‘Babe, you ready?’ Jongdae asked as he tucked in his dress shirt.

Today was going to be a fresh start for them. No Kris, no members, no anything. Just them. Just Katherine, and just Jongdae. Just another new chance.

‘Yeap!’ Katherine chimed as she fixed the skirt of her floral dress.

‘You look beautiful, Kat.’

(‘Welcome to the Ninoy Aquino International Airport. The plane is currently landing at NAIA Terminal 3. Please check your belongings upon exiting the plane. Thank you very much and welcome to the Philippines!’)

The moment the two landed on Philippine lands, Jongdae held her hand. He didn’t really want to lose sight of her – especially now that they were in a different country. He’s only been there once, and in that period of time, he was already grateful to have met ‘friends’.

‘Hello?’

‘Pareng Jongdae, nakikita na namin kayo!’ (‘Yo Jongdae, we can already see you!’)

Jongdae looked right, then left, and to his relief, his ‘friends’ were already there among the crowd of people holding names of their relatives and/or friends. Jongdae involuntarily smiled. Those eight months of being in the Philippines sure were some memories.

‘Babe, let’s go,’ his smile never faltered since then and Katherine was more than happy to see him finally loosen up. She always loved it when he smiled. And judging from what happened for the last nineteen days, she knew he hadn’t been able to smile genuinely. If those people were his friends, then she would make an effort to be their friend too.

If those people can make him smile like that, she’d gladly want to meet them.

Jongdae hugged his friends and smiled that smile where his eyes turned into crescents and would surely hint anyone that he was genuinely happy.

‘Long time no see, man!’ one said. He was a bit taller than Jongdae and was undeniably handsome.

‘Chanyeol, pwede kang mag-tagalog. Wag mong pahirapan sarili mo,’ (‘Chanyeol, you can speak in Tagalog. Don’t make it hard on yourself,’) Jongdae joked. The others laughed. Although Katherine didn’t understand a thing he said, seeing them happy made her happy.

‘Wow pre, ganda nyang kasama mo a! Pakilala mo naman kami,’ (‘Wow dude, she’s a beauty. Intoduce us to her!’) one of the men teased. Although she didn’t understand, somehow, she felt that she was the one they were talking about. All eyes were on her after all.

‘Uh, babe, this is Chanyeol, Xiumin, and Suho, they were my friends back in college when I was an exchange student here for eight months,’ he introduced. She looked at him with a why-are-you-telling-me-this-just-now look but even so, held out her hand to the three.

‘Hi, nice to meet you, I’m Katherine,’ she smiled brightly as each of them held her hand. Chanyeol, in particular, smiled at her in a different way and she somehow found it creepy but nonetheless, still smiled back.

‘Hi, you have, uh, you have boypren?’ (‘Hi, do you have a, uh, do you have a boyfriend?’) Chanyeol smiled and she smiled so Chanyeol assumed she understood. That was until Jongdae hit his head.

‘Akin sya, Yeol, wag ka nang pumorma,’ (‘She’s mine, Yeol, don’t hit on her,’) the rest laughed and she stood there, awkwardly smiling and trying with the best she could do to understand what they were talking about. She leaned into Jongdae’s ear and whispered, ‘what are you saying? I don’t understand a thing,’ Jongdae chuckled and whispered back, ‘Chanyeol’s asking you if you have a boyfriend. I told him you’re mine and that he shouldn’t hit on you,’

Katherine blushed almost immediately for quite some reasons. First, that tall guy whom she just met for not more than twenty minutes was hitting on her. Second, Jongdae practically broadcasted that she was his. That thought alone made her face heat up.

‘Pre, namumula sya o, hindi ata sanay sa init ng Pinas,’ (‘Dude, her face is red. Maybe she’s not used to the heat here,’) that guy named Xiumin said. Jongdae looked at Katherine and saw her head bowed down.

‘Babe, are you okay?’

‘Hm? Y-yeah, I’m fine,’

‘Are you sure? Do you want to eat?’

She just nodded to avoid any more of their attention on her. The three men smiled, almost too cutely, and she wondered why she had just met them now if they were Jongdae’s friends.

They’re all so handsome, she thought as she looked at Jongdae, but this one’s the most handsome to me. She smiled at him and he smiled back. Times like these were the times when they didn’t need words to communicate. One smile was enough to show how they felt. And right now, they couldn’t be happier to start a new life together.

‘Babe, where do you want to eat?’ he asked her as he held her hand. The three idiots men were talking and laughing among themselves while the couple was walking behind them.

‘You tell me. I’ve never been here before,’ she smiled cutely and it made him want to kiss her but then, they were in public.

‘Pre, san nyo gusto kumain?’ (‘Dude, where do you guys want to eat?’) Chanyeol asked as he hit Xiumin’s head repeatedly. Suho was laughing his head off and it made Katherine look at them in horror.

‘Samin nalang kayo kumain, dun na rin naman kayo matutulog e,’ (‘Just eat at my house. That’s where you’ll be staying anyway,’) Suho said as he patted Xiumin’s head in consolation.

Katherine looked at Jongdae for translation, ‘Suho said we’ll be eating at their house since that’s where we’ll be staying,’ he said. Katherine looked at Suho, ‘thank you, Suho.’ Suho smiled in return and it made her blush. Why am I blushing? She asked her inner self to keep calm. She didn’t want to make Jongdae jealous for nonsense reasons.

