Omo another quick update well, well don't you feel blessed~ If there's still anyone out there who haven't read parts 6-7, go read lol I'm on a writing/updating spree for this fic rn.

part 08. all we could ever be

April 16, 2011, 9:29 AM___
Twosome Coffee Shop___

“Long time no see.”

Hyukjae smiles, returning the one Donghae is giving him. They are now sitting in front of each other, having decided to share a table for the sole purpose of ‘catching up’. Hyukjae’s eyes drink in the sight of the friend he hadn’t seen for over two years and finds himself liking what he sees. Donghae is still the same. Longer brown hair, with soft bangs just hovering above his expressive eyes. The familiar straight nose and the pair of pink thin lips sit between now chubbier cheeks. There is a hint of some muscle in his formerly lanky arms and chest, yet he still looks like the boy Hyukjae knew.

“Long time indeed,” Hyukjae replies, his smile widening as Donghae chuckles. “How have you been?”

Donghae purses his lips a little, nodding to himself. “Good. Very good. I went to Australia.”

“So I’ve heard.”

An eyebrow raises and a pair of double-lidded eyes widen a little in his direction. “Where could you have possibly heard that?”

Hyukjae shrugs, laughing a little. “Somewhere.”

“Lee Hyukjae,” Donghae narrows his eyes at him, and hearing his name being called by that voice causes a fluttering sensation to form in the pit of his stomach.

“I heard from your parents,” Hyukjae lies, a gummy grin stretching his lips as Donghae continues to narrow his eyes.

“Uh-huh,” Donghae says, crossing his arms over his chest. “And earlier this morning they told me I should invite you over because they haven’t seen you at all since high school graduation.”

“A-Ah, really?” Hyukjae laughs nervously, bringing up a hand to scratch uselessly at his nape. “I wanna see them too.”

“So how did you know I was in Australia?”

Hyukjae gives him a sheepish smile before answering, “Yesung-hyung.”

Donghae gapes at him, his jaw dropping as a look of total surprise paints his countenance. “You know Yesung-hyung?”

“I-I…” Hyukjae chuckles awkwardly. “I guess I found myself roaming Incheon one day. Found this nice cozy café with a blond owner. He happened to be friends with you and coincidentally told me about your whereabouts… I guess?”

“Seriously,” Donghae scoffs in disbelief, although there is no hint of annoyance in his amused eyes. “You found yourself roaming around Incheon? That’s an hour away from here. What were you even doing there? If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were stalking someone.”

Pretty much yeah, Hyukjae thinks but doesn’t voice it out as he just continues to grin at Donghae’s direction.

The younger boy merely shakes his head and makes a clucking noise with his tongue before chuckling, relaxing into his seat as he asks, “So how have you been? Red hair, Hyukjae? Really?”

“Does it look bad?” he finds himself asking, his fingers anxiously tugging at the ends of his bangs.

“I see no difference. After all some primates do have red hair.”

“Yah.”

Donghae laughs heartily before looking down on his lap and murmuring softly. “It looks good on you.”

His heart soars at the compliment, and he has to bite his lip in order to stop the wide grin threatening to spread across his face. Releasing a happy chuckle, Hyukjae says cheekily, “Really? I thought so too.”

Donghae snorts, shaking his head at Hyukjae as if he’s a hopeless case. “You haven’t answered my other question. How have you been?”

Hyukjae hums a little to himself, nodding casually. “Fine. Good. But compared to you, I’ve been boring. I’ve only went to Busan so far. No planes or Australia or anything cool like that.”

“You must be jealous that I got to travel to far places.”

I am more jealous of the people you were with, Hyukjae thinks, but instead chooses to say, “Indeed I am.”

They laugh, and then they’re quiet, awkwardness easily seeping through the atmosphere as they seem to have run out of things to say. For Hyukjae, during the past year, he has visualized this meeting a million times in his mind – in different settings, different time – and even rehearsed the things he wanted to tell Donghae. But right now, none of those words come to mind as he merely stares at the face he has longed to see for over two years. He’s stuck, unsure of what to do, uncertain of what to say. There are too many questions begging to be asked, but he couldn’t find the courage to do so because his fears of the answers overcome his curiosity.

Donghae takes a sip of his coffee and looks around before clearing his throat and asking, “So… you hang out in here often?”

