Ravi was seated beside Leo as the interview continued. He would nudge Leo’s feet every now and then when he felt that Leo had spaced out again.

“So hyung, what’s your goal for the future?”

“I hadn’t thought much of it.” Leo answered in honesty.

“Will you release anything new in the near time?” Ken asked with expectation.

“Yeah, I think so.”

“That’s all hyung, thank you for your time hyung.” Ken said looking ver pleased. Leo didn’t realize that he had let out a tired sigh until he felt a hand patting his thigh.

‘You did great.’ Ravi mouthed to him with a smile.

“Leo hyung, may I ask you something?” Ken asked as he finished packing his things.

“What’s your real name hyung?”

Leo tensed when he heard the question. He could felt Ravi’s stare at him but he tried to ignore it.

“Jung Leo.”

“Not that hyung, I meant your korean n-“ Ken said confusedly but he was cut off by Ravi.

“ I think that’s enough for today, Ken.”

Ken, who caught Ravi’s intention, finally decided to let the matter go. Leo felt grateful at Ravi for that.

“Okay then, see you later hyung, Ravi. Thanks again hyung.” Ken waved and then got out from the room, leaving Leo with Ravi alone.

Leo leaned back against the couch and closed his eyes for a while. The interview was more exhausting than he thought it would be. He opened his eyes and look beside to see that Ravi had done the same as he did. He glanced at the clock on the wall and noticed that it was only ten past half.

“Ravi, why are you here so early?” Leo finally asked the question that had been bugging him since then.

“I heard that you’re having the interview today. Thought you would need some of my help.” Ravi answered casually, still closinng his eyes.

“How did you hear it?” Leo asked feeling confused.

“I went to the café this morning and heard Hongbin saying it. He said that Ken told him you finally agreed to do the interview.” Ravi explained.

“Since when?”

“Since when did I come? Since the start. I didn’t mean to interrupt though, I’m about to wait just outside but then you started to spce out and Ken looked panick so I decided to step in.”

“It’s okay. I have to thank you though.” Leo said in gratitude.

Ravi looked at him for a while before looking away.

“You still owed me something, Leo.” Ravi said suddenly, confusing Leo.

“Huh?”

“Remember that night, I said if I you fell asleep first then you had to grant me a wish.” Ravi explained with small smirk.

“What?” Leo blinked in shocked. He tried to recall all the things that they talked about but he couldn’t remember any thing like what Ravi said.

“Don’t back away now just because you can’t remember.”

“But I-.“ And then he remembered Ravi did say something right before he fell asleep. Did Ravi say this?

“That’s cunning.” Leo said accusingly.

“It’s fair enough Leo. At least I got you to sleep right?” Ravi said, still with the annoying smirk.

“Fine, what’s it?” Leo finally gave in but not without a glare at Ravi.

“Hmm…” Ravi made an act of thinking hard.

“I’ll tell you when I think of one. It wasn’t fun to use it now.” Ravi said with a smile.

Leo sighed and could only nod in return. It was kinda tired arguing with Ravi, knowing that he wouldn’t win against the other.

“Just not strange things.”

“Sure.” Ravi answered with a small smile and it made Leo felt uneasy instead of assuring him.

Just then, Ravi’s phone rang and he took it out to check the new message.

“Did you have something important to be done?” Leo asked after noticing Ravi’s troubled face as he read the message.

“No, nothing important.” Ravi answered with a slight smile and put his phone back in. Leo looked at him in disbelief and it made Ravi chuckled.

“Are you worried about me?” Ravi asked with a teasing smile.

“Brat.” Leo muttered as he looked away from Ravi.

“Is it okay if we go now?” Ravi asked as he glanced at his watch.

“Yeah.” Leo said as he nodded and he followed Ravi out from the boutique.

Leo was a little bothered that Ravi hadn’t told him how they would go. It seemed that the answer was so obvious as he walked out from the building. He gasped as he saw what was parked near his boutique and where they were heading to. It was a big motorcycle, the kind that he had never saw except in a race. Ravi walked toward the motorcycle and took out keys from his pocket. Meanwhile Leo was still trying to comprehend the situation and he was rotted a few inches away from the thing. Ravi chuckled when he saw Leo’s reaction and he threw one of the helmets to Leo, startling him. Leo caught the helmet in shocked and waled closer.

“Surprised huh?” Ravi asked as he chuckled.

“Ravi, are you even qualified to ride this thing?” Leo asked in fear.

“Of course. I used to ride it everyday to university.” Ravi said with proud.

“You must’ve been a bad boy.” Leo said, but his eyes hadn’t left the motorcycle as he was still feeling uneasy.

