Rather reluctantly, Krystal pushed the pub’s door and walked in. Her eyes momentarily wandered around the small place, and like she expected, there weren’t any customers inside for it was noon and the place only opened during night time.

The place reeked of cigarettes and cheap liquor. It was still in preparedness; the chairs were placed upside down on the wooden tables, unfinished drinks and dirty glasses were sprawled all over the counter and unopened stacks of beer, waiting to quench the heavy drinkers, were placed in the corner.

It was the first time Krystal has entered such place for her parents were usually overprotective about these kinds of things. She was only allowed to taste the fine wine that they offered, and she didn’t complain. It tasted good. She’d always looked at these places with much disdain for her parents have fed her with endless words about their lowliness. She silently asked herself why he wanted to meet her here out of all places and how he even managed to get inside.

It wasn’t until few minutes later that her eyes finally landed on the short stout woman who was holding a mop in her hand. She was giving Krystal a warm smile; one that reached her eyes. She didn’t fit in this picture; Krystal thought. She gave more of a homey or a motherly feeling; in complete contrast to this place.

Krystal instinctively bowed upon noticing her. The woman, seemingly in her mid-forties, only pointed at the back and softly spoke. “He’s waiting for you.”

Krystal followed her gaze until her eyes finally landed on him. Her eyes shifted back to the woman, and she bowed again before her lips curled into an appreciative smile. She tightened her grip on the strap of her bag before blowing a deep breath and heading towards his table.

His table was placed directly in front of the small makeshift stage that had one mic stand in its center. He was absentmindedly fumbling with the straw in his drink and didn’t notice her at first. It wasn’t until she was few steps away that he finally raised her head and finally met her gaze.

Luhan beamed upon seeing Krystal. Quickly, he stood up and pulled a chair from another table for her to sit. She was slightly taken aback by how thrilled he looked right then.

The corner of his eyes wrinkled as he showed his pearly white teeth. She tried to smile back, but he could tell that she was a little uneasy for it didn’t reach her eyes. He knew that she must be thinking that he was some kind of a creeper, but he didn’t care. Frankly, he didn’t think that she was actually coming. Therefore, he was pretty excited that she was here.

‘Hi.’ She said awkwardly when she finally reached him.

‘Hi.’ He breathed back. His hands itched to be tightly wrapped around her, and he struggled to keep them glued to his sides. It’s been a while, a long while since he got a chance to see her this close, so he took few minutes to properly study her features before speaking.

He noticed that her eyes no longer sparkled for him. Her eyes, the ones that he was so familiar with, didn’t gleam anymore when they landed on him. His stare lowered until it finally reached her lips that were curved up into an awkward smile; the same one she’d offered to so many strangers before.

He felt a slight pang when he noticed her shifting in her seat. And it was like that; a slap that awakened him from the foolish trance of his. To her, he was just like that; a mere stranger.

He didn’t expect her to do a happy dance when she saw him today, but he had silent hopes that she’ll remember him; remember any of their shared memories. He tried to clear his mind from the false expectations and miserable thoughts. Right now, he didn’t need any distractions. He had to remember whom she believed he was; Chen’s friend… nothing more.

All the while, Krystal tried to interpret what he was thinking while he stared at her. The longer he stared at her, the longer she noticed how his chirpiness dissolved. She wasn’t sure what to say, so she waited for him to be the first to interrupt this unbearable silence.

Luhan’s eyes wandered around the place before he forced a sheepish grin on his lips. "You’re probably wondering why I brought you here." He turned his gaze towards the small stage before continuing. "You could say this’s where we first debuted."

"We?"

"Exo." He said simply before glancing at her. He chuckled when he noticed the confused look on her face. ‘Chen didn’t mention anything about that, did he?’ he wasn’t surprised when she nodded as a response. After few minutes of deliberation, he finally stood up. ‘Wait here.’ he only said before walking away and leaving Krystal alone.

Minutes later, Luhan returned with something held in his hands. He handed it to Krystal before taking his seat again. Krystal eyed it the torn piece of newspaper that was framed.

EXO… Could this be the new hot trend?

The new boy band that goes by the name ‘Exo’ first appeared in one of Seoul’s local pubs. Consisting of six charming members, no one could resist their outstanding talents. From old folks to young girls, the group surely succeeded into sweeping everyone off their feet to sing and dance along to their catchy songs.

