Special thanks to sueyachangjo for this chapter.

“Eric, Andy, Steve?” Andy’s heartbeat went out of control. His heart started pounding madly in his chest.

IT WAS REALLY HER…

“Sylvia!” Eric’s chirpy voice sounded.

Andy whipped around and caught the last moment where Sylvia and Eric were in a hug.  Sylvia walked towards him and hooked her arms around his elbow, dragging him in Hyesung’s direction. Andy felt a pang at the familiar action.

After their little reunion, Eric introduced Sylvia to the rest of the members and the team. The leader also arranged for a dinner on the following day with Sylvia and the members.

******

Andy got off his car and his feet led him to the restaurant. His mind was in a daze. He would not deny part of him was twirling with joy. He never thought he would be able to see her again after that fateful day when she left them. But how should he act now that she was back, given how they had left things hanging years ago?

Andy stepped into the restaurant.  Eric, Hyesung, Minwoo and Sylvia were already seated around a rectangular table. The table was originally meant for six. Since they had seven that day, Hyesung had chosen to sit at the width of the table. Eric was seated near to the lead singer with Sylvia beside him. Minwoo was opposite Sylvia. That leaved both seats beside Minwoo and the seat beside Sylvia empty.

“Andy!” Eric waved at the maknae. He motioned for Andy to take the seat beside Sylvia. Andy was secretly grateful to his hyung for that.

“So, how about Andy? How did you get to know him? Isn’t he two years younger than you?” Minwoo asked Sylvia when Andy was sitting down. Andy presumed they had already chatted about Sylvia’s relationship with Eric and Hyesung.

“He was my neighbour. We first know each other when he brought Amber (Sylvia’s dog) back to my house. Amber was scared of storm and had run over to his house when my family was out.” Sylvia said.

Andy’s gaze landed on Sylvia as more memories escaped his Pandora box.

“We spent a lot of time together since we’re staying so near and our parents were always out.” Sylvia continued. She tilted her head slightly and an affectionate smile traced her lips as her eyes caught Andy’s.

“They were like twins, I rarely see them apart!” Eric chipped in happily.

She remembered, Andy thought.

It was just like any other rainy days. Andy was playing console with Tony when they heard a whimper from underneath the sofa after the thunder roared. Andy paused the game, lowered his body and lay on his stomach. He peeped underneath the sofa. There, an adorable white Maltese stared back at him. Andy picked the dog up and seeing how frighten it was, he convinced Tony to abandon the console and play with the little precious thing instead. After Tony left, he waited by the door of his neighbour, keeping the dog company until his neighbour returned. That was the first time he spoke to her.

Being a dog lover, Andy had subsequently kept going to Sylvia’s house to play with Amber. At the start, both of them would take Amber to the park. While Amber ran around with other dogs, the two would sit on a bench and indulged in ice-cream. As time passed, the two of them grew closer. They would visit each other to study, cook, play board games or chat for the entire day. In school, Andy would wait for her outside her classroom during lunch break and likewise she would do the same after school. It was then Andy realised his affection for the next door neighbours did not just stop at the Maltese.

 “Dongwan, Jinnie!” Minwoo’s voice broke Andy’s reverie. Dongwan took the seat opposite Andy and Junjin took the seat nearer to his mabird.

Minwoo’s arms went around both the guys’ shoulder, “You two missed out on the entire chronicles of Sylvia and our American boys! Andy was the neighbour, Eric was the childhood friend and Hyesung was just someone from school.”

Andy tilted his head and studied Eric. He noted Minwoo had said the leader was Sylvia’s childhood friend. Why?

Eric did not notice Andy’s eyes on him. He simply laughed at Minwoo’s teasing of Hyesung.

“We were friends!” Hyesung said irritably.

“Yeah, but comparing to the neighbour and childhood friend you were really just someone from school.” Minwoo responded, earning himself a glare from Hyesung that could murder pigeons in mid-air.

While the guys are still making fun of Hyesung, Sylvia turned to Andy. “So, should I call you Jason or Andy?”

Andy shrugged, “Anything is fine.”

“Then I’ll just use Andy. Since Eric and Hyesung are also calling you Andy.”

“Okay.” Andy’s heart sank a little. He should be more familiar with the name Andy than Jason by now, but it still felt like something from the past was lost.

“So you have decided to come back to Korea for good?” Junjin asked.

 “I’m still deciding. I’m currently taking a break for three months to see if I can adapt to life in Korea. But most probably I will be staying.”

“Want to join Shinhwa Company? Then Hyesung can be just your co-worker.” Minwoo asked, teasing the singer on purpose.

“Lee Minwoo, she’s a doctor!” Eric exclaimed. “I don’t think we can afford her.”

“Woah, seriously?” Dongwan turned to Sylvia, impressed.

Sylvia laughed as she leaned over to Eric slightly and placed her hand on his arm. “I am not practicing in a hospital or clinic. I have been travelling around helping out in rural areas for the past few years so I don’t think I am expensive like what Eric said.”

She followed her dream too… Andy thought, recalling the words she said to him before leaving America.

“Are you attached?” Dongwan asked impishly.

Sylvia laughed, “No. How about you guys? Didn’t hear anything on the news.”

“Jin is the only one here who is attached. But the media haven't caught it yet.” Minwoo answered casually, just before food was served.

The group chatted a lot throughout dinner. But Andy did not have a chance to ask Sylvia about how her life in the previous decade was. The members kept bombarding her with questions of their past in America.

After dinner, each of the members took their own car home other than Eric and Hyesung who shared a car. Andy was tasked to send Sylvia back as her hotel was nearest to his house.

Andy and Sylvia

There was an awkward tension between Andy and Sylvia as they walked towards his car. This was something new to Andy and he knew it was his fault. It must have been obvious he had questions, yet he did not ask her anything. He did not know where to start.

“How have you been?” Sylvia finally decided to break the silent.

“Good. I really become singer.” Andy answered.

Sylvia nodded. They had reached his car. “So will you all be rehearsing tomorrow? For the Taiwan concert next weekend.”

“Yes. It will be a full day rehearsal. How about noona? What will you be doing tomorrow?”

Sylvia paused for a moment, thinking. Then she asked, “Can I drop by?”

Andy tilted his head to look at her. Sylvia laughed. Andy felt another pang in his heart as he realised how much he had miss that sound.

“Just like the old days?” It was more of a remark than a question.

A smile crept onto Andy’s face as warmth filled his chest. “Just like the old days.” He agreed.

Eric and Hyesung

An uneasiness plagued Hyesung. He unlocked his car and climbed onto the driver’s seat. Eric got into the front passenger seat. Hyesung glanced sideway at Eric. The leader was messaging on his phone. Hyesung guessed that it was Sylvia. Earlier that day, both of them had went to pick Sylvia up and accompanied their old friend to get a mobile line.

“Eric?”

“Yes Hyesungie?” the leader looked up from his phone.

“How do you know Sylvia was a doctor?” Hyesung asked. He had gone home together with Eric the day before and they were together the entire day today. Hyesung did not recall them discussing about this with Sylvia, until the leader mentioned about it during dinner.

“Oh…that…” Eric kept his phone.