“Ouch, I felt hurt.” Ravi said but he was grinning.

“Look, the good sides were it only had two wheels, didn’t have a closed roof and it’s exclusive only for two people to ride.” Ravi explained jokingly as he leaned against the motorcycle.

Leo instantly felt grateful to Ravi as he heard them. Ravi msut’ve prepared this because he knew Leo couldn’t ride in a car. And he didn’t even know why.

“Come on let’s go. The weather was good for a ride.” Ravi said as he patted the seat.

Ravi was already putting the keys and started the engine. Meanwhile, Leo was still unsure if he really would try this. Ravi gave him an urging look and he finally get on while wearing the helmet.

“Hold tight.” Ravi warned him.

Leo felt awkward all of the sudden and decided to put his hand on Ravi’s shoulder.

Ravi suddenly took off with a fast speed and it startled Leo, who immediately grab tighter at Ravi’s shoulder.

“Yah, you’re crazy.” Leo shouted and slapped Ravi’s back when he felt like he had adjusted with the speed. He could hear Ravi laughing at his reaction but he didn’t reply anything, just focusing on the road.

Leo could feel the wind caresing his face and the warmth of sun on his face. He closed his eys and tried to relish on the feeling of freedom, something that he hadn’t felt in a long time. Ever since Jaehwan’s death he hadn’t felt as free as this before. Instead, he always felt constricted and locked up. Maybe it was because he was the one who did that to himself. He looked intensely at all the things that they passed and he wondered if everything had changed. Or it had always been like that but he was too blinded before to see it. It was like after Jaehwan died all the time paused for him and he was stucked in those memories, unable to move on. Was it really for the best that he lived like this? But for whose best is it? He had never felt bothered by it before but here right now his mind was a mess. Ravi suddenly sped agin and Leo, who was shocked, forgot about the things that he had been thinking just now. They passed quite a lot of streets and Leo realized that he had never come until this part of the city.

 Before he realized, they had arrived at an apartment complex and Ravi parked his motorcycle inside the parking lot. Ravi stopped the engine and took off his helmet.

“How is it?”

“You’re crazy that was dangerous.” Leo complained as he also took off his helmet.

“But it was refreshing right?”

“Yeah.”

Leo finally got off and soon after Ravi followed him. Ravi put his helmets on the motorcycle and led Leo inside the apartment.

“You worked inside your apartment?” Leo asked curiously as they rode the elevator up.

“Yeah, I didn’t like the atmosphere at the company’s studio so I made one inside my apartment. It was more relaxed and nobody disturbed me.” Ravi explained with a small smile. Leo only nodded in understanding and they rode in silence again.

The elevator dinged on the 11^th floor and Ravi got off so Leo followed him. Ravi took out his apartment’s keys and opened the door while Leo waited for him. After the door was opened, Ravi got in and he raised one of his brows when Leo didn’t follow him immediately. Leo finally got in and walked as slowly as possibly, feeling like he had intruded in someone else’s house. The apartment was quite spacious and it looked quite clean because of the white wallpaper. But Leo could see some traces of messiness in there such as the scattered magazines on the coffee table and the small pillows on the couch were not arranged properly. The sight made Leo wanted chuckle because the house looked a lot like how he would imagine it.

Leo approached the shelves beside television and saw a few books that he could recognize as some famous romance novel that N always talked about. Well, it was understable if Ravi read that to look for inspiration for his songs. Some were really old literatures, like the Shakespears. The shelves on the other side of the television caught more of Leo’s attention though. All the albums that Ravi had released were displayed and some of them were albums of artists that featured his songs. There were also a numbers of throphies and awards that he had. He had actually done some researches on Ravi and apparently Ravi was a quite famous composer. But he rarely came out so not many people knew his face but his songs were well known, even N knew it. A few days ago he had sneaked into N’s apartment to borrow some of the albums that he had and after listening to them, he knew that Ravi’s song was really good.

“See something interesting?” Ravi’s voice startled Leo and he turned back to see Ravi holding on to two cups of coffee. Leo only shook his head.

“You should take off your jacket first.” Ravi said as he placed the cups on the coffee table.

“Sorry.” Leo mumbled and he quickly took off his jacket and handed it to Ravi’s awaiting hand.

After hanging Leo’s jacket, Ravi sat on the couch and lifted one of the cups.

“You like coffee right?” He asked with a teasing smile.

Leo walked over and sat beside him while taking the cup, trying a sip of it.

“It wasn’t as good as the one on café but I was quite confident with it.” Ravi said jokingly and he too took a sip of the drink.

