Sungjong got up, accidentally stepping on Pop who was reclining at his feet. The cat growled, looking at him reproachfully.

“Sorry,” he muttered, as he walked to the door. The bell was still ringing and he prayed it wasn’t Sungyeol again. He would definitely not open the door to him anymore, boss or no boss. Besides, he kind of knew that Sungyeol would never fire him and he was going to take full advantage of that.

He looked through the peek hole and started.

Of all the people…

Hesitating, he opened the door.

“Hello Sungjong!” Woohyun's smile was bright like a sunny day. He squinted a bit, realising a second later that it was indeed a sunny day outside.

“Woohyun hyung, what a surprise!” Sungjong led him into the living room, where Pop fixed him with an angry glare. He didn’t approve of boys, especially after Sungyeol had tried to sit on her. Sometimes, he thought that Pop was trying to stop him from...moving on. It was as if the cat was instinctively guarding the house against intruders, intruders who would seem to challenge Myungsoo's role. He recalled when they had first gotten the cat, Myungsoo had sat Pop down and given her instructions, such as keeping an eye on anyone who tried to get close to Sungjong. The cat understood him, in some, weird, crazy way, she did.

“Wow, does this cat never gets old?” Woohyun commented as he eyed the cat.

Now that Sungjong thought about it, he had had Pop for quite some time and besides growing bigger in size, she had surprisingly shown no change. But then again, maybe cats didn’t show signs of aging.

“Vampire cat,” Woohyun joked as he sat down on the couch. “I wanted to bring you something but I forgot.”

Sungjong waved it off. Telling him to wait, he went to the kitchen and started the coffee percolator. He could hear the sound of the channels being flipped on the TV from the living room. He wasn’t sure how to feel about the unexpected visit – Woohyun was Myungsoo’s cousin but he was also a friend of Sungjong’s; they had been originally introduced through Myungsoo. The visit could be completely unrelated to the man who had introduced them, but then again, Woohyun had been surprisingly scarce ever since Sungjong and Myungsoo’s falling apart.

“Thanks,” Woohyun said as he received the mug of coffee. He had switched off the TV and Pop had taken to playing with a ball of yarn she had found lying around. Sungjong ignored the fact that she was sitting on one of his medical journals - he’d skin the stupid cat later for that.

“So, how are you hyung?” he asked casually.

“The usual.”

Woohyun talked about his life – he owned a chain of restaurants – it was a successful business. He had absolutely nothing to worry about, he said as much. Woohyun was the kind of person who went through life like it was a breeze.

From the way he kept hitting his knee with his fingers though, Sungjong knew that this wasn’t just a friendly visit; he had something to say. He was simply warming up to the subject and any time now, he’d drop the bomb. At least it gave him time to prepare mentally.

“So Sungjong,” He braced himself. “How are you?”

The question wasn’t as innocent as it had seemed but Sungjong decided he wouldn’t give in that easily.

“Fine. Work at the hospital is great, everything’s great.” He carefully maintained an even pitch. Out of all the people he knew, he had to be the most careful with Woohyun because under his frivolous ways laid a strangely perceptive mind.

“That’s not what I heard. Apparently your boss…” Woohyun smirked and Sungjong knew that somehow he had done it again – it seemed impossible to hide anything from him. He seemed to know everyone's business.

“Okay, how the hell did you know that?” Sungjong asked irately.

Woohyun clicked his fingers.

“Magic.”

“Please? You’re amazing; I mean I can’t even imagine how you manage this.”

Like most of his kind, Woohyun’s lock could be opened with a generous amount of flattery and even though Sungjong was bad at this, he tried his best.

His friend smiled smugly. Then leaning back into the couch, he said, “I have my ways. Im Daehyun is a dear friend.”

Sungjong sighed.

“Of course he is.”

Woohyun’s uncanny ability to have friends and contacts everywhere amazed him. He was a social butterfly with a knack for keeping up with friends in the right places.

“Did you ever know,” Woohyun cocked his head sideways. “That he liked you? But he gave up because he thought you’d always consider him as a competitor, never a love interest.”

Unfortunately, with Woohyun it was hard to tell when he was speaking the truth. Another of his many abilities was to lie stoically. Daehyun’s story sounded a bit far-fetched - they had been friends for a long time and Sungjong had never noticed anything more than friendship in his manners.

“Why are you here hyung?” Sungjong finally asked. It was obvious small talk wasn’t his intention and he didn’t want to hear any more of Woohyun’s stories.

Woohyun put his hand on his chin, fixing him with a piercing look.

“Myungsoo’s in China now. Beijing.”

Sungjong closed his eyes momentarily, then opened them, letting the cloud pass.

“He is with Jiyeon now.”

Sungjong tried not to emit a response; he sat very still but that itself was a giveaway that he was not alright. Woohyun’s eyes softened into a pitiful look.

“I’m sorry,” he said.

It took Sungjong great effort to shake his head.

Jiyeon, Myungsoo’s longtime secretary – Sungjong wanted his brain to shut down, to stop thinking – I could have guessed.

“Why are you telling me all this?” he asked hardly. He didn’t want sympathy, he hadn’t asked for this.

“Actually, this is not what I came here to say.” Woohyun crossed his legs and sat up straight. “I was talking to Myungsoo last week and – and when I asked him why the two of you had broken up, he gave me a weird answer.”

Sungjong’s heart thumped faster. Could Myungsoo have made Sungjong the criminal, could he have said something so horrible about him that even Woohyun was disgusted? That wasn’t the Myungsoo he knew. But then again, he had great doubts how much of Myungsoo he actually knew.

“I expected him to say that it was your problem, or his, or there was someone else between you two.” Woohyun sighed. “I even expected him to say something like you two are not meant to be – that hapless romantic.” Woohyun abhorred Myungsoo’s romantic notions, and laughed derisively every time he brought up destiny and soul mates. “But that’s not what he said.”

Sungjong was at a loss as well - if Myungsoo’s answer had surprised Woohyun, it had to be something very unexpected.

Taking a deep breath, Woohyun said, “He told me he doesn’t know. ‘I don’t know’ – that’s exactly what he said.”

Sungjong frowned; he felt he was missing something important here. Myungsoo had probably not wanted to talk about it so he had said ‘I don’t know’ – why did it disturb Woohyun so much?

“I heard him say it Sungjong, I did. He means it.”

Sungjong looked away. He had no idea what point Woohyun was trying to prove but he didn’t like his intense gaze.

“Don’t you understand Sungjong? He’s still in love you. He has no reason at all, nothing to justify his leaving you. He believes he should be with you, that you two should be together. He loves you.”

Sungjong breathed out noisily. He couldn’t believe Woohyun would say something like that, after all this time. It was as if Woohyun was playing a joke on him, because what he said made no sense.

“You’re insane,” he told him.

Woohyun tried to argue the matter but Sungjong had heard enough. He wasn’t going to indulge himself in Woohyun’s madness anymore. He told him upfront that he had no interest in anything Myungsoo might have said or anything he might have implied.

“We’re done,” he said with rigid finality. As he walked Woohyun to the door, he grew angry for letting himself react to Woohyun’s words.

“Sungjong,” Woohyun said, as he stepped out on the porch. “I don’t know what happened between you two. But I can bet my life on it – Myungsoo loves you. And someday, he will tell you that, I promise.”