Sang Hyun didn't speak again until they were both settled comfortably in their seats on the plane. Waiting until they were out of the flight attendant's earshot, he turned to Joon Gi and crossed his arms. "Taking a risk? Isn't it risky enough that you're canceling your attendance in LA to go home?"

Joon Gi clapped Sang Hyun's shoulder affectionately, feeling better after his sly public declaration of love. "It's okay, hyung. I know what I'm doing."

"But do you really?"

Joon Gi furrowed his brows. "I thought you said you would stand behind me," he reminded, traces of skepticism edging its way into his expression.

Sang Hyun grimaced. "I did, but I wasn't expecting you to throw caution to the wind like that."

"I'm not, really." Joon Gi pulled off his sunglasses and side glanced his manager. "There are other interpretations to the shadow bird, you know. Taking flight or getting ready to fly back home are just two of them."

"But not the real interpretation," Sang Hyun pointed out.

"No, but I'm the only person who can confirm what I really meant." He grinned, then winked. "You and I both know I won't say a word."

It took Sang Hyun a long heartbeat to react, but Joon Gi knew everything would be okay the moment his hyung burst out laughing. "Arasso, Joon Gi-yah. Arasso."

In his mind, Joon Gi recalled the way Jieun had smiled and laughed when they had been filming, mesmerized by the way he could form so many different shadow animals with his fingers. She had been eager to learn and had cutely tried to show him her own animals.

When he had used his shadow bird to protectively embrace hers, it had been his silent declaration that he would shelter and shield her no matter what. At the time, he thought his heart would pound its way out of his chest with how she looked, glowing and ethereal against the overcast of low lights. There was love and adoration in her eyes and the melodic ring of her laugh echoed as she acknowledged his secret message.

He remembered the way he had lost his breath, utterly consumed by his feelings for her. Joon Gi had wanted to bottle up her laughter, so he could hear it whenever he wanted and know he had been the cause of her happiness.

But now, he could hear it firsthand, a different laughter for different occasions at all hours of the day and night. Sometimes, he thought he was dreaming. Other times, he was still in disbelief. Of all the men in the world, of all the men that she knew, she had chosen him. Him.

But just as continuously as he would tell her she was utterly beautiful in every single way, she would tell him that her heart belonged to him and only him. Without words, they knew each other's most inner fear and effortlessly silenced it.

Sang Hyun took note of the softened look upon Joon Gi's face and slowly relaxed, turning his confrontational stance away. "You've changed," he commented quietly after a few minutes of comfortable silence. "Do you know that?"

"Have I?"

"Through the years, I've never seen you go through such heights for any of your previous girlfriends."

"I guess that's why they are ex-girlfriends now," Joon Gi joked, prompting Sang Hyun's laughter again.

Taking off his backwards baseball cap, Joon Gi ran his fingers through his hair and sank into his seat, turning serious. "Jieunie… She's different, hyung." His voice was wistful and tender, missing her more and more by the minute. "She makes me want to be better. To do more. But, at the same time, she makes me feel like I am… enough."

He laughed awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck. "That sounded so corny, right?"

Sang Hyun shook his head in disagreement. "Not when I can see proof of it."

Joon Gi closed his eyes, his heart anticipating the moment he could see Jieun again. "She just makes me feel… complete. I've never experienced that feeling before."

Both fell quiet as the plane finally took off, each lost in their own thoughts after their eventful morning.

Sang Hyun thought of fate. Of how everything happened for a reason to lead someone down a specific path. Of how life can change in the blink of an eye or how you could wake up one day and see someone differently. He thought of Joon Gi's past, where heartbreak, betrayal, and loneliness were all he had known even while he had climbed the ladder to stardom, and he thought of Joon Gi's present, where loneliness was nothing but a distant memory. Where love and happiness came hand in hand to wrap around him like a warm blanket.

He smiled, happy that Joon Gi was no longer suffering in silence and could see the evidence of that in his every move.

Joon Gi, on the other hand, thought of Jieun. He thought of his initial disregard towards her simply from the fact that she was labeled an idol. He thought of the moment he noticed her thinking habit of crouching down and drawing circles in the dirt. Then, after calling her name a handful of times with no response, his realization that she completely withdraws into herself, blocking out everything else, when she did that.

He recalled the moments she was hard on herself, harder than anyone else he had ever met, and the way she struggled to do even better when her take was already perfect. He remembered the first time he became too curious and searched for her on YouTube and the inevitable way he fell for her clear, emotional voice.

There was the startling moment he came face to face with the depth of the cruelty, scrutiny, criticism, and hatred that she dealt with on a daily basis. And the way his heart slowly began breaking every time she cried, even when it was part of the script.

He thought of her intelligence, her warm heart, her radiant smile. He thought of the first time he saw her with cropped hair and the way she answered his questioning gaze with one simple word that jump started his heart. "Freedom." And the way time seemed to slow as he processed the knowledge that Jieun had finally let go and truly moved on.

The beautiful night of the SBS Drama Awards Festival. The late night phone conversations. The secret dates. The subtle Instagram posts. The Taiwan concert and fan meet. Cooking her dinner. Hearing her sing for him. Kissing her. Hugging her.

Joon Gi thought of everything, each memory and each detail clear as day. And by the time he pulled himself out of his reminiscence, he realized with a jolt that they had landed.

He was finally home.

Author's Note: I thought I uploaded this here already, but apparently not... Sorry~ ^^;