"Minseok oppa!"

"Park Minah!" Minseok smiled.  He ran to her in the airport terminal and hugged her tightly.

"Minseok oppa, I haven't been called that in so long," she giggled, referring to her English name, Aaliyah Park.

He pulled away from his friend and examined her.  She still had long dark red hair and deep blue eyes.  "You haven't changed a bit," he smiled cheekily.

"Neither have you," she smiled.  "You still have the same baozi cheeks."  She pinched his cheeks gently for emphasis.

"Stop that," he swatted her hand away.  "How have you been?"

"I've been well, oppa.  America was amazing, but I miss home," she said, her eyes shining.

"Well, the rest of the boys would be really excited to see you again since you've been gone for 5 years," he motioned to the car waiting on the curb.  "We should get going.  I'm sure you have plenty of catching up to do."  He helped her heave her suitcases in the trunk of his car and they sped off towards Minseok's house, where the rest of the welcoming committee was waiting.

"When you called out of the blue one day, I thought there was an emergency over there, and I was about to start packing my bags," Minseok said while he was driving.  "I didn't know that you wanted to live here again.  We thought you were settling in New York!"

"Aniyo, oppa," Minah giggled.  "New York was great, but the Koreatown there could not compete with the actual thing.  I just missed home too much.  Besides, I was having a rough time settling in there, so I decided on coming home."

"The boys will be surprised to see that you're here.  I didn't tell them!  Right now, they're all thinking why in the world I would arrange an emergency meeting at my house on a random day," Minseok chuckled.

"We should document their faces on video!" Minah suggested eagerly.  "It would be priceless to see their surprised faces!"

They shared laughs as they threw around ideas about how each of them would react.  “Yixing would probably just stare at us blankly like he always does,” Minah giggled.

“And Kyungsoo would have those wide eyes as always,” Minseok teased.

They laughed together.  "I missed you so much Minseok oppa," Minah sighed.

"I missed you too, Minah," Minseok replied.  "I had no one to be my best friend.  I had to deal with those idiots of boys as friends while you were gone."  He made a face.

Minah laughed.  "They're not that terrible, oppa, you're overreacting."

"You try spending 5 years with them and no other source of sanity!" he protested.  Minah giggled.

They arrived at Minseok's house 20 minutes later.  "Come in first, then we'll get everything out of the trunk."  Minah nodded in agreement.  Minseok unlocked the door and stepped inside.  "Guys, I'm back!" he screamed.

"We're in the living room, hyung!" came a voice.

Minseok signaled for Minah to stay quiet as he led her to the living room. She hid behind the door and waited for the signal.  "Guys, I have a surprise for you, and you'll never guess what it is."

"What is it, hyung?" came a younger voice.

"Hyung yeojachingu isseoyo~" a deeper voice teased.

Everyone burst out laughing.  Minseok's cheeks turned red.  "No, even better."  He slyly looked to the side and nodded subtly.

Minah emerged from her hiding spot and came into the clearing.  "Remember me?"

She noted the slack jaws and bulging eyes.  "NOONA!!" all 12 of the boys screamed.  Most of the boys came and attacked her, sending them onto the floor.  They showered her with excited questions like "What are you doing here?", "How was America?", "Why did you come home?", and "Did you miss us?"  They were all excited to see their noona again.

Except one.

Minah looked at the couches and her smile faded.  Still sitting in his seat was her former best friend, Kris Wu.  She took in his messy sand blonde hair, serious facial expression, and extremely curved eyebrows.  He lifted his gaze towards her and fixed his piercing dark eyes on her.  They hadn't kept in contact at all while Minah was gone.  But it wasn't her fault, it was Kris's.  When she had announced that she was leaving for America, Kris and Minah engaged in a silent argument.  He gave her the cold shoulder all the days until she left.  And after that, Kris never stayed in contact with her, despite the hundreds of emails, text messages, and phone calls she sent him.  About 6 months after endless pleading for an answer, she gave up altogether and ignored him right back, her heart heavy with regret and guilt.

Minah felt intimidated by his glowering stare.  It wasn't her fault that they never kept in contact.  They used to be one of the most inseparable of pairs, besides her and Minseok.  Everyone would have bet money that they would've even ended up together.  But now he was staring at her as if she had committed a serious crime, and that he was wasting his time even laying eyes on her.  It made Minah so heartbroken and crumbled up that it took up all of her effort to tear her eyes away from Kris' death glare.  She turned away from him and bit her lip.

I came back in hopes of mending things, Kris.  But now I wish I would've stayed in America.