The last one that he wanted to find was ironically the easiest to find. The person that he rather see the least was so easy to find using the power of the internet.

Perhaps it was fitting for him. Maybe it was fate's way of telling him that this was what he needed.

Minseok wasn't sure if he believed in fate.

Then again, Minseok wasn’t sure if he believed in anything.

But he was going to try.

It was the tallest building. Fitting for the man who claimed the top.

Minseok walked in, immediately feeling the imposing atmosphere with the clean and pristine white walls and tiles.

It was quiet except for the clicks of the keyboard from the receptionist at the counter. He approached the front desk where the receptionist looked at him a look that could only be described as judging.

Minseok didn’t have to hear her thoughts to know that she was eyeing with a sense of superiority, that she thought that he didn’t belong here.

But he didn’t care. Because in that sense, there was a bit of truth. Minseok didn’t feel like he belonged. And it was a world that he did not see himself liking either.

“Hello, I am here to see Park Chanyeol.”

The moment of surprise flickered through her eyes, but she composed herself quickly.

“Do you have an appointment?” she asked, typing on her computer, trying to see for herself.

He shook his head.

Her fingers abruptly stopped, and she looked at him with a face of annoyed bewilderment.

“If you do not have an appointment with him, then I do not think it is possible for you to see him now.”

Minseok could hear her thoughts which ranged from thinking how audacious he was being as well who exactly he was to think he would be able to see Mr. Park without any appointment.

Minseok blinked, disregarding all he heard, and calmly said, “No, I do believe he would see me. Please tell him that Kim Minseok is here to see him.”

She stared at him, eying the phone. “I…” she started to say.

Minseok knew she was thinking of calling security, but she shook her head.

She picked up the phone and dialed a few numbers.

After a few rings, the person on the other line picked up.

“Hello, sir. There is… someone who wants to see you.” A pause. “He says his name is Kim Minseok. I can tell him that you’re busy…” Another pause. “But sir!” she exclaimed, followed with another pause. “Yes, sir. I understand.”

She hung up the phone, eyes full of confusion and bewilderment.

“He said he’ll see you,” she muttered slowly. She pointed to the elevator. “He’s on the sixty-eighth floor. It will be the second door to your left once you step off the elevator.”

Minseok nodded and uttered a small thanks before walking off.

Minseok knocked on the door once, a heavy and solid knock that reverberated through his ears.

He heard a muffled, “Come in,” and took a deep breath.

He was surprised to find himself like this. Nervous, anxious, worried.

He sighed again. He didn’t realize that the two people who made him feel such a range of emotions were the person he loved and the person he hated.

Minseok slowly opened the door and quietly stepped inside, closing the door behind him. It was a spacious room. But it was bare. There was nothing in it except for a large desk near the window. The only extraordinary feature was the window. It was massive. Stretching from one end to the other, top to bottom was pure glass. It gave a view of the city beneath them, small specks of human fumbling with their own daily lives.

Minseok’s eyes trailed to the desk where the chair was facing against him.

Minseok narrowed his eyes and lightly stepped towards it until he was at the front of the desk. He then sat down.

There was a silence as Minseok waited for the other man to speak first.

The chair finally spun around to reveal Park Chanyeol in all his glory. “Hello, Minseok,” he finally said.

Minseok stared at the man, soaking in his appearance. He looked almost exactly as he did years ago. His hair now was shorter and more auburn than their high school years. His still had immaculate style and posture that mimicked his prestigious position. But most of all was his smile. His fake smile that he hid everything behind.

Minseok felt his disgust build up, struggling up and out of him. But Minseok forced it back down, calming himself down. He didn’t come here to hate Chanyeol. All he wanted was to know.

“It’s so nice to see you,” Chanyeol continued.

Minseok froze slightly, his eyes narrowing only the slightest in confusion.

Chanyeol smiled wider as he saw the other’s expression.

“Ah, so it does work.”

Minseok blinked once. “What do you mean?”

