“It's just like her to appear out of the blue like this huh?” Johnny mused as he and Taeyong got out of the car.

“She could have given us a heads up,” Taeyong mumbled. “If Jaehyun hadn’t been assigned on this task, when do you think she would have told us that she was back?”

After throwing the bomb at them, Jaehyun gave them the address of an art studio named Ogre in the Cave Creative. If that was not a dead giveaway of who the owner was then Taeyong was prepared to shave his head bald. The fact that the girl in question had already set up a studio despite having been back for just a couple of days meant that her move to Seoul had been set in motion for a good while. Yet she had remained utterly silent about it. Instead, she remained rather elusive whenever she replied to messages and this left a bitter aftertaste in Taeyong’s mouth.

“Do you think Seulgi knew?” Taeyong pondered out loud.

“Hard to say,” Johnny replied while sizing up the unexpectedly modest and humble exterior of the art studio. “I can’t imagine her remaining quiet if she knew though.”

“True… But if she had been forced to keep silent…” Taeyong mumbled, still feeling unconvinced.

The two childhood friends stared at the entrance and prepared to enter when Johnny’s phone rung. Frowning in dissatisfaction at being disturbed, Johnny sighed loudly when he saw that it was someone from the local council calling.

“You go ahead, it's probably about the arts centre so it might take a while,” Johnny said as he pushed Taeyong forward.

“You sure?” Taeyong glanced at Johnny hesitantly. “I can wait for you.”

Johnny answered the call and waved a dismissive hand at Taeyong, ushering him inside. Having received confirmation to head inside first, Taeyong smoothened the creases on his shirt and shuffled through the door.

Once inside, the scent of oak and pine infiltrated Taeyong’s nostrils, sending him through an exhilarating moment of nostalgic delirium that he had experienced plentiful of times back during his university days. From the looks of it, the art studio was not officially open just yet as half unpacked boxes were scattered around the reception area. However the entrance had been left unlocked which came as no surprise to Taeyong.

Regaining control over his senses, Taeyong’s ears perked at a distant but familiar dull sound of a mallet hitting a chisel. Biting back a smile, Taeyong followed the sound, allowing it to pull him in like a temptress latching onto her prey.

Stopping by the doorway of where the sound originated from, Taeyong carefully peeked inside and his eyes landed on a familiar silhouette. With her back facing him, the sculptor’s hair was about shoulder length and half of it was clumsily tied up in a messy bun. Taeyong’s pupils followed the rhythmic motions of the sculptor’s arm, a wave of nostalgi