Loving you was like going to war; I never came back the same.

                                                                                          -Warsan Shire via wordsnquotes

“You have everything you need?”

“Yea, mom. Aunt Julie will be by. And then Kim will drop by too.”

“Your passport?”

“Yes,” Joshua said as he took his coat. It was the end of Summer in South Korea, edging into Fall. It was bound to be breezy at night some days.

“Your wallet?”

“Of course. Make sure you go to your appointments and that the doctor sends me emails about how it went. Well I already told her to send them to me. But take care. Let Shu and Ichigo do something for you. They know how to do light things. Don’t ruin Ichigo’s diet mom.”

“Of course not.” She stopped him from fussing with his shirt. “Take care of yourself too. And have some fun while you’re there.”

Joshua let out a grim smile. “I’ll try. Don’t overwork yourself ok?”

“I won’t.” She laughed. “You have the whole family after me anyhow. I doubt I’ll be able to lift a finger.”

“Good. Katy and Michael said they’d visit you too when they could.” He paused. “You could always go to the café too and have Benji and Phillip wait on you hand and foot. Take Ichigo with you. She’d like the rooftop.”

She shook her head. “Don’t go inviting trouble for Benji and Phillip now. They have to work harder since you’ll be gone.”

Snorting Joshua said, “Only Benji does the hard work. He’s in the kitchen. Phillip checks the financials and runs the front. The kitchen is the back-breaking work.”

“Joshua Hong,” she scolded, lightly smacking him. “All the work you three put in is equally as important. Don’t try to downplay it. You guys made a wonderful place. It’s doing well because of your guys combined efforts.”

He smiled softly. He was always such a mommy’s boy, hearing her praise him made his heart warm.

She pulled him close, hugging him tightly. Whispering into his ear, “Take some time to breathe and have a bit of fun. You deserve it. You’ve been working so hard ever since you came back from Korea.”

Joshua clung to her, closing his eyes tightly for a few seconds. She was still a bit too skinny for his liking. She was all he had left. Silently, he nodded. If he tried to say anything now, he was afraid he’d cry.

“See you in a couple of weeks.” She kissed him on the forehead.

“Now boarding flight 8317 for Seoul, South Korea. First class passengers please come to front to board.”

Joshua clenched his fist, fighting a shudder that coursed through his body. This wasn’t a dream. He’d be back in South Korea too soon. Too close to Yoon Jeonghan and everything that he left behind. Joshua just had to avoid talking to Jeonghan the whole trip. He knew he couldn’t avoid seeing him as the group wanted to meet. Seungkwan and Vernon sent off a text to the group chat loudly proclaiming Joshua was coming to Korea in a few weeks with emojis and gifs. Everyone started to send off messages of meeting up.

Joshua hoped that Jeonghan would end up being too busy with his kid and with his life to even bother coming to any of the meetups. He could avoid him at Vernon and Seungkwan’s wedding well enough. A small part of him wanted to see Jeonghan, just to see if maybe Jeonghan had a hard time too, to see if Jeonghan carried some sort of hurt over everything. The petty part of Joshua wanted something to appease his pain.

“Business class passengers please come to the front. Have your tickets out ready to be scanned. Once again business class to the front.”

He shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts of Jeonghan. He was so ing tired of thinking of him. His mind straying back to the person who hurt him. Joshua moved on. He did. So, it was time to stop letting Yoon Jeonghan invade his mind.

“Pa,” a soft baby voice sounded out, “ap-pa. Appa.”

Jeonghan hummed, softly running his fingers through his son’s hair. Jeonghan stared hard at his phone, checking the group chat once more to make sure he hadn’t read it wrong when it first came in.

Joshua was coming back to South Korea. Only for a short period of time, but he was coming back.

He knew that Joshua wouldn’t want to see him; he likely hated Jeonghan to his very core. Jeonghan also knew that Joshua had a soft spot for him. He hoped it was still there. Because he planned something insanely stupid.

Jeonghan wanted Joshua back. Jeonghan never stopped loving him, even when he let him go.

“Appa,” Haneul gurgled, yanking on his hair.

Bringing him close, Jeonghan nuzzled Haneul’s cheeks.

Jeonghan wasn’t dumb enough to not realize that he was being a giant , but he had to try. This was his last chance.

“Welcome to Seoul,” the pilot’s voice rang out through the plane intercom. “It’s a lovely day today. We hope you a have a good time here. Thank you for flying with Korea Air.” He repeated in English.

Welcome to the city where my heart got broken, Joshua thought.  Joshua nodded politely as he disembarked, making his way out to grab his luggage and to meet Max. Using his long legs, he swiftly weaved in and out of the crowds.

A sign with his name in bright letters was being waved about excitedly by a very familiar face. His cousin stood there, mouth in a wide grin as he waved the placard.

“Who taught you be this cheesy?” Joshua teased, standing in front of the baby cousin who once had gap teeth and lisped because of it.

“Bro!”

Shaking his head, Joshua walked out meeting him on the other side. He held out his hand, grinning hard as he felt an answering slap and a chest bump.

“Welcome to the time of your life."