Thanks for reading~! We are back with Seungcheol and Jihoon's POV in this chapter :D

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Seungcheol saw the other walking towards him and opened his arms expecting the hug he knew he would receive.

“Hyung! Did you like it?!” Chan asked excitedly as soon as they separated.

Seungcheol nodded with a bright smile on his face and gave his younger brother another hug. He had practically run out of the office to arrive on time to Chan’s end of the year dance recital, but luckily he had made it on time. He knew the other had been practicing really hard for the recital and Seungcheol had been glad to see Chan’s mother among the audience.

“Do you want to go eat something?” He asked patting Chan’s head.

“Yeah! But first….” Chan said looking behind Seungcheol’s shoulder.

He turned around only to see Jeonghan’s smiling face.

“Jeonghan hyung! You made it!” Chan shouted, running to hug the other.

“Channie! Congratulations, you were great.” Jeonghan said giving him a light hug.

Seungcheol looked at them as they kept talking about the recital, but when his gaze found Jeonghan’s, the other gave him a nod with a small smile and he responded in the same way.

It had been awkward to meet Jeonghan after he returned from L.A. After the call they had when Jeonghan was still abroad, they never had another phone call, but Jeonghan had suddenly appeared at their shared apartment to take his things out. They barely talked, but Jeonghan gave him one last hug along with some words that made Seungcheol’s heart feel less heavy when the other left.

“I’m okay, I…made things right this time…and from now on I’m going to follow my own plans.”

That was the last time they shared a personal conversation and Seungcheol regretted that their years-long friendship had ended like that; but he could understand that Jeonghan needed his space and that he wanted to focus on himself and Seungcheol just wanted the other to be more than okay.

Because with time things in Choi Company and Yoon Hotels had calmed down, but the rumors took a long time to settle down. And if the Chois and Yoons happened to meet at any event, the elders blatantly ignored each other, but Seungcheol couldn’t ignore Jeonghan and other probably felt the same, as he would greet him every time.

And if Seungcheol thought the culmination of the Choi-Yoon business relationship was the worst thing that their breakup brought, Chan’s anger and confusion was in another level. The younger had grown up knowing about their friendship and had been really happy when they started dating, so he took it as a personal betrayal that Seungcheol had broken up with the other and started dating Jihoon. And it hurt how long it took for Chan to change his annoyed expression every time he talked about Jihoon or if they met.

But now things were better, because the three of them cared for the younger one and at the same time, Chan understood that all his hyungs were happier with their current reality.

“Bye, Jeonghan hyung!” Chan said waving his hand as he walked back to Seungcheol’s side. “Let’s go hyung. I want to eat some meat.”

“Okay Chan, but first we have to pick up Jihoon. He had a last minute recording so he couldn’t come, but he is surely proud of you and will ask Soonyoung-ssi for the recital official video.”

Chan agreed and started walking towards the exit waving goodbye to his friends, but Seungcheol turned back to look at Jeonghan and as he expected the other was looking at the younger with a smile.

“Bye Jeonghan. Happy holidays.” He said tenderly and Jeonghan smiled returning the greeting.

They both knew the chances of meeting soon were scarce and Seungcheol was sure he was not invited to the Yoon Hotels’ end of the year party.

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Jihoon sat at the coffee shop waiting for Soonyoung’s arrival. He had been able to finish his meeting with Bumzu earlier than he thought and he wanted to drink a few cups of coffee before his friend would say anything about it.

He sat there drinking and checking his recording schedule before the end of the year holidays, when he heard a soft voice behind him.

“Mingyu, my manager will be arriving soon, but see you at the party.”

He turned around only to see Mingyu smiling to a person Jihoon was sure was another model. He saw the other person leaving the coffee shop followed by the stares and whispers of many of the other customers, but when he looked at Mingyu once more, he noticed the other had a fond expression on his face.

He took a deep breath before calling the other by his name. Mingyu turned to look back at him with a shocked expression, but didn’t move or said a word.

It had been more than half a year since the last time they saw each other or talked, but seeing him in person made Jihoon’s heart ache in some way. Mingyu hadn’t change much, except his hair color, but Jihoon could feel a sort of anguish that was never there between them before. Maybe it was the longing for the friendship they had built when they were there for each other in their worst and best moments.

“You can sit down if you want.” Jihoon said softly, a bit scared of the other’s rejection.

Mingyu bit his lower lip before nodding softly and walking to sit in front of Jihoon.

“So….you are back…” Jihoon started, not sure of what to say.

“Yes, I came back for vacations and my parents came from Japan too.” Mingyu replied without looking at him directly.

“So….How’s Europe? Are things going well in the modeling world?” Jihoon wanted to slap himself. He sounded so awkward and Mingyu seemed even more uncomfortable.

“Yeah….” The other said and sighed. “Jihoon, I’m fine, really.”Mingyu finished with a small smile.

“So…” Jihoon wanted to stop the awkwardness and the only way he knew to do that with Mingyu was to . “Are you dating that model?” He asked with a smirk.

“Wha-at?! No-o…” Mingyu replied bumbling.

“But you like him…” Jihoon continued with a teasing voice. “I know you, Mingyu.”

He saw the other’s blushing face turning into a serious expression as he said those last words. And the silence after that stretched longer than Jihoon expected.

“Are you happy Jihoon?”

He looked at the other startled by the sudden question before giving him a smile.

“I am happy, but I would be happier to know that you are happy too.” He replied touching the model’s hand softly.

“I am happy…and… I do like him” The other finally said with a low chuckle.

Jihoon’s smile grew even more before punching the other’s arm softly. “I knew it!”

“I’ll be returning to Europe in a week, do you want to go eat something with Soonyoung one of these days?” Mingyu asked smiling.

“No need to call me, I’m here!” Soonyoung’s loud voice boomed through the coffee shop as he pulled a chair to seat between the two of them.

“Kim Mingyu, welcome to Korea~” Soonyoung said in a butchered French.

“Hi Soonyoung…and no, I don’t have a souvenir for you.” The tallest chuckled again noticing the other’s pout at his words.

Jihoon laughed at their bickering remembering the first time they met and Mingyu had been jealous of Soonyoung. Many years had passed since then and even when he knew things would never be the same, he was still thankful that he got to know the tallest one and that the other was wishing for him to be happy.