A MILLION CAMERA FLASHES, PEOPLE SCREAMING OUT HER NAME was how Amelia Chailai had imagined her entry into Thailand after an year, again. Of course, all she got was her deranged best friend, who'd deluded herself into thinking she's funny, pretending that Amelia was invisible.

"Hmm ... Where could a certain Korean-Thai girl could be?" Apsara Rungrueang muses, looking around for a good measure, everywhere except at the girl to her right. Amelia looks unimpressed, with her arms crossed and tongue poking the inside of her cheek.

"Gee, I wonder where she is." She continues, her lips twitching and threatening to break the act. The girl finally turns to her right, gasping loudly and yelling, "There she is!"

Apsara pulls Amelia into a hug, the girls squealing loudly.

"Millie!"
"Raya!"

Raya breaks the hug, holding Amelia close with her hand on her shoulders. "I missed you so much, my love. You have to tell me everything!" Millie nods, pushing Raya away but then going in for a hug again.

"I will, I will." She says, finally taking a step back and gripping her suitcase. Millie looks around. "Did no one else come?"

Raya's lips purse into a thin line, and Amelia's heart sinks. "It's fine, I guess. I'll meet them at schoo—" A tap on her shoulder interrupted Millie as she turns only to face ...  nothing. Turning back to Raya with a small frown, Amelia continued.

"It's rude though. Do you remember that overdramatic farewell they gave me when I left?" Millie and Raya gaze into a distance, an imaginary bubble forming over their head, replaying the memory from an year ago.

     Tears spilling out of Thyme's eyes, Kavin trying to fit himself into her suitcase and Raya not letting Millie physically move.

Another tap and the memory / flashback dissolves. Millie swivels, now annoyed. Two unmistakable faces greet her with matching grins and their hands spread open.

      They came.

"MJ, Kavin—" The rest of her words turned into muffled murmurs as she was grabbed into a hug by the two, her face hitting Kavin's chest. Their excited talk barely makes it's way to her ears.

They pull back from the hug, still smiling only for their upturned lips to drop the moment they notice her teary eyes.
 MJ glares accusingly at Kavin, while the boy's hands come and desperately swipe at Millie's cheeks, trying to wipe the non-existent flowing tears.

Amelia swats Kavin's hands away with a laugh. "I wasn't being sentimental. I was just crying at the thought of being around you and your stupidity again." Despite her teasing words and Kavin's offended face, Amelia's lip quivered and the tears collected in her eyes again.

      God, did she miss them.

"I hope you didn't miss my stupidity too much." MJ jokes, cupping Amelia's cheeks and pulling on them until she'd become annoyed enough to forget about crying.

         It was so, purely domestic. In a corner of an airport, a group of friends huddled together, laughing, screaming, trying to kill each other.

"Okay, okay!" Raya finally steps in, stopping Millie from punching MJ. "I would appreciate if you boys stop smothering my best friend." Kavin smiles, while MJ decides to play for his life by mocking Raya's words. It was now Millie's turn to stop Raya from punching MJ.

The banter finally calms enough to make room for small talk. With the boys prying for every single detail about Amelia's love life in Korea, to Raya prodding about any celebrities she might've met.

"You guys, stop!" Millie whines. "I'll tell you everything. I know I'm in demand and everything, but calm down. Okay?" She sighs exaggeratedly, flipping her hair and making a show of being above them.

"Anyway!" She stops almost instantly, a eager smile playing on her lips. "Ren didn't come?"

Kavin and MJ share a 'knowing' glance, while Raya introduces her forehead to her palm in an actually loud facepalm. Millie's smile turns into an amused grin.

"See? I told you she'd ask about you first." Kavin hadn't opened his mouth and MJ had a palm slapped over his. The voice was familiar.

      "I knew. I just didn't want to come off as arrogant."
"Just hand me my money."
"You don't need money."

