I pushed open the door to my apartment, squinting out into the grey, pouring area. The wind made the rain drops fly sideways and felt like tiny swords of ice stabbing my face, but I bolted away from the warmth of my apartment toward the small hill close by. I saw him running, or rather limping in between pauses, trying to get to the top of the hill. He was holding his arms around his sides with his head lowered. He looked like he was about to faint.

“Park Jungsoo!” I yelled as loudly as I could, but the wind and heavy rain seemed to blocked out my voice, even to myself. As I got closer to him, he looked behind his shoulder, met my eyes, and then quickly turned away, trying to get away faster. But I caught up to him quickly right before he almost fell over. He was breathing in and out with major difficulty and wouldn’t lift his head.

“Hey! Why did you run away so suddenly!?” I shouted, staring at him hard while keeping my hands securely attached to his shoulders. As if my words suddenly hurt him, his knees buckled and he fell to the soaking grass below us. I quickly moved his front of him and bent down as well. “What’s happening to you? Why are you acting like this?!” I could feel myself getting angry and scared at the same time.

His head slowly rose but his eyes wouldn’t meet mine. They stayed attached to the wet grass below us. His mouth slowly opened but before he could say anything, lightning crackled above us and he let out a loud cry, as if someone just stabbed him. He continued to hold his sides tenderly.

“I…I have to go.” He almost whispered.

“What are you talking about!?” I leaned back a little in surprise. “No you don’t! You don’t have to go anywhere! Just stay here!”

His eye slowly met mine. I could see that his eyes were wet even while the rain continued to pour all around us.

“I could never stay…not forever.” He said. While thunder boomed above us, another stream of lightning came down and he let out another pained scream, his entire body folding inward.

“Don’t say that kind of thing!” I was truly scared at this point and felt so helpless. All I could do was just keep talking. “W-whatever pain you’re feeling, we can fix it together, okay? Just don’t run away from me!”

His hands slowly and shakily rose up to gently touch either side of my face. I got very still as he leaned in closer to my face. Then he gently pulled my head down and moved toward my forehead. I didn’t know what was happening but I didn’t try to stop him. But before I felt anything, he cried out once again and his entire upper body lowered toward the ground. I quickly grabbed his arms before he fell.

Then, right in front of my eyes, a pair of bright white lights appeared on either side of his upper back and started to branch out in slightly smaller beams, surrounding the area above us. His final screams of pain continuously ran in my ear, but my gaze was only focused on the beams of light floating above us. They slowly took the angelic form of two bright, feathery wings that slowly rose up to the grey sky in a very majestic way.

“H-hyung…” I slowly looked back at his face.

His gaze met mine and I could see trails of tears outlining either side of his face. His eyes were filled with nothing but pain.

“I’m sorry.” His voice sounded drained of all energy.

Before I could respond, my eyes were shot with a bright, white light and I groaned slightly, raising my arms over my eyes. I could see the ghostly outline of the bright light imprinted in the darkness of my closed eyes. Then another boom of thunder made me jump and almost fall to the ground. There was no body in front of me to stop my fall. There was nothing.

I slowly removed my arms from my eyes and blinked several times. The rain suddenly started to fall lighter and the last short rumblings of thunder started to fade away as well. I slowly looked around me.

He was gone. He just…disappeared.

I jumped a bit in my seat as a dog barked very close to me. Then another series of barks resonated throughout the entire room as all ten small and medium sized dogs suddenly bolted toward the entrance to the café I was in and continuously barked at the person who was preparing to come inside.

I sighed and rubbed my face, trying to calm down my beating heart. I don’t even know why coming to this dog café was supposed to be entertaining, but to me it felt like a good idea. It definitely made my mood lighter.

I heard the cafe staff greet the person who just walked in and glanced in their direction.

It suddenly felt like my heart exploded. My eyes remained widened as I watched the person bench down to pet several of the dog jumping up toward him. There was a smile on his face that looked like pleasant relief and happiness.

How....I-is this a dream? Even my thought sounded like a quiet whisper.

The person straightened up to greet the staff member politely then moved toward the cafe register.

I forced myself to look away and focus on my small laptop on the table in front of me. A small brown poodle who has been sitting on my lap continued to keep her gaze focused on the person that just walked in with cautious, raised ears.

