***

”Is everything packed then?” you asked Hoya in the hall while tying your shoe laces.

“I think so,” you saw him look around in the guest room before walking out with a pout on his mouth, “Yeap, everything is packed.”

“Aww, is little Hobaby sad?” you jumped up and tapped his shoulders.

He looked down at you and his once fake pout turned into a real sad expression, “Man, two weeks did flew by fast.”

“Told you so,” you crossed your arms.

Hoya rolled his eyes at that and pushed you to the side before picking up his shoes, “Your attitude isn’t helping me right now.”

From that, you gazed at him from behind and made grimaces at him. When he turned around, you looked away and pretended to ignore him. He walked over to the kitchen door before peaking inside with only his head.

“Uncle, we are going now. I’ll be back in an hour,” he informed your father who was sitting in the kitchen and doing some stuff on his computer.

“Alright buddy. And don’t forget to bring Jin Ah back okay?” you heard him answer from the kitchen.

“What the ?” you asked yourself but decided not to comment anything.

Hoya laughed at your father’s wanna-be-joke and made an okay sign with his hand, “Don’t worry!”

You and Hoya decided to meet up one last time with the gang before Hoya’s flight in the afternoon. He wanted to say a proper goodbye to everyone. At first you thought that it was a bit unnecessary because it’s not like they are best friends, but after some arguing he managed to convince you. It would take some time from you but he insisted and risking to be late was something he was ready to do.

After the two of you said bye to your father you walked out of the house and jumped on your skateboards before skating towards the skatepark. Today was the day it would open after all the reconstruction and you were more than happy and excited.

Once there, you noticed that there was more people than expected. Sure the skatepark just opened again but it was just for the skaters. The official opening would be in the evening and that’s when people should show up.

When it comes to the setting and position of the ramps it was pretty much the same, maybe some smaller changes, and the huge difference was that it looked a lot fresher. The colors were brighter and the once beige-greyish ramps were now white and clean. The park also got new benches and tables and the graffiti was updated with some fresher look. All in all it was nice to see it like this.

You and Hoya skated around for a short time and you finally showed Hoya the skatepark he couldn’t see during his whole vacation. After the round and your guidance, the two of you finally found your friends in the crowd. Some of them were skating while the others just sat around the ramps.

“That’s what I call lazy,” said Hoya and pointed towards JR and Luna who were sitting down right beside the ramp where JB and Amber skated on.

You smiled and shook your head while approaching them. The two sitting figures turned around, and when they spotted you and Hoya, they immediately jumped up. Everyone knew that it was Hoya’s last day here until next summer.

“What’s up buddy?” asked JR in a weird English accent while high-fiving Hoya.

“I’m ready to fly back to where I originally came from,” answered Hoya in English making JR widen his eyes in confusion. Hoya laughed and pulled him in for a hug before jokingly hitting his head, “Ah really now. You’re not only lazy but a dumb head too,” he commented so the younger could understand him.

“At least I tried,” the younger laughed and turned around to wave over JB and Amber.

“And you really came in the end,” said Luna with crossed arms while the skating two joined your group.

“Hey, I make an effort and all you do is complain,” Hoya rubbed his temples.

“You’re too kind. It’s like you and Jin Ah aren’t even related,” Amber rolled her eyes but couldn’t hold in her laughter.

“Hey!”

Hoya looked down at you and tapped your head, “It’s okay Gin, that’s something you have to deal with when you have an awesome cousin.”

“When are you leaving?” asked JB as he stood right next to you.

“In about…” Hoya looked down at his expensive watch that he has bragged about since he arrived, “Fourty-five minutes.”

Everyone nodded and the silence that no one wanted to experience, started creeping around you. It was happening, Hoya was about to leave this country and the next time you would see him again would be in exactly one year. You already started to miss him although he was still right beside you.

“So..” JB tried to break the silence, “are you going to the skating festival?” he turned towards Hoya with a bright smile.

You and the girls looked confused at him because he suddenly mentioned some festival involving skating. Something he didn’t mention before. JR nodded at JB’s question and waited for Hoya’s answer.

Hoya tilted his head to the side and scratched his neck, “Hmm, I don’t know. It’s not in the same city where I live but who knows, maybe something crazy comes up and I make a nice appearance,” he laughed, “Why? Are you going?”

JB and JR exchanged looks before smiling even brighter than before, making you widen your eyes in shock.

“No way!” you blurred out.

