Warning: This is a super-long chapter because I'm not sure when I'll be able to update again (I'm being taken camping, you see) So I advise you all to pace yourselves with this 9,000 word chapter that was initially meant to be split into two. Just in case you want to split it, when it starts talking about cottages, then that would have been where it was split. Enjoy!

The morning of the twenty-seventh was a little awkward. It definitely didn’t start out that way, but just as I was about to head down to the car that was waiting for me and my luggage, a certain person popped up in front of my door smiling a little, clearly impressed by how I had known he was at the door.

“Are you about to tell me you’re psychic?”

I rolled my eyes before realising that I hadn’t actually told him that I was going to the UK to visit my mother’s grave for a few days.

Sehun’s eyes fell onto my suitcase and carry-on items that I had tied to myself. A small frown formed between his brows. “Are you . . . going somewhere?”

“Ah, um, yeah. Sorry, I forgot that I didn’t tell you.” Yesterday, Kai and Chanyeol had come round for lunch at Sehun’s house and, of course, I had tagged along as well. Since we were with them, it wasn’t like I was just going to announce it so openly. It was a very personal thing, after all.

“Are you moving out or something?” Sehun demanded, looking over my shoulder and into my untouched home. He seemed content when he saw that none of the furniture or décor had been moved or taken away. “Are you visiting your family?”

He wasn’t technically wrong. I stepped out of the house, motioning for him to move as well and hauling the suitcase with me. Wordlessly he took it from my strained arm and swung my cabin luggage over his arm as well so he had effectively become a bell boy.

“Sort of. It’s my mum’s birthday in two days, so I’m flying to the UK to visit her grave. I have grandparents that live there as well.”

“Your mum’s buried in the UK? I thought you said you grew up in America.”

“I did. My mum’s from the UK though, so we buried her there because that’s what my grandparents wanted.”

Sehun let out a hum of understanding. “Are you meeting your father there?”

A little sigh escaped my lips before I could stop it. “No. He doesn’t ever come.”

“Not ever?” Sehun sounded surprised. Maybe I should have pretended that he did, but on a day like this I couldn’t really be bothered lying.

“No. Never with me. He’s really busy though, so I guess he can’t.”

There was a pause as Sehun called the elevator for us. “And you always go alone?”

I nodded, trying and then failing to take back my cabin luggage. “Yeah. I’ve been doing it since I was six so it’s not a big deal, really.”

Another pause.

Several more people came into the elevator, some of which greeted us and some of which ignored us. When the elevator finally reached the ground floor, Sehun looked like the weight of my luggage was starting to tire him out from the way he kept adjusting the straps in a hefting motion.

“I can honestly carry those,” I tried to reason, once again failing at taking them back from him.

“It’s fine,” he grunted out in mild pain. His stubbornness made me chuckle a little.

The car Paz had sent was fancier than I had expected, and probably fancier than Sehun had expected as well from the way his eyebrow lifted at the sight of the bowing driver.

“My father feels bad about not coming with me,” I mumbled in a way of excuse.

“What time is your flight?” Sehun asked after helping the driver lift my luggage into the trunk of the car.

I checked my watch. “I’ve got just over three hours until check-in closes.”

Sehun nodded, glancing away a little. When his head snapped to face me I was more than a little surprised by the spark that was in his eye.

“Mira,” he began, reaching out excitedly for my hands. “Can I come with you?”

I really hadn’t seen that coming; not even close! All I could do was stare at him. The look on his face said he was a child who had just had an epiphany, and the burning in his eyes said he wanted this a lot. What I couldn’t explain was the almost hopeful feeling that swelled within me as he asked. It wasn’t exactly happiness, but it made me feel almost warm. I wish I had some sort of encyclopaedia for human emotions – maybe I would buy one. Sehun just kept making me feel all these unfamiliar things and it was more than a little confusing.

“Why do you want to come?”

He shrugged, still beaming brightly. “I want to visit your mum. And I want to go to the UK. And I want to go somewhere with you.”

The answer ‘No’ didn’t even cross my mind at that point. I didn’t even think about it at all really. It was almost like it was the most natural thing in the world for me to say ‘Yes’.

“Miss,” the driver interrupted before I could reply. “We need to leave now. Traffic is ripe at this time of day and we wouldn’t want you to miss your flight.”