I let out a small breath and places my hands back on the keyboard, but they remained still. I saw him again in front of my eyes. The day he left so suddenly. All the pain in his tired eyes. The bright, white wings that almost burst out from his back...

I jumped a little again as the cafe barista came to my table and set down the drink I ordered. I cleared my throat and nodded politely as she walked away. Then I shook my head a little and tried to focus on the paperwork I had to get done for work.

I was able to fill nearly a quarter of a document with words until I lost focus once again. The little brown poodle sitting on my lap side suddenly climbed down from my lap and onto the floor. I glanced at her, she made her way over to the person that just walked in who was now seated a short distance away from me petting a medium-sized white dog laying in his lap. The little poodle approached the person a bit shyly. The person glanced around him and smiled down at the poodle, reaching down to scratch her behind her ears.

Looking at his face once again made me feel a strong feeling of euphoria. I wanted to run to him and hug him. And hit him. And yell at him for leaving me so suddenly. And then demand why.

There was no doubt about it in my mind. He was Park Jungsoo. Smile and everything. This wasn't a prank and I was completely wide awake.

His head lifted up and his gaze met mine. I immediately turned back to my laptop screen and just stared at it like an idiot. I was too nervous to type anything.

After a tense couple of seconds, I slowly placed my hands back on the keyboard, but every part of me lost energy to type coherent words. I sighed quietly and lowered the laptop screen. It seemed like the only reasonable thing to do was leave. I didn’t want to look at him again, but for some strange reason, I could feel myself getting more and more curious to try to talk to him. It wouldn’t be smart since he’d probably try to run away or something. How else do you explain suddenly disappearing and then magically reappearing a long time later and make it sound convincing? I came up with nothing, but the feeling to talk to him remained in my mind. I thought about how we met eyes but he was still here. He didn’t try to leave.

I drew in another slow breath and slowly turned my gaze back toward him. He was looking down at his lap where the medium-sized dog was lying lazily in his lap. He was rubbing the dog’s ears and seemed to be whispering something to her. From my spot I couldn’t hear him well, but he was definitely saying something.

After one more second, I slowly stood up and moved a little closer to him. I felt extremely awkward, but I sat down on the floor a little to the side of him. He heard me sit down and looked back up.

I let out the small breath I was holding. “Hey.”

He blinked at me. “Hi?”

I narrowed my eyes. “That’s all you have to say?”

He blinked again. “Excuse me?”

“I don’t know. I mean, it’s been a long time, hasn’t it?”

He slowly shook his head. “I’m sorry, I don’t think we’ve met.”

What the hell…? “Hey what are you saying!?” I raised my voice a little.

He leaned back a little. “I-I don’t think we’ve met before.” He was clearly very nervous.

I stared at him in major disbelief. “How could you say that!? Are you trying to be funny or do you just like torturing me?”

“I’m not being funny! I’m completely serious! Why are you so angry?” He shook his head slowly.

I stared into his eyes even harder. “You…you really don’t know who I am?”

“No! I’m sorry!”

Every nerve in my body felt like it went numb. “H-how…how is that…”

He continued to stare at me with nervous eyes.

“Th-that can’t be…we…” I slowly leaned back, my gaze drifting off to the side. Maybe I had finally gone insane and was just taking it out on an innocent patron.

“…d-do I look like someone you know?” He asked quietly.

My gaze remained fixed to the side. I felt my eyes getting a little wet but lost all my energy to hide them. “Yeah…that must be it.” I stood up and brushed off my pants. “I’m sorry I disturbed you.” I quickly moved back to the table I was sitting at and pulled my laptop into my black bag, feeling extremely embarrassed. By then I knew I finally had gone insane.

But then I heard his voice again. It came from right behind me.

“Was this person close to you?” He asked.

I quickly turned around with surprised eyes and backed away a little. “I-I um…”

“You just seemed really upset.” He added.

I shook my head. “I-I’m not. I’m fine, really. Just forget it.” I pulled my bag over my shoulder, not looking at him.

“Where are you going?” He asked.

“I have to go home.”

He sighed a little. “Can you stay a while longer?”

I gave him a funny look. “Why?”

“…I want to talk to you.”

“There are other people here.”

“But I want to talk to you.” He said a little more adamantly.

“Why?” I asked again, sighing a little.

He was quiet for a moment. “…maybe you can help me remember some things.”