“If you can’t remember, just make it all up again. But this time, only remake the good memories.”

***

           Flashes. Beeps. Footsteps and speaking.

           When Sungyeol woke up, he was surrounded by people he didn’t know—people he didn’t recognize. There was someone by his bed. He had dark brown hair that looked like it grew a little too long, and he didn’t look like he had shaved in days. He smelled like he hadn’t taken a shower in days too. Sungyeol crinkled his nose at the unpleasant smell, but when he looked into this person’s eyes, he immediately found himself trying to smile at him. The man with the dark brown hair was crying but smiling at the same time. The look of relief was all over the man’s face, which was pretty handsome, in Sungyeol’s opinion.

           “S-Sungyeol,” the man cried.

           He didn’t continue. The man just took Sungyeol’s hand in his and started to cry again.

           Sungyeol, not knowing the man crying into his hand, looked on to the rest of the people in the room. There was another person crying his eyes out. He had messy blonde hair, and even though he was crying harder than anyone else in the room, Sungyeol still thought that the man was very beautiful. Next to him was another guy. He had dark hair, like the man right next to Sungyeol’s bed. He had his arm around the shorter man with the blonde hair, and Sungyeol assumed that the two must be together. Even though they were probably crying over him, they still looked like they cared about each other very much. Sungyeol smiled at the sight and continued to look on.

           He caught a glimpse of black hair at the door, and he felt his heart skip a beat. He sat up in a sudden panic, but when he blinked, the person was gone.

           The person next to him let go of his hand and held onto his shoulders.

           “Sungyeol, are you ok? What happened?” he asked, his voice laced with worry.

           “N-Nothing,” he muttered, “I thought I saw someone in the hallway.”

           “Who did you see?”

           “I-I don’t know,” he stuttered.

           He didn’t know anyone in the room either.

           Another person in a white coat walked into the room, and Sungyeol guessed that this person was probably his doctor. Everyone in the room turned to him, including a person Sungyeol wasn’t able to look at earlier. He had sandy, light brown hair with eyes that seemed a bit small. He felt something very familiar looking at this person, but he couldn’t pinpoint what it was. He stared at the man for a bit more until his thoughts were interrupted by the doctor’s voice.

           “The patient has retrograde amnesia. He can’t remember anything that has happened over the past year. He’s still capable of speaking, and he knows everything that he should at his age, but he can’t remember people. Over time, his memory should come back, but there’s a possibility that he won’t be able to ever recall the events that have happened very recently.”

           “What can we do to help him with this?” the man with dark brown hair asked.

           “You all can help by simply being there for him. Tell him who you are, remind him of things you’ve done together, and take him to places he’s been before. He’ll, most likely, remember having gone there, but he won’t be able to remember who he’s been there with. You will all have to help him with this.”

           They continued to talk as if Sungyeol wasn’t there, and after a while it started to bother him.

           He cleared his throat, and suddenly, all eyes were on him.

           “D-Do I need to know anything? You’re all talking as if I can’t hear anything you’re saying.”

           The doctor gave him a small smile and slightly nodded. He turned completely to face the patient on the bed and walked over to him.

           “Sungyeol, all you can do now is try to remember what’s happened the past year, and the faces and names of people who are important to you. When most of your memories come back, I’m sure you can go back to living your life. You’re lucky that you already have a steady job. Some people lose their memory while in school and have to redo everything.”

           Sungyeol nodded, but he was a bit put off by the doctor’s words. How in the world was he lucky? He’s forgotten pretty much everything about the people in his life. He could only remember places and events. It was like he went to school and had birthday parties alone. To top that, he couldn’t remember anything from the past year. Wasn’t that just the greatest news ever? He should be considered lucky. He had a job he couldn’t even remember anything about.

           The doctor gave him one more look before walking over to the man with light brown hair. Sungyeol didn’t bother trying to listen into their conversation. He didn’t know who the man was, and he wouldn’t understand anything they talked about until he did anyway. He decided that if he was going to get his memory back, he should start as soon as he could.

