Neither of them bothered to watch the emergency instruction video anymore. They have several airlines’ versions of it memorized. Lily took out the in-flight magazine from the pocket and started flipping through it, waiting for the time when all seatbelt signs are off and electronics are allowed. Even though they have made several copies and had backup ones in the cloud, she still wanted to make sure that they were working fine. Corrupted files are one of her worst fears.

She was going through the folder to check in her head when a yawn slipped out of her. Undeniably, she was tired. It has been a long week, and an even longer one was waiting for her in a foreign country. Maybe she should just take this time and sleep?

Only a minute after she closed her eyes, sleep already overcame her. It was a deep, dreamless doze, an express recharging session.

She was awakened by her seat shaking. She thought she was dreaming it, but alarm shoved her back into consciousness. Was it turbulence? Still a bit disoriented, she listened for the pilot’s announcement, but none came. She looked around and everyone else looked fine. What was that?

Her seat shook once more. She realized that it was Mr. Cho, shifting himself and facing the window.

Relieved, Lily leaned back on her seat and closed her eyes, waiting for nothingness to engulf her once more. The gentle hum of the plane and the collective murmur of the passengers were comfortable background sounds, and soon, taking a little longer than before, sleep slowly crept over her.

Then, her chair shook once more as Mr. Cho shifted in his seat.

Lily opened her eyes and let out a controlled breath. She was starting to feel a headache coming on because of the sudden awakenings. She stayed still, urging the headache away. For a few minutes, Mr. Cho didn’t move. It looked like he finally found the right position to fall asleep himself. Satisfied, Lily then closed her eyes, but it was taking much longer than before to fall asleep. Should she just order alcohol? Or something hard to knock her boss unconscious so he’d stop fidgeting?

Another toss. Another turn.

Stillness.

Then Mr. Cho shifted his arm, knocking her phone, which was resting on the tiny armrest table between them, to the ground.

Fed up, Lily snapped her seatbelt free and flung it to the side, not caring if (and secretly wishing) it hit her annoying boss. She yanked the overhead compartment open, ignoring Mr. Cho’s complaint about her seatbelt. (So it did hit him. Good.)

“Seriously, Ms. Lao, do you have ants in your pants that’s why you’re so fidgety? I’m trying to get some sleep here.” Mr. Cho hissed, not bothering to hide his annoyance.

Fumbling the top of her carry on bag, she finally found the zipper and slid it down, ing her hand inside until her fingers found something soft yet firm. She wiggled it out of her bag easily, and with her free hand, zipped the bag back up and closed the overhead cabin. She plopped back down to her seat while simultaneously shoving the big, red neck pillow into Mr. Cho’s chest, replacing the unhappy look he was giving her with mild surprise.

“I didn’t bring this.” Mr. Cho stated.

“That’s why it was in my bag, not yours.” Lily snapped. She mentally facepalmed herself right after she said it. She shouldn’t have done that. Her tone would piss him off even more. She preferred Sleepy-Grouchy-Cho than full on Hulk Cho.

His eyes narrowed at her. Oh goodness, Hulk Cho is taking over.

Lily cleared . Time to explain. “What I meant, sir, was that you often forget to bring this pillow when we fly. And based on previous experiences, for example, making me go back to the office just to get it, and also your 6-hour marathon grouchiness when we went to Singapore without it, I gather that it’s the only thing that can make flying pleasant. For both of us. Which is why I brought it home last night to make sure that we have it.”

His lips started to turn down. Oops. Well, she tried her best but she couldn’t get the slight annoyance out of her voice. Maybe she could ask the flight attendants to transfer her somewhere else. The baggage cabin would be fine, as long as it’s not beside Hulk Cho.

“And now you can sleep,” Lily said. You evil bastard, she wanted to add, but instead finished with, “Sir.” She gave him a quick smile, just to make her seem less insolent.

He continued to look at her with narrowed eyes for a couple more seconds. Then, without saying anything, positioned the pillow around his neck, laid back, and closed his eyes.

Lily let out a sigh of relief. Only three hours to go. She prayed that he’d stay asleep throughout the rest of the flight. How glorious would it be to be Cho-free for 3 hours.

Her mind drifted back to the problem at hand. She closed her eyes and thought about how she’d approach Bada when she gets home. Should she buy him something? What was he doing right now? Did Clare feed him already? He’s happier when he’s well fed. She hoped he’s feeling better now than yesterday.

Maybe she should buy him something? There was a small window of free time after the presentation when she could shop. That is, if Mr. Cho doesn’t go on Hulk-mode again. What does Donghae need? Shoes, maybe? He uses trainers a lot for work, so maybe she could get him one... She heard a couple of guy interns the other day in the pantry discussing re-releases of “Jordans”, which is supposedly rare. Understandable, since they’re named after Michael Jordan. That sounds awesome enough.

