"Oh! Jieun-ah!" Yejin shouted when she saw the two of us following the waiter to our table. She narrowed her eyes when she saw me beside Jieun. "Nice to see you here too, Lee Chaeyeon." She greeted sarcastically. When she said that, I saw Chanyeol's ears turned red as he twisted his body to face us. He looked surprised to see us here.

I looked around frantically, desperately searching for an escape route but there was none to be found. We were at the dead end of the restaurant. I sighed inwardly as I managed a tiny and forced smile while Chanyeol said nothing. He just stared at me with his big eyes as though I was a foreign and intruding object to him and his date of the night.

"Uhm, hello? Didn't expect to see you again so soon, Kim Yejin-ssi." I replied with an equal level of sarcasm. "What brought you here?" I asked as Jieun nodded at her unnie and sunbae.

"Chanyeol oppa, of course." She smiled sweetly at the man sitting opposite her. Chanyeol, on the other hand, busied himself with his phone, looking slightly embarassed like a kid who just got caught red-handed for stealing sweets.

"Do you guys want to sit together? I can join your tables together if you want." The waiter offered kindly, gesturing to the empty couple table next to them.

"Good! Okay! Nice!" Yejin grinned at the waiter in her simple Konglish (Korean-English) pronounciation as the waiter joined the two tables together.

"Sit." Yejin ordered. Jieun quickly sat down next to Yejin, leaving an empty seat for me right next to Chanyeol. She gave me a brief wink before returning her attention to the mean .

"Unnie, are you really here to find Chanyeol? Are the two of you getting back together?" Jieun asked innocently. Yejin and Jieun used to be in the same clique when they were both trainees at SM. They were supposed to debut in the same group before Yejin left suddenly with no reasons. As much as Jieun hated Yejin for her arrogant and y behavior, she also loved her equally much since they had been friends for many years before I joined SM in 2015.

I coughed as I took the seat next to Chanyeol. I drank the plain water that the waiter had placed in front of me, trying to avoid any small talks with Chanyeol.

"Yes, I am here in New York because of Chanyeol. But no, I am not in America because of him. And no, we are not getting back together. We are just good old friends catching up." Yejin smiled calmly as she replied Jieun. This was actually the first time I saw her smiling like this. Usually, when I bumped into her at the SM building, she always had the same y smirk on her face and a mean vibe surrounding her aura.

I guess Yejin and Jieun were really closed before this. I mean, you can see it in the way they conversed. A close unnie and dongsaeng relationship.

I smiled inwardly when I heard what Yejin said to Jieun. 'No, we are not getting back together.' I felt relieved at the same time. As though a heavy burden on my shoulder has been lifted.

But why did Chanyeol lie to me about his busy schedule, when he was supposedly busy dining with an old friend? An ex-girlfriend to be specific.

"Then what are you doing in America? Why didn't you contact us when you left? Do you know how worried I was? Do you know how lost the rest of the members felt when you just suddenly disappeared?" Jieun asked with tears in her eyes.

"I am sorry." Yejin said with her head hung low. "I left because I saw no future in my career. Even though we were about to debut, I don't see myself enjoying my job anymore. And then I got an acceptance offer for my business degree programme with Bentley University in Boston. So I decided that maybe that is something I want to pursue, instead of being an idol. My contract with SM also ended right before our debut. I had a 10-year contract with SM but I did not debut within that 10 year. So right after it ended, I decided to leave for good. I kept in touch with Chanyeol oppa all these while. That's why I am here because I knew that he would be here for a concert. In fact, we met up a few times before this when he was doing his promotions around the States."

"Unnie... I wished you had told us your problems instead of bottling up like this." Jieun said honestly.

"I didn't want to burden you girls." Yejin gave a heartwarming and assuring smile. "Anyway, I think you two should order some food. Are you hungry? What do you want? Their steak here is good." Yejin said as she changed the subject quickly.

I, too, picked up the menu in front of me and scanned through the different main course. Chicken, Pork, Dory fish or Salmon? I gave my menu a serious thought as I tried to distract myself from what Yejin said.

'I kept in contact with Chanyeol all these while...'

'We met up a few times before this...'

My eyes began to blur as I stared at the menu. Heck this, I will just go with Pork steak.

"So... Chaeyeon-ah, how are you doing with your debut so far? Are the members listening to you well?" Yejin asked me, suddenly. I wasn't used to her sincere tone, at all.

"Uhm. Yeah, the members are doing great. They don't just look up to me but they also take good care of me when I was sick as well a few months back. Debut was good. I am getting used to the cameras now. Uh, thank you for asking."

Luckily, the waiter returned to take our order, halting our conversation temporarily and saving me from the awkward situation. "What would you like to order, Madam?" He said.

"One pork steak for me please." I said as I passed him the menu.

"One for me too!" Jieun added.

The rest of the dinner went on without much incident. Both Chanyeol and I kept extremely quiet throughout the entire dinner as we listened to the conversations between Yejin and Jieun, which I was entirely fine with. They talked about Yejin's new life, her new dreams and her new aspiration, and about Jieun's new official boyfriend, Shinee's Taemin and her busy idol life, that Yejin was unable to experience.

-

KAKAOTALK

Please Subscribe to read the full chapter