~Third Person POV~

The jingle of Seunghyun's ringtone interrupted the otherwise serene setting as his phone rang, indicating an incoming call. He pulled away in surprise, hands fumbling as he fished the device out of his pocket. Looking down, he saw the words 'Manager hyung' flash across the screen.

"Uh-oh," he muttered as he quickly answered the call, "Yoboseyo?" Not a moment later, Seunghyun held the phone away from his ear, as the person on the other end was shouting at him. "N-Neh. Neh, arasoyo. Mianhaeyo..."

The following conversation was brief, but Natalie only caught a few words of it. As Seunghyun hung up, she looked at him inquiringly.

"I'm sorry, I actually have schedules today... I wasn't supposed to come here at all, but...I just...I thought, you know, that you'd be leaving soon and I...I couldn't just..." his voice trailed off, and Natalie couldn't help but laugh.

"Just go," she said, "It's fine."

"Are you sure?" he looked at her reluctantly. In all honesty, he'd rather ditch his schedules and stay with Natalie if he could.

She nodded with a smile, "I wouldn't want you getting in trouble because of me. I'll see you later."

~Natalie's POV~

I spent the rest of the day out and about, exploring the city that had become so close to my heart. It seemed like every day I spent here, there were new places to go, new sights to see. By the time I made it back to my hotel, my mom had also just returned from shopping in Myeongdong. I laughed at the sight of my mother, who was walking with both arms full of shopping bags.

"Oh, Natalie, you're back," she exclaimed with a satisfied huff as she set some of the bags on the ground.

"Do you need some help with those?" I chuckled as I picked up some of the bags.

"Ah, thank you darling," she smiled warmly at me as we both entered the building, taking the elevator up to our floor.

"You asked me if I wanted to come shopping with you, but it looks like you didn't need my help," I noted as we set the bags down on the floor of our hotel room. The curtains of the grand westerly facing windows were only drawn halfway, and the late-evening sun seeped into the room, giving everything a soft glow.

My mom brushed her hands off satisfactorily now that they were empty. "Well it's been a day well spent, I can assure you."

Though I didn't realize it, I had a faint smile on my face, which my mother seemed to pick up on right away. "Oh? Did something good happen today?" she asked.

I looked at her for a moment, then smiled. "Well, it's been a day well spent, I can assure you," I quoted her own words. She just gave me a look, as if to say, touché.

"So you really want to stay in Korea, huh?" she asked, eyeing me as I grabbed some juice out of the fridge. "Don't you miss being home? Seeing your friends? Being able to sleep in your own bed?"

I nodded as she took a sip of my drink. "Yeah... but it can wait; they'll all still be there when we get back."

"So, tell me about your new friends here. What are they like?"

At this point, I couldn't help but feel that she was prodding for information, but I couldn't quite figure out what for. "They're really nice. I mean, they're pretty famous, but they don't let the fame get to their heads, you know?" I replied honestly.

"I'm just going to take a shot in the dark here but...do they have something to do with why you're so eager to stay?"

I blinked in surprise, "How did you know?"

She laughed heartily with a slight twinkle in the corner of her eye, and when she spoke, I finally realized why I felt like she was prodding. "You know, Natalie, I was a teenager once upon a time. And I know that the only thing that I would have thrown any longing for my own bed and board out the window for is a boy."

I looked away guiltily, and she smiled, know