Chanyeol let his eyes trail off of Minseok and out the window, fingers intertwined with each other.

“You can’t hear my thoughts anymore, can you?”

Minseok’s expression didn’t change, his blank look trying to assess the person in front of him. But it was true. Minseok was unable to hear what Chanyeol was really thinking after he spoke. And if he was being truly honest, it unnerved him a little, especially considering who it was.

“How did you do it?” Minseok finally asked, replying his question with his own.

Chanyeol spun back to face Minseok, sitting straight up as he dropped his elbows onto the table and rested his chin on the back of his interlocked hands.

“Practice, my dear Minseok. Practice,” he replied with a smile. “After our little… separation, it made me wonder if there were other people like you. I hated to think that other people would be able to hear my thoughts, so I found ways to stop myself from letting my thoughts stray away from what I said. It’s difficult, let me tell you. But I managed. And not only can you not hear my thoughts, it improved the way I present myself, so I suppose I must thank you for that.”

Chanyeol smiled again, but Minseok could tell it was becoming a little strained each time. “So what did you come for, Minseok? Are you here to exact your revenge? Do try. Things have gotten a little bland lately. No excitement. No competition. Everyone here just follows what I say.”

Minseok shook his head. “I did not come here for that. I just wanted to know. And then go back home.”

Chanyeol frowned. “Know what exactly?”

“If you changed. If you were still the same person I knew back in high school. If you still acted the way you did.”

Chanyeol blinked and then snorted. He raised an eyebrow. “Well? What is your verdict?”

Minseok shrugged. “I thought I would be able to figure that out if I heard your thoughts, but well, I cannot do that anymore.”

Chanyeol sneered. “You’re still using that monstrous ability of yours?”

Minseok slightly flinched but sighed. He realized that this was what he was scared of, so nervous of. He was afraid of him telling him that once again. But now that he did, it was almost anticlimactic. It didn’t bother him as much as he thought it would. In fact, it barely fazed and almost made him laugh. He smiled, taking Chanyeol a bit by surprise.

“Yes, I do. I cannot do anything about it. It is a part of me, and it’s a part of me that I embrace. Someone helped me realize that.” Minseok briefly thought about home and wished he could hurry up and go back.

Chanyeol frowned, not saying anything. He sighed and leaned back in his chair. “So? How are you going to assess me?”

Minseok shrugged. “Tell me about yourself and what you accomplished throughout the years. I will just have to listen to your words and make my own judgment. Just like anybody else would.”

Chanyeol blinked at him. “Why should I?”

“You’re curious about why I came to see you. That much I can tell. You obviously made the effort to see me when you could have easily sent me on my way.”

Chanyeol opened his mouth and closed it. He almost smiled. “Very well. Where should I start?”

Minseok blinked at him. “Up to you. It is your story.”

Chanyeol stared at the ceiling, recalling his memories. “After high school, I entered a prestigious university. The best in the nation. I did well. My peers looked up at me, my professors adored me, and I had plenty of friends. Though I realize that some of them probably only befriended me just to use me, but it did not matter, I did the same. It was uneventful to say at the least. I hardly had any competition and almost everyone treated me highly. Though there were a few who were jealous and tried to harm my reputation. Let’s just say those people died out very quickly. And everyone else was smart enough not to do anything. It was nice, but it was boring. I would hate to say that high school was more interesting, but it was.”

He glanced over to look at Minseok to see his expression. But it was neutral, simply patiently waiting and listening to his story.

Chanyeol frowned and continued. “Straight out of university, I was picked up by a large business firm, and they took me under their wing. There I learned the savageness of the world. If you thought I was bad, they were even worse.” He laughed. “It’s a dog-eat-dog world, and I wasn’t about to let myself be eaten. I made sure of it. I had to cater to other people, and I made a lot of enemies, but look at me now! One of the top directors of the company.”

Chanyeol stood up and walked over to the window. “Look at this, Minseok. Look at all these people, living such mundane lives. It took a lot of effort to get here, and up here, nobody dares to betray you.”

