That evening, Henry grabbed one of Zhou Mi's books. It was a business book, but since Henry had seen his boyfriend read it almost every day, he had become curious about it as well. He hadn't gotten too far until a soft knock interrupted them.

"Come in," he called out and looked up to see who it was.

Ryeowook opened the door, peeking in, his cheeks red after he had taken a walk outside. "Are you busy, Henry?"

The younger male turned to his boyfriend. "Do you mind?"

"What?"

"Is it okay if I go with him?"

Zhou Mi looked up with a frown. "Since when are you asking me about something like that?"

"I haven't been spending a lot of time with you ever sincce we arrived... I don't want you to feel let out," Henry argued.

The warm smile that appeared on Zhou Mi's lips surprised him. "But that's what we're here for, isn't it? I'll still have you when we're back in Korea."

Henry smiled brigtly at those words, ignoring the voice in the back of his head reminding him that they wouldn't have a lot of time left together either. "Thank you," he replied, crawled off the bed, and pecked his boyfriend's cheek, then he went to the door an left the room with Ryeowook.

Arriving in his best friend's room, they sat down on the bed. Watching Ryeowook move around nervously for a couple of seconds, Henry thought the other seemed to be extremely happy, almost even glowing from the inside. "What happened?" he asked eventually.

"You know... Just now... I didn't just walk around randomly," the oler starte, but then he fell silent again.

After a moment, Henry asked, "Whom did you visit?" Ryeowook's behavior told him the destination had been someone and not something. He even had an idea about who that someone was, but he left it up to Ryeowook to say it out loud.

"I went to see Jongwoon." Henry could have bet on hearing those exact words. "You know, you were right all along... I just thought I couldn't tell anyone because then I'd also have to tell him, but I didn't want that since I might lose him like that... But then I saw you and Zhou Mi and I realized it would be worth risking it."

Henry fidgeted. "Stop torturing me, what id he say?"

When Ryeowook looked up, the sparkle in his eyes gave away the answer before he could say anything. "He said 'yes'. He wants to go out with me."

The younger male beamed and hugged his best friend tightly. "That's great! I'm so happy for you~!"

"Oh come on, you knew he would accept me," Ryeowook , but Henry could hear the relief and happiness in his best friend's voice.

"Anyone who didn't would be a fool," the returnee agreed and hugged the older a little tighter before letting go again. "How did you do it?"

Ryeowook blushed. "I was rather direct, actually..."

"Hey, that at least means he definitely understood what you meant and that he, too, means what he said," Henry replied with a grin. He couldn't even express how much he hoped things between RYeowook and Jongwoon would work out!

That night, Henry had troubles falling asleep. He couldn't stop thinking about his own future and about his best friend's future. What would happen to them all? How would Ryeowook handle the truth about hiscondition? Would he end up pushing Jongwoon away again? What even really was his condition? He seemed to be doing extremely well at that moment, but what would happen when they got back? Was his current situation only temporary or had his medication really started working properly last minute? And most of all: What about hou Mi when they got back? Why did the older still stay by his side?

Once he had started thinking about all of that again, he couldn't stop. Those thoughts kept on hunting him and at the same time there seemed to be absolutely nothing he coudl do to make any of those worries go away. It also wasn't too helpful that Zhou Mi had another interview that morning - though that did distract him a bit for a little while - and had to report to the CEO afterwards, making Henry leave the room since he didn't want to interfere and also wasn't bored enough to listen to their business talk for the next couple of hours.

When chatting with Ryeowook didn't seem to help either, Henry eventually made a decision. "Hey, I'll go for a walk, alright?"

"Want me to come along?"

Henry shook his head, causing RYeowook to look up suspiciously. "I just need to get a small souvenir for Dakota. I told you about him, didn't I?" Ryeowook nodded softly, still not convinced. Henry sighed. "Don't take it personal, but I really just want to take a look t our village again on my own."

Strangely, that seemed to be the better argument because Ryeowook simply shrugged in response. "Will you be back before dinner?"

"Of course I will."

"Alright. See you later." Ryeowook smiled at his best friend and the younger felt incredibly bad for not being able to tell him the entire truth.

As Henry left the house, he took out his phone to text pastor Jonathan if they could talk later that day, then he focused ont he ground to avoid slipping on the icy floor.

Not too much later, he arrived in front of the kindergarten. He let himself in and then went to the head office since he didn't know where else to search. He knocked on the door and entered when he was told to do so.

Samantha looked up from her work, surprise forming on her features. "Henry, hello!"

The young man bowed out of habit. "I hope I'm not interrupting?"

The middle-aged woman shook her head and gestured for Henry to come closer. "Come on in."

"I just have a quick question," the young man replied but nevertheless did as he had been told. "What time will Jongwoon be off?"

"He'll be off at 3:30 today."

"Thank you, ma'am." Looking at the clock hanging on the wall, he realized he still had about 45 minuets left until then. "If he comes by, could you please tell him to wait for me in case I'm not back by then?"

"Sure, honey. Is there anything else I can do for you?"

Henry shook his head. "No, thank you."

Samantha nodded her head. "Okay. Have a nice day."

"You, too."

