"Memories are the key not to the past, but to the future."
— Corrie ten Boom

If this was their first time meeting, surely, Su Min’s eyes would've widened, her spine would've shot straight up, and her lips would've parted in surprise.

But it wasn't.

In fact, it was far from it.

Instead of looking like a deer in the headlights, she simply lowered her gaze and waited for the dramatic moment to pass.

Just what are these guys trying to do? She thought to herself.

Beside her, Sung Woo slowly stood up from his seat, keeping his eyes trained on the person standing by the door. "J—Jongin hyung…" he managed to say despite being beyond stupefied.

Equally stunned, Kai diverted his attention from Su Min and focused on the maknae, softening his expression. "O, Sung Woo. It's been a while," he greeted with a half-smile and casually took his seat.

Then there was silence.

A very awkward silence.

Su Min glanced at the drummer, bassist, and singer, and sighed. Again, just what the hell were these three thinking?

|| …………… ||

After their orders arrived, the three older men wasted no time in digging up the past. Like oblivious instigators, they quickly dove into the interrogation process, having heard from Sung Woo about Su Min’s current work relations with EXO.

"Damn. Who would've thought after all these years of distancing yourself from him, you would end up working together regardless," Tae Sung boldly stated as he glanced at both her and Kai, "I guess it really is a small world after all."

"Or maybe it's just fate?" Han Soo, the bassist, teased, causing a chain reaction of answers that referred back the years Kai and Su Min had chosen to forget.

"Must be," Dae Jun, the lead singer, answered with a smirk. He looked at Kai then immediately at Su Min. "I still remember how this cold heartless Casanova would go around bragging how amazing of a girlfriend you were," he confessed with a repelled face.

"And how about that stupid grin he'd have on every time she went to watch us perform?" Tae Sung added, giving Kai a smack on the back, "Really Jongin, do you know how annoyingly foolish you got when it came to her?"

"Ah. Sorry hyung," Kai answered quietly with an awkward laugh then briefly met Su Min’s eyes.

She could tell he was feeling just as uncomfortable as she was, being the center topic and all. She knew that all he wanted that very second was to derail the conversation away from the past. That given the chance, he would rather walk out than respond to their endless questions and comments. But neither of these options was feasible at the moment.

As much as Su Min adored the three men, she wanted nothing more than to stuff their mouths with lettuce wraps and have them shut up, but unfortunately, her wish wouldn't come true for another hour or so.

Preventing the subject to die, Han Soo took a gulp of beer and continued. "If Helen of Troy had the face that launched a thousand ship, our Park Su Min had the innate talent to change the coldest being of man," he commented, alluding to the Greek mythology, "Now I don’t know exactly what talent that was, but it worked magic, didn’t it Jongin?"

"That's right!" Dae Jun exclaimed as he banged on the table and almost jumped out of his seat, "Ya, Su Min, did you know that a few months after you left for the States, this guy quit our band and auditioned at SM by himself? He practically distanced himself from all of us—and I mean all of us, especially the girls." The singer then turned to Kai and addressed him directly, "You, you were so caught up. So torn. So shredded. That you pretty much poured all your energy into training." He looked away, still reminiscing about the past, and scoffed. "Hell, you really became a broken-hearted fool," he mumbled quietly before taking a shot of soju.