"Hi, Ren! It's me. Long time no see!" The voice on the other end of the line was all too familiar. It belonged to Jae Park, someone who I'd spent my high school years with, walking to school every morning and the same thing going home daily. We'd spend the afternoon at each other's houses every day, filming something or he would be practicing his guitar with me as an audience.

It'd been a long time since we've seen each other. Jae has been busy touring with his band and they seem to be doing well. We never really did well with the whole long-distance friendship so we didn't do a good job of keeping in touch. After a few days of texting, eventually, it'd gone dry and I figured he was busy with his band. The last time I saw him was during Christmas last year with our families.

"Jae! Good to hear from you, you've been such a stranger." I hear my voice go through the phone and I cringe at how excited I sounded just to hear from him. But I couldn't help it. I was. My excitement pierced through me.

Jae chuckles and a smile finds its way to my lips. By now, the boys were looking at me with confused expressions. Who the heck is Jae? They must be thinking. I gesture at my phone and mouth to them that I'll just be taking the call and start heading towards the door to get more privacy. I feel Lucas' eyes follow me as I leave the room. I find a spot near the stairway and lean against it, phone to my ear.

"I'm sorry I haven't been able to contact you. You busy? I'd like to catch up with you. Make it up to you somehow." He asks. I feel myself smile even more like an idiot. I've missed Jae's company so much.

"Sure! How about tonight? I'll send you the address." I agree as I head back to the room. 

Jae and I say a short goodbye and I hang up, standing still for a moment to text him the address wherein he can pick me up from. The smile is still prominently displayed on my face as I return to the dressing room. Mark and Ten start to bombard me with questions already. I stumble back in surprise from their sudden actions.

"Who is Jae?"

"Excuse me, miss. You have a boyfriend?"

"What's he like? Huh?"

"Stop! Okay, first of all, it's not like that. Second, excuse me, Li Yongqin. I do not. Jae is a close friend of mine. Nothing else." I push past the two boys to help pack the makeup into bags. Mark and Ten don't stop nagging me. They fold their arms and walk towards me, gathering around me. "Guys, stop! Seriously." I laugh. I'd never had to tell anybody that so and so was just a friend. Nobody cared. But now, having these boys as friends made it feel like having 7 big brothers looking after me. Even if technically I should be the one in charge of them.

As I finish packing, I look up and see Lucas across the room tying his shoelaces. He'd changed into a white shirt and is wearing the same cap as earlier. I try to meet his eyes but fail. He looks deep in thought just tying his shoelaces. I shrug it off and start carrying the bags towards the door so it could be carried downstairs. Before I could set down the bags I'm carrying, Lucas takes me by surprise as he grabs hold of the bags and carries it himself. I'm about to thank him when he walks out without a word. His expression is stone cold.

"Ren! Give me a hand here, would you?" someone calls for my name behind me. I turn and respond to one of the makeup artists who'd called. I nod and start walking to her, helping lift the box of equipment and carrying it closer to the door so it's easier for the other crew members to bring it downstairs. She smiles at me as we drop the box by the door.

"So, I didn't know you had a boyfriend. Sorry, I didn't mean to eavesdrop. It's just, you sounded pretty loud and excited when that guy called." She pushes a strand of hair behind her ears. Her name is Kim and she handles half the workload as a makeup artist and in general stylis