Ryewook let his frail hands linger over the picture frame.

How long had it been since they'd all been together?

20 years? 30 years?

Had it really closed in on 40 already?

A soft breath left him, memories flooding in and being replaced with questions.

How were they all doing? Did they have families? Children? What were they doing now that old age was landing upon them? Did they ever miss each other? Did they ever miss /him/?

He could still remember the way that Kyuhyun had tried to reassure him that everything would be fine, even without Jungsu.

Ryeowook placed the picture frame back on the stand, leaving it to gather dust and memories once again. He hardly looked at it these days, unable to bare the pain that came with the knowledge that his closest friends were now mere strangers to him.

Looking in the mirror beside the door, he adjusted his blue tie (hadn't their color been Sapphire Blue?) and slipped on the black shoes that he'd bought just for this occasion. It was to be a special day... but not the kind of special that one would hope for.

The silent room seemed to close in around him. It was too small, far too small.
Ryeowook put his hands together, holding back the emotions that had been welling up inside of him since last week. The emotions that built up inside of him /now/. He had heard the news over a week ago, but it was only now that reality had snapped down on him.

To distract himself, he glanced around, trying to pinpoint the faces of those that he knew, but it was difficult. He hadn't seen any of them in so long that he was mostly unsure of what they looked like.

"Ryeowook hyung?" The voice sounded much less beautiful now, the years having taken a toll on the speaker, but he would recognize it anywhere.

"Kyuhyun-ah?" Ryeowook turned to see the boy turned man standing before him. His eyes looked dull, and the elder immediately missed the mischievous sparkle of his dongsaeng's playful innocence.

"It's been a long time." Kyuhyun spoke softly, as though he was afraid of disturbing somebody. When had he become so quiet? And when had he become so polite? Where was the evil maknae that Ryeowook had known and loved so long ago?

All he could manage was a nodded reply.

An awkward silence enveloped the two men, but only for a few moments.

"So... did you ever propose to Seohyun like you had wanted to?" Ryeowook asked, trying to strike up a conversation, though he knew he wasn't doing a very good job at it.

"No. I... I had planned to but... I couldn't bring myself to do it."

Because Kyuhyun had loved /him/, not Seohyun. It wasn't something that needed to be said, it was shown easily in his eyes.

"How about you? Did you ever get married like you had wanted to?" Kyuhyun asked, albeit a bit hesitantly.

"No. I just never found the right girl." Ryeowook's reply was shy, but conveyed a similar secret message to that which had been hidden in Kyuhyun's words. He had never found the right girl, because he'd already found, and lost, the perfect guy.