14th☀

"Are you sure you packed everything already?" asked Dad as he helped me with my two, huge luggage bags. I bought them last year because they were so cute and I couldn't resist it. 

"Yes, Dad," I answered. I had my hand carry bag—a cute, medium-sized backpack that complimented my outfit for today. It was still early, around thirty minutes after eight and I couldn't feel any other emotions with the exception of excitement. 

"Passport? Plane ticket?" Dad asked anxiously. He made it sound like he was the one going on a trip.

"Yes," I replied, opening the front door for him. 

Dad quickly rolled my luggage bags to the back of his car. He opened up the trunk of his Kia Soul and loaded the luggage bags inside. After he was done, he made it to driver's seat and turned on the engine before buckling up and checking the mirrors. 

I was already seated in the passenger seat with my hand carry bag left in the backseat. I was excited and I couldn't control it much longer. My legs were already shaking with excitement. 

"Let's go!" Dad said as he finally drove out of our house's driveway and out into the main rode. 

"Sorry I won't be here for two weeks, Dad. Will you be able to handle being alone yourself?" I asked him as I looked out of the car's bumper to look at the traffic. Not too bad for eight in the morning. 

Dad chuckled as he kept his eyes on the road. "I'll be fine, Sarang. I've got work to do, after all. I promise I'll take care of myself, as well. I won't overwork."

I had my mouth open after hearing Dad say he had work to do. I was just about to blurt out the words that Dad had just said shortly. Shaking my head with a smile, I said, "Good."

"Now, you better take care of  yourself over there, Sarang," Dad said more seriously. "Don't get hurt and stay away from the deep side of the sea. You know you can't swim well."

"Of course, Dad." I gave him a kiss on the cheek. "I'm not that stupid to attempt to swim in the deep end."

"And while you're there..." Dad hesitated for a moment, letting silence take over for a moment. Dad's lips started to pull into a grin as he continued, "...get me a souvenir."

I stared at Dad, incredulous. Seconds later, I burst out laughing as I nodded. "Of course, Dad. I'll make sure to find something cool for you. Or anything, at that."

"Where are you staying again?" Dad asked, keeping the conversation going. 

"Mijoo's aunt's pension," I answered, checking the notifications on my phone, in case there was a message coming from Mijoo. 

There was, in fact. 

Mijoo: where you guys at?

I quickly composed a message: 

Sarang: on the way..

Wonwoo sent a message seconds after I did: 

Wonwoo: stuck in morning traffic. I have a feeling the airport will be packed today 

"For free?" Dad asked. 

"Yup," I answered, pressing the Home button on my phone and placing it on my lap. "I haven't seen it before. The pension, I mean. Mijoo sent us pictures of it, though. It looks nice."

"Ah, you're finally growing up." Dad started to look sentimental with his eyes concentrated on the road. "It felt like just yesterday you were just born. How did time go by so quickly?"

"Yeah," I said back, looking out of the window from my side. "I'm still excited though, Dad. Don't bring my mood down by trying to reminisce in the old times."

"Okay, okay." Dad was chuckling as he turned the radio on. "Don't you keep your albums in the car? Put a CD in so we can listen to some music."

"Are you sure?" I asked, opening the glove compartment. I did keep my albums in my room. But the CDs were stored separately. I keep them in the car, in case I wanted to listen to something. 

"Of course," answered Dad. "It's the last day I have with you until your trip in Jeju for two weeks. I could at least do that much, right?"

I smiled and nodded as I pulled out PENTAGON's CD from their first album. The first song started playing and I bobbed my head to the melody and beat. I have to say, PENTAGON has really great songs. 

☀

Dad parked his car in the parking lot before he helped me with my big and very eye-catching luggage bags into the airport once again. He pulled out a trolley for my luggage bags and helped me push it around until we find Mijoo or Wonwoo. 

