Luna hit snooze on her cell phone alarm twice before finally getting up. On a good day, she couldn't be described as a morning person. With a wine headache, a flight, no coffee yet, and a sad goodbye coming up, she really wasn't feeling quite the thing. She took longer than usual in the shower and with her hair and makeup. She was stalling. Admittedly, she looked forward to seeing YoungBae as much as she did the last few mornings, but she dreaded it still. The memory of his kiss the night before played on loop in her head. Luna could easily recall the smell of his cologne when he stood near to her, the warmth and softness of his lips, the taste of his tongue, the strength of his hands and arms when he touched her.

After a deep breath, she walked out of the room and literally ran in to YoungBae. He was seated on the floor outside her door with his head on his knees.

“What on earth are you doing here?” she angrily whispered, so as to not awaken anyone in the neighboring rooms.

“I couldn't sleep because I kept having a nightmare about you sneaking off.” he yawned and stretched before grabbing the handle to her suitcase. With his other hand, he held hers. He pressed the button for the elevator with one finger so he never had to let go of her hand.

“So you slept outside of my door? Creep.” she joked. Her plan of keeping a mental and physical distance from him was scrapped, obviously. He meant for this to be an emotional parting and at this rate, it was exactly what he'd get. Luna could feel the tears behind her eyes threatening to fall the closer they got to the ground floor.

When they entered the dining room, she spotted JiYong waiting for them by a window. She had hoped to end this trip without having to see the accusation in his eyes, but deemed it unavoidable. She took the seat across from him while YoungBae took her bag to the front desk to be loaded on the shuttle.

“So, I guess this means you'll have time to write that award winning article now about your love affair.” Luna cut her eyes at him.

“There will be no article about YoungBae, but I just might write an op-ed on what an you are.” she smiled sweetly.

“I see you two are getting along just as well as before.” entered YoungBae. They gave each other the evil eye as YoungBae sat between them and held Luna's hand. While ordering food, he played with the tips of her finger. While waiting for said food, he ran his finger tips along her palm. While she drank her coffee, he ran his thumb over the inside of her wrist. Luna knew she should pull her hand back, but every time she tried, he would tighten his grip and hold her still. No, he was not going to make this easy for her.

Conversation over breakfast was almost non existent. Usually, even with JiYong there to antagonize her, they would talk about plans for the day, but talk of the future was too painful for them. There were no more tomorrows for them, as far as Luna was concerned. A person from the front desk the came over to let Luna know the shuttle had arrived and she felt her heart drop. The moment had come.

YoungBae walked with her to the front doors, holding very tightly to her hand. He hoped that all the emotions he couldn't say were evident in his firm grip. He also prayed. He didn't pray for her to stay because he knew that wasn't practical. He prayed that he would have the strength to let her go cooly and not turn into an emotional wreck.

They held hands and gazes by the van and waited for all of the other passengers to get on in an attempt to stretch the moments together for as long as possible. Neither wanted to be the first to let go. Neither wanted to let go at all, but the discreet throat clearing of the driver signaled that their time was well and truly up.

“Well, I guess this is it” Luna said with a false smile. She hugged him tightly, hiding her face in his shoulder.

“You have one week. One week, and then I am going to call you. This is NOT goodbye for us, Luna Rae Kirk. This is just a pause. You understand me?” he whispered fiercely in her ear. He was very close to tears himself. She nodded, still hiding her face from him. The driver cleared his throat again.

“One moment,” YoungBae pleaded. “JiYong, would you take a picture of us? I left my phone upstairs. He pulled Luna tightly to his side and smiled as brightly as he could. He hoped the sadness inside of him didn't show through the lens. When JiYong nodded that his task was complete, Luna kissed Bae hard on the lips and got into the van without saying a word. YoungBae watched the van pull off and had to beg his legs to stay still and not run after her like in some Wednesday-Thursday drama. When the van was finally out of sight, he turned to JiYong who for once knew to be quiet.

They walked with leaden feet back to their room. Upon entering, YoungBae asked his friend to text him the picture. When he heard the sound of his phone, he went to his bedroom and stared at the new message. Laying down on the pillows, he opened the picture. She stood in a yellow dress. Her hair was pulled back with a few curls framing her face. Her hazel eyes sparkled with unshed tears, but her smile was as bright as usual. She had her head tilted towards him and her arm locked through his. It looked to him like she was clutching his shirt, like she didn't want to let go, but it may have been wishful thinking on his part.

He brushed away the tear that had fallen and turned the picture into the wallpaper for his phone. He turned the phone off and on a few times to make sure she would be there to smile at him whenever he missed her in the coming days. When he missed her, not 'if'. There was no 'if' about it, he would miss her dreadfully. So he rolled to his side and prayed for slumber. Maybe it wouldn't hurt so much when he woke up. Maybe, he would wake up with the strength to not call her and give her space to reconsider their future. Maybe, just maybe, this wouldn't be the longest week of his life.

*****

Luna was able to hold it together during the ride to the airport. And while checking in. And while going through security. It was when she stepped onto the plane that it really hit her that she was not going to see him tomorrow and that she was leaving him behind. She made it to her seat without incident and stored her bag.

She was fine. She was perfectly fine. Until an ahjumma with a sweet face sat next to her and asked if she was okay.

“No. No, I'm not” and she broke down into tears. Asking no further questions, the kind woman wrapped her arms around Luna and rocked her gently. After a time, Luna was able to talk about the magical days she spent with a man called 'Bae' for the first time. The ahjumma listened and handed her tissues when necessary, which was often. Luna, who never-ever cried, cried during the whole two and a half hour flight to Tokyo. When she stepped off the plane, she felt a little lighter. She had work to keep her busy during the upcoming week, but in her mind, she was doing the countdown to Sunday when she would hear his much admired voice again.

When she arrived at the Tokyo embassy the next morning, she was told there was a minor emergency in Thailand and they needed someone with her translating skills to go and mediate a meeting. With sigh of resignation, she went back to Stacy's house to re-pack and got on the first flight to Bangkok.

*****

YoungBae spent most of the next day apologizing to JiYong for not being as fun as he was before. He tried his hardest to have fun with his long time best friend, but his heart wasn't in it. His heart was in Tokyo with a hazel eyed woman from New York who spoke a bunch of languag