“You’ve got to stop moping around if you want to keep your job, Belen Torres”

It was Faye, who’d gotten herself an annoying ego boost after the Infinite concert, while, for Belen, it resulted in a deflation. She was pretty much an airless balloon now, laying in the cold, damp grass, catching the dew and not really feeling it. Her heart was empty, and her mind was full of thoughts. The concerts she had waited for years and years and worked so hard for were over, and on top of that, during the course of that time she had both bid forever-goodbye to the love of her life and given her doll-child for him to keep. She missed them both, immensely. Her desk was void without little Chama’s big smiles. Her army of Blond and Ginger Chamitos couldn’t make up for that loss.

She didn’t care to lose her job at this point. What did she earn money for, anyway? For her child?

Who wasn’t even with her anymore?

“Listen, are you sure you took it to the concert?” Faye went on. Her voice was so annoying, Belen just wanted to mute her out. 

“Of course I did, I take him everywhere”

“Yeah, and you took him to plenty of concerts! How the hell does one lose their doll at concerts!”

By giving them to their idols. Belen wanted to tell her. And forgetting to get them back.

It wasn’t like Belen purposefully forgot him. It was just that she was too taken aback by what happened. How would Kim Sung Gyu, the leader of Infinite who spent less than a day with her, still recognise her face after five years? How would he be so bold enough to call her by her name and smile like that? It was bad enough that she acted like a complete fool in front of him. Now she had gone ahead and left an entire doll with him. The doll which she very dearly loved.

The situation just…. Belen quite frankly hated her life right now.

“When you said you lost it, we had the staff to sweep the entire venue” Faye was going on on the other side of the partition. “The entire venue! I mean three floors of it although you were pretty much only on the ground! We checked the stage, the backstage, the trash bags, the parking lot-,”

“It’s with him,” Belen blurted out. 

Faye stopped. For a second, its just pin-dropping silence. Then slowly, Belen opened the floodgates. She just couldn’t keep it in anymore.

“It’s with Kim Sung Gyu, I gave it to him”

Faye’s head emerged from the other side. “You gave it to him?”

“Yes, during fan benefits”

“You gave your doll to Kim Sung Gyu?”

Belen rolled her eyes. “That’s what I said, Faye”

“But  how…?” Faye blinked. “Everyone gives stuff to them during fan benefits, and get them back”

“I know” Belen sighed and covered her face with both her hands. “But I forgot”

“Yeah, but Kim Sung Gyu wouldn’t. And they’re not supposed to accept fan gifts during concerts anyway, so-”

It was true, yes. But Kim Sung Gyu didn’t really give it back to her. In fact, he called her name, he held her hand, he smiled at her like a thousand million stars, but yet, he still didn’t give it back. Which only means...

“Maybe he thought I gave it to him”

Faye looked completely bewildered. She seemed to contemplate it for a second, and Belen assumed she was thinking Belen had lost her mind. But slowly, her expression changed to something wilder.

“Wait, hold on a second” Faye rounded the table and came to her. Then she crouched down on the floor beside her. “Did he…recognise you?”

There was no way getting around that. Belen slowly nodded. 

The look on Faye’s face was unreadable. “But…how? It’s been five years?”

Belen tried not to get defensive, but her voice got a little harsh when she responded. “But he did, and he remembered me by my name, Faye. My full name”

‘Belen Torres’ he called her. There’s been only three times he had called her name ever in her life, and those three times were deeply embedded in her mind like words set on stone.

“Why would he even…?” She started, paused, and her eyes went absolute wild. Faye gasped so hard she nearly fell onto her back. “Belen Torres, did you sleep with him five years ago?”

Trust Faye to imagine the worst possible, and the most offensive scenario. 

“No!” Belen reached out and beat her friend so many times that she did fall on her to the ground. “What the hell is wrong with you, Faye!?!”

“Then why on earth would he-,”

“Because we had a lovely time chatting with each other and became good friends! That’s all!”

