She was in a foreign land all of a sudden so Dabin was not to blame for her confusion. She was not even sure about how things escalated. All she knew was that after arriving in Japan, a van had picked them up and dropped them into a restaurant. And that at the moment, a lady attendant was helping her tie her ribbon around her waist as she let the expensive silky kimono embrace her body.

The restaurant was inspired by Japan’s culture, from the design of the exterior to everything inside. It sounded simple if not for a fact that it was a well-known expensive restaurant. Dabin heard that one would need a reservation months before you planned to eat there. However, the parents of the six were well-acquainted with the restaurant’s owner and gave them the privilege to have a dining room of their own without any reservations at all.

Dabin was in the females’ dressing room with Hina and Sera (along with several attendants). One part of enjoying a meal in the restaurant was changing into a kimono (for both females and males) in order to mix yourself with the Japanese culture, hence, it was popular to tourists.

Turning to her friends, Dabin was in awe. The Japanese girl, Hina, looked really graceful with her beige kimono that was decorated with the pattern of baby pink roses. The make up on her face and her hair decorations blended well with her outfit. On the other hand, Sera was wearing a white kimono decorated with the patterns of pink and yellow roses. Her hair was on a high ponytail, decorated with fake white roses.

Feeling a bit insecure, Dabin could not help but to turn to the mirror. She was wearing a black kimono. Patterns of red roses adorned it all over. Her wavy black hair was let loose as it fell just a little below her shoulders. A clip of three small and fake red roses was clipped on the right side of her hair as a decoration.

“You look good.” Sera hugged Dabin. “Black suits you well.”

“You’re ruining her clothes,” Hina reprimanded, frowning.

“It’s okay, let her cling,” Dabin said, chuckling as Sera possessively snuggled on her.

Hina clicked her tongue. “Don’t spoil her too much, Dabin. We should get out of here now. I think we’re all hungry and tired because of the plane ride.”

Both Dabin and Sera agreed, the later reluctantly let go of the former to retrieve her shoulder bag that she had left on one of the vanity tables. Dabin took her blue cross-body bag too, abruptly stopping her tracks upon seeing the familiar keychain that was hanging on it. She wanted to take it off, afraid that a certain someone might see it but she failed to do so with the other two girls urging her to go with them.

With Hina’s lead, the three females headed out of the dressing area. Unintentionally, Dabin fell behind the two girls. Her walk was slow, not knowing if she was confident enough to show Jaemin her new look. Her anxiousness doubled because she remembered that the males would also dress up in kimono. She knew Jaemin would look good in it—he looked good in everything.

“Wow, you girls look good,” Renjun complimented the girls when they reached the table. He was wearing a plain dark blue kimono with a plain gray outer clothing. He and the other two guys were already sitting on their seats, waiting for the girls who took forever to come out of the dressing room.

“You guys too,” Hina coolly complimented the males as if it was natural.

But Dabin didn’t feel it was. It was not because of Jeno who was wearing a red and beige kimono (he did indeed look handsome) or because of Renjun. Rather, it was because of the pinkhead who was looking at her direction (she had to hide her bag behind her). His kimono was in black and it was almost plain if not for the small fan patterns right below the shoulder. Strangely, he was staring at her—his eyes were unfathomable.

“Oh, that’s so cute! Dabin and Jaemin look like a couple.” Dabin wished Sera would just shut even just for once. Jaemin and Dabin had to break their eye contact to turn to Sera who was grinning. “You’re both wearing black!” Then, Sera dragged Dabin towards the seat right across Jaemin, a glint of mischief was evident in her eyes.

Their other friends snickered, not noticing how Dabin was basically frozen. Her whole body had somewhat stiffened and all she wanted was to disappear. She could feel the awkwardness surrounding her so she could barely move. Of course, she was the only one who was feeling this awkward vibe because everyone else was snickering—even Jaemin had managed to force a laugh (Dabin knew what his laugh sounded like and it was not that).