“It wasn’t bad.” Leo said as he held on the cup, feeling the warmth from the coffee on his hand.

“Is that a compliment or sarcass?” Ravi said as he laughed.

“Thanks.” Leo muttered shyly.

“For the coffee?” Ravi asked teasingly but he seemed to understand what Leo meant.

Leo’s eyes scanned the apartment once more and his eyes landed on the magazines on the table. His eyes widened as he realized what magazines they were. Ravi followed Leo’s gaze and he chuckled.

“Hey, I read fashion magazines too.”

Leo unconsciously blushed as he recognized those magazines as the ones that featured his collections. One was opened at the pages that had the picture of his boutique in it.

“Apparently I was a fan of only one designer. Guess who it was.” Ravi said with a small smirk. Leo avoided Ravi’s eyes and tried to look elsewhere. Ravi was surely teasing him now.

“Shut up.” Leo tried to sound as serious as he could but the blush on his cheeks failed him. Ravi laughed so hard at his reactions.

“Cute.” Ravi said after finally coming down from laughter.

“I’m not.” Leo glared at him.

“Come on; let me show you my studio.” Ravi said still with a little laugh and he stood up. Leo put the cup on the table and followed Ravi. There were two doors beside the living room and Ravi opened one of the doors. When Leo got inside, he held his breath as he took the surroundings. The room was really made like a mini studio with all those equipments used to record and made songs. Leo was awed at what he saw and Ravi sat and waited for him to look around.

“How is it?” Ravi asked after a while.

“It was cool.” Leo whispered.

“Come here Leo-ah.” Ravi waved for him to sit on the chair. Leo sat on the chair at looked up at the screen that showed up a lot of things he didn’t undertand but still looked cool.

“It was one of my favourite.” Ravi said as he clicked on something and put the headset on Leo’s ear. Leo listened to the sad melody and Ravi’s breathtaking rap and he immediately recognised the song. It was one of his favorite too.

I need memories

The image of you loving me is fading away

I can’t see your face

The love is being forgotten

“It was ‘Memories.’” Leo mumbled while he continued to listen at the song. Ravi chuckled and patted Leo on the head.

“Look like someone did a research too.”

Leo pretended to not hear it and instead focussed on the song.

“It was good.” Leo commented shyly as the song finished.

“Thanks.” Ravi replied with a small smile and continued to search for another song. Leo watched with amazement at how much Ravi had written. There were at least a dozen of folders and inside of them were a lot of files. He wondered if it was really okay for Ravi to show him this. Because he knew how it felt like to show someone the work that you hadn’t finished. He just realized that there were a lot of similarities between his and Ravi’s jobs.

“Here, I made it recently and well I hadn’t thought of any lyrics so it was basically still so raw.” Ravi said and for the first time he didn’t sound as confident as usual.

“Is it really okay for me to hear it?” Leo asked worriedly.

“Of course. I need someone to help me review it too.” Ravi said and before Leo could protest anymore, he started playing the song.

Leo closed his eyes and listened intently to the song. He wanted to help Ravi with as much as he could although he wasn’t sure if he was going to be any help. The song was beautiful and Leo especially liked the piano part on the beginning and ending of the song.

“I liked it.” Leo said sincerely when the song finished.

“You do?” Ravi asked looking a little disbelief.

“Yeah.” Leo answered shyly and he could see Ravi was satisfied.

“That’s good. I’m still waiting to write matching lyrics for it though.”

“You’ll make it great.” Leo said honestly.

“Thanks. You seemed interested; do you want me to teach you how to do it too?”

Leo was shocked to hear what Ravi offered and he could only blush and shook his head.

“No, I wouldn’t be able to do it.”

“You never knew until you try it. Come on.” No matter how much Leo resisted, Ravi insisted to teach him so Leo finally gave up. He listened carefully to every words Ravi said and tried to remember them well. Leo unconsciously looked over at Ravi and realized how serious he could be when he was working. It was also the first time he saw a serious look on the other. Ravi turned to look at Leo when he felt that Leo wasn’t catching up with him anymore and their eyes met. Leo broke the eye contact and looked back at the screen and Ravi continued to teach him.

Before both of them could realize, they had been inside for way too long and finally Ravi stopped.

“Well, it was already 1 o’clock. We should stop for now and have lunch.”

Leo was surprised to hear how fast the time went and now after stopping, he could feel how hungry he was.

“Yeah, we should.”

“There was a pretty good restaurant around here and we didn’t need to ride there.” Ravi suggested as he closed down all the equiments they had used. They walked outide the room and back to the living room.

