It’s a delight whenever Kyuhyun finds time to join us. Once he relaxes enough to start responding to my teasing, the rest of my friends seem to be constantly torn between joyfully joining us and wondering how quickly they can get rid of Kyuhyun again because of his sharp tongue, but it’s always friendly teasing, so I’m absolutely comfortable with it and since I’ve had many conversations with Hyukjae already that went more or less the same way, I know the others don’t really mind it.

Kyuhyun is in the middle of starting his acting career – Jungsu mentioned what exactly he’s doing but I always forget because work is busy again lately – when for one of our meetings Kyuhyun texts us through the group on KakaoTalk that all of us are in, asking if one of his colleagues could come along. When he mentions the name, I realize I’ve never heard of her, but Hyukjae and Donghae are immediately in fanboy mode, so I guess she must be more or less well known.

When I arrive at the café, Jungsu, Hyukjae, and Donghae are already talking about this actress who’s supposed to join us today, so I simply order and then go sit with them in my normal spot between Donghae and Jungsu.

“- and she’s so cute, I’m sure she’ll do a really good job as the female lead!” Donghae says and nods as if to confirm his own words.

“I have absolutely no doubt about that,” Jungsu agrees and Hyukjae continues immediately.

“Ah, I’m so glad that Kyuhyun brings her along! I definitely have to go to the cinema when their movie comes out!”

“Let’s all go together!”

“No, I don’t want Jungsu here stealing everyone’s attention from the movie,” Hyukjae replies and sticks his tongue out at our friend.

“Yah, it’s not my fault that I’m so popular!” he immediately defends himself.

“Well, actually….” I reply and trail off, laughing when Jungsu throws me a death glare. “Don’t look at me like that, we can’t risk your fans finding out you're just a normal human and not… What are they calling you again?”

“An angel,” Jungsu fills in with a soft sigh.

“Exactly.”

“I still can’t get over this angel and devil thing,” Donghae replies while shaking his head and we all laugh. It’s true, it’s quite funny that the fans compare Jungsu to an angel and Kyuhyun to a devil, and I’m pretty sure many fans will also use that in their fanfictions.

“Me neither,” Hyukjae replies and laughs next to him.

The screams of fans outside the café announce Saeun and Kyuhyun’s arrival and we all turn towards the entrance. A moment later, the door is opened and a young really cute looking woman enters followed by Kyuhyun. They go to the counter first and I can see them talking a little about what they should take while Ryeowook plainly stares at them, obviously starstruck. His colleague is faster to recover from the appearance of two celebrities instead of just one and she takes their order, this time handing out a piece of cake to each of the two newcomers. I wonder whether it’s their cheat day or if there is a different motivation to their actions, but then I ban that thought from my mind again, figuring they’ll tell us if they want us to know.

When they come over to us, I glance at the others and judging from what I can see of their arms, Hyukjae and Donghae are holding hands beneath the table, their cute excitement making me smile.

Kyuhyun sits down in his usual spot next to Jungsu, so Saeun sits down between him and Hyukjae and then bows softly. “Hello, my name is Kim Saeun,” she introduces herself with a shy smile. We make a quick introduction round and I can tell how nervous Hyukjae is to sit next to the actress whom he adores.

“If I may ask, how come you join us for today?” Donghae asks curiously.

Saeun looks at him and puts on a soft smile. “Kyuhyun and I aren’t part of the scenes they’re filming right now, so Kyuhyun talked the staff into allowing him to leave. I didn’t have anything to do either, so he managed to get the same allowance for me,” she replies, but I have a feeling there’s more to it than just simply hanging out with a colleague’s friends in a more comfortable place than the studios. Whatever that is, though, she doesn’t want to tell us.

“Equally important: Kyuhyun, are you finally allowed to eat cake today or is it some kind of cheat day for you today?” Hyukjae asks the exact question I’ve also been wondering about.

Kyuhyun chuckles and shrugs it off. “I just never felt like eating sweet stuff before. I thought you’d eat enough for all of us anyway,” he teases Hyukjae in a blatant lie, but my friend doesn’t seem to see through it right away because he instead responds to the tease.

“Yah! When you guys never eat sweet stuff, someone else has to make sure this café won’t go bankrupt after all!”

“But why do you take the burden on all by yourself? Don’t you think the other guests here will also be able to outweigh the pieces of cake we don’t eat? And I mean, especially since I’ve started coming here, there are a lot more customers,” Kyuhyun challenges Hyukjae and I click my tongue.

