A man walked through the airport's front door casually. He was wearing a t-shirt and topped it with a denim washed out jacket. His long legs were wrapped by dark blue jeans and he used a black sunglasses.

Cool.

The man walked toward the check-in counter, then stopped. He turned around and took off his black sunglasses to shot a glare at someone.

"Hei, Kim Jongin. Can't you walk a little bit faster?"

Oops, that guy was Do Kyungsoo.

Then the one he just scolded must be...

Kim Jongin.

Jongin immediately hurried his steps and approached Kyungsoo. He was too busy staring at the airport's luxurious interior that he didn't realize Kyungsoo had walked far away and left him behind. It's been years since the last time Jongin set his feet on airports, so he was kinda surprised with how drastic the international airport had changed.

The two then arrived at the check-in counter and Kyungsoo handed the printed ticket he just received from Baekhyun yesterday.

"Mister Do Kyungsoo?" The man behind the check-in counter smiled while checking the paper.

"Yes." Kyungsoo replied shortly.

"And... Mister Kim Jongin?"

Jongin widened his eyes when his name suddenly being mentioned. "Y-yes."

The man nodded and typed something on the laptop. A few seconds later, two papers of airplane ticket got printed.

"So... Mister Do Kyungsoo and Mister Kim Jongin, because there is a benefit from the card you used to pay, both Mister Do Kyungsoo and Mister Kim Jongin's seat was upgraded from business class to a first class."

Kyungsoo blinked a few times before smirked when he heard that.

Upgraded? Nice.

Jongin on the other hand was really shocked.

Seriously? First class?

Jongin remembered clearly the last time he went to Jeju with his dad, they were sitting in the economy class. And since it was the cheapest flight rate, they didn't even get a drink afterwards.

"Here's your tickets, sir." The man gave Kyungsoo their tickets. "Do you have any luggage with you?"

"Thanks." Kyungsoo said while taking the tickets. "Jongin."

Jongin who got the signal immediately lifted the suitcases and put them on the weight scaler.

The man behind check in counter wrapped a sticker with name on the suitcase and wrote a few things before politely wishing them a save flight.

Kyungsoo and Jongin walked away from the check-in counter and went up a floor toward their gate.

"Hei, let's stop by the starbucks first." Kyungsoo said.

Jongin nodded and followed from behind.

Once they got their coffee, Kyungsoo immediately called Baekhyun with his phone.

"You wait here. I will be calling someone." Kyungsoo warned Jongin.

"Oh..." Jongin looked kinda unsure of what to answer, but Kyungsoo had left him without waiting.

"Hello?"

"Hei, Baek. Someone from the hotel you mentioned will pick us up, right?"

"Yes, of course! Remember that he's from The Mulia Hotel. Okay? Mu-li-a."

"Mulia." Kyungsoo repeated. "Alright. So...since this is an invitation for a food-blogger, what should I say to the recepsionist there?"

"E-eh?"

Kyungsoo smirked when he heard a slight panic on the other's voice.

"W-well, just say it's...under the reservation of B-byun Baekhyun. They will know, automatically."

"This rotten kid," Kyungsoo sighed. "You lied to me, right? You are not invited by this Mulia hotel, right?"

"I-, I do!"

"You do?"

"...well, okay. I'm not."

"Oh?" Kyungsoo rose his eyebrows high. "Fine. Then I'll cancel the flight and I will go home."

"NO!"

Kyungsoo tried his best to hold his laughter when his cousin suddenly shouted.

"Y-you can't do that, Kyung! I've paid everything for you, don't m-make it go wasted!"

"What's the main purpose of you doing this, actually?" Kyungsoo asked due to his curiosity. "Just need me to get out of the office?"

"Well..."

There was a pause from Baekhyun for a while.

"...it's originally for you birthday gift. But other than that... I heard you are now not in a good relationship with Minho hyung."

Kyungsoo immediately stopped smiling. "...I have never had a good relationship with him, indeed."

"No-,"

There was a heavy sigh on the other line.

"-i mean, this is the biggest fight between you guys. Because of that JYP company, right?"

"He wouldn't trust me doing anything. What am I actually? I'm now the orner of the company, yet he keep on appearing all the time and lectures me around."

"I know, I know. That's why you must be stressed out pretty much lately. And I think...a little pretty place will help...right?"