           Sungyeol turned in the hospital bed, hissing in sudden pain as he did. He looked down but could only see a hospital gown. He used his hand to peek into his shirt, and when he did, the sight of his own body shocked him. He had bandages over where his ribs should be, and there were bruises everywhere. He took this time to take a look at his arms and found fading bruises there. He brought his hand up to his head and felt bandages there too. He lifted his blanket slightly to find his legs bruised and his ankle bandaged. He looked over to the man beside his bed with scared eyes.

           “Who are you, and what happened to me?”

***

           Sungyeol felt him take his hand and hold onto his hand a bit tighter. It wasn’t too tight that it hurt him, but he felt it all the same. The look in the man’s eyes and the hesitation made Sungyeol a bit worried.

           Who is this person to me?

           Right before Sungyeol was about to give up getting an answer from the man next to him, he spoke.

           “W-Woohyun, my name is Nam Woohyun.”

           Sungyeol felt something familiar about the name, but again, he didn’t know what it was.

           “Ok, what happened to me, Woohyun?”

           Just as he asked that, everyone in the room took a step closer to them, as if to stop Woohyun from telling Sungyeol what had happened.

           “S-Sungyeol, why don’t we talk about that later?” the sandy-brown haired man suggested.

           Sungyeol raised his eyebrow at the man.

           “Why? I want to know why I lost my memory in the first place and why I have all of these bruises everywhere,” he reasoned.

           “Y-You fell down the stairs,” the man who was crying so hard earlier said.

           Sungyeol could tell that the man was lying, but he decided to not push it anymore. He’d remember it sooner or later. If it was so bad that the people waiting in his hospital room didn’t want to tell him about it, it must’ve been horrible. He suddenly hoped that he’d remember it later instead of sooner.

           He turned to the man with the sandy-brown hair and looked over him again.

           “Who are you? You seem very familiar.”

           The man smiled and walked over to Sungyeol. He took a seat on Sungyeol’s bed and put his hand on his cheek. Sungyeol saw a tear fall from his eyes, but the man quickly wiped it away.

           “I’m your older brother, Kim Sunggyu,” he answered.

           Sungyeol furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.

           “Kim? How are we brothers? Isn’t my last name ‘Lee’?”

           Sunggyu chuckled.

           “We’re step-brothers. Your father married my mother, and I just decided to keep my name. It’s not like I’m inheriting the company anyway.”

           “What company?” Sungyeol asked.

           Sunggyu’s smile faltered a bit and he played with a bit of Sungyeol’s hair. He wouldn’t look into Sungyeol’s eyes.

           “Leesang Corporation, your father owns it, and you’re currently the director for it, but soon, father is going to give the company to you.”

           The new information was starting to make Sungyeol’s head hurt a bit, but things were starting to get a bit clearer. He remembered Sunggyu from his childhood now.

           “Wait, why am I getting it? Aren’t you older than me?”

           Sunggyu’s eyes immediately lighted up. He scooted closer to Sungyeol on the bed.

           “Do you remember me now?” he asked excitedly.

           Everyone seemed to lean in closer to Sungyeol, waiting for his answer.

           Sungyeol nodded slowly.

           “I remember a little bit about you. I remember the day we first met when we were children. You had really small eyes, and I made fun of you for it. Then you called me ugly, and for some reason, we became friends after that.”

           Sunggyu grinned and wrapped his arms around Sungyeol.

           “That was one of the best and worst days of my life, little brother,” he mumbled.

           When he let go of Sungyeol, Sungyeol’s face was a little red. He could feel that they were close, but he didn’t know exactly how close they were. It embarrassed him a bit that his step-brother was hugging him in front of these people that Sungyeol barely knew.

           “Oh, and you’re inheriting the company because I didn’t want it. I never liked business, and I know that you, surprisingly enough, love being a part of the company. I always wanted to travel. I’m planning on going to London for a bit after you inherit the company. That might be a bit later on now, but it’s ok. That just means more time with you,” Sunggyu declared, taking Sungyeol in his arms again as he smiled happily.

           Sunggyu seemed to be extremely happy that Sungyeol had remembered a part about him first. Sungyeol guessed that they had been very close, which was weird because their first meeting seemed so strange. How could they have become best friends after insulting each other? He hoped that more memories with Sunggyu would come back soon. He liked seeing Sunggyu smile. His eyes disappeared when he did and it made Sungyeol very happy.