“Seriously, Kyuhyun, stop disillusioning Hyukkie and telling him he doesn’t raise their profit. The café actually might go bankrupt without him.”

“Fine, then you’ll all have to starve soon,” Hyukjae replies and I look over in surprise to see Donghae stiffen. A moment later, Hyukjae freezes as well. I lean forward, serious again, intrigued because of the sudden topic change that has gone from mindless bantering to something like… moving?

“Hyukjae?” Jungsu asks as well and I’m certain he also leaned forward. “What aren’t you telling us?”

I can see Hyukjae exchange a quick glance with Donghae, then the latter straightens. “We meant to tell you guys once everything’s official and…” He huffs. “I had also hoped that at least Sungmin and Yunho would be here, too… But well… So…. Where do I start?”

“How about in October?” Hyukjae suggests and Donghae nods.

“Last year in October, my university held a job event where a company I’ve been interested in had a booth as well. I chatted with them for a while and not much later I got an email from them asking me to come in for a job interview. This January, I got the answer that I could start working for them after my graduation.”

“That’s wonderful!” Jungsu replies and I can hear the bright smile in his voice.

I nod as well. “Congratulations, Donghae.”

“Congrats,” Kyuhyun also says but adds, “What does this have to do with this café going bankrupt now?”

Donghae looks down and bites his lip. “The company has its headquarters in Busan where I will also be working which will be nice because it’s closer to my hometown than this, but it also means that I will leave you guys.” He glances up at Hyukjae who nods at him and then looks at us, smiling in a cutely insecure manner. “Actually, it means that we will leave you guys. Hyukjae and I will move in together when we go to Busan.”

I look back and forth between the two of them who have blushed a soft shade of red and I can’t help the bright smile breaking out of me. “Really? That’s amazing! Congratulations!”

“Do you guys already know where exactly you’ll be living?” Kyuhyun asks further.

“What about you, Hyukjae? Do you already know where you’ll be working?” Leeteuk asks and just like that, a whole flood of questions has been started.

“How will you be moving?”

“You’ll still come visit us a lot, won’t you?”

“You guys have to come, you can’t just stop supporting our café!”

“Why has it even taken you so long to tell us!?”

“How many bedrooms do you want to have?”

“Will you live close to the ocean?”

“Does that mean you will finally meet Donghae’s parents, Hyukkie?”

“Don’t forget about us!” Kyuhyun eventually calls out and Jungsu and I join in immediately.

“Yes, don’t forget about us!”

Finally, Hyukjae breaks out into relieved laughter and I can see that even Saeun is smiling, probably amused and confused at what she’s witnessing right now.

“How could we ever forget you guys?” Donghae eventually answers for his boyfriend.

“It’s not like you’d give us the chance to forget you anyway,” Hyukjae points out and we laugh even more because we know it’s true, we’ll probably end up bothering them via KakaoTalk until they’ll ponder on blocking us.

“This calls for a group hug!” Kyuhyun exclaims and we all get up, enthralled by the idea, then the three of us squeeze Hyukjae and Donghae in our middle, still laughing.

Eventually, we all calm down, but we don’t move out of the hug for another while, feeling way too comfortable despite knowing that we’re in public.

“I’ll miss you guys terribly much,” Hyukjae mumbles eventually and by the sound of his voice I can tell he’s fighting back tears.

“We’ll miss you, too,” I respond quietly and suddenly I realize that I honestly can’t imagine what it’ll be like here without Hyukjae and Donghae. It’ll probably just be Jungsu and me then and when one of us gets busy… Somehow it has never occurred to me before that our small round here could ever break apart, that something like one of us moving away should ever be possible, but here we are now, not yet saying goodbye, but having found out that there will be a goodbye not too long from now.

When we eventually do sit down, we’ve all calmed sobered up. “Donghae, tell us more about what your life in Busan will be like,” Jungsu asks softly and Donghae nods and straightens a little.

“Well, my contract officially starts on January 1^st, but I arranged to have the first week off so Hyukjae and I would have enough time to move to Busan,” he starts and then tells us about the company he wants to work at and what he will most likely be doing once he’s there. I’m sure Hyukjae already knows all of this, but he listens just as intently as the rest of us does and there's a sparkle in his eyes that shows me again how much in love those two are and how happy Hyukjae is for his boyfriend. I smile softly while I listen to Donghae telling us about his future, his fears and his dreams, answering our questions dutifully and calmly until he excuses himself to continue studying for his finals at the end of this year.