Faye did not have to learn the part where they shared the same room, the part where Sung Gyu admitted that he liked her, nor the part where he put a ring on her hand. Those were her secrets to take her to her grave.

“But that doesn’t sound like a good enough reason for him to break protocol!” Faye shot back in a loud whisper which Belen was sure even their manager could hear. “He’s Kim Sung Gyu of Infinite for god’s sake?”

Now, that was a question Belen would have liked to hear the answers too. He was Infinite’s Kim Sung Gyu, a group that was known to stick to the rules on any stage they’ve been on, maintaining professionalism until the end. Sung Gyu was a man of principles, which was something she learned not only through the brief few hours she spent with him but also the past five years she spent as his fan. It's unlikely for him to have broken protocol for any reason. There had to be a mistake, a miscommunication somewhere in the exchange of that night, and Belen had to find out.

Although she liked to think now that he purposefully, subtly did that to keep something she owned of him with him to remember her, she knew it was far from the truth. Because for one, it's been five years. For the other, it’s been five years! Thirdly, she was pretty much just a fan now.

“Do you think he also forgot to give it back to you?” Faye suggested into her silence. Belen looked at her fingertips that were clutching the edge of her desk like she’s holding onto her dear life. 

“It was pretty crowded” Faye was still going on as Belen remained silent, contemplating. “Besides, the photos happened so fast! It was just thirty seconds, click, click, click, next! He would have easily forgotten it, not necessarily because of you, of course”

She gave Belen a look that seemed to suggest she didn’t believe her one bit. Faye has always been like that, and Belen didn’t want her to believe her anyway. She just wanted her doll back. She may not meet Infinite for a long time from now, and probably not meet Sung Gyu as well. It was harder in the times when it was all uncertain about the group, but at least Belen had Chama to fight the darkest days.

Now, she didn’t even have him beside her anymore.

“Ah” With a cry, Belen folded both her arms on the desk and buried her face. “I just want my doll back,”

“It’s been a week since they left, you’re never getting him back now,” Faye gave her a look, raised brows, twisted lips and all. They were both quiet for a minute, mourning the loss of her doll, missed hopes and lost opportunities, until Faye muttered into their silence.

“Unless…well,”

There was a very specific face that Faye made when she was about to say something outrageous; Belen had spent long enough with her to be able to read her mind right off the first page. In regular circumstances, Belen despised having to hear any part of her stupid suggestions. But right now, she was actually willing to.

“What?” Belen turned her chair to the other who gave her a weird, suggestive smile.

“Well, I have an idea”

“I know it's going to be stupid, But I want to hear it”

Faye’s face dropped. “Okay, then”

In panic, Belen reached out and caught her by the arm “Wait, sorry, let me hear it”

“But you just called it stupid”

“I said sorry” Belen sometimes couldn’t help expressing the amount of disappointment she constantly lived with. “Just-just tell me what you’re thinking”

“Okay” Faye looked around herself before standing up from her crouched position. She pulled Belen closer to her by the arm rests of her chair. “So, you know Dan, right?”

“Dan from Sales?” Belen raised her brows. “Your boyfriend?”

“No he’s not!” Faye whined, but her crimson ears said otherwise. Her face froze for a second, but then she yielded with a quiet. “Maybe he is, I don’t know”

Now, Belen cared for Faye enough, but not enough to hear about her actual love life.

“So Dan, and? What about it?” Belen asked, now bringing her back to the conversation.

“Yeah, right” Faye sighed, tugging her hair behind her ear. “So, what I was trying to say is, Dan was in close contact with Infinite’s new company. It’s their own, right? So there aren’t many staff members, apparently. Dan had coordinated the whole sales part with this one Managing Director from their company. He didn’t say all that much, but I know Dan could…you know, contact the managing director if you want?”

“About the doll?” Belen asked. If she was to be honest, contacting a whole company over a doll that could very well have been just a fan gift just sounds insane. They probably had better things to do.

