To: Hyukjae

From: Unknown Number

Hyukjae, are you in Korea now? I need to talk to you. Please. -DH

To: Unknown Number

From: Hyukjae

DH? As in Donghae?

To: Hyukjae

From: Donghae

Yes

To: Donghae

From: Hyukjae

Of course. I’ll meet you at the park then.

Hyukjae arrived early. He sat down on one of the benches in a less crowded place and watched the ducks swimming in the pond. About ten minutes later, he could hear footsteps approaching him from behind and turned around to see Donghae walking towards him.

“Hi, Donghae,” Hyukjae greeted, scooting over towards the other end of the bench to make space for him. Donghae accepted the seat and sat down quietly next to him, keeping a fair distance between them. “Hi.”

Hyukjae hummed and leaned back comfortably on the bench. “It’s been such a long time since we saw each other.” He smiled and looked at the younger. “Hey, why are you so quiet? This isn’t the Donghae I know.”

Donghae gave Hyukjae a weak smile before dropping his head down again. “Hyukjae,” the name sounded so weird and foreign on Donghae’s lips. He decided that he hated it. “Do you… hate me?”

Blinking in surprise, Hyukjae sat up. “Hate you? No. Why would you even think that?” The elder tried looking at Donghae’s face through his bangs but he looked away each time. “You’ve grown thinner. What’s wrong, Hae? I won’t know unless you tell me.”

A small sob sounded and Hyukjae got alarmed. “Hae, Donghae, talk to me. I’m your best friend, aren’t I? You can tell me anything. I won’t judge or get mad at you,” the elder consoled, petting Donghae lightly on the shoulder. “What’s the matter?”

But Donghae refused to answer and his choked sobs started getting louder and louder. Hyukjae couldn’t bear to watch Donghae cry. He enveloped the younger into his arms and let the younger cry to his heart’s content. “There there, Hae, I’ve got you now, please don’t cry anymore,” he cooed, Donghae’s thin but still beautiful fingers in an attempt to calm him down. “You don’t have to talk if you don’t want to. We can just stay like this until you’re ready.” Hyukjae then noticed that Donghae’s ring finger was bare. From what he could remember, his ex should be celebrating his third wedding anniversary with his partner today, not crying in his arms like he was now. Hyukjae thought he could guess what happened but wanted to hear the younger say it himself. He didn’t want to make any speculations, but sure hoped that he was wrong.

“I’m sorry,” Donghae whispered, after calming down from his crying. “I hate myself.”

“Why would you say that?” Hyukjae asked sadly, the younger’s hair. “I don’t understand.”

Donghae hiccupped and buried his face in Hyukjae’s jacket. “I made a terribly wrong choice and e