Sunggyu opened his eyes to a bright light. It took a few seconds for his eyes to adjust to the light, but when he finally could see, he frowned slightly.

            Where is Sungyeol?

            He then realized that he was on his bed. He suddenly felt unsettled. He would usually wake up with Sungyeol next to him. He would usually wake up with Sungyeol’s arms around him. He would usually wake up and see Sungyeol’s sleeping face, not that odd light from earlier.

            As he pondered about what was going on, Sunggyu blinked and turned in the bed. When he stretched and turned to the left, he found who he was going to look for. Sungyeol was facing away from him, sitting on the edge of the bed. Sungyeol was looking down, his arms around his legs as they were folded against his body. He looked sad. He didn’t even face Sunggyu when he moved around on their bed. Sungyeol had to have known that Sunggyu was now awake.

            Why is Sungyeol sad?

            Sunggyu sat up and looked towards his lover. He felt a little bothered. Sungyeol never acted like this before. This was the first time Sunggyu saw Sungyeol like this, especially in the morning. Sungyeol was always a morning person.

            Where is Sungyeol’s big smile? Where is his innocent gesture of yawning and snuggling up closer to me in the morning? Why isn’t he looking at me?

            He decided to go to Sungyeol and find out what was wrong, but as he started to move towards him, Sungyeol got up off of the bed and headed out of the room. Sunggyu pouted.

            What’s going on?

            He then followed Sungyeol out of the room. While walking, he felt a bit sluggish. Was it because he had just woken up? It shouldn’t be like that. He usually had a lot of energy in the morning, but of course, he used to have Sungyeol hug him with a smile every morning. The only reason Sunggyu was a morning person was probably because of Sungyeol. He sighed slightly as he walked into the bathroom, where Sungyeol would usually go every morning. He wasn’t there.

            What’s with Sungyeol today?

            Sunggyu ran his fingers through his hair and decided to walk to the kitchen.

            He’ll probably be there.

            He was right. But Sunggyu wasn’t sure he really wanted to be right. He layed his eyes at Sungyeol, who was staring at the counter. He rested his sullen cheeks on his hands, and his elbows were on the surface below him. Sunggyu heard Sungyeol huff and sigh tiredly. He wanted to go up to Sungyeol and hug him from behind. He didn’t like seeing Sungyeol sad, and he wanted to make the younger feel better, even though he couldn’t find out why Sungyeol was sad in the first place.

            He looked at Sungyeol and saw something that he didn’t like. It was Sungyeol’s eyes. Those eyes that were once full of light were empty.

            Why are they like this? Did something happen?

            Sunggyu took a step in the kitchen to try and find out what had happened with Sungyeol, but as soon as he did, Sungyeol stood up from the counter and walked out into the living room. This was making Sunggyu frustrated. He didn’t like how Sungyeol was acting.

            Is Sungyeol avoiding me?

            Sunggyu quickly went into the living room to follow Sungyeol. But he raised his eyebrow and stopped when he saw Sungyeol putting on a jacket. He seemed to have already had on jeans and a t-shirt, which was weird because Sunggyu could have sworn he and Sungyeol were just in bed with their pajamas when they went to sleep the night before.

            Was Sungyeol already dressed in the bedroom? Where is he going?

            Sunggyu quickly went into the bedroom to change so he could follow Sungyeol, but running past the mirror, he realized that he, too, was already fully dressed.

***

            Sunggyu shook the thought away after realizing that he was spending too much time staring at the mirror. What was important at that moment was finding Sungyeol and finding out what was wrong. Sungyeol wasn’t the type to be sad. He wasn’t the type to be depressed or melancholic. Plus, Sunggyu missed Sungyeol’s morning hugs.

            Luckily, Sungyeol was going to where he was going by foot. Sunggyu wouldn’t possibly have been able to find him if Sungyeol decided to take a cab. He followed Sungyeol down the street when he looked around and found no people around. It was also dark outside. Where had the time gone? Did I spend all day following Sungyeol? That can’t be...

            He was about to call Sungyeol’s name and tell him to turn around, but the younger turned the corner and started walking out of Sunggyu’s sight. Sunggyu then quickened his pace, knowing exactly where Sungyeol was heading. The path that he was following Sungyeol on was one he knew very well. He was going to their place.

            Sungyeol was heading to the place where they first met and where they spent every anniversary of theirs. They had been dating for about 7 years now. After turning the corner, Sunggyu slowed his steps down, still keeping his eyes on Sungyeol. He wasn’t walking very fast, though Sunggyu still felt so far away.

            7 years… Is Sungyeol tired of me now? Did things get too boring for him? Sungyeol knows that I love routine, but is our loving, everyday routine getting too boring for him?

            When Sunggyu realized that he no longer watching Sungyeol and had in fact stopped, he looked back up to find Sungyeol gone. Sunggyu felt his heart palpitate faster and started to run to the park where Sungyeol was for sure at. The sky got darker and Sunggyu suddenly felt like he was running out of time. He felt a feeling of panic run over him when he saw Sungyeol sitting at the end of the fountain alone. He had his head down buried in his hands.

           What’s happening?

           Sunggyu looked at Sungyeol and felt a pang of heartbreak. Sungyeol couldn’t be tired of him. Sunggyu knew that Sungyeol loved routine as well. Sungyeol and Sunggyu were the perfect couple. They both loved routine, and they had found a loving routine that let them grow their love for 7 years. There was no way that Sungyeol could be tired of him…right?

           They would spend every minute of every second together. Sunggyu would wake up in the morning, and Sungyeol would smile at him, having always woken up earlier, and hug him tightly. They would whisper sweet things to each other before Sungyeol would get up and go to the bathroom, always giving Sunggyu 10 extra minutes to sleep. They would then spend the morning together, chatting and drinking coffee. During the afternoon was when they would either go on a date, if it was a day off, or part their separate ways to work. Sunggyu would always come home to Sungyeol waiting for him with dinner. Sungyeol always had those eyes full of love and happiness when he saw Sunggyu. Then they would always spend the night together, whether they had , or they just fell asleep cuddling each other, they spent every night together.

            Every week they would break their dating routine and go out on a full day date. It was never the same date, and they always had fun, breaking their routine. But they would always go back, because it was their routine and they loved it.

***

            Sunggyu walked up slowly to Sungyeol. He didn’t know what was wrong, and thinking of the empty eyes that he saw earlier this morning he was suddenly very worried.

            Watching the younger just sit there with his hands covering his beautiful face, he couldn’t take it anymore. Sunggyu called out Sungyeol’s name.

            “S-Sungyeol,” Sunggyu called out. He widened his eyes. His voice…it wasn’t like it was usually. He knew it was his, but it just seemed different. There was a kind of disturbing ring to it. Something had to be wrong.

            Sungyeol looked up, and smiled. But it wasn’t the smile that Sunggyu knew. It was full of sorrow, and sadness. It seemed as empty as Sungyeol’s eyes were.

            That’s when Sunggyu noticed his eyes again.

             Sungyeol was looking right through him. He was looking at him, but not directly at him. It was almost like Sungyeol couldn’t see him.

              He reached down to caress Sungyeol’s face with the terrible, horrid empty eyes.

              And his hand went right through him.

              Sungyeol’s fake smile then disappeared, and Sunggyu looked down and realized that he was fading away.

              When Sunggyu finally disappeared, Sungyeol was left alone at their place, crying.

***

              THE END