Pairing: Sunggyu/Woohyun

Summary: Woohyun writes letters for Sunggyu, and he can’t help but wonder who the love letters are for.

Genre: Romance

Word count: 3,741

Love Letters

Woohyun glanced at his watch, noting that his next appointment should be here soon. He attempted to straighten out the papers strewn haphazardly across surface of his desk, making it look somewhat cleaner than it had been a few moments before. He stifled a yawn, blinking the sleep out of his eyes. His job was tiring, but he still loved it.

Woohyun worked at the post office, but in a special department — the letter writing service. Where Woohyun lived, not everyone knew how to write, and so he was tasked with helping those without the skill in expressing their feelings on paper. He was proud of his job, and proud of being able to put his skills to helping others.

He was startled out of his thoughts by a light knock on his office door.

“Come in!” Woohyun called out, watching as the door cracked open and someone, a man about his age, maybe a bit older, poked his head through the crack.

“I’m here for Nam Woohyun, I need a letter written?” The stranger spoke up, and in the back of his mind, Woohyun appreciated how soft and kind the other’s voice was.

“Nam Woohyun, at your service,” Woohyun replied with a grin, as the other fully stepped into the room. Woohyun could now tell that the other was just slightly taller than him.

“Nice to meet you,” the other man said with a soft smile.“I’m Kim Sunggyu.” Woohyun took in the other’s deep brown eyes and light brown hair that blew slightly in the warm spring breeze coming in from the open window of his office, and the hand outstretched towards him, which he took. It was almost as if there was a sense of familiarity emanating from the other, a sense that made Woohyun comfortable in the other’s presence already.

“Nice to meet you too,” Woohyun replied. “Please, have a seat,” he gestured to the chair across from his desk. He watched closely as the other took off his coat and laid it gently across the back of the chair before sitting down.

“And who is this letter addressed to?” Woohyun asked as he slipped a blank piece of paper into the typewriter before him, fingers poised about the keys and ready to type. He looked over his typewriter at Sunggyu with a confused glance when he was only met with silence.

“I want to keep that a secret, if that’s okay with you. You can just start the letter without a salutation,” Sunggyu replied, looking down at his hands in his lap.

“Okay, then,” Woohyun simply said, knowing that he couldn’t say no to a customer’s request anyway. “May I ask what kind of letter this is, so I can have an idea of the style to write in?”

Sunggyu was a silent for a moment, seemingly debating inside his head what to say. “A love letter.”

Woohyun was stunned for a moment, as Sunggyu didn’t seem to be the kind of person to write love letters. But then again, Woohyun realized, it’s not like he knew the other anyway. He couldn’t help but think that the recipient of this letter was very, very lucky.

“Okay, great. Is there anything specific you want me to say, or do you have general ideas of what you want in the letter?” Woohyun asked.

“I already have what I want to say in my mind, if that is okay?” Sunggyu replied.

“Oh, of course!” Woohyun replied. Transcribing was even easier, since he didn’t have to think too carefully about what wording to use. “Go right ahead when you’re ready.”

Sunggyu took a deep breath before beginning.

My love, how have you been lately? I miss you so much. There is not a day that goes by where I don’t think about you, even though every time I do think about you it makes my heart ache. It seems like every minute of every hour I am left wondering how you are, and if you’ve been living and eating well. However, I know I’m not a part of your life anymore, and I’m trying to move on, though it’s a very hard thing to do. I still love you so very much. Every night as I go to sleep I only see your smiling face in my mind, but not waking up to see your beautiful face the first thing in the morning really, really hurts. I know you are probably doing better without me though, so that at least keeps me content. I’ll just love you from afar enough for the both of us.

Love,

Sunggyu

After transcribing Sunggyu’s heart wrenching words, Woohyun had to blink a few times to keep his tears at bay. It wouldn’t be very professional of him to show too much emotions at work, that he knew. However, Woohyun had an inkling that Sunggyu didn’t have any intention of actually sending this letter to its intended recipient. That thought made him wonder why Sunggyu was here anyway.

“All done,” Woohyun said politely, trying to make his voice as steady as possible. He folded up the letter as neatly as possible and slipped it into a white envelope, then handing it to Sunggyu.

“Thank you,” Sunggyu said softly, gently taking the envelope into his hands and placing it into his messenger bag. He then brought out a couple of bills from his wallet, handing them to Woohyun. “Keep the change.”

“Are you sure?” Woohyun was surprised, as customers usually gave exact change. Sunggyu only nodded in response, picking up his bag and turning towards the door.

“Maybe I’ll see you again?” Woohyun asked hopefully, a part of him wanting to make sure the other was alright, and perhaps one day he hoped to see the sadness gone from the other’s eyes.

