“UUUUUUGGGGGHHHH!!!” The disgruntled sound made me turn to my head to the left as the driver once again hits his head on the steering wheel of our van. By my estimates, we’ve been stuck at this same exact spot along the highway for at least 30 minutes, and manager-oppa has finally lost his mind. “Come on! What could hold us up this long!” I snickered at his rare temper flair. Usually the calm manager, it’s interesting to see him lose his cool every once in a while.

“Oppa,” Bomi leaned forward from her seat behind the driver’s, “it’s pretty traffic out there, and it’ll probably go on for awhile,” she teasesd. “Maybe we should just head to a stopover first, maybe eat a little,” she said hopefully, obviously not wanting to get back to Seoul just yet.

“Nice try, Bomi-yah,” oppa shook his head, “but you guys have to get back for practice,” he said as-a-matter-of-fact. “Besides, aren’t you on a diet?”

I laughed as the vocalist sat back with a pout on her face. Looking through his rear-view mirror, oppa finally flashed out a small smile before bringing his attention back to the unmoving pile of cars ahead. “Ugh… why can’t they all just disappear,” he muttered before resting his head on the top of the wheel, laying out another oddly familiar scene.

As he rested his head on top of the steering wheel, he slammed his arms on the dashboard of his car. “Ugh… I just want them all to go away!” He lightly slammed his head on the wheel for the n-th time.

“Oppa—“

“Ugh!” he hit the horn, more out of frustration than anything else, “I hate this!” he shouted in annoyance. “I hate this, I hate this, I hate this!” He hung his head to the sky before letting out a big sigh. I remember being confused, since he’s normally such a composed guy, even in situations like this. But still, I ask, just like I did before.

“Oppa,” I held his right arm, trying to calm him down, “what’s wrong? Are you okay?”

He turned to me, his face looking as desperate as ever. “Mianhe, Rongie-yah,” he said apologetically, “I know how nervous you get before your promotions so I really wanted to bring you to the mountain. So you can relax, you know. So you can be happy before all the stress sets in. I even had a picnic set up, but…” he trailed off as he looked at the complete stand-still in front of us. “I completely wasted your only day-off…”

I remember being completely caught off guard by his thoughtfulness. He was busy with his own preparation for his album, so I wasn’t expecting him to do anything. But of course he would. Because he always does. I was rendered speechless by his actions, and did the only thing I could think of.

I held his hand, and smiled at him. “I’m happy, oppa. I couldn’t be happier.” I believe that he saw the satisfaction and happiness in my eyes and words, as he finally calmed down. Suddenly, the traffic wasn’t so stressful anymore.

“Chorong-ah,” Our manager, who reappeared in front of the wheel, shook me out of my own thoughts. “Are you okay?”

Still blanked out, I managed to regain my consciousness after a few blinks, “Huh? Hyunsoo-oppa? What happened? Are we there yet?”

He eked out a stifled laugh, “I wish,” he said, turning his eyes back to the road, from which we haven’t moved from. “You were spaced out for a while, smiling at nothing,”

“She’s been doing that a lot, oppa,” Namjoo quickly reported.

“Is something wrong?—,“ she managed to ask, before being interrupted by Bomi again.

“Oh look!” she squealed, pointing at the digital clock on the dashboard, “11:11! Make a wish everybody~!”

“Already? That means we’ve been here for an hour!” oppa said in disbelief, “Ugh, I wish this thing would just move already…”

“Tsk tsk tsk, you know oppa, if you say your wish out loud, it’ll never come true.” As the amused Bomi continued to pester our manager, I shut my eyes, and wished intently before the chance passed.