           Being so busy with Sunggyu, Sungyeol had almost forgotten that there was someone on the other side of him holding his hand.

           He turned slightly, Sunggyu still sitting on the bed with him. He held up the hand that Woohyun was holding, and held their hands out in front of him.

           “Woohyun, who are you to me?”

            Everyone else in the room seemed to have stopped breathing then. Sungyeol found that a bit weird, but he was more focused on Woohyun’s answer. Maybe he’d remember something else with what Woohyun was going to say.

            Woohyun looked down at their hands together and started to rub his thumb against the back of Sungyeol’s hand. The feeling made Sungyeol shiver a bit, but he noticed Woohyun biting his lip, hesitating once again about telling him something.

            “I’m your best friend, Sungyeol,” he said, “But…”

            Sungyeol waited for the other to finish, but Woohyun didn’t continue. He thought that it was weird that they were holding hands and were only best friends. Was this how close he was to him? Sungyeol thought back to when he had first opened his eyes, and he remembered the look in Woohyun’s eyes.

            “Woohyun,” he began, “do you love me?”

            Woohyun’s eyes widened and the grip on Sungyeol’s hand loosened, answering him.

            He let go of Woohyun’s hand, a bit embarrassed for asking such a question. There was probably no way someone as handsome as Woohyun would love him. He probably really was just a friend to Sungyeol. Sungyeol looked down at his hand in front of his bed and he felt his face get red.

            “S-Sorry for asking you, I was stupid to think that—“

            “Yes,” Woohyun interrupted.

            Sungyeol looked up, his heart suddenly beating quickly.

            “W-What?”

            “Yes,” Woohyun repeated, “I love you.”

***

            A sharp pain hit Sungyeol and another memory came back to him. This one was of Woohyun’s confession.

            It was snowing that day and the two of them were at an amusement park. The lights made the whole place look very pretty, and Sungyeol saw Woohyun smiling as he placed a reindeer headband on him. He glanced at the mirror and noticed that they both had on reindeer headbands. They were matching. Sungyeol noticed the big smile on his face, and he noticed how happy Woohyun looked.

            They bought the headbands and started to walk towards the ferris wheel. He remembered his feet hurting, but he also remembered not caring because he really wanted to ride the ferris wheel while the snow was falling. He dragged Woohyun along, and the two of them quickly got into a cart since there weren’t that many people around that day. They talked all the way up to the top, and when it stopped, the two of them admired the sight.

            Sungyeol remembered thinking that it felt kind of like a date, and he remembered blushing when he had shivered and Woohyun put his arm around his shoulders and brought him in closer. He could remember their conversation clearly.

            “W-Woohyun, you’re so g-greasy. This feels like a d-date,” Sungyeol commented, stuttering because of the cold.

            Woohyun just brought him closer to his body, trying to warm Sungyeol up and get him to stop shivering.

            “What if I told you this was a date?” Woohyun asked.

            Sungyeol’s eyes widened and he pushed Woohyun away from him a bit.

            “Y-You said that this wasn’t a d-date and t-that everyone else couldn’t m-make it,” he responded.

            Woohyun took Sungyeol into his arms again and hugged him.

            “You’re still cold. Get back here,” he said, completely ignoring Sungyeol’s previous comment.

            “W-Woohyun, is this a date? Do you…like me?” Sungyeol asked, a little warmer considering that his best friend was so warm and was hugging him extremely tightly.

            “Of course I like you, Sungyeol,” Woohyun teased, “You’re my best friend.”

            Sungyeol rolled his eyes.

            “You know I don’t mean it like that.”

            “What if I do, Sungyeol? Will you accept me?” Woohyun questioned.

            Sungyeol’s eyes widened, but he took Woohyun’s arm off of him and scooted a little farther away from his best friend.

            “W-Woohyun, you k-know I can’t,” Sungyeol stuttered, cold again as soon as he was out of Woohyun’s grasp.

            However, Woohyun didn’t get discouraged from Sungyeol’s actions or words. He simply took off his gloves and grabbed Sungyeol’s hands to put his gloves on Sungyeol’s hands.

