MIDNIGHT | ( o. shotaro ) ✓

eight

"Do you guys have any plans for the winter break?Hmph! I have no plans." Seunghan asks as he falls flat on Shotaro's couch. Him and Sohee currently over at Shotaro's apartment after they were done with their classes.
"No, I don't have. I kinda want to travel somewhere but I have no clue where too. Plus I think my family are just staying home this break because our relatives are going to come over." Sohee replies before letting out a sigh.
"Ahh ttori samee. We should go somewhere together so we don't have to spend the break with our relatives hehe." Seunghan suggested whilst grinning like a cat. All Sohee could do was roll his eyes at him.

The two of them then looked over at Shotaro.
"How about you hyung? You've got any plans?" Sohee asks.
"Yes actually, I'd be going back to Japan. On a trip with my two friends." Shotaro replies as his two younger friends lets out a jealous whine.
"That sounds so funn." Seunghan cooed.
"Actually, Yangyang did say that if we wanted too, we could bring more friends on the trip since he was going to be the one that's paying for the tickets and he wants people to attend his fashion show. If the two of you have no other plans for the winter break, do you want to come along on this trip with me?" Shotaro asks them.

Seunghan and Sohee looking at each other then at Shotaro as their eyes shimmered.
"YES!!" They exclaimed excitedly in unison.
"Omg ttori, just like when we were back in high school. A trip to Japan." Seunghan says as his grin only widens. Whenever he reminisces on the past of his study tour trip to Japan he just couldn't help but to smile. It was probably one of the best days of his life (if you minus the part where he got sick from the rain lmfao).

"We could watch the hanabi festival during new years!!" Sohee says in exhilaration as him and Seunghan did their little victory dance.
Shotaro couldn't help but to smile as he watches them. You couldn't separate these two best friends, ever.

"That's great then. I'll tell Yangyang about it. Are any of the other guys also free this winter break? Who knows maybe they'd want to tag along as well." Shotaro asks as he took his phone out to send a message to Yangyang.
"Hmm, if I'm not mistaken, I think only Sungchan hyung is free. The other three, I heard them say that they're all going to be out of town." Sohee replies.
"You should try asking for permission from Sungchan hyung's mother first." Seunghan suggested.
"Oh yeah, maybe I should. Maybe he might have plans with his family for the break." Says Shotaro as he then contacted Sungchan's mother.

Not long after Shotaro had sent a message to Sungchan's mother, she had immediately replied.
"Well, his mom said that they were going to have plans with family." Shotaro read out the message.
"Looks like it's just the three of us then!" Seunghan stated as he clasps his hands together.

‧₊˚ ୨୧ ˚₊‧

"Jia you stupid fuck, why did you not tell me that Shotaro would also be in this trip? You liar of a friend." Sena whisper exclaims at her friend.

She was at the airport right now. Sitting down in the lounge as they waited for their terminal to open. Sena was not expecting to see Shotaro and like three of his friends as well. She thought that it was only a girls trip between her and Jia, plus her stupid husband whose existence that she was going to ignore during the whole trip so it wouldn't feel like she was third wheeling.

"I didn't know that he was going to invite his friends?!" Jia replied. She was lying, she knew full well that Yangyang was going to invite his friends, and one of them being Shotaro. So the two of them planned to invite both Shotaro and Sena over so they were forced to bond later in these next two weeks.

A tired sigh leaves Sena's lips.

"Why do I feel like you're lying to me." She said as Jia could just smile at her innocently.
"Good thing that Jieun is also in Japan. She's there with someone and I'm going to meet them when I land there." Sena says as her friend looks at her peculiarly.
"Who are you meeting and what for?" Jia questions.

"I have business to do there. The author Lilith emailed me and asked if I'd like to work with her and illustrate some of the pages for her new book." She tells her as the mention of 'Lilith' made a gasp leave Jia's lips.

"Lilith?!? You meant THE Lilith. My favourite author!" Jia exclaims as her loud voice was able to make the guys look over towards their direction.

Sena and Jia glared at them before they started whispering, making sure that the guys weren't listening in on their conversation. Especially Renjun. He was already suspicious of the identity of the current best selling author.

"Can I come along, can I come along pleaseee." Jia pleaded.
Sena pretended to think about it for a few minutes as it made Jia frown.
"Fine. But don't be weird or else you'll scare her off." She said in final as it made the Chinese girl grin.
"I won't. I'm really curious of how she looks like. I wonder if she regained all her memories? I wonder if she still looks the same as the last time we saw her in campus four years ago? Ohhh I have so much questions to ask." Jia says.

Sena was quiet for a bit before she glanced over at Renjun.

"What I want to know is if she remembers him. I just hope that when I meet up with her, we don't bump into Renjun. That'd be a bad situation for him. Jieun did say that she needed another year with Lilith before she was sure to make her and Renjun meet again." Sena sighs as she stares out the window.
"Yeah... you're right." Her friend agrees with her. Why did the atmosphere become so mellow all of a sudden.

Jia decided to get rid of the tension as she tried to change the conversation.

"Oh, how did you get that request from Lilith? I'm still so shocked that she knows about your existence." She asks.
"She emailed me and said that she had read my webtoon and really enjoyed it. Said that she loves my art style and asked if I was willing to work with her. I did give her a requirement though."
Jia looks at her in curiosity.
"And that is?"
Sena scratches the back of her head in embarrassment.
"I asked if she was willing to help me come up with a storyline for a new webtoon because I fucking suck at writing. Hey I might as well ask her for help since she was a previous literature student. And she said yes."
"Oh my goshh, if you're working with her for a new webtoon then your new one is going to blow up for sure. I can't wait for it. Awh my friend is going to be so famous, don't forget about me once you become popular." Jia teases as Sena rolls her eyes playfully at her.

✩*ೃ.⋆

"Why are they whispering after Jian mentioned Lilith." Seunghan asks the older guys.
"They usually do that. After they mention Lilith, they go quiet. I honestly don't know why. I tried asking Jia about it but she won't tell me anything. The girls are so secretive about it." Yangyang replied. Even he didn't know the reason.

"One question I want to know is when did you dye your hair back to black? Did you and Sena like promised to have the same hair colour for this trip or what? I'm honestly so surprised how you're not bald yet." Renjun asks.
"I didn't even know that she was going to have the same hair colour as me bro? I had to dye it back to my natural hair colour for the fashion show. Which freak would go up on stage with bright orange hair, I'll embarrass myself as a designer." Yangyang responded.
"I was honestly quite surprised when I saw that Sena's hair was back to black. I haven't seen her with her natural hair since high school." Shotaro says all of a sudden. His eyes stuck to Sena as he watches her explain something to Jia with her brows furrowed.

"When you look at her does it feel like you're reliving the past? Are you falling in love with her again?" Sohee says.
"Ooohhh someone's falling in loveee~" Seunghan joins in on the teasing as Shotaro sends them a nasty glare.
"Operation make Taro fall back in love with Sena-chan in Japan has started. Can't wait to see how this shoujo manga is going to end." Yangyang chimes as Shotaro pulls on his face tiredly.
"I'm tired of all of you." He groans before closing his eyes.

...
if you read the last chapter of Anton's book, this is actually when their winter break had started. Who knows maybe here you'll see a cameo of Anton and Evie 😁🫡🫡