But Faye shrugged as if it was a completely logical choice of action. “I mean, you want the doll back…and this is pretty much the only way, right?”

Belen thought about it, long and hard in that few seconds of silence. As ridiculous as it was, that’s really the only option she had. Belen hated that they would be misusing their advantage of having a working relationship with their company for a form of a personal benefit. But what were the chances of her getting through anyway? What were the chances?

Belen knew it was ridiculous. But she was willing to take a chance. “Alright, we’ll do it”

And she let out the longest breath she had held. It was a stupid, stupid idea, one that had no chance of bearing fruit. But Belen knew it, consciously so, that it wasn't only about the doll anymore.

Faye didn’t take too long to get back to her. It was just two hours, two hours (With lunch and another hour of MIA from her work desk for no known reason) and soon, she was dangling a business card over her face. The golden embossing of the Infinite company on the clear black paper was hard to miss. Belen’s heart pounded, it was in right now.

“Where did you get it?” Belen grabbed the card from her. 

“Dan’s gone all the way there to meet him” Faye grabbed a nearby chair and pulled it towards her. “Belen, he’s the only guy there, the only guy you can talk to”

Belen quietly examined the card in her hand. In the same golden embossing was the name ‘Dae Hyun Ko’ in English on one side and on the other in Korean. Underneath the name, under a thin golden underlining, was his position in smaller writing ‘Managing director’ Right at the bottom were his contact information; his telephone number, email, fax, the company address. Infinite company. It didn’t feel real anymore. It felt like a bad dream.

“I’m calling this guy…” Belen muttered to herself, running her thumb over the embossed name. “To ask him about my doll”

“Whom Kim Sung Gyu kidnapped” 

“Huh?”

“They’re humanised, Belen”

Belen swallowed. “Right”

A long minute or two of contemplation ended with Faye pushing her phone across the table towards her. Belen’s wallpaper of Kim Sung Gyu shined up at her like a reminder now, it wasn’t about the doll anymore.

“Come on, Bel, it’s your chance”

With a huff, Belen grabbed the phone. “Don’t call me that again”

Faye smiled, and entered Manager Ko’s number for her. 

“Okay, here we go,” She took a deep breath, and pressed the dial, betting her silly, stupid life for a doll.

One excruciating second after the other, they listened to the engaging tone on the other end. It took a while to connect to the international line, and the tone changed to the one indicating connecting to Manager Ko. The next few seconds were just oscillating between hope and disappointment. Belen was weighed more towards the latter, until-

“Hello, This is Infinite Company, I'm the Managing Director, Ko Dae Hyun. How can I help you?”

Belen nearly dropped her phone. In her panic, she could have even cut off the line, but Faye was hyping her up with her wid hand gestures, indicating ‘Talk!, Talk!’

Belen immediately pulled up her best customer service voice and introduced herself as someone from their events management company from the Philippines. Much to her amazement, Manager Ko instantly recognised it.

“Ah yes,” He said, in a pleasant, clear and polite tone. “The concert went extremely well, we were happy to have worked with you” A second of quietness, and-, “Is there anything that I can help you with?”

There was no right way of telling the managing director of a company managing one of the largest boy groups in the kpop industry that the leader of the group and the representative of the organisation had essentially kidnapped her doll child. There was really no right way, unless she wanted the phone slammed on her.

But there was one approach that she could take. One that had so little chance, but a chance, nonetheless.

Belen closed her eyes.

“Yes…” A quiet, deep breath. “Ko Dae Hyun-Ssi. Is there any chance that you could pass a message on to your CEO?”

There was no way of this actually working out, but Belen was willing to take her stupid chances. She was also actually waiting for the phone to slam. But it didn’t.

“Okay…” A hesitant response from the other end. Belen opened her eyes to see Faye nodding and gesturing at her encouragingly, her eyes not once leaving hers.

“What will that be?”

“Well, could you please just let him know…that Belen Torres called?”

There was silence on the other end, and Belen was sure for a second that the call was done with, until she heard the unmistakable sound of shuffling papers. “What was the name again, miss-?”

