CHAPTER FOUR; A STEP FORWARD.

"Sunshine has been replaced by rain"

"Hello?"

"Hi, Hyunwoo" Somi couldn't help it when the fingers on her free hand fiddled with the material of the shirt that she was wearing.

"I'm sorry but you're going to have to tell me who this is" Hyunwoo replied. Somi's whole body turned rigid with his words and she found herself struggling to answer him.

"It's Somi" She strumbled to get her name out, not noticing the teasing in Hyunwoo's tone and Hyunwoo laughed from the other side of the phone.

"I knew it was you, I have you saved as Han Somi in my contacts" At the repetition of familiar words, Somi's cheeks puffed out with a big breath, going red as she failed to notice how he was only kidding with her again.

"That's not very nice of you" Somi mumbled, hiding her embarrassed face from Kihyun as he snorted, covering the ugly face he made with his hand.

"I'm just messing with you" Hyunwoo chuckled down the phone and Somi sighed, letting her eyes roll at the delight that was clear in Hyunwoo's voice. Even after so long, he felt the need to .

"Anyway, you're calling me again so soon Somi? What's up?" Hyunwoo let out a final chuckle as Somi dragged a hand down her face and Kihyun watched the woman try and get herself together in amusement.

"I, well, I uhm-I just wanted to tell you that I've resigned from my job"

"Already? Thank god, I've got this project that I would really love to have you jump on. Are you busy right now? Could you come in and talk with the team and I?" Hyunwoo rushed out with excitement and Somi in a breath at his request, almost choking herself.

"Right now?" She gasped and Hyunwoo paused.

"Of course, if you can't do right now I can wait until you can come in" He answered and Somi shook her head immediately.

"No, I can come in now. I was just taken by surprise"

"Great," Hyunwoo chuckled in response, "same as last time, go to reception when you get in and you'll be brought to where I am by Hani" He explained and Somi nodded.

"See you then"

"See you"

"We're going now?" Kihyun asked eagerly and Somi let out a breath, nodding her head. 

"I suppose we are"

"Yes, let's go, put your coat and your shoes on and I'll meet you in the car" With that being said, Kihyun disappeared. Somi let out a bigger and longer sigh as she stood up and made her way to her room. It wasn't very often Kihyun did something like that, suddenly disappearing and actually leaving Somi completely on her own. He had only ever done it twice when they blew up at each other in some of their biggest fights, but Somi supposed that this time he was just excited and he wanted to see his two old friends spending time together again.

So Somi moved quickly for him, she slid on her jacket and matched her shoes with it. She made sure that her hair was neat and presentable and that she had all her things before she took off out the front door to get to the car in a timely manner. As she was thinking, Kihyun was in the car, bouncing his leg in anticipation when she opened the door and got in the vehicle. He was filled with delight at the sight of Somi starting the car and buckling her seatbelt. Kihyun grinned as they pulled out of the parking lot and drove towards Hyunwoo's business in a content silence, with Somi not wanting to destroy Kihyun's excitement. Because in his eyes, a miracle was taking place and she wasn't going to hinder him from basking in it, even if it were to pull at a couple of her nerves from time to time.

Kihyun was all sparks and fireworks when Somi pulled up in front of Hyunwoo's building. He shot out of the seat before she had properly finished her reverse parallel park and she let out a scream, hitting the breaks as her wide beady eyes watched Kihyun run into the tall building. Somi huffed and tried to continue putting her car in the parking space while she told her heart to calm down after the scare from Kihyun. Somi locked the car behind her, looking around as she made her way into the big building Kihyun had charged through to get to Hyunwoo. The same discomfort and nerves bristled within Somi as she entered the building and her eyes flicked from left to right as she hugged her arms to her chest.

"Oh hello again!" Somi flinched when she was greeted in a loud and bright tone that snapped her out of her thoughts. She looked up with wide eyes to meet a bright and smiling face.

"I didn't expect to be seeing you back here so soon" The same receptionist shuffled around her desk to meet Somi and Somi smiled, shrugging her shoulders.

"Here I am" She answered, trying to look around for Kihyun, but there was no doubt he would be searching the place high and low for where Hyunwoo would be.

"Hyunwoo must have really convinced you of the place"

"Yeah, it seems he has"

"Come with me, I'll just give him a call and then we'll find him" Somi nodded as Hani ran back around the large desk to reach for a phone. her nails tapped loudly as she pressed down on the numbers and put the phone to her ear.