“Sit down, sit down.” Jeno gestured Dabin, clearly enjoying teasing her even if she did not have that much of a reaction. Of course, the female had to heed because of everyone else’s teasing.

“They look awkward with one another,” Hina unhelpfully commented, sitting down next to Dabin which happened to be right across Jeno. Sera followed the suit, occupying the seat on Hina’s right that was right across Renjun’s.

“That’s because they just met and Dabin is naturally quiet… so is Jaemin,” Sera tried to come up with a conclusion. “They’ll be more comfortable with each other eventually.”

It wasn’t that, Dabin wanted to correct. She wanted to tell them that they were naturally awkward because they had broken up about a year ago. But then, that would make things more awkward, not just for her and Jaemin but for their friends as well. And so, she chose to purse her lips, opting to place her attention on the menu that she took from the table. It was a stupid move, really, because one, she was not planning on deciding what she was going to eat—she would wait for Sera to choose. Two, the list of prices was making her feel poorer than she already was.

“Let’s just order a set,” Jaemin suggested; Dabin could see him flipping through his own menu.

“Yeah, it’s so hard to decide.” Renjun put down his menu, looking rather exhausted with his brows connected after his attempt to choose what to eat.

Jeno tossed aside his own menu as well. “I’ll pay for this meal.”

“For real?” Sera gasped. “What has gotten into you, Samsung?”

“I’m just being generous, MBC,” Jeno snapped. “But maybe you do not know that such a thing actually exists. How pitiful.”

“Did we fly to Japan just to watch you guys bicker?” Renjun did not allow the cat and dog to continue arguing. “And since Jeno is paying, might as well order the most expensive set. He can just ask his parents for allowance if he becomes broke.” He chuckled along with the rest—with Dabin simply smiling awkwardly in her place.

Hina called a waitress over and spoke to her in a flawless Japanese, ordering for everyone.

A series of inside jokes followed, something that Dabin could barely understand. As expected, she started to feel out of place again. It was one of those times when she would feel like she was just an awkward pole placed among that group of close friends—she felt like she did not belong. She was so into her thoughts that she flinched in surprise when Hina poked her cheeks.

“Are you still not feeling well?” The Japanese girl looked worried. “You’re zoning out.”

Dabin forced a small smile, shaking her head in reply. “No, I’m fine.” She was not lying since she really did feel a lot better already.

“Are you sure?” When Sera asked, Dabin was pretty sure that everyone else’s attention was on her. “I mean, you were really pale earlier in the plane. I’m starting to wonder if it was a bad decision to force you to come with me despite knowing how tired you are.”

“No, it’s really fine,” Dabin replied, smiling as natural as she could muster.

“If you’re not feeling well, do not hesitate to tell us,” Jeno told her.

“But I am really fine,” Dabin insisted, hoping to shake off the attention.

“Anyway,” Sera jumped onto under topic as she locked eyes with the other five. “There’s this place that Hina is suggesting. It’s a soon-to-open firefly sanctuary. The owner is a good friend of Hina’s dad so we can request a visit tonight…” She trailed off, her eyes landing on Dabin. “But will it be really fine for you, Dabin?”

Dabin nodded her head. She knew Sera and Hina would never consider a place if they did not really like it. Plus, she did not have a good reason to decline it in the first place. “Of course it’s fine,” she replied with a soft voice. “I’m already feeling much better.”

“Let’s go there then,” Jaemin agreed. “Should we head there right after this dinner?”

“We should,” Hina replied. “Walking around that sanctuary would be good for digesting the foods that we eat. Ah! Should we pair up so that we can cover as many areas as we can? It’s a quite big area.”

Renjun raised an eyebrow. “How do we pair up? Let’s assign pairs?” He sounded uncertain.

“Let’s just make a draw lots. Let us, boys, write our names in a piece of paper and then you, girls, should pick one of the papers,” Jeno suggested, looking around as if confirming if everyone agreed.

As everyone agreed with Jeno’s suggestion, one of the servers approached their table with the appetizer. This caused their conversation to halt for a moment. The others had decided to eat first, Dabin did too. But inside her head, she was worrying that she might be paired with Jaemin.