Mijoo was standing there by the entrance, her back facing the direction I was walking out from. She was wearing a cute white t-shirt over black tight leggings with matching sport shoes. She had a brown backpack behind her. Her hair was down in her loose, brown locks and she looked really happy today.

Or excited, like me. 

"Mijoo!" I called, rushing to her. 

Mijoo turned around and at the sight of me, she smiled and gave me a hug. "Sarang! You're here!"

"Yeah!" I replied with an enthusiastic voice. I pulled away from the hug and searched for her trolley of luggage bags, only to find her luggage bag standing right next to her. 

"Hi, samchun," Mijoo greeted, waving at my dad. 

My dad returned the wave with a happy smile. He patted me on the head like I was a kid and told her, "Take care of my Sarang, okay? I only have one, after all. Make sure she doesn't do anything stupid out at sea."

"Don't worry, sir. I will keep a lookout," Mijoo answered, giving my dad a cute salute. 

Dad found it amusing and chuckled in response. "Great. I better go now. I have to get to work." Dad gave me a peck on the check. "Enjoy your trip, okay? Keep me updated as much as possible. There's Wi-Fi there, right?"

"Yes, sir," Mijoo answered with a firm nod. "High speed Wi-Fi, in fact. But there are a bunch of things to do so I don't think they'll be on their phones for too long. I will remind Sarang to keep you updated, though."

"Bye, Dad!" I waved goodbye to my dad, giving him one last hug before I took over pushing my trolley.

"Bye!" Dad greeted back before he walked away to the car park.

"Is Wonwoo here yet?" I asked, looking around. I fixed the backpack that was hanging off my left shoulder properly and awaited for Mijoo's answer. 

"He said he's here now," Mijoo answered, her eyes on her phone. Her phone cover was none other than a cover she ordered from this website daebakcases.com. She got a cute ASTRO cover. As expected. Her love—Rocky—was there, after all. 

I looked around, trying to search for Wonwoo. I noticed him coming closer with his own trolley. He had stylish fashion sense today, though it looked comfortable. Girls passing by were already staring at him with an obvious smile on their face. 

"Hey, there," Wonwoo greeted with a slick voice. At least, he attempted to have a slick voice. 

Mijoo eyed him from head to toe before laughing, incredulous. "What are you trying to do, Wonwoo? Are you going to a fashion show in Paris?"

Wonwoo frowned. "I tried looking decent."

"I can tell you that you've went over the line," Mijoo told him, jokingly. "Are you feelings hurt, Jeon Wonwoo? Don't cry. It'll cause a scene. Isn't that a look you were trying to rock? Chic boy? You'll ruin the look if you cry now."

Ah, Mijoo. Always so mean to your dear admirer. Although, she's always that mean to every guy she meets and befriends.

Wonwoo sighed and shook his head and, instead, asked, "What time's our departure?"

"It's..." Mijoo paused and checked her phone. "...at nine fifteen a.m."

"We've got a lot of time to spare," I told them, trying to check the time on my phone. 

The three of us entered the airport—finally—and headed straight to the check up area of the airlines we were using. Jeju Airlines, with Kim Soohyun's perfect face as their celebrity ambassador. 

We got our tickets checked as well as our luggage bags sent down the conveyor belt behind the staffs. They gave us friendly smiles and once we were done, we walked away and wandered around the airport to have some fun while we tried to kill time. 

"Did you guys eat your breakfast today?" asked Mijoo as we neared a restaurant in the airport. 

Wonwoo and I were guilty as we shook our head from side to side. 

Mijoo sighed as she motioned us with her two fingers. "Follow me. You guys need to eat. We all know what airplane food is like."

"But I'm not hungry," I told her. 

"You need at least something in your stomach," Mijoo smartly told us. There she goes with her mom duties again. "It's not healthy if you skip your breakfast. When the people on the radio say that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, they really mean it." 

"What if we don't want to, eomma?" Wonwoo whined. 