“Not really,” Hyukjae answers. “I just happened to crave for some coffee and this was the first place I saw. What… What about you? How long have you been back in Seoul?”

“Since last night,” Donghae says. “I got back from Australia yesterday morning, took a rest in my dorm and unpacked before heading off to see mom and dad. I missed them.”

Hyukjae is very tempted to ask if Donghae missed him too, but chooses to bite his tongue and ask instead, “How long will you be staying here?”

“A week,” replies Donghae with a small sigh. “That’s the only break given to me and then I need to go back to Incheon and continue studying.”

“I see,” Hyukjae says, and he’s almost sure they would fall into that awkward silence again pretty soon, so he decides to ask just one of the things he had been too afraid to. “Do you… Do you want to hang out sometime? While you’re here? Y-You know, since you said your parents told you to, uh, invite me over… right?”

And then Donghae’s eyes are on him, unreadable and effectively making Hyukjae want to squirm in discomfort on his seat. He wishes for Donghae to say yes so badly that he unknowingly bites his lower lip hard, anticipating the answer from those thin lips with his heart thumping madly in his chest in a strange mixture of excitement and dread.

And Donghae smiles, uttering the word that enabled Hyukjae to breathe again.

“Sure.”

April 16, 2011, 7:39 PM___
Kyuhyun and Sungmin’s shared apartment___

“What should I do? What should I do, what should I do, what should I do?”

Hyukjae is pacing back and forth in the small apartment’s living room, his hands going from his hair down to the hem of his shirt, and his eyes wild and panicked. He has been saying the same thing for the past twenty minutes after he finished blabbering about the unexpected meeting with Donghae earlier in the morning, and now he is on the verge of a nervous breakdown.

Kyuhyun is seated on one of the couches, laptop perched on his thighs, and his eyes, framed with a pair of square glasses, are focused on the screen. Specifically, on the game of Starcraft that he is easily dominating. Sungmin is on the other end of the same couch, phone in hand as he exchanges flirtatious texts with some girl, as he chews on his strawberry-flavored gum.

Initially, the two of them had been surprised and had eagerly listened to Hyukjae’s recounting of the events with Donghae. However, after trying to give their opinions and calm their friend down, Hyukjae had merely continued to fret, refusing to listen to any of their advices and choosing to literally walk around in circles instead.

As Hyukjae mumbles his possibly forty-ninth what should I do, Sungmin exhales, losing patience as he turns to look at his panic-stricken friend and shouts, “Jesus, Lee Hyukjae, calm the down, would you?”

“I can’t!” Hyukjae screams back, throwing his arms up in the air and stomping his feet on the tiled floor. “How the am I supposed to calm down, I saw Donghae and I’ll be seeing him again and I don’t even know what he thinks of me – what he feels for me after more than two years of being away! He looks happy, like he’s moved on, and I’m glad he isn’t hurting anymore if that’s the case b-but… but what if he has someone else! What if he has totally moved on and forgot about me?”

Sungmin rolls his eyes, putting his phone down on his lap as he stares pointedly at Hyukjae. “Which is why, as I’ve said earlier, you should have asked him about his relationship status today. And since you didn’t, as I suggested earlier, you can just ask him when you see him again.”

“B-But,” Hyukjae says, before exhaling deeply and palming his face with both hands. “I’m scared.”

“What, are you gonna be scared forever?” Sungmin snarls. “You should be happy you’re seeing him again. He could’ve said no and avoided you for the rest of the week until he returns to Incheon where you have even less chances of seeing him.”

“But what if,” Hyukjae pulls his palms off his face and stares down pitifully on the floor. “What if he really did move on? Is it possible? Two years? Don’t you think it’s a little too quick? Maybe he hasn’t, right? Ah, but he wasn’t wearing the necklace I gave him, what does that mean? Is he just trying to keep it carefully or does he not want to be reminded of me? Oh , what if he threw it away?! Ah, I am going insane!”

“Mothering son of a !” Kyuhyun curses loudly, effectively shutting Hyukjae up in his dramatic monologue. His companions quickly stare at him with wide eyes, and Kyuhyun mumbles more curses under his breath before feeling the judging stares burning on his skin. He glances at them, frowning slightly. “Sorry. My ally betrayed me.”

Sungmin groans and rolls his eyes in exasperation. “God, why am I friends wi