After venting out his childhood memories to his friends, the hours went by and the boy couldn’t fall asleep; he was still bothered by what he found out today. It was clouding his mind, which left him to spend a sleepless night, busying himself with the written fan letters he had brought with him.

It was a hard night but its only when his eyes landed on a book on one of his shelves that he suddenly found himself slowly falling asleep as he stared at the novel, walking back down memory lane.

By the next morning, he was woken up by one of his small dogs as he felt his face being tickled by the . With a slight groan out of him, he rubbed his eyes open before sitting up and looked around to see that he was the only one in his bedroom.

He got up and cleaned himself up before heading out to the kitchen where he found the rest of the group sitting around the table, eating breakfast. Greeting them morning, he took his seat by their side with nothing else but silence surrounding them while all eyes were on the youngest.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, we just wanted to know how you were feeling.”

“I barely slept if that’s what you wanted to know…”

“Cheolyong-ah, if you want to go see her, just go. What’s stopping you?”

“And barge in out of nowhere? We haven’t spoken in five years!”

“So? You’re here, she’s here; take this chance now or you’ll regret it. You said it yourself, she needs you.”

Looking down his empty plate, Mir let the words swirl inside his head as he debated on whether to follow the advice or simply ignore them. He already knew the answer that was voiced out inside his head but something was pulling him back, preventing him from doing the first move.

Was it fear?

A part of him was slightly afraid to face her again, but he was also afraid of rejection.

It happened once before, it might as well happen again.

“You won’t know what will happen if you don’t get up from that chair and go find her. Don’t worry, we’ll be with you.” Showing the young one a reassuring smile on his face, Seungho gently placed his hand on Mir’s shoulder, pushing him to do the right thing since he pretty much knew that the boy had already made his decision.

“Let’s get going before you change your mind.”

“Mhmm.”

Breakfast over, all five of the boys were back out as they were making their way towards the market with Mir, praying to see Lina by her usual stand.

A few miles into their walk, he stopped when he spotted Lina busy with a customer. A small smile was slowly appearing across his lips, tagged along with the sudden increased pace of his beating heart.

With a pat on his back, he glanced to look at the rest of the members who were waiting before he looked back in front of him. Slowly, he started to walk towards the girl with the rapid beating hitting his chest, getting harder with every step. He was more than nervous; after being away from her for so long, his feelings also diminished but now that she was standing right back in front of him, and looking back with shock in her eyes.

Just then, did he realize she was staring straight back at him, frozen in her spot as she watched him approach her.

Once he was close enough, he glanced down at the ground with his hands in his pockets before lifting his head back up to see that same surprised look across her face.

“H-Hi Lina…”

“Ch-Cheolyong?” She breathed out his name, still finding it hard to recuperate the air back into her lungs, her eyes set on him and nowhere else with the realization of his presence still baffling her.

He thought she he was going to get hit or at least receive some kind of anger from her part but as he saw her move hesitantly towards him, tightly clutching onto her cane, he took a couple of small steps to meet her halfway until they were close enough; the shock was replaced by an overwhelming feeling that was slowly washing over her as her eyes were shimmering from the tears that were threatening to fall.

She wrapped her arms around his neck, surprising him at first but quickly caught up as he hugged her tightly against his chest, hiding his face in the crook of her neck. She closed her eyes, her body firmly pressed up against his and her tears appearing in the corner of her eyes.

Soft sniffs from her nose, she tightened her grasp around him as she tried to hold in her tears from falling down. She started whispering to his ear, through her broken voice, how much she missed him and how glad she was happy to see him back home.

“I thought I-I would never see y-you again.”

“I’m sorry…”

She pecked him on the cheek before pulling herself away and quickly wiped her tears before looking back at him. “Do you… hmm, want to come by to my place? To catch up?”

“Sure.”

“Your friends can come too.” She showed him a weak smile when she took notice of the other boys who have been standing still for the last few seconds. She looked back at Mir as she slowly started to step backwards, going back behind her stand.

“Go ahead, I’ll catch up with you when I finish packing up-”

“No, it’s okay, we’ll come back when you’re done.”

She wanted to protest but held herself back so she could have some time to herself to gather her thoughts and emotions that were running all over the place. She nodded her head as she breathed out with a slight smile on her face, agreeing to his proposal. “You remember where the house is, don’t you?”

“Of course~”

“I’ll see you later then.”

Once the group was gone, she finally let out the breath that she’s been holding inside, her nerves slowly calming down by the second. She watched him walk away until he was completely out of sight and sat back down on her chair as she ran her fingers through her hair, gathering up what just happened inside her head.

“Are you okay dear?”

Looking up, she saw the same old lady that had talked to Mir yesterday looking back at the girl with a worried gaze. “Mhmm, I-I’m fine…”

“Are you sure? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

“I think I just did…” Dropping her head down, another sigh escaped from Lina’s lips with thousands of thoughts swirling back and forth in her mind, which slowly started to give her a slight headache. “Why don’t you end work early, it looks like you need some rest.”

“I can’t leave-”

“You’ll be back tomorrow, won’t you?”

“Yea but-”

“Your health is also important dear; go home and rest. I’ll close up for you.”

With a hesitant look across her eyes, Lina glanced at the old lady who was gently smiling at her. Getting up from her chair she looked around her stand before turning her head to the woman who approached her as she softly patted her back. “I’ll come by your house at the end of the day to give you the money, okay?”

“But what about your stand? Who’s going to take care of it?”

“Don’t worry about it, my sister will help; now go.”

Thanking the woman with a bow, Lina made her way back home where she spotted Mir and his friends waiting by the porch. She stood still for a moment, observing him as he was slowly pacing from one side to the other while the boys were simply sitting down, waiting.

