"…[sigh]…How did this even happen?,” the man said as he shivered in the late night coldness.  He sat on the hood of his parked car at a highway rest stop just outside Seoul.  He sighed once again and rubbed his hands together for warmth, before pulling out his cellphone to make a call. 

Ring.  Ring.  Ring.

/Yeobosaeyo?  Youngbae oppa?  Where have you been?!/

“Jiyoon-ah, I’ll be home late,” Youngbae calmly responded.

/Late?  It’s 9 at night and you were supposed to be home for dinner by now!/, Jiyoon scolded through the phone, leading to Youngbae to pull his phone back a little.

“I know, I know, but something came up,” Youngbae explained as he peeked behind him into his car.

/Oh yeah?!  Like what?!  What could possibly worry you more than the cousin you’re living with?!/

“The birthday girl.”

Silence was on the phone line. 

/…What happened?  I thought she was with-/

“Mino-yah called me this afternoon, saying that she ran off because of, well something.  He explained to me about it and apologized, but I’ll tell you the details when I get back,” Youngbae responded.

/…So?  When will you get back?/

“I’m near the outskirts of Seoul, the other side of the city though, so maybe an hour and a half if I’m lucky.”  Youngbae turned back around again to see the younger girl sleeping in the backseat.  “Maybe we’ll just spend the night here at the rest-“

/Ani!  I think Hyerim-ah lives near there!  I’ll send you the address so you can spend the night there!/

“Hyerim?  You mean Eun-“

/Mmmmhmm, her!  Besides, you must be cold, huh?  You probably gave Rong-ie your jacket./

Youngbae chuckled, as Jiyoon knew him well.  “Yeah, it’s pretty cold out here.  Gomawo, Jiyoon-ah~”

The phone clicked to indicate that the call ended, before getting a text notification from Jiyoon with the address.

“Looks like we’re meeting up with some more old friends.  Isn’t that right, Rong-a…I mean, Rong-ie?,” Youngbae asked seemingly to himself as he got back in the car and started the engine.

**********

“I think that when you strum the chords, you should do it softly instead of giving off a strong vibe, Yoon-ie.  It fits better with the song that oppa gave for my audition,” the girl explained.

“Yah, be happy I’m helping you, Eunji-yah.  I have my own audition to worry about, remember?, Seungyoon complained as he held his guitar.

“I know, but I want to do oppa’s song justice.  It’s been years since we’ve both seen him, ever since he went overseas for university.  I was lucky to even get a song from him, knowing his passion for music,” Eunji said with eyes of admiration.

“Don’t you think I feel the same?  Him and Jiyong hyung helped me out too,” Seungyoon added.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door.  “Unnie!”

“What is it, Hayoung-ah?  We’re still practicing tonight!  Besides, you should be sleeping, it's 9:30 right now,” Eunji responded as she got up and opened the door.

“There’s this man asking for you outside!  He said it was important!,” Hayoung said.

“Who is it?,” Seungyoon said as he got up as well.

“I don’t know, he was shivering as he spoke because he had no jacket, but I could sort of make out what he was saying.  He had weird, blond hair, but he looked familiar.  He knew my name too!,” Hayoung explained quickly, but slow enough for Eunji to understand.

“Wait here, Yoon-ie and I will go check,” Eunji said, causing Seungyoon to moan.  “Oh, stop being a scaredy-cat, Yoon-ie, you’re the guy over here,” she said as she pulled him to the front door.

Eunji started to tiptoe to see out the door peephole, before Seungyoon pulled her back.  “You could’ve let ME look outside, you know,” he said, receiving a face from Eunji, before chuckling himself.  Seungyoon finally looked out the door peephole, the light outside barely letting him see the man outside.  He had to blink a couple of times, as he couldn’t believe his eyes.  “No way!”

“What, what?!,” Eunji asked, but Seungyoon had opened the door by then.  “Oppa?!  What are you doing here?!,” she said as she started a hug with the visitor.

“Yeah, I thought you were in America still for university, Youngbae hyung?!,” Seungyoon said as he did a handshake that seemed to be routine for the two males.

“I’ll explain that a bit later.  Right now, the important thing here is to get her inside to sleep more comfortably.  She’s been through a lot today,” Youngbae said as he pointed back to his car.

Hayoung came out to the door as he said that.  “Your car needs to…sleep?”

________________________________________________________________

Next update will hopefully be after I update WGM: Big Bang & Apink edition, so stay tuned!