Hyukjae didn’t expect to see him there, at the book store. The book store not being the shocking part of the location, it was the city. What is he doing here?

Seeing someone you once knew can either be a good feeling or an awkward one. This was one glance that filled a body with happiness, nostalgia and heartbreak all at once.

At first, Hyukjae didn’t recognize him, he had to do a double take to make sure he saw right. Of course, the once scrawny teenager turned out to have a fairly toned body, or at least that’s what it seemed like. Even his face had shaped into a more adult form, yet still not enough to completely make him seem like one. Maybe with more years he’ll lose his childish face, or maybe that’s just something that’ll stay as his trademark. Overlooking this young man Hyukjae secretly studied all the visible changes and couldn’t help but wonder if the boy on the inside had grown just as much. Although it has been almost five years, looking at those sparkling eyes, he knew for sure who the guy was.

Slowly, Hyukjae walked over to the oblivious brunette who was intently looking for a specific book. As he approached, he halted and stood unnoticed. It wasn’t until he finally spoke up that his presence was acknowledged.

 “Donghae..?” he questioned, just to be safe.

Evidently it was the guy’s name, because he turned fast and surprised to hear his own name being called out. However, then he noticed whose mouth that name had come from, and his eyes grew as wide as they possibly could. It was Donghae’s third day in the city and he already encountered something uncomfortable. He almost forgot that he had to speak, seeing that face in front of him brought back a million and a half memories. All of them flooding his head so fast, for a moment he thought he was going to black out. Getting a grip of himself he opened his mouth to speak, wanting to say so much, yet only managing to release a single word.

“Hey.”

“It’s been a while, huh?” Hyukjae awkwardly raised the corner of his mouth in an attempt to smile, but it seemed that neither of them really wanted to celebrate their reunion. “What are you doing here..?”

“I just moved here,” Donghae spoke, turning to search for whatever he was looking for before.

“Oh? Do you live near here?” At this point Hyukjae just wanted to speak to him, it didn’t matter what they said, though it didn’t seem like the other was in a very talkative mood.

“Yeah, just around the corner,” he answered, not lifting his eyes from the bookshelf and pointing a loose finger to a general direction of where he lived.

“...me too.” At this, Donghae’s eyes grew wider once more.

It was evident, Hyukjae knew Donghae wouldn’t want to talk to him, probably not even see him. As it turns out, now they will be living near each other. Stupidly, Hyukjae wished the other had forgotten about their past events, but stupid it was indeed. If he recognized Donghae immediately and the other recognized him, then how could he not remember their years of being together? Erasing three years of your life is a hard thing to do, Hyukjae knew, because he once had tried so hard to accomplish it.

Hyukjae checked his watch, thinking of a fake excuse to simply leave.

“I guess I’ll see you around” They nodded at each other and Hyukjae walked off at the fastest speed he could without starting to run. Once he was out of the store he did run, he didn’t run far since he lived only about two streets away, around the corner… He ran up all the way to the sixth floor where he lived, kicked off his shoes and stumbled to his room, falling face forward on to his bed. He knew well the rest of his evening would be spent recollecting past events.

Nothing could have really surprised Donghae more than meeting someone from the past he longed to forget. He walked to his new home slowly, hoping there was no chance of him to meet Hyukjae. With luck, he reached the third floor of his building safely and unnoticed. I hope he doesn’t live too close to here. He quietly thought to himself as he took of his shoes at the front door.

“Where have you been?” A barely familiar voice called out from the kitchen. Donghae went further in, reaching the table his new roommate was sitting at, enjoying a simple bowl of ramen.

“Just went to the bookstore,” he lifted up the bag in his grip as evidence.

“Hm, I didn’t take you as someone who reads,” the older mused with a teasing smirk.

“I don’t…I thought I’d take up some new hobby.” Donghae smiled comfortably.

