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━━━  " 📂 " ‍..⃗. ༉

𝙍 𝙀 𝙈 𝙀 𝘿 𝙔

! chapter thirty-one ─── ʚĭɞ

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Miyeon's back rested against the cool wall, phone raised up to her ear. Her gaze searched for something to find interest in whilst she listened to the silence thart seemed to crackle every few seconds.

On the rare occasion that Suho did call - and it was rare these days, he seemed to be busy in America and Miyeon was even busier back in South Korea - he did struggle to find the words. But Miyeon, who had accepted his difference in social skills, didn't mind sitting and waiting.

Or standing against a wall in the building which her debut announcement photoshoot would take place in. Either way, she would be waiting.

Waiting was one of her biggest skills after all.

"Suho, you still there?" She asked a couple moments later, pushing herself up from the wall and continuing further down the corridor to try and find somewhere more appropriate to wait for her reply, which didn't happen to be in the view of some of the many workers sttood in the room that the corridor opened up into.

"Yeah.. I'm here." A slightly muffled tone replied and Miyeon let a smile break out, almost feeling relieved that she got a reply.

"Oh, so you are alive?" She couldn't help but make a joke out of it, finally finding a windowsill that looked over the parking lot and was large enough for her to it on properly, crossing her legs at the knee. "I'm kidding, before you get all flightly and hang up."

"I wouldn't just drop you like that." Suho was smiling, she could hear it his words. That was the thing - as much as his social skills weren't the best and he generally was a pretty shy guy, Suho had improved considerably since he began to date Jugyeong, dated Jugyeong, broke up with Jugyeong and then disappeared to sunny California.

"Hm... I know you wouldn't." The Hwang girl was really quite confident in this. But unlike how their friendship had dissolved when she went to America, she wasn't going to let that happen when Suho was there.

In fact she was going to do everything in her power to make sure they remained friends. Miyeon was good at holding things together, but with the stress of her upcoming debut already raining down on her on the second day of their month long schedule, she wasn't sure she could be so strong if her and Suho's friendship went south.

So instead of pushing that joke a little further, she cleared her throat and assumed a rather cheerful tone. "So, how is everything in Los Angeles? Are you alright.. is your dad alright?"

"Everything is fine." The Lee boy confirmed, although Miyeon was quite sure of his answer even as he had said it; if Suho wasn't okay, he wouldn't be so calm, and although Lee Joohun's recovery had popped up in an article every so often and wasn't so prominent in Miyeon's media feed, she was surew that if he had turned to a critical condition, she wouldn't need a call to confirm it. "Actually, it seems like my dad is getting better."

That statement seemed to align far better with a headline that Miyeon had seen the previous day.

"That's amazing!" The girl's voice reverberated down the corridor, dancing down into every corner. "Oh that's so good. I'm so happy for you - and him of course." She couldn't exactly show her long-standing distaste to the man for what happened to Seyeon anymore and especially not in this situation. "Does that mean you're thinking of coming back... either of you."

"I am." Suho confirmed, and she could imagine the stiff nod that joined the words. "I want to come home. But.. I still need to organise it... I just thought I'd let you know it's coming up."

"I'll tell Seojun when I see him at the dorms tonight... I wonder if I could ask him if we could go visit his mom." Miyeon added in a mumble, before remembering that there was someone else listening. "Sorry I-"

"It's no problem." Suho cut her off curtly. "And I'll call Seojun myself in a little bit.. but will he not be busy? And are you not busy? If my guesses are correct.. it's around ten in the morning there, right?"

"Right, so it's about six in the evening for you." Miyeon nodded. "And I'm not sure whether he's busy, but I.. might be. Last week we were told abouut our debut dates - mine's in a month, Seojun's is in two. Since then I've produced our debut song and finished writing a b-side, as well as had my hair cut, helped figure out some choreography last night with the demo, been drunk and helped a drunk Seojun. I'd say I'm pretty busy."

"Hey - Hwang Miyeon." Suho's tone - and whilst it could be because the conversation was happening over the phone - sounded a lot harsher and way more like Seojun's voice. "I'm proud of you... and don't stress yourself out."

"I know what I'm doing." Miyeon replied, balancing her phone between her shoulder and ear as she reached for her shoe laces and fiddling them them. "I promise I won't though. I'm actually at my first photoshoot now."

"What?" Suho's voice was so loud that she almost dropped the phone, hand darting upwards to catch it, laces forgotten. "And you picked up? Why would you do that?"

"So I can talk to you, dummy." Miyeon shook her head, hearing her name being called somewhere in the building and sliding off of her windowsill. "It isn't often that I hear from you, you know?"

"I'll work on it." The Lee boy promised. "But go back to your photoshoot, I need to call Seojun anyway."

"Alright." Miyeon nodded. "Thanks for calling, it's always nice to hear you. Should I mention to Jugyeong that you're thinking of coming back?" The question was very sudden, and caught Suho off-guard.

"No. Don't." He replied. "I don't know if I will come back though.. I'll think about it." As he spoke, Miyeon was making her way back down the corridor and to the changing room. "When did you say you were going to debut again?"

"In about a month."

"I'll call you again before then." Suho smiled, hoping that his best friend wasn't too upset by his lack of contact. "Goodbye Hwang Miyeon, and make sure to relax sometimes."

"Bye bye Suho, make sure to put on suncream!" Miyeon had genuine happiness in her voice as she hung up, sliding her phone into her pocket as she entered the room again.

And some nine thousand-odd kilometres away, Lee Suho smiled down at his phone as he placed it on the couch beside him. He hesitated for just a moment, before reaching for his laptop and opening it.

The screen lit up his face and he opened the search engine, typing several details into it. Seconds later and flight information for around a month's time appeared.

He'd be damned if he missed her debut. After everything - he just couldn't miss it.