The last time I saw him was during the winter before graduation. Snow fell heavily in clumps, but I remember the outside not being as harshly cold as it usually was. There he was, walking slowly to the end of the white sidewalk with his hands buried in his pockets. I remember thinking that what the hell, this guy is making it seem like he’s got some jazzy background music to keep him company while he’s walking. I was about to call out his name to make fun of him when he abruptly stopped at the edge of the sidewalk. He stood there for a bit, as if he was waiting for something. And I realized that he actually was waiting when a couple minutes later, a silver car pulled up by the sidewalk.

 

   ‘Strange’, I thought with an unsettling feeling running through me. Before long, the carefree pace that my feet began with turned into a frantic run towards him.

 

   “Daehyun!”

 

   He turned to look at me who was dashing towards him from half a block away. Why won't you stop?.

 

   I stretched my right arm out, hands desperately trying to grasp the disappearing figure. Daehyun gave me a simple smile and nod.

 

   In seconds, he was gone.

 

   I didn’t know why I was running or how exactly I ended up tripping over and falling on my face. But, for some reason, I just knew that Daehyun wasn’t coming back. The thought terrified me.

 

   The surrounding images turned blurry and for some odd reason, my eyes were damp. Stupid snow for falling directly into his eyes and making it so damn hard to see clearly. Worst of all, there was this lump in my throat that wouldn’t go away, accompanied by a painful squeezing in my chest. I rubbed his eyes and opened my mouth.

 

   “Daehyun!”

 

   What was I doing? He was gone. What the hell was I hoping for? I knew that yelling was hopeless. And why did my chest hurt so damn much? Why wouldn’t it stop? Someone, make it stop.

 

   “Come back. Please.”

 

   Why couldn’t I run faster?

 

 

---

 

 

“Youngjae? Youngjae? JaeJae? Hellooo? Wakey wakey?”

 

“Leave me alone, Himchan-hyung…”
 

 

His eyes feel as heavy as lead, and he knows that he's probably not moving anytime soon. The last thing he remembers is typing incessantly, words and numbers blending together in a way that makes them infuriatingly unable to read. Who knew that office work required this much effort and concentration.

 

“We have ten minutes until lunch break ends, Youngjae. You better hurry your up before the boss struts in here. Remember what she told you last time?” Himchan's deep voice goes up a few notches in his attempt to imitate their lovely associate. "Yoo Youngjae?! The next time I catch your sorry sleeping on the staff couch instead of doing paper work and attending our precious clients, I will drag you up the stairs by your hair then dangle you off the rooftop of our building!"

 

“Yeah yeah. Well, whatever." Youngjae responds nonchalantly, body rolling away from the sound of Himchan's raspy voice.

 

 

It's only a matter of time before Himchan snaps (Youngjae blames the overdose of coffee) and his patience wears exceedingly thin (Youngjae's also pretty sure that Himchan had no patience for him to begin with).

 

“Jesus ing christ. Wake the hell up before I karate-chop your damn out of the staff couch!"

 

He opens his eyes slowly, staring up at his loud friend who was ready to beat the living out of him. Youngjae couldn't bring himself to care much. He was too tired to. Doing paper work until 3a.m. for five straight days would take the energy out of anyone (with the exception of Supervisor Kim Himchan who was a workaholic and lived through each day with five cups of coffee). Anyway, it was always best to let Himchan be Himchan and talk his ear of because that was his job as the naggy supervisor.

 

"Alright, alright! I'm awake! Go on ahead, I'll be there in a few." Youngjae waved his hand dismissively, furrowing his eyebrows so that his friend would get the message and leave him alone to wake up at his own pace. And maybe even do some yoga if he's up for it.

 

"I swear, if you're not there in five minutes, I'm cutting your balls---Oh wait, forgot that you didn't have any."

 

Himchan's loud snickers bounced off the walls of the room. Well, two could play that game.

 

"You're just jealous that I get more girls in one night than you have condoms."

 

"This ."

 

He hears Himchan storming out of the room like a rogue tornado, slamming the door behind him so loudly that the walls shook. Right. Himchan lifted weights. That would have been a nice thing to remember before Himchan managed to interrupt the work of all the building members.

 

"I'm not treating you to free food anymore, ungrateful brat! And I thought you were gay!" Youngjae could clearly make out the statement from behind the wooden door. He laughs softly to himself, waiting for the heavy stomps to fade away before deciding to open his eyes.

 

Blue sky. White clouds. Everything's quiet.

 

Bits and pieces of the dream fill his vision, causing him to suddenly jolt up and sit properly on the rugged leather couch in the old staff room. He runs his slightly calloused fingers through his messy black hair in an attempt to smooth out the tangles and to distract him from the images replaying over and over again in his mind.

 

Go away already.

 

Allowing his eyes to wander around the dimly lit room, he sets his focus on the blue sky outside the window. The afternoon sun is hidden behind a huge group of thick clouds. That's alright. Youngjae was never much of a sun person anyway. He liked the clouds more.

 

He thought that they were more inconsistent and practical than the sun. He liked how they changed shapes and how they flowed in the direction the wind carried them. Clouds were kind of like humans, in a way. They were inconsistent and constantly changing, going in the direction of their fate caused by their choices. None of them were ever the same.

 

He raises his right arm to block his eyes as the sun moves out of its hiding place.

 

“Daehyun.”

 

Standing up, he drops his arm and turns away from the sun, eager to step out of the room painted the same color as the sky outside. He pauses with his hand resting on the doorknob and closes his eyes.

 

 

There's that feeling of regret.

 

He should’ve run faster. Why didn’t he?

 

Stop it. Wake up. You’re not seventeen anymore.

 

That’s right. He no longer has that kind of luxury.

 

He plasters a smile on his face and twists the knob before disappearing to go after Himchan.

 

The way that the halls were colored reminds him of his freshman year in high school. Now that he thinks about it, he changed a lot from the person he used to be. But then again, doesn’t everyone? Well, not really. When Youngjae contemplates the idea a little more, Himchan still seems to possess the same bothersome characteristics from their elementary, high school, and college years. He’s loud, flamboyant, speaks his mind without any regard to a person’s feelings, hyperactive, nags a lot, too caring at times, overprotective, reads a variety of (way too much for his own good), and just plain annoying. The twenty-seven year old frowns to himself. Why was he friends with him again?

 

“Youngjae?! Where the hell are you?!”

 

He lets out a long sigh.
 

 

He's hungry, sleepy, and is really craving some cream cheese bagels from the cafeteria.

 

 

He's dropped his guard again and before he knows it, his mind's wandering, and he's back in his freshman year, where some random kid from Busan's in the middle of introducing himself to the class.

 

 

---

I know that the feel of the chapter is kind of weird but I thought that that would make it more...
REalistic? IDK. Feel free to drop me after this chapter orz xD
So...how's this chapter? I love you all for reading this.
I'm serious. I'l give you all virtual cookies and cake. I like green tea ice cream. Shall we go to a buffet?
Love always, Masaruchi/Tentacle-chan