"Then, enjoy the plane food. I can guarantee it won't be that great as the food we still have here." Mijoo pointed at the restaurant we were standing outside. "At least something will do. Bread, toast. American style breakfast?"

I wanted to say 'it's fine' but the look on Mijoo's face was too serious. We rarely see her serious face, so we had no choice but to agree with her and have breakfast, like what she suggested. 

We were seated down in this restaurant/cafe—it looked more like a cafe but it was a restaurant—and watch as Mijoo ordered us a light breakfast so that our stomachs would have something to digest. 

Even if it was quite early—it was still a few minutes before nine in the morning—the airport was already packed with Koreans getting ready to leave for their holidays in other places, whether near or far. The atmosphere here was nothing but a lively one. 

Our food came not long after, which made me take note of their speedy service. At first, I only poked my food around. I didn't really have the appetite to eat, currently. But the food in front of me was so tempting so I found myself digging into breakfast—finally. 

Wonwoo only did the same, but the only difference the two of us had was that the moment Wonwoo saw his food, he dug straight into it while I took a few more seconds, poking it around until I was convinced enough to eat it. 

The airport had the sounds of heels of flight attendants clacking against the floor; people chattering as they got to where they were supposed to go; the wheels on their luggage bags rolling against the floor; and the announcement regarding flights. 

I couldn't stop smiling. 

"Let's take a selca!" I suddenly suggested, taking out my phone from my backpack. 

Mijoo was in the middle of drinking her apple juice when she heard my suggestion. Instantly, she smiled and tried to fit herself into the camera of my phone with Wonwoo only trying to do the same. 

"One... two... three..." I enumerated as I finally snapped the picture. Pulling my phone back down, I examined the picture more clearly. "I like it! Definitely going to send a lot of e-mails to my dad."

"Oh, they're here!" Mijoo said, standing up from her seat and going out of the restaurant in the rush.

I looked over at Wonwoo, wondering where she was going. He only gave me a shrug in response. 

Shrugging back, I continued enjoying my breakfast—something I haven't done today because I was too excited to eat. My dad insisted he'd bake me something quick in less than five minutes but I told him I could eat at the airport and that I was really in a hurry because Mijoo might be waiting too long. 

Me and my excuses. 

I was nearly done with my breakfast when a presence suddenly took a seat next to me, smiling. It took me moment to register their face and once I did, I ended up choking on the sunny side eggs I was eating. 

Alarmed, he quickly handed me a glass of water that was on the table and patted my back. "Take it slow. Woah, calm down. Did I scare you?"

I gulped down the water in no time and tried to hold a gaze with him before I ended up looking down at my now empty plate. I tried to act casual, "Oh, hey there. What are you doing here?"

He grinned and asked me, "Didn't you hear the news? From Mijoo?"

"What news?" I was starting to stutter and feel uneasy. 

Hansol grinned like a child. "I'm coming with you guys on the trip!"

The seconds ticked by and I was caught staring at Hansol the entire time, with a blank face. My brain was trying to process the information he had just fed my mind, wondering when it will finally click. 

Then, it finally did. And the memory of Mijoo sending the messages announcing that three more people were tagging along this trip was resurfaced in my mind. 

"Wait, I need to talk to Mijoo," I said, excusing myself from the table to find Mijoo. She was outside, still talking to both Myeong and Yejun. "Myeong oppa? Yejun oppa?"

"Oh, hey Sarang," Yejun casually greeted with his cute smile. 

"Hi, Sarang," Myeong greeted, in attempt to act cute but I ended up gagging. 

"Not early in the morning, Myeong oppa. Seriously," I said, rolling my eyes. Turning my attention to Mijoo, I asked her, "Can I talk to you? Alone?"

"Hmm? What about?" Mijoo asked, clueless. 

"Myeong oppa, take Yejun oppa inside," I instructed, nodding my head into the restaurant.

"I don't take orders from a girl who's two years younger than me," Myeong said with a high pitched voice. 