“Belen Torres” She repeated, trying as much as she could to relate to korean pronunciation. “Tell him it was Belen Torres. He would know”

When Sung Gyu first realised that they had in fact kidnapped the doll all the way to South Korea, a week had already gone by. The days after the concerts were so busy that he didn’t even have the time to unpack his bags. He’s never been on this end of concerts before; on the side of the management who not only had to look over the checks and balances of the concert, but also lead progress meetings and discuss outcomes; talk threats, challenges and opportunities, what went well and even better ifs. Time flew over his head so fast that he didn’t even realise that it's already been a whole week since the tour ended. On Sunday night of that week, Woohyun invited him out for chicken and beer with his friends who bailed out at the last moment, leaving just Woohyun and him.

The two of them had a night well-spent. There was always something about it when your brother is also your best friend whom you could get drunk with and lose yourself with, talk worries and concerns and heartbreaks over a couple of beers. It feels better than a night spent with a lover. He and Woohyun stayed out until late in the night, talking and laughing and finishing bottle after bottle of expensive beer as lowly music played in the background. Outside, the air was humid, there was not a sign of rain. Although fall was approaching, it was beginning to feel like an extended summer now, one that he feared would stretch out into winter and spring next year.

They talked about work, about families, about the weather and future plans. The conversations somehow threaded into subtle mentions of romance and lovers, people they were once attracted to, met back stage, played in musicals with, met through mutual friends, developed massive, hopeless crushes on. Inevitably, Sung gyu’s mind drifted off to Belen Torres, whom he very much had not moved on from despite their briefest, shortest exchange. It was as if a miniature version of herself had somehow warmly tucked herself in a corner of his heart, occasionally knocking on its doors to remind him that she was still there.

Since recently, the knocks were coming too often. There was no stopping it now.

“So, how is your thing doing?” Woohyun asked as he poured a glass of soju for his hyung. When it's just the two of them, the senioritis and age differences are naturally gone, finding comfort in each other. 

Sung Gyu accepted the glass and downed it in one go. He closed his eyes as the sour, burning sensation trickled down his throat.

“What thing?” He asked.

Woohyun gave him a look. “The Belen Torres thing”

Sung Gyu almost choked, almost. He covered that up with a small, fake cough and blamed it on the humid air. But that didn’t go unnoticed for ever attentive Nam Woohyun. They didn’t talk about Belen Torres ever since the concert ended, as if she was not only a person but also a thought that they left behind when they flew out of Manila. They also didn’t have the time to, with all those back to back meetings and discussions. Now in retrospect, Sung Gyu realised he never really left her behind.

“You remember what you told me that day, hyung?” Woohyun told him, his eyes set on the food he was playing around with.

“On which day?” Sung Gyu raised his brows.

“When you saw her in the crowd in Manila. You remember what you asked me?”

Sung Gyu could remember that feeling very well, the way his whole chest lightened up like blooming fireworks. He couldn’t really recall what he said, what he did, how he reacted to it. But the feeling of that moment, the touch of her hand in his, the brightness of her eyes, they remained embedded in the back of his mind.

“Do you believe in fate and second chances?”

Woohyun smiled, and there was something about the way he did. Sung Gyu’s heart did a somersault. 

“What…are you talking about?”

“That’s what you said that day, when you saw her” Woohyun shook her head, the smile not leaving his lips. “And you said you just might”

“And?”

Woohyun carefully laid down his chopsticks on the table and wiped both his hands on a wad of tissues. Sung Gyu watched him, cautious and curious, as Woohyun reached for his black leather bag; the one that Sung Gyu was familiar with as he took it for almost all his travels. Woohyun reached across the table and handed the bag to him.

“Go on, open it”

Sung Gyu took the bag from him, perplexed. But something told him he already knew where they were headed to. He set it down in his lap, the bag so lightweight. He ped the bag and gasped. Belen Torre’s little doll child in its little blue sweater glory gave him his biggest smile.

