It was a miracle how Beomgyu and Kai managed to sleep through the night despite the irritating feeling holding them down, their purple eyes only merely hidden under new contact lenses that managed to bring a different colour to the surface. There was, perhaps, momentary tranquillity, thanks to Soobin and Yeonjun’s presence in the room, alongside Taehyun, who kept checking up on each and every one of them, out of instinct and out of concern.

The following morning, the quintet found themselves having breakfast in utter silence save for some necessary words and phrases. The anxious feeling spoke volumes anyway, and no other words needed to be shared. They soon assembled in the football field, gathering by the benches, waiting for the rest of the team to show up, if they showed up at all.

“Some people really won’t make it. They won’t show up. I just know it. Besides, many of them left the group chat long back…”, said Yeonjun with disappointment, his hands busy playing with his wristwatch. He continued to wait, feeling the heat of the sun on his head.

“Hey, is everyone okay?”

Soobin was the first to turn around, keeping aside his phone. He got off the bench and approached the two new arrivals. “You’re here, Jisung, Seungmin.”

Jisung nodded, using his thumb to rub the palm of his other hand. He was always rather nervous around people, but seeing some of the members of the team after such a long period of time was even more nerve-wracking. “Yeah. I wanted Minho-hyung to come as well, but he wasn’t feeling too well, so I told him to stay in his room and get some rest. If there’s anything I must relay to him, let me know.”

“This is sort of awkward, isn’t it? Most of us aren’t here and I doubt they’ll be able to make it…” Yeonjun reluctantly stood up, letting out a nervous chuckle as he raised his hand to greet the other two. “How have you guys been?”

“Oh, just as usual.”, said Seungmin as he took a step back.

Three years sounded shorter than it truly was; for a few months, perhaps, the group was still keeping in touch with each other, sending messages every now and then, updating each other on their activities, but it wasn’t long before it all died down into absolute silence; there was no need to stay active, there was no need to keep sending messages just for the sake of it, for they all were confident that they wouldn’t have to team up again.

But three years later, with peculiar happenings among some of the team members, they realised regretfully that they should’ve stayed in touch after all, at least to avoid the uncomfortable atmosphere building up.

Seungmin continued, clearly understanding that no one was willing to speak up first, “I don’t think Changbin-hyung can make it because he’s busy working with artists of all sorts now, and I doubt he even saw your message. As for Felix, he’s not even in the country, so there’s that.” He stole a quick glance at the ones sitting on the bench – Kai, Taehyun and Beomgyu – and he wondered if the situation was truly severe.

“Let’s wait for an hour. We’ll see who shows up.” Soobin then proceeded to take a seat, gesturing the others to follow suit. He then looked to his side to see Kai and Beomgyu still wallowing in their own thoughts. He only wished that they were here under different circumstances, he only wished that they weren’t so restrained around each other. It just made everything much more difficult than it already was.

Soon enough, a handful of people joined them on the field, thanks to the weekend and the relatively free streets and roads. Yeji came along first, knowing that she couldn’t simply ignore a call of help, especially when the message came from Yeonjun, someone who she often worked with at the dance company; Soyeon and Yeosang came soon after, both being a sharp contrast to each other, for they were all occupied with vastly different occupations and lifestyles.

It was unfortunate that no one else bothered to help, some excuses being reasonable, and others simply unreachable to come here so quickly. The new arrivals filled in on the whereabouts of the missing members. After all, three years had passed – numbers had changed, people had changed.

“Yuqi’s on an overseas business trip, and I can’t seem to reach her at the moment. She might be using a different number, or perhaps she’s too busy right now.”

“San and Wooyoung are idol trainees now, and there’s no way they’re getting out of their trainee period so easily, and definitely not so unexpectedly.”

“Uh, Jisu’s in a different university now, and I haven’t really contacted her in months now. I think Haseul-unnie studies there too, so if we can reach her, we can reach Jisu.” Yeji paused to look around her, frowning at the realisation of such few members presenting themselves. “As for Jungeun-unnie, I’m not quite sure. I know she’s involved with an orchestra, but that’s about all. We have to use the contacts we already have, and I don’t know if the old numbers that we have are active right now.”

Taehyun got off the bench and turned towards Yeosang, the latter being far too quiet and reserved. He couldn’t help but observe the older for a few seconds, the past memories of them working together all coming back to him at once. He asked, “Hyung, could you take off your sunglasses?”

At that question, Kai and Beomgyu rose to their feet. They realised that they weren’t the only ones suffering, confused, affec