I got a message back from Hakyeon quickly and from Ravi even quicker. There was a sense of happiness I felt when I got those emails even though I was already very close with Hakyeon and Ravi and I had been on bad terms as of late. I knew that once everyone got back together, things would be much better. We had all changed, I knew that, but I still wanted to go back to the old days where I could just walk over to Ravi’s or Hyuk’s house without a single word or warning.

    Then I remembered how everything fell apart after Hyuk left. Most of us went off to different colleges for at least four years. Ravi and Hyomi broke up after a long fight and Hyomi disappeared once again back to America, making me wonder why she even came back to Korea in the first place if she was only going to leave again. Ravi broke contact with me soon after and pursued his dream of becoming a song writer. Three months after Hyuk left for Japan, Hakyeon and Leo broke up which left Hakyeon heartbroken. He never left his room much and stayed quiet anytime we hung out. Ken, who suddenly got a huge job at a company, didn’t seem to have time for us, which only left Hakyeon and me to fend for ourselves and it was quite obvious our friendship was falling apart.

    Luckily, it didn’t and he was the only person of our old group that I still stayed in contact with. He seemed to be doing well as a teacher and I enjoyed working in Star X, but I did work part time at a designing company across town. He never told me too much about his personal life and in return, neither did I. We had both found new friends and it was apparent that in due time, we’d be done for.

    That’s when I saw Hyuk. I hadn’t realized it was him at first; he looked so much older and different. I wondered what happened to him in Japan and if he enjoyed himself. I wanted to talk to him more when I saw him initially after seven years, but I couldn’t. There was a girl, whose name is Jihyun, who I somehow befriended one day, who was stealing my attention from my old friend. I was still in contact with her and we were really close, but I only thought of her as a sister. She was sweet and calm, unlike most girls I had come to know. I think that’s why I started to like her—she was so different and she didn’t care about what people thought. My other new friend, Hyunsik, kept poking me to ask her out, but it just got annoying after a while. He knew I didn’t like her like that, but it was always the same. The three of us hung out often and we were never separated unless it was for work.

    Hyunsik worked at the same entertainment company as Ravi did, so he updated me on what was happening in his world. That’s also how I got back in contact with Ravi, through Hyunsik. Either way, I was glad I was trying to get everyone back together. Even if it didn’t work out, it would be a good idea to just see each other again once. 

    With that, I emailed Hyuk (after getting his email from Hakyeon, who magically had it stored on his hard drive). My old buddy didn’t take long to get back to me and he seemed kind of surprised that I actually wanted to hang out with him after all these years. He kept asking why in the response email and I had to go into a short explanation about it, but I was quite happy when he returned the message saying he’d be glad to join us. I missed him a lot.

---

    “It’s arranged for this Saturday.” I said quickly, nudging the phone between my ear and my shoulder. I was trying to make myself a dinner, but I had been getting calls from Hakyeon the whole time. “No, I cannot change it now. You’re either going to be there or you’re not.” I paused. “You have to come!” Another pause. “Leo’s going to be there.” I sighed a bit. He was trying to get around the get-together because he said he was busy with a school assignment. “What do you mean you know Leo’s going to be there? You met him on the bus? Is that why you’re not coming? Are you scared?” I pelted him with questions, stopping with my meal and resuming my position to a comfortable one.

    He started talking non-stop about how him and Leo had talked a bit and how he was excited to see him, but he got scared last minute because maybe Leo was still upset about the fight they had—

    “It’s been seven ing years!” I shouted at the boy on the other line. There was a short silence.

    “He may still be holding the grudge though.” Hakyeon’s voice was like a whisper. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Hakyeon never did something like this. 

    “Get yourself together, hyung. Are you coming or not?” I dropped the final question.

    “Well… yes. I’m coming.” Hakyeon seemed to let out an exasperated sigh. I chuckled lightly, proud at myself for getting him to come. Suddenly, a beep sounded on the phone, which indicated someone else was trying to call me. I said farewell to Hakyeon and quickly picked up the other line.

    “Hello?” I answered, deciding to just put the phone on speaker so I could talk and prepare food. 