"Yeah, where are you? Your friend is here," There was a pause that had Hani scrunching up her face as she listened to Hyunwoo, "ok, I'll bring her there" Somi blinked as Hani grumbled with a roll of her eyes. She put the phone back down and looked up at Somi with another bright smile taking place on her face again.

"Sorry about that, Minah doesn't like me, but we're going now. Keep up" Hani was very rushed, meeting her for the second time reinforced that Hani likes speed, speed and being loud because she wasn't the type to let a person walk next to her in silence.

"So what did it take for Hyunwoo to convince you? I hoped there was a little bit of begging in there, Hyunwoo always has a way of persuading people into things, it wouldn't hurt for him to have to beg"

"Uhm," Somi looked at the walls around her, "he just showed me around and promoted his place. He was really keen on having me here so I couldn't really say no by the end of the day" Somi told her and Hani huffed.

"So no begging?" She repeated as she scampered through the halls and Somi shook her head, a small smile pulling at her lips.

"No begging done"

"Damn" Hani pouted and Somi found her to be cute.

"Ok well, Hyunwoo's in there with Minah," Hani knocked on the familiar big door, "I'm not going to go in because I have other things to do and Minah doesn't like me. So later sugar" Hani waved with her fingers when she left Somi standing in front of the door. Somi's eyes blinked in a flurry and fell open as she watched Hani race back to the elevator.

"Somi he's in here! You would not believe what they've got going on!" Kihyun's head popped through the wall and Somi bristled, snapping to look at Kihyun with wide eyes. The big door opened before Somi could say anything to Kihyun. Somi came face to face with Hyunwoo, who's mouth pulled into a smile when he saw her standing on the other side of the door.

"It's you, come in, you're gonna love this" Hyunwoo grabbed Somi by the elbow and pulled Somi into the room as Kihyun disappeared back into the long room full of designs and materials, all surrounding the woman that Hani stated to have a displeasure towards her.

"Somi, it's nice to see you again" Minah greeted her happily as Hyunwoo pulled her further into the room, making her surrounded by sketches of outfits, materials, pins and measuring tapes.

"Hello" Somi bowed.

"Come and take a look at what we've got, let us know what you think" Minah invited her over as Hyunwoo went back to the table of things that they were working on. Somi was shy in her approach, but she stood next to Hyunwoo and peered down at what was in front of her.

"This is the project that you wanted me to jump on?" Somi asked, tenderly picking up one of the sketches in front of her.

"Yeah, does it look ok to you?" Hyunwoo queried and Somi's head snapped back up to look at the pair before her.

"Ok? Hyunwoo who the hell came up with this idea? It's marvellous!"

"I thought you would like it when I saw it" Kihyun commented out of nowhere and Somi had to pretend she didn't hear him, concentrating harder on Minah and Hyunwoo.

"Your dear friend here was the one that thought of it months ago. Only it wasn't warm enough and Changkyun was not about to travel to somewhere that was going through summer when he was working on another project"

"You wanted Changkyun to model for this one?" Somi asked and Hyunwoo nodded.

"I do a lot of my ideas with him in mind, Changkyun's good at what he does" Hyunwoo explained and Somi clucked her tongue.

"I mean, I love the look of this, but I don't know Hyunwoo. Do you really think I can do this? Are you sure Changkyun's going to want to work with me?"

"Of course I know you can do this. You've always worked hard to do an amazing job with your photography so I know you'll do the same here. As for Changkyun, I can talk to him about it, but I'm sure it won't be a problem" Hyunwoo's reassuring words didn't have Somi feeling completely comfortable with the idea, Changkyun may not want to work with her and what then? He and Hyunwoo have a dispute and a fallout? 

"Somi look at it, this is amazing, it suits you so much don't you think?" Kihyun spoke to her and Somi let out a deep breath.

"Just say yes Somi, it'll be good" Somi bit down on her lip as Hyunwoo and Minah waited for a response.

"I'll jump on this project then?" Somi finally spoke, but accidentally made it sound like a question and Minah smiled as Hyunwoo nodded happily.

"Yes you will"

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"I can't wait for it! You're gonna be all like-" Kihyun pretended to rapidly shoot photos with his camera made out of his hands "-and Changkyunnie is gonna be all-" Kihyun quickly started posing in different positions and Somi rolled her eyes "-it's gonna be great" Kihyun was noticeably beyond delighted. He had cooed and crooned several times that day already and currently, his hands were clasped behind his back again as he looked up at the sky with a shine in his pale eyes. 

