Lay leaned his head back against the chair where he sat in the airport gate, feeling extremely bored and slightly sick. The blinding sun was shining clear through the shutters that the airport staff had put against the windows, and it was shining against his face. Across from him, Tao was busy playing a game on his cellphone. The young boy had been assigned to keep Lay company while the rest of the members and the staff went in search of food and a pillow for Luhan. Half an hour had gone by, and nothing yet had happened. 

Lay sighed to himself, and he squinted as he took a look around the airport. It was different than the ones he was used to, Changsha and Incheon. A few ways from the gate where he sat there was a Starbucks, a kiosk selling Chinese souvenirs, and a little bit away from that, there was even a small exhibit showcasing some planes from an earlier era. He smiled seeing the planes.

When he was younger, he had gone on a field trip to a museum where old planes were displayed. It was his favorite exhibit and his favorite field trip, aside from earning two weeks of detention after his friend Liang had jokingly dared him to climb on one of the displays. Lin had been there, too. They were both about eleven at that time, and it was a few years before he had even started crushing on her.

"Tao, where are they now?" he asked the younger boy, leaning against the chair again. 

"Still getting food, I guess," Tao answered. He looked up at Lay and smirked a little. "Do you want to walk around and look for them?"

"Ha," Lay said, crossing his arms. "Not unless you want to help me up." Tao smirked again and went back to his game. Unlike the rest of the members, Tao didn't seem overly concerned about Lay's well-being, even after he had almost passed out on stage. Lay's mother had called him after that and went on a rampage about how he should have been resting more.

"You're the one who refused the wheelchair," Tao said. "But that's okay, makes babysitting you a lot easier."

"And less tiring, without all the pushing," Lay said, smiling back. Despite Tao's lenient attitude toward his apparent injury, Lay was thankful that Tao didn't seem too worried over him. Even after all these years, Lay hated when other worried over him. 

It had been four years since he left Changsha for Korea, four years since he had seen his family face to face. He still missed them every now and then and still wanted to see them. But even more now that he was hurt. Just yesterday, a photo had already started to circulate around the internet, a phot of him being helped by staff and looking weak. He hated looking weak. He remembered the man who turned him away because he though he was weak and in competent. 

He wondered what his family was doing now. He looked over at the flight exhibit and wondered if Liang still had hs job at that museum, if he had finally started dating Jie. There were at least ten people looking at the exhibit, and he wondered if the flight museum at home had as much luck with customers there. But as he looked at the viewers, carefully, one by one, there was one that caught his attention. A girl dressed in yellow who had her black hair curled and waved across her back. But there was something about her that struck him as familiar.

It might have been the curve of her body, which resembeled the same curves he had hugged to himself many years ago. Perhaps it was the way she walked, light and quick. Or maybe it was something in her air or the way she turned her head here and there in an effort to get better angled views of the planes. He had not thought about her in a very long time, and yet she was also never put out of his mind. Was it really her? Was this the red string of fate?

Lay swallowed, feeling conflicted about whether or not to approach her and confirm his suspiscions. Did she still remember him? Would she even want to see him? Finally, he took a deep sigh and turned to Tao.

"Zitao," he called, and Tao looked up.

"What?" the younger boy asked. Lay pointed toward the planes with a nod.

"Take me over there," he said.

"To where?" Tao asked.

"To that girl."

"Which girl?"

"The girl looking at the flight exhibit."

"Okay, so you know that there are like six girls looking at the flight exhibit and one of them could be rabid fans--,"

"Take me over to that girl who looks like my ex-girlfriend," Lay finally said, and Tao's eyes widened when he saw the girl he meant. Tao had seen a picture of Lay's ex-girlfriend before and he knew about Lay's past with her. Tao swallowed.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Tao asked. "Are you going to be okay with that?"

"I'll be fine," Lay said, using his arms to push himself up, and as soon as he was on his feet, Tao rushed to his side to keep him from collapsing. "I just need to know."

"But..." Tao began. "She... broke up with you."

Lay looked up at Tao and gave him a reassuring smile. "I'll be fine. But if I don't go see if it really is her right now, I'll regret it forever."

"Fine fine," Tao said. "But no cheesy reunions scenes in front of me, okay?"

"Yeah, I promise."

Tao took Lay's arm and put it over his neck and supported Lay, who tried his best not to be too much of a burden on the younger boy. Together, they crossed the distance across the airport, getting closer and closer to the yellow-clad girl and Lay could feel his heart beating in his chest agan. What if it really was her? What would he say? What could he say? What would happen next? Was she proud of him?

A thousand different thoughts were rushing past his head, a million doubts and hopes. It had been four years and seeing her again, it had become crystal clear that he had never fallen out of love with Lin and it was damn well clear that he never would. They were bound for different ports and taking different paths, but somewhere down this winding roads their fates had to intersect. Wouldn't it? 

All the feelings he had toward her were surfacing again, becoming as clear, fresh, and raw as though he were seventeen again and sitting in Changsha Airport shedding tears, trying for the fifth or sixth time to record a song. Would she even recognize him with all the grand packaging that SM had put on him, the makeup, the hair, the diets, the clothes? 

They finally reached the girl just as she was turning around and Lay found his breath totally gone. 

It wasn't her.

From a distance away he had been totally convinced of it, but now that he was seeing her up close, it was all her wrong. He eyes were wrong and her hair was too light, her face too round, her cheeks not nearly pink enough. 

"Can I help you?" she asked, her voice much too deep to be Lin's.

"Nothing," Lay said. "I just... I just thought you were someone else. Sorry, ma'am." And with that the woman bowed and walked away.

"Well, that was embarrassing," Tao said with a chuckle. "OK well that disproves your suspicions. Back to the chairs?"

"Yeah sure," Lay said, and Tao turned him around to walk back to the gate. Despite feeling nervous about meeting Lin again after so many years, he couldn't help but feel a little disappointed that the girl had turned out to be someone else. 

"Not going to cry are you?" Tao said teasingly and Lay laughed.

"Ha! No, of course not. But hurry up and get me to a chair, I'm tired and it's starting to get crowded here."

"You got it," Tao said and began helping him back to the gate. Like Lay said, a plane had just landed and the passnegers were filing out, causing the main artery of the airport to become even more crowded, bursts of people were rushing through, and a few bumped into the boys, making it harder to move.

"Excuse me, sorry, coming through," Tao and Lay said as they made their way through the airport, but Tao's grip on Lay weakened a bit and when a woman in a red skirt bumped into them, Lay was sent sprawling on the floor, gripping his knee. 

"You okay?" Tao said, rushing to his side and helping him.

"I'm okay--," Lay started to say, but Tao suddenly noticed a splash of red against Lay's dark jacket.

"What is this?" Tao said pointing it out, and Lay looked down on it. It was a red thread, snagged on the zipper of his jacket and when he followed its course, back to the fabric where it unraveled from, he realized that it was from the woman who bumped into him. She had stopped walking a few paces behind him, faced away. Lay turned toward her, his eyes wide with disbelief. Could it be? The young woman must have noticed the red thread, too. She stopped and looked down at her skirt.

Anticipation filled every fiber of Lay's being as he stared after the girl. Suddenly, she looked up.

Fate.