“Woohyun!”

He remembered clearly that Woohyun took the doll from him with the promise to return it to the events company. A promise that he had clearly failed to keep. Sung Gyu couldn’t exactly blame him for that either. It was his mistake to have taken the doll from her for which Woohyun held no responsibility, and it was understandable that he didn’t find the time to return it. But the fact that he had withheld the doll from him for a whole week…

“You could call me cliche all you can, hyung” Woohyun was telling him, the teasing tone of his voice palpable. “But I think the doll going a whole circle and coming back to you…must mean something, don’t you think?”

Sung Gyu stared down at the smiling face of the doll of himself and felt a stab in his chest. Belen Torres must be heartbroken now, looking for her darling doll all over the place. Maybe she remembered he had him. Maybe she’d decided she’d let him keep him. Or maybe…maybe she wanted him back,

And Sung Gyu was the one to take him to her.

He looked over at Woohyun who had his brows raised suggestively. Sung Gyu knew what he was getting at. Woohyun could be story-book romantic at times, and he could imagine Woohyun thinking of a scenario where everything turns out like in K-dramas. But it was real life, although everything that has happened so far didn’t feel like it. It was real life for Sung Gyu and Belen Torres, and in real life, they were never supposed to meet again.

With a heavy heart, he slowly the doll’s soft, white hair and thought about all the injustices of life. He came to a resolve, one better than the others. Then he held the doll, so tiny and so soft, to his heart.

“He’s going to stay with me, then. There’s nothing I can do”

Woohyun nodded understandingly and poured him a glass full of Soju to drink the heartbreak away. “If its meant to be, hyung, its meant to be”

Woohyun said that sort of thing all the time. He was one of those annoying people who sometimes thought they talked in poetry (Maybe it was the song writer in him) but Sung Gyu never really thought much about it. Even Sung Gyu spoke words that were cliche at times, like on radio broadcasts and variety shows because most of the time, people liked them. Not necessarily because they were true. 

But that wasn’t to say it's always the case.

Belen Torres’s doll stayed with Kim Sung Gyu. He joined the identical one Sung Gyu had back at home on his living room cabinet along with the acrylic standee of himself that he received from fans, the one of his baby nephew and niece that his sister gave him, and on top of the rainbow coloured table-runner that his mother made for him. Belen’s doll seemed to be happy to have a brother, and he stood there with him most of the time. But unlike his brother, Belen’s doll accompanied his dad (Sung gyu) to so many other places; to his office, his practice room, meetings, video calls, voice trainings, song recordings and sometimes hiding in the pit of his gym bag during his work out sessions. For Sung gyu, it was like carrying that lost piece of his heart with him, like he’d reunited with it ever since he left it behind in Manila five years ago.

It didn’t get better, but it did get easier. Such is life Sung gyu always thought, looking down at the smiley face of the doll and remember the feel of her warm hand in his. People come, people go; people fall in love and sometimes just stay there, never leave. Sung Gyu moved on with that thought and lived with it. He worked, he made music, he spent time looking at the vast city from his eleventh floor apartment and thought about how lonely he was, how far away he was from this big, wide world. Was it really all worth it? Who he was? But then he’d continue to live that life.

Days passed. On a Friday afternoon, Infinite meet at their infinite company building to practice for the upcoming music festivals. They have gone back to their roots as performance-oriented idols, and requests were flowing in endlessly. Sung Gyu had gone through all of it and made his selections carefully after lengthy discussions with all of his bandmates; their personal work schedules, availability, what places and countries they wanted to travel to. Even after all that careful selections, there was one where theirs and Myung Soo’s schedules still crashed. It was never easy as it seemed, making this arrangement work. But they tried.

After a few hours of practice, the boys were sitting around the practice room; the heavy breathing, sheens of glistening sweat on their skins, damp clothes and shoes marks on the linoleum floor, all of this were ever so familiar to him. Its something else to be living this life again, as if everything that happened in the past five years never happened. Sung Gyu watched his brothers for a while and found himself smiling. He never regretted one bit, all that he did to come to this place. If he had to do it all again, a hundred times he would.

