~three years later
"Ahri!" Miga yelled and jumped into the girls arms.
"Come on little one, your brothers are waiting in the car."
Just like everyday, Ahri had picked up the now three-year old Miga from daycare after getting her brothers from school.
"How was the exam?" Little Miga asked, struggling to find the correct words.
"Fine I think, I'll get the results soon" She replied while buckling the youngest up.
Ahri was in Med School, running on a scholarship.
Three years after the incident and Ahri was finally able to drive a car without getting a panic attack.
The now 22 year old had tried her best to provide for her siblings but times were hard.
They had to move out of their old house into a one-bedroom flat in a rather shitty part of town.
Only the Chois, the family's friends, helped them over the years.
They even stayed with them for the first few months but soon moved out.
Ahri hates relying on people's help but when she isn't able to pay the rent Mrs. Choi, her best friend's mother, helps her out.
Ahri couldn't thank them enough and had no idea how to ever repay them.
Meanwhile they had reached their building complex and got out of the car.
It was a Friday evening and Ahri didn't have much time before she needed to leave again.
On Fridays and Saturdays she worked the evenings at a famous club while within the week she worked at the local library.
It was just enough to get the bare minimum but Ahri didn't have time for another job. Her siblings needed her and even if more money would be good, the price she had to pay of not seeing them as often wasn't worth it.
"Jonghun, are you sure you can look after those two today?" She asked worried, normally they would stay at the Choi's house but they were on a vacation right now.
"Yeah, I can. I promise" The oldest answered and lead his brother to the table to do their homework.
"Okay, I'll prepare something to eat for you, you know how to reheat it right?"
"Yes we do, mom- Ahri!" Miga replied.
The youngest didn't remember their parents at all and even Soori and Jonghun had troubles remembering.
Miga sometimes called Ahri mom by mistake but stopped when the latter burst out crying the first time she did.
She knew that Ahri wasn't her real mom but her sister but she didn't understand why her real mother then wasn't with her.
Every time she asked, Ahri didn't know what to say as she was aware that the girl was too young to understand.
•
"You're aware that you don't need to visit me every Friday here, right? People will start thinking you are an alcoholic" Ahri deadpanned, looking at her best friend.
Sora only rolled her eyes and ordered a coke from Ahri's colleague.
"I have an invitation for you!" She exclaimed happily after the first few sips.
Ahri raised her eyebrows in question, not sure if she should look forward to whatever her best friend was about to say or rather run away from whatever was about to come her way.
"We'll go to the US together!"
"No."
"Oh come on! Why not?" Sora pestered, not taking no for an answer.
"You want the whole list or just an example?"
"I'd pay for it. It would be good for my fans, we could record vlogs and so on. You would be doing me a favour with it. And I already have everything booked either way. My parents would be more than happy to look after the three rascals and we would only be gone for three weeks anyways. Your semester holidays start next week which is when our plane would go. After coming back you would still have two weeks to catch up with studies. I already called in, the bar can let you off officially for two weeks and the third will be covered by Lena. And a lot of students search holiday jobs so the librarian said it wouldn't be a problem."
Sora finished her monologue, leaving Ahri speechless for a few seconds.
"You already thought of everything, huh?" She still didn't know if she could accept the offer, maybe she should ask her siblings if they would be okay with it.
"I also already asked your siblings the last time I looked after them. They would be thrilled to live in 'Auntie Choi's house'."
Ahri smiled to herself, Sora normally wasn't someone to plan ahead but if she really wanted something she suddenly thought of everything.
After short consideration she came to a decision: "Okay, I'll go with you."
•
"Los Angeles here we come!" Sora yelled and pulled her luggage after her.
The two had just arrived at the LA airport about twenty minutes ago and were now walking towards their uber to drive to the hotel.
"It smells different, don't you think?" Ahri just shook her head in amusement and followed her best friend.
"By the way, are you planning on visiting Jake?" Sora asked after they had entered the car and had given the driver their destination.
"Not really, I'm not even sure if he knows that I'm in LA."
"He still follows my Insta and liked the post I made of us on the plane. So he definitely knows. Maybe he will contact you later."
Jake was Ahri's last boyfriend. They had been together for a bit over a year but the break up was now also a year ago.
Ahri was hurt by Jake leaving but he had to move back to LA to care for his grandma. Both somehow knew that long distance wouldn't work out for them.
It still didn't help with Ahri's trust issues that everyone she loved was going to leave at some point.
Until they arrived at the hotel Ahri just listened to Sora's rambling about how excited she was for their trip.
"We're here ladies. Have a nice stay." They bid their goodbyes and entered the lobby. It looked quite fancy and Ahri immediately felt bad, knowing Sora was paying all this for her.
"Room 204" The lady behind the counter said but Ahri didn't understand most of her conversation with Sora either way. Her English was enough not to get lost but that was about it.
"This is crazy!" Sora exclaimed once they entered their suit and Ahri was too stunned to reply.
It wasn't over the top luxurious but it had everything it needed and looked quite cozy. Ahri was just sad she couldn't give her siblings something like that - not yet at least.
"Look over here, it seems as if someone important is arriving!"
Ahri joined Sora at the window and looked down at the entrance where several black cars had parked.
The press and what seemed like fans awaited them on their arrival but from their view the girls couldn't make out who had just arrived.
"I have another surprise for you by the way!" Sora remember and hurried to fetch her purse.
"Please don't. You are already doing so much for me, I can't accept anything else" Ahri tried to argue but the look on her friend's face told her that it would be of no use.
"Okay, then see this as you doing me a favour. You will accompany me to this!"
Ahri looked at the tickets in her hands and recognise them as concert tickets.
Concert tickets from...
"Straykids?"
"We both like them and their music and I know you always wanted to meet them, meet Hyunjin again."
"Thank you so much, I've always wanted to go to one of their concerts."
Ahri hugged her best friend and swayed them from side to side.
"It's not just the concert, turn the ticket around!" Sora smiled and pushed Ahri away gently for her to be able to take a closer look at the tickets.
"Wait what? Did you seriously..?"
And again Sora was suffocated by a tight hug.
"You don't know how much I love you right now!"
"You don't always love me this much?!?" Sora teased and shoved her best friend playfully.
The latter still couldn't believe it.
They were going to go to a private Meet & Greet with the members of Straykids and have them as special guests for Sora's youtube channel.
She was going to meet them all, how would they act in real life, would she get along with them.
A lot of questions flooded through Ahri's mind that night but the most common was if Hyunjin was going to recognise her.
——————————
~It sounds like a Hyunjin fic right now although it isn't
~Who do you think arrived at the hotel? — I bet you'll never guess
~anyways, this was the official start of a new story, I'll hope you enjoy
~until next chapter
~~June