After eating, they decided to get fresh air so Ravi rode him to a park. The park was larger from the one near his boutique and there was a small bridge on the center of it. They stood on the bridge while gazing at the view around them.

“You’re a fast learner.” Ravi said, breaking the silence.

“No.” Leo denied shyly.

“Maybe because I’m the teacher.” Ravi said teasingly and Leo snorted at the comment but didn’t deny it. Ravi was actually a really good teacher.

“You should try to write too.”

“No way.”

“I think you would do well.”

“I don’t think so.”

Ravi only laughed a little at Leo’s response but he didn’t press on the matter anymore. Leo felt relaxed at that time. His mind was clearer than any other times and he felt lighter. He tilted his head and looked at Ravi. Ravi was leaning back against the railing while closing his eyes, seeming to enjoy the atmosphere too. The wind blew softly against his silver hair and it almost looked like his hair was shining.

Leo thought back to all this time since he had known Ravi. After Ravi started appearing in his life, he felt a little better. Of course there was always N who helped him but Ravi was different. With Ravi it was easier to just forget for a moment because he didn’t remind him of the past. Ravi was like his anchor, the one who pulled him back before he could drift too far. He didn’t know where the courage came from but before he realized, he had already opened his mouth.

“There was someone I loved.”

Ravi opened his eyes and looked straight at Leo and he looked a bit surprised, but otherwise he didn’t say anything.

“Jaehwan was my world, my breath, he was my every thing. Sometimes I thought that the only reason I could live on was because of him. He pulled me back everytime I was in the dark.”

 ‘He was my anchor.’

“But then after graduating high school, we were going on a trip and on the way home…” Leo paused a bit trying to find the right words to say. Ravi waited for him without saying anything, his face didn’t show any emotions.

“We got into an accident and Jaehwan was dead.” Leo could feel his eyes getting teary as he said those last words. But he tried to take deep breaths to prevent them from falling.

“I didn’t want to live on but the last thing he wished was for me to live.” Leo said, his voice cracked at the end. He looked away from Ravi and gazed at the setting sun.

“So I decided to just live but it wasn’t easy when everyday felt like years and I missed him so much it hurt like hell.” Leo could feel a single tear escaped but he didn’t bother with it.

“In the end, it was easier if I didn’t feel anything or show any emotions because it lessened the pain if I acted like I don’t care.”

“And did it really work like that?” Ravi asked, looking sad.

“I didn’t know.” Leo whispered tiredly.

“I would say it didn’t.” Leo was a bit surprised and he at Ravi, waiting for an explanation.

“Because if you really didn’t feel anything anymore, why did it affect you so much when Ken showed up?”

Leo contemplated on the words that Ravi had said. He himself didn’t know the answer to that.

“I shouldn’t have crossed the boundary, sorry.” Ravi said after another long silence and Leo tilted his head in confusion. Ravi stepped closer to him and lifted his hand to wipe the single dried track of his tear. Leo was a bit startled by it but he didn’t pull away.

“You’ll be alright.” Ravi sounded so sure that Leo wanted to believe him.

Ravi pulled his hand back and leaned against the railing again. He was gazing at the sunset with a small smile gracing his face.

“You’re strange.”

Leo mimicked Ravi’s actions and leaned against the railing, gazing at the sunset too.

“How?”

“You said you didn’t like to speak but actually you had so many things that you couldn’t say. You said you didn’t want to feel anything yet you’re keeping all those feelings hidden inside yourself.”

“You’re so strange that I kept on wanting to know more about you.” Ravi said with a smile but he didn’t avert his gaze from the view.

“Are you sure it’s okay for me to drop you here?” Ravi asked unsurely.

Leo had asked Ravi to take him back to the café instead of his boutique. They had arrived a while ago but Ravi kept on insisting to drop him at the boutique.

“It’s okay.” Leo said for the uptenth times.

“Okay then if you say so.” Ravi said, finally giving up.

“Uhm, thank you for today.”

“It’s alright, I enjoy it too.” Ravi said as he started the engine.

“Uhm, bye.” Leo said unsurely which made Ravi chuckled at him.

“Bye Leo-ah.” He smiled at Leo for the last time before speeding off. Leo watched him until he made a turn and couldn’t be seen anymore before entering the café.

“Hi Leo hyung.” Hongbin greeted as soon as Leo sat down.

“Hi bin-ah.”

“Is that Ravi? He still rode that thing around huh?” Hongbin asked amusedly.

“Yeah. He really had rode it before?” Leo asked unbelievely.

“Of course hyung, he used to ride that back in university. Ah, back then he was a quite popular because of the bad boy look.”

“Bad boy?”

