''  ³ ˡᶦᵗᵗˡᵉ ᵇᵒᵃᵗˢ ˢᵃᶦˡᶦⁿᵍ ᵈᵒʷⁿ ᵗʰᵉ ʳᶦᵛᵉʳ ᵒᶠ ᵗᶦᵐᵉ, ʰᵒᵖᶦⁿᵍ ᵗʰᵉʸ'ˡˡ ˢᵗᵃʸ ᵗᵒᵍᵉᵗʰᵉʳ ''

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Incheon Airport was as crowded as always, with hundreds of people bustling about inside. Some were hurrying towards security while fearing that they would be late for their planes, some were enjoying their time in cafes before their flights, and some leisurely strolled towards the exit after having reunited with their families and friends.

Amidst the crowd of dully-dressed individuals stood an elegant lady donned in red, her outfit being the latest release of a high-end designer and the only authentic version of it created yet. A pair of designer sunglasses sat on the bridge of her nose, white lace gloves covered her dainty fingers, and her lips were coloured with a red tint that matched her dress. 

This lady attracted many stares. Some were envious, scanning her from head to toe while trying to find some fault in her perfect image so that they could feel better about their inferior selves. Some were curious, wondering who the lady could possibly be and who she was waiting for. Some were simply in awe.

All of those various stares were equally ignored. The lady didn't care about the passers-by, nor what they thought of her. From behind the dark lenses of her glasses, her eyes eagerly scanned every passenger that walked out as she searched for the one that she had come here for. She rocked on her heels as she waited, too giddy from the thought that she would see him soon to keep still.

It took some time, but eventually he appeared. She easily recognised him even despite the distance between them since no one else could compare to him in her heart. 

Tall, strikingly handsome, all suited up with half of his hair gelled back and the other half neatly falling over his brow—the young man was truly a sight for sore eyes. His powerful aura and confident strides made the crowd around him part in order to let him through, and everyone turned to watch him as he made his way over to the elegant lady excitedly waving at him from where she stood.

"Tae-moo-yah, welcome back!" the lady greeted him happily as he came to a stop in front of her. She took off her sunglasses and beamed up at him despite his attention being directed elsewhere, eyes sparkling as they drank in the sight of him. "How was the trip? The flight back? Are you tired? Jet-lagged? Need me to help with your luggage? And why didn't you respond to me? I sent you like a million texts but you—"

"This is ridiculous," Tae-moo cut her off, narrowed gaze still directed out into the airport instead of at the woman in front of him, completely missing how her smile faltered at his irritated tone. His eyebrows knitted together, eyes blazing as he focused on something in the distance. "Can you believe this ad? You can't even tell what product it's trying to promote! And this nobody who's taking up the entire screen—who the heck even is he? He's just a face without a name—how is he going to help promote the product if no one can recognise who he is and has no interest in him or what he's holding? Seriously, what a disgrace..."

Letting out a sigh of relief, the lady recovered her bright smile as his rambling confirmed that she wasn't the subject of his displeasure. Not this time at least. 

No, this time it was an advertisement for one of the products of Taemoo's family's company, GO Food, which was hanging up high on the wall across from them. It was typical of the Kang male to have noticed it straight away, and his usual harsh criticism didn't come as a surprise either. The man was a perfectionist, after all, and anything that he deemed below his level of satisfaction would surely be criticised, destroyed, and then wiped from memory a few moments after he voiced his verdict.

"You're right, as always," another familiar voice sounded from behind him, attracting the young woman's attention. It belonged to an equally handsome man with side-parted brown hair and clear-rimmed glasses sitting on the bridge of his nose. He came to a stop at Tae-moo's side and also scrutinised the advertisement on the wall across from them. "I don't remember ever seeing this guy before...why did they hire him for the ad, I wonder?"

"What's the point of wondering?" Taemoo asked, turning to the man beside him with a scowl. "Tell them to take it down and send the person in charge of this monstrosity into my office later."

"Yes, sir."

Only then did the two males turn their attention away from the ad, the brunet being the first to acknowledge the woman silently standing before them. She had been admiring Tae-moo while they conversed, but easily moved her attention to the man at his side once he started speaking to her.

"Oh, President Kim," the bespectacled male uttered with a light incline of his head, "It's good to see you."

"Yah," the lady made an offended face while reaching out to slap his forearm, "We aren't in a meeting right now so why are you being so formal with me?" She pouted and added, "You always do this—I've told you so many times to drop the formalities and yet you keep doing it! Aren't I your friend, Sunghoon-ah? Why do you hate me?" she whined, pouting more.

Not being able to help himself any longer, Sunghoon broke out into a smile at her cuteness and reached out to pull the woman into a side-hug. "I'm only teasing you, Saeryeon-ah," he chuckled. "How have you been?"