    “Hey, Hongbin,” a low voice I immediately recognized spoke through the phone. “It’s Ravi.” he sounded like he was upset or something, but I guessed he was just tired like he always was. 

    “Hey, Ravi. What’s up?” I asked, feeling like my tone dropped to a scared one. I hadn’t talked to Ravi over the phone in ages and I knew it was just on the brink of becoming awkward. 

    “I was calling about Saturday. Who else is going to be there?” he asked, ignoring my question. I wondered why he had called if he obviously didn’t want to talk to me about anything other than the meeting. I found myself taking deep breaths. I had no clue why I was so nervous, but the fact that I was talking to Ravi made me break out into a sweat.

    “Leo, Hakyeon and Hyuk have all said they’re coming. I haven’t heard from Ken yet.” I said. 

    “Oh,” was all Ravi responded with. I bit my lip slightly, curious about his real motive. “Okay, well see you all then.” he spoke indifferently and hung up. I stood there for a while, confused and worried. There was something Ravi had up his sleeve and I knew that it wasn’t going to end well at all.

---

    Friday was busy at work and I had no time to stop and take a break. There was a infinite amount of costumers and they all seemed to want tons of things. Myself and another boy, whose name was Ilhoon, were having trouble since we were the only ones there.

    “I’ll call Jessica.” I said, quickly, pulling out my phone and calling the girl who usually works with us. When she picked up the phone, I immediately got to the point. “Jess, I know you’re supposed to come in tomorrow, but can you do it today since we’re really busy. Ilhoon and I can hardly work with just ourselves.” I explained. There was a groan on the other line. 

    “I’ll be in, hold on.” she said, annoyed. I looked at Ilhoon and told him that Jessica would be coming in soon. We continued working until the other co-worker came in and helped us, in which gave me a chance to take a break and do some other things with work. Due to the fact that I had been working here for seven some years, I was promoted to a manager, so I had a few more tasks to take care of than the others, which also meant hiring new employees. 

    Recently, we’ve gotten quite a few applications and just today, two more came in. Ilhoon had received them both since he gets to work earlier than I do. I looked through the applications, reading over their answers and looking for the best choices. As of now, I knew it would be smart to hire at least three new people so Ilhoon, Jessica and I weren’t crammed with work all the time, since Star X was open six of the days in the week. 

    As I got to the last application, I was quite surprised when I read the name. Han Sanghyuk. I read through the sheets of paper, acting as if he was just another person applying for the job, especially trying not to be biased toward my old friend. Unsurprisingly, his application was quite good and even if I didn’t know him as well as I did, I would consider hiring him. 

    Suddenly, Ilhoon walked into my small office behind the counter. He looked drained and he was breathing heavily.

    “Hyung, we need you back out at the counter.” he said quickly. I stood up and walked out again, noticing the long line. Jessica was rushing to get all the drinks, looking over worked, but I knew it was just her tendency to not work too hard.

    “Why do all these people want coffee? It’s so hot out!” she complained, giving a costumer the drink and quickly taking the next person’s order. 

     Not soon enough, the day was over and I was walking home in the dark. When I arrived at my apartment building, someone was waiting outside for me. It was Ken. I smiled lightly and continued walking. He followed beside me.

     “You know about the thing on Saturday?” he asked. Of course, I knew. “Well, you’re lucky I took off tomorrow so I could come to it. I had to skip a big meeting, so you better be thankful.” He nodded quickly.

     “I am very thankful. You won’t regret it, I promise.” I smiled and stepped onto the elevator with Ken. We talked a bit more; catching each other up with everything we’ve missed over the past years. When the elevator stopped at my floor, I hopped off and said goodbye to Ken, walking fast to my room and shoving my door open with great force. I went to sleep quickly. I’m not going to say I was nervous, but I’m not going to deny it either.

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I just wanted to say I am so thankful for all the support I have gotten for these stories. Every time I get a comment or subscriber I get so happy. Thank you all. I'm going to apologize in advance if it gets a bit... bad?, but I really appreciate every one of you guys reading this. Thanks again!