“Ehm, you know hyung, that kind of people who wore leather jacket and wore piercing but not really bad as in fighting with others…err, not really.” Hongbin laughed awkwardly and he smiled at Leo nervously. Leo blinked unsurely, now that he thought there were a lot of things about Ravi that he didn’t know.

“Stop thinking about it hyung. Oh yeah, why did you ride with him hyung?”

“We went somewhere.”

“Ohhh, were did you go hyung?” Hongbin asked teasingly. Leo didn’t answer and just glared at the younger. Hongbin saw the look and could only laugh.

“Hmm, but is it okay for him to keep on playing around like this when the engagement was so close?” Hongbin muttered while leaning his head on his hand. Leo was shocked to hear the word ‘engagement’.

“Engagement?”

“He didn’t tell you hyung? Ravi’s engagement party will be held next month; I heard it will be on the end of October or something like that.” Hongbin said looking guilty while Leo tried to comprehend what he just heard. Ravi had never mentioned something like engagement; no he had never even mentioned having a girlfriend.

“He had a girlfriend?”

“Not as far as I knew.But I wasn’t sure since we didn’t really contact each other anymore after graduation. I thought Ravi liked…” Hongbin didn’t finish his sentence and only smile unsurely. Leo looked at Hongbin and waited for him but it seemed like Hongbin didn’t want to continue it.

“Now to think of it, I’ve seen the woman here, maybe twice?”  Hongbin said, trying very hard to recall. Leo was more dumbfounded to hear it, but not because the woman had been here.

“Ravi had come here before?”

“Yeah, well I didn’t think you will notice hyung, but Ravi had been a regular since a few months ago. He came here a few times a week.”

Well, it was true that Leo had never paid attention to anyone before. All he ever did was only gazing outside the window while spacing out.

“Ravi looked like he didn’t like the idea too but he didn’t say anything about canceling it.” Hongbin smiled sadly as he said those.

Meanwhile, Leo’s mind was a mess trying to get through everything that he heard. Just then the café’s bell rang, indicating that another person had come in.

“Leo-ah, binnie, what are you guys talking about?” N asked curiously as he took a seat.

“Nothing hyung.” Hongbin answered while smiling secretly at Leo but he was too distracted to notice it.

“I think I’ll go home now.” Leo said finally and he quickly stood and walked toward the door. N was looking at him with shocked while Hongbin looked worried.

“Don’t forget to eat your dinner Leo-ah.” N shouted just as the café’s door closed.

“What happened to him?” N asked directly and he stared at Hongbin.

“Well, I guess it was something personal hyung.” Hongbin answered nervously while thinking of how to get away from N’s wrath.

“So you don’t know anything about it?” N asked still looking disbelief at Hongbin.

“Yeah hyung.” Hongbin said and smiled sweetly at the elder, trying to convince him.

“Okay then.” N finally gave up as he saw Hongbin’s smile. It was impossible to be mad at the younger when he looked as handsome as that.

“Let’s get dinner bin-ah, I’m hungry.” N whined while pouting at the younger and it made Hongbin’s heart skipped.

Leo was back at his apartment and he immediately went to his bedroom, not bothering to open the lights. He walked toward his bed and immediately lied down on it. His mind was blank all the way while he walked back. The news was shocking enough, that Ravi already had a fiancee and will be engaged next month. But why didn’t he ever tell him before? Leo wasn’t mad though because he knew he himself had just told Ravi about his past after so long. It was difficult to tell people things that you youself didn’t want to hear or believe. Ravi surely wasn’t ready to tell or he didn’t even want to tell anyone and it wasn’t his place to judge it. Did it mean that he was forced on the engagement? But if that was true why would he agree to it? Now that Leo rememebered, there were few times when Ravi didn’t want to receive calls. Could it be that those calls where from his fiancee?

Leo slapped his forehead when he remembered that he had asked if Ravi liked him. To think that he asked something like that to an engaged person, how embarassing. It was all because of N’s stupid idea. Ravi must’ve thought that he was weird on that day. Now that he was on his own, he didn’t know why the news bothered him so much. Why did hearing Ravi was getting engaged made him felt uneasy? Shaking his head, Leo tried to chase away all those thoughts and clear his minds. He was just going to take a shower when his phone flashed.

From: Ravi

I should’ve taken you for dinner before taking you back.

To: Ravi

It’s okay. Ravi-ah…

From: Ravi

Yeah?

Leo hestitated as to what he wanted to ask. Is it okay for him to ask Ravi like this? It was probably rude. After all Ravi had waited patiently for him to tell him about his past, so maybe he should just do the same. It wasn’t really his problem too, right?

To: Ravi