I nodded and began towards the door to the car. I couldn’t stay here and wait for Sehun, but I wanted to.

“I need to go,” I told him as I slid into the car, glancing quickly at the driver to see that he was tucking himself in around on the other side. Looking back to Sehun’s somewhat deflated face, I told him, “My check-in closes in three hours. I’m departing from Terminal 2 with Korean Air.” I really hoped I didn’t have to be any more obvious than that in telling him I wanted him to meet me there separately. But seeing that his face remained unchanged from the disheartened expression he now bore, it seemed unlikely that he had got the message.

The car pulled away and I said goodbye with an almost dissatisfied wave. I don’t know why I felt so disappointed; it’s not like he was supposed to be coming anyway. I pouted out my lips. If he hadn’t suggested it in the first place then I wouldn’t be feeling like this now. Stupid blond kid.

I was more than a little accustomed to airports. Being the daughter to one of Asia’s most prominent business men certainly entailed an extensive amount of travelling and so as I made my way to the departure lounge I was completely at easy despite the frantic holidaymakers surrounding me that were stressing over booking forms for hotels they were going to be staying at, and flicking through guidebooks were nervous excitement. I had never really faced the issue they were dealing with, but from the way they flapped around I was glad that this was the case.

I knew Sehun wasn’t coming – and yet, I couldn’t completely shake the idea that he might. It was stupid, yes. But that didn’t stop me from doing it. Something I had discovered about myself lately was that I was becoming increasingly prone to stupid, pointless, and downright unrealistic thoughts. Perhaps this trip abroad would help me clear my head a little.

When the time came to board, I gave the lounge one last look before heading into the plane first thanks to my priority boarding pass. Although I had used it before countless times, it felt strange this time as I boarded ahead of everyone else. It wasn’t guilt, but I definitely wasn’t comfortable doing so.

As expected, the seating in the upper business class section of the plane was both extravagant and limited. There were perhaps only twelve people in the whole section, all in their own little compartment with a neighbour.

On this trip, it seemed that I was about to spend the next twelve hours next to a rather prim and proper looking business woman who looked to be from somewhere in Europe. I assumed that, were any conversation to pass between us, it would be done in English.

After the welcoming teas, coffees, and drinks to those who wanted them after our departure, I nestled myself down for a very boring twelve hours only to be interrupted by what sounded like a low hissing argument between two people. It was coming from behind me so I didn’t bother looking around in case I was caught doing so. A moment later it stopped though, so I decided it wasn’t worth my time anyway.

A rather nervous looking air hostess approached the woman beside me then, tapping her shoulder nervously to ask her something. A hiss sounded again from behind me. The air hostess looked to the sound and I looked to her, noticing the way her lips formed into a hard line as she looked back to the woman and apologised before turning her attention to me and walking round to my side of the aisle.

“I’m terribly sorry to disturb you, Miss,” the air hostess began, bending down so her voice could reach me and only me. “But there is a young man back there saying he knows you and is requesting to come through to see you.”

“What?” My brain honestly didn’t click at first. Then, just as she started repeating herself, I understood what she had said. “Ok, I got it.” I suddenly felt nervous. Who could have possibly seen me in departures for long enough to recognise me? No. That was impossible since I had been in the upper business class section of the lounge with only the people now sitting around me for company. I supposed it was possible someone had seen me whilst I was checking-in and possibly recognised me from an interview or something that I had done with my father a long time ago.

“He is just there,” the air hostess informed me, politely pointing back in the direction that both she and the whispering had come from.

Following her woman’s hand, I saw another air hostess standing in front of a young and familiar man. His blonde hair was almost covered by a beanie as it had been when I first met him, and he was wearing about twenty sweaters and a pair of tartan pyjama bottoms. I didn’t know how cold he thought the UK would be, but I had a feeling he was sort of wearing his luggage. My lip tugged upwards at the sight of the exasperated look he was shooting my way.

“Miss, do you know him?” the hostess pressed, clearly keen to remove the man from this cabin.

I nodded. “Yes, you can let him through.” Although the air hostess didn’t look too pleased about it, she returned to her colleague and told her the verdict. The signature smirk lifted the man’s features as he strode down the aisle freely in a manner that strongly reminded me of a peacock during mating season.

“So you came.”