Or maybe she should learn to cook one of the iconic Hong Kong dishes? Clare could teach her. Donghae loves food, so...

An image of Donghae inside a huge steam basket, jumping from one xiao long bao to another in new sneakers surfaced in her head. She chuckled quietly at the thought, her heart aching at the same time. She wanted to see his happy face once again. This trip has only started, but she badly wanted it to end already.

~ ~ ~

Donghae stuck his index finger in his ear and wiggled it, trying to get the ringing to stop. As predicted, Clare was in an unforgiving mood after being stood up for more than 4 hours. He received an earful - two earfuls that may have lifelong side effects on his hearing when he called her.

“Do you think I’m your girlfriend?!” Clare roared over the phone. “I am NOT Lily! So don’t think you can make me wait and not get your head chopped off! That’s 4 hours of my life I’m never gonna get back, Lee Donghae. I can’t believe I even wasted a minute on you, let alone four hours, geez. I hate Lilian for making me do this.”

Despite the scariness of it all, Donghae chuckled. He could just see how the veins in Clare’s neck and temples throbbed during her tirade. He imagine Clare’s head exploding in the middle of it, which made him laugh out loud.

If she knew what you were thinking, she’d come running after you with a giant chopping knife, his subconscious reminded him. That got him to shut up.

Semi-deaf and starving, Donghae again found himself within view of Geng Bao Chinese Restaurant. Lunchtime rush was coming to an end, which means he could hang out with the staff for a little bit before going to work. He didn’t have an official schedule until next week, but there’s still that choreography for the rap duo that he had to finish.

As he was nearing the door to the kitchens, he heard humming - it was the same catchy tune from before. Out of instinct (and probably one too many spy movies), Donghae plastered his back against the wall and inched towards the corner before carefully peeking. It was the same kid - what was his name? - this time with a broomstick in his hands, sweeping the alley by the dumpster. He was doing a terrible job, because he kept scattering the litter on the ground even more when he twirled the broomstick like a dancing partner and dipped it low, then letting it go, only to be caught by his foot before kicking it back up and catching it once more with a towel that he snatched from his belt as it fell the other way. Using the towel, he again thew the broom handle to the other side, whipped the towel around above his head like a cowboy whipping around a rope before catching cattle, and then caught the broomstick again just a couple inches from touching the ground.

The kid laughed, his eyes disappearing as he straightened up. He clearly looked like he was enjoying himself. But then his smile lost its humor and turned into a sad one. Shaking his head, he went back to sweeping - this time doing it properly.

Donghae wasn’t planning on moving from his hiding place. He wasn’t one to confront strangers, but the sheer raw talent he saw in this kid, and the undeniable passion he had for dancing forced him to step out. He saw himself in this kid, and it’s such a waste that only a garbage bin witnessed his potential.

“Could you do that again?” he called out.

The boy froze mid-sweep and turned his head slowly towards him, the horizontal lines that were his eyes now widened in surprise.

Donghae put up both his hands, palms facing out, realizing that he was intruding on a private moment. The boy looked like a deer in headlights. Any sudden moves and he’d runaway, which was the opposite of his goal. In his most comforting voice, Donghae said, “I’m sorry for startling you. I was just... I was on my way in. I’m a regular customer, you see, so I-”

“I know who you are,” the boy cut him off, his tone cautious.

This statement caught Donghae by surprise. It took him a couple of seconds to realize that this kid might’ve seen him chatting with the staff whenever he came. But why hasn’t he seen him before? Well, besides that one time.

“Oh, well, that’s great!” Donghae continued when he recovered. “My self introduction is out of the way then. Phew! I never did like self-introductions,” he said, trying to inject humor in his tone but sounding too awkward. “The way teachers make you stand in front, with strangers’ eyes on you...”

The kid kept still. Only his eyes followed Donghae as the latter inched closer.

“Some teachers even ask you to give a sample of your talent, which is really awkward,” he went on. “There was this one time, in middle school, when I breakdanced on the first day of class. It was the most embarrassing experience of my 13-year-old life.”

The kid continued to stare at him, his eyebrows slowly coming together.

Come on, kid, Donghae mentally urged him. I’m telling you my life story and I don’t even know you! C’mon, gimme something!

“How can that embarrassed you? Isn’t that your job? Don’t you dance for a living?” the kid questioned.

Donghae almost gave a loud whoop of joy. Finally! A reaction!

Barely able to control his face, Donghae said in the most nonchalant way that he can, “Well, yeah, but ripping my pants in front of strangers isn’t part of my contract.”