            “Then I’ll wait until you can accept me,” he stated.

***

            Remembering that memory, he looked at Woohyun and felt guilty. He wondered why he couldn’t accept Woohyun. He stared at Woohyun, who was looking at him intently since Sungyeol had hissed in pain once the memory came back.

            “I’m fine,” he muttered.

            Woohyun’s face looked relieved again, and Sungyeol kept wondering why in the world he hadn’t accepted him.

            “Did you remember something?” Woohyun asked.

            Sungyeol nodded. He saw Woohyun smile and light up the exact same way that Sunggyu did, except this time, Sungyeol felt like smiling too. If everyone was going to react this way when he remembered something Sungyeol hoped that he’d remember everything soon. He liked making people smile, and when they looked like Sunggyu or Woohyun did, he wouldn’t mind the little pain that came with each memory. It would go away eventually right?

            “What did you remember, Sungyeol?”

            “I remembered the day you…umm,” Sungyeol started. He remembered that there were other people around him, and he was embarrassed to say that he remembered the day Woohyun confessed to him in front of them. He still didn’t know two people in the room, and Sunggyu was his step-brother. Wouldn’t Sunggyu for something like this?

            “Was it at the ferris wheel?” Woohyun asked, interrupting Sungyeol’s thoughts.

            Sungyeol nodded, and everyone in the room besides Woohyun made a teasing sound from their mouths.

            Sungyeol blushed.

            “D-Do they all know?”

            Woohyun nodded worriedly.

            “You kind of told them everything the day after. They knew I was planning to do it eventually anyway,” Woohyun explained.

            “Wait everyone knew you liked me but me? I thought I was your best friend?”

            Sunggyu face-palmed himself and cut into the conversation.

            “That’s why he kept it from you, Sungyeol. He didn’t want to ruin your relationship, but since we all thought he was perfect for you, we convinced him to confess.”

            “We didn’t think you’d reject him though,” the blonde man said, talking for the first time since Sungyeol had woken up.

            Sungyeol looked over to him.

            “Who are you two?” he asked.

            The blonde hair smiled.

            “It’s my turn for a memory now! My name is Jang Dongwoo, and this is Lee Howon. We call him Hoya though, because he’s soft like a flower.” he excitedly introduced.

            Hoya hit Dongwoo on the head for the introduction but when he turned back to Sungyeol, he smiled happily.

            “We’re your other best friends, the ones who didn’t fall in love with you,” Hoya said, slightly teasing Woohyun.

            “Yup, instead we fell in love with each other!” Dongwoo chimed in.

            Hoya rolled his eyes.

            “Maybe I should get checked for a problem too.”

            The little banter between the two made Sungyeol feel more comfortable. He was happy to know that he had friends like those two. He chuckled a little bit as the conversation went to making fun of Sunggyu’s eyes and loneliness, and he felt a great weight lift off of his shoulders. He needed a laugh. Hearing the people in the same room as him laugh too made him feel happy, and Woohyun’s laugh was the best of them all.

            “Wait, so did we trigger any memory?” Dongwoo asked again.

            Sungyeol frowned a bit and shook his head.

            “No, sorry, I‘d really like to remember you guys though. You two seem really fun,” he replied.

            The pair’s smiles faltered for a bit, but they immediately smiled again.

            “He said we’re fun! We’re better than Woohyun and Sunggyu!” Dongwoo yelled out happily.

            Sunggyu picked up a pillow from the chair next to Sungyeol’s bed and hurled it at the couple. He hugged Sungyeol again and whined, “You love your brother the best right? Watch, once all your memories come back you’ll remember how much fun I am and how much you love me, ok?”

            Sungyeol smiled at this and nodded his head. He turned his head a bit and looked at Woohyun, who was looking at him intently and watching him. He took Woohyun’s hand in his, surprising him a bit. Nevertheless, Woohyun smiled and scooted his chair closer to Sungyeol’s bed.

            “I’ll remember you too,” Sungyeol promised him.

            Woohyun beamed at this.

            “Maybe you’ll accept me this time?” he asked hopefully.

            Sungyeol thought for a bit and looked at Woohyun again before nodding.

            “Maybe,” he replied.