The day goes by really fast when they try hard to catch up with each other. After their meltdown earlier, He helped her to tidy up a little bit before both of them decided to stay in and enjoy a Korean home cook meal that he really wanted, she gladly showed off her improved cooking skill and he doesn’t need more encouragement from her to finish his plate. Seem like it takes no time for both of them to adjust themselves from their awkward term to return back to what they were before the mishap happened. After their late lunch, Kyuhyun and Eungi has been busy doing nothing to spend their weekend. She still insists him to go see a doctor but he convinced her that what he really need is just some rest and some tender care from her. Both of them have more than a year worth of gap to fill in, so the day goes by quickly to turn into night as they hang out in front of the fireplace, cuddling each other on the thick carpet, covers with a warm blanket.

“How hard it was to get in here, Kyu? How many times you tried to apply?” She runs her fingers on his head that’s now laying on her lap.

“My first attempt honestly. I guess you’re right about one thing noona, I might be a genius.” He winks and grins playfully.

She scoffs but then nods to his statement. “I never misjudged anyone. It’s awesome here right?”

He frowns, “I still have some difficulties with the language barrier and the food, but yeah the campus itself is amazing. I understand why you like it so much.”

“You’ll love it more, trust me. Next semester when you begin your initial thesis research, it’ll get more interesting and challenging.” Her eyes widen from her own excitement. “You can even use your research as an excuse to travel around Europe, like I did back then.”

“You really enjoy Europe aren’t you, noona?” Kyuhyun takes her hand that’s on his head to hold on his chest, “So, tell me what did you do in Vienna?”

“Vienna? I never went there.”

“Then why I got a report you left EU from its airport?” He lifts his head and stares curiously at her.

She tries to collect her memory of ever being in that city and her mind clicks, “Aah.. I was hiding in Hallstatt, it’s a little town on the west of Austria—a beautiful town, we should visit together one day. I used up all of my remaining EU permit then left the country from Vienna.”

He gets up to position himself next to her, lift his arm to round it on her shoulder then pulls her close to lean on him. “I made it so hard on you, didn’t I? I’m sorry, no woman—no matter how independent she is—should roam over Europe broken and alone.”

Eungi moves her head to find the most comfortable spot on his shoulder, “You know what’s funny? The town was too beautiful for a brokenhearted person; I should’ve bought a train ticket to Auschwitz or Warsaw to really absorb in my depression.”

He smiles bitterly, “Why did you chose that place to ran away?”

“The earliest train ticket out of Paris that time.” She answers honestly, “I didn’t want to use a plane since the passenger record will be easier to find, I didn’t want to leave EU because I was too scared to return to Seoul and I didn’t want any immigration record so I picked the road travel option.”

“To conclude, you didn’t want me to find you.” He raises his eyebrow to confirm her act of protest. “Outsmart me as always, you didn’t swipe your card anywhere either.”

Eungi nods, “A part of me wished that you’d try to find me and that you’d appear in front of my face to surprise me. But I also aware that I really left no trace for you to follow.”

He closes his eyes and leans his head to the sofa behind them. “I had this picture of you breaking down helplessly somewhere, I felt like a huge hand is grasping my heart whenever I think of you being alone in the middle of nowhere and I pictured how awful it must have been for you, then I would begin with my ultimate way to stalk you again, but I really got nothing—you covered your track really well, if you’re a fugitive, I’m sure you’ll get away with your crime.”

“I don’t even know if I should be proud of that or not.” She mumbles on his shoulder.

“I’m sorry it took me so long to be here.” Kyuhyun sinks his face deeper in between her hair to breathe in her scent.

“Doesn’t matter, you’re here now.” She hugs him tighter, “Just make sure you remember my phone number from now on, I don’t care how hard it must be for you—just try to memorize it—or my email if numbers are too hard for you, learn to use a post-it to leave messages, or don’t leave at all.”

He kisses the top of her head deeply, he can’t believe how precious the person he’s holding in his hand, he torn her apart before but now she’s showering him with her love all over again, as if nothing bad ever happened to them.