Minseok watched Chanyeol, realizing that he was talking more to himself than to him towards the end. And everything started to fall into place.

Chanyeol remained quiet for a second before turning to look at Minseok. “Well? What is your verdict? Did I change? Or even the fact if I am really telling you the truth?”

Minseok blinked at him. “I think for the most part you are. Whether you are telling me the whole truth or some of it, I will not know. But I have come up with an answer.”

“Oh? Do tell.”

Minseok smiled sadly. “We both know the answer to that.”

Chanyeol opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted by the ring of the telephone. He glanced at Minseok before picking it up.

In a quick hushed tone, he spoke to the person before hanging up. He straightened up and cleared his throat. “There seems to be some issues with a project. If you excuse me for a second.”

Chanyeol stood up and walked out the door as Minseok watched him leave, leaving him to his own thoughts.

The answer. The answer was simple yet just as complex. Chanyeol didn’t change. And probably won’t ever.  But it was simply because of his nature. Chanyeol was the type of person who will never stop striving to become the best and would use any method to do so. As Minseok thought more, the more he understood why he was like this. He knew that Chanyeol always had the pressure of being the best, even in high school. He never had anybody understand him, and back then, he thought Minseok would. But Minseok put expectations and projected his own hopes onto him when he shouldn’t have.

Because Chanyeol wasn’t the person Minseok wanted him to be, it wasn’t fair to him that Minseok simply left because he turned out to be completely different than what he had hoped him to be. In simpler terms, Chanyeol felt like Minseok betrayed him. And because of that Chanyeol probably took it hard and made sure that there wouldn’t be a repeat of what happened. And in order for that to happen, he had to be on the top. That way people wouldn’t try and betray him and he wouldn’t have to go through that again. It was all speculation, Minseok knew that. But regardless of that, Minseok realized one thing he had to do. And then perhaps, it would finally be time to move on.

Chanyeol returned, stopping slightly at the sight of Minseok.

“You’re still here? I thought you would have left by now.”

Minseok glanced at him. “There is something I still need to do.”

Chanyeol frowned and sat back down. “And what would that be?”

Minseok looked at Chanyeol. Really looked at him. He could see the dark circles under his eyes, he could see the slight roll of his shoulders as he tried to relieve the pain, he could see the exhaustion setting in.

He sighed and looked down at his hands before locking eyes with him. “I’m sorry.”

Chanyeol narrowed his eyes fiercely as if he was cautious of what was going to happen.

“Back then, I projected my hopes onto you and that was wrong of me. I shouldn’t have left you like that just because you were not what I wanted you to be. I should have listened to what you had to say. I should have worked it out with you. There were a lot of things we should have done, but I was too angry and frustrated to even talk to you. And that was my fault. So I’m sorry. We were both in the wrong.”

Chanyeol was silent for a while. A range of emotions ran across his face: confusion, anger, annoyance, sadness, surprise, unable to settle on one.

“Do you expect me to apologize too?” he finally asked in a sarcastic tone. “That we’re rekindling our friendship right now so we need to become all friendly and happy?”

Minseok blinked at him and shook his head. “I had no expectation of you apologizing to me. I did this for myself, to move on from the past. You’re not the only one. I talked to Baekhyun and Changsub, and you’re the last one.”

Chanyeol stared at him. “Why? Why are you doing this? You brought up old memories that none of us wanted us to remember.”

“Because I’m selfish. Because I want to be happy. And in order to do that, I need to drag up the past. I need to confront it.”

It was silent before the other spoke. “I never thought you would apologize to me. I never thought you understood what you did.”

Minseok had to strain his ears to hear what he said, his voice deep and soft. But he heard him, loud and clear.

“Because if there was one thing I learned this past few months is that everyone’s human. Even you. Even me. Despite all our flaws and mishaps, we, too, have emotions and feelings even if it’s buried deep inside. And even if you are a little twisted, you are still human. “

Chanyeol snorted, looking away. “Twisted, huh?”