Kyungsoo stopped for a while before sighed. Baekhyun could be so sweet, sometimes.

"So this is really because you are worrying about me?"

"Of course, stupid! You are my brother, I have no one to annoy if you fall sick or stressed out and rot in the asylum."

"Well, I'm not going to asylum, silly." Kyungsoo scoffed. "...but thanks anyway, for the gift."

"...so you are going, right?"

"Yes." Kyungsoo sighed. "I know the amount of money that you spent was pretty high, since Mulia is one of the best hotel in Bali."

"There you go. Then enjoy your flight, brother!"

"Hm. You too."

Kyungsoo's lips curled a little into smile as he cut off the phone connection. He then came back and found Jonginthat watched him in curiosity.

"Who's that?"

"Baekhyun." Kyungsoo replied.

"Ah..." Jongin nodded slightly.

"You must remember him, right? The one that stands beside me when you rejected me years ago."

Jongin winced. "Hei, you still remember about that?"

"I told you it's forgiven, not forgotten." Kyungsoo replied flatly.

Jongin's mouth hung open in disbelief before looked away.

"So, about this Chanwoo guy." Kyungsoo put his cheek and supported it with his hand. "Did you guys become an item? Back then?"

"Of course not." Jongin shook his head. "I didn't even have a courage to tell him my feeling."

"Then, you guys just being a bestfriend until the day you gone?"

"...yes." Jongin suddenly turned a little sad. "And we lost contact. Just like that."

Kyungsoo just nodded his head. "Oh..."

"W-what about him?" Jongin asked. "After I'm gone, what about him?"

"He's all okay, and he still attended the same senior highschool with me." Kyungsoo rose his shoulders. "He then became Bobby;s boyfriend. You remember him? Bobby?"

"Bobby? The gummy-smiled boy?" Jongin asked.

"Hm. They become an item, even until now. I heard they were married last year." Kyungsoo replied.

"How do you know about them?" Jongin asked. "You still have a contact with them?"

"Social media, silly. The connection will never get lost." Kyungsoo rose his smartphone with a smirk. "Tsk. You are behaving just like a dinosaur in the modern country. Upgrade your knowledge, it's the 21st century."

Jongin immediately pouted his lips and looked away.

Who would know about those things? What he needed just works. He had no time to socialize, one of the reason why he didn't have any close friends until now.

The loud speaker on the corner of the starbucks cafe told that their airplane was going to leave soon. That escorted the two of them to go to their gate and hopped into the airplane.

Jongin could only gape his mouth in shock once he saw the seat they would be sitting in. It's totally totally totally different from the ones he sat back then in his childhood! This seat was much much larger, and it looked so comfortable!

"Have a seat, please." A pretty girl dressed in a suit smiled politely. "Hello, Master Do Kyungsoo and Master Kim Jongin. My name is Lee Jieun. I hope you enjoy the flight with our first class choice, and if you need anything, just call us whenever."

Kyungsoo gave a slight nod while Jongin still couldn't recover from his shock.

Once the girl in suit left, Jongin immediately nudged Kyungsoo.

"Hei, hei. How much do people have to pay to get this first class?"

"It's four to five times the economy class's price." Kyungsoo replied shortly.

Jongin silently calculated the amount on his head before gasped in horror. "F-four to five times! You are really a rich kid, aren't you?"

Kyungsoo glanced at Jongin before rolled his eyes. "Shut up. Now just sit nicely and enjoy everything."

Jongin frowned. "Enjoy what? Is there any performance for people in the first class? Like dance battle show or something?"

Kyungsoo put a palm on his face. "Come think about it, Kim Jongin. In this plane, have you ever seen people dance around? You are not even allowed to walking around in the cabin. Come on, think straight!"

Jongin blinked once and twice before rose his shoulders. "...but the stewardess could do it."

Kyungsoo stared at Jongin with unreadable expression before sighed again and looked away. "Are you really Kim Jongin, the smart- scholarship top student back then in elementary school?"

"Hei, I've stopped going to school since I moved from Seoul to Busan back then!" Jongin defended himself.

That's when Kyungsoo finally turned around again. "What? You...you didn't continue your study? Why?"

Jongin sighed. "We didn't have money, obviously."

Kyungsoo still gaped his mouth open.

"That time, we were going to Busan...to meet my father's relatives. Actually." Jongin started his story. "But they all rejected him, and we had to stay in a small rented apartment there. My dad couldn't afford me a school fee so I stopped going to school and started to work instead."

