Chapter 1: The old man 

If you in a few years would go out on the street and ask what people thought of when they heard "the winter of 2075" they would probably answer that it was the coldest winter Seoul had experienced in a hundred years. For Hyorin, who worked as nurse on a retirement home for privileged people, that winter would, however, be memorable for a whole other reason. She had worked at the accommodation for three years and was one of the favorites amongst many of the residents. She was always happy and did genuinely care for the pensioners. About a year ago an old man named Lee Hyukjae moved into the nicest room they had at the exclusive retirement home. He had during his active working years been the CEO of an large family business in Korea. Hyorin remembered that many in the staff had initially thought that the old man was annoying and difficult. He would often sit alone in his room and on the occasions when he was forced to socialize with the other retirees, he was uninviting and most of the time he would sit with his arms crossed while he sullenly looked out of the window. If someone spoke to him, he would only give short answers and then return to the sulking. To be completely honest Hyorin agreed in the opinions about Hyukjae at first. She had tried her best to get him in a good mood and hoped that it would result in that he at least would start talking to her. But all the efforts had been to waste when he still kept to himself.

One day when Hyorin came to his room with breakfast (as usual, he refused to eat out in the diningroom along with the others), she discovered that the man had pulled up a chair to one of the walls and was sitting there, looking up at the photos that covered it. She put down the tray on the table before she curiously sneaked up to the old man and looked up on the wall aswell. There was a whole life documented up there, from a child with a mischievous look on his face to an old man with a child in his lap, probably a grandchild. She noted that Hyukjae had been a very handsome man in his younger days and he actually still looked quite good for his age.

"It's funny how fast life passes by " Hyukjae sighed with a mixture of sadness and warmt in his voice.

Hyorin who stood in her own thoughts jumped at the sound of his voice. She looked at him in surprise but then quickly gave him a smile instead. This was the first time Hyukjae himself had taken the initiative to start a conversation with anyone since he arrived to the home.

"You seem to have had a busy life with many people around you Mr. Lee " she noted while looking back up at the photos again.

"Hmpf, a busy life, yes. Many people yes. But to be honest more than half of them I probably could have done without " he returned the nurse’s smile.

When he returned to examine the wall his smile changed to a mourning expression when his eyes fastened on one special photo. The photo showed two handsome young men who just had graduated and was smiling as bright as the sun.

"And some people you don't spend enough time with"

Hyorin cocked her head and considered whether or not she should ask who the other man in the photo was. Since the old man had been more accommodating than he used to be, she decided to go for it.

"Ah, graduation day. It’s a special day. May I ask who the handsome young man next to you in the photo is?"

Hyukjae laughed.

"Well, to ask for permission to ask a question while you already have asked it makes no sense."

He gave her a warm smile and he winked at her. He then drew his gaze to the photo they had studied again.

"Yes, he was handsome, right? That's my oldest childhood friend, Donghae. We were like peas and carrots when we were younger. On the bedside table there's another photo."

Hyukjae stood up from his chair and gestured to Hyorin that she should fallow him. Hyorin offered an arm and to her surprise it was received well and Hyukjae stuck under his own arm. They walked over to the bed and Hyukjae picked up a photo from the bedside table with trembling hands. Three teenagers smiled up at them, Hyorin would guess that they were around 15 years.

"This is me, Donghae and Taeyeon. People around the neighborhood used to call us the golden trio. We were always together , through thick and thin."

The old mans eyes sparkeld.

"She was the crazy one of us. She made us end up in a lots of trouble with her mischievousness." He laughed happily and it caused Hyorins heart to swell a little, she was not used to see him like this.

"Once she got the idea that we should unleash a hundreds of cattle from a pasture, she meant that they should be allowed to go wherever they wanted, she got us onboard with the argument that everyone should have the right to go to the candystore. The whole city was full of cows and their waste. They created alot of chaos in the traffic. I do not think my mother ever have been so ashamed of me as she was then."

