~

언젠간 다시 만날 거라고

두 손을 잡고 속삭이던..

You said we would meet again someday

as you held my hands and whispered..

~

The day before Sunggyu disappeared…

“Hyung! I’m not gonna be a choding anymore!” Woohyun puffed his chest out proudly.

“Yeah, and I’m not gonna be a joongding (middle school student) anymore either!” Sunggyu chuckled and ruffled Woohyun’s hair. “You’re so cute.”

“Hah.. I know I am,” Woohyun ran a hand through his hair and laughed.

“So, Woohyun-ah.. Hyung has been having a lot of problems these days..” Sunggyu said.

“Me too, hyung.. But I’m glad that you’re here by my side, cause you’ve already been through middle school and you can help me out,” Woohyun grinned.

Sunggyu immediately felt guilty.

“Woohyun-ah, I know that you’re really smart and mature. So I’m going to tell you something. Promise me you won’t do anything and accept it,” Sunggyu told his best friend.

“I promise, hyung.”

“So, tomorrow, I need to go somewhere,” Sunggyu told Woohyun.

“Where?” Woohyun was curious.

“Like, I won’t be coming back.”

“WHAT?!” Tears already began to form in Woohyun’s eyes. “Hyung! Then, who’s gonna help me throughout high school? And who’s going to be my love counselor? Jinhee is a really complicated girl, you know.”

“You’ll be fine without me! Jinhee will like a guy like you for sure!” Sunggyu said.

“Well, at least we have our phones to contact each other,” Woohyun smiled, wiping his almost-spilling tears with his sleeve.

“Woohyun-ah.. Once I leave, I don’t think that we will be able to contact each other anymore. My phone won't work,” Sunggyu gravely said.

“WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL ME EARLIER? We could’ve done so many things together. I wanted to go to the amusement park too,” Woohyun was full of regrets. “Don’t leave, hyung!”

“I’m sorry Woohyun-ah, but I have to. You’ll know why eventually. And you’re the only one who knows that I’m leaving,” Sunggyu said. “You’re special to me, and that’s why I told you this secret.”

Woohyun perked up. “Special? I’m special?” He pointed to himself.

“Mhm, of course! You’re my one and only Woohyunnie,” Sunggyu chuckled. “Can I ask you for a favor?”

“Anything for hyung,” Woohyun grinned.

“So, there’s actually this girl that I like,” Sunggyu chuckled, the smile on his face brighter than Woohyun had ever seen before.

“Ooh! Who is she?” Woohyun was curious. He wanted to know which girl had stolen his hyung’s heart.

“She’s in your grade, like Jinhee,” Sunggyu said. “That’s all I’m gonna tell you.”

“Hmm.. Is it Yoon Bomi? Jung Eunji? Kim Taeyeon?” Woohyun listed all the popular girls in his year.

“Nope. I don’t think you know her, cause she didn’t go to the same elementary as you. But, I think you’ll see her once you go to high school!” Sunggyu replied.

“HIGH SCHOOL! That’s three years from now,” Woohyun groaned. “And you’ll be gone! Can you at least tell me her name?”

“I can’t. It’s a huge secret. If I tell you, her life could be in danger,” Sunggyu said seriously.

“Haha! You act like this is an action drama or something! Why would her life be in danger? So, because I like Jinhee, would her life be in danger?” Woohyun was amused.

“It’s because I’m Kim Sunggyu. And the girl I like, I don’t just like her. I love her. That’s the reason why I can’t stay here anymore. I’ll end up hurting her, and hurting myself, and you guys. It’s just not right,” Sunggyu said.

“You act like such a drama queen, hyung,” Woohyun laughed.

“Says the one who cried for hours when Jinhee called him a loser,” Sunggyu retorted with a light smile on his face.

Woohyun only forced a smile back.

“Here, look at this,” Sunggyu pulled something out from his backpack. It was a locket. The locket that he was going to give the love of his life, Lee Somi, the next day.

“What’s that?” Woohyun examined the locket. It was rather ordinary looking to him, with a keyhole on the bottom.

“This is what I’m going to give to her tomorrow. The girl I love. Right before I leave,” Sunggyu told him.