Minseok blinked and stood up. “But that is all. That is what I came here for. And I thank you for giving me your time. I must admit that I was a little worried that you would turn me away.”

Chanyeol stared at Minseok for a while before crashing back into his seat, chuckling to himself. “God. You amaze me still to this day.”

Minseok blinked at him.

“Why is that you know me so well? Why is it that after all this time you make me suddenly wish that things didn’t happen the way it did? I hated you, Minseok. Leaving me like that. Sure, I’m not entirely guilt free either. But I thought you understood me. I thought you weren’t the type to judge outright. And because of that, I thought you would understand why I did the things I did. And when you just left, well, I understood that nobody would understand me. He looked away and out the window. “The top is lonely, Minseok. But at least up there, the only person I only need to trust is myself.”

Minseok didn’t say anything. Because there was nothing to be said. They both knew instinctively that there was nothing to be said. That the past was the past, and they were both too far down the line to try and fix anything. They were both living their lives separately and in one way or other, contently.

Minseok stood up as Chanyeol watched him.

“I have done what I wanted to do. Once again, I thank you for giving me some of your time, Chanyeol.”

Chanyeol didn’t say anything, merely watching him.

“You’re not going to ask me to apologize to you?” he asked again, this time more sincerely.

Minseok blinked at him.

“Does it matter?” Minseok looked down at his feet. “Even if it did affect me more than I thought, I have moved on from that past.”

Chanyeol stared at him. “You came all this way to confront our past; you might as well face all of it. Think of it as a parting gift. But I’m going to tell you this. I’m not going to apologize. We have burned too many bridges to build them back up.”

Minseok’s hands curled up into a ball, unable to know what Chanyeol’s intention was.

“I was scared.”

Minseok looked up to find Chanyeol wasn’t looking at him anymore, but instead staring out the windows. “To think that you had a power that allowed you to see past people’s facade. You must understand. I was taught to be always on the top, and when I found out your power, I suddenly an inkling of fear that you were suddenly more powerful. And I was scared. So I did what I thought was the only way to regain my position. And well, we know how that turned out.” There was a pause. “And not only that, even though I thought you understood me, there were things I kept hidden deep inside me. Things that I hope will never come to light. I was afraid you saw that. That every time I said something, you were able to glimpse that.”

He paused. “We’re both monsters, in our own respects. But whether you allow that to define you is up to you. I know I almost let it.”

Minseok stared at him. “Should I believe your words?”

Chanyeol shrugged. “It is up to you to believe me or not. I could be lying, or I could be not.”

Minseok didn’t know what to think. He was unable to know what Chanyeol was thinking and could only decide whether to trust in the words he said.

And in the end, Minseok decided to believe it. Whether it was a lie or not didn’t matter. Perhaps it was because Minseok had always wanted this.

An explanation.

A situation where he was forced to make his own judgments. Make his own mistakes.

Because after all, humans make mistakes.

And they both assumed that this was going to be their last meeting. One last hurrah before the credits.

Minseok hesitated, not knowing why he wanted to try one more time. It was odd really. He thought he hated Chanyeol, but now that he was standing in front of him and talked to him, his hate was gone. It was more like understanding. It was an odd bittersweet feeling.

Minseok scribbled some words on a piece of paper. “For you. If you ever need anything, but I doubt it.”

Chanyeol didn’t say anything, and Minseok took it as that.

He started to leave, ready to go back home.

“Minseok...”

Minseok turned around, but Chanyeol was still facing his back to him. He thought he had heard his name, but perhaps it was wishful thinking.

He spun back but then froze, listening to the whispers in the air, and finally glanced back even though he knew the other wasn’t looking.

He closed the door and smiled softly.

It could have been the trick of the wind, but he thought he heard something.

The words “sorry” and “thank you.”

Minseok suddenly felt lighter and wave of exhaustion hit him.

It was time to go home.

A/N:

Time to go home.

And that means it’s almost to the end.

I thank you all for joining me thus far and hope to see you til the end!