Perhaps their meetings were just a series of coincidences. Yet Baekhyun's words rang in his ears, "Three coincidences mean it's fate." if it was fate, however, wouldn't they have spoken by now? This made the fourth sighting this week. First, the convenience store; then the library; next the flower shop; and last of all here at a café.

Kyungsoo eyed the boy who seemed to be everywhere. His hair a ghostly white which matched his haunting presence. He just sat there. He didn’t drink or eat anything. All he did was sit. It made Kyungsoo wonder if this boy was a ghost after all. Maybe if he took a photo and sent it to Baekhyun he wouldn’t feel as crazy. He tried to snap the photo as discreetly as he could and send it before anyone gave him weird looks. When he looked up from his phone the boy was in front of him.

“Shouldn’t you ask people before taking their picture?”There was a playfulness in his voice.

“Uh sorry. It’s just that--” He felt embarrassed.

“You’ve seen me around a lot and want to make sure I’m not a ghost.” He finished Kyungsoo’s sentence.

“Who are you?”

“Kim Jongin and no I’m not a ghost just a passerby,” He seemed amused by himself.

“I’m--”

“I know who you are, Do Kyungsoo.”

“How do you know my name?”

“I know more than you think.”

“What do you mean?” How much did this stranger know?

“Oh come on, it’s no fun if you know everything,” Jongin laughed, “Well I think that’s enough for today. Take care, Kyungsoo.”

“Where are you going?” He questioned; he needed to know more about this mysterious Jongin.

“Oh here and there. Don’t worry we’ll meet again.” He winked at him before leaving the cafe.

Kyungsoo sat on his couch replaying today’s events over and over again. How could that stranger know his name and how much more did he know? Was he really just a passerby? His head hurt; he needed to relax. He the TV hoping the sound would drown out all the questions in his head. He closed his eyes and was starting to doze off when the doorbell rang.

“Do Kyungsoo?” The delivery man asked.

“That’s me.”

“Sign here,” He handed him a clipboard and a pen. After quickly signing it and giving it back, the man gave Kyungsoo a vase full of blue roses.

“Who is this from?” His face was distorted in confusion.

“Beats me, I just deliver.”

He sat the flowers down on the table and found read the note that was attached.

“There are 13 roses, just in case you can’t count. They represent our next meetings. Hopefully within those meetings you can find all the answers you desire.

---Passerby”

“Thirteen roses? One for each meeting?” His head hurt. He laid down hoping that sleep would help.

“This is one,” The blond told him from across the table the next evening.

“How did you know I was going to be here?” He was expecting a peaceful dinner alone, but that was not going as planned.

“I told you I know a lot about you.”

“You get creepier by the minute.”

Jongin laughed, “You flatter me.”

Kyungsoo ordered his food, but the other refused even a cup of water.

“Are you not hungry?”

“Something like that,” He mused.

“Can I ask you a question?”

“You’ve already asked me three; I suppose, one more won’t hurt.”

“Why specifically the number 13?”

“Interesting. This isn’t what I thought you would ask first, but still I said I would answer. Thirteen because it’s between twelve and fourteen.”

“What does that mean?”

“I said one more not two.”

“But--”

“Well if you’re done eating then I must go.”

“That’s it?”

“Why are you already attached to me? That’s a dangerous game, Do Kyungsoo.” With that he left again.

Kyungsoo followed his lead and arrived home. What was Jongin’s deal? And what the hell did he mean by thirteen is between twelve and fourteen? Ever since these coincidences started happening, he lived in constant confusion that was always accompanied by a headache.

It was their fourth meeting and Jongin found him sitting on the beach.

“How do you always find me?”

“It’s a little early to answer that question.”

“Then what should I ask?”

“I honestly don’t know.”

“I thought you knew everything.”

“I know, funny isn’t it?” There was sadness in his voice; Kyungsoo found his question.

“Why do you sound sad?”

His question caught him off guard for once, “You’re asking hard questions today.”

“Answer me.”

“I’m sad because I don’t know.”

“Because you don’t know what question I should ask? That’s silly.”

“No, it’s not that.”

“Let’s say you had someone special in the past that you would do anything for, but you ended up having to leave them to save them. Then one day you came back for them, but they can’t remember you. You knew they wouldn’t be able to remember you yet you still returned. You wanted to know how to fix them so that they could remember so that you could be happy together like you were in the past. But you can’t; you know so much, but you don’t know enough to help them,” Jongin looked different in the moonlight. He looked sad and lonely like someone who had given up after repeated failure. “I’ve tried so many times, but they never remember.”

“Why don’t they remember?”

“An accident. The only thing he can’t remember is me,” Tears silently rolled down his cheeks.

“That’s strange. Did you take them to a doctor?”

“Of course, I took him.”

“Jongin, will you tell me more about him? Please I want to know.”

