Squeaky clean faced now, Rachel gave herself a pep talk. This was her once upon a time best buddy. It wasn't like he was a stranger. And as a friend currently, she vowed to push any inkling of being attracted to him out of her mind. Which would be no small task. Puppy love and childhood crushes always fade away. He wasn't a stranger but she also barely knew him.

Rachel vowed to make it her business to get to know Seunghyun all over again today. It was time for a good old fashioned game of 21 questions. Casting a quick glance at herself in the mirror one last time, she flipped the door open gently.

"Yes, I'm still....living." She stumbled out in broken Korean,  jamming her hands in the pocket of her hoodie as she stopped at the edge of the bed and watched as Seunghyun pocketed his phone quickly before looking up at her with a little smile. She grinned back and noticed he was sitting cross legged, shoes off, in the exact center. Don't get too comfortable, Rachel thought to herself.

Shooting him a side eye, she teased, "You texting your girlfriend?" before perching on the corner and watching him with mock seriousness. 

Seunghyun blinked. She stared at him with such intent in those pale eyes that he felt like she was seeing into his soul and knew he was a liar. He dropped his gaze and chuckled a bit, "No, only my mom."

Knodding in approval, Rachel opened to propose playing 21 questions, but Seunghyun spoke before she could form words.

"Come here." His tone was a command, but a gentle one. 

She raised an eyebrow at him, as if to ask why. The distance was just fine with her, in fact she thought they were not any real distance apart to begin with. 
"Come on, I just want to look at you. Look," He held his hands up then put them behind his back, "That's all."

My God, you are still just as strange as an adult.

 Rachel felt her face flush as she hesitated. A memory came rushing back to her. Of her and Seunghyun sitting on a bus stop bench one chilly autumn evening, less than six months after she has arrived in Korea. He had asked her the same thing but with a genuine and childlike interest. Could he look at her eyes? He had never really seen a someone who had natural blue eyes. He told her they were the color of ice, but she had told him he was stupid because ice had no color.

Rachel scooted closer, slowly, as if she was inching towards a fire that might burn her if she drew too near it. She settled directly in front of him, happy with the good half of a foot of space still between them before she felt Seunghyun inch closer towards her until their knees touched. He nudged her chin up with his thumb until she was completely face to face with him. It was only then that Rachel noticed he must be wearing contacts, his eyes were a deep green color.

"You wear contacts?" She inquired, keeping her eyes fixed on his face as his own roved across hers.

"Sometimes." Seunghyun replied matter of factly yet not paying attention to the question, taking in all the changes that a picture couldn't do justice to. She didn't have the button nose he recalled, and she had far fewer freckles as well. Her skin was some of the whitest he had ever seen, but he remembered her as always being that way. She must straighten her hair every day, or maybe she wore it in its natural curly state usually; the straightness was mostly gone by now and the familiar spiraling tendrils s around her face. His eyes caught on a perfect little scar under her lower lip. 

Rachel in a breath but this didn't deter him. She went to turn her face away from his but he again nudged her chin back to where she face him.

"You used to have a piercing there?" 

"Oh that, " She grinned, "I had it for a while. During my goth phase. You have any? I mean besides your ears."

He shook his head and finally leaned back, and Rachel sighed with open relief. 

"Now what if I asked to come stare at your face like that?" 

"Being stared at doesn't bother me."

Rachel decided that there was no need to really officially ask if they would play 21 questions, maybe it was better to just go with it and see how it went.

"So what does bother you?"

Seunghyun cocked his head to the side a bit, trying to figure out if her question was a sarcastic one or a real one. 

"Crowds of people, you know, the type that are so tight that strangers touch you. I hate it. Are we playing that question game and I just didn't realize it?"

She knodded and gestured towards him to ask her something. He paused a few seconds, because he wanted to ask something good. Something really deep. He had it, but he would ask that later on. 

"What's your most embarassing moment so far?" Seunghyun asked.

"Easy. I fell down the auditorium stairs on the first day of my first university class. Not just fell but pretty much rolled down them. I wanted lightening to strike me dead right there so I never had to go back and face everyone."

"I've got one, "She continued, "What do you like to do, hobbies and for fun?"

"I like to travel, so I travel a lot, " he stated, since this was actually the truth, "And when I'm not travelling I collect action figures and paintings."

"You collect toys?"

"I do." Seunghyun replied.

"OK, I suppose everyone has their thing. I have a collection of shoes and some people think its crazy too."

"How crazy?"

"You mean how many pairs I have?" Rachel asked, and started to mentally count them, "I think I have 40, at least. I've lost track and so has my bank account."

Seunghyun wouldn't have guessed this. He wondered if Rachel was high maintenance, even if she didn't strike him as such. They passed the time asking each other random things, serious things and crazy what if things. What if you could visit any of the planets, which one and why? Seunghyun said he would pick Mars, since it was always in the movies anyway. Rachel said she would go to Saturn to see the planet's rings. Favorite color? He liked pink, which made Rachel laugh out loud only to follow up with saying it probably suited him well. She told him she liked green because it was the color that looked best on her super pale complexion. 

"What do you think would have happened if I stayed in Korea? You ever wonder, ever think about that?" Rachel asked out loud, as much to herself as to Seunghyun.

 
"I think I wouldn't have to be getting to know you all over again if you stayed." He stated.

She agreed, "True. Who knows, maybe we would have ended up being highschool sweethearts. Or maybe we would have broken each others heart instead and ended up hating one another, plus any possibility in between those two."

"You ever break any hearts?" Seunghyun grinned and leaned forward, resting his chin in his hands, elbows on his knees like a little kid. Rachel shrugged.

"Nope. I got dumped the last time, so it was me being broken."

"When was that?"

She told him it was about three and a half years ago. "He dumped me for someone who I considered a friend at that time. So I've been avoiding men ever since."

"So nothing for over three years, no dates, no nothing, seriously?"

"Seriously. I'm pretty good at being single," Rachel explained, "I'm to the point that I've basically forgotten what its like to not be. I'll need training wheels whenever I get back into dating."

"So if I ask you on a date....would you go?" Seunghyun had this in mind for a while now, but the fact that it just rolled out of his mouth killed him. He wanted to be able to rewind time and shake himself, tell himself to shut the up and remind himself that he had a girlfriend and her name was Minhee. But another part of him no longer cared. That part of him wanted to be an and send Minhee a text saying nothing more than its over, but he couldn't bring himself to do this either. 

"Are you for real?" Rachel eyed him as he stretched his arms out into the air. He knodded at her and gave a little smirk, which made her giggle and shake her head in disbelief. 

"In that case,Seunghyun, I would accept for old time's sake."

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(A short update before the big stuff. Comment and let me know what you guys think so far!! I'm back from visiting my family at last, so updates are on point from now on ^^)