, sneaking a glance at my driver to see if he was eavesdropping. “How can we meet up?”

“No worries, come to the Plaza Hotel tonight at 8 and we'll catch up.”

“Plaza Hotel? Isn't it a bit too grand for a meet-up?”

She chuckled nervously. “I'm actually holding a party tonight. And I'm inviting you!”

“A party? For what?”

“I'm engaged.”

“SON SEUNGWAN! YOU DIDN'T TELL ME?!”

“Um, excuse me? How could I have told you? You were suddenly missing, and the next thing I knew, you were in China, studying. Finance, of all things! I thought you hated math?”

The smile on my face immediately disappeared. “I hate math, but it doesn't mean I'm bad at it.”

Seungwan sighed. “You know what? We can't have this conversation over the phone. Come to my engagement party tonight and we'll catch up, yeah? I'm sure the girls are all dying to see you.”

“You still keep in touch with them?” a wistful longing started nagging at the back of my head.

“Most of them, yeah. Oh, I have to go now! See you tonight!”

My phone beeped and the line got cut off. I took a few moments to stare at the blank phone screen, wondering what else I had missed when I made the decision to escape. There were so many things I wanted to know. There was one person I wanted to know about. I hadn't spoken to him for years, and I stopped trying to look him up three years ago.

My chest constricted. It was dreadfully clear that I wasn't over him, even after all these years. There was nothing I could do about it though; he made it clear for me to get out of his sight.

“Would you like a tissue, Miss Song?” Mr Park asked, offering a box of tissues to me.

It was only then when I realised that I was crying. Big fat droplets of tears rolled down my cheeks as I vehemently tried to stop them. These bitter memories were exactly why I decided to leave Korea. But it was also because of these memories that I ached to come back.

-

My apartment was just as how I left it, albeit there was a slight layer of dust covering practically everything. My sofa was still the same, with the pillows arranged neatly by the sides. The paintings on the wall were still as beautiful as ever. My baking equipment lay on the countertop untouched.

Five long years, and physically no change. I missed my apartment a lot as it was the place of many beautiful memories. So many things happened here that I couldn't forget.

Huffing, I decided to do a thorough clean-up. There was still a lot of time before the party, so I got to work. I got out the vacuum, which was ironically dusty too, the mop and many rags to start cleaning. For a while I wondered if I should remove the paintings on the walls or throw away the old baking equipment. After some thought, I concluded that while painful memories would always haunt me, the beautiful part of it would still remain.

I carefully wiped the edges of the paintings, cherishing them like I did five years ago. My fingertips traced the intricate splotches of paint, a small smile involuntarily making its way onto my face. It was a painting of a goddess. She had no face, but I could easily recognise her.

The goddess was surrounded by many other things, namely cakes, hearts and music notes. An angel was serenading her on the piano, a large smile etched on his face. Though the angel was barely drawn properly, I recognised him too.

And at the very bottom of the painting, written in tiny handwriting in the corner, were some gold-coloured characters.

I love you.

Five years without my angel felt like an eternity. I longed to hear him play the piano. I wished to see his face and hold his hand. I wanted to bake cakes with him. I yearned for him.

But he didn't yearn for me. I spent countless nights just trying to get him off my mind. Even when I was in China studying, I would often wonder if he was eating well, if he was doing alright. He never once called me and though a small part of me wished he did, it was expected. What I had did was seemingly unforgivable, and I couldn't imagine myself in his shoes.

Suddenly, my phone rang, shocking me out of my thoughts. I swiftly picked it up, and was greeted by a worried voice.

“Hyejin-ah! Where are you? It's already 8pm!”

I glanced at the clock to indeed confirm that I was late. “Shoot, I'm sorry! I'll be there in a few! I just settled here, so...”

“Faster! Juhyun and Seulgi didn’t believe me when I said that you were finally back!”

I chuckled. “See you soon.”

Hurrying into my room, I quickly picked a black dress, not really caring what it was. It was a bit short though, considering it was from my high school days, but it was too late to change. I rushed to hail a taxi, combing my fingers through my hair at the same time.

On the way there, I resorted to freshening my makeup which had been left on my face since morning. Luckily, it didn't take long to reach, and I was awarded with the bright lights of the hotel. I thanked the taxi driver, and combed my hair with my fingers again. I'd be rude if I was unpresentable, but I'd be even ruder if I was late.

As I entered the lobby, I noticed a big sign displaying the time and venue of Seungwan's engagement party with some pictures. She was going to get married to a guy called Kim Jongdae, who looked as cheerful as her. Their engagement pictures looked absolutely endearing, and I couldn't wait to see her.

And I did. She was beautiful, and five years apart did nothing but treat her well. She looked radiant, as she hung off the arm of her fiancé, smiling and chatting with the guests. Her hair was much shorter now, but she still eluded the same warmth she had since high school.

“Seungwan-ah!”

The way she whipped her head towards me was amusingly like a drama scene. She pounced, wrapping me in a fierce hug “Song Hyejin!”

“Long time no see, huh?” I chuckled, eyes already watering.

“I missed you, Hyejin,” she muttered into my shoulder. I could feel my sleeve getting wet. “We have a lot of catching up to do.”

“Um, babe?” Jongdae appeared, looking worried to see his fiancée in such a state.

“Jongdae, this was my best friend from my baking club when we were teens, Song Hyejin. She's back from China after a few years.”

“Hello, Jongdae-ssi. I'm Song Hyejin. Sorry for arriving so late. I just reached Korea this morning.”

“Oh, no worries!” he waved his hands. “Any friend of Seungwan's is a friend of mine. Don't worry and enjoy the party, okay?”

“We even have a famous performer coming!” Seungwan gushed. “Jongdae is apparently friends with him! He didn't tell me who it was, but I'm guessing it's someone big.”

“Is that so?” I raised a brow. “I'll look forward to it.”

“Hey, you could perform there too!” Seungwan suggested. “You still play, right?”

I lit up. I loved performing, but it had been so long since I did. “I haven't performed since forever.”

“You could still sing!” she countered, not backing down. “That's final! I'll put you on the list.”

“Wait-”

“This is your apology to me, okay?”

“But-”

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