“Mom, I have some exciting news,” the boy said. “The last time I went to the doctor’s…”

“Yesterday,” Kyungsoo added as he watched Mrs. Kim’s face carefully. She seemed to be fully invested in what her son was saying, but upon closer look, her eyes seemed… almost far away.

Jongin continued with a deep breath. “Dr. Kim mentioned a surgery that might actually help me have a larger memory storage capacity.”

His mother’s mouth erupted into a wide smile, and tears spilled from her tired, far-looking eyes. Her hands went up to cover in surprise. “Really?” Kyungsoo slid the documents detailing the surgery across the table, and Mrs. Kim skimmed through it ferociously. “I can’t believe this! In a week? That fast?”

“Apparently the surgeon who would be operating will be here on other business anyway, so they fit me in.” Jongin held Kyungsoo’s hand under the table and squeezed it. Kyungsoo squeezed back.

“I can only wish your father were here to see this. He would have been so happy,” Mrs. Kim confessed. “Jongin, I am so happy about this.”

Jongin grinned. “Now, Mom, don’t forget that this doesn’t have a 100% success rate.”

“Oh, I would take 1% over nothing if it meant you could lead your life to the fullest and achieve your highest potential, Jongin.”

Kyungsoo felt a tear slide down his cheek and he used Jongin’s hand to wipe it away. Jongin squeezed his hand once it was back under the table.

Leaving the house, Kyungsoo confessed that he was worried. “I don’t want to be negative about this at all, but I know we will all be devastated if the surgery proves unsuccessful.”

Jongin nodded. “I know, but at the same time, I would have felt absolutely stuck if I don’t try it. I would constantly ask myself, ‘What if?’, you know?”

Kyungsoo agreed with that sentiment. “Me too.”

“Besides,” Jongin said, swinging their arms back and forth between them, “As long as you’re beside me, it doesn’t matter if it fails or not. Worst case scenario, we go back to living life the way we do now.”

Kyungsoo didn’t want to be the one to say that it wouldn’t be that easy, so he swallowed the lump in his throat and nodded.

“You know what would be cool?” Jongin asked. “If I just got all the memories I’ve lost back, as if I’d never had this crappy disease.”

Kyungsoo nodded again, unable to protest getting either of their hopes so high up.

***

Baekhyun woke up in Joonmyun’s room again. He went for his phone. He wanted to see if Chanyeol had responded to any of the messages he’d sent.

He shouldn’t have been all too surprised to see that he hadn’t even read the first ones. The blue bubbles of text stared at him, almost menacingly. Almost as if taunting him. As if saying, “Haha, we can reach him no problem, but your words? Not so much.”

He did have a message from Taemin, though. Unlike Chanyeol, he wasn’t one to leave messages unread. With a roll of his eyes, he clicked on the name. hey im sry about what happened. i know im probably the last person u wanna talk to, but if u do need to talk, i am here to listen.

It took all of the patience in his body not to chuck the phone across the room. listen here u absolute . how dare u message me ever again? especially after everything that’s happened?

He used his phone for the only other thing he ever used it for. He called Nanna.

“How’s my handsome prince?” Nanna greeted.

“Not good,” Baekhyun sobbed.

“Who hurt you? I will destroy them, I swear to you.”

Baekhyun laughed through his tears. “No, Nanna.” He explained how he hadn’t followed her advice, and when Chanyeol found out, the he had broken up with him. “And now I just don’t know what to do.”

“Oh, Baekkie…” Nanna cooed. “I can only imagine how much pain you’re in right now.”

Baekhyun nodded, even though there wasn’t really a logical explanation for that. “I’m in a lot of pain. And I’m sure Chanyeol is, too.”

“I bet,” Nanna agreed. “Well, what are you going to do now? Aren’t you two roommates?”

“Mm hmm,” Baekhyun mumbled. “For the past two nights I’ve been sleeping in my old room. I guess I have to get all of my stuff out of that room now, don’t I?”

“Yes. Get your friends to help you move back in to your old room.”

His old room. What a vague statement that brought up a completely different image in his head than Nanna had intended. “That’s it!” Baekhyun exclaimed. “I’ve got to go ask my friends to help me pack,” he said. “I’ll talk to you soon, okay, Nanna?”

He hopped up and patted Joonmyun awake. “Hey, Joon, do you have any classes today?” he asked.

Joonmyun rubbed his eyes. “Uhh, yes..?” he moaned sleepily. “Why?”

“Skip them. I need your help.”

By the end of the hour, Baekhyun had gathered Joonmyun, Kyungsoo, a very reluctant Jongin, and an easily persuadable Taemin. Jongin shot angry glares at both Taemin and Baekhyun the whole time. Kyungsoo finally asked, “Baekhyun, what are we all doing here?”

Baekhyun clapped his hands together. “I need your help to get my stuff out of Chanyeol’s room.”

“You really need a team of four to help you do that?” Kyungsoo asked.

“It’s not just moving from one room to the other. It’s completely packing.”

Everyone else exchanged looks. “Why?” Kyungsoo asked. “This room isn’t so far from Chanyeol’s.”

“True, but my Nanna’s is.” When he didn’t register any recognition in anyone’s faces, he laughed. “You guys are seriously dumb. I’m going back home.”

“Baekhyun, are you okay?” Taemin asked.

“I’m fine,” Baekhyun snapped. “I just realized that the only reason I was staying here was that I valued my future with Chanyeol more than my limited time with Nanna. Once that was out of the way, I knew that I needed to spend the rest of my time with her.”

Jongin cleared his throat. He could sense that everyone else was just looking for a way to persuade Baekhyun to stay. “Well then,” he said, “let’s get to packing.”

Kyungsoo shot his boyfriend a look but before he could say anything, Baekhyun clapped his hands decisively. “Let’s go!” He passed a pile of folded up cardboard boxes to everyone. He led the group to the room he called home less than a week ago.

The packing was a frenzy of ripping clothes off their hangers and passing them along to the next person, like a factory assembly