Has it really only been six months since then? It's felt so much longer than half a year.

            You sighed heavily before exiting out of the tab, feeling your mood begin to fall as you reminisced about the past. The cheerful boy you would only ever know through the media, through the stage. The boy you had watched from behind a computer screen since debut. You always knew that their group had never gotten the attention they deserved and wished they would have been acknowledged more. But with the sudden news of his departure, you couldn't really grasp the reality and tried to continue on normally. But each time one of the members names were mentioned or you scrolled past a picture, you always wound up endlessly staring at the 2d pictures of him plastered on your laptop screen, taken from fans lucky enough to even be in his presence.

            Six months later and now you've finally realized how much you actually miss him. From his snarky attitude to his cute innocence; how you could laugh with tears in one moment and the next hate him for being so perfect. But it was official, now that he was gone from the screen, living like a normal person you really wished you could see an updated picture of him smiling at the least. There was an emptiness you really felt in your chest and you couldn't do much to fill it, and you finally really began to understand how others must've felt when a group had split. But what you really realized was how much you took for granted. Maybe you've always known that this day would come but who would've expected it to come so soon?

            You let out another heavy sigh, resting your chin in your hand as you stared out the window lifelessly, lost in another world.

            "YoungMi-ah."

            You're mother's firm voice bounced in from the hallway, forcing you back to reality. You frowned before turning in your chair, calling back an answer of acknowledgement.

            "Will you call your sister down for dinner? Your father just arrived," she replied before leaving.

            "Neh," you answered no one before pushing yourself out of your chair. You took your time strolling up to the third floor, noticing how fast the sun was setting as you passed the window. Shaking off the saddening thoughts, you continued to the top before entering the hallway.

            Joo KyungMi. Leave me alone.

            You sighed at her dramatic door message before knocking on the wood, "KyungMi, I'm coming in."

            You easily pushed the door open, seeing KyungMi glare at you, as expected, from her bed. Her earphones were plugged into her ears while there were a few books spread around her.

            "What?"

            "Dinner's ready, and dad's home," you answered simply before adding, "Mom wants us downstairs."

            "Don't keep them waiting," you said as you walked out, catching her plug in her second earphone and turning back to her book.

            You sighed as you reached the staircase, the light from outside illuminating the staircase darkly. Shadows from outside were cast onto the walls, creating exaggerated shapes. You began to feel depressed again as you walked past your room, seeing the blank screen on your screen. And as tempting as it was, you continued to walk on down to the kitchen where your mother and father were seated, chatting quietly.

            "Is she coming?" Your mother asked gently, turning away from your father.

            "Yes."

            You actually didn't know if she was coming or not, but you didn't know what to say anymore. You had enough to worry about yourself.

            "YoungMi, I need you to run an errand for me tomorrow," you're father spoke up, getting your attention. He clasped his hands on top of the table before smiling. "We have a new student applying and I'd like you to meet him. Spend the day with him and then tell me what you think of him afterwards."

            You could feel your brows furrowing before you opened your mouth, debating if you really wanted to say what you were going to say. Your father returned your look with a look of approval before you responded cautiously.

            "Y..ou're not trying to set me up are you?" You asked unsurely before seeing your mother chuckle on the side. "Mom."

            "It's nothing, carry on," she smiled apologetically before looking towards the staircase.

            You turned to look and was slightly taken aback when you saw KyungMi enter the kitchen, avoiding everyone's gaze. She silently took her seat next to you before clearing .

            "Sorry to keep you waiting," she apologized before looking up.

            Your mother smiled before shaking her head, "Everyone's here now. Let's eat!"

            You nodded in agreement before turning back to your father, tilting your head in confusion.

            "It's not a setup, I promise. Just another regular errand. You know how they rely on me when it comes to interviewing students," he said, like so many other times.

            "You know you're a really bad liar dad?" You chuckled before asking, "When's his interview?"

            "After tomorrow. I've explained to him that he'll be meeting my assistant who will give him a pre-interview. Make sure you do help point out what he needs help with," your father explained sternly before taking a sip of soup.