Amelia gasps, hearing two new yet recognizable voices. She turns, catching sight of the self proclaimed king himself. Thyme, dressed in an extravagant leopard print, fur jacket and Ray Bans covering his eyes, an arrogant smirk taking over his face.

    "Did my little angel miss me?" Amelia gags, disgust taking over her previously awed features as she almost throws up at Thyme's words.

The boy, taking offense to that, scowls. "Is little angel being rude?" Amelia gags harder, hunching over and covering her mouth. Tears collect in her eyes. And despite this, her friends laugh instead of helping her out.

"Little 'angle' ..."
"God, shut up already." Amelia shakes her head, a hand slapping itself on Thyme's mouth as she hugs him as best as she could without shuddering, crying and vomiting over herself.

    "Don't be rude! You called me everyday because you missed me, and now you're telling me to shut up?" Thyme argues, holding the hug longer than he should've, angling his head to get away from her hand.

Amelia scoffs. "You were the one who called me!"
      "Same difference." The boy pouts, breaking the hug to look her in the eye and pat her head. Raya makes fun of Thyme's pronunciation, while the two boys in turn make fun of Raya.

Millie watches the scene, finding it both exasperating and adorable. "No hug for me?"

And then everything seems to happen in slow motion.

Thyme, though engaged in capturing banter slowly slides his hand off Millie's waist. Her friends' voices turn incomprehensible when his face comes into view.

"Ren." She breathes out. His head tilts to a side, the curious smile on his face infectious enough for Millie to copy it. He seems too relaxed for a moment where Millie's internal monologue is pure panic. Hands in his pocket, smirk almost lazy as he walks closer to her.

          Ren only stops when he's barely inches away from her. That's when his hands come out of his pocket, reach around her waist. Millie's arms automatically wrap around his neck, her legs lifting off the ground and Ren's arms around her being the only thing holding her up. Her internal monologue goes brain dead.

He's hugging me. He's hugging me. He's hugging me.

She buries her face in his neck, making sure to memorize the smell of his cologne and etch it into her memory. Something inside of her reminds her not to be creepy but— she feels Ren tilt his face and bury it into her neck, sighing and murmuring something that sounded like, "I missed you so much."

      Maybe she was allowed to be delusional for now.

"I thought you didn't come." Millie whispers, neither of them taking the initiative to take a breather from the hug. Around them, teasing whispers from the others have rose up already. "That you were too busy."

          "Too busy to see you?" He chuckles, the rumbling resonating through her. Her heart thumps just a little louder when his breath hits her neck.

"Okay, lovebirds!" Forceful hands pry them apart and Amelia almost cries out when the scent of cologne gets further away, until Ren is standing at a 'reasonable distance' (according to Thyme Paramaanantra, that is) from her.

Millie makes a half-hearted protest about being called 'lovebirds' but Ren doesn't seem to mind. As they walk out the airport, he makes brief comments, fiddling with her headphones and asking if they were new, offering to carry her luggage for her. 

Doing everything except notice the hammering of her heart against her chest and the lush red colouring her cheeks.

"Raya ... psst, Raya!" At a ten past two in the night, Amelia Saksuwat remains fully awake, wide eyed and waking her best friend up. "Wake up, you bitc—"

The only answer she gets is a grumble and turning in her sleep from Raya.

Giving up on that, Millie reaches for her phone, scrolling until she reaches a group chat consisting of the F4 boys, herself and Raya, now barely used. She grins as she sends in spam messages, watching some of them light up in Raya's phone.

      Five consecutive texts later, and still no one to talk to.

Her phone rings, and Amelia picks it up without glancing at the contact name, glad that they were available twenty four seven for her. "If I get one more text, I'm suing you." The call ends, Kavin's name displaying on the dim lit screen. Amelia stares at the screen, scoffing in disbelief.

       It rings again. "If you don't want a red card, don't message me." Thyme, half asleep even on the call. Wait—is he snoring? Millie hangs up the call, rolling her eyes, deciding to never call him her friend again. Bunch of fakes.