“Oh, come on!” Amber punched the air.

The guys started laughing before looking at Hoya again. “Actually yes,” said JB.

JR nodded in agreement before explaining, “My father is in contact with the organizers so we got cheaper tickets. It’s pretty damn expensive otherwise.”

“Tell me about it,” said Hoya ironically.

You were still speechless but at the same time really happy for your friends. It’s just now that you realized that these two were about to attend the skating festival that is hold in the U.S. After all these years, you never went there once. Firstly because you were underage and your parents didn’t let you go to another state without them, and secondly because it really required extra money. Something your parents didn’t want to give because they were already against you skating.

“Can someone explain to me what you’re talking about?” said Luna after a while of listening to the conversation.

Just then, from the corner of your eye, you could see Yongguk, Himchan and the others entering the skatepark while looking around and admiring the new look of the park. Seeing Yongguk now after yesterday’s night gave you a really weird feeling in your stomach. Watching him from afar skating around and chatting with the others in a calm way wasn’t something you could see often. He didn’t have this teasing and annoying aura around him and that made your breathing uneven and it felt like the air was about to disappear. There was something about him that slowly but surely changed and you didn’t know what but all you knew was that, that made your knees weaker than ever. You gulped down your saliva and turned your attention back to your friends. Right at that moment, Hoya spotted the others too and held up his hand for a second.

“JR, you can explain to Luna what the skating festival is while I go and say bye to the others,” he pointed towards Yongguk’s direction.

JR nodded and Hoya skated away, not even looking back at you. In just seconds, he was in front of them, greeting each one of them. You took a deep breath in annoyance and turned to JR again.

“You see Luna, there is this festival in the U.S that changes location every year, and there you can attend different competitions. It is a week-long festival so you got a lot of time for yourself too. Now, the ticket for that isn’t directly cheap and we didn’t even include the flight ticket but thanks to my father we could get some discount,” JR tried to explain in the most simple way.

“Wow, that sounds fun..” she commented, “When is the festival?”

“Next week,” answered JB instead.

“Already?!” Amber looked back and forth from the one to the other.

“Yeap.”

“And why are you telling this just now?” you turned towards JB because you wanted him to answer the question, especially after the talk you had not so long ago. Friends should share their happiness with each other.

“Because we just found out about this yesterday,” he said right away and watched you carefully.

“Yeah so don’t be mad at us Jin Ah-yah,” JR talked in a baby voice.

You tried really hard to hold in your laughter by biting down on your lips or looking away but you were a horrible actress and always had a hard time holding a poker-face so your mouth automatically turned into a small smile. “Whatever,” you tried to sound serious.

“Is it only the two of you who are going?” Luna kept on with her questions.

“Well, the two of us and… my sister,” JR almost whispered the last part.

At the mention of Gyuri, you rolled your eyes and looked away just to see something a little bit further away that caught you off guard. Hoya’s face was near Yongguk’s ear and he was clearly telling him something that the others couldn’t hear. The shocking part was that Yongguk looked right towards your direction and even after he noticed that you were looking at them, he didn’t move an inch. Ever since you talked about Hoya in front of him, he acted differently towards him. What bothered you the most was that Hoya knew how your and Yongguk’s relationship was, yet he acted so nicely towards him.

After a couple of seconds you saw Hoya straighten up and Yongguk smirk before smiling weakly towards Hoya. You watched the whole gang say goodbye to Hoya before the stubborn human being ran back to your group.

“Guys, the time is up,” he inhaled deeply.

Everyone sighed after him and gave him a group hug before the two of you headed home where your father waited for you to drive you to the airport. On the way home, there was something inside of you that itched to know and find out what Hoya told Yongguk and why. You fake-coughed before slowly bringing up the topic.

“Earlier…” you started off, looking forward while skating, “you talked with Himchan and the others-”

“Wow, there isn’t a single thing that can’t be unseen by you,” he interrupted you right after he heard Himchan’s name. Hoya is a very smart person and you don’t need to mention something twice for him to understand. He knew what you wanted to ask him and started laughing evilly.

You furrowed your eyebrows at him and hit him slightly on the shoulder, “What did you tell him?!”

“None of your business,” he winked as the two of you approached your house.

“Of course it is!”

“Really? Tell me how then,” He jumped off his skateboard and picked it up from the ground, “Is he your boyfriend or something?”

