A/N: We will get SoEul part II in the next chapter. I was going to put this mini chapter at the beginning of the next chapter, but the next chapter is already pretty long, so...that's all I will say about that.

I have Moonlight Sonata94 to thank for inspiring the formatting of the first part of this chapter. If you haven't read her lovely YJ/GE fanfic "Letters," please do so. You will not be disappointed ;)

Kakao message from Woo Bin Song

Recipient: Madeleine Yi

Message: Hey, hope you had a good flight and landed in France okay. Have a good visit over there with your family. Give me a call when you get settled in, yeah?

Conversations with Woo Bin Song:

Woo Bin Song: Hey, hope you had a good flight and landed in France okay. Have a good visit over there with your family. Give me a call when you get settled in, yeah?

Woo Bin Song: Madeleine, how is everything? Are your mom and brother okay?

Woo Bin Song: Ate jap chae today. Thought about the time you and I went to that noodle place. Give me a call when you get a chance.

Woo Bin Song: Seriously, Madeleine, did you get a new phone? You don't seem to be getting any of my messages. It's been a week already.

Woo Bin Song: Just called again. Your voicemail inbox is full. I guess with all the messages from me you haven't listened to yet. Just…give me a call when you get a chance.

Woo Bin Song: Listen, I don't get what's going on here. I had to reach out to my contacts in Paris just to find out you've been home for two weeks doing nothing but shopping. And you do have the same phone. That call you got from Versace about a dress pre-order…that was from one of my men.

Woo Bin Song: All right, all right. So we weren't actually together. But tell me this. Do you ignore all of your so-called friends this way?

Woo Bin Song: Damn it, Madeleine. Answer your phone.

Woo Bin Song: Or at least text me so I know you're okay.

Woo Bin Song: Or text me to say you hate me.

Woo Bin Song: Just say something.

Woo Bin Song: Jun Pyo and Jan Di got engaged today, and Yi Jeong came back early and surprised us all. I don't know why I'm telling you this, but if you were here…if you actually cared at all…I would take you to dinner with all of us on Sunday night. We're going back to our old hangout, and I could introduce you to everyone.

Delete all messages from Woo Bin Song?

Madeleine stared wide-eyed at her bony reflection in the airport's bathroom mirror. The skin around her eyes had taken on the coloring of gray ash. She never could sleep on planes. Abella would tell her she looked like a ghost.

'So pale, so thin. Get some sun. Eat your breakfast. Eat. Eat,' Madeleine could hear the old maid saying, cluck-clucking her tongue at her twelve-year-old ward.

After Madeleine's brother was born, her mother hadn't wanted a second child, and Madeleine always believed she especially hadn't wanted a girl. Rumor had it she'd kept the pregnancy a secret for as long as she could, even from Madeleine's father, who was often gone away on business. When Madeleine was finally born, she'd left the hospital as soon as possible, leaving Madeleine in the care of one of her personal maids, a sixty-something-year-old woman named Abella who raised Madeleine until she'd retired when Madeleine was twelve years old.

When Madeleine was five, she'd wanted a French name like the girls she had playdates with, so Abella had named her Madeleine after Abella's own grandmother. The name stuck with her, and when she turned eighteen, she'd had it legally changed.

Madeleine turned on the water and rinsed her face off one last time before applying her makeup. She hadn't told anyone but her father the date of her arrival back in Seoul, but probably someone would have gotten wind of her return and was waiting expectantly at the arrivals gate for a shot of the foreign heiress.

Maybe Woo Bin would be there, too, wondering why she hadn't returned any of his calls since she'd been gone. She knew he'd been keeping tabs on her. Ordinarily, this would have annoyed her, but she knew Woo Bin meant it as a protective gesture. He wanted to make sure she was okay, to watch over what he thought of as his.

Only she wasn't his. He still didn't get it. She would never be his.

Shit. She'd smeared her eyeliner.

'Tut-tut. Too much makeup, mon petit chou. How is anyone supposed to see your beautiful face?' Abella would say.

Madeleine swabbed the mess with a Q-tip.

'When I was your age, we played with dolls, not eyeshadow palettes. My own mother only wore lipstick and powder.'

Madeleine blotted her new chateau wine lipstick with a tissue. She stuffed everything back in her purse and carry-on, slid her oversized black sunglasses on, and made her way to the gate.

When she emerged from the security checkpoint, she saw her driver waiting for her, luggage already in tow. Unfortunately, she also saw someone else waiting for her—the one person she'd been trying to avoid.