Da-Jeong pushed her way through the busy airport crowds, shoving her way towards where she knew her sister was waiting to meet her. She was practically buzzing with excitement at the idea of seeing Mi-Na again after so long, it had been much too long and she was missing that much needed sisterly banter they always had going-

Her thoughts were cut short by the slam of a body crashing into hers.

“YOU ,” Mi-Na all but yelled as she threw herself at Da-Jeong.

“Says the queen o’ herself,” Da-Jeong laughed as she shoved Mi-Na away.

“So, where’s my gift from England??” Mi-Na immediately asked, grabbing Da-jeong’s arm as they made their way out of the airport.

“Pfft, who even says I got you a gift from England, I’m only there studying, it’s not a holiday Mi-Na,” Da-Jeong rolled her eyes, adjusting her hold on her suitcase.

“Yeah okay not a holiday but where’s my gift?” She grinned taking one of Da-Jeong’s bags over her own shoulder. Da-Jeong sighed but pulled a small bag out from behind her back and handed it to a squealing Mi-Na. “I knew you got me a gift!” She shouted with a huge grin, all but running through the car park so she could throw the bags in the car and open her gift.

“Yah! Mi-Na, slow down!” Da-Jeong panted. She eventually reached the car and managed to throw her suitcase and other bags in the back before jumping into the passenger seat. She looked at Mi-Na who was sat in the drivers seat gripping her gift. “Yes, you can open it,” Da-Jeong sighed with a mocking roll of her eyes. Mi-Na squealed again as she tore the bag open to reveal a cheap London snow globe which held Big Ben and the London Eye inside with cheap sparkly glitter for snow. In addition to that, there was also a small leather bracelet because Da-jeong knew how she liked to collect things she could tie around her ankles from other places.

“Yeahhh booyyy, you got me a snow globe for my collection and a BRACELET FOR MY ANKLE YEESSSS!” Mi-Na slapped Da-Jeong’s thigh repeatedly in excitement before hugging her so fast she didn’t even have the chance to shove her away.

The car journey home continued like this, Mi-Na yelling in excitement and slapping at Da-Jeong’s leg and Da-Jeong yelling at Mi-Na to focus on the damn driving.

Even the reunion with her family was loud and involved Mi-Na screaming in excitement. Although this lasted for all but five minutes before Mi-Na seemed to decide she’d shown her face for long enough and disappeared back into her bedroom to keep watching whatever trashy horror movie she had started this time. Da-Jeong released an amused breath and shook her head, clearly nothing had changed in the time that she had been gone.