He didn’t even wait for your answer and just entered the house. With a very shocked yet angry face you followed his actions and ran into the house after him. “No, but still... I’m not stupid Hoya! I know you said something about me,” you crossed your arms.

“Uncle we are home!” he shouted to your father and turned to you again, “Ask him.”

“What?”

“I won’t tell you a single thing. If you really want to know, just ask him,” he smiled and winked once again.

Just then, your father walked out of the kitchen, “Time to go!”

You gave Hoya a death glare, mentally remind yourself to get revenge on him.

***

The next two hours were some of the saddest in a while. You and your father drove Hoya to the airport before saying goodbye with a heavy heart. You hugged him at least ten times before he went abroad the flight. Before the airplane lifted, you received a message from Hoya where he told you to look for a little black box in your father’s car. It was a gift from him, he wrote.

You did as told and when you ran back to the car and opened the box you saw a black and white skull face mask folded nicely inside the box. Immediately a huge smile was painted on your face and your eyes watered a bit.

“Stupid idiot,” you whispered to yourself as you laughed with tears in your eyes.

“What was that?” your father asked just as he entered the car.

“Nothing!” you looked away and tried to dry the tears in your eyes by blinking a couple of times.

You looked down at the box again while your father started the engine and began driving out of the parking lot. Under the mask you could see a piece of paper. You picked it up and flipped it around to see that Hoya left a message.

I can’t break the tradition of the face mask gifts so here is another one just in black and white!
Also see this as a thank you for being the best cousin ever and a sorry for making some of your days the worst…
but hey! Moments like that should happen sometimes because… making memories with me is the best right?

XOXO <-- I just did that
Hobaby

You laughed in silence while reading the note and shook your head in disbelief. That guy wasn’t a joke.

***

“If I say no, then I say no!” you protested.

“But if we insist?!” JR tried again.

“Nope,” you shook your head and walked over to JB’s skateboard to put some last stickers on.

After you arrived home, you met up with everyone and spend the rest of the day in the skatepark and attended the grand opening. It was fun and you enjoyed it really much. You and your friends just chilled out and took it slow the whole evening. After the opening, some of your friends wanted to stay in the skatepark and skate around, others went to some fast food restaurants to eat but you, JB and JR decided to just hang out in their store. It was closed long time but you still wanted to be there because you liked that place.

The two of them brought up the topic about the skating festival and tried to convince you to go with them. They even offered to gather some money and pay for you, but that was something you really didn’t want to. Sure you would love to go but making someone else pay for you was a big no.

“You’re so selfish,” said JR coldly.

“I’m not even going to comment on that one, JR,” you said and pushed him away.

“JR, if she doesn’t want to then don’t force her,” JB shook his head, clearly giving up on convincing you.

“Whatever,” he sighed and walked towards the door that lead to the hall in his house. “Making an alliance against me and stuff, goodnight Romeo and Juliet,” he said and entered the hall, leaving you and JB alone in the shop.

You gave JB a questioning look but he just shrugged it away. You did the same thing before going back to putting the stickers on JB’s skateboard. JB leaned on the counter with his head resting on his hands while watching you do your work. The two of you didn’t say a word and just enjoyed the silence for a moment.

You made some small changes on the nicely shaped board without even asking him if he wanted but judging from his face expression, he didn’t mind either. After you were done you placed your arms on your hips and took a look at the skateboard as a whole.

“I like it,” said JB after you exanimated every single detail.

“Really?”

“No, I love it,” he smiled.

You arched your eyebrows and nodded in satisfaction. “Good.”

Right then your phone started ringing and when you picked it up from your pocket, you saw that it was your mother. Before you could say a proper ‘hello’ she immediately told you to come home because she wanted you to give Mrs. Kwon some cakes she just baked. When you asked her why she couldn’t do it herself, she told you that she was still busy with the remaining cakes. You took a deep breath before giving up and telling her that you would be there in a moment.

“I’ll see you…tomorrow?” you asked JB while he walked you to the door to open it.

“Definitely!” he said right away.

“Good,” you smiled and just when you were about to step out of the shop, you heard two voices arguing with each other.

It was dark outside and the voices came a little from afar so you couldn’t see who it was. You turned to JB, “Did you hear that?”

He nodded as an answer and gazed towards the direction but he couldn’t see either. “I wonder who that is…”

This time you nodded and listened to the voices again, “Oh well, who cares. I should go now,” you said and placed one foot on your skateboard.

“See you!”