"I'm excited to see how your project will turn out too" Kihyun hummed, calming down and Somi nodded as she too let out a hum of agreement.

"It's a good project" She spoke quietly as they walked down the street. Kihyun looked at Somi, who was avoiding looking at him again his lips pulled at the corners again, creating a soft smile as he looked at the young woman.

"Where are we going?" Kihyun asked her when she pushed her closed fists into her pockets.

"To get more SD cards and look at new cameras" Somi whispered and Kihyun perked up, floating forward to catch up with Somi as she entered the shopping centre.

"New cameras? What's wrong with yours?" Kihyun was frowning as he followed Somi in a planned route towards the camera store that he knew well. In a matter of seconds, Somi was looking up at the store neither of them had entered for a long time.

"Because, "Somi began to whisper after a big breath out, "my camera is old, and if I can't find new lenses for the model then I need a new camera"

"Alright" Somi took in a breath to calm the storm of emotions within her. She entered the store and trailed her eyes over the contents within it, finding herself almost overwhelmed by all the bits and pieces she could only ever dream of having growing up all displayed throughout the store.

"Welcome, how can I help you?" Somi jolted in her place, Kihyun whispered for her to calm down and Somi swallowed, cheeks flushing as she looked at the young girl in front of her.

"Oh um, hello, I was wanting to see if you had any of the lenses I need for my camera?" Somi nervously sputtered out and the young girl nodded, presenting herself with a wide smile.

"Certainly, what sort of camera do you have there?" The girl nodded to the bag Somi was clutching her fingers around in a tight grip without even realising.

"It's a Soni NEX-5R" Somi scuffled with the bag to pull the camera out so that she could show it to the girl.

"There might be a couple of things, the models a few years old. But come with me and we can see what we have in store" Somi followed the girl further into the store as she looked at her over her shoulder to ask her another question.

"What lenses do you have for the camera so far? May I?" They approached an area that the girl seemed to know well, and when she reached her hand out, Somi was almost hesitant to put the camera in her awaiting hand.

"I've got this eight-millimetre fisheye lens, a nine-millimetre ultra-wide lens and this eighteen to one hundred and something power zoom lense" Somi opened her camera bag again and showed the young girl what lenses she had worked torturously to afford when she was younger and the girl hummed at the sight of them. She sat Somi's camera down on the glass table they were standing in front of to take the wide lense out of Somi's hand.

"Ok, they look like they're in good condition, so I won't make you update any of those ones"

"Ok"

"Although I would recommend maybe getting one or two prime lenses, but I'll let you choose which ones you would prefer since you know what your subject is going to be better than I do"

"I've heard that the Canon EF fifty-five millimetre lense is one of the best for portraits, is that still the case?" Somi inquired and the young girl scrunched up her face in thought.

"I would say it's got to be somewhere in the top ten, but it's a lot cheaper than let's say the Canon EF thirty-five millimetre prime lens, so there will be minor noticeable details between the two in difference. But I don't think it's anything you couldn't change in editing"

"I think," Somi looked around, her eyes finding Kihyun without anyone around her noticing what she was doing. Kihyun was smiling reassuringly and Somi tried to pull her own lips into the smallest of smiles and find strength from Kihyun's encouragement.

"I think the Canon EF fifty-five millimetre lens would be good" She nodded, making the young girl perk up.

"We have those in stock!" She fished for the keys hooked to the belt loop on her work pants.

"I'll grab one for you, is there anything else you need?" She eagerly asked as she scampered to find the prime lense Somi was asking for.

"I just need some SD cards"

"I can show you what we have in stock for them too, just give me one second" Somi couldn't help but to watch as the eager girl practically had to crawl into the glass cabinet to be able to reach the lense she was looking for. Her fingers managed to claw at one of the packages and she pulled her box out of the cabinet with a big breath out and red cheeks.

"Here's the lense" She huffed and Somi smiled at her.

"Let's take a look at the SD cards and we can see which ones would be to your liking" The girl directed Somi to follow her to a new spot in the store and Somi picked up the box holding the camera lens before scampering after the quick girl.

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"That was expensive" 

"I know Kihyun" Somi breathed out.

