Could Heechul really be alive?

Sungmin stared at his phone in his right hand while he sipped onto his cup of coffee. He was at a café avoiding what was happening currently at home. Apparently, Yunho had moved into Seohyun’s room that morning. It was a way of them trying to rekindle their romance, trying to fix their broken relationship from three years ago. But Sungmin found it odd that Yunho was back. Seohyun was heartbroken when they broke up and she made it perfectly clear that she had no intention of getting back together with him. How were they suddenly back together again?

Seohyun and Yunho were engaged three years ago after being in a relationship with each other for several months. Seohyun was pregnant and everyone was elated with the news especially their mother and father. They were planning to push their wedding forward but before any planning could even be done, Seohyun announced to the family that she had broken up with Yunho. She found out that Yunho had been cheating on her but she claimed that she did not know who the other person was and that Yunho wouldn’t tell her.

Just thinking back about it made Sungmin’s skin crawl with so much guilt, disgust and regret. Sungmin did not only ruin someone’s relationship, he ruined his sister’s relationship. He ruined his sister’s life because the person who Yunho had been cheating on her with was … him. Yunho admitted to being attracted to Sungmin and although it was wrong, Sungmin couldn’t stop. He wanted Yunho, he loved Yunho. But it was a mistake, a huge mistake.

Seohyun was pregnant at the time but she lost her baby after breaking up with Yunho. She suffered from depression and stress and experienced a miscarriage. The memories of Sungmin running into the bathroom after hearing a deadly scream and then the sight of bold red liquid all splattered across the tiles of the bathroom floor made Sungmin shudder. He still remembered it clearly, the blood on the floor, the screams from Seohyun and his parents, the tears of misery running down his sister’s face…. Sungmin was frozen on the spot, his emotions twirling in circles, his mind screaming at him. What had he done?

Sungmin killed a baby.

Sungmin killed his own sister’s baby.

Sungmin broke up with Yunho, telling himself that he deserved to be put in hell, that he deserved the pain from watching Yunho walk away unaffected. Yunho never came back for him ever since and Sungmin didn’t know if he should be glad or heartbroken but all he knew was that it took a long time for him to be able to look his sister in the eye. Sungmin never told anyone about Yunho intending to just keep the dark secret to himself.

But Heechul knew.

Heechul knew this secret, only Heechul. He caught Sungmin kissing Yunho at one point and demanded to know what was going on. Sungmin lied and claimed that it was an accident and that it was never going to happen again. Heechul took advantage of that secret, always teasing him with it, always challenging him with it, always getting on his nerves with it.

The text message that Sungmin had received… It had to be from Heechul. Who else would it be from if not Heechul? Only Heechul knew about this secret. But Heechul disappeared. The police assumed that he was dead, that he was murdered but they had no evidence of it. So… Could it really be Heechul playing with him? Was Heechul back? But if he was…. Why would Heechul be sending an anonymous text like that?

“That’s a good book you’re reading,”

Sungmin snapped out of his thoughts, looking down to his untouched book and then to the stranger with the deep husky voice. The man smiled politely at him, maroon red hair falling into eyes that were sparkling warmly against the dim lights of the café. Sungmin blinked and then smiled awkwardly. Geez, he was not even reading the book, he hadn’t been ever since he arrived. What a lame way to start a conversation.

“Mind if I take a seat?” The man questioned, gesturing to the empty seat across Sungmin.

Yes, he did. Sungmin wanted to be left alone at the moment. But… He couldn’t say no. That would be rude. Sungmin nodded, smiling awkwardly as the man settled down in the seat and observed that he was rather good-looking, although he didn’t look like a student from his school or anyone familiar in the town. Sungmin caught sight of a stack of familiar looking books he man was holding onto and an instant smile spread on his lips.

“A man in the twenty-first century carrying some of the best books from William Shakespeare all around,” Sungmin begun teasingly, “Now that’s something you don’t see every day.”

The man glanced from the stacks of books and then to Sungmin, a silly smile plastered on his face. “I admit, I almost borrowed everything out from the library.”

Sungmin laughed, “Are you from around here?”

“Yeah, I am actually. I just haven’t been around much lately.” He then introduced himself, “I’m Yesung.”

“Sungmin.”

“Sungmin,” His repeated slowly and Sungmin felt a shiver run down his spine as the words rolled on the mysterious man’s tongue, “I like it.”

***

Ryeowook shifted from one foot to another.

It was awkward.

But… It had to be done.

But…

Groaning, Ryeowook squeezed his eyes and took a seat on the stairs of Sungmin’s house. It had been years since they last met or even talked with each other. How was he going to act? What was he supposed to say? How was Sungmin going to react to seeing him back?

Lee Sungmin and Ryeowook were once best friend. Along with Lee Donghae and Heechul. They were the popular group in the school and they went everywhere and did everything with each other. But after Heechul disappeared, they just… Drifted apart. Heechul was the one who brought them together and without Heechul… There was just nothing left in common between the rest of them. They were all too different to be friends. They tried, they really did. Breakfast on Saturday mornings and sleepovers on Friday nights… But it wa