I ended up kicking his shin out of annoyance, but he wouldn't even feel the pain since he always calls me some weakling. "Just go in already. We need to have a girls talk."

Myeong still wasn't moving and if it weren't for Yejun dragging him into the restaurant, throwing the both of us an apologetic smile, I wouldn't be able to talk to Mijoo. 

"I know what this is about," Mijoo said, looking at me. "What? Surprised to see him here on the trip?"

"Yes!" I ended up screaming, but it wasn't like anyone could hear me. The other noises in the airport deafened my scream. "How? Why? When? What?"

"First of all, Hansol had nothing to do. I saw him riding the same bus I take to go back home and talked with him. He said he didn't have anything better to do so I asked if he wanted to come on a trip with us. Surprisingly, he agreed. Then Myeong oppa thought it'd be funny to add me into a group consisting of Seojoon oppa, Yejun oppa and him. We exchanged our holiday plans and Myeong oppa and Yejun oppa were found tagging along on our trip," Mijoo explained without a single pause. 

"Don't Myeong oppa and Yejun oppa have work to do?" I asked, feeling frustrated. 

"Them? Well, from what I heard, there are new part-timers coming on the job so Myeong oppa and Yejun oppa are given a holiday, of the sort. Seojoon oppa would have followed if it weren't for the new part-timers. He has to train them," she replied. Grinning, she asked, "Aren't you happy that Hansol's here?"

"Yes! But—" I ended up slapping my cheek, feeling embarrassed that I just admitted that. "I'm nervous. I don't know what to do."

Mijoo held me by the shoulders and gave me a sweet smile. "Yah, Cheon Sarang! Snap out of it! You've been talking to him fine before, what's the difference now?"

"The difference now is that I like him, okay? And you know how nervous I get around my crush!" I complained, secretly glancing inside the restaurant to search for Hansol. 

Mijoo laughed as she patted my head. "I know that well. But just try to act cool around him. If he notice your change of attitude, he'll eventually suspect something. Do you want to be obvious?"

"I don't know," I confessed, "but sometimes I'm just really obvious. Like, I can't hold myself back."

"Hmm," she hummed, standing up straight. "That's something I want to see with my own eyes."

"Hey, wait! Aren't you suppose to encourage me at this point?" I asked her. I felt shaky as more thoughts of Hansol started flooding into my mind. 

Mijoo couldn't help but shrug. "What? Have I ever seen that before? No. That's why I want to see it."

"Kwon Mijoo!" I frowned. 

"Hey, Sarang?" a voice suddenly called. 

My body reacted by getting frozen like a solid ice block. Slowly turning around, I made eye contact with Hansol. "O-oh, h-hey, Hansol."

I could feel Mijoo grinning secretly behind me, like she was enjoying the very sight of this right now. 

Hansol smiled back. "Aren't you two going to come back inside? We do have twenty minutes until our flight. We can enjoy talking and taking pictures, whichever sounds more fun."

"Oh, I just remember I needed to use the toilet!" I blurted, walking out of the conversation as I marched to the nearest toilet. Standing in front of the rectangular mirror as well as the sink, I breathed in and out as I tried to calm down my racing heart and burning cheeks. I muttered, "What the heck was that, Cheon Sarang?"

Mijoo

Both Mijoo and Hansol eyes stared off at the direction where Sarang had marched away in. Mijoo was enjoying every second of this and was glad she invited Hansol on the trip. She was going to unfold every single action that she has never seen Sarang ever done in front of her crush, or when he was nearby. 

"Emergency?" Hansol asked, trying hard not to laugh. 

Mijoo took notice of that and nodded. "Probably?"

Emergency with her heart, maybe, Mijoo thought in her head. 

"Are you going to come back in?" Hansol asked Mijoo, pausing as he was about to walk back into the restaurant. 

"Maybe later. I'll go check up on Sarang for a moment. We'll come back after she's done," Mijoo replied, her thumb pointing at the toilet. 