Although he’d only moved in three days ago, he already felt comfortable with Heechul, the one who was looking for a roommate in the first place. According to Heechul, it got too lonely sometimes to live alone, not even his cats could keep him entertained at times. After all, they couldn’t exactly have a conversation with him. Donghae also was a bit reluctant moving to a different city alone. Living by himself really seemed extremely intimidating and besides, paying the bills would be much easier if he had someone to share them with.

“Have you eaten?” Heechul asked simultaneously slurping in some noodles.

“No, but I’m not hungry. I think I’ll just go to bed early, I don’t feel so great.” He got up, walking straight to his room, ignoring the other’s curious stare.

It was almost torturous remembering what had once could have been called a friendship. That night, memories flooded his head in the form of dreams. Every few hours or so, he’d wake up, tears filling his eyes. It seemed so stupid to even want to cry about something that happened a long time ago. Truth was, Hyukjae was a Donghae’s best friend for 3 years, even though they never even lived in the same city. Though saying “best friends” really wasn’t correct, after a year of friendship many more things came, many more feelings alongside that. Donghae wasn’t sure if he could say they “dated”, but it definitely was something along those lines. But somehow, at the end of their last year in high school, everything went terribly wrong…

***

The sun rose and started heating up the room through the small cracks in the blinds, which were supposed to prevent just that. A stray sunray hit Donghae straight in the eye, fluttering his eyelids open, he squinted from the light. For a moment, he contemplated just laying there for a while more, but decided against it once he looked at the clock on his nightstand. It was 11 and it also was a Sunday. This meant tomorrow he’d have to start work, a job that pretty much only required mindless typing. With what luck he managed to get that job he didn’t know, but he was surely glad, he needed some source of income quickly.

His head ached as he tried to get out of bed. Although he kept on having nightmares throughout the night, towards the morning hours he fell into such deep sleep, now he knew he had slept too much (if that was even a thing.) His steps were slow and heavy, dragging his feet he went to the kitchen, where he found Heechul once more. It was as if the guy never left the kitchen, except instead of noodles he was holding a cup of coffee in front of himself.

“Go grab a cup, it looks like you need one” The older motioned towards the coffee pot.

Donghae’s morning routine dragged on until it was noon, and again, he didn’t want to spend his day inside when it seemed like the perfect day to go out. He dressed simply for the day, deciding to walk to the park he’d seen not too far from where he lived. Heechul had left right before Donghae, leaving him to lock up. As he stepped out of the apartment, locking the door, he made his way towards the stairs. That was when someone carelessly bumped into him, making him drop his keys a couple of steps down. Donghae frowned, and automatically bent down to retrieve them, but the other person was quicker and returned the keys while apologizing.

“Sorry, I didn’t see you there. I was rushin- Oh.” The man cut off his own sentence, making Donghae’s eyes lift up to find the same person he saw yesterday. Oh indeed. Don’t tell me, we live in the same building, right? Donghae thought to himself. This is so tiring. Is this going to be happening often, these encounters?

Quietly, Donghae muttered a “that’s okay” and started walking away without as much as another word.

“Hey, wait!” Donghae shut his eyes tight. Why is this happening to me? Regardless, he stopped and waited. Hyukjae caught up, stopping in front of Donghae, one step below him. “Were you going somewhere in particular? ...I mean, are you busy?”

“Hyukjae why are you even…” Donghae couldn’t even finish his own sentence, he didn’t really know how to, he wasn’t sure what he was trying to say either, he felt exasperated.  How is this supposed to work, you don’t just stop associating with someone for five years then try to pick it back up like it was nothing.

Apparently, Hyukjae got the message because he agreed silently and descended down the stair in a much quicker pace than before.  And truly, that was the first and last encounter involving words between them, within this building. Well, for a few weeks at least.

I'm not saying it's better than before, but I fixed some stuff. This is one of the better chapters  to begin with, for sure. 

also, borke my own heart deleting things...seriously.

and I'm also in a horrible mood right now, heeeeeeeey