He shrugged but continued to smirk. “Would Oh Sehun miss an opportunity like this?” he paused as his eyes flitted to the woman beside me who was frantically typing away on her laptop. “Why are you up here in this cabin? I thought you would be in economy . . . that’s why I booked that one.”

It suddenly dawned on me why I hadn't seen him in departures: he was in the economy section. I also realised just how much he probably had to pay for his ticket and how lucky he had been to get it at all. His ticket in economy had probably cost more than my upper business class had cost just because of when we bought them.

“Got an upgrade,” I lied. My eyes drifted to his sweater layers. It made him look like some sort of weird bodybuilder with a huge torso, and tiny legs and head. “I can’t believe you actually came,” I said disbelievingly. I had never expected to see him on the airplane with me.

He smirked, pointing to me and then to himself, “I know you wanted me to come along.”

My cheeks suddenly grew hotter at his statement and I quickly tried to change the subject before he clocked it as well. His pyjamas jumped out at me as a good distractor. “Nice pyjamas by the way.”

Looking down at himself like he had forgotten he was wearing them at all, he stood and gave a proud little twirl in them. I noticed a man in a seat nearby gawking at them from over his specs. It was very clear that Sehun was proud of his fashion choice for the flight.

“I know. I am going to sleep so well,” he proudly cooed to himself as if he was congratulating himself on making some great and wise life changing decision.

“Excuse me, sir.” The air hostess had returned. “We would kindly like to ask you to return to your seat now as we are about to serve this cabin with brunch.”

“Brunch?” It seemed that was the only thing Sehun took from her request. He looked back down to me.  “You get brunch?”

I shrugged innocently, slightly amused by his shocked expression. “And linner.”

“What’s linner?”

“It’s like brunch except you eat it between lunch and dinner, hence linner.”

His face scrunched a little as he thought about it. “Is that even a real thing?”

“Don’t know. But I’m making it a thing.”

Sehun shook his head, “I don’t think you can just make linner a thing. You probably have to write to the dictionary people and explain why it should be a justifiable word.”

“I’ve had linner before,” I argued.

“Really?” his eyebrow was raised disbelievingly. “And was it actually listed as linner?”

I hesitated before lowly answered, “No.”

“No.” He sounded triumphant. “I didn’t think so.”

“But that doesn’t change the fact that I had it and-”

“Excuse me, sir,” the air hostess interrupted, clearly seeing neither of us were even close to finishing yet. “Could you please return to your seat now?”

Instead of budging, Sehun looked to the woman on the other side of me. “Excuse me.” She either ignored him or didn’t understand so Sehun switched instantly to English. “Excuse me.” Again, the woman didn’t react. With a little sigh, Sehun moved around so that he was in front of her. “Excuse me, can you speak English?”

The woman’s keying stopped suddenly, creating a small silence. “Yes,” she replied in accented English. I imagined she was from somewhere cool like Sweden or Finland or somewhere like that.

“Would you mind switching seats with me?” Sehun pointed to me, “She’s my friend so-”

“No,” the woman cut him off. “You’re from the economy class. I’ve heard rumours about what happens in the economy class. I’ve heard that the food is wrapped in plastic.” She shuddered at the thought. In her defence, I had also heard rumours about food in plastic bags that was served in economy class. Were I in her position, I don’t think I would have wanted to switch either.

“It’s honestly not that bad,” Sehun reasoned, looking to me for help. “Right, Mira?”

Having never tried said food, I wasn’t really qualified to make a judgement about how poor or acceptable it was. Instead of answering directly, I motioned for Sehun to come back to my side. Obligingly, he did so.

“I don’t think you should ask her to move,” I reasoned in a low whisper. “She paid a lot to be in that seat, after all.”

“Not as much as I paid for my economy seat,” Sehun hissed back, confirming my suspicion about the price of the ticket.

“Sir!” the air hostess was definitely angry now. “Please return to your seat.” She then proceed to usher Sehun through the curtains and out of the section but not before he could shout a warning that he would be back. And he was.