"And you're just going to hide it under your seat like that? You don't think people will see your jumper stuffed behind your car seat and realise there's something of value there?" Kihyun leant over the car seats in the back of the car just like Somi was doing and Somi raised her hand to wave him away from her.

"Shut up Kihyun"

"I'm just saying that if-"

"And I'm just saying you need to shut up" Somi sang back to Kihyun, making him glare at her as she looked up at him to smile. Somi backed her self up again and put her feet on the ground, pushing herself out of the car and shutting the door. Kihyun was next to her in an instant and Somi locked the car, sighing as she looked up at the big store she was about to enter, not excited for it in the slightest.

"Hey, if you didn't have to eat we wouldn't be here right now" Somi glared at Kihyun as an old lady walked past them pushing her shopping cart with big breaths in and out.

"If we weren't in public I would bring out the holy water" Somi whispered harshly and Kihyun snorted, widening his eyes and making a show of waving his hands around.

"Oh no, holy water, have mercy on me!" He laughed and Somi rolled her eyes, walking away from Kihyun and into the supermarket as she grumbled to herself under her breath about how annoying Kihyun was. Kihyun strolled behind Somi as she took one of the bigger shopping carts and entered the store with it in front of her. With no specific list of things to get, she made her way to the first aisle to begin looking for any food that would be appealing to her.

"While we're here, surrounded by all this food, let's discuss something," Kihyun began and Somi gave a small groan, her grip tightening on her shopping cart before she stopped in front of something Somi loved, "your diet is horrible Han Somi" Kihyun announced their topic of discussion and Somi froze, hand holding the jar of Nutella over her shopping cart as she blinked before ignoring what Kihyun was saying and dropping it in, adding it to her shop.

"Look at that. Do you really need a jar of that size, you're only feeding yourself and you picked the biggest jar on the shelf, all for yourself. And those cookies that you put in thinking that I wouldn't see them, triple choc chip Somi, for real? What happened to the good old days where you would eat fruit and vegetables every day?" As Kihyun rambled, he stopped in front of the shopping cart and Somi stopped too, turning to look at the fruit cups on the shelf, perfectly sat at her eye level. With her eyes trailing back to Kihyun, Somi reached for a pack of the fruit cups, raising an eyebrow as Kihyun glared at her. She put the fruit cups in her shopping trolly and pushed forward again, making Kihyun disappear before she could walk through him.

"Yeah ok, sure, head for the fruit and vegetables now that I've talked some sense to you" Kihyun continued his rambling, doing his best to get on Somi's nerves for the entirety of her shop, knowing that in public, it would be on her if she was to react to him. Somi let out a deep breath and her fingers curled around the shopping cart, trying to restrain her flaring temper in favour of avoiding being embarrassed in public.

So the young woman looked around, making sure no one had their eyes on her before she viciously mouthed a warning at Kihyun.

"Sorry I don't lip read, you're gonna have to speak to me" Kihyun grinned, knowing he was only making Somi grow irritated more and more. Somi grit her teeth and glared at the capsicums in front of her, her grip once again straining on the handlebar of the shopping trolly.

"Now Somi, don't take your anger out on the red capsicum, the capsicum hasn't done anything wrong"

"Will you stop it?" Somi whispered harshly when Kihyun was looming over her shoulder, laughing in her ear. Somi snatched up three red capsicums and shoved them into a vegetable bag before dropping them into her trolly and pushing it forward, not expecting an impact to occur when she did so.

"Oh, I'm so sorry" Somi automatically rushed out an apology and bowed without looking up. The grown man bowed back, putting the basket Somi had rammed her cart into behind himself as he bit down on his lip, looking back to the woman.

"It's fine, don't stress it" Somi looked up at who she had caused an inconvenience for and she could have sworn that her world stopped.

"Lee Hoseok" Somi muttered out the name of the man that had stood there, watching her this whole time.

"Hello" Hoseok bowed again and Somi quickly bowed, blinking at Hoseok with wide eyes that couldn't seem to look away from him.

"Long time no see" Hoseok could feel how his presence had caused the woman to tense up and fall into an aloofness that looked as if memories and recognition were clouding her vision.

"It has been a while" Somi nodded, voice quiet and Hoseok's ears had to work harder to listen to her.

"I haven't seen you, I thought maybe you had left town" Somi started when she realised that neither of them were moving to walk away from the other.

