It was amazing how a color change and hairstyle could do to change a person.

Jonghyun was almost unrecognizable from the old version of his.

Hasun never expected to be caught off guard like this.

Jonghyun’s expression turned to shock when he heard Kibum say Hasun’s name.

“You?”It looked like Jonghyun still remembered who Hasun was.

She leaned back and chuckled.

Hasun cannot believe her luck or lack of it.

Who would have expected that the last person she wanted to see was standing right in front of her. And to make matters worse, she didn’t even recognize Jonghyun, whom Kibum was involved with years ago.

“You two know each other.” Onew, the goofy one asked.

She smiled bitterly at that. “You could say that.”Her eyes wandered back to her old friend and raised a brow to challenge her statement. Hasun wanted to hurt Kibum as he hurt her.

Kibum stood dumbly as he stared. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

It has been years since he last saw her. In his mind, Hasun remained innocent and cheerful.

His old best friend was nowhere near that image. Her hair was cut short like a boy’s.

Her eyes were cold.

It sent a painful jerk to his heart.

What happened to her?

“You’ve changed.” He told her.

Hasun made an uninterested noise and breathed out slowly. “What do you expect? People change Kibum.”

“If she’s calling her Kibum and he’s letting her, they know each other well.”Minho commented.

She turned to Minho for a second and pretended to feel hurt when their other friends didn’t know who she was.“Awww… you didn’t tell them? ”

Her eyes wandered to Jonghyun and Kibum. From Jonghyun’s uncomfortable stance and Key’s stiff body, their friends didn’t know a lot about their past.

The juicy ones, that is.

She smiled and opted to tell some interesting things to their friends.

It was evident that they didn’t mention their relationship before.

“You see… I was Key’s friend back when he was involved with Jonghyun. They were quite a couple in those days.”

Onew choked on his drink and looked totally surprised. He looked at Jonghyun and Key a couple of times.

Minho almost dropped Taemin off his lap at her revelation. He raised a question brow and looked at Jonghyun. “Really?”

Jonghyun appeared sheepish as he admitted quietly. “We were young. It’s all in the past.”

It was the truth.  Key was the first and last male relationship Jonghyun had.

Taemin was in awe about the secrets being revealed. “Wow. You guys didn’t know? I thought you guys were close.”

“That was a secret we promised not to tell.” Key told them.

It was a memory he didn’t want to be reminded of and yet, the living reminder was here.

They didn’t attempt for more explanation. Kibum’s words sounded final and the guys knew how stubborn he could be.

Key sat opposite Hasun.

The atmosphere was awkward. Everyone was looking at the two.

“Isn’t it funny?” She took a gulp of her lethal drink and chuckled.

He looked at her, watching her every movement, memorizing the new Hasun.

Hasun wasn’t really the same as the one he knew before.

He still couldn’t believe it. There was so much change.

It was something Key was familiar with. He, too, had undergone a change, but it happened as soon as his best friend left.

“What’s funny?”He asked like an idiot.

Hasun looked at him with cheeky smile. “You’re straight and I’m the one who’s gay.”

“You’re gay?” He looked at her in surprise.

She nodded once.

He found it a little bit funny but he had to force a soft laugh. “Yeah. I guess so.”

The irony of their new circumstance was baffling.

“Why the change?”He asked. Key didn’t care much of their audience. He needed answers.

For years, he had been waiting for it.

Hasun chuckled at her old friend’s question. “You should know the answer to that.”

Key didn’t.

Or he tried not to think of the possibility.

When he didn’t answer, she sighed and decided that there was no use bringing up the past.

If she was honest to herself, she didn’t want to see Key. She wasn’t ready to see him.

She might have told herself a hundred times that she had moved on, her stubborn heart was saying differently. Her fragile heart still twinges in pain whenever she was reminded of her first love.

The years have made her strong and more mature but there were things that still made her feel like the old Hasun. Key was one of them.

Tonight was not the time to wallow in the pain of her past. She admitted her fault in the manner she left her former best friend. Key deserved more but there was nothing that can be done to change the past.

The least Hasun could do now was to be civil and pretend just for the night. It was only one night. After that, she was free to forget again.

“Nevermind. Forget I said anything.” She shook her head and tried to smile for real. “How have you been? Anything interesting?” She tried changing the subject.

Kibum was a bit surprised by the sudden change of topic but he let it go. Hasun’s appearance has taken him by surprise. He wanted to be angry for her disappearance but what would his anger cause?

More time for them to drift apart?

He didn’t want that. All those years were enough.

He started to relax and leaned his back on the couch, making himself comfortable. “It was never the same when you left. It was hard getting used to the fact that my best friend left.”

Hasun flinched.

“Sorry. Didn’t mean to sound mean and besides it was my fault and I learned to live with it.”He apologized when he saw Hasun’s reaction. “Anyway, I went to college. Got my degree met these guys along the way. Then I found a job in a magazine. ”

“Judging from your clothes, you’re pretty successful.” Hasun pointed to the suit Key was wearing.

She knew that it was tailored specifically to Kibum’s measurements. Those clothes were expensive. She dared her friend to deny it.