Slowly, after a moment of pause, a smile began to form on the kid’s face. With it, his eyes gradually disappeared into crescents as he let out a small laugh. Donghae finally let out the breath that he didn’t know he held. This was like that time when he asked Lily out for the first time. How can he be nervous like that? Yet, it also seems very natural to be with this kid. What was his name again?

“Yeah, that would’ve been horrible,” the kid said, still laughing slightly while resuming his sweeping.

“I almost never came back to school,” Donghae admitted, walking closer until he was close enough to lean on the dumpster. But he didn’t. He didn’t have enough clean clothes left. He was once again reminded of the mountain of laundry he had to do. Darnit.

“The worst part was, I was wearing tattered underwear. With a hole right on my right buttcheek.”

That made the kid guffaw. Donghae found himself laughing along as he watched the young man hold onto his broomstick for support while dying of laughter. What is it with this kid that makes him feel... at home?

“Wow, if that were me, I wouldn’t have come back to school,” the kid admitted, brushing tears of laughter from his eyes.

“I really didn’t want to, but we lived in a small town so we only had one school,” Donghae related. “If I wanted to transfer, I’d have to get up at 5am everyday to get to school on time. I chose sleep. Sleeping down the embarrassment even during school helped. No one notices you when you’re quietly asleep in a corner.”

“Well, Donghae-ssi, you were a growing child then. You needed the sleep.”

“So, you do know my name,” Donghae said, getting down to business. “But I don’t know yours.”

“Henry. I’m Henry,” the kid said, stretching out his hand for a handshake. Donghae hesitated for a second, caught off-guard by the foreign greeting. Come to think of it, he did sense a sort of funny accent when Henry spoke, but he thought it was a hint of local dialect. He wondered which country Henry came from. He looked Chinese...

Nonetheless, Donghae took his hand and shook it with an easy smile. He didn’t want to scare the kid any more with his curiosity. “Nice to meet you, Henry. I’m sorry again for invading your privacy awhile ago. But I must say, you dance really well. Can you show me that broom-flipping thing you did?”

Henry replied, scratching the back of his head shyly, “I... I kinda just made it up as I went... I don’t really remember what I do...”

“Oh, yeah, yeah that’s okay, I’m like that sometimes, when I’m too into the music,” Donghae relented, sensing Henry’s hesitation. “I guess you really like that song you were humming, yeah? What was it?”

“Er... I... I don’t remember either... I also just made it up...”

No you didn’t, Donghae thought. You’ve hummed the exact same tune before. What’s wrong? You afraid I’m gonna steal it?

“Ah, that’s alright. It was a really catchy tune. You really have a knack for music, I guess.”

Henry just nodded, his smile turning uneasy. Donghae knew it was time to let it go for now, but the artist within him didn’t want to waste the opportunity. He decided to press on one last time.

“So Henry, as you know, I’m a choreographer. And this company I work for has talent contests every year, you know, to find the next big thing. Why don’t you give it a shot? From what I saw, I bet you’d kill in the auditions.”

Something that looked like hope glinted in Henry’s eyes, but it disappeared just as quickly as it appeared. His smiling crescents now looked resigned. With a sigh, Henry said, “I... I’m sorry. I don’t really have time to join such things. Between work and school, I’m already lucky to catch a full 8 hours of sleep.”

“Oh,” Donghae replied, unable to keep the disappointment from his voice. “But I can come over and coach you. We can do it during your breaks, like now, 10-minute lessons until we put together-”

“I’m sorry, Donghae-ssi,” Henry interrupted again, this time firmly. “I can’t. I’m a chef, or at least I’m going to be one, so I need to concentrate on that. Chefs have little use for music or anything related to it. I do thank you for appreciating my... musical lapses... but those are just that. Lapses. I’m sorry. I need to get back inside now.”

Donghae was still searching for words to convince him when Henry slipped back into the backdoor of Geng Bao Chinese Restaurant, but not before giving him one last, sad look, a look that seems to say, “Please, save me from here. I’m trapped.”

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Hello again! :) Ah, I made it only a little over a week! Yay!^^ I hope this chapter is a little more to your liking? :P

I don't have much to say, really... Hahaha. I just hope you keep on reading, comment if you can, and just... see this story through with me. :) And thank you thank you thank you for staying!

You guys may already be curious as to when the other characters are coming in. Well, Henry's in! Finally! Haha! And you can anticipate the others in the following chapters. 

So yeah, that's about it!^^ Have a break in the middle of a hectic week with this chapter! I'll go back to writing now, and maybe be able to put up another one for those having long weekends this week like I am. :D Enjoy!