“Yeah, maybe.” Sunggyu said quietly before taking his leave. Lucky for Woohyun, that wasn’t the last he saw of Sunggyu.

——

The next time Woohyun saw Sunggyu it was actually the very next week, at the exact same time as the week before. The moment he saw the familiar silhouette through the frosted window of his office door, Woohyun could feel his heartbeat speeding up.

A knock.

“Come in!” Woohyun had to make sure his voice didn’t sound too excited, but he couldn’t help the enthusiastic smile on his face when a familiar face appeared.

“Hello. I, uh, came here last week.” Sunggyu said with a shy smile.

“Ah yes, Sunggyu, right?” Woohyun replied, belatedly realizing that he might seem too eager by remembering the other’s name.

“Oh, you remember my name!” Thankfully, Sunggyu seemed more pleasantly surprised, than creeped out or surprised.

“Of course I’d remember the name to a face as cute as yours,” is what Woohyun wanted to say, but instead he said, “Well, I’ve been known to have a good memory. What can I help you with today?”

“I want to write a letter again to the same person as last week,” Sunggyu replied as he took off his coat, draping it nicely across the back of the chair and taking a seat.

And so Woohyun started transcribing again, but this time the letter was not what he had expected. Instead of being the same heart-wrenching words, Sunggyu dictated a light-hearted letter detailing how his life had been recently. The only indicator that this was perhaps a love letter was the “I love you.” at the end. It was so conversational that if Woohyun didn’t know better, it would almost seem like Sunggyu was just having a conversation with him. It didn’t help that Woohyun would interrupt with small comments here and there, all appreciated by the other young man.

Woohyun learned many things about Sunggyu that day. He learned that the other was working to take over his parents’ bakery, and that he’d just invited a new type of pastry that sounded like everything Woohyun loved to eat in one: coconut and custard. He also learned that aside from baking, Sunggyu was into singing lately, and Woohyun couldn’t help but yearn to listen to the other sing in what he believed would be a voice like honey.

When they were done, Woohyun almost didn’t want to hand Sunggyu the letter, sad that it meant the other would leave.

However, Sunggyu surprised him by saying, “I think I’ll be back next week, is that okay?”

“Of course! My door is always open for you,” Woohyun immediately responded, but also reprimanded himself in his head for sounding so cheesy. However, Sunggyu didn’t seem to have a problem with that. In fact, the other was laughing.

“See you next week, Woohyun.”

——

True to his word, Sunggyu was back at the same time the very next week, as well as the week after that. Before Woohyun knew it, he and Sunggyu had been writing letters together for 2 months. Woohyun learned so much about Sunggyu over this time period, and somewhere along the way, Woohyun fell in love.

And that was probably what gave him courage to ask Sunggyu one day after they were done, “Would you be free to eat dinner together some time?” He immediately regretted it though, when Sunggyu seemed to hesitate. Woohyun started to panic; Sunggyu did have whoever he was writing the letters to after all. What was he thinking? It was silent between the two of them, with Woohyun trying to think of a way to play it off as a joke.

Before he could though, he heard the other speak up, “Sure, I’d love to.”

Woohyun was sort of annoyed that Sunggyu made him feel a rollercoaster of emotions within a few seconds (but not really).

——

It was a nice clear evening, the sun starting to set, bathing the city in warm orange hues. Sunggyu had told Woohyun he’d pick him up at the post office when his shift was over, but Woohyun had no more appointments that day and so his boss let him off work early. Therefore, Woohyun decided to surprise Sunggyu at his family’s bakery, because he wanted to see the place where the other worked. Woohyun dug out the paper where he had written the bakery’ name on from his pocket again (It was just one of my many other things he’d learned after his lengthy “conversations” with Sunggyu). Woohyun had to ask around a bit for directions, but it wasn’t long before Woohyun could see the glossy sign stating “Asteria Bakery” glinting in the soft light of the setting sun.

As he approached the storefront, Woohyun felt a sense of familiarity hit him, though he brushed it off as the cozy and homey feeling that the bakery’s aesthetics gave off. Through the window of the bakery, Woohyun could see the familiar figure of Sunggyu inside. Upon closer inspection, it seemed like Sunggyu was writing a sign for the front of a store, most likely to advertise a sale of some sort.

Wait.

Sunggyu knew how to write?

Woohyun stood outside the bakery for so long that Sunggyu finally took notice of him, eyes wide. Woohyun could tell that he definitely did not expect him to appear at the bakery. He could see the other’s eyes shifting around, obviously looking for a way to escape (not that he could really go anywhere). Woohyun took this chance to finally step into the bakery, walking straight up to the counter where Sunggyu was and staring him down.

“You know how to write?”

