I could hear Junho’s soft footsteps not far behind my own as we walked down the pale yellow painted hallway in the relatively expensive looking apartment complex. There was a foreshadowing stiffness in my shoulders that spread to my neck and made me tense my jaw as every door I passed brought me closer to my destination. And when I was within reach, I held my hand up and rang on the bell, hearing the sound of the chime through the door, followed by soft footsteps that approached from the other side.

   For a brief moment, I wondered if I was ready; to face him.

   I felt Junho’s fingers tighten around my own as the door opened up and I saw a once familiar face shift their gaze up to look me in the eyes.

   “MinJun.” The name left my lips for the first time in years, and I couldn’t do anything to hide the faintest ghost of a smile that curved my lips and was mirrored perfectly by the man on the other side of the threshold.

   It wasn’t the same kind of worry-free smile that Junho had – no, it was a smile that had been through much more, accepted the things that could not be changed. “Come inside, come on.” There was so much about him that had changed, except his eyes. That tired sadness still lingered, though his smile was genuine. MinJun stepped back to hold the door open, waving us both inside the apartment and giving me a quick hug as I passed him, lingering for a moment or two longer than either of us really intended. “Khunnie, it’s been too long . . . And who’s this?” He motioned to Junho as he shut the door and led us into the living room.

   “This is Junho,” I watched MinJun’s lips twist up as he gave the other boy a once over, his slender fingers reaching up to graze the pattern on the t-shirt Junho was wearing. The shirt that he had worn so many times, so long ago. “He’s actually the reason why we’re here.”

   “Oh?” MinJun’s brow rose in question, he looked up at me curiously, motioning for me to explain.

   “I need you to help me locate someone, or just get some information . . . And I need Wooyoung, he’s a scientist.” I looked down as I said the last part, swallowing every bit of my pride just to utter those words.

   MinJun crossed his arms and sighed. “He’s a forensic scientist . . . he’s got a degree in chemistry and he studied physics. That’s a bit different than being a full blown science guru.”

  “But any help is better than nothing.” I looked at him and was ready to get on my knees to beg, he knew that, which is why he sighed and looked from me to Junho, and back to me.

   “Follow me.”

   Junho looked at me and I nodded before following MinJun deeper into the apartment, down a small corridor that had only three doors lining its walls; one on the left and two on the right. MinJun went to the second door on the right and knocked, his hand lingering on the handle as he called through the door. “Honey, I’m coming in, okay?”

   I think the hardest part, the part that tears your soul from the inside out and makes it hurt to even continue existing, is watching an old love be happy with someone that is a polar opposite of you. Even our looks were so far on separate edges of the scales. Where I was taller and more built, he was lean and smaller. My shaggy hair had a natural golden sheen to it, whereas his was dark and trimmed at the sides in almost a buzz cut. He was so far from me and it felt like a knife to my already wounded chest to see it. Knowing that no matter how hard I would have ever tried, it wouldn’t have been good enough. I wasn’t enough. That is what Jang Wooyoung represented in my heart.

   My total inability to keep MinJun happy.

   He was sitting at a work desk, mulling over a stack of papers that were scattered across the surface area. He looked so deep in thought, his adam’s apple twitching gently as he swallowed and continued reading whatever it was that had his attention held so tightly. MinJun walked up to him and sat comfortably on the arm of his thick leather office chair, and there they looked like two peas in a pod, perfectly fit for each other. Like an old couple that had spent most of their lives together.

   “Babe, we’ve got company.”  MinJun said and Wooyoung immediately looked up, blinking a few times before pulling his glasses off and pointing to the papers on his desk.

   “All this makes no sense.” He shook his head and then ran his fingers through his hair. I watched MinJun just chuckle, leaning over to kiss his boyfriend’s forehead softly.

   “Company.” MinJun reminded the other with the single word, smiling ever so fondly as Junho and I watched in an awkward silence.

   Before the stinging could burn my throat too much, Junho tugged at my arm and nestled his head against my shoulder. I looked down at him and he just pressed his lips together in a thoughtful shrug, looking at me with eyes that spoke to my heart and gave me the one thing I was constantly longing. Reassurance.