Sehun snuck through to the upper business class cabin four more times during the flight. The first time he once again tried to reason with the woman beside me to no avail. The second time he came telling me that he had managed to convince the woman beside him to swap seats with me if I was ok with it. I had reluctantly agreed; not entirely ready to face the horror of economy class. The third time he came through he told me that the deal was off since the woman I was supposed to be swapping with had fallen asleep and was now refusing to move. The fourth time Sehun came through it looked like someone had sprayed sleeping gas into his face but it was probably just because of all his wild scheming. He was yawning and droopy eyed, and even sat down in the aisle with his head resting against my knee as we reached the middle of the night. When he was asked to leave this time by a rather frustrated looking air hostess, he only meekly complained before returning to his seat after bidding me goodnight. I had never been one for sleeping on planes, but as I watched Sehun slouch back towards his seat in a semi-dazed state, I couldn’t help but wonder if all along the solution had simply been wearing pyjama bottoms and an abundance of sweaters. It was all about the Airport Fashion.

I found a rather refreshed looking Sehun in the arrival lounge the next morning after the plane had safely landed and everyone had unloaded. He looked perky to the point of annoying me. When he sauntered over to me, there was a woman and child chatting with him. The woman was giggling and the child kept stretching out for Sehun. To an outsider, it might look like they were a family. To my surprise, Sehun walked with the woman all the way over to where I was standing with my luggage.

When she saw me, her lips pulled up into a large smirk and she asked Sehun, “Is that Mira?”

I raised my eyebrows; unsure how she knew my name. Sehun nodded though, seemingly unfazed by it. “Yeah. This is Mira.”

The woman nodded knowingly and held her free hand out for me to shake it. “It’s nice to meet you, Mira. Sehun’s been telling me all about you.” It clicked that she must have been the person who had been seated next to Sehun for the flight. I awkwardly took her hand and shook it.

“Here,” she said, holding out a photo on her phone. I looked to the photo and saw her child nestled into Sehun’s lap and he was smiling quite cutely as well. Honestly, this boy was born to be in photographs. “He’s a keeper, this one,” she told me, pointing to a now blushing Sehun. “When the two of you get married and have your own family, he’s going to be a really good parent.”

I opened my mouth to protest, but Sehun’s face was now as red as a tomato and he sputtered wordlessly for a moment before finally meeting my gaze again. “We should go,” he managed and with that we left the arrival lounge, bidding the woman goodbye as Sehun scampered away with me following closely behind him.

“What did you tell her about me?” I asked, hoisting my bag up which prompted Sehun to take it from me completely.

“I didn’t mention you,” Sehun replied, voice raising a little as he tried to act casual.

“Yes you did. She said so. And she knew I was called Mira.”

“Did she?” his voice had gone even higher. “Lucky guess, then.”

I stuck my tongue out behind him and childishly blew a raspberry in his direction. He turned to the sound, an eyebrow raised.

“Did you just blow a raspberry at me?”

“. . . No.”

He grunted in disbelief before hopping onto a moving walkway, ignoring me other than checking I was still following every now and then.

As we got into the private car, it seemed that Sehun was more than a little surprised that there was actually more places in the UK other than London.

“So you’re mother isn’t buried in London?” he clarified for the fourth time as we sped away from the city.

“If she is then we are going in the complete opposite direction and I’ve been going to the wrong place for years.”

Sehun took a moment to absorb this. “So where are we going?”

“It’s a little place called Dover. It has these really pretty white cliffs and it’s by the ocean.”

“Do . . . ver,” he sounded it out. “Like the car company?”

“No that’s Rover. Land Rover.”

“What’s Dover famous for?”

I shrugged, struggling to think of anything that he would know of. “White cliffs, I suppose.”

“Will it be cold there?” he asked and I noticed that he had now removed almost all his sweaters and was carrying them in his arms.

“About the same as here. Did you take a suitcase with you?” It just occurred to me that I hadn’t seen him collecting one of carrying one.

“No. I didn’t think I’d have time to pack it so I just put on seven sweaters and left.”

I motioned to his pyjama trousers. “And what about trousers?”

He screwed up his face a little. “I didn’t think about trousers,” he mumbled.

Rolling my eyes, I asked the driver to stop at the any men’s clothing store he could see once we reached our destination and began looking out the window, eyes closing over. I hadn’t managed to sleep at all on the flight over and now felt utterly shattered. There was a light tapping on my arm.

“Mira . . . Mira . . .”

Turning my head, I pried my eyes open to see a rather excited looking Sehun’s face drop upon seeing my withered face.

“Oh my god!” he not-so-very-comfortingly exclaimed, eyes pouring over my face. I cringed at the thought of how bad I looked right now. “Never