“Ooh, how romantic!” Woohyun exclaimed, holding his heart. “Oppa! You’re so cool!”

Sunggyu laughed at his dongsaeng’s jokes and patted his head.

“Back to the topic of my favor. I want you to find her before she turns 18. Don’t find her too early, because it WILL put both of your lives in danger. Once you go to high school, try to be on the lookout for a girl with this locket. Her birthday is May 11th,” Sunggyu concluded.

“I don’t get it,” Woohyun mumbled.

“I know I can count on you, Woohyun-ah. Tomorrow night, at 8:00 pm, let’s meet by our special tree at the basketball court where we used to play.”

~~~

Sunggyu never showed up.

And Woohyun was devastated.

“Hyung,” Woohyun cried, as he sat under the tree, alone in the dark.

He had been so excited to tell Sunggyu about his first day of middle school. He was in the same class as Kim Jinhee, the girl that he liked. He also made a new friend named Dongwoo and somewhat became acquaintances with a guy named Chansung while playing soccer. Plus he was already popular among the girls!

“How could he leave without me?” Woohyun rolled over the dirt. He didn’t care that his uniform was getting dirty. He just wanted his hyung back, no, he just wanted to say a proper goodbye.

“Ow!” Woohyun hit his head on something. It was slightly buried under the tree. 

“What’s this?” he pulled the object out of the ground, seeing that it was a bottle, with a paper inside. Curious, he opened the top and shook the paper out of the bottle.

“Dear Woohyunnie,

If you found this, I’m proud of you. This is your hyung, Kim Sunggyu.

I’m sorry. I lied to you. I never intended to meet you here, under this tree. I know that I would already be gone by then.

I know you’re strong, and you will be able to live a great life without me. But please don’t forget me.

Middle school will be easy. It’s not a time to stress out about studying. Meet new friends, do new things, but most importantly, stay safe.

Kim Jinhee has positive feelings for you. You know that Jinhee and I know each other best, and I know that she likes you too! So, good luck, Nam Woohyun. I’ll entrust you with her heart. Don’t break it.

And lastly, the girl I love.

By the time you have gotten this letter, I will have already given her the locket. There is a key that she has, to unlock the locket as well.

That very key, also unlocks a metal box. If you take 428 steps south from the spot you found this bottle, you will find that very box.

On her 18th birthday (I trust that you will have found her by then), bring her and dig up the box. Make sure she has the key, and open the box together. Both of you will be 18, legal, and able to help me by then. I’ll be 21.

Imagine that, Woohyun-ah. We’ll be almost grown up. Hopefully I’ll be alive to see your smiling face and able to hear your greasy comments.

So, I’ll leave us at that.

Hyung believes in you, Nam Woohyun. I’ll try to live on, thinking of you, Jinhee, and the girl I love.

Let’s meet again,

Kim Sunggyu”

“Hyung..” Woohyun wiped his face as he folded the letter nicely and put it into his back pocket.

~~~

Woohyun sat at his desk, looking at the metal box that Sunggyu had buried years ago.

He had gone and dug it up, worried that someone would steal it before the time came to open it.

But he vowed to wait until the girl his hyung loved turned 18.

Woohyun chuckled. He remembered when he used to like Jinhee. Now, they were close friends, and their relationship was merely platonic.

He was shocked when he first saw Somi up close. It was first at the noraebang, when he saw the locket. He thought it was his imagination.

But that one day when they walked to school together, he saw it again. He was curious. He hadn’t seen that locket for years, and he wondered if his eyes were playing tricks on him.

“Is that the same locket that Sunggyu hyung showed me?” Woohyun wondered.

So he ended up taking it, undoing the clasp and swiftly slipping it off Somi’s neck as he was sitting next to her, eating bingsoo. Howon was too busy eating to even notice.

Woohyun had rushed home that day, and compared the keyhole of the locket to the keyhole of the metal box. It was the exact same. The date was May 5th. 

He had found her just in time.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

*Author’s Note: So here’s an explanation to how Woohyun was acting! He was just doing what Sunggyu told him to do, he’s not a bad guy. ^^