3rd POV

“Okay, now that everyone is here. I would like to make an announcement.”

Suhan’s mom, Yoojin, curiously looked up at her friend along with the other ladies at the table as well.

The woman with the tight skin and hard updo, Jisun, proudly smiled as she dug through her purse. The ladies waited for a few seconds before Jisun pulled out a beautiful black and white, lavender-scented card. The ladies all gasped when they realized what Jisun was holding.

“My Bora is getting married!!” Jisun exclaimed.

“Omo!!!” The ladies all squealed, trying to get a good luck at the information on the card.

“The man is Park Dongsuk?? As in the son of CEO Park Dongjin??” One of the women gasped.

“Indeed, he is.” Jisun smirked.

“Congratulations, Unnie.” Yoojin said to Jisun.

Jisun gave Yoojin a small, wry, smile. “Thank you, Yoojin. How is your daughter doing, by the way?”

The chatter that was going on about the marriage suddenly died as they stared at Jisun and Yoojin allowing a thick tension from Jisun to fill the air.

Everyone knew the story of Suhan.

Everyone knew that Suhan had gone to travel around the world, expanding her non-profit organization for animals, mostly canines, in need.

It was something that no one did in their social class. It was something that others thought of as shameful and pathetic. The women of their status were meant to get an education and then marry someone of equal or higher status.

What Suhan did should have brought shame to their family.

Should.

“She’s great, thank you for asking. She’s actually coming home today so we’re going to throw her a little surprise party.” Yoojin said with a strong yet kind smile.

“She’s still doing her dog thing right? No relationship or anything?” Jisun asked with a hint of mockery.

Yoojin remained unfazed. “Yes, she’s still running her organizations and yes, she’s still single. Her and I both feel like there are more important things in life than just marrying rich.” She said, never faltering with the eye contact between her and Jisun. “By the way, did Bora ever reach a settlement with that family she threw money at?”

And that broke Jisun.

“Yes, she did.” The woman snapped, the harshness apparent in her tone.

Yoojin calmly nodded and smiled. “That’s good to hear.”

Hannie walked out of the airport with her luggage in tow, taking in the authentic Korean air as soon as the sunlight engulfed her. It had been five months since she was home and man, did it feel good to be back.

She took out her headphones and pulled her phone up to her ear after dialing someone’s number.

Sadly though, no one picked up.

“Aish, where is he?” Hannie asked when she heard the voicemail.

Then all of a sudden, two large hands covered her eyes from behind her and she felt someone's breathing tickle the top of her head.

“Welcome back, Ahn Suhan.” Hannie closed her eyes in pure delight when she heard the warm and loving voice behind her. She turned around with a gigantic grin on her face and threw her arms around the one and only, Lee Taemin.

“Taemin-ah!!!!” Hannie screeched out of glee while jumping up and down in his arms. Taemin chuckled and held her waist, giving her a sweet hug.

“You're not allowed to leave ever again, got it??” He said when she released the embrace.

"I'm not going anywhere for a while." She said to him.

"We've all missed you like hell, Han. Especially your mom."

Hannie groaned in agreement as she grabbed her bags. “Oh my God, don’t even get me started on how much I’ve missed you guys. Mexico is great and I love being there, but...” she paused for a second and looked at Taemin with her soft eyes, “Home is home.”

Taemin's eyes melted at her sincerity. “Home is home.” He repeated, affirming her words.

Hannie smiled, nodding. “Now let’s go home.” She said lifting her bags up to leave. Taemin grinned and took a few of her bags into his hands and the two old friends walked to his car to head to her house.

Taemin pulled his car into Hannie’s parents’ driveway, finally reaching the house.

Hannie couldn't hold the sigh of relief when she saw her house and her shoulders fell in nostalgia.

“I can't tell you how much I've missed this place.” She said and immediately opened her door, not even waiting for Taemin to turn off the car.

He chuckled at her and put the car in park before opening the trunk. “Yah, wait for me.” He said and followed after her.

“Hurry up!” She beamed as she grabbed a handful of her bags. Her little arms could only hold so much and the amount she had grabbed was too much for her so half of it fell out of her arms.

Taemin shook his head, albeit smiling and reached for the bags that had dropped. “I'll grab the rest, just go inside and see your parents.”

Hannie bit her lip back from grinning too much. “Really?” She squeaked in falsetto. Taemin chuckled and nodded for her to go. Hannie didn’t need any more convincing before she sprinted to the door, leaving Taemin with her mountain of luggage.

“She was only gone for five months...how did she come back with enough luggage for five years?” He asked himself, whimpering at the thought of how many trips he was going to have to make.

“Hello?” Hannie asked when she stepped into her house that was eerily quiet. “Omma? Appa? Donggie?” She called out as she set her stuff down. “I’m home!” She exclaimed loudly, just in case they were upstairs or in the basement.

Hannie pouted when she didn’t get the loud and boisterous response back. Hell, she didn’t get any response back. With an irritated huff, she kicked her shoes off and walked more into the house, toward the kitchen and dining room.

When she turned the corner into that part of the house that the kitchen was at though, Hannie was greeted by a face full of rainbow confetti and a bunch of people screaming, “SURPRISE!!!!” at her followed by Donggie jumping all over her.

Hannie’s jaw dropped to the floor out of pure happiness and she almost began crying. “You guys!!!” She beamed, not able to stop grinning.

“Oh stop acting surprised, we all know over here ruined it.” Aya called out, whacking Sehun on the back of the head.

Hannie laughed, “Was I that obvious?”

“Very.” Seulgi nodded.

“Come here, kiddo.” Hannie’s dad said and pulled her into a giant hug. “We’ve missed you sooooo much!”

Hannie pouted and whined back. “It was so hard not seeing you guys everyday.”

The sappy moment was gone when Hannie heard, “Well if it was so hard, you should’ve come home sooner!” from behind her and almost immediately was met by a folded magazine whack to the head.

Hannie yelped in pain. “Ah, Omma!!” She screeched.

“Come here, you!” Yoojin grumbled and began chasing her daughter around the kitchen island. “You say you’re leaving for a month and then you come back when a whole season has passed!!”

“Omma, I’m sorry!!!” Hannie exclaimed. “Appa! Help!!”

After Hannie ran past him, he grabbed Yoojin and held her back. “Alright, alright. All that matters is that our little girl is home now, right?”

Yoojin huffed and glared at Hannie rubbing her hands in forgiveness in front of her.

“Omma, I’m sorry.” Hannie said. “I wanted to come home, there was just so much to do over there. But I’m here for the entire summer. I told everyone that I was staying home for a couple of months.”

Yoojin’s anger slowly dissipated at her daughter’s explanation but honestly, she just couldn’t stay mad at her. She missed Hannie so much. She had already missed so much of her daughter’s life already, she was going to make it up to her for as long as she could.

Her face eventually softened and she held her arms around. Hannie’s eyes lit up and she went straight into her mom’s arms.

“I just missed you like crazy.” She quietly confessed. Hannie didn’t say anything and only tried to take in her mother’s loving embrace, her familiar smell, her warm love.

It was a long and painful path for Hannie to get to that place with her mom, but now that she was here, everything that happened seemed so worth it.

“Um, as much as I’m tearing up from this precious family reunion, we also haven’t seen her since last year so….”

Hannie almost burst out laughing and Yoojin shook her head in irritation as the two separated from each other.