Krystal continued reading the small article that went on gushing about the said band. When she finally reached its end, she raised her head to meet Luhan’s expectant stare. ‘Is that…you?’ She asked in disbelief.

“It was… us.” He corrected with a hint of sadness in his voice.

“So you’re famous?”

He chuckled while shaking his head. “No… this’s just a small newspaper; nothing well known.”

“But you’ve obviously got a strong reaction; a great one. I mean the one who wrote this article is practically a huge fan of yours.” She protested.

“We might’ve had a small group of people who liked us, but we never were famous. We never really got the chance to continue.” he explained sadly.

“Why?”

“A lot of things were stolen away from us, Krystal, and trust me, this’s the most trivial one.”

“Are you talking about Chen’s friend who…” she trailed off for she couldn’t bring herself to say that dreadful word.

“So you were told about this.” Her gaze fell. “He isn’t just Chen’s friend… He’s our leader.”  His lips curved up into a small smile. Krystal looked at him and noticed how his eyes were void of sadness.

After their brief encounter last night, Luhan had practiced what he was going to say to her for he didn’t want to reveal much; he knew that he wasn’t allowed to for it’d only bring more trouble. Therefore, he kept re-arranging his words until he was satisfied with everything.

But upon the mention of him, Luhan suddenly had the urge to tell her more about his hyung. Since his death, no one’d wanted to mention anything related to him. ‘It’s hard.’ They always said. And it really frustrated him for he believed that his hyung deserved to be constantly mentioned.

After everything, it was the least they could. But it only felt like they buried their thoughts and memories of him alongside his body.

Luhan silently stared at Krystal. All the things he practiced to say simply vanished and were replaced with tons of other things that were all related to one thing; his hyung. He’d done this before. It wasn’t the first time for him to pour his heart out for Krystal.

She was a good listener; he remembered, and there might not be another chance like this. He’d already tried so many times to bring him up only to be reprimanded later for it. Krystal was the only one who might listen. And it was what he desperately needed; someone who'd listen.

“Ever since… the incident, everyone’s been avoiding mentioning him like a plague.” He began.

“It was like they didn’t talk about him because they hoped that with time the memory of him would turn into nothingness; that the fact that he once existed would become a mere lie.

And I hate it, Krystal; it pains me.” His voice cracked. He looked at her with franticness like he believed that she might actually have something to say. But helplessness was evident in her eyes. She was absolutely clueless about reacting to this kind of things. True, she patiently listened, but she never could react. And maybe in a way, that was why Luhan had always run to her when he needed someone. Frankly though, right now, he wished she could say something that would soothe this.

His head hung low and he gulped the lump that formed in his throat. “He deserves more than to be tossed away like an abandoned or a forgotten memory. He deserves to be mentioned constantly because the world must know that a man like him once lived.” He then shook his head and rubbed his welled up eyes before he inhaled a deep breath.

He then raised his head and locked her gaze. He let his lips form into a small smile. “I love talking about hyung; I just really do.” He voiced his thoughts while shrugging.

Honestly, Krystal was curious about the person who managed to affect someone like that. She wanted to hear Luhan talk about him, and he obviously was in deer need to be heard. Therefore, she willingly granted him his wish.

“Tell me more about him. How did you know him?” She inquired in interest.

His smile stretched further upon hearing her question. It was just like tearing a bandage off a raw wound; but without pain or sorrow. He nodded enthusiastically before speaking. “During elementary school, I used to get bruited by older kids. I looked too girly; they used to claim. I didn’t know hyung back then; nor did he know me, but I think I looked so pitiful because one day, I found him shielding me with his small body when they tried to hit me and mustered as much courage as possible.”

“He actually beat them up?” She asked in shock.

“Hell no.” He let out a loud laugh. “We spent the rest of the day together at the nurse. And I guess you could say that since then we’ve become losers together.” He paused momentarily as he stared at nothingness. His mind was piling up with so many things; the little things that once went unnoticed by him flooded his mind. Right then, he wished he could go back and relive them again; to focus on the smallest things and relish them. “I remember how he didn’t complain even once during that day even though he took most of the hits. He was all smiles and brushed the matter off like it was some kind of a joke to him. I had this weird belief that he was some kind of a superhero or an unidentified creature. I mean it was abnormal for a little kid to laugh and joke about something like this.” He shook his head slightly seemingly to snap himself out of his reverie. He shifted his gaze back towards Krystal. “It wasn’t until few years later that I finally realized why he laughed back then.”