The young man left the kindergarten again and instead went to the stores area of their village to see if he could find anything for Dakota or if he'd have to check again the next day when they drove back to the airport. After looking through a couple of stores without any results, he found a small snow globe with the Canadian flag inside that he figured the younger boy might like. He checked his phone quickly to find a message from pastor Jonathan saying he was free that afternoon and for Henry to simply come by whenever it was convient for him followed by his address. Henry smiled when he saw that and glanced at the time, then he went to the check out.

The returnee went back to the kindergarten and watched as parents picked up their children. Half past three passed and Henry knew Jongwoon would come out sometime soon. Eventually, the young man did come out and spotted Henry, causing a frown to appear on his forehead.

"Hey!" he called out and went over to where Henry was sitting on a bench near the playing area for the kids.

"Hey," the younger man replied.

"What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to talk to you."

"Do you want to come home with me? It'll be warmer there."

"If that won't bother you?"

"No, not at all. Hang on, I'll just get my bike, then we can get going, alright?"

Henry nodded and watched as Jongwoon unlocked his bike, then he stood up. They walked in silence for a moment until the older man spoke up again, "I hope you haven't been waiting for long?"

The returnee shook his head. "No, I haven't. Don't worry."

"Since Ryeowook is coming back to work on Monday, you'll go home again on the weekend, won't you?"

Henry nodded softly. "Yes. Zhou Mi and I will fly out tomorrow, but we'll only arrive on Sunday."

"On Sunday?" Jongwoon looked at the smaller male in surprise.

"Yes. We'll cross the international date line, so we'll already land in Shanghai on Saturday. Then we have an overnight stay there before our plane to South Korea will leave on Sunday morning."

"That sounds quite stressful."

The younger man shrugged his shoulders. "I would have done anything in my power to see Ryeowook again," he replied, trying to make the sentence sound more cheerful than he felt.

"It sounds like you don't have a lot of time left," Jongwoon remarked, but Henry just shrugged. There was no use in worrying the other already when they'd find out the truth soon anyways.

They continued to walk in silence until they arrived at Jongwoon's house. Henry waited for a moment while Jongwoon put away his bike, then they went into the small house, comfortable warmth instantly embracing them.

"I'm sorry it's messy. I didn't expect any guests," Jongwoon instantly apologized.

Henry took off his shoes as he looked around curiously. It was true, the rooms he could see id look a bit messy, but it was far from chaos. "No need to apologize. It's nice to have it look like someone actually lives here. Believe me, I've already seen much worse than this," he replied with a soft smile that seemed to make Jongwoon relax a little.

"Would you like something to drink?"

"Could I have some water?"

"Sure. You can go ahead and make yourself comfortable in the living room, if you'd like."

"That room there?" Henry asked and pointed ahead to what looked the most like the living room.

Jongwoon looked up and then nodded. "Yes, exactly. I'll be right with you."

The returnee nodded as well and, after taking off his jacket as well, he went into the living room, looking around curiously. He could see a fireplace that instantly made him smile at the thought of how nice it would be to sit close to it when the fire inside had been lit. In the house he used to live in, they had had a fireplace as well. Sadly, though, Ryeowook's house didn't have a fireplace or he knew where he would have probably spent the majority of his time here in Canada.

Looking around further, Henry spotted a row of pictures on a shelf that was otherwise filled with books. Stepping closer, he could see Jongwoon on most of the pictures, mostly accopanied by other people who seemed to be his family and friends.

"You two really are alike."

Henry spun around to see Jongwoon walking to the sitting area to put down two glasses filled with water. "What do you mean?"

"You and Ryeowook. When I first brought him here and went to get us something to drink, he also started to explore and when I entered the room again, he also stood in front of those photos."

Henry couldn't help but smile at the comparison. "Thank you." He could totally see his best friend walking around the room curiously and trying to understand this man's life through the pictures and the furniture he could see.

The returnee turned back to the photos and pointed at one of them. "Is that your family?"

"Yes, it is."

"They look really nice. You have a big family!"

"That's true." Jongwoon laughed softly.

"Has Wookie met them already?"

"No, not yet. But they'll come over for Christmas because they're curious about my life here and how I'm doing. Wookie will probably meet them then."

"I bet he's already looking forward to it." Henry looked at the picture for a couple more seconds, happy to see everyone in the picture smiling. After a couple of seconds, he pointed at a young man next to Jongwoon. "Is he your brother?"

"Yes, he is."

"You two seem to be really close. He must be sad you left..."

"That's true. But he's also pretty busy lately. Not too long ago he opened a bar. When I visit them on the weekends, I can sometimes help him a little."

"Really?"

"Yes."

"That's so cool! What's the name of the bar?"

"'Mouse rabit'."

"I wish we could've gone there..."

"It's a little too far away," Jongwoon replied and laughed softly.

"Is it? Where are you from?"

"I'm from Quebec."

"Oh, I see..." Henry pouted, realizing that indeed Quebec would have been way too far away to just travel there for fun. They would've had to take the plane to get there and stay there for a bit in this short time he had been able to go to Canada. "I hope he'll be able to keep the business going for a long time."

"I hope so, too. It's been his dream to open a bar someday."

Turning his head, Henry could see Jongwoon smiling and he knew the other was proud of his brother for accomplishing this. "How come you came here when you're all the way from Quebec?"

"I don't know. I've always wanted to work in Toronto or nearby and then I just so happened to find this job offer, so I jumped at it and then moved here. I don't regret it at all."

"And your family really hasn't been here so far?"

"No. At first I was busy enough moving in, and then w