“Honestly I couldn’t remember those early three months after you’re gone,” Eungi continues talking, “I took comfort in alcohol and any other bad stuff, tried so hard not to get sober because once I’m sober enough, I reminded of you all over again and it was too much for me to handle.”

He clenches his jaws to hide his anger towards her bad decision, but lets her continue with her story.

“It was blurry how the time passed before me, sometimes I would think really hard on how I ended up in one place because I have no memories of the journey, I let my heart controlled my life for a whole year and by the time I was ready to move on, I begin seeing the image of you around me.” She scoffs cynically, “I felt like I was going crazy for seeing stuff that weren’t real and I fell to the nostalgia of you one more time, so to conquer my loneliness I begin to sink myself in the bad substance to kept me relax.”

“Stop that from now on, ng?” He places his palm on her face to look deeply into her round eyes, “I hate drunken Eungi, I hate Eungi that smokes just to prove a point, and that Eungi that smoked a whole stem of in Amsterdam, that’s not my Eungi. My Eungi is this sweet woman with the purest heart and best personality, stop ruining my good Eungi, ne?” He feels his tears once again wells up in his eyes.

“You knew?” Her heart sinks at once with the sight of her man starts to break apart again in front of her, she never meant for him to ever found out about her mishaps that turned her into the worst version of herself.

“This is one of the other reason why I hate drunken Eungi, she forgot stuffs.” Kyuhyun softly flicks her forehead, “I was frustrated when I saw you getting high in Amsterdam, I know we’re in the Netherlands and that’s part of the beauty of this place but come on! You lost your self-control and let a guy touched you.” He shakes his head to erase that image from his head.

“So I wasn’t hallucinating that time? It was really you?” She pouts . “Why didn’t you showed up before? Why wait until now to meet me? Didn’t you know how much I’ve missed you?”

“Because I didn’t know what to say to you. I was neck-deep into my guilt and I didn’t think I deserved to talk to you.” He runs his hand through her hair to caress her, “I found out you’re enrolling for a post-doc here so I sent my application letter not long after. The first time I spotted you in campus was the time I swore my heart could really jump out of my chest—I was dying to come to and greeted you but then my guilt took over. I followed you around since then, especially when you went out at night and to top it off, I rent a place right across your back yard so I could watch you closely.”

“Ne?”

Kyuhyun points to his rented apartment located right across her backyard from the big window in the living room, “I live there. How creepy is that, huh?”

She doesn’t know how to react but she ends up laughing. “If it any other man I would definitely call the police and demand a restraining order right now!” She pulls him closer to her then gives a quick peck on his lips, “But because it’s you, I’ll say it’s romantically creepy. Still creepy though, but the fact you found a perfect place to stalk me is amazing.”

“It’s available and within my budget, so why not?” He lifts his shoulders nonchalantly.

“Ha! That’s a word I never thought I’d hear from you.” She curls her brow in confusion.

“What is?”

“Budget.”

“Ah, I forgot to tell you.” He smirks and avoids her gaze. “We went bankrupt in the first month since my father couldn’t provide the stock holders with a doctor statement of him being healthy.”

“Oh my God, are you okay?”

He nods, “It’s a long story honestly.”

“I have time.”

“I don’t like showing you my weakness.”

“I insist.” She stares him down, “You left me for a year and you owe me a lot of stories to catch up.”

He scoffs cynically, “How many times you’re going to use that card against me?”

“As many as possible.”

“Fair enough.” He lifts his head up and begins wandering again, “Remember I told you that I was forced to return to Seoul after 24 hours’ waiting for your news in Paris?”

She nods.

“My credit cards—all of them—were declined when I tried to book a hotel to stay the night while waiting, turned out my father’s assets were freeze so I really had to return to Seoul to fix the mess. I tried to use all of my cards to buy a plane ticket but since it’s useless, I went to the black market suggested by the doorman in the hotel and I sold my Rolex in return of a plane ticket back to Seoul.” He pauses to collect his memories over his hard times, “soon as I arrived in Seoul, a debt collector came to our house and demanded a collateral to un-freeze his assets, because obviously they can’t take his condition lightly.”

Eungi is list