While I watch him leave that day, I realize how short the time we have left together really is and how used I have become to seeing him every week. It will be lonely here without Hyukjae and Donghae…

I don’t know whether Kyuhyun just drags her along, if she maybe just wants to figure out why exactly Kyuhyun apparently speaks highly of us, or if Saeun really does enjoy meeting up with us, but she joins us every time Kyuhyun comes to meet us while they’re shooting their movie. When Sungmin and Yunho find out about this, they immediately say that they also want to join us the next time Kyuhyun and Saeun both come and Yunho tells us that even Jaejoong wants to come along, making me wonder if I should just tell Kyuhyun to bring fellow celebrities as often as possible if that means that I get to see Jaejoong more often.

Jungsu’s popularity increases as well and even though I’m happy for him, it also has its downsides. He gets his personal bodyguard who comes inside with us even though he’ll sit at a different table than us. Sadly, it also means that Jungsu has less time for us now because different shows want him to work as an MC.

Another downside is that our formerly so cozy café is getting more and more popular among fans as well because they know that Jungsu will be here and that Kyuhyun and currently also Saeun can be seen here quite frequently as well. I’m almost expecting Ryeowook or his uncle to approach us one day and tell us that we can’t meet here anymore because things are getting out of hand, but so far neither has approached us, therefore I spot new equipment, so I think they’re using the extra income to enable faster production and probably also to employ more people. While it makes me happy on the one hand, I’m also a little sad because the comfortable and laid-back atmosphere is slowly getting replaced by a busier and faster pace that I also know from other cafés. We have to make reservations now for our group, a fact that still irritates me because I’m not used to it at all.

In all this, I’m almost waiting for one of the bodyguards or the managers or whoever from my friends’ companies to step up and announce that we should meet in a more private place to make sure no bad information or pictures or whatever will be revealed of them, but it seems like so far either the fans are nice enough to indeed mostly give us our privacy or they just don’t find enough scandalous information to forbid us to meet in Ryeowook’s Café.

On the day when Sungmin, Yunho, and Jaejoong join us as well, I’m the first to arrive at our table. I’ve taken some work with me so I was able to leave early and I’m now looking over designs for short, colorful dresses, shirts, and skirts that don’t seem to match the cold weather outside at all. I heard that the first snow is supposed to fall this week and I’m torn between looking forward to it and not wanting it to be real because it means the time for Hyukjae and Donghae to depart is getting that much closer.

“Hyung, you’re here early,” someone greets me and when I look up, I see Sungmin.

I flash him a warm smile and nod. “Yes, I am. I was allowed to leave early, therefore I promised to work a bit from home.”

“May I see?”

“Of course.” I take the paper from the top and push the rest of the stack over to Sungmin to look at them while I continue to work on the top one, trying to figure out whether it would or wouldn’t sell well, what colors might need to be revised, if the pattern is good or if it should be changed, if the length is appropriate and can become trendy… There’s always so much to consider…

“I really like this one here,” Sungmin points at a plain skirt that hadn’t caught my attention until now.

“That one? Why?” I look at it more closely and realize that I probably wouldn’t have put too much on an emphasis on it.

“If made with the right fabric, it will probably be really comfortable and it’ll flow in a way that it’ll always emphasize curves, no matter whether they’re there or not. And since it doesn’t have a fancy design, it can easily be released in various, simple colors. Not only this dark blue here but also in a dark red, in black… And…” He looks up. “May I?” I nod and put my pencil into his waiting hand. He draws a few plain lines that nevertheless look really good when he does it. “We could add adjustable straps that can also be taken off, then the skirt can be combined to a jumper skirt. We can also think about putting different colors of straps on the market, depending on how good they sell, so the straps can be combined however those young women and girls want to do it.”

I nod and demand the sheet and my pencil back, then I quickly scribble down notes to what Sungmin said on the backside of the paper. “I really like your idea. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome~”

“What are you two doing there?” a voice comes from behind us and both of us jump. I quickly collect the designs and turn them around so they won’t be seen. My boss definitely wouldn’t approve of me just showing around the designs!

“Heechul-hyung brought some work here and just worked on that. I gave him a few tips, that’s all,” Sungmin explains while I put the designs into their folder and then into my bag again.

“We’re not allowed to see any?” Hyukjae asks and pouts lightly, but Sungmin and I both shake our heads.