You pushed your skateboard forward with the other foot while slowly approaching the two people who were arguing. They were standing by a bus station while standing face to face with each other. When you were close enough, you could recognize the face thanks to the streetlight they were standing beside. You widened your eyes in realization.

It was Yongguk and Gyuri.

Right then you could even clearly hear and understand what they were saying. You stopped skating for a moment, afraid to interrupt their fight, and listened to them instead.

“You’re so heartless do you know that?” you could hear Gyuri’s voice and she sounded hurt. Really hurt.

“Does it look like I give a or what?” Yongguk asked firmly, “I have never seen such a bothersome girl like you!”

It was silent for a moment before she started talking again, “Oppa..”

“I said don’t call me that!”

“But… what about us?”

“Us? What about us?!” he said through his teeth. You flinched from his attitude because if you were in her place, you would’ve beaten the crap out of him.

“I thought we had a secret and that we could hang out more!”

“Gyuri, I swear to God if you tell anyone about that I will make sure to make your life a living hell. You will destroy everything! Now go home!”

This time Gyuri sighed dramatically before you could hear her steps coming towards you.

“You’ll regret this, Yongguk,” she said loud enough for him to hear her.

“Go ahead Gyuri, please!” he said sarcastically before walking towards the other direction. Your neighborhood.

You froze in your spot when she approached you. She looked down at the ground while walking so she didn’t see you but when she was about to walk past you, she lifted her head up and gave you the iest look you’ve ever received from her. You made a grimace at her and skated after Yongguk, totally ignoring the looks she gave you.

The sun just settled down, making the streetlights switch on one by one. You didn’t know what Yongguk and Gyuri were fighting about and you kind of didn’t even like seeing them together alone, but you still wanted to see how he was doing. The two of you haven’t talked since yesterday night so you wanted to ask him if everything was alright.

When Yongguk acknowledged your presence, his once angry look turned into a calm one with not so much expressions. He was walking while you skated really slowly behind him.

“I guess you have had better days?” you began.

He closed his eyes once before opening them again, “Yeah… Did you hear everything?” he asked instead with a hint of panic in his voice.

You just shook your head as an answer because you just witnessed the very end and God know how long they have argued.

“What… what does she want from you?” you hated to confess it but you really wanted to know what Gyuri wanted from Yongguk and why. Why is she always after him?

At that question, he turned his head away from you and didn’t bother answering it. It suddenly felt really awkward and you had to do something about it. You cleared your throat once before looking forward.

“Your father…”

“For the first time in days, he hasn’t called all day long,” he said right away and you could hear some hope in his voice.

“Really? Does that mean that he has given up?” you tilted your head.

Yongguk looked down at you and a weak smile crept onto his face. He put his hands in his pockets and shrugged once, “I really hope so.”

“Me too.”

The two of you arrived home and you could see your mother standing by the door with a plate covered in a towel. She was waiting for you while slightly jumping in her spot.

“Come on Jin Ah, my other cakes are burning!” she shouted when she saw you.

“Yeah, yeah,” you ran up to her and took over the plate before she went inside again, not even noticing that you were with Yongguk.

Usually, you would pass the plate to him so he could give it to his mother but today you didn’t mind. In fact, you wanted to do it yourself. You walked back to him and he eyed the plate.

“What is that?” he pointed towards it.

“Something my mom prepared for Mrs. Kwon,” you said and started crossing the now empty street.

“Okay,” was everything he said before following you.

When the two of you walked up the stairs, Yongguk went ahead and opened the door for you. You nodded your head as a thank you before slowly walking inside and taking off your shoes.

“I usually wait before I introduce a girl to my mom but you are clearly an exception,” he said out of nowhere and tried to hold a serious face before a smile appeared on not just his but your face too.

“Shut up,” you hit his shoulder before pushing him before you. You didn’t want to show up in front of his mother out of nowhere.

Yongguk took a few steps before you when suddenly he stopped in his track, making you bump with his back. You looked to the side to find an answer to why, when suddenly everything went silent and a heavy energy was present.

Right there, in the middle of the living room stood a man with very familiar features. Yongguk’s mother was sitting on her couch, looking down at her hands and not saying a word.

You could see Yongguk clench his teeth and fists in anger before taking a step into the living room.

“What are you doing here?” his voice was death serious.

“You didn’t answer my calls so I had to do the next best thing. Come and visit my son instead,” said the man, who had the same facial features as Yongguk.

It was definitely his father.