“What is your dream?”

“My dream? To fly without any boundaries. To grasp every chance I get. To live without any regrets.”

They can hear the wind howling over their heads again. It was a very quiet evening for the two of them. They weren’t having the best time of their life, no, they were just talking deeply like how a polluted mind needs. Their minds were polluted. By the insincerity of the sorrowful life and fate.

They were seated in a very comfortable couch on the older’s apartment. On his balcony to be exact. It was very humble. No sparkling things were noticed. And two cups of coffee accompanied them for the evening.

The stars weren’t sparkling. The sky was mourning. No one knew why.

“What do you think of the day?”

“It was gloomy. But refreshing indeed.”

“How come it’s gloomy, but refreshing?”

“Well, I’m going to let you guess.”

“I’m going to keep that as your secret. To keep you mysterious.”

The latter chuckled softly upon hearing the answer.

“Mysterious Kim Mingyu. Sounds good.” Mingyu smiled lightly before putting down his coffee.

It was gloomy but refreshing. Kim Mingyu always lived a happy, excited life. Mostly. So it was that simple. The dark side of the world was simply refreshing for him because he’s probably too lucky to have them.

“I like that title,” the older guy replied, “Do you want more coffee?”

“No. Can I have tea, please?”

“Sure thing.”

“Thank you, Jeon.”

The pair wasn’t in a romantic relationship. Neither were they a pair of best friends, no. They were in a more complicated thing. They both were really open with each other. They were close. But almost no one knew about them. They kept their complicated relationship in secret to avoid questions.

They liked each other. They fit each other. They even knew, deep down there, the feelings were mutual. But they wouldn’t even get to the romance. Because they knew, it wasn’t meant to be.

They always talked like they’d known each other for years. And they did. They met in elementary school when Mingyu was assigned to the same desk as Wonwoo. Mingyu scolded Wonwoo here and there because his handwriting wasn’t neat.

Years had passed. They’d been through a lot.

They were always there for each other for their first heartbreaks. Their disappointments. Their failures. But almost never, their happiest time. 

Yes, they joked about things. But they rarely shared their happiest moments.

Mingyu followed Wonwoo inside to help him prepare some tea. He opened the kitchen cabinet and took out a black tea. It wasn’t his favourite, it was Wonwoo’s favourite.

“If you were to rate our closeness on the scale of zero to ten, how would you rate it?” Mingyu suddenly asked as Wonwoo took out his teapot.

“On what base did you ask this question?”

“Curiosity.”

“Ah. Okay. I think I’d rate nine out of ten,” Wonwoo mumbled while making the tea.

Mingyu looked confused. He wasn’t expecting a nine. But a few seconds later, he wanted it to be ten.

They walked back to the balcony and noticed that the wind never left. It was still howling back and forth, pushing all of people’s feelings everywhere. People breathed sadness, happiness, all of them into the air and let them fly.

“The wind reminds me of you,” Wonwoo started again.

“Why do you think so?”