“Sorry, Hyukkie, but they’re supposed to stay private until we publish them. You know, copyright, rivalry, etc.” I grimace before I lean back and relax. “Donghae’s coming late again?”

“Yeah, he uses every little bit of time I allow him to study.” He chuckles and sits down next to me.

“At least he doesn’t protest anymore that you require him to sleep at your place during the weekends and keep him from studying for a little while at night,” I reply and when Hyukjae nods, I can see how grateful he is for that.

“I’m so glad he lets me spoil him a little in the evenings and then for breakfast… Therefore he had me agree on not bothering him throughout the days while he’s studying in the library. Do you have any idea how hard it is to know you can’t text your boyfriend and you can’t take him out on dates either?”

“Must be so hard when you’re about to move in with him,” I reply with fake pity in my voice and Hyukjae immediately brightens up.

Sungmin on my other side looks at us in confusion. “Guys, pause. What did I miss?” Hyukjae excitedly tells Sungmin about Donghae’s future job in Busan but has to start over again when Yunho and Jaejoong, who are just as clueless as Sungmin was, join us. All three of them congratulate Hyukjae and he beams even more.

“Heechul, what will you guys do when those two are gone?” Yunho asks and looks at me curiously.

I shrug and then can’t help but grin when a thought crosses my mind. “Seems like you guys just have to come over more often. Since those guys there,” I nod towards the three empty chairs between Jaejoong and Sungmin, “are getting more and more popular, they won’t be able to join me here often. And of course that means someone else has to take their spot.”

“Alright, I’ll try to make more time for you,” Sungmin promises immediately.

I look at my busiest friend expectantly. “Jaejoong, your turn.”

He waves of and laughs softly. “I’m sorry, hyung, but I can’t promise that.”

“You can even find time whenever celebrities join us. Why can’t you just make time for me?”

“Why don’t you just become a celebrity? Then I’ll come here every time.”

“Challenge accepted.” I grin at Jaejoong who grins back at me while Yunho next to him laughs. We’re all aware that this is never gonna happen, but it feels good to still be able to fool around with my friend from high school whom I see so rarely lately.

“Guess who~” someone asks excitedly next to me and when I glance over, I see Donghae has approached his boyfriend from behind and now covers his eyes, making Hyukjae laugh.

“There’s only one person who would do this.”

“Aish, I need to think of a new method then,” Donghae replies and flops down on the chair between Hyukjae and Yunho.

“Need coffee or are you doing fine?” Hyukjae asks with a knowing smile and Donghae brightens up immediately.

“Oh yes, please, can I get a coffee?”

The slightly older one laughs and gets up. “C’mon, let’s go,” he says and holds his hand out for Donghae to take. The younger one instantly accepts the offer and allows his boyfriend to pull him back up, then they walk towards the counter, still without letting go of each other.

Fans squeal outside and a few seconds later, Kyuhyun and Saeun enter the café together and for the first time, Saeun’s thread catches my attention because it shows exactly in my direction. Well, almost. I briefly glance at Sungmin and smile when I see the thread on his right wrist moving lightly as Saeun makes her way to the counter with Kyuhyun. Well, this is interesting, I think to myself and a moment later I can’t help but wonder how this will work out and I quickly decide to leave it up to fate completely with these two. No, celebrity relationships attract too much attention and I know Sungmin has decided to enter the military service next year, following some family tradition of starting the military service at 24, a tradition I have to admit I never really understood. I’m glad I’ve already completed it right after high school together with Jungsu.

Hyukjae, Donghae, Kyuhyun, and Saeun make their way over to us and Kyuhyun sits down on the middle seat of the three empty chairs. Saeun sits down between him and Sungmin, greeting him with a soft smile and the bow of her head.

“Is Jungsu not here yet?” Kyuhyun asks with a confused glance towards the empty chair.

“No, he’s not here yet,” I reply and briefly check my phone, but he also hasn’t texted me or the group to announce that he’ll be running late. I frown a little and quickly type in a text message, asking him when he’ll get here, then I leave my phone in my hand while I wait for him to reply.

While we wait, the ones of us who haven’t met Saeun in person yet introduce themselves and she introduces herself as well. In time with Saeun ending her speech, my phone buzzes and I glance at it, unable to stop my lips from forming a grin. “Guys, no need to worry, he was just held up while filming. He said they just finished now and that he will text me again whenever the staff allows him to leave the building.”