‘So, what are you guys doing here? Why the sudden move?’ Suho asked Katherine and somehow, it made her feel ease. Finally, she thought.

‘Well there were some matters back in Korea that.. got too out of hand. Jongdae said that we’ll be staying here for a while,’ Katherine was now walking by Suho’s side while the playful Jongdae was being rowdy with the other two.

‘Something about Kris, huh?’ he asked as he made a ‘tch’ sound. Katherine had to ask, ‘how do you know, uh, Kris?’

Suho looked like he didn’t want to talk about the topic and it made her want to apologize but then he said, ‘Kris used to be our friend, too.’

Used to be.

‘You don’t have to tell me if it makes you uncomfortable, Suho,’ she said politely. He chuckled and ruffled her hair as if they were close friends, ‘it’s okay, Katherine.’

‘Hey babe, I saw that!’ Jongdae shouted while he was trying to pry Chanyeol and Xiumin’s arms off his shoulder. Suho chuckled and turned to Jongdae while he put his arm around Katherine’s shoulder. She froze and Suho laughed, ‘she’s cute, Jongdae. Just cute.’ Katherine looked back with a startled look on Jongdae and blinked twice. Suho whispered in her ear, ‘don’t lose him, Katherine. He’s a keeper.’ Katherin looked at him and smiled, ‘yeah, he is.’

Suho asked, ‘Katherine, do you want to see your room?’ She tore her gaze from her boyfriend and replied, ‘sure.’ The two of them went upstairs to the last room of the floor. Suho opened it with the key. The room was of blue and white color with a hint of black. The bed was big enough for two people.

‘You don’t mind sharing rooms with Jongdae, right?’ he asked as he went inside. She smiled, ‘no, not at all.’

‘Sorry if it’s a bit dusty in here. I haven’t opened this room since it was made,’ Suho said as he looked at the furniture. It was obvious since some of the pieces still had their plastic covers.

‘How come?’ Katherine asked as she touched the little figurines of fishes on the table.

‘I had this designed as a guest room. But since I didn’t really have guests, I never opened it. I’ll let the maid clean this room up for you when we have dinner. Is that okay?’

‘You don’t have to mind, Suho. I can clean this room up,’ she said as she tried to somehow offer help. It was the least she could do.

‘Babe, how did the four of you become friends?’ she asked out of the blue. She just wondered. What kind of friend would let his friend stay in his house for free for as long as he wants?

‘The three of them were classmates during college, Kat. I was an exchange student to I arrived at school later than them. They welcomed me, though, even if I was new. I guess we grew up together for eight months ever since,’ Jongdae explained while he tried to fold his shirt. He ended up giving it to Katherine with a pout, though.

‘So they’re Filipinos?’ she asked. Jongdae chuckled.

‘No, they’re not, Kat. They’re Koreans as well, but they were born here. Their families are friends with one another. Chanyeol doesn’t know how to speak Korean since his family didn’t teach him how. Same goes with Xiumin, although he could speak a bit of Korean. Suho’s fluent in both Korean and English. He studied in a prestigious high school for Koreans here in the Philippines.’

Oh, so that explains why the three of them seem close, she thought. But Jongdae was friends with them for eight months only and they seem to be like brothers?

‘Suho seems nice, babe, but why would he let us stay here permanently?’ she asked one last time. She just needed to know why.

‘Suho almost got killed, Kat. He was robbed and was almost stabbed to death. Good thing I was there to save him. I guess he felt like he had a debt of gratitude to me ever since even if I told him it’s okay,’ Jongdae said weakly as he recalled the incident.

‘It’s the least I could do.’

Oh. That’s why. She was alarmed, though.

‘YOU FOUGHT WITH ARMED MEN?!’ her realization hit her as she thought of the possibility of Jongdae dying because of being stabbed. He chuckled, obviously, he was expecting her to react.

‘I didn’t die, okay, babe? If I did then we wouldn’t even be together right now,’ he stood up and held his hand to her, ‘now let’s sleep, okay? I’m tired,’ he pouted. She held his hand as he pulled her up and towards the bed. He made her lie down on the bed while he switched the lights off. He lied down beside her as he pulled her closer.

‘Sleep, Kat. Take a rest now. You’ve just recovered,’ he kissed her cheek and held her close. She smiled and yawned, ‘you too, Jongdae.’

‘Tomorrow I’m going to take you out. I’m going to show you to some places I used to go to. Sounds good?’ She mumbled a ‘yes’ and closed her eyes. The thought of being alone with Jongdae made her want to just lie down with him all day.

‘I love you, Kat,’ he kissed her forehead.

‘And I love you, Jongdae.’

‘We’re going to have a new life here, baby. I promise you that.’

Chapter twenty, done :)

I'M SO SORRY FOR NOT UPDATING YESTERDAY :'( I had a badass migraine and I couldn't even move my head a bit. I was crying since it hurt a lot :'( I still have a little headache now but I really needed to update for you guys so I'm so sorry :(

On a different note, I couldn't help but laugh at myself mentally. When I was typing Chanyeol's name, I kept on typing 'Chenyeol' instead xD Silly me xD

Anyway, they're in the Philippines now! Thoughts and comments are welcomed! ^__^

More surprises to come so please..

Stay tuned, yes? ♥