She really did not want anything to do with her ex anymore so why was a small part of her hoping that fate would at least play with her?

After dinner and after renting out the kimonos from the restaurant—it was actually not allowed but since five of them came from influential families, no one dared to say no to the request—the group of teenagers visited the firefly sanctuary, all had their kimonos on. And, as strange as it was, Dabin found herself beside Renjun. They were in front of the wooden inn that was modelled after traditional Japanese houses.

“Why are we paired up?” Sera was groaning and whining about being paired up with Jeno. She was the one who did it to herself; she somehow ended up picking the paper with Jeno’s name on it.

Both Jaemin and Hina were laughing, not even complaining about how they were paired. Renjun was laughing as well, looking like he did not mind being Dabin’s companion for the rest of the hour or two. It was only Jeno and Sera who were making a fuss out of it albeit still standing beside one another. Dabin chuckled, clutching onto the strap of her cross-body bag.

“Do we really have to be paired up?” Jaemin had been asking that since after the draw lots. “Can’t the girls just go together and the boys as well? Or we can just roam as a group.”

“Why? The purpose of this is for everyone to be closer to one another. Achieving that as a group isn’t exactly possible,” Hina tried to explain.

“Enough with your complaints, guys,” Renjun chimed in, checking his wristwatch. “It will be ten-thirty soon. Should we all meet by midnight?”

“Isn’t that a very long time?” Jaemin frowned. “We can watch fireflies for half an hour.”

“No one gets close to one another for half an hour!” Sera pointed out but she also frowned after saying that due to remembering who was paired with her. “…is what I was going to say but I remember that I am stuck with Jeno for so long.”

Jeno rolled his eyes. “Please, I bet you’re ecstatic.”

“Okay, we have to depart before they start fighting for real,” Renjun told Dabin, turning to her completely.

Dabin could not stop the chuckle from escaping her lips as she nodded her head in agreement. Renjun was visibly annoyed because of the other pair’s bickering and it was more amusing than not. She let herself be dragged by Renjun; the latter was grabbing her by the wrist. She did feel Jaemin’s eyes on her but she dismissed it as a mere coincidence she should not overthink.

“Sorry, those guys can get really annoying,” Renjun said, letting go of Dabin’s wrist when they were far enough from their other friends. “They fight and complain about every little thing there is. They do get tiring to listen to and to watch. I have to admit that they’re pretty amusing though.”

The female nodded her head in agreement, chuckling. She was trying to force her awkward nature to disappear. “Have you been friends with them for a long time?”

Renjun hummed in response. “Well, we had been in schoolmates and classmates since we were still very young. Jeno and Jaemin were my classmates since kindergarten. I’ve met Sera in 3^rd grade and Hina in 4^th. Come to think of it, Sera would always mention you. It’s a wonder why we haven’t met until college.”

Dabin scratched her head, thinking about it. Sera would occasionally mention her other friends as well yet no one actually suggested meeting up—definitely not Dabin. Of course, being a social butterfly, Sera had tried to introduce Dabin to her other friends but the latter would always reject the idea by coming up with tons of excuses.

“Still, now that we have met, we should really get along well with one another. You don’t have to be awkward around us,” Renjun tried to assure the female. “I mean, we obviously want to get along well with you. Even Jaemin who is usually more neutral around new people seem to worry about you.”

The female almost choke on her own saliva at the mention of the pinkhead. The only reason why Jaemin cared—she was not even sure if that was the case—about her in the first place because they knew each other from before. Come to think of it, it was a wonder why Jaemin did not tell his friends about her. Then again, if it were her, she would be very ashamed to say that she dated a girl like herself. “Thank you,” she replied anyway.

“Anyway, we should not waste our time any longer and start wandering about! It’s your first time in Japan. We should really make this count,” Renjun urged, a grin playing on his lips as he his phone’s flashlight to serve as their guide as they made their way deeper into the middle of the tall trees.