“Ah, that’s good to hear,” Kyuhyun replies and leans back, relaxing now that he knows why Jungsu hasn’t joined us yet.

“It’s good to know that he wouldn’t miss out on our meeting,” Donghae replies and when I look over at him, he happily sips his coffee and smiles.

“Oh come on, you only really care whether Hyukjae is here or not,” Kyuhyun argues in amusement.

“Well, you’re also only here because of Jungsu-hyung,” Donghae deadpans and seems to realize as well a moment later how dangerous that comment is.

I quickly glance over at Kyuhyun and even though I can tell he’s a little more tense now, he shrugs casually. “Of course I’m only here because of him. If it wasn’t for Jungsu, you guys would have to miss out on me, so I think you should rather be happy that he talked me into joining you guys,” he replies.

“Let’s be honest, if Heechul-hyung and I weren’t colleagues, I also wouldn’t be here,” Sungmin reasons, saving the situation like that without putting some kind of weird emphasis on the ‘colleagues’ part and I silently thank him for that.

“These are too many ‘if’s, guys. Let’s just be happy that we’re all here and together,” Hyukjae finishes the topic and raises his coffee mug, acting like he uses it to toast towards us, then he drinks a bit of his coffee.

“By the way, will you guys still be here for the international New Year’s?” Yunho asks Hyukjae and Donghae, both of them shake their heads.

“No, we’ll actually spend Christmas with my parents and my older brother and then we’ll stay in the south. We might hang out with a few of my high school friends for New Year’s or maybe we’ll also spend it with my family, I don’t know yet,” Donghae explained quietly.

“We’ll take everything we want to be moved to their place first. They said they know a place where we can leave all the stuff until the January 1^st,” Hyukjae adds and I can tell he’s trying not to look too excited because while he is looking forward to that step, we are actually sad to see him go.

“But then you have to call me on my birthday, alright?” Sungmin asks and leans forward a little. “Pretty, pretty, please, guys!”

“Of course we’ll call you,” Hyukjae promises immediately, making Sungmin smile again.

“Alright, then it’s good.”

“It’s a shame that you guys won’t be here to celebrate the international New Year’s with us,” I reply but gently nudge Hyukjae next to me who’s mood is slowly getting dragged down. “But don’t worry, Hyukkie, alright? Just take lots of pictures and send them to us, then we’ll miss you guys a little less.”

Hyukjae looks at me and smiles gratefully. “We will. You guys won’t know what to do with all the pictures you’ll get.”

“I need a change of wallpaper anyway, so I think I’ll use them for that,” a voice behind me says and I look up to see my best friend just reaching our table and dropping down on the chair between Jaejoong and Kyuhyun.

“Yah! You said you’d text me!” I complain immediately, but when Jungsu shakes his head dismissively, I raise an eyebrow, waiting for an explanation.

“My manager yelled at me when I tried to text you, then he continued to tell me about how busy my schedule is and that coming here is not a good idea.”

“If you need help convincing him, let me know. I’m a pro at getting what I want from managers,” Kyuhyun replies with a grin and Saeun next to him nods.

“He is! If he weren’t, I wouldn’t be here right now. And he probably wouldn’t be either.”

Kyuhyun laughs and nods. “Yeah, that’s true. Aren’t you gonna get anything today?”

Jungsu shakes his head. “I don’t think so. Today’s been stressful.”

“Just one more reason why you should eat,” I respond and lean forward a little. “Unless you’re broke and in that case I’d treat you?” I read somewhere that celebrities don’t get a lot of money when they start their career, oftentimes they don’t get any money at all and are supposed to be happy that housing will be provided for them, so I assume that Jungsu’s at a similar point to that right now even though he’s not a trainee and his popularity is rising more and more.

Jungsu shakes his head, though. “That’s not it.”

“So they’re forcing you on a diet?” In the brief moment that our eyes meet before he begins to object, I can already see that I’m right, so I cut him off immediately, “Park Jungsu, here’s a promise to you from your best friend: If I see that you’re losing too much weight, I’ll make you eat no matter what your agencies say and I won’t shy away from getting kicked out and being told not to see you or Kyuhyun or anyone else from your star level anymore, do you understand?”

“Heechul, it’s not that bad.”

“That’s a result I have yet to see. I don’t trust these entertainments and agencies.”

“Hyung, can you also put in a good word for me?” Kyuhyun speaks up and leans forward a little to make eye contact with me. “They’re letting us starve even more because we’re performing, MCs still have it easier than we do.”

