Pretending that it was their first meeting, Myungsoo extended a hand towards Naeun as he coldly greeted, “Nice to meet you, Naeun-ssi.”

The formalities and the denial of all the times they spent together made a lump form on Naeun’s throat. She had to take a pause and force a smile as she accepted his hand and shook it in return. As their skins made contact, she wanted to hold his hand longer but it was the electricity that travelled towards Myungsoo’s body that gave him a signal to quickly let go.

The air around Myungsoo, Naeun and the manager was tense but the latter was not able to notice it for both Myungsoo and Naeun tried to be as civil as they could. When the meeting ended, Myungsoo excused himself and gave a polite bow as he said that he had to go somewhere but in reality, he couldn’t take the suffocation anymore. The least he wanted was to be trapped in a room with the girl he harbored strong feelings for – he did not want to be with the love of his life that broke his heart into a million pieces.

He let out a long sigh as the wind outside welcomed him. He shut his eyes tight as he calmed his warring heart. He took a glance at his phone and as Suzy’s image welcomed his sight, a smile formed on his lips.

That’s right. I have Suzy now, he reminded himself.

He rode his motorbike and was about to wear his helmet to leave when a voice suddenly called his attention, “Myungsoo.”

He knew that voice well – it was the same voice that used to say all the loving words he needed to live every day.

“What do you need?” he asked, without turning to look at the girl.

But it was Naeun walked towards his front, forcing him to look at her. She muttered, “Why do you have to pretend that we don’t know each other?”

“I don’t see the need to acknowledge you,” Myungsoo’s gaze was dark and his smile was filled with sadness as he retorted, “You walked out of my life, remember?”

She bit her lip hard in an attempt to stop the tears from forming in her eyes. She mustered every courage she had left as she whispereds, “Would you be okay with it then? You’re about to work with me.”

“Why wouldn’t it be okay?” he let out a smirk. “We’re nothing but co-workers now.”

As Naeun was engulfed in silence, digesting how Myungsoo reduced everything between them into ‘nothing’, he took the chance to drive away, not bothering to comfort the girl whose eyes brimmed with tears she quickly brushed away.

“I don’t want to eat! It would ruin my diet!” Sulli complained.

“It’s already late for us to be out in places as public as this,” Minho remarked.

“My ears are hurting from all their complaints,” Woohyun rubbed his ears before glancing at Suzy, “Why are we doing this again?”

“Bonding,” Suzy beamed.

Siwon hang his arms around Sulli’s and Minho’s shoulders as he exclaimed, “Let’s just enjoy this, shall we?! I haven’t been here for long!”

Following Jongin’s advice, Suzy planned to show them how her world describes ‘fun’ and she sought help from Woohyun and Siwon to take Sulli and Minho out. With Jihyun vouching for them, they were able to go the night market to try the attractions. Despite the meticulousness of Sulli and Minho, the other three were able to convince them to eat street foods.

“How is it?” Woohyun asked Minho.

“So-so,” the male replied.

“Tss,” Woohyun hissed as he stared at the more than fifty sticks beside Minho that proved that he was enjoying the fish cakes.

“I want more but I can’t eat more,” Sulli uttered as she stared at the delicacies.

“Who says that you can’t eat more?” Suzy asked.

“I’d grow fat,” Sulli said with a pout.

“Just one more stick,” Suzy convinced her.

“Okay,” Sulli agreed without hesitation.

This conversation between the two girls would go back from the start and again and again. In the end, Sulli ate more than she originally planned to do so. Siwon on the other hand, couldn’t talk for all he did was munch all the foods in front of him.

The four could not stop Sulli from impulsively buying clothes at the bazaar. Suzy on the other hand bought five matching key chains for them; Sulli gladly accepted it while Minho without any words but with much hesitation, took it from Suzy. By the time that they realized that it was already two in the morning, they all agreed to go home but not without a commemorative picture they took at a booth.

Siwon was the one driving and Woohyun rode in shot gun while the three were at the back of the car. Woohyun glanced at the rear-view mirror and saw that Suzy, Sulli and Minho were already sleeping. Minho sat in between Sulli and Suzy who placed their heads in his shoulders as they all slept soundly.

“So I guess we just needed Suzy,” Siwon said making Woohyun snap out of his trance. Siwon let out a smile as he added, “We just needed her to recognize that we share more similarities that our surnames – that we can have fun together as cousins and not as heirs.”

“Su’s got the special ability to draw people towards her,” Woohyun replied.

“Like a glue, huh?” Siwon asked.

And Woohyun hummed and nodded as he chuckled, “If that’s how you would put it.”

Siwon was drinking his morning coffee at his veranda as he watched the four play badminton. He was chuckling at Sulli who was complaining on how Minho was good in nothing but business. The two were in the same team and their opponent was Suzy and Woohyun.

“She’s working hard, isn’t she?”

Siwon turned to the source of the voice and found his father, Jungwoo, walking towards him. He bowed politely as he said, “Good morning, appa.”

“I guess she really wants to be a Choi,” his father stood beside him, “There are many privileges surrounding our surname anyway.”

“She is working hard,” Siwon confirmed, “But not to be an heiress but to be a part of this family.”

The two were engulfed in silence and Siwon wondered if the two elder brothers really thought of Suzy as nothing but a mere competitor in riches. However, his doubts were discarded when his father spoke again.

“She resembles her mother,” Jungwoo commented.

Siwon then gazed at him and saw the longing in his eyes. He then asked, “You miss her, don’t you? Aunt Jiwoo.”

But his father did not reply and instead started to walk away. Siwon chuckled as he remarked, “It’s odd on how you hide your emotions just to prove that you are strong.”

Jungwoo then turned to give him a small and unreadable smile and Siwon smiled back sadly because he knew that behind the perfectionism of the two Choi brothers, their love for their youngest sister never died.

“The father of that girl robbed our sunshine from us,” his father suddenly whispered.

“No, appa,” Siwon replied. “He made her shine brighter but you all refused to acknowledge that because at that time, you were too concerned with riches and prestige.”

“If we accepted him from the start, do you think she would still be alive today?” Jungwoo’s gaze was glued on the floor and Siwon felt guilty because he knew that his father was blaming himself.

“It was an accident,” Siwon reminded him.

“For father it was not,” Jungwoo retorted, “Father thinks he killed her parents – and that is why he couldn’t take her that kid from the start. He was scared of being engulfed by guilt. Now that he knew she was well, he wants to shower her with love – in an at