Minjoo turns her head left and right, checking the condition of her face in front of the hand mirror. She takes her brush and applies her final touch of contour on both cheeks and Chaeyeon sees that from the passenger seat up front. “If you apply anymore you will look like those Western celebrities. I know we are going to America but it’s enough Minjoo ah.”

Minjoo huffs. “This is what happens when I sleep a little too well.” She packs her belongings. “Ramyun and 15 hours of sleep later, the regret sets in when I realise I need to appear in front of the cameras.”

“You deserve it after wrapping up the drama shoots.” Chaeyeon gestures to the driver on where to stop them. “Don’t worry, it’s not like your idol phase, you wouldn’t be having a crazy amount of fansites and reporters overwhelming you when you arrive.”

“You surely have an unique way to make me feel better.” Minjoo chuckles and shakes her head. Chaeyeon has been her manager since she debuted 19 years ago, the woman has seen her through everything, enough to give her comfortable teases like this. 

Chaeyeon gets out of the car first and Minjoo does the final touch up to her hair and gracefully exits when Chaeyeon opens the door. Indeed as compared to her idol days, the amount of people here taking photos of her airport appearance is more manageable. Minjoo expertly poses for the cameras, greeting the familiar fans and exchanging pleasantries. They head to the check in counter for business class and that is done smoothly and Minjoo does a last wave before going through the security. 

The manager hands their boarding passes over to the air stewardess to verify their flight. Minjoo in the meantime, digs through her handbag to look for her phone - this is what happens when one carries too many things around, finding her phone feels like a game of chance. When it takes her a little bit too long, Minjoo gets a bit too engrossed, frustrated and worried. She does unfortunately have a history of misplacing things so she begins to panic. Her mind becomes so focused that she accidentally does the next very-Minjoo thing: being clumsy enough to not notice someone behind her and bumping into them.

The newspaper that Chaewon was holding by the edge of her fingertips drops on the floor and Chaewon nearly drops her phone as well. She quickly looks up at the unexpected bump - she shouldn’t have been multitasking too, reading the newspaper while talking on the phone but the food review in the paper caught her attention until she was abruptly interrupted. Chaewon’s eyes widen at the familiar person and she is met with an equally surprised Minjoo. Chaewon would say something but the voice on the other end of her phone call is calling, “Doctor Kim? Did you get what I said?”

Chaewon automatically nods and bends to pick up her newspaper and boarding pass. “Yes, Doctor Jung. You can proceed with that surgical plan, I agree that it’s the best way to reach the tumor.” When she stands back up, she can see Chaeyeon smiling back and Minjoo still looking frightened. Of course Minjoo recognises the doctor even when she is wearing spectacles and has no makeup on.

“Thanks Doctor Kim. I shall not disturb you anymore, have a safe flight.” 

Chaewon ends the phone call and Minjoo immediately apologises. “I am sorry. I didn’t see you there.”

“No no, I wasn’t focused as well. Don’t worry about it.” 

Chaeyeon steps aside for Chaewon to show her boarding pass to the stewardess as well. “Both of you,” Chaeyeon chuckles. “Minjoo’s always clumsy because she focuses too much on one thing and Chaewon has always distracted by all the things she trying to do at once. This clash is unavoidable if you ask me. Fancy bumping into you here, Chaewon ah. Going to New York too?”

Chaewon nods even as she is slightly embarrassed at Chaeyeon remembering her traits. She pushes her glasses up her nose bridge. “This is a real coincidence.” 

Fortunately because they are in business class, they have the space to trail slowly into the cabin. Minjoo follows the ascending seat order, examining the 1 - 2 - 1 seat configuration, while letting the friends speak when she comes to the same row as Chaewon. Her manager stops behind her and when she notices the realisation between the two, Chaeyeon offers. “Do you want to swap seats with me?”

“Up to you. But you like the window seat, don’t you?” That’s why they booked their seats this way in the first place. Chaeyeon has her favourite spot in the plane and Minjoo doesn’t mind being anywhere so Chaeyeon usually books for Minjoo to be by her side just separated by the aisle. “It’s alright.” Minjoo reassures and turns around to see Chaewon not making eye contact with her anymore, focusing on storing her hand luggage into the overhead compartment. Then she remembers what started everything so Minjoo puts her handbag on her seat so she can use both hands to search for her phone. 