Sunggyu stared down at the chalk in his hands and the board he was writing on, ’N-no.’

Woohyun’s gaze hardened, “Sunggyu, don’t lie to me.”

“Okay fine, yes.” Sunggyu still wasn’t looking at him, which made Woohyun a bit frustrated. It seemed he really did have something to hide.

“Then why did you ask me to transcribe your letters for you?”

Sunggyu said nothing, and Woohyun was getting impatient, and sort of annoyed that the other still refused to meet his gaze.

“Sunggyu, why did you ask me to transcribe if you know how to write?” Woohyun asked again, hoping for an answer this time.

“I can’t tell you.” Not the answer woohyun was looking for.

“Do you know something I don’t?“ Upon a sudden epiphany, Woohyun’s eyes went wide, “Did you know me before the accident—“

“I think you should go. This was never supposed to happen anyway.” Sunggyu moved towards the bakery door and opened it, gesturing for the other to leave. There was a certain pain in the other’s eyes that told Woohyun he should listen and just leave the other alone. It seemed Sunggyu needed some time to himself.

——

“Some time to himself” turned from a day to a week, and Woohyun still hadn’t seen the other. He thought about dropping by the bakery again, but didn’t want to risk Sunggyu getting angry. He couldn’t stop thinking about the idea that Sunggyu possibly knew him before the accident.

That is, the accident that took away his memories from before 2 years ago.

It would explain the sense of familiarity Woohyun felt at the sight of the bakery, he realized. But… what were they? Acquaintances? Friends? Most importantly, if Sunggyu really did know him from before, why didn’t he approach Woohyun earlier? Woohyun had more questions than answers, and wanted nothing more than to confront Sunggyu.

His train of thought was interrupted by someone knocking on his door.

“Come in,” Woohyun called out.

‘Hey Woohyun.” It was his colleague from the delivery department, Dongwoo. “I have a delivery of letters to you.”

“Oh, thanks,” Woohyun said, reaching out his hand and accepting the stack of letters from his friend. It was quite big, and Woohyun estimated there were about 10 letters in there. He had never received so many at once, so Woohyun wondered why there was a sudden influx. He bid Dongwoo goodbye and sifted through the letters. All of them were just labelled with “To Woohyun”, with no return address, which made Woohyun curious. Were they all from the same person? His suspicions were also confirmed when he noticed that each of the letters was numbered at the top.

Curious, Woohyun used his letter opener to open the first letter. He read the first few sentences and immediately froze, heart beating quicker and quicker.

My love, how have you been lately? I miss you so much. There is not a day that goes by where I don’t think about you, even though every time I do think about you it makes my heart ache…

It couldn’t be. Woohyun stood up from his chair so quickly that it fell backwards with a thump, but he couldn’t care less. He quickly threw open the door and frantically ran after Dongwoo who was making his way down the hallway.

“Dongwoo!” He managed to catch up to the other, grabbing him by the shoulder. “When were these letters brought in? Did you see who it was?”

“I’m sorry, Woohyun, Sungjong dropped them off with me, so I didn’t see who it was that brought them in,” Dongwoo replied with a concerned face, but Woohyun let his hand drop from the other’s shoulder resolutely at the answer. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. Thanks anyway, Dongwoo,” Woohyun replied, turning back towards his office and leaving his friend staring confusedly after him in the hallway.

——

It was late in the evening when Woohyun finally finished reading all the letters. Of course, since he wrote them, he already knew what they all said. However, reading them after knowing that they were meant for himself was an entirely different story. It seemed as though this different “point of view” was some sort of trigger, because as he read through the letters again, Woohyun saw flashes of his memories that were previously lost. It wasn’t everything, but it was something. Most of the memories he remembered were of him and Sunggyu, all happy memories… except for the big fight they had right before the accident. To be honest Woohyun couldn’t even remember what it was they fought about that day. All he remembered was the hurtful words, and the anger that had built up inside him. However, thinking back, he could only feel regret.

Woohyun suddenly stood up with resolution, grabbing his jacket from the coat rack and running out the door, down the hall and stairs, and out into the crisp evening air. However, he didn’t stop there. Woohyun practically ran towards the bakery, having basically memorized the way there not only from the time he went a week ago, but also from muscle memory embedded deep in his mind. When he arrived there, he was relieved to see Sunggyu working at the counter, yet again writing on the signs for the sales tomorrow. This time, however, Woohyun didn’t wait around outside and instead stepped into the bakery right away. The bell at the door alerted Sunggyu, and he looked up.

“Sorry, we’re closed— Woohyun?” Sunggyu didn’t look too surprised, however, and Woohyun concluded that the other probably expected him to show up sooner or later.

