*1*               It all started one fine day, when Chaerin was in America to work on a collaboration song with Diplo and Skrillex. She was at Diplo's studio, working for about 5 hours straight, when she decided to go down to the lobby to take a breather.                 On her way down, she met her good friend, Lydia Paek, who was also in America for some important business with another producer. She asked Lydia to join her, in which the latter totally agreed on.                 After they grabbed an Americano and a Latte at a small Starbucks chain at the lobby, they settled down at the table beside a large glass window, overlooking the busy streets of Los Angeles.                 They were catching up with each other, complaining about how busy they are and how they can't take a single break from work, when the baddest female suddenly felt her phone vibrated. Checking out her phone, her lips automatically stretched into her widest smile as soon as she saw the name on the screen.             ===         From: Uri Jinwoo <3 To: Chaerinnie       Good morning ^^ ~         ===                     Lydia chuckled as she glanced over her cup of Americano, towards the oblivious-slash-giddy Chaerin. The young leader quickly replied to her boyfriend's text message, her signature smile never leaving her face.                     ===         From: Chaerinnie To: Uri Jinwoo <3       Good evening ryt there, Oppa <3   I miss u so much TT TT I wanna hear ur voice~   Call me juseyo~         ===                     It was actually a half-joke since she knows how expensive overseas calls are. But it didn't take a minute or two before her phone rang once again, and this time, it was her caller ring tone.                 "He really called!" she exclaimed, her heart leapt in joy as she picked up her phone.                 Lydia just rolled her eyes in amusement.                 "Look at the baddest female of Seoul getting excited over a phone call..." she teased.                 Chaerin shot her a playful glare before she answered her phone.                 "Yobeoseyo?"                         "Chaerin-ah.."                     It's been a while since she heard his voice and it never failed to make her heart flutter. She will be in America for only two months,  but it felt like two years for Chaerin. God knows how much she misses her family, the 2ne1 members and of course, Kim Jinwoo. She couldn't hide her happiness as her perfect set of pearl white teeth flashed before her amused friend. Lydia shook her head before she took another sip on her cup.                       "Oppa! I miss you..." she said, while she pulled off her infamous aegyo. She heard him chuckled on the other line.                   "Hmm... me too." he said. "How's your work? Have you eaten already? Are you taking care of yourself?"                   Chaerin just hummed in affirmation as she took a sip on her latte. Lydia reached for her arm and tapped it, which immediately caught her attention.                 'I think you're gonna rip your face off for smiling too widely..' she teased once again, mouthing the words to the young leader. Chaerin slapped her hand and mouthed 'stop it' back to the vocalist. Lydia just laughed it off.                 "Chaerin-ah? Are you okay? Who's with you?" he said.                 "Ah, ne, Oppa. I'm with Lydia right now." she answered.                 "Hey, put it on a loud speaker Chaerin..." Lydia said. Chaerin threw a suspicious glare at the girl but still did what she requested.                 "Hey! Hi there, Oppa!" Lydia greeted in English, as she moved closer to the phone. The baddest female retracted the phone immediately.                 "Yah! Lydia, what 'Oppa'?!" she yelled, a hint of jealousy could be heard in her voice.                 People inside the lobby automatically looked at Chaerin, like she's some kind of an alien or something. She quickly apologized before glaring at Lydia, who's chuckling her off in front of her.                 "A-ah Annyeong Haseyo, Lydia-noona.." Jinwoo stuttered, shock was evident in his voice.                 "Annyeong, Jinwoo-ah," she greeted once again as she pulled Chaerin's hand with the phone, so she could talk to him clearly, "Don't worry about Chaerin. I'm taking good care of her while I'm here."                 "A-ah... Kamsahamnida... Noona."                 "Sure thing. And also, I'll make sure that no man will ever lay a finger on her, trust me." she chuckled.                 Jinwoo chuckled as well, but Chaerin could sense the awkwardness in his voice. Knowing Jinwoo, his face might be burning red, right now.  She retracted her phone and talked to him, a sweet smile slowly forming in her face.                 "Jinwoo-ah, don't worry about me. I can take care of myself." she assured him. She heard him sigh.                 "Okay." he just answered. "Just always remember to be extra careful."                 Chaerin couldn't help but laugh. "You're starting to sound like my mom, Oppa."                 "Yah! I'm serious!" he said, sounding a little frustrated. The girl stopped from laughing, though a smile never left her face. "Don't ever miss a meal, Lee Chaerin."                 "Ne.." she sweetly said.                 "Hmm.. see you soon."                 "See you soon." she answered back. This was the time where she should end the call but she doesn't want to be the first one to put the phone down. Heck-- she doesn't want their conversation to end even though they don't have something else to say to each other.                 "Are you going to hang up now, Chaerin?" she heard him say.                 "No, you hang up first."                  It's always been their problem whenever they call each other, who's going to hang-up first?                 Lydia rolled her eyes for the nth time that day, mainly because of this couple. She put down her cup before looking at the girl in front of her.                 "Yah! you two... Just end the call alright? Chaerin you said you have to go back to the studio at 9. It's almost 9." she said, pointing at the wall clock at the end of the hall.                 "Alright, alright.." Chaerin said to Lydia before she turned to her phone, "Jinwoo-ah, I'm going back to work now. Take care always."                 "Ne..." now it's Jinwoo's turn to pull off his aegyo, and never in Lee Chaerin's life did she successfully evaded an aegyo from Kim Jinwoo. Now it's even harder to say goodbye, she thought.                 "Oppa!" she cooed. Lydia faked a cough, as she shot a 'we-need-to-go-now' look at the gizibe. The girl let out a huge sigh before going back to the phone.                 "Jinwoo-ah. I'm going now." she paused, her heart's beating so fast as she said the next words,                     "Saranghae."                     She doesn't  know why, but even though how many times she already said these words to Jinwoo, her heart was still beating so hard, as if she's saying it for the first time.                 I fell really hard, huh?, she thought.                 "Yeah. Take care, Chaerin-ah." he answered back before ending the call.                 The gizibe smiled to herself as she put down her phone and finished her coffee. But when she turned to look at Lydia, the pretty vocalist was just staring at her with questioning eyes. She asked her what's wrong.                 "Did he just hang up to you without saying 'I love you, too'?" the vocalist said, disbelief was written all over her face. The baddest female just shrugged at the idea.                 "Well, I don't see the problem with that..." she answered.                 A crease formed at Lydia's forehead as soon as she heard her answer, displaying her confusion about the matter. But after a minute, her face lighted; an 'ah' escaped from her lips, as if a sudden realization have hit her.                 "Ohh... so, he's someone who says that things privately, huh?" she said.                 Chaerin suddenly shot her an unsure look, as she rubbed the cup's surface with her thumb, unconsciously displaying her own hesitations.                 "Well--"             The blonde vocalist cut her off once again as disbelief crept back on her pretty face.             "Wait, he haven't said it to you? Even once?" she blurted out.               Chaerin flinched as she heard her words, the cup on her hand almost break as its bottom hit the table. People started looking at their direction once again, but this time, Chaerin didn't bother to apologize. Lydia noticed that her friend was in shock right in front of her, so she apologized for her.                  As realization started to hit Chaerin, doubt also started crawling inside her mind. Honestly, she haven't thought of it that way. What's more important for her was she's able to say what she feels towards Jinwoo. But after Lydia pointed it out, it seemed like it's becoming a big deal for her.                 "Is it a big problem?" she carefully asked. It's more of a question to herself than Lydia, to be honest.                   "Well-- I know Jinwoo-ah is a bit timid but he could've said it to you even once, right? You've bee