Her phone buzzes and lights up once more from an incoming call. Half expecting another threat, the second she picked up the phone, Millie groans, "Yeah, I won't message again. Have a good night."

           "Can't sleep?" Her heart catches in her throat. Slowly bringing the phone screen from her ear, Millie makes out Ren's name.

She gulps, standing up and making her way to her balcony before finally replying. "No. You couldn't either?" There's a short laugh from his end and Millie can almost imagine him.

Probably dressed in his usual pastel or beige palette clothing, that addictive grin lighting up his face as he sits somewhere, his sketchbook accompanying him. One hand holding his cell to his ear, the other one doodling lazily on the paper, the conversation so light, so easy and so familiar for him that it's second nature.

"I was. Until ..." Millie screwed her eyes closed, mouthing curses aimed at herself for disturbing Ren's sleep. Her lips part and the apology almost leaves her when, "Nevermind. Why can't you sleep?"

Instead of answering, Millie presses the video button, letting the voice call allow them to see each other's faces. There's a small noise of surprise from him and the camera shakes until it rests on Ren's dim lit silhouette.

      She was right for the most part. A white tee and a brown jacket from what she could make out, and tousled hair.

"You know, they say if you can't sleep it's because you're thinking of someone who's also thinking of you."

Millie breaks out into a laugh. "Literally, no one. No one says that." The pure bullshit-ery of his words were enough to make her giggle. Her laughter triggered him and the two spent a good few minutes just giggling together.

The laughter simmered down quickly, leaving them both staring at each other in silence. "It'd be nice if they did say that, though." Ren whispers, something so different about the way he says it, that it sends shivers up her spine.

      Or maybe it was just because it was Ren.

"I mean, isn't it weird?" Ren continued and Millie notices how Ren would look at her on the screen, and occasionally away. "Both of us, not being able to sleep at the same time?"

Millie hums, partly in agreement, partly just liking listening to his voice. I missed talking to you. The words hung on her lips.

"What are you doing?" Is what leaves her instead. Ren looks down and brings up his sketchbook to the screen. A poorly lit, and barely able to make out sketch—of her—in black ink covered the paper. She suppresses a smile, thankful that the nightfall made it harder for the blush on her cheeks to be seen.

"Oh, right. You didn't answer," Ren spoke up, still working on his drawing. "Why can't you sleep? The time difference isn't that much, is it?"

Millie shakes her head with another soft hum. "Like you said. I was just thinking ... about someone."

     Ren looks up, an eyebrow raised. Millie grins, copying his expression.

     "What? Jealous?"

Ren shakes his head, an all familiar smile taking his features. He sits up, the sound of rustling muffling everything he had started to say. "What if I am?" Millie shakes her head at him, scoffing at the idea of him even suggesting that.

"You definitely need sleep, Ren." Millie teases, herself unsure how her tongue wasn't bunching up. The boy just smiles in response and after a few minutes of silence, lifts his head and along with it, his sketchbook.

      It still wasn't that visible, but she could make out herself and a starry night behind her. Millie parts her lips, in awe of his skills and in awe of the boy, himself.

She remains awe struck, oblivious to Ren screenshotting the call and then telling her something. There's a beep, and the call shows it's ended. Abrupt enough to finally bring the girl out her daze.

"Night, Ren." She whispers, going back to the bedroom. Instead of going back to sleep, she takes a detour, picking up her acoustic and heading to a room downstairs.

          A note is strummed. Then another. Notes transcend the night and by the morning, they've turned into a song filled with memories and a reminder to Millie of just how crazy she was over that stupid boy.

you'll take my heart
it's over.

but i'm still the boy you loved.

REN   x   MILLIE
the artist and their muse

made myself giggle and kick my feet w the airport scene goODBYE—
the way im so delusional
no this is definitely not a self insert
nope. y/n who?? idk her

but yeah :) i hope :) you like :)
vote comment and look out for more <3 !