He grinned and tried not to act proud. Key knew Hasun didn’t like arrogance. “Well… I got lucky.”

Hasun rolled her eyes. “Pssh… I know you Kibum. You don’t need luck.”

Blood pooled a bit on his cheeks. His heart swelled in happiness. To hear it from his old friend, it meant a lot.

Hasun’s opinions had always been a big deal for him. It was too bad that he didn’t realize her importance in his life sooner.

“You’re probably right.”He agreed with a grin. “How about you? What do you these days?”

“Accessory design.” She answered with pride. Her finger pointed at the leather band she gave to Taemin as a gift. “I made that one.”

His eyes looked at Hasun’s work and felt proud. He knew his friend was good with creating things. He was happy to see that her talents bore fruit. “You really did it.”

“Yeah, I did.”

Key and Hasun talked like they didn’t have company. They also talked about old memories before Key met Jonghyun. It was like they never fought.

Key’s friends and Taemin didn’t seem to care. They enjoyed listening to their conversation.

Unfortunately, time passed to quickly.

Taemin asked Minho to take him home. He looked sleepy. Minho didn’t have to be told twice and decided to leave early.

The others came to the same decision as well.

In the end, everyone chose to go home as well.

Key offered to bring Hasun home but she declined. She has her bike and wasn’t all that drunk.

“It’s good to see you again Hasun.” There was a tone of reluctance in Key’s voice. Hasun heard it but brushed it off.

She didn’t want to be like the old Hasun who was always optimistic.

“Yeah. It’s good to see you too.” Hasun smiled. She didn’t expect that she would enjoy her time with him.

She felt apologetic to their companions. She and Key totally forgot about them.

His friends weren’t offended. They were actually happy to know a different part of Key. They told her that their friend was very private about his past.

Happily, they said their goodbyes.

She watched them leave one by one. Her old friend was the last one. Key looked like he wanted to say something but later on changed his mind.

He smiled at her. She smiled back and waited for him leave with his car.

That smile soon vanished, just like the car moving farther and farther away.

Her time with him felt like a forgotten dream. It was too surreal.

It made her heart ache.

The feelings from all those years ago threatened to surface again.

She didn’t want that.

She refused.

Hasun had always been afraid of the old her.

Because the old her was in ruin.

She can’t let that happen again. Hasun promised herself not to be vulnerable.

She can’t let herself.

But Key was making her feel again.

At times like these, there was only one person Hasun trusted. It was the same person that saved her back in Japan.

She pulled out her phone from her pocket and pressed speed dial. Hasun walked to her bike and waited for the other person to pick up.

A couple of rings later, a male voice answered.“Hasun?”

“Kai.”Hasun tried to keep her voice light even though she was shaken about her thoughts.

“What time is it?”

“Around 1 in the morning?” Hasun answered. She wasn’t sure, she rarely cared about time.

“Why are you ruining my beauty sleep?”He didn’t sound like he like her interruption from whatever he was doing before he answered her call.

Hasun rolled her eyes. It was Kai they were talking about. He’s not the type to spend his Fridays and Saturdays alone.“Stop kidding yourself. You’re not asleep. If I could guess correctly, I just ruined your chances to reach home base.”

The man from the other line let out a slightly high pitch laugh.

She heard someone other than his friend. Kai his phone that made his conversation with his companion sound like gibberish.

“Fine. What do you need?”Kai asked, sounding like a friend she could really depend on.

“Ahh… Can’t a friend call you for nothing?”She joked and leaned on her bike.

“When it’s you…IMPOSSIBLE.”Hasun could imagine Kai rolling his eyes at her.

She grinned for a moment before losing her cheerful tone. She wrapped her free arm around herself, making her look vulnerable.

“You know me so well.”

“Aish… Where are you? I’m gonna pick you up.” She heard him going for his keys.

She smiled and thanked her friend.

“You owe me.” He grumbled.

“I always do.” She said and hung up.

During her time in Japan, Kai was the one who became her friend. He was the only one she could depend at that time.

He was a student studying photography when he found her.

The bite of the cold didn’t bother Hasun much. Waiting for her friend also help her get sobered up.

The wait wasn’t bad since Kai didn’t live far from where she was. Also, there was almost no traffic in the middle of the night.

Hasun smiled when saw a familiar car pull over.

Moments later, Kai got off the car stiffly. Unlike her, Kai didn’t like the cold. He would always around whenever he had accompanied her in the cold.

“This better be good Hasun.”He grumbled.

Seeing her friend, she didn’t wait for a proper greeting and rushed to hug him.

“Kai~” She buried her face on his chest, letting her forget her fears.

“Something happened, right?” Kai wrapped his arms around her without hesitation.

Only when she’s around her did she let herself be vulnerable. In Hasun’s world, he was her knight in shining armor.

“You saw him.” Kai didn’t have to guess who it was. From the years he had known this girl, only one man could make her crumble like this.

She nodded. “I don’t want to go back.  I don’t want to feel like that. It hurts too much.”

His one hand patted her head. “I know.”