“Jungsu’s my higher priority, though,” I warn him but agree nevertheless because I don’t want him to suffer either. I probably wouldn’t be able to do anything but treat them for some cake or hot chocolate or whatever, but I know that deed alone will already make me feel better about their health if I see them lose too much weight.

“That’s fine, thank you~” the youngest among us replies and when he beams at me, I can’t help but smile as well. It’s quite rare to see him smile like this, most of the time he’s rather grinning when we’re fooling around, but this smile makes me really happy because I think it means that he’s fully relaxed while he’s with us.

Afterwards, several chats develop around the table as is usually the case when bigger groups meet. While I mostly chat with Hyukjae and Donghae but also with the others depending on the conversation going on, I notice that Saeun and Sungmin are mostly part of the same chats and that they seem to get along really well, leaving me torn between happiness for them that fate seems to be playing in their cards and wanting to warn Sungmin not to go for this, to take his time. There’s only so little time left before his military service…

Time passes way too quickly and before I know it, it’s a day before Christmas. I will stay in my small town until tomorrow, then I’ll go to Seoul where we’ll be celebrating Christmas at my grandmother’s place. Since she and her husband said they’d prefer to celebrate at home because they don’t want to travel so far anymore, we celebrate both Christmas and New Year’s at their place most of the time. My other grandparents usually come along from the town where I grew up to meet with all of us in Seoul.

But for now, we’ve gathered at the train station. Kyuhyun wasn’t able to come due to work, but Jungsu managed to sneak away, Yunho, Jaejoong, Sungmin, Hyukjae’s friends Junsu and Shindong as well as some of Donghae’s friends from college whom I’ve only met at a few occasions are here as well, so we’re a rather large group of people on the comparably too small railway station.

Donghae’s and Hyukjae’s belongings have been picked up this morning by a moving company, so now their moving boxes and the furniture they want to take along are already on the way to Mokpo while Hyukjae and Donghae stand in front of us with bags containing their last personal belongings. They will take the train to Seoul’s central station and then go south from there.

“I can’t believe you guys are really leaving us,” I say softly as I watch the couple in front of us. Hyukjae’s been one of my friends since high school, somehow I can’t believe how much he’s really grown up in all that time even though I’m just three years older than he is. And Donghae… It’s only been two and a half years now but I still find it difficult to understand how much he has also grown and matured during this time. While I met the boys they used to be, I can now say for sure that I’m saying goodbye to two young men.

“Come visit us from time to time,” one of Donghae’s friends adds.

“And don’t forget to send pictures,” Sungmin throws in.

“I’ll come visit you guys when I’m in Busan again,” another one of Donghae’s friends promises.

“I’ll also come visit you guys when I’m in the South again.” Since my parents are actually from the South, I know that I will go there sooner or later and I will definitely have to pay Hyukjae and Donghae a visit when I’m there anyway.

“Arrival on platform 2, train to Seoul central station, departure at 7:52AM,” a voice announces through the speakers. I briefly glance into the direction from which the train is supposed to arrive but it’s not in sight yet.

“Seems like it’s time to say goodbye,” Donghae says quietly and puts his bag down, then he hugs all of us one by one. Hyukjae follows his example and by the time he gets to Sungmin, he’s already crying. When Hyukjae and Donghae are done and shoulder their bags again, the train is already in sight. Donghae takes his boyfriend’s hand while the older wipes away his tears, trying to keep his composure, I see the bright, golden thread connecting them, strong, sparkling with the love they feel, radiant even, and it makes me incredibly happy that both of them have found each other, even though I helped a little, and that they got along so well immediately.

I tear my eyes away and look into their faces instead when Jungsu speaks up. “Take care of yourselves, both of you. Text us when you arrive in Mokpo, alright?”

“We’ll text you nonstop,” Donghae promises with a bright smile and finally Hyukjae also manages to smile again.

“I’ll miss you guys,” Junsu speaks up and we all nod, some of us repeat his words.

“We’ll miss you, too,” Hyukjae and Donghae reply, then we’re silenced for a moment by the train arriving.

Once it has come to a hold, Jaejoong steps up to them once more and hands over a small box. “This is for your way so you won’t get too hungry.”

Hyukjae takes the box and I can see new tears escaping his eyes at the sweet gesture, but he quickly wipes them away. “Thank you, hyung. I’ll miss you.”

