The train ride going to the meeting place was horrible. Although I dreaded meeting Yongguk again, I can’t deny I missed him. For god’s sake, I even stared at our ski trip selca together while I was at the subway station. I guess I haven’t completely forgotten him. But I wanted to though. He and I hid our relationship for a year at the army…the ski trip was the last straw. I didn’t want to continue hiding.

How ironic though. We weren’t supposed to be seen together in the past. But now our job requires us to be together. Dear destiny, stop toying with me.

I’m seated outside of a café. The Chief said I’d meet Bang Yongguk here. Does Yongguk know he’s meeting me? Maybe he doesn’t know it's me. I can probably run away just in time before—oh shoot, he’s here. He’s walking towards me. Suddenly, a flash of memories are flooding in my head. I say his name softly.

"Bang Yongguk..."

He doesn't react to me saying his name. Good. Wait. Is he smiling? I can’t tell. He has sunglasses on and he’s in casual clothes. I’ve never seen him in casual clothes. I’ve mostly seen him in nothing. Wow. Now I’m imagining him with nothing on. Good job, Kim Himchan.

I clear my throat and look away, embarrassed to say the least. But he arrives in front of the table.

“Hey…” he greets me cooly.

I look at him and just nod along with a crooked smile. He’s changed. I can’t explain it but I can feel it. Is it his appearance? I can see he’s gained more muscle. But that’s not all that’s changed. I can’t quite put my finger on it but I know he’s not the same Bang Yongguk I met back at the base.

He sits himself down on a chair opposite of me. He removes his sunglasses and grins like he’s happy to see me.

“So…here we are,” he starts off.

“Yeah. Here we are…”

Dead silence. We’re extremely awkward. What did I expect? That we’d high five each other, pull ourselves in for a man hug and say ‘how’s it going?’ with a cheerful tone? As if.

“Who would’ve thought we’d be assigned partners, huh? Small world.”

He tries to make small talk. In my opinion, it’s not working.

“Cut the crap. We’re going to be partners but I’m not going to force myself to be close to you. This isn’t the army anymore. This is real life. I’m not your junior, we’re at the same level. You can’t force me to do or your ...” This is what I say to him…in my head.

But in reality, all I can muster up are these words.

“I have an appointment. Uhm. I-I’ll just see you at the station tomorrow,” I say the worst possible lie I can think of.

I stand up and grab my bag that’s lying on the floor. He stands up as well and tries to stop me.

“Wait. Don’t you want to talk?”

Talk? Talk about what? About what happened 2 winters ago? Is there even a need to talk about that? Or maybe he wants to make more small talk? That’s not going to work on me.

“If you have something to tell me, you can tell me tomorrow. I have to go.”

I turn around and leave without saying anything else. I guess this is what I’m really good at… running away. But I can’t keep running away. I fail at it. I tried it once and I ended up here. I’m by Bang Yongguk’s side and we’re going to be working together. I know I shouldn’t run away but I’ll give myself an excuse and run away for today. I quicken my steps to make sure he can’t follow me. Luckily, a bus stop is near and the next bus has just arrived. I hop on fast and pay for the ride. I don’t know where this bus will take me but it’s better than where Yongguk is.

I sit at the very back seat. I look outside and Yongguk’s not following. I feel relieved. I sit down comfortably and think.

I fell in love with Bang Yongguk once. I can’t do that again.

TO BE CONTINUED...

AUTHOR'S NOTES:

Here's a small teaser. It's just a prologue[?]. A starter for the fic. This prologue just connects ARMY to ONCE.

I'm planning the entire fanfic plot so that I can update this daily (maybe). I don't like long fanfics so expect this fanfic to be 10 chapters. If it gets longer, it's probably because of all the emotion you have to read through. But this fanfic will not go over 20 chapters, for sure. 

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