~~One Month Prior…~~

The low hum of the commercial aircraft eased the 28-year-old businessman’s mind as he tuned out the slight chatter around him. His stoic gaze shifted towards the celebrity magazine in his hands. Staring at the smiling face of the famous Korean singer, ASH, he sighed, his heart feeling heavy at the thought of his old friend. Just what the hell was going on with this kid? How could he not contact him once in the past eight years?

“Sir? Are you even listening to what I’m saying?”

“I’m listening.”

“No, you’re not. I know you’re excited to return to Korea, but we are in the middle of a meeting.”

Min shifted his obsidian eyes towards his secretary and best friend, who stared back at him with a forced grin. Reluctantly, the businessman placed the magazine on the seat next to him and straightened up from his slouch. With a smug, satisfied expression plastered on his face, Joon-woo (Min’s secretary) shoved the pile of documents toward his boss.

“Like I was saying, the chairman has requested that you look through these documents before arriving at the company on Monday.”

“Of course he did.” Min muttered under his breath, shoving the documents aside, “Have you been able to contact Yi-an’s company?”

“Um… Well, I can’t get a hold of anyone who knows his schedule. They just said they’ll contact me back, but nothing so far….”

“...Again? Did you tell them who was looking for him?”

“I did– multiple times, in fact! Min, they haven’t responded, or let you talk to him for the last eight years. Do you really think they’ll respond now?

“As soon as we land, contact them again.”

“What?! Min, you need to give up–”

“Contact them again. Tell them that Jake Yoon of S&H Group wants to have a word with their CEO regarding a modeling contract with ASH. I expect you can do that much, can’t you, Secretary Lim?”

Flinching at Min’s frosty glare, Joon-woo reluctantly nodded. Man, this guy was always so serious when it came to Yi-an Lee. Why was he so adamant about reconnecting with that jerk? The guy obviously didn’t care about keeping in touch with his non-celebrity friends. Min was such an idiot!

“Why are you so pressed to meet him anyway? He basically threw you to the side–”

“Don’t.”

“Huh?”

“Don’t say that when you never even met him.”

Joon-woo rolled his eyes at Min’s response. God, was he in love with the guy or something? He was acting like a starstruck lover!

“Do I really need to meet him? You’ve reached out to him multiple times throughout the years, and he never once contacted you back. Am I wrong?”

“... What’s your point?”

“It’s been eight years, Min. He’s probably moved on at this point! Besides, do you really have the time to reach out to an old friend back when you were a trainee? You’re the heir to S&H Group now, not a hopeful K-pop idol.”

“...”

Peeking a glance at Min, Joon-woo clamped his mouth shut and quickly excused himself before running back to his seat. Dammit! This stupid mouth of mine…! I shouldn’t have said anything! He’s going to kill me later, isn’t he?! Ughhh! Joon-woo silently cried to himself as he hid underneath his blanket. Oh, why did he have to bring up the K-pop idol part?!

His head pounding like waves of a tsunami, Min closed his eyes as he leaned back in his seat. He had always longed to be on stage, dancing and singing to his heart’s content. The only person who had encouraged him and supported his dreams was Yi-an. So how could he not long to reconnect with him?

A sudden, distant memory of his past flooded his mind– trapping him in its sweet clutches once more…

“Hyung!”

Min turned behind him, his rosy face lighting up in an instant as soon as he spotted the bubbly trainee running up to him like a penguin with all the layers he was wearing. Waving his hand excitedly, Min laughed as Yi-an head-butted him in the stomach. 

Grinning from ear to ear, his dark brown eyes sparkled as Yi-an pulled out a brown paper bag from his backpack. 

“Ta-da! I bought some bungeo-ppang* to celebrate! Ooh, It’s still warm, thank God. I know you like the custard kind, so I bought them as soon I saw the lady selling them near the subway! Smells good, huh?”

“You shouldn’t have; it’s cold out! Did you buy any of the red bean ones for yourself?”

“Huh? Oh… I forgot to buy mine, haha. It’s okay, though; we can share if you’re fine with that.”

Bursting into a light chuckle, Min slung his arm around Yi-an’s shoulders and grinned at the confused teen, “Come on, I’ll buy you the red bean ones. Never hurts to have more, right?”

“Haha, true! Let’s go for more bungeo-ppang~!”

The two teenagers chuckled as they ran through the blinding snow, not caring whether or not they were going to slip and fall or get wet from the puddles of slush around them. They were just happy to be spending time with their favorite person, and that was all that mattered…

Min slowly opened his eyes, a slight smirk on his lips from the fond memory. Maybe it was because he was getting old and longed for the days when he could be so free. But with each passing day, Min missed having that carefree interaction. They had been so happy without a care in the world... So, where did it all go wrong? If only he could return to his days with Yi-an, he would gladly leave everything behind him.

“Ha… I must be out of my mind....”