Renjun was a hilarious person. He would make some remarks here and there that would make himself and even Dabin laugh. The only problem was that he was a scaredy-cat who would jump at any noise. “I think we should head back now, we’ve seen enough fireflies,” he mumbled, his right hand was holding Dabin’s left wrist. His face was pale that the female was actually terrified that he might faint soon.

“Sure,” Dabin agreed, slowly leading Renjun away from the trees and towards the bench just right behind the wooden inn. Almost an hour had passed since the group divided into pairs and strangely, because the sanctuary was just so huge, they had not bumped into the other pairs.

“Do you perhaps have a candy? I think I’m getting dizzy with all those darkness surrounding me.” Renjun shuddered at the memory. He sat down on the bench while the female remained standing in front of him.

“I still have the strawberry candy with me,” Dabin replied, her hand automatically ping her bag to grab the said candy. With a kind smile on her face, she gave Renjun the pack of candies. She had only eaten one anyway.

Renjun gave her a grateful smile, taking the candies from her hand and plopping one candy into his mouth. “Thanks.” He handed her back the candy. “This actually tastes good. Isn’t this what Jaemin gave you earlier?”

 “Y-yeah,” Dabin stuttered out a reply. She did not know why but her right hand immediately found its way to the zipper where her keychain was—was. She gasped, petrified as she looked down on her bag.

“What’s wrong?” Renjun looked so alarm that he even stood up from his seat.

Dabin abruptly looked at Renjun, her eyes were full of urgency and worry. “I lost it. I lost my keychain.”

“Is it an expensive keychain?” Renjun asked, trying to guess why Dabin was so panicked over losing a keychain. “Or does it have a sentimental value?”

Shaking her head, the female replied, “I don’t know. I just have to find it.”

“What does it look like? I’ll help you,” the male offered.

“I would need to go back there,” the female said, pointing at where they went to earlier. “I would need to trace back the paths we took earlier just to find it. You just have to stay here, it will be fine.”

Renjun frowned, obviously not happy with the female’s plan. “I don’t think it’s safe to walk around alone. What if there’s ghost? Or if you trip? Can’t you just buy a new one?”

“I can’t…” Dabin trailed off. She could. She could probably buy a new one, try to find a replica. However, that would not be the same. It would be a completely different keychain that buying it would be a complete waste. It would not have the same meaning and the same feeling—because her keychain was special. It was from one person and that person made it different.

Renjun’s frown deeper, he could not seem to understand what made something as trivial as a keychain so important.

“I’ll be fine,” Dabin firmly assured. “I’ll be back right away.” She did not wait for Renjun’s response and immediately proceeded to run back towards the path they took earlier. She was already panicking over that keychain. She felt foolish for that but her heart was pounding in worry.

The Chinese boy scratched his head, eyes wandering about until it landed on the keychain that was innocently laying down the ground. Because it was so familiar, he picked it up. His eyes were wide. “It can’t be…” He watched as Dabin’s figure grew farther. “Dabin!” he called out loud, his legs moved on their own and he ran to catch her before she could run even farther.

The female was startled by Renjun’s sudden loud voice. Almost too abruptly, she stopped her tracks to turn to him and as she did, he held out the familiar keychain. It was a strawberry bubble tea in a “clear glass” with some black pearls inside, its straw was in red color, and a happy face was drawn on the glass. However, what made this keychain stand out was the scent of strawberry and coffee enveloping it. One could say that the one who made it put a lot of thoughts and efforts in making it.

Dabin’s expression immediately turned brighter and she was visibly relieved when she took the keychain from Renjun’s palm. At least, that was until Renjun had opened his mouth.

“That was a gift, right?” Renjun asked, his face showed that he was serious and curious.

“Y-yes,” Dabin found herself replying honestly. “Thank you. I thought I lost it.”

“By whom?”

“Huh?” Dabin blinked her eyes.

“By your ex-boyfriend? By our best friend, Na Jaemin? Just so you know, there is only one pair of these in the world. So, it’s really Jaemin?”