“Okay, but not today.”

In their next meetings he told Kyungsoo of late night walks and days spent cuddling watching movies. He described the way the owl-eyed boy who he loved’s eyes would light up when he watch Jongin dance. He recounted all the happy moments and little things. Kyungsoo had never seen him as happy he was in those moments.

It wasn’t until their eleventh meeting that he had the courage to ask Jongin about the accident.

“What happened to him?”

Jongin stared at him silently a moment before answering, “We had been together for five years, but we were both still young. Twenty and Twenty-one. We decided we wanted to go moonlight swimming so we came to this beach in fact. It was all fun until I got too far out. He came to help me back, but after pushing me forward the current pulled him under. He almost drowned, I was able to get to him before he died. But he was unconscious for a couple days because he hit his head on rock as he went down. When he woke up we thought he was fine because he remembered everything.”

“Everything except you.”

Jongin nodded, “I still come see him and sometimes he remembers, but not for very long. Typically somewhere between twelve and fourteen days after meeting again if he even remembers. Sometimes he only remembers for a couple of days.”

“I’m sorry, Jongin.”

“It’s fine. How about we stop here today?”

After he arrived home, he thought about Jongin’s words. There was familiarity in his story almost like he had heard it before. It was stronger than just hearing though, it was as if he had been there. He looked at the roses on the table only two remained. That meant his days with Jongin were ending, but what happened when the withered? Was that really the end?

They met again the next day.

“What happens when the roses wither?”

“You should ask me tomorrow.”

“Then what do I ask today?”

“Think about it.”

“How do you always know where to find me?”

“Think about yesterday.”

Yesterday? Why yesterday? Perhaps, about why the story felt familiar?

“Jongin, am I, by chance, the person in your story?”

“It took you longer to figure it out this time, Hyung. Time’s almost up,” He chuckled.

“How many times have you repeated this cycle?”

“Too many to count.” Kyungsoo was speechless he could see it in his head now. All the times he spent with Jongin; he could feel the warmth.

“Hyung?” He looked up at Kyungsoo who was sitting on the hood of the car, “Can I kiss you, please?” Kyungsoo nodded. He took the older’s face in his hands and kissed him like he hadn’t seen him in years (which I suppose he hadn’t in a sense). Their lips moved in perfect unison. It was a reunion and a farewell all in one. So so sweet yet awfully bitter. The two went back to Kyungsoo’s apartment where they laid in bed and talked about all the things they missed and would miss. They fell asleep holding each other.

    “Good morning,” Jongin smiled at him placing a soft kiss on his forehead, “God, I’ve been wanting to do this forever.”

    “Jongin, what happens when the last rose withers tonight?” There was a heaviness in the air. Kyungsoo knew what would happen when it withered, but he wanted him to say it.

    “You’ll forget.”

    “Everything?”

    “Everything.”

    “Is there anyway to stop it?”

    “I still haven’t figured it out, I’m sorry.”

    “No, I’m sorry.”

    “What do  you have to be sorry for, Hyung?”

    “I’m sorry for loving you, for forgetting you, for causing you this pain. I’m sorry, Jongin. I wish I could remember you and love you and miss you when you are gone for a few days, but I can’t. I’m sorry that you love me.”

    “Don’t apologize. Loving you is the only thing that has kept me in this world. You know that.” They were both crying. They knew that Kyungsoo wouldn’t remember this moment and that Jongin would have to live it over and over again. They stayed in that day, enjoying what little time they had left together.

“Hyung,” Jongin choked on the words, “Do you know what blue roses mean?”

Kyungsoo shook his head. “They mean ‘I can’t have you, but I can’t stop thinking about you.’ I love you, Do Kyungsoo.”

    “I love you too, Kim Jongin.” Jongin shot him a smile before closing the door.

    And so the final rose withered and his memories along with it. Yet he could not bring himself to throw them out. Visitors asked why he kept the poor things, but he simply shook his head replying that he did not know. Some part of him must have remembered though as every time someone tried to get rid of the decrepit flowers he had a fit.

Seasons had passed yet there still sat the roses. Their beauty long gone, but they were still entrancing to him. Why was he holding onto something that died months ago? He stared at the stems, as that was all that remained, longer than usual that day. The answers were on the tip of his tongue but he could not speak them.

He awoke the next day in the same chair in which he was last night. Something felt different. He looked up to greet the depressing flowers yet they were not there. They had disappeared, as did the answers he almost knew, like a dream, and perhaps, he thought, it was. The doorbell ringing disrupted his thoughts.

“Do Kyungsoo?”

“That’s me.” He handed Kyungsoo a vase of blue roses.

The man in front of him seemed familiar. His hair was a ghostly white and his eyes a chocolate brown. He seemed to be hiding something behind his back.

“Who are you?” Kyungsoo asked.

“Me? Oh, I’m just a passerby.”