Even so, her rummaging yields no results and she is getting scared for real. Minjoo rakes her fingers through her hair because they are making her more irritated. She can already hear Chaeyeon scolding her and Minjoo is close to dumping her bag upside down when she suddenly hears-

“Are you looking for your phone? It’s in your front pocket.” Minjoo looks up to Chaewon pointing right back to her. She follows and her iPhone is indeed sticking out of her jeans pocket. Minjoo lets out a dramatic sigh of relief.

“Thank you.” She moves her handbag to the side of the sizable business class seat and settles in. “I was afraid Chaeyeon unnie is going to scold me again.” Her volume audibly lowered.

“She’s pretty fierce when she is serious isn’t she?” Chaewon returns with the unexpected comment and Minjoo nods with a much more relaxed smile. She turns to her manager, not surprised to find her already settled into her seat with her routine all done, a band to supposedly keep her jaw sharp and her face mask for hydration. One would wonder who is the celebrity between the two of them. 

After that polite conversation, the seat partners leave each other to their own personal spaces and the plane takes off not long after. When the plane stabilises in its cruising altitude and the seatbelt sign is off, Minjoo takes out her beauty pouch to remove her makeup but she suddenly is conscious of the person beside her. Chaewon is taking out her laptop and papers. 

She will now see my no makeup face right…? Should I just leave my eye makeup on… Minjoo is hesitant in her movements while Chaewon is oblivious. In the end, she decides the flight is too long to keep her makeup on so she has to bear the shyness. Despite her 15 hours sleep yesterday, Minjoo’s body calls for her to sleep more and she does. When she wakes, she feels much more refreshed and… hungry. The actress calls for the stewardess and they come swiftly, taking her orders for a steak and a bowl of ramyun. There’s nothing like this combination and Minjoo leans back proudly, staring aimlessly into space as her brain is still waking up. Naturally, her eyes linger to the business of her seat partner. Unlike Minjoo and her frivolous belongings - makeup, eye mask, facemasks and other nicknacks - Chaewon has her whole work desk with her. A laptop showing a chart of a brain, iPad with a page full of teeny tiny words and if that aren’t enough, she has actual papers and pens lying around. The doctor makes a note on one of the hardcopies and Minjoo stares hard at the written words - doctors really do have illegible handwritings. She continues staring, getting focused on trying to decipher and Chaewon notices the new attention. 

Chaewon looks at Minjoo and the thought of understanding why she’s an idol-actress makes sense seeing Minjoo’s bare face for the first time. It amuses her that the actress hasn’t realised she is caught so Chaewon purposely stops her writing. Only then Minjoo looks up, now taken aback with the realisation. “Sorry, I was just momentarily intrigued by what you are doing. I never seen that for real before.” Minjoo decides that confessing about staring at someone else’s handwriting because it is ugly is not a very polite thing to do so she has to direct the attention to the brain chart on Chaewon’s laptop. “I mean, for real like in real life. I have seen it in dramas but this is a real person’s brain right now right?” Minjoo instantly regrets the totally embarrassing sentence she just blurted out. Hasn’t she learnt after 39 years of living that less is more? Now she just sounds less cool.

Chaewon brings her eyes back to the brain scan on her laptop. Unknown to Minjoo, that real person is actually hers. Chaewon is doing what she has been using most of her free time for since she found out about her own brain cancer: researching any feasible solution. Her brain cancer is a Grade 3 Glioblastoma malignant cancerous tumor lodged deep in the brain, an area hard to operate on without compromising the primary function of her brain. That is why despite being one of the most talented neurosurgeons out there, she has already exhausted all ideas on how to cut the tumor out and the only solution left is through chemotherapy. That too is not a 100% fix; the patient has to endure various side effects and come to realise that at best, only reduces the size of the tumor, and most of the time, the pain does not make up for the reward. 

It is still so ironic for Chaewon to have missed all the signs to something she is an expert in - indeed, one doesn’t see clearly when something is closest to them. Her familiarity dismissed signs of headaches that are aching differently. It was only when one day last year, she had to leave the mid surgery to vomit, leaving her colleagues to joke if she was pregnant - which she knew she wasn't (for sure) - that she decided to check out why. The news didn’t hit her the moment she knew. It was only when her sister broke down after Chaewon told her, that Chaewon herself processed the fact. This is real. 

Needless to say, Eunbi was very insistent on Chaewon quitting her job and getting treatment, but Chaewon instead used her deep familiarity with this illness to make a sound decision. She does not want to go through the torture of chemotheraphy to yield her only a life on borrowed time with a self that may be less than her. Unless there is a solution that can fix the problem permanently - a doctor smarter than her who can find a way to cut this deeply concealed tumor, or a new revolutionary treatment plan that comes up in the everchanging medical world - Chaewon wants to keep being herself. 

