The first thing Joonmyeon notices when they pull away is the lady standing not far from where they stand. He looks at her in confusion – at the sadness, the tears, the pitiful look she has on her face; and when Joonmyeon glances at Jongin again, he sees the other looking at her as well before Jongin gestures for her to come closer. Joonmyeon frowns deeper at that.

“Joon, I’m sure you know her already,” Jongin says with a small smile. “But this is Jung Soojung, my girlfriend.”

Joonmyeon’s eyes widens at that. What kind of situation is this?, he wonders in bewilderment, eyes darting back and forth at his friend and his personal assistant. Soojung knew Jongin all this time? He–He has been so close yet so far from me all this time! Suddenly feeling dizzy due to his crying and the sudden surprise of Jongin’s appearance, Joonmyeon feels his head spin and he sways a little on his feet, earning a surprise yelp from Jongin who quickly snatches him by the forearm and holds him close.

“Mr Kim, are you alright?” Soojung’s voice echoes in his ears and Joonmyeon shakes his head a few time to clear his senses before looking at his personal assistant.

“Yes, I’m fine. But how… How are you both here?” he asks, tilting his head a little to look at Jongin.

Jongin’s response was to turn to his girlfriend, and Soojung takes it as a cue to explain. “Well, when you left me that voicemail last night, I was so surprised. I thought that it was a coincidence at first and I kept playing your voicemail to make sure I didn’t hear it wrong.”

Joonmyeon quickly recalls the voicemail she was talking about. He had called his PA late last night despite knowing that the woman might already been asleep then, but he needed her to do him a favour as soon as possible. Joonmyeon wanted her to dig for information in order to find Kim Jongin, the last member that they needed to find, and since Joonmyeon knows that the company have wide connections all around, he figured that Soojung would know what to do. But clearly, fate has other plans.

No surprise there, Joonmyeon thinks.

“I asked Jongin if he knew a Kim Joonmyeon, and I swear I’ve never seen him act like he did before. He looked like a guy who won the lottery or something,” she jokes, making Jongin fluster while Joonmyeon affords a small affectionate smile on his face. “Turns out I didn’t have to do any digging at all.”

“What a small world, right Joon?” Jongin asks, hugging Joonmyeon again and burying his face in the man’s shoulder. “I’m sorry for not being around, Joon. I regret it now.”

“The past is the past, Kkamjong.” Joonmyeon says to him, smiling widely when he hears the chuckle from the other. “What matters is that we’re all here.”

When Jongin pulls away, he’s smiling but there’s obvious sadness in his eyes. “Is it true, Joon? Soojung told me that Yifan’s… is Yifan dying, Joon?”

Joonmyeon lowers his gaze, swallowing hard before nodding his head. He hears the soft gasp coming from Jongin and closes his eyes. “There’s something else, Jongin.” When Jongin says nothing, he continues. “We’re pulling the machine off of him in two days.”

“Wha–What?!”

“Oh my god,” Soojung gasps from behind them. “Oh my god.”

Joonmyeon feels like crying again, but then there’s suddenly a hand on his shoulder which makes him turn to the side. He is surprised to see Yixing, but Jongin looks like he’s going to cry when he sees the other. The two quickly fall into a tight embrace, and when Yixing pulls away, he pats Jongin on the shoulder with a proud smile.

“You look really good, Kkamjong. Four years did you real good.”

“You too, Xing.”

Yixing then leans close to Joonmyeon’s side and whispers, “Yifan came into the room and told me that Jongin’s here, and he wants me to bring you guys inside.”

Joonmyeon nods then turns to the couple. “Why don’t we go inside?” Addressing Jongin alone this time, he adds, “Come on, the guys will be thrilled to see you.”

***

Things turned a little chaotic the moment Jongin stepped into the room; Chanyeol and Jongdae runs to him and traps him in a hug, almost making the poor guy fall over due to the impact, Luhan and Minseok jumps up from their seats in surprise, Kyungsoo pushes the two beagles away to save his friend but then Baekhyun tackles him with a delighted laugh before throwing himself at Jongin and kissing his face all over, Zitao is silently crying in happiness at the side while Sehun laughs at all his friends. He goes to hug Jongin once Baekhyun pulls away and sways their bodies side to side to express his joy, Yixing coming to join them – “I can’t just stand here and watch, you know” – while Joonmyeon stands beside Soojung by the door, shaking his head in amusement.

“God, they haven’t changed at all,” Joonmyeon mutters to himself before glancing at Soojung. She is staring at the scene with awe and amusement, eyes mostly kept on Jongin who’s smiling and tearing up at the same time as he’s surrounded by his friends. Joonmyeon smiles to himself. “Who knew that my PA is going out with one of my long lost friends, huh?”

Soojung turns to him and blushes a little. “I didn’t know he’s one of yours, too.”

“Jongin never spoke of us?”

“He did, but I don’t think I’ve heard him use your actual names whenever he talks about you,” Soojung says which makes him curious. She explains. “Well, there’s Camel Eyes, Unicorn, Baozi, XiaoLu… who else?”

By then, Joonmyeon has fallen into a fit of laughter and so has Yixing and Zitao who had moved closer upon seeing Soojung by the door. The others are soon laughing with them when Yixing tells them about Jongin’s nicknames for them, and Jongdae couldn’t resist from hugging the daylights out of the blushing guy.

Joonmyeon stops mid-laugh when he hears Yifan’s soft call of his name. His heart begins to pound loudly in his chest when their eyes meet; Yifan looks calm but there’s a bittersweet smile on his face which scares him. Joonmyeon pushes through the crowd, unknowingly doing so in a rather harsh and rude manner which makes them stagger back in surprise, and they all visibly pales and starts to panic when they hear Yifan’s heart monitor beeping in a rather alarming manner.

Yifan’s pulse is dropping.

“Someone get the doctor. Now!”