Jaejoong smiles knowingly as he steps back and naturally takes Yunho’s hand without even looking for it. “Don’t miss us too much. I want to hear many happy things from you guys, alright?”

Hyukjae nods and Donghae waves towards us one more time. “I think we need to get on now. Goodbye, guys. We’ll definitely stay in contact!”

We all say our goodbyes and watch as the couple gets in, but we all remain standing until the train departs. I turn to my side and pull Jungsu into a hug, feeling his body shake with held back sobs, and I know he needs this hug as much as I do. Both of us have known Hyukjae and Donghae for so long, they’ve been a part of our everyday life for so many years that it will be empty and boring without them.

A deep sadness takes over me and I wish my two friends all the best in my head while the realization that I won’t see them anymore for a long time slowly sinks in.

“YOU TWO WHAT!?” Kyuhyun exclaims and I almost choke on the coffee I’ve just started drinking.

Since Hyukjae and Donghae don’t join us anymore, Jungsu and I mostly meet at his place. As before, Kyuhyun, Sungmin, and Yunho join us whenever they find the time. This time, all of them plus Saeun are here and Sungmin just told us that he proposed to Saeun and that their wedding will be held in two months – Sungmin will leave for his military duty in three months.

Jungsu hits my back to help me recover and Kyuhyun on his other side leans back. “And this happens when I introduce people to each other.”

Yunho pushes a glass of water over to me and I gratefully take it and drink some of it, trying not to choke on that as well. When I feel better, Jungsu turns to Sungmin as well. “Don’t get me wrong, but why? Why now?”

Sungmin looks back at us defiantly. “When else? I will be away for almost two years soon, if not now when else was I supposed to ask?”

“Why didn’t you ask afterwards?” Kyuhyun asks in disbelief. “Sungmin, do you have any idea what this is going to cause? Saeun, what about you?”

The young woman looks up with a strength and willpower in her eyes that I haven’t seen in her before. “I don’t care. I understand his reasons and I am happy that he asked me.”

“Saeun, you should know your fans are going to go crazy.”

“Who says that? Many other celebrities have gotten married before me, why do you think my marriage has to become one that people will react badly to?”

“Because-“

“Shut up, Kyuhyun,” I interrupt him, ignoring the death glare he sends into my direction for interrupting him. “Sungmin, I’d also like to hear your reasons,” I continue and I try to leave all judgement out of my voice even though so far I also don’t really think that this was his best decision.

Sungmin nods and I can see that he already prepared for this. “It was too late to change the date of my enlistment when Saeun and I started to go out, so I thought about what I could do. You guys know how people say that men who go to the military will enjoy their time there and do… stupid stuff in their free time. Of course not all men do that, but you can never know who does and who doesn’t when you’re not there. Two years are a long time and I wish right now that I had already completed my military service right after high school, but that’s not possible anymore. So instead I tried to think of a way to prove that nothing will happen to us, that two years will go by much faster than we think right now. And then this idea crossed my mind. When we’re married, Saeun can come visit me easily on visiting days, I can visit her when I have days off, and most of all, she will be assured that nothing will happen, that I will stay true to her. And it’s also for the simple, selfish reason that I think it will be nice to know that someone’s waiting for me, that the person I love will be out there, waiting for me, and to have something with me that will remind me of her.”

“Sungmin, I hate to break it to you, but remember that you won’t be able to wear your ring most of the time,” Yunho interferes quietly, but Sungmin just nods.

“I know. But it will be there anyway. I don’t regret my decision, I want this to last, I can imagine spending the rest of my life with Saeun.”

“Aren’t you two moving a little bit too fast?” Jungsu asks carefully and I know I’d be asking myself the same thing if I didn’t already know about their bond.

This time, it’s Saeun’s turn to respond, “Maybe we are, but we’re both sure of what we’re doing.”

“I still don’t like the idea,” Kyuhyun replies and looks down.

“I’ll come back to that with you when you have to complete your military service and you won’t have the same advantages with Jungsu,” Sungmin fires back in a cold voice and I have to admit that I’ve never seen him this upset.

“But then we’ve been together for years and not only months!”

“So what!? If it’s true love, then it doesn’t matter how long you’ve been together!”

“Heechul, tell them that they can’t know already whether it is or isn’t true love!” Kyuhyun requests and turns to me and I calmly respond to his gaze. It takes a couple of seconds until he understands that I won’t respond and then he suddenly looks like he’s a little lost. “Wait… Are you saying that they are meant for each other?”