            "Neh," you replied before dropping the subject, knowing well that from how your father was acting, he was expecting a lot from this new student. Or maybe you.

~~~

            "YoungMi! Ireona!"

            You groaned before rolling out of bed onto the ground, still wrapped in your blankets. You knew it was 9:25 a.m. and you knew that your pre-interview was at 10:20 at a café somewhere in Seoul, but last night's late-blogging kept you longer than you thought. You swore you would go to bed at 12:00 but ended up knocking out around two in the morning. How were you supposed to abandon you're laptop for sleep when you had an intriguing story plot running through your mind the whole time? Well of course, you regretted it now more than ever, especially with the fact that you were going to have to doll up and be polite for the rest of the day.

            "YoungMi!" Your mother shouted another warning before you grumbled loudly, crawling to the bathroom.

            You quickly, faster than you thought you would, washed up and dug up an appropriate outfit from your closet before fixing your hair. And as much as you wanted to say that you looked fine, you thought you looked like an even bigger wreck with your hair sticking out wildly. The makeup tamed the dark bags under your eyes but now you were supposed to find a way to look professional with your crazy hair.

            After thirty minutes of battling with your hair, you managed to tie it into an acceptable bun at the back of your head, just for the sake of looking professional. You could feel the tightness of the hair band but ignored it, worrying about bigger things like getting to the location on time. It was one thing for the person you were interviewing to be late; it was another for you who would be interviewing them to be late. With a last dash of makeup, you threw on a pair of thin glasses and headed out, trying to keep under the speed limit.

            You arrived at the thirty-story building in no time and easily found your way up to the nineteenth floor café.

            You seated yourself and stared out the window, sighing at the sight of people in business suits running around and cars jamming up the streets. By luck, you were able to arrive twenty minutes before the pre-interview and there didn't seem to be anyone waiting for you. You honestly didn't know how the person was going to look like or if they were a he or she. Last night while you were blogging you had knocked over a pile of papers, which also contained the documents your father had printed for you, you meant to look over it this morning but during your rush you forgot about it and left it buried in the heap of junk.

            Sighing in irritation, you quickly dialed your father, praying that your interviewee wouldn't walk in at that moment. And it seemed like lady luck was with you today.

            "Yoboseyo?" Your father's voice answered gruffly.

            "Abeoji, it's me. I just needed you to tell me the name of the student applying," you quickly said before holding your breath, waiting for a sigh of irritation or grumble of complaint at your clumsiness.

            "Shin Justin. Age 20 years old, majoring unset," he replied calmly, and what sounded like a bit of mischievousness, surprising you.

            "Okay, thank you, I'll call you when I'm done, love you," you replied confused before hanging up.

            You ordered a light coffee before leaning back in your chair, crossing your arms as you began to list off possible reasons for your father's peculiar attitude, beginning to lose yourself into the different realm of unbelievable scenarios.

            The light clatter of the plate of coffee setting onto your table brought you back for a brief second to check the time, 10:15, before you were whisked away again.

___

            "Miss."

            The gentle voice interrupted your thoughts, bringing you back.

            "Sorry," you apologized before looking up at the waitress.

            "It's been thirty minutes since I served you your drink. Would you like me to get you a new fresh cup?" She asked politely.

            "Thirty minutes..?" You repeated in confusion before looking up at the clock on the wall. Your interviewee was late. You sighed a bit irritated that you had taken your time to get ready only for nothing. You never waited more than fifteen minutes unless the interviewee had called you and explained why they would be late, but this person didn't and it was unacceptable; of course from a professional perspective.

            You shook your head and apologized once more before saying, "I'll be taking my leave. Thank you for your service though."

            She nodded in reply as you walked to the cashier and paid before turning back towards the exit. As you reached the exit, your phone began vibrating, diverting your attention from everything else. You quickly pulled out your phone, seeing your father a text from your father. Before you could unlock your phone though, you crashed into someone as you turned outside the door. Your phone slipped from your grasp and onto the ground while you stumbled weakly.

            "I'm sorry; I should've looked where I was going," the stranger apologized, grabbing your phone before you could bend down. "Oh, not to dig into your business but are you the interviewer for Justin Shin?"

           You nodded in thanks as you took your phone from his hand before looking up at him, eyes widening in shock.

            His eye smile seemed so familiar but this time it was real, not 2d, not entrapped in a screen or playing on a dull pixilated video. And the color of his eyes seemed to stand out more with the bright color of the blue sky behind him and his hair swept up with a bit of gel, showing his youthful face.

            "You must be Mr. Joo's assistant. I'm Shin Justin," he replied after your answer of silence.

            You felt your mouth open, but no words came out. Before you let the silence drag on any longer though, you quickly looked away before stuttering, "I..I'm sorry."

            The sudden snap on the back of your head brought you back to your senses as you felt your hair release from the tight bun you had managed to strangle it into earlier that morning. You gasped lightly before brushing past him, making a sharp turn into the next hallway and escaping to the elevator, rapidly pressing the close button.

            Six months ago and you would've never thought you would see him again. A night ago you wondered what had really become of the one person you didn't realize you truly adored. The questions of "how are you? do you miss your fans? do you think of us? do you think of your members often?" endlessly ran through your mind before. But the only question you could come up with now was…

            "What are you doing here?" You breathed heavily before looking at the text message your father had sent to you. "Justin Shin is running late, he gave me a call."

            You couldn't believe it until the actual words left your lips.

            "Shin DongHo."

---

Just a kissme voicing her thoughts out in a plain writing. Glad you took your time reading. Lots of love, sassAss
당신이 미소를보고 싶어요.
~ kissme