She walked her way over the bridge, gripping tighter onto her cane the closer she got to Mir until he called out her name with a faint smile across his lips.

“Did you guys wait for long?”

“No, we just got here actually.”

From there, Mir introduced each one of the boys as they greeted Lina one by one until she invited them in; she opened the door and walked inside with the five of them following behind until she closed the door back.

“Sorry for the mess…” She walked past them until she was in the living room before pointing to the kitchen behind her. “Hmm, the kitchen is just past the living room.”

They followed her and told them to take their seat at the small table, leaving her to apologize again for the lack of space inside the household. An awkward silence took place between the six of them with Lina standing by the kitchen counter as she glanced at the boys one at the time.

She turned her head to the side before looking back with her gaze landing on Mir.

“S-so… hmm, what brings you guys out here?”

“We had a break and decided that it would be a good idea to get out of town for a little bit.”

She nodded her head to G.O who answered and had the silence come back amongst them. Just then she realized that the table was empty making her stand back straight while making her way to her fridge. “Can I get you guys anything to drink? Or something to eat?”

Without giving them time to answer, she quickly fetched out the ingredients she needed to prepare a pinch of lemonade while trying to come up with a subject of conversation to break the awkwardness away. “So… Is Cheolyong causing you guys any trouble?”

She heard light chuckles and turned her head to smirk at the boy in question before looking back in front of her; the atmosphere seemed to ease itself at the mentions of endless Mir moments the boys got to experience through the years, leaving Lina to smile like a child.

“It looks like he hasn’t changed at all.”

“So I presume he was like this when you guys were at school?” With Seungho taking the lead, he playfully ruffled Mir’s hair leaving the younger one to lowly groan in annoyance. “Yea, he was a little bit of a trouble maker.”

“But you liked that!”

“I never said I didn’t~” She started laughing at the childish face he was expressing after having brought a plate of fruit to the table before finishing up with her pitcher of lemonade she was still preparing by the counter. “But yea, even if he was a trouble maker, it didn’t stop him from being the good kind…”

She smiled to herself as she kept talking about her memories while they were flashing inside her mind, warming her heart after a very long time. The boys were intently listening to her words, including Mir who was also smiling to himself while remembering how hard it was for him to get close to Lina in the first place.

“So I guess you two were pretty close, huh?”

“Mhmm, he was like the big brother I never had, always there when I needed him…”

He lifted his head up with his smile disappearing from the sight; she still had her back to him and it didn’t seem like her words phased her but it did to him and the boys took notice of the sudden change of expression on his face.

She turned around as she was holding onto the pitch and placed it on the center of the table before getting glasses from one of the kitchen cabinets and laid them out in front of the boys before taking a seat right next to Mir.

She didn’t seem to have noticed the sadness in his eyes as her words were still tugging his heart, leaving an echo inside his mind. He was glad that she saw him like that but a part of him was expecting to hear something else, something leaning more on the side of the romantic relationship that could’ve possibly happened between them.

From there, hours went by as they kept chatting about everything and nothing creating, in the process, a lively atmosphere between the small group. From time to time, Mir would glance sideways towards Lina and would feel his heart skip a beat whenever he would see a smile stretching across her lips, which was more than half of the time since they arrived here.

The members took notice of how held back and quiet he seemed to be; they covered for him as they went on with talking to Lina, which left her to listen to them without really paying attention to the toned down attitude of her friend.

They were laughing until they heard some thud coming from upstairs; they all stopped with the girl quickly getting up from her seat as she grabbed onto her cane, excusing herself from the table.

“Lina, do you need help?”

“No, it’s okay. This won’t take long.”

She left them be as she made her way up the stairs and reached the second floor where she walked her way to her grandparents bedroom; slowly opening the door, she spotted her grandmother bending over to pick a frame that was on the floor. The young one quickly went over to pick it up before handing it back to Mrs. Choi as she settled back comfortably in her bed. “Are you okay grandma?”

“Of course sweetheart, I just dropped this picture that’s all.”

“Do you need anything? Why don’t you come downstairs? I can prepare you something to eat, it’s almost lunch time anyways-”

“I don’t want to disturb the company you have.”

“You won’t grandma, don’t be silly, it’s your house after all. Please?”

With her agreement, Lina helped her grandmother out of the bed and took her hand as they made their way down the stairs before carefully reaching the couch in the living room. “I’ll get you something to eat before making lunch, okay?”

With a peck on the top of her head, Lina walked back to the kitchen as she let out another apology for the sudden interruption. “I’m just going to make something to eat for my grandmother… Do you guys want anything?”

“Lina…” She saw Mir standing up from his seat as he walked up to her. “I think we’ll leave. We don’t want to disturb the rest of your day-”

“Non sense! Please, stay-”

“I’ll come back later, don’t worry.”

She dropped her head down, suddenly feeling the warmth slipping away from her; she felt his fingers under her chin, lifting her head up so she could look at him. “I’ll come back at the end of the day, how does that sound?”

She bit the inner part of her bottom lip and nodded her head before wrapping her arms around him to hug him close. As they pulled away, she greeted the others goodbye and led them back to the door, glancing one last time at Mir who smiled at her before leaving with his friends.

Once they were completely out of sight, she closed the door and leaned her back against it with a breath escaping her lips. Opening her eyes, she smiled at her grandmother who was looking back with a slight surprised look on her face.

“Was that Bang Cheolyong?”

“Mhmm.”

“Oh my, and even after all these years he still looks at you the same way~”

A/N: Finally back to the present~ (but not for long hehe ;)) After what Grandma said, you'll see why ^^

How are you guys enjoying the story so far? :3

Mir finally got to see Lina again and it looks like he got a little bit of a hit straight in the heart. Poor boy >.<

It won't even stop there...... sorry OTL