Melodies

Epilogue

Aelia's POV
*Five years later*
The past five years of my life have been outstanding! Never have I been so happy to be doing what I love for a living. No, I'm not famous to the public, but I am famous to idols. I've played at so many artists' tours for their live bands and as a soloist and they've all become friends with me, both girl groups and boy groups alike. I was with EXO for so long, I got all of their numbers on speed dial. They're almost like them...
More recently, entertainments have been asking me to be the background music for new comebacks or to be featured on a song. It's pretty amazing. When I get free time, which actually isn't often, I just sit around and watch fancams of all my new friends.
Speaking of friends, I'm supposed to meet Mingyu in a few minutes. I've been out of the country for a while so I wanted to visit him while I could. Yes, I still talk to him. Actually, I still talk to a few of them. I'll talk to Joshua, Hansol, Chan, Jeonghan, and Wonwoo whenever or when I FaceTime Mingyu. I haven't forgiven the rest of the boys. I could never bring myself to. They knew about the bet. They should've told me. I would've gotten over it sooner or later. But then I wouldn't have been more than friends with you know who.
Mingyu has to be careful when he talks to me. Knowing the others, they'll be nosy and try to see who he's talking to. So when he talks to me, he has to go on the balcony or go on a walk.
We don't talk too often though because he's busy too. Turns out about a couple of years after I left, they became trainees at Pledis Entertainment (probably Seungkwan's idea if we're being real) and now they're in a successful band. I'm super happy for them, to be honest. They're all talented and it needed to be shown.
This time of year, it's snowing so I'm wearing a bunch of layers. My shoulders shrug as I bring my mitten covered hands up to my scarf to hide my neck from the cold better. It's so cold that you can see my breath when I'm breathing.
I slow down as I come to a familiar street. My feet stop crunching in the snow as I stare at the restaurant in front of me. It was Jihoon's favorite place to take me in Seoul. I have so many memories from this place. I think the owner and workers even knew us.
Jihoon. Lee Jihoon. I haven't heard from him in five whole years. Seems crazy to me. I honestly thought he'd try to contact me or eventually figure out that I've been talking to some of the boys still but... nothing. Nothing at all. I can't say I'm not upset because that'd be false. A part of me wanted him to but my mind kept telling me how stupid that is.
After a year, I gave up on him trying to find a way to call me or text me. I'm sure he figured I didn't want to speak to him ever again, but I did. Even now, five years later, I'm still not over that boy. I've met over a hundred male artists that are honestly beautiful and still I go back to him. I don't understand why. After all that he's done to me, I still love him the way I did five years ago.
Mingyu updates me on how he's doing sometimes. He said when I first left, he was a wreck. He almost got kicked out of college because of how low his grades dropped. I almost felt bad for him until I realized that he could've easily gotten over me. Though, I can't say anything, if I'm being honest. I don't want him to be over me.
"Choi Aelia?"
My attention turns to the person at the door of the restaurant. It's the owner.
"Oh my goodness. Hello." I bow to him, "I didn't expect you to remember me." I smile.
"Of course I remember you. You and Jihoon were our favorite regulars." He chuckles.
"What did I use to order?" I tap my cheek.
"The kimchi fried rice with kimbop." We say at the same time before laughing.
"What have you been up to? You disappeared five years ago. Still playing?"
"Of course. Never stop." I smile.
"How're you and Jihoon?"
My smile fades immediately and he blinks at me in surprise.
"We broke up..." I mumble, biting my lip.
"Oh... I'm sorry. I didn't know. Are you okay?" He frowns.
"Yeah. I'm not friends with a lot of my old group anymore after the break up. But I'm meeting up with Mingyu right now." I check my phone for the time.
It'll be okay to be five minutes late...
"Oh! Aelia! I was wondering where my husband went." The owner's wife laughs as she pops her head out the door.
"Hello." I smile and bow at her.
"Aww! I've missed my favorite customer! You a big star yet?"
"You can say that." I rock back and forth on my feet.
"Did you want to come inside for a while? We can give you your favorite on the house."
"Oh, no. I'm going to meet up with Mingyu right now to have a coffee. Thank you though."
"Oh, your bestie! Tell him our greetings!" She waves to me.
"I will! Bye! It was nice seeing you two! Take care!" I wave before continuing down the street.
I arrive at the coffee shop that Mingyu said to go to about a minute later. Sighing with a small smile, I enter the warm building, taking off my gloves and stuffing them in my pocket before walking up to the counter and ordering myself a coffee. After paying and grabbing it when it's done, I sit at a small table for two. I continuously check the time every five minutes for the next half hour. What the hell is he doing? I text him to see where he's at but no response. If that boy stood me up or forgot, I'm gonna kill him.
My phone rings for FaceTime and I see the caller ID is Jennie, Jennie from BlackPink. I'm close with a lot of '96 liners, but I'm closest with BlackPink as a whole. They're so easy to talk to and they loved me right away. Jennie and I became friends first and had introduced me to the other girls soon after, so now we're all best friends.
I quickly grab my earphones from my bag and plug them in before I click the green button.
"Hello?" I answer.
"Hi, Aelia~" multiple people show up on the screen, waving happily.
"Hi!" I smile, giggling.
"How's your date going?" Jisoo asks.
"Jisoo, it's not a date. He's my best friend." I roll my eyes, "Plus he has a girlfriend already, remember? But he's not here yet. I've been waiting for at least a half hour already. He always does this." I groan.
"Boys are like this. Don't sweat it!" Rosé smiles.
"He knows this is our only day off this week. He also has a comeback soon so he's gonna be extremely busy when that comes around."
"He'll come soon! Call us if you need a ride back here!" Lisa says.
"We'll also kick his butt if he doesn't show up within the next half hour." Jennie points out.
"Don't worry. I think I can handle that part on my own." I laugh.
"Alright, call us later for the details! Don't do anything I wouldn't want you to do!"
"Jennie!"
"Bye~" They wave bye before hanging up.
I shake my head, smiling a bit. They're just like the boys, protective.
Again, I wait for half an hour. I even call him this time and leave voicemails. Finally I stand up, giving up on him coming. I mutter under my breath small threats and that I'll text the other boys to tell him I'll kill him. I'm about to leave when I accidentally bump into someone, making them trip a little.
"S-sorry." I bow a little, not looking up at them.
The person doesn't respond so I continue walking out. All of a sudden, they grab my hand, turn me around, and crash their lips into mine.
I'm about to scream for help when I realize these lips feel familiar, heart clenching familiar. I let their lips linger for a few seconds then come back to reality. To see if it's who I think it is, I pull away and stare at them. My heart pounds and my eyes widen when I see his face.
I've dreamt of this reunion over and over in my head. He's just as angelic as he looked when I met him at my Juilliard audition. His eyes seem to light up as he looks into mine. Somehow, I instantly fall in love with him again.
Neither of us say anything for a while, we're still blocking the door. I'm sure the whole coffee shop is staring at us by now, but I don't care. He found me.
"Jihoon."