Changmin stood stationary for only a moment; just enough time to process the backs of the people before him and the familiar face, now slightly more worn with age but nevertheless recognisable with big, dark, innocent round pupils and an astonished expression. Astonished himself, before the other two people turned to face him, he acted on impulse and shut the door; dividing them once again.

Yunho’s attention had been lifted from the pen and paper when Changmin opened the door. 

“Who is it?” He asked in a surprisingly even tone as Changmin slammed the door shut.

Changmin only stared into Yunho’s eyes and, without saying a word, it was as if when their eyes met some of the overwhelming anxiety present in Changmin flowed into Yunho. Rising from the chair he sat at, Yunho slowly approached the door. 

Before he opened it, he turned to confirm with Changmin: “is it them?”

Changmin couldn’t hold back a nervous swallow as he nodded.

Yunho took a deep breath. He’d secretly been waiting years for a moment like this. He’d been concealing all of the mixed emotions he’d felt so well, but now that the moment he’d been hoping and waiting for seemed to have finally dawned upon him, it was as if someone had just vacuumed these feelings out of him; like letting air out of a balloon. Nothing. Blank. Empty. He wasn’t sure how to feel about this, but eventually gathered that this light-headed feeling meant he could be better prepared to deal with what was to come.

His right hand slowly opened the apartment door. Right before him stood three fairly tall men. He lifted his head to identify them at eye level. Sure enough, there they were - the three members who had left him and Changmin behind in pursuit of happiness. Yoochun was stood on the right, his hair now cropped back but still that same natural-looking black it almost always was. His expression was still; mouth slightly open and eyes trained on the space where the door had been, and now where Yunho stood. Behind him, to the left, Junsu seemed very different. He seemed tidier in appearance compared to the old days, and his expression showed no shock. Yunho always thought that he was amongst the most expressive and loud of the five of them, previously. Was it a hint of disappointment, or guilt, that Yunho could trace in those striking eyes? 

Finally, after Junsu, Yunho’s gaze fell on the man he had been hoping for most of all. Jaejoong. Jaejoong stared back at him, his eyes wider than Yunho had ever seen, with one foot before the other; as if ready to bolt backwards and run. 

“Yoochun, Junsu…Jaejoong…” Yunho mumbled. He felt desperate to say something, just to keep them from leaving him once again, but he had no words - it was like the vacuum had all vocabulary from Yunho’s mental dictionary. All he could muster was their names.

Junsu leaned his head to the side, peering through the space between Yunho and the opened door, to catch a glimpse of Changmin’s cautious, deer-like eyes staring back at him. Junsu was the first from JYJ to speak.

“Yunho…Changmin…it’s been such a long time.” 

Warily, step by step, Changmin approached the door to station himself just behind Yunho. Yoochun and Jaejoong only expressed more shock as half of Changmin’s face came into view.

“It really was you…” Yoochun finally said. He truly couldn’t believe it.

“But why are you here?” Jaejoong suddenly questioned, albeit in a soft tone. 

Yunho and Changmin looked at one another with uncertainty. How were they going to explain their answer to them?

The sound of another apartment door, a few floors up, echoed and broke the stiff silence. 

“Come in”, Yunho offered, making Changmin flee off to the kitchen as Yoochun made the first step towards the  entrance of the apartment.  

The atmosphere was not bitterly cold, yet it was somewhat eerie and tense, as if the five of them were ghosts who had been haunting separate areas for many years but were now finding themselves placed together, in the same territory, unexpectedly. Awkwardness overrode any confidence as they sat down on the floor facing one another; Yunho leaning against the front of the sofa. Neither Jaejoong, Yoochun nor Junsu could be sure how Yunho, or Changmin - who was nowhere to be seen, felt about their leave from the group, and also how they felt about their loss of contact with them. So many years had passed, yet Yunho, sitting right before them, hadn’t changed. It was as if he hadn’t aged one bit - he still held a naturally modest or benevolent aura about him, and his eyes, although dark, seemed to reflect the light that flowed into them with magnificence. Although, Jaejoong could tell that they were hiding something. Yunho looked tired to him; so tired of something. But what could it be?