   “Ah,” Wooyoung rubbed his temples and then turned to us, finally back in the real world, smiling excitedly. “Forgive me for being so rude . . . You must be Nichkhun, I’ve heard so much – I feel like I already know you.”

   My eyes scanned MinJun’s face, his set jaw and brow that he was trying way too hard to relax. “I hope you heard good things.” I smiled at Wooyoung, finally looking the man in the eyes. It was funny, I thought it would have hurt more but now, seeing him in person . . . He was so terribly unintimidating. He was soft spoken, tender looking, clean. He was just what MinJun needed, in order to finally feel safe.

   Wooyoung gave a happy nod that I just couldn’t return with animosity, no matter how much I wanted to. “Of course, only good things.” He looked at Junho, his eyes lingering a moment too long, in my opinion. “I don’t believe we’ve been introduced.”

   I felt Junho shake his head against my shoulder. “I’m Junho.”

   “Junho,” Wooyoung repeated softly, nodding and smiling some more. “It’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m Wooyoung . . . So what brings you both here, just visiting the city?”

   MinJun interjected before I could. “Actually, babe, they came to inquire information . . . Nichkhun is sure that you can help.”

   All eyes looked at me and I suddenly felt like I was in a spotlight. “W-Well . . .” I thought about the best way to explain myself, realizing that I probably should have done this on the two and a half hour drive that I had spent in almost complete silence. “You know about . . . the universe – how things work and such. I thought maybe . . . there was a scientific explanation . . . for him.”

   He looked at Junho as if that would make him suddenly understand, but when it didn’t, he just raised his eyebrow and crossed his arms. “What about him?

   I was stumped, feeling like an idiot, and staring at the two pairs of curious eyes that were looking at me, before Junho cleared his throat and stepped between us. “I believe, you would understand correctly, if I showed you.” He reached out to Wooyoung, pausing right before he was within grasping distance of his hand. “May I?”

   Wooyoung eyed me and MinJun for a moment, and when his lover nodded, he held out his hand and Junho gently took it, staring into his eyes for only a moment.

   “No . . . I do not wish to break your finger.”

   Wooyoung snatched his hand away and stared at Junho with wide eyes. “What . . . what just happened there?”

   “It’s not a trick; he actually read your mind.” I assured him. Wooyoung blinked before letting Junho take his hand again, this time his expression was much more guarded and questionable.

   Junho smiled. “Think of anything you want.” After a moment, Wooyoung seemed to relax a little bit, but Junho just nodded. “Zero-four, three-zero . . . your birthday.”

   Even MinJun’s eyes widened when Junho stepped back and leaned against me once more. “There’s no way.” Wooyoung murmured quietly, looking at me and then at his boyfriend. “This has to be a joke, MinJun told you a bunch of my information, right?”

   I shook my head. “It’s not a joke . . . He’s not like us.”

   After blinking furiously, Wooyoung rubbed his temples and took a deep breath. “What do you mean, us?”

   “Human, Woo . . .” MinJun finally said, staring at me in disbelief before looking at Junho, then his boyfriend. “He’s trying to say that Junho isn’t human. Right?”

   I nodded and the two of them snorted, Wooyoung paced the floor and shook his head. “You can’t just have him play some weird mind trick and then expect me to believe that he’s an extra terrestrial being.”

   “I have more proof.” Wooyoung perked up a little when I spoke calmly, looking around the room for the light switch that was by the door. I took a deep breath and held my hand out, flicking the switch and leaving us all in the darkness. It didn’t take long. The quiet gasp alerted me that my plan was working, and I didn’t even have to look up, but I did, finding a pair of deep blue irises staring right at me, though the darkness. I turned the light back on and Junho’s eyes faded back to their normal chocolate brown instantly, he was still looking at me curiously, but I just turned back to Wooyoung.

   This time, the man seemed a bit more stunned, but still more believing. More accepting of the possibility that Junho just might be an alien. Wooyoung plopped himself down in his office chair and stared off into nothing for a moment, pondering the things he had just seen. MinJun stood leaned against the desk, his eyes never leaving the boy at my side except to steal a glance at me every now and then.

   “Junho,” He said, and Junho looked up, quite startled to be addressed by the other. “. . . Explain.” The command wasn’t hostile, nor was it a request.

   Junho looked at MinJun before his lips parted softly.