“Sunggyu.” Even though Woohyun rushed here from his office with the sole goal of talking to Sunggyu, no words other than the other’s name could come out of his mouth once he was faced with him.

“You’re here about the letters, aren’t you?”

“No, , Sunggyu,” Woohyun said as he slammed his hands onto the counter, effectively making Sunggyu jump. He then just stared at the other, waiting for him to finally start explaining because nothing makes sense.

“Sit,” Sunggyu replied in his usual soft voice, gesturing towards the tables near the front of the bakery, “and then we’ll talk.”

Woohyun took a seat in the chair farthest away from the door, watching as Sunggyu made them both cups of hot tea. He also brought over a pastry that Woohyun recognized despite having only heard about it from Sunggyu.

“The coconut custard pastry you recently invented,” Woohyun stated with a small smile. “I’m guessing it’s not a coincidence that it combines some of my favourite things into one pastry.”

Sunggyu laughed softly in response, “No, I invented it thinking of you.”

“We must have been close, for you to know all my favourite things,” Woohyun remarked, staring at the pastry. Of course, Woohyun could infer the truth from reading the letters, but he still wanted Sunggyu to say it. Instead doing so though, Sunggyu pushed the plate towards him, a silent request for him to try it. Only when Woohyun finally take a bite did Sunggyu reply.

“We were… more than close,” Sunggyu stated, just watching Woohyun devour the pastry in silence. When Woohyun was done, he took a sip of his tea, humming in contentment.

“That was really good, by the way.”

Sunggyu smiled, “You always did like anything I baked.”

“Sunggyu, I… I got my memories back.,” Woohyun decided to say in response, leaning back in his chair but still staring intently at the other.

“Oh,” Sunggyu’s eyes widened in surprise, “so you remember everything?”

“No, not really,” Woohyun replied, as he found himself unable to look Sunggyu in the eyes. He felt like he was sort of betraying the other by not remembering everything. “Only some things. Flashes of memories.”

Sunggyu was silent, averting his gaze from Woohyun to look out the window.

“Why didn’t you come find me after the accident?” Woohyun asked, sort of regretting the accusatory tone he used immediately after when he caught sight of Sunggyu stiffening in his seat.

“Do you remember what happened that day?” The day of the accident. Woohyun only nodded in response.

“Then you should know why I didn’t come find you.”

“What?” Woohyun was confused. “What do you mean?”

“It was all my fault! It wouldn’t have happened if I didn’t run away after our fight, and if you didn’t try to come find me afterwards.” Sunggyu wiped away at the tears falling from his eyes, and Woohyun wanted nothing more than to reach over and do it for him. “To be honest, I never even intended to come back after the first time. I just wanted to see how you were doing.” Sunggyu heaved a long sigh, “But I just kept wanting to see you again, to talk to you once more. I never should have.”

“Sunggyu,” Woohyun reached over to take the other’s hand in his own, grabbing the other’s attention, “you can’t possibly believe that if I fell in love with you once, I wouldn’t do it again a second time.”

“A second time?” Sunggyu asked, eyes wide. His attention was fully back on Woohyun again.

“Why didn’t you tell me about our relationship before?”

“Because you can’t tell someone that they love you, Woohyun.” Sunggyu answered. “No matter how much you believe that they should.”

“Fine.” Woohyun leaned in closer across the small table between them, staring intently into the other’s eyes. “I’ll just learn to love you even more than I did before.”

‘W-what?”

“What do you say? Will you give us another chance?” Woohyun held his breath as he waited for Sunggyu’s answer.

Sunggyu’s answer, however, didn’t come in the form of words, but in the form of a soft kiss on Woohyun’s lips.

And for Woohyun, everything felt right again.

——

extra:

“You’re doing it wrong!”

“I’m doing it like how you showed me!”

“No you’re not!” Sunggyu exclaimed with a huff, hands on his hips. He stared at his boyfriend who was covered in flour.

“I’m just not good at baking, I guess,” Woohyun sighed, burying his head into his arms on the counter. “My hands are used for typing and writing, not kneading dough.”

“Woohyun, stop moping, you’re going to get flour all over your face,” Sunggyu said as he pulled on Woohyun’s arm. “And you’re the one that wanted to learn how to make the coconut custard pastry, so stop whining.” Sunggyu couldn’t help but laugh at how Woohyun’s nose was now white as it was covered in flour.

“Fine, fine. I can do this!” Woohyun all but shouted as he began to knead the dough again.

“If it helps, I think you look pretty hot as a baker,” Sunggyu said slyly as he gave the other a peck on the cheek.

“Now you know how I feel, watching you work,” Woohyun mumbled.

Sunggyu laughed in response, “You know that I love you, right Woohyun?”

“Yes, and I’ll never forget again, I promise.”