"I missed you," Saeryeon responded with another pout, reciprocating his hug before diving towards the other male standing with them. "And you too, Taemoo-yah—"

Taemoo swiftly dodged her, the corner of his lips quirking upwards as she crashed into the banister behind him instead with an annoyed huff. He pulled his poker-face back on and tilted his head to the side as she turned to face him again.

"What are you doing here?" he asked her, raising an eyebrow. "It's working hours—you should be in your office signing documents and talking to investors instead of wasting time here."

"Are you kidding me?" Saeryeon rolled her eyes. "You are much more important than any investor or some stupid document. Of course I'd come here to greet you instead of going to work—just how lightly do you take my feelings for you?"

A 'tch' escaped the black-haired male and all that was left of his previous amusement vanished from his eyes, a cold look replacing it. "Seriously?" he scowled at her, "We haven't even left the airport yet and you're already starting with that nonsense again?"

"It's not nonsense—"

"What's in my schedule for today?" Taemoo cut her off, turning to address Sunghoon instead.

The brunet's gaze flickered between the two people in front of him before settling on the Kang male with a pointed look. "You know, you really should be more considerate towards her—"

"My schedule, Mr Cha."

Though he sighed at his friend's stubborn attitude and sent an apologetic look at the downcast female standing with them, Sunghoon searched through his phone calendar nonetheless. "Your inauguration will begin soon—we have just about enough time to get from here to the company."

Taemoo clicked his tongue again. "Cancel that."

A gasp left Saeryeon's lips. "What do you mean, 'cancel that'?!" she asked incredulously, tilting her head so that she would be in his field of vision again. "Everyone has been working so hard to prepare this for you and formally greet you tonight, how can you just—?"

"It's just a stupid fancy event organised by that restless old man to help him cure his boredom," Taemoo rolled his eyes. "It's not that important."

Another gasp. "That is your grandfather you are talking about—"

"I'm well aware. As I said," Taemoo turned back to Sunghoon, "Cancel the inauguration. Actually, you know what? Go there yourself and tell them that I'm thankful for the—" he paused, raising a brow before asking, "Are you going to write this down, or...?"

Sunghoon fumbled in his pockets for his notepad and pen, hurrying to write down what the Kang male dictated to him.

"Right," Taemoo started again once his friend and chief secretary was ready, "Tell them something like this—thank you to everyone who arranged today's ceremony, even though I clearly told you that it's a waste of time and that I didn't want one. I hope that moving forward, we will only meet for business matters and not for such impractical and stupidly ceremonious events. I'll properly introduce myself sometime soon—I will do so in my own way, and at a time that best fits me and my schedule. Thank you, from President Kang Taemoo. Right, that's it—did you get it down?"

While hurrying to scribble down the last few sentences, Sunghoon replied, "Of course, sir."

Saeryeon shook her head lightly with a sigh while Sunghoon put his notebook away. "Haraboji will be really disappointed in you for this," she tutted, crossing her arms over her chest while her gaze flickered between the two males.

"When is he not disappointed in me? He's always complaining about one thing or another—best give him something to do and add this event on to his never-ending list of things to scold me for," Taemoo muttered in response.

"Well," a sly smile spread on Saeryeon's face as she sent him a wink, "When he beats your ass later for this stupid stunt that you've just planned, you know where to find me. I'll kiss it all better for you and lend you my shoulder to cry on!"

Taemoo made a face while the Kim lady patted her shoulder confidently, as if inviting him to lean on it now. He then grabbed onto his suitcase handle and swiftly stormed off past her towards the airport exit, having had enough of the show. Sunghoon chuckled at his behaviour while following after him, and Saeryeon uttered a cry of 'hey! Wait for me!' before hurrying after the two of them with a happy smile on her face.

Though it had been a while since they had last seen one another, everything was still the same as it had been before—their smooth and heartfelt reunion had proven it. Saeryeon was still openly head-over-heels for Taemoo, Taemoo was still adamant on swerving all of her advances while focusing all of his attention on his job, and Sunghoon had no choice but to put up with the both of them since there was no one else that could deal with that dramatic and childish duo other than him. It had always been that way, and it seemed as though it would always be that way until the end of time. 

But time was an unpredictable river whose course lay concealed behind many twists and turns. Could the 3 little boats that were Saeryeon, Taemoo and Sunghoon stick together while travelling down it? It's inevitable that at some point, they would come to a fork in their path. When they do, would they all be carried down the same stream? Or would they end up being forced to flow down different ones? 

Not even time itself knew the answers to any of those questions.

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bit of a short first chapter but oh well, I didn't want to ruin the vibe of the ending line by writing more scenes after it. I hope you beans enjoyed!! more of the trios dynamic will be explored later and their backstory will be spoken about too eventually, but we'll get to that later :))

thank you for reading!! please like and comment if you can, my beans - your support means a lot to me and I love having interactions in the comments sections with you :))❤ you're all beautiful and precious beans, so stay safe and take care of yourselves!! I'll see you in the next chapter :))❤