“Oh no, what did you do with him?” 

It was Sung Jong, and he’s taken a seat on the bench beside him. Belen Torres’s doll was in his hands, and he was looking down at him with a look of disdain.

“I gave him a new outfit” Sung Gyu snatched the doll and carefull placed him on the bench between them. “Mum made it, isn’t it cute?”

The last time his mum visited with two crates of Kimchi and a pair of hand made carpets for his bedroom, Sung Gyu somehow convinced her to knit a little hat and a shirt for the doll. Bless her heart for not finding him weird. Or maybe she did, but she still loved him despite that. So now Belen’s doll was in a little pink and blue sweater and a hat thatmade him look like a flower. He never imagined himself liking this stuff, but now he actually did.

“You’re so weird” Sung Jong shook his head. “I never imagined you playing with dolls of all the people, hyung. I thought it would be Myung Soo hyung who’d start that, not you”

Both of them looked at Myung Soo who was doing some dorky dance while Woohyun and Dong Woo hyped him up. Sung Gyu had to agree, Myung Soo was the one very likely to play dress up dolls than himself.

“Besides, haven’t you ever thought about returning it? That girl must be upset. She probably never meant to give it to you”

Sung Gyu didn’t bother correcting him and humanising the doll. Nor did he go into clarifying anything about the girl. It’s easier to leave Sung Jong in the dark about it. Sung Gyu just shrugged. “He’s my doll now. There’s no way that I could return it anyway”

“Just post it back to the entertainment company there or something”

“I tried, and it didn’t work”

“You surely know the girl, Hyung, you know her name”

Sung gyu sighed heavily, closing his eyes “Lee Sung Jong”

It wasn’t the first time he had brought up the girl the past few weeks, and with Sung Yeol and Woohyun accidentally and very often giving it away, it was going to be hard to hide it for too long. What would the youngest two think of him if they learned his truth? How would they see their leader afterwards? Its true, they’re no longer under the dating ban, and all of them have been in an out of relationships which have petered out due to work, distance and busy schedules. There has been several non-korean interests among them too. But not a single one of them has been a fan.

Although Belen wasn’t initially one of them, she certainly was one now.

“You guys are hiding it from me” Sung Jong muttered, and his voice sounded hurt. “Its like…” A dramatic sigh, and his eyes raised to Sung Gyu’s. “Hyung, I already know her name. I know where she’s from. I know you got the doll from her…why don’t you just tell me the truth?”

A very tiny, miniscule part of him felt bad for keeping it from him. But the larger part was just-,

“Sung Jong, there is nothing like that” Calmly, Sung Gyu tried again. “If there ever was, I will-,”

The door to the practice room suddenly opened, halting all sounds and conversations. Sung Gyu looked up, relieved beyond heavens to be distracted and to have his managing director walk across the room towards him. 

“Sung Gyu-ah, a few things”

Sung Gyu looked at Sung Jong, who’s disappointment was all over his face and back at the management chief. “Yeah, what’s up?”

Daehyung looked at him and then at the rest of the boys. “We’ve got some more music festival requests, and TV channel PDs have reached out about year end shows”

Infinite hadn’t performed in year end shows since, perhaps, 2016. Seven years of their absence on the music shows gave him that expected anxiety of how they would be received on the shows right now. Sung Gyu looked at the rest of the boys who have turned to him for support.

“Do you think we’re ready to do this?”

They haven’t had the best experience with year end festivals and broadcast music shows in general. They were performance idols and much less of a group focusing on big wins. Infinite Company could manage their finances very well with the large gains from concerts and fanmeets; therefore, avoiding the brief appearances on TV broadcasts was a small price to pay to protect their mental and emotional well-being. But despite the plans for a Seoul Encore concert this year, they weren’t successful in securing a venue. They had to find a way to meet their fans again, and this would be their chance.

