"Hey, Weirdos. Finally, see yous again." Sehun greeted the Kim siblings as he was connected through the conference video call. He was resting after which probably his session at the gym when the call came, so he gladly joined them. 

"Sehun, you're the weirdest one among us, don't flatter yourself too much." Minseok retorted. He, on the other hand, was lying on his bed. It was about midnight or so there in London, and the room was dimmed that Jisoo could only see a glimpse of his face from the light of the nightstand.

Now that she chuckled watching her brother and cousin started to bicker between themselves, the two men seemed to realize that she was also there and greeted her back.

"You, Meanie. Why didn't you tell me that your wedding got deferred? Mom called me last night and told me everything, and I was like, this kid really left me out from all the drama, that's no fun at all." Minseok chirped in annoyingly.

Jisoo snorted hearing that "Oppa, I called you like, what, two weeks ago and never heard from you ever since. You never called me back, you're the Meanie one, not me." she defended herself.

"You guys are just the same. One too busy to work, the other one too busy to date. Don't you even see that no one of you ever calling me back for all the calls I made? You guys are just the same Meanies." Sehun decided to be part of their bicker once again.

This kind of thing always happened when she was having these calls with her brothers. Because of their separation distance and respective activities, their conversation always began with mutual complaints about one another. Actually it was a coincidence that Jisoo could connect the three of them at the same time as now. Sehun happened to send her a message this morning, asking if she wanted to accompany him shopping for groceries because his girlfriend apparently too busy to go with him. Jisoo had just read his message about an hour ago and idly tried to send her brother a short message, and surprisingly he replied to her. Finally, she contacted them all in the conference video call, so here they were. It took at least two or three minutes later until they stopped blaming each other and defending themselves until they were civilized enough to talk like adults.

"So, now you guys are, what? Dating now?" Minseok probed her after the long bantering.

"Well, you can say so. We're trying to, you know, get to know each other."

"And what do you know about him now?" Sehun butted in.

"Well, a single date and I can't stop thinking that he's the silver spoon version of the Confucius. Name any of his philosophies, it's all in him."

Minseok and Sehun burst into laughter. Jisoo told them about their date last week, about their topic regarding his mother and his view on marriage they once had back in the airport before that. She was bewildered that such a person really existed to the point that it was a bit overwhelming since she was getting worried that all this excitement was only in her head. She meant it like, she adored him, like so much. Yixing was nice, even too nice. He was gentle, understanding, considerate, and he was just too good to be true, and the more she thought about it, she was scared if she was being too idealistic over the idea of perfect him.

"Yixing doesn't have any flaw, it scares me," she told them.

"That's bull. He must have one, your eyes are just too pinky sparkling over him to see it." Sehun argued.

"Well, that's exactly the problem. I'm fangirling him, and I'm too biased now to make any judgment." 

"You know what's your real problem is, Sis?" Minseok joined in, "You're thinking too much. Sometimes in relationship all you need to do is just follow the stream, go with the flow."

"Hyung, going with the flow thing is so yesterday. That just shows how clueless you are in your relationship. This hyung really needs his own girlfriend so he would know what he's talking about." Sehun riposted with a grumble, "Do you want me to introduce you to one of Soojung's friends? They have so many eye candies there."

"Hey, we're not talking about me here, please focus. All I'm trying to say is..."

Jisoo held back herself from giggling. This was another thing that always happened when the talk was involved with the three of them, the topic of discussion could never be focused. There must be one of them, in which Sehun was frequently was the main suspect, who always broke the subject of their discussion so that what they talked about was then making a turn to somewhere else. Jisoo would never be able to discuss something serious every time, so she made a mental note to call Minseok privately in the near future.

"Guys, that's my call," Jisoo informed them when the call announcement for boarding was heard from the airport intercom. She rose from her seat and got ready to leave for her gate while trying to say goodbye.

"Oh, where are you going now?" Minseok asked this time.

"The States. I'm visiting Brown for a joined research."

"You're going to Brown? Are you meeting..." Sehun was saying something, which she knew what it was but her phone flickered, and Yixing's name appeared at the top of the screen.

"Wait, Yixing is calling. I need to hang up, okay?"

"Hey, just invite him to the conference. We didn't get the ceremony to welcome this guy yet, at least let him join the group." Sehun said, which Minseok nodded in agreement. 

Jisoo herself no idea what's the use of having Yixing in their conference video call since it was nothing fun, but since Sehun said so (which kind of surprising because he used to be very exclusive when it came to their conference call, he never even tried to invite her girlfriend on the group either before) and Minseok didn't seem to mind, she did what they said. She called Yixing back and had him joining the call with the three of them.

"Yixing, you're on the conference call right now." she greeted as Yixing was connected.

"Hey, B⁠—oh, hello there, wow, it's a full house here." Yixing looked surprised to see two other men who had joined them before, but he quickly hid his expression with a smile. Jisoo let them greet each other then Minseok and Sehun kind of bullying Yixing because he was in the office right now even though it was Saturday.

"God, why do I have to be surrounded by these working maniacs. This dude is worse than you, Hyung." Sehun couldn't hide his laugh while mocking Yixing and Minseok at the same time playfully, while Yixing himself pressed his lips in a thin line and laughed voicelessly.