As much of herself with the ticking time bomb in her head. 

Even as that time may be running short.

Chaewon pushes aside the papers she was reading and pulls the laptop closer to let Minjoo see better. “It is a real person right now.” She answers Minjoo’s question coolly, making Minjoo slightly grateful the doctor entertained her silly question. 

“Is this your patient?” Minjoo gets intrigued by the chart since the details are clearer now that the screen is closer. When she hears no response from her seat partner, Minjoo looks up to get Chaewon smiling back so Minjoo obliviously takes it as an acknowledgement. “They must like having you as their doctor, you are working even when you can be taking a break.” 

“I like what I do and in turn, I am thankful I have patients who trust what I can do.” Chaewon answers and she then realises how funny this situation may be and Minjoo seems to be realising that too. The actress awkwardly casts her eyes down because unlike most of Chaewon’s patients, she is the only one rebellious enough to not heed the doctor’s well-intentioned advice. Now seated side by side in the plane, this is the first time Minjoo is meeting her doctor after disobediently leaving the hospital early. She prays hard the doctor doesn’t bring it up...

“Though I am glad to see you are looking well despite not listening to me. Your bruises all healed nicely too.” Chaewon comments with a slight smirk and Minjoo closes her eyes after being caught. Seeing that, Chaewon chuckles after successfully teasing her. “Did your shoot go well?”

Minjoo reluctantly looks back up, trying her best to get over her embarrassment. “Yes it did, thank you for that.”

“I didn’t do much other than telling you to rest.” 

“Still… you treated me and I didn’t listen but it is also somewhat thanks to you, I could finish the shoot.”

“Well, since we are outside of the hospital I can tell you this. I understand. I do, about the passion one can feel for their job. Just that as a doctor, in my good conscience, I still wished you rest more but seeing how deep you slept through the turbulence just now, I say you are doing a good job making up for it.” Chaewon cheekily pokes fun at the actress counting as a little payback for Minjoo’s abrupt disappearance. 

Minjoo gets more embarrassed than she has been for a long while at the doctor’s playful jab to soothe things over. Just nice, her food arrives and the stewardess sets the table before putting Minjoo’s food down. Chaewon takes this as a sign to end their random small talk so Minjoo can focus on eating. She also realises what Minjoo said - about working when she should be taking a break - and packs up her desk.

Chaewon turns on the in-flight entertainment screen and flicks through the offerings. She catches a glimpse of the newspaper she was reading before boarding so she decides to venture into the lifestyle section of the in-flight entertainment to look for food recommendation videos. She has been to New York many times but the city evolves fast and there is always something new. Chaewon settles on an episode covering pizza parlours, leaning into a comfortable laid back position to watch the program. 

Minjoo is properly enjoying the match made in heaven duo of a feast as she rewatches her favourite film ‘A Star is Born’ but she gets distracted by the cinematic shots of the pizzas on Chaewon’s screen. Naturally after a while, she is unabashedly watching that screen as well, slurping down her noodles, curbing the food cravings as it surfaces. The program features different pizza parlours and their specialty flavours but to Minjoo, the last looks the best with their famous wood-fire pizza. She is heavily salivating at this point even though she just finished everything she ordered. When the program flashes the name of the restaurant at the end of it, Chaewon pauses the video to take her phone out to jot down this new must-try. Minjoo wants it too. The woman hurriedly pulls out her phone and copies and this of course, catches Chaewon’s attention again. It seems like her seat partner has a habit of watching whatever she watches and strangely, this doesn’t bother Chaewon.

“The pizza looks amazing doesn’t it?” Chaewon says casually and Minjoo again, realises she is caught. 

“Yes it does… sorry, the pizza... I didn’t mean to always intrude in your space but it looks sooooo good.” The woman accentuates the last portion because eating good food is a whole experience for her. 

Chaewon smiles at Minjoo’s honesty, “Nah, I totally get why. Otherwise I wouldn’t be jotting it down myself. Are you planning to try it too?”

Minjoo nods fervently, “I have free time after my shoot where I don’t have anything planned since Chaeyeon unnie is abandoning me for exclusive dance classes with famous instructors. This is perfect.” 

Chaewon nods in response to the knowledge that her old friend hasn’t lost her love for dancing after so many years. Minjoo realises she should do the polite thing by asking back.

“Will you be going alone? If you don’t mind, we perhaps can try it together. That way, we ca