“It’s been a while” Woohyun suggested with a shrug, but not much enthusiasm was caught in his voice. Myung Soo quietly looked at everyone’s reaction, and Dong Woo just kept nodding to himself for a while before he said “Well, it’s not a bad thing to try”

“Not bad at all” Sung Yeol muttered, and all collectively agreed. But the excitement there was minimal in comparison to concert announcements. All of them had not-so-great experiences with the shows, so Sung Gyu couldn’t exactly blame them. And he also understood their reason for silence. 

Sung Gyu had to personally invest a lot to obtain Trademark rights as their previous agency only agreed to settle for a very hefty sum. Otherwise, they would have gone to trial stretching for years and lost their group name. Because of his investment that went into acquiring the rights to their work, the boys constantly felt guilty and felt the need to do more even if it meant they had to do things they didn’t like. He hated that they would continue to make decisions this way.

“We’ll call a meeting tomorrow, have a lengthy discussion about it, and then decide. Would you all like that?” Sung Gyu suggested and looked at each of their faces. The relief on Woohyun’s face was palpable, and Sung Gyu could see the way Myung Soo’s face relaxed, breaking into a small smile.

“I hate Year end festivals” Sung Yeol said the one thing that was an elephant in the room this whole time. And they all laughed.

“Okay then” Daehyun scribbled something on his notepad. “That’s one thing done. For the other, we have the utility and rent payments due in two weeks-,”

“Let’s pay with a surplus, keep it at minus” Sung Gyu suggested and looked up at the neon-lit infinite sign above their heads. Years ago, they had to live in a cramped house together which once or twice their previous employer couldn’t pay rent for on time. As young, rookie idols, hey often had to freeze in the cold and work in the dark when the power was cut off for overdue rent. Now Sung Gyu wanted to make sure they didn’t have to do that ever again. 

“Got it” Daehyun gave him a thumbs up and a smile.

“Anything else to talk about, Daehyunnie?”

“Not at the moment, no” He examined his notepad. “Everything is good….oh wait”

“What?”

Daehyun squinted at his screen and went to the length of bringing the tablet closer to his face.

“Ah right, I forgot,”

“Forgot what?” Sung Gyu raised his brows.

Some more squinting, and “Somebody called…Beleneu Torresue called you”

In the whole room, there was pin dropping silence. Sung Gyu’s heart shot right up to his throat, and his world came to a complete stand still. He felt all eyes on him, but especially Sung Jong’s intense gaze, Woohyun and Sung yeol, perhaps shocked, perhaps apologetic. In a distance, Woohyun’s words from the past echoed in his head. ‘If its meant to be, its meant to be’

“Sung gyu?”

“Huh?”

Daehyun looked understandably very confused. “Beleneu Torresue…is it somebody you know?” Dauehyun’s brows furrowed. “I thought it was a prank call…it came a while ago from the events company in Manila, and she said you would know the name”

Of course he did. He knew it so well that it could have been tattooed to the back of his palm. But Daehyun didn’t know. His best friend who was completely in the dark, he knew nothing at all.

“Wait” Woohyun’s voice now. “Belen Torres as in…The Belen Torres?”

Beside him, Sung jong climbed up to his feet. “Again, with the name!”

“No way” Sung Yeol stepped up, looking at him with shining eyes. “It is her! Hyung!”

Myung Soo, Dong Woo and Daehyun looked at the three of them, utterly confused. In the mean time, the same thoughts ran through his mind, on and on and on, a broken record. Belen Torres called him, Belen torres reached out to him. Belen Torres wanted to talk to him. Belen Torres.

“I have the number…if you want?” Dauehyun added in a meek, cautious voice. Despite everyone carefully watching him, Sung Gyu climbed up to his feet. “Let’s talk in my office”

Daehyun straightened up and nodded. Sung gyu moved to leave. But then he remembered. He turned back and picked up the doll, now his adopted child, held him to his chest and immediately walked out of the room.