"Oh, okay," Hansol answered with a smile before he went back into the restaurant. 

Mijoo walked towards the toilet, only to be interrupted by a familiar face—or a face she never wanted to see again. She stopped in her tracks, staring at his face in the midst of a busy crowd that never stopped moving. 

He had pause to turn his head towards her direction, too. In that short second, it felt like two years ago all over again. But Mijoo reminded herself in her mind what words they had exchanged recently. 

Instead of him treating her like a stranger, he gave her a warm smile and raised his hand up to wave. 

Unsure what else to do, Mijoo only thought it'd be polite to return the wave. But she didn't smile. She was far from smiling at him. Picking up her pace, she hurried to the woman's toilet, where she saw Sarang looking at herself in the mirror with a pale face. 

"Woah, you look like you're about to pass out," Mijoo commented with a laugh. 

Sarang's head snapped towards her voice, her wary eyes easing when she noticed it was just Mijoo. "Mijoo! I'm shaking. Am I crazy?" 

"I thought we already established that you already were?" Mijoo walked nearer to Sarang and squeezed her cheek. "Are you going back to the restaurant with me or not?"

"Hold on, let take a moment." Sarang started breathing in and out to calm herself again. She washed her hands and slapped her face with her wet, dripping hands and stared at her reflection in front of the mirror. 

Mijoo couldn't help but laugh in response. "What are you doing? A water ritual? What's going to come out of the sink? A mermaid?"

Sarang paused before laughing, also thinking it was insane. "Oh, you'll never know. It'll probably be a blue unicorn telling you that it's actually your father."

"Why are you convinced that I come from a land of unicorns?" Mijoo asked as she held the door open for her and Sarang to leave the toilet. 

"Because you're always happy," Sarang simply answered, drying her wet hands with a tissue. 

"You're happy, too," Mijoo pointed out as she spotted the familiar face walking nearby. Luckily, this time, he didn't notice her presence nor turned his head to look at her. She felt a pang of relief hit her. And, from what she saw, he was going to Shanghai for a holiday. 

"I know but..." Sarang paused, noticing the familiar face too. "Hey, it's Hwiyoung."

"Yup." Mijoo only nodded. 

"Aren't you going to... I don't know, tell me to move faster? Tell me to ignore him? Anything?" Sarang slightly stressed out. 

Mijoo smiled softly, like it was no big deal for her anymore. "Sarang, that happened weeks ago. I don't think I should act like I know him now, don't you think? We agreed to be strangers. Telling you all those words you just told me will make it seem like I was avoiding him, when we agreed to be strangers. Strangers don't know each other. They don't quicken their pace when they see each other. They don't try to avoid each other by hiding away. They just let each other go past each other without minding each other's presence, like how it's supposed to play out."

Sarang stared at her for a few more seconds before a proud smile fell on her face. "Wow, Mijoo. You're all grown up. I'm so proud of you!"

Just as Mijoo was about to say something in return, an announcement was made, "Flight B634 will soon take off. Passengers of B634 may proceed for their check-in. I repeat, Flight B634 will soon take off. Passengers of B634 may proceed for their check-in. Thank you."

The two exchanged a pair of widened eyes as they realized that they've lost track of time. 

Sarang

I was just about to rush back into the restaurant to get my backpack when someone held it in front of my face, surprising and startling me for a second there. The bag was pulled down then it finally revealed a face that was smiling widely as they held my bag. 

"You forgot this," Hansol said, extending his hand out as he held her back. 

"Oh..." I extended my hand as well to reach out for my backpack. "...thank you?"

"You're welcome." Hansol fixed his own backpack. "Come on, we've got a plane to catch."

~Author's Notes~

I love airports. I love traveling. But I'm slightly scared of riding a plane. :)

I've finally climbed out of that writer's block for this story. Phew. That's a relief. Also, thank you so much for supporting this story, you lovely Kimichies! We've reached 100+ votes *pops confetti* :)