"Jisoo's flight is boarding, I think we need to let you Lovebirds say your goodbye. Let's get out of here, Sehun." Minseok said a few moments later. "Take care of her, Yixing."

"I will, Bro. I'll give you a call later." Yixing simply said.

"Bye, Hyung. We should meet, by the way, I'll treat you some coffee when you're free." Sehun prompted. He said he's going to save his number and gave him a call, and Jisoo was glad that at least Yixing would still make a friend and see another real human on the weekend even though she wasn't around. Her brothers hung up after two or three more exchanging sentences and left them alone, finally.

"I'm sorry, they're being a nuisance. I was trying to hang up but Sehun asked to invite you to the call." she excused herself on their behalf because she knew that previous conversation with the boys was kind of awkward, at least, Yixing looked awkward in her eyes.

"No, no, that's fine. I'm glad you guys invite me in. It makes me feel like, you know, accepted in your circle."

"Oh, okay. That's good then." Jisoo held the phone for a quick pause as she passed the boarding pass check and walked through the jetbridge to the plane, "Sorry, the pass check." she said as she put up the screen up to show Yixing her face again.

"I'm sorry for not being there to send you off, but I can't leave the office, you know it's⁠—I wish I could be there anyway."

"Hey, it's fine, you know. I always do it myself before," Jisoo appeased him, she didn't want him to worry about things like this. But he looked genuinely guilty that he couldn't take her to the airport. Maybe it's also because more ten days ago they last met, and every time they talked on the phone Yixing always said that he wanted to meet her, which he couldn't because of his schedule. He looked a little in a bad mood because of that now.

"Well, we're not together before. And it will be like, I don't know when I can see you again after this." he pouted, it was like, oh, he was so cute with that pout, she just couldn't take that. So, she laughed. "Hey, can I request something?"

"Yes, of course. What is it?"

"Well, I know that you like to be focused on your research, but since you're not here, can you at least, you know, always have your phone around? It's just that, I might want to talk to you, but I'm aware that we just can't have the call anytime for the time difference..."

"Okay." She reached the plane door and had a cabin crew to show her the way to her seat, she thanked the flight attendance while keeping her focus to listen to what Yixing was saying.

"I promise I'll count the time difference before I call so I won't disturb your sleep or something. It's maybe around the time when I get off of work or in the morning when I get ready."

"Alright, I'll keep my phone with me all the time. You can call me anytime too, I won't be that busy I guess. As long as I'm not at the conference or at a meeting, I'll take your call. Okay?"

"Okay, thank you." Yixing kept his smile again, and Jisoo couldn't help herself not to mimic him.

"You're welcome. I have to go now by the way."

"Yeah, sure. Safe flight, Baobei. Give me a call when you're there."

Jisoo couldn't hide her blushing smile again here, "Okay, I will. Get proper rest, don't overwork yourself." they exchanged some more goodbye messages before she hung up and turned off her phone. This would be another long haul flight that she needed to get through, but she was happy with the small suite with the closable door that she had for her seat at the business class this time. It gave her a more private time for herself, and it was a window seat so nothing could be more perfect than this.

The flight attendant handed her a glass of sparkling wine for the welcome drink, which she took it with a formal 'thanks'. She took out her laptop, put it on the desk along with a book she was trying to finish, and then checking the menu when she saw some flight attendance started to take the order for the onboard meal from the first row. She started her activities after the plane took off about a half of an hour later. Because it was a day flight so she was busying herself preparing her speech note for the faculty mid-fall function that she was invited as one of the guests of honor. And then the meal was served, and she enjoyed them while watching the Lion King.

She had enough time to do everything she wanted to do, while keeping the movie on (but the headphone off) they were half of the trip when she finished writing two opening chapters for her incoming book about the modern ethics. She then decided to unseal the latest Dan Brown book that she bought last year but never had the time to touch it and read it almost one-third of the novel when she felt a bit tired and took a nap after that. The sound of the meal cart woke her up at the very same time the dinner was served, which meant that they had about two more hours before they landed.

So her plane landed after seventeen hours flight, and she took a connecting flight for another two hours to reach her destination, and it was really exhausting. It was still like, about eleven o'clock at the local time, and she was jetlagged. She was drained and took a nap at the lounge while waiting for her next flight, and spent the whole next flight to take another nap just to save her energy to meet the representatives from the Brown that would pick her up at the airport.

It was when she passed the exit gate, she expected some people from the Political Sciences department only to have someone else holding a placard with her name on it. It felt like déjà vu because it just reminded her when Yixing picked her up as she was back from Hong Kong the other day, she didn't expect that giant figure stood behind the railing with his signature wide grin and waved the placard stick as a welcome greeting.

"Jisoooo, welcome to the States!" he chirped excitedly in his playful deep voice as he towered over her and pulled her in for a big bear hug.

"Park Chanyeol. I didn't expect to see you here," she said, pulling herself off from him.

"Well, surprise! Heard that you'll be visiting Brown, so I volunteered to pick you up. Isn't it nice to see some familiar face instead?" 

She simply smiled, "It is."

They exchange some more greeting words before Chanyeol helped her with her belongings and took her to the parking lot. He made a call to the faculty representatives, telling them that he was with her now and nodded several times for more instructions.

As for Jisoo, she didn't say much. She was glad to see Chanyeol again, even though it was unexpected. Well,