Kyungsoo furrowed his eyebrows. "Why your dad's relatives are being so mean?"

"That's because..." Jongin sighed. "In order to marry my mom, my dad ran away from his family."

"What?" Kyungsoo widened his eyes. "F-for sure?"

"Yes." Jongin nodded. "Grandma and grandpa had never agreed to their marriage. My dad came from a wealthy family, but since he ran away, he was thrown out of it."

Kyungsoo bit his lower lip. He just heard about this, and he didn't know what to say. Family things are a sensitive topic.

"So, yeah. That's why I didn't go to school. So! You have no right to compare the me now with the old me. And it's not like I'm a pure genius, anyway. I studied my off to get those good scores." Jongin talked so fast that Kyungsoo needed a few seconds to proceed what he had just said. "Oh, and how could you say that I'm stupid just because I didn't know there were no dancers in the airplane?"

"I didn't call you stupid."

"Oh, well-, you disguised it with sarcasm, Do Kyungsoo. Do you think you can fool me?"

Kyungsoo sighed loudly and looked away. "You are so annoying."

"You-," Jongin was about to protest when the lady in suit earlier came back with a bottle of expensive-looking sparkling wine on her hand.

"Excuse me, sir." The lady smiled.

Jongin couldn't help but stopped his bickerings and sat down nicely on the chair. The plane had already flown without their notice.

The lady then explained about the wine which Jongin didn't understand at all. She read the name in French, the vintage year, and then poured it inside of their glass.

The only thing that Jongin knew, it didn't really taste good.

"Ouch..." Jongin hissed silently when he drank the wine. "Why the taste is like this? This is too sweet!"

"That's what called 'Sparkling Wine'." Kyungsoo replied flatly. "You should appreciate it, it's so expensive."

Jongin gave Kyungsoo a look before sighed. He took a closer look at the glass of wine and drank more, only to wince more.

"Is this really expensive? Then why does it tastes like crap? Coca cola is much better than this."

Kyungsoo almost couldn't believe his ears when the wine he liked the most was compared to Coca cola, but he at the end just ignored Jongin.

A few times later, the lady in suit cameback with a pretty stewardess, bringing plates of food.

Jongin didn't like the sparkling wine, but he liked the food.

So, much.

Kyungsoo watched in amazement when Jongin ate all the food given in a short time. "Wow, I know we haven't gotten our breakfast yet...but are you this hungry?"

Jongin glanced at Kyungsoo before nodded innocently.

Kyungsoo scoffed and stared at Jongin a few times before moved the plate of dessert from his table to Jongin's.

"You can have it, I'm full already."

Jongin rose his eyebrows, confused. "Really?"

"Yeah, finish it." Kyungsoo said while yawned. He laid his head on the small pillow on his seat.

"You are going to sleep?" Jongin asked again.

"Hn." Kyungsoo replied.

Jongin turned to look at the dessert Kyungsoo had just given and grinned happily.

Well, it's not a bad start for this journey. Even though he was dying to reject the offer yesterday, now he's feeling that the trip wouldn't be so bad after all.

***

Bali.

Hot.

That's what Jongin felt when they walked out from the Denpasar international airport. Jongin frowned with mouth hung open wide.

How could it be? It was freaking frozen in Seoul, but here in Indonesia, it looked like a summer!

"This suppose to be a rainy season, but there won't be no rain for a while. Just get a little cloudy, sometimes." Dessy, the one that picked them up on the airport explained in a fluent Korean.

"I see." Kyungsoo replied and shrugged. "Well, how long it's going to take to reach Mulia hotel?"

"It's not long. Around 30 minutes from here." Dessy smiled. "Don't worry, I will make sure the journey to the hotel is worth while."

Jongin looked around in pure interest. He saw various of people, mostly western spreaded all around the place. They were wearing bikinis and summer clothes. Some wearing a tanktop with hotpants, and some men even walking around topless. Jongin had never seen things like this before, so he's a little shocked.

They walked straight to the parking area, and Dessy lead them to a luxurious car with 'The Mulia Hotel' written on it. Kyungsoo and Jongin both sat on the back seat. Once the car started to move, Jongin couldn't help but look out in a great interest. It was green everywhere. Big palm trees were planted all over the road, keeping the