Eventually everything settled down and the rest of the afternoon continued into the evening as though she had never left.

~~~

The following day Da-Jeong smiled as she went about her usual morning activities, it really felt as if nothing had changed. The sound of her mum panicking and rushing her youngest sister Soon-Ae out the door was an oh-so-familiar morning routine, things really hadn’t changed while she had been gone. Soon-Ae was practically incapable of leaving for school on time, she never had a valid excuse, she simply liked to push the boundaries of how slowly she could get ready.

Da-Jeong wasn’t surprised to find that the house was quiet when she got out of the shower, everyone had already left. On returning to her room she found an envelope resting on her pillow.

“TaeTae? Taehyung?” She called out, eyebrows creased in confusion as she picked up the envelope. She shrugged her shoulders when no reply came and assumed he had disappeared on fairy business or something. On opening the envelope she found instructions scrawled messily on paper and signed off by her mum. It seemed Da-Jeong was going to be hunting down oranges for her mum but oh no, it could never be average supermarket fruit, no she had to go to a specific independent store that no one had ever heard of because things with her mum could never be easy. She rolled her eyes and groaned but got ready quickly nonetheless, the sooner she found the shop, the sooner she could come home and do nothing.

Da-Jeong grumbled to herself incoherently as she followed the uncharacteristically messy handwritten directions of her mother. She didn’t even know where she was supposed to be going, all she knew was that she had found an envelope on her bed from her mother asking her to go collect a real specific kind of orange from some obscure store she wasn’t even sure existed. She continued to follow these instructions down a quieter street, a few people sat outside a small pink café, others were exiting a small supermarket. The street was so small there was no drivable road, only a pretty cobblestone path way. Da-Jeong looked again at the instructions, ‘continue up the street’, where was this even taking her? She had never even been here before-

Her thoughts were cut off when she slammed straight into another body.

“Ah! I’m so sorry! I wasn’t looking where I was going I-” Da-Jeonghan choked on her last word as she stared up at the face before her.

“Sorry, it’s my fault, I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going,” Jeonghan apologised, patting your shoulder to smooth out the ruffled t-shirt. “I was trying to follow these instructions,” he explained, holding up a crumpled sheet similar to that which Da-Jeong held.

“I was literally doing the same thing man,” Da-Jeong gathered herself and held up her own sheet. She couldn’t believe she had somehow managed to bump into Yoon Jeonghan in the street, her heart was racing but she sure as hell wasn’t going to let on that it was. “My mum left me these instructions telling me where to go and honestly I’m not even sure I’m reading her handwriting correctly, I have no clue where I’m going,” Da-Jeong chuckled, waving her instructions next to Jeonghan’s.

“It’s funny, my buddy also left these instructions in some ominous envelope on my bed and I haven’t heard of the place but he wants some real specific kind of orange??” Jeonghan laughed.

“Dude no way, we’re literally after the same thing- hang on, look at this,” Da-Jeong pulled Jeonghan’s wrist so that his instructions were next to hers. “The same bad handwriting, what the hell- oh…” her eyes widened as she realised this was Taehyung’s doing. Her mind flash backed to the last time he left her a note reminding her not to forget her art portfolio.

“Hey I didn’t even notice, that’s so weird,” Jeonghan agreed, seeming not to notice Da-Jeong’s eyes of realisation. He moved closer so that their shoulders brushed as he looked at the two sheets put together, he didn’t seem to notice the way her heart sped up at the slight contact. “So, you haven’t-” he was cut off by a girl’s high pitched squeal which became a group of at least three squealing girls. He winced before grabbing Da-Jeong’s wrist and dragging her into the nearest supermarket, weaving through shelves of vegetables until he came out the other side of the store into a another quiet street. He dragged Da-Jeong behind him until they both stood pressed against the wall in silence, watching the doors of the supermarket for the three squealing girls. One popped her head out the door but on seeing they weren’t in the street, she didn’t bother to look left to where they both stood and instead went back into the store and complained to her friend’s that he had disappeared.

Jeonghan let out a sigh and let his shoulders slump in a more relaxed manner. On realising he still held Da-Jeong’s wrist, he also dropped that.

“Um, what the hell was that?” Da-Jeong turned to Jeonghan with a raised eyebrow.

“Ah, sorry, those girls, they uh, they’re fa- admirers, yeah admirers, they follow me and a few other friends around a lot… don’t get me wrong, I appreciate that they, uh, admire me, but sometimes I just need some time where they aren’t constantly following me, where I can just be an average guy doing average orange shopping,” he explained, almost joking near the end. It was in that moment that Da-Jeong decided she definitely would not be letting on that she knew who he was unless he told her himself because clearly he didn’t need another fan girl coming at him. She was going to approach Jeonghan as a normal guy with the prettiest hair.

“Admirers? Okay… I mean sure you’re a pretty lad and all but that’s kind of weird… Although that’s so not what I meant, it’s all well and fine for you to be running away from screaming girls but why did you drag me with you?” Da-Jeong looked at him through creased eyebrows.

“Oh… well I guess I didn’t think out conversation was over?” He softly rubbed the back of his neck almost nervously. Was Yoon Jeonghan actually getting nervous talking to her?? Da-Jeong’s heart fluttered.

“Oh! Oh okay, well I mean it wasn’t, I- I guess I didn’t realise you’d want to keep talking to me,” Da-Jeong stuttered, pulling at the corners of her paper.

“Well why wouldn’t I?” He gave Da-Jeong a puzzled look.

“I-I don’t know- y’know what shut up, I’m Da-Jeong, nice to meet you!” She didn’t like how nervous she was getting so she quickly changed the topic and stuck out her hand to shake.

“Nice to meet you Da-Jeong, I’m Jeonghan,” he grinned, taking her hand.

“Well Jeonghan, can I just say you have very pretty hair,” she smiled, gazing up at his hair which was currently a pale blonde that just brushed the tops of his ears. She had liked it a lot back when it was long but honestly she thought anything would look beautiful on him, whatever was most comfortable for him was what was most important.

“Thank you! I get that a lot,” he paused to sweep his hair back dramatically, causing Da-Jeong to let out a loud snort, “I like your hair too,” he smirked.

“Yeah, yeah, I also get that a lot,” Da-Jeong imitated his dramatic hair sweep mockingly. He laughed and she inwardly applauded herself.

“So Da-Jeong, how about we go find these specific oranges together?” He suggested, holding up his instruction sheet.

“Or… how about we ditch the oranges and just go straight for coffee?” Da-Jeong grinned, folding up her sheet and stuffing it in her pocket.

“Ohh I like your thinking, anywhere in particular?” He questioned, also shoving his paper into his pocket. Da-Jeong nodded, thinking about the small pink café she had passed earlier.