“He’s a vampire.” Krystal pointed. He chuckled before shaking his head.

“No… unfortunately, he turned out to be normal and all my dreams of being the superhero’s sidekick were crushed mercilessly.”  

She pouted. “Then why?”

“He seeks happiness in life. ‘Ironically, people always focus on the negativities, and at the end of the day, they ask why their lives are void of happiness.’ He always said. Even in the most ed up situations, he tries to find something to joke about. And I guess that’s what he and Chen have in common.” He explained.

Krystal nodded and stayed silent for a while as she let his words sink in. She then went on asking him more questions. All the while he talked; she kept watching him in awe. His eyes glinted with absolute ecstasy, and he looked like he was struggling to control the words that rushed out of his mouth.

He kept recalling so many memories; sharing from the most trivial to the most important ones. He continued telling her about endless things. He looked absolutely thrilled that he finally found someone, and she silently asked herself how long he must’ve been bottling all of this up.

From the way he spoke, she realized how he admired him. ‘He’s someone whom I look up to; someone whom I strive to be.’ He said and sounded so genuine about it. A wave of sadness washed over her; how she wished she got the chance to meet this person, and she felt slightly envious of the ones who did.

He then told her about Exo and how it was formed.

Along with the literature, hyung loved music. You could tell that it was his passion from the way he talked about it like it was the most magical thing. Whenever he was asked, he’d have a hard time putting his feeling into words. He claimed that it was like falling in love; falling in love with something or someone that this music has created.

One day, he invited us all to his house for what he called an emergency meeting. He fished some papers out of his bag and handed one for each one of us. The word ‘MAMA’ was its title. After we all finished reading the piece of paper, he looked at us expectantly like he was waiting for a reaction, but all we showed was utter cluelessness.

Surely, most of us had great voices, and he pointed it out before, but we never really put much thought to it. So when he announced that it was the lyrics for our first song for our new band, he was met with a series of curses and endless sarcasm; especially from Chen’s side. We thought it was ridiculous; that it was so foolish of him to think of something like this. Luhan elaborated.

Apparently, their hyung never gave up on them and worked hard to make them aware of how great they were. ‘We aren’t insignificant, and we’re not a waste.’ ‘We were born for a reason.’ He always reminded them.

They lost span of time as Luhan continued sharing as many things as possible. There were moments when their eyes welled up while there were others when their stomachs hurt from laughter. Luhan was simply on cloud nine, and Krystal too couldn’t deny the fact that she had fun. Luhan felt like a huge weight was lifted off of him, and it was all thanks to Krystal.

Actually, their time together made him realize how much he’d missed her. Surely, he'd constantly thought about her, but having  her here right now made things a little bearable. She's here again; he silently shouted a hallelujah.

“There’s one last question I want to ask you…” Krystal hesitantly trailed off.

“Shoot.” Luhan grinned encouragingly.

“You use the present tense when you talk about him.” She noted cautiously and waited for him to say something.

He nodded, and his widened grin turned into a ghost of a smile. “Because he’s alive.” He simply said. Krystal was a little taken aback by his answer. He’s still in denial; she thought. She recalled reading once that denial was one of the stages of grief, and it made sense now in a way.

“It’s silly.” He began, and she looked at him with a quirked eyebrow. She didn’t think that he was going to say anything else. “I just believe that death means the physical loss of someone. We can’t see him because his body was buried; his body was the only thing dead. But no one actually dies until he’s completely forgotten. I guess that’s when they believe that there’s no reason for them to linger anymore with us, so they just leave. That’s why I love talking about him because my hyung doesn’t want to die just yet; he deserved few more years. He wanted to do so many things; he wanted us all to be remembered; to be immortal, and that’s why I’m going to grant him his wishes.

Because he deserves it. 

SO... I'd originally to add more to this chapter, but then I decided to split it into two chapters because it would've been too long.

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