"No," Hoseok gave his head a shake with a small smile, "I'm still living in town" With the realisation of who they were faced with, Kihyun had gone scarily quiet, almost making Somi think he had vanished from beside her.

"What are you doing with yourself then?" Somi asked Hoseok.

"I'm a personal trainer"

"Of course" Somi muttered softly under her breath and Hoseok raised an eyebrow, not catching what she was mumbling to herself.

"Oh, that's awesome! I'm happy for you" She trailed off awkwardly and Hoseok nodded, his hands stuffed in his pockets as he looked around.

"Thanks"

"What are you doing?" If Kihyun could have nudged her, he would have gone ahead and rammed her with his elbow. Somi looked at him at her side and Hoseok's eyes trailed back to her as they both shifted on their feet awkwardly.

'What?' Somi mouthed and Kihyun glared at her, gesturing to Hoseok.

"Are you kidding me? Get his number, invite him for coffee or something, he's right in front of you. Ask him how he's been" Kihyun snapped at her, finally deciding to speak up and Somi pursed her lips with a bitter expression pulling at her face.

"You haven't shaken that off yet?" Hoseok asked her and Somi's eyes widened, her head automatically snapping back to Hoseok.

"Oh, uh no. Turns out it didn't leave as I got older" She completely understood what Hoseok was asking her, there was clear discomfort surrounding Hoseok and Somi cleared , looking down at her feet.

"Have you been doing ok? He wonders about you" Somi asked her question delicately, speaking in a soft tone that caught Hoseok off guard and he sputtered, having to catch his breath. Hoseok had always found it easy to talk about his feelings, and Somi hoped that hadn't changed and now she had offended him by bringing up the past.

"Times were hard," Hoseok nodded, "but things got better and I'm doing alright now," Hoseok told her, looking back down at his basket of shopping so that he could avoid Somi's eyes when she nodded and bit down on her lip.

"You were arguing again then?" Hoseok asked to break the silence and Somi looked up, nodding her head hesitantly.

"Uh, yeah we were actually arguing about how I need to eat healthier foods," Somi told Hoseok who hummed and looked at the shopping in Somi's cart. It was no secret as they grew up that Somi and Kihyun would bicker back and forth about anything and everything from dusk to dawn. It was what made their relationship work most of the time, as he stood in front of Somi, assuming Kihyun must be spending his time tailing her around, Hoseok sensed that mustn't have changed between them. It was a confusing world for him still. Was any of the afterlife real? Was the girl delusional? If she was then how was she the first to know when Kihyun had taken his life? How did she know to call for help if she was just hallucinating all of the ghosts and spirits she believed she could see?

Hoseok shifted uncomfortably at the thought that Kihyun was there, standing between them. With both of them sensing his discomfort, Kihyun took a step back and Somi looked down once more with a sigh.

"Well, it was good to see you Hoseok. I'm glad you're doing well" Somi bowed and moved her cart around Hoseok, not liking that being confronted with the two of them was seemingly putting Hoseok off.

"If you're looking to get healthy-" Hoseok whipped around to follow her with his eyes and Somi looked back at him "-come to the gym I'm at" He requested and Somi smiled softly.

"I don't know what gym you're at Hoseok" She informed him and Hoseok widened his eyes.

"Quality Fitness, I'm there just about every day. Come work out with me some time, if you're up for it that is" Hoseok's free hand rubbed the back of his neck when he picked up his basket again.

"When I'm ready to die a little, I'll drop by" Somi nodded with a smile and feeling relieved that his request wasn't rejected, Hoseok nodded back. Somi turned away again and continued walking, looking for where the watermelon was.

"That was kind of sad" Kihyun commented somberly.

"Mhm," Somi hummed.

"You're too lazy to go and exercise" He continued and Somi went back to gripping the trolly with her knuckles turning white.

"Yoo Kihyun" She seethed under her breath, making Kihyun laugh.

"Go on, yell at me in public" He dared her and Somi bit down on her tongue, pulling up in front of the watermelons, her eyes looking for one of a decent size.

"Oh, she's gonna wait until we get in the car" Kihyun sang and Somi's head turned, trying not to look at Kihyun.

He wants a beating today.

And there we have it, Hoseok made his entry in this chapter!

What do we think of the interaction between Somi and Hoseok? Did it make you feel awkward to?

Hoseok will be appearing more in the next chapters, so look forward to seeing him!