Hyorin giggled, she could imagine how disgusted people must have gotten over the issue that the whole town was invaded by cows.

"And there we have Donghae."

Hyorin noticed that his tone changed, it sounded both happy and sad at the same time.

"He is the finest man I ever had the privilege to meet."

They were interrupted by a nurse who came rushing into the room. She bent down as she tried to recover her breath.

"We...need…. help...out there" she managed to get out between her breathes.

"Is it urgent?" Hyorin didn't want to leave the room when she finally had managed to get through the tough skin of Hyukjae's.

The nurse put her hands on the waist and gave Hyorin a very annoyed look.

"Do you think I'm running because it's fun? It's Seungri, he stuck his head in the window in the diningroom."

”You said he did what?! How is that even possible?”

”Don’t ask, he doesn’t want anyone else than you to help him.”

Hyorin sighed and looked apologetically at Hyukjae. He chuckled a bit.

"If you ask me, I'm certainly not surprised that he managed to do it. Sometimes I suspect that I have been locked up in an insane asylum instead of a retirement home. Go ahead, I will remain here."

Hyorin laughed and gave him a light pat on the shoulder before she fallowed the other nurse to the dining room. She suspected that Seungri had stucked his head in the window on purpose, he took every opportunity he could get to get a little extra near the young nurses.

After that day Hyorins and Hyukjaes relationship changed. He was still as bitter as before when he was forced to sit out among the others (or boneheads as he so nicely called his neighbors). Hyorin, on the other hand, came to spend alot of her time with Hyukjae. They talked about everything and nothing. She told him about her school years, her new house and her husband (Hyukjae had made an indirect threat to her husband, "If he ever does something to you, he will have to deal with me"). They talked about her interests and what Hyukjae had done before in his life. Something the old man seemed to avoid, however, was conversations about his old friends , especially Donghae and Taeyeon, although he occasionally mentioned them briefly. Autumn passed by like this, Hyorin spent every moment given in Hyukjae's room and they became closer and closer. Sometimes she even thought of him as a friend.

When the winds became cold and the winter arrived to Seoul the old man got sick. One early morning when Hyorin brought in breakfast to him, just as she always did, she noticed that something was wrong. He hadn't got out of the bed and had a strong cough. After the doctor had payed him a visit for a checkup, it was stated that he had pneumonia and since he was an old man and his general condition wasn't the best, everybody knew that this would probably be his downfall. She cried for hours that night when she returned home, her husband had been there for her and comforted her until there were no more tears left to be shed. It only took a few days after the doctor's visit until Hyukjae was completely bedridden. He was very sick and palliative care had been inserted, he had to be supervised all hours of the day. His daughter watched over him as much as she could, but she had her own family and a job to take care of, most of the time she spent a few hours in the evenings with her father. Therefor it usually was Hyorin who watched over the old man. He didn't want anyone else from the staff, they had created such a fine friendships among themselves.

"Do you remember when I told you about the golden trio?"

Hyorin raised her head from the newspaper she had been reading. She smiled, it was a subject she had wondered about since the first time he mentioned it, but she had felt like it was too sensitive to ask about. He had seemed so happy when he had talked about the two friends. She suspected that the two boys had fallen in love with the girl and that their friendship had ended in bad terms.

”Ofcorse!”

He smiled and looked at the photo on the nightstand.

"I have to tell our story. For Donghaes sake... and for mine. I don't think I ever will be able to pass away before it gets told."

Hyorin felt a bit confused but took his hand and squeezed it lightly.

"Promise me you'll not judge me"

Hyukjae looked so lonely were he was laying in his bed, he rather looked like he was seven years old than his actual age of 87 years.

”I promise”

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

"I think this is going to take a while beacuse I'm gonna start from the beginning. I want to tell you everything."

Hyorin smiled.

”I have all the time in the world”

Hyukjae chuckled a little, gave her a light squeeze on her hand before he began his story:

"Everything started when I was five years old..."

And so began the story that would forever remain engraved in Hyorins heart.