A/N: title reads as "Nazneen" in Urdu, the word for "adored".

"It’s been a while, yeah?" Jonghyun smiles when she joins him in the balcony.

Gwiboon grins in response, imitating him to lean her elbows against the railing. Their parents are indoors in the living room, talking about some silly politician again. Walking away for some peace from all that arguing and debating is justified in her eyes, so she follows him. “Approximately seven years…” she nods. They laugh about it. Or at least she does, he just nods back. It’s always been easy for her to laugh at nothing.

"A lot’s happened in seven years," he looks at the traffic on the streets, frown deepening with every honk.

"Hey, remember when we walked all the way to and from the library that one afternoon?" he suddenly whips to her and asks. "What was the temperature that day? Thirty-eight? Forty?" It’s a surprisingly old memory, and Gwiboon finds herself recollecting it from under many layers of rust. Surprising because it’s the only profound memory she has of him. Their short-lived encounters at company parties meant nothing really.

They’re in another city now, and somehow in another time. She’s quite sure their childhood homes have long been demolished, and the library is now a pile of rubble making way for something grander. Only memories of sunburned arms and flat bicycle tires remain. Talking about them brings nostalgia in .

"Didn’t we do that again after we’d both started college?" she raises her eyebrows. Someone honks particularly loud and gradually other remembrances float to the top of her head. An evening in someone’s house, watching the most scandalous comedies possible. A night by the beach while the grown ups played games and cooked barbeque. A party spent sneaking out to the cemetery nearby. A whisper smelling of dinner and a loud offering ice-cream.

"Did we?" he shrugs. "Anywho, what’s changed since then?" the conversation veers off when he looks to her with interest. She never expected him to get so friendly with her, but since he has it’s a pleasant feeling. She gives him her happiest face.

"A lot~"

"Wow, you’re so detailed…"

She a makes a motion to thank him for the “compliment”. They chuckle. “You know, Jjong… you were really popular back then,” Gwiboon adds. “I remember when they gossiped about you kissing a lot of girls behind the gym, smoking a lot of pot during band practice, acing all the tests because you were secretly a genius,” lists. “Oh! And there was that one little gem floating about where you wore headphones to school and none of the teaches said anything about…” she grins, shaking her head.

"What about now? Still popular?"

"Wait, wait," Jonghyun stops her with a hand held between them. "All this so-called gossip… did you ever believe it?" From the serious look on his face, the anxious glint in his eyes, she can tell he wants to know sincerely. And it’s a confusing query because when did he start caring what other people thought of him? Kim Jonghyun has always been carefree and laidback when it came to his reputation.

Gwiboon plucks her words out carefully. “Uhm… well, the more gullible kids would’ve—”

"No, I don’t mean them…" he turns back to the traffic downstairs, clasping his hands together as if he’s sitting in on a very important meeting. "I meant what you personally thought of me. Did you believe any of that? Did you think badly of me because of all that?" His hazel eyes flick up at her momentarily, and she detects a little self-doubt in them.

"Honestly?" She sighs, copying his pose as she stares at the steel and glass facades stretching out before her eyes. "I don’t remember. It was a long time ago, and I was porbably just as stupid as the rest of the crowd. Maybe I believed everything they said, maybe I didn’t. I don’t remember, man…"

He clicks his tongue. “Then at least tell me if you ever liked me romantically.”

She laughs hard. “You’re asking me if I had romantic feelings for a stranger when I was a seventeen year old baby?!” She tilts her head at him in exasperation. “Really, Jjong. Come on. How could I have any feelings for you when we weren’t even proper friends. We only ever spoke at company get-togethers when there was no other source of entertainment.”

"R-really…?" he bites his lip. "So we were never even friends, huh?"

She narrows her eyes. “Why do you look so hurt?” He turns to lean his back against the railing this time. She purses . “Listen… I was a really embarrassing person back then. Being friends with me wouldve probably ended in you being humiliated beyond repair. So count yourself lucky.”

"But our parents have known each other since we were babies…"

The door to their neighboring balcony slides open and a young man walks out with an unlit cigarette between his lips. Gwiboon grins at the sight, waving her hands above her head. “Yoooo~ Taeminnie~ Annyeong!” The boy looks dumbfounded for a few seconds before waving back with only a fraction of Gwiboon’s enthusiasm.

"In some ways I’m still embarrassing…" she mutters under her breath. By their proximity, Jonghyun probably hears her, but chooses to say nothing. She whirls to look back at him. "So yeah. Like or dislike was something beyond either of us, since we didn’t even know each other back then… Neh?"

He his lips and gestures with his hands a few times before actually letting his words out. “C-can… uhm. I mean—what about now? Can we… should we try being friends now?”

"Sure~" Gwiboon nonchalantly responds before walking back inside, feeling her heart flap its wings just a little faster.