I incline my head and look back at Sungmin who looks back at me in surprise while Saeun looks back and forth between us, obviously not quite understanding what’s going on around her.

“Oh,” Kyuhyun makes in the end and I can see his hand look for Jungsu’s until he can intertwine their fingers. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know… I thought it was too rushed… And there’s so much at stake…”

“I don’t understand, what’s going on right now?” Saeun asks eventually.

“Heechul-hyung somehow knows whether people belong together or not. I don’t know how he does it, but he always knows whether people are meant for each other or not. But he can only tell when he sees them together in real life, pictures won’t be helpful,” Sungmin explains the situation to his fiancée and she nods lightly in understanding.

“Wow, that’s really cool.”

“Thank you.” I smile softly at her and incline my head.

“So… does that mean you approve of our love?” Sungmin asks carefully.

“Do you really need my approval?”

“No, I don’t, I don’t regret what I’ve done, but I’d like for you guys to be on my side and not against me,” he replies quietly and looks down, making me smile softly.

“Yes, I do approve,” I say and when he looks up again, a smile begins to form on his lips that becomes brighter with every passing second.

“I do, too,” Yunho next to me adds.

“But we will be invited to your wedding, won’t we?” Jungsu asks further and Sungmin nods.

“Of course you will be, all of you! I’ll call Hyukjae and Donghae tonight to tell them as well.”

“I bet they’ll fly out just to see this,” I reply and Sungmin laughs softly.

“I truly hope so!”

Two months later, Yunho, Jaejoong, Hyukjae, Donghae, and I stand a little lost at the side of the waiting hall. We’ll most likely be allowed into the ceremony hall soon, but until then, we have to wait here.

Hyukjae and Donghae have indeed flown out this morning and will fly back to Busan this afternoon after the ceremony. They haven’t had the chance to eat lunch, so I’m certain they’ll be all over the snacks that will be offered inside the ceremony hall.

Kyuhyun and Jungsu are also here somewhere, but from what I know, they’re making connections, at least that’s what Kyuhyun said they’d do when he kidnapped Jungsu. I haven’t seen either of them since… I know that many celebrities are here, so Kyuhyun might have been saying the truth, though.

Finally, the doors to the hall are opened and we’re all allowed to enter. We’re lucky and find a spot for us somewhere in the middle so we can still get a good view of what’s happening up front.

Once everyone’s inside, the doors are closed again. Hyukjae and Donghae are indeed working on minimizing the snacks we are offered and somehow Kyuhyun and Jungsu have also found back to us, so it’s the seven of us sitting together now.

Sungmin is the first one to enter and he looks incredibly handsome with the black suit and the white dress shirt. I can tell that someone gave him a makeover, probably due to the fact that this is a celebrity wedding, but even if they hadn’t done that, his smile would have been enough to make him the most handsome man in this room.

He arrives at the front and turns to face us, obviously nervous despite his happiness, then the music starts.

We all look back to wait for Saeun and when she steps around the corner with her father by her side, I’m certain not only my breath stops at how beautiful she is. Her long, white dress has most certainly been customized for her and it just looks amazing, I love that it is not y but wonderfully long and at the same time shows her great shape. Her hair falls back and would almost look plain if it hadn’t been for the small tiara and the veil attached to it. She’s carrying a flower bouquet with white roses that seem to match her dress perfectly. And her smile…

I haven’t seen everyone in this room, but I know just by looking at her that she’s the most beautiful and the happiest woman in this entire hall, probably even in the entire building, and my heart goes out to her and Sungmin.

I watch the golden glimmer of her thread that slowly becomes shorter as she approaches her soon-to-be husband and as I think to myself how it perfects her entire look, I catch myself wanting someone to understand this and to see this.

I subconsciously wrap my left hand around my right wrist as if I could somehow feel this invisible thread and as if I could gain strength from it while my heart overflows with happiness and love for the couple.

After the ceremony, Kyuhyun and Jungsu disappear again, so I’m left to listen to the other two couples dreaming about how they also want a wedding and how they hope it will be possible one day even here in South Korea and I can’t help but think that they’re already lucky to be with the person they love. I look down at my own thread, a mat golden, and even though I don’t know yet where it will lead me, I can’t help but smile at the sight.

I’ll find you, my beautiful stranger. Whether you come to me or I’ll come to you, I’ll find you, and then I’ll make things work out somehow.

I promise.

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Hey guys, so here's the next chapter of the Golden Thread :) I hope you like it~

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