"What's wrong, babe?" Minri asks, concerned because it's already been 20 minutes into their drive home and Brian hasn't said anything.

"Huh? Oh, nothing." he says, and the way he says it is enough to give away the lie.

Minri looks at her boyfriend, his eyes on the road but his mind focused on something else,

"Seriously, Brian, is something bothering you?"

"No, I'm fine," he assures, but the irritation in his voice is a little more evident than he had intended.

Minri scoffs before saying,

"Oh c'mon, Brian. I know when something's bugging you, I've known you for 4 years-"

"Yeah? Well, I've known myself for 4 years too."

Brian snaps, cutting Minri off and catching her off guard. Brian bites his lower lip as the atmosphere just becomes awkward and tense. Minri just stares out the window, unsure of what to say to not make the situation worse.

"Sorry..." Brian says after minutes of silence.

"I-I know you mean well, and I'm an idiot for snapping at you like that, I'm sorry."

"It's fine.. sorry for asking."

"Don't be sorry, Minri, I.." Brian sighs before saying,

"It's just, I'm starting to have some doubts."

"Doubts?" she says, panicked

"Not doubts about our relationship," he quickly clarifies,

"But doubts about my past. And I know it sounds stupid to question everything right now, and please don't misunderstand, I'm not unhappy with my life right now. But, things have happened recently and I just can't help but question things..."

"What happened?" she asks, and Brian replies with,

"I'll tell you when I find answers, okay? I'm sorry, but please just bear with my annoying self, right now."

Minri places her hand over Brian's that's resting on top of the gear stick, a wordless comfort offered to her boyfriend which he gratefully accepts. 

The rest of the car ride home is slightly awkward, and Brian wishes he hadn't snapped earlier, but knows apologizing again would just make things even more awkward. They wash up and go to bed, and Brian kisses Minri's forehead as he wishes her good night, and she smiles and echoes his words. It's another night where Brian is kept awake, and he wonders how many times these nights have occured ever since he met a tall, blonde man.

"Hey Bri, you okay?" Sungjin asks, and he wonders if he can't control his expressions because Minri isn't the only one that notices.

"Yeah, fine. Just can't sleep recently," replies with a smile,

"Let me know if you need anything, bud" 

"I'm not sick Sungjin, things are just keeping me up." he says with a light laugh that somewhat comforts Sungjin.

"Hey, should I prepare an Iced Americano?" Sungjin asks,

"Did someone order it?"

"Jae will, won't he?" 

"Who said he was coming today?"

"Just hopeful thinking." Sungjin says before he adds,

"Hoping for Jae to bring his friend?" Brian teases and before Sungjin can hit Brian in the arm, the familiar bell rings.

"Hey!" Jae's loud voice says, and Brian feels a bit anxious.

"Hey-" Sungjin goes to greet but once he processes who follows in behind Jae, Brian's already holding back his laughter.

"Can I get an Iced Americano, and... Wonpil, what do you want?" Jae asks the guy behind him once he meets Brian at the register.

"See, I could've just prepared it" Sungjin comments for Brian to hear, and he just laughs as Wonpil says,

"I'll get a Caramel Macchiato, please" 

Sungjin hands Jae's regular order as he gives his friend a smile while saying,

"I'll have that Caramel Macchiato in a few." 

Wonpil smiles back and just gives a slight nod.

"You're here a little early" Brian comments and Jae takes a sip of his drink before saying,

"Yeah, decided to stop by here first before chilling with Wonpil today."

"So, you're not gonna be writing today?" 

"No, I will. I'll come back later tonight, so you and Sungjin better be working all day" Jae replies with a laugh as Sungjin gives Wonpil his drink.

"Thanks," he says and Sungjin flashes a smile and a quick

"You're welcome"

"Hey, so, you're gonna be back tonight, right?" Brian asks, and Jae nods,

"Yup."

"Can I ask you that question I was about to ask last time?"

"Yeah, sure. You can ask right now if you want."

"No, it's okay.. I'll just ask later, you and Wonpil should get going."

"Geez, already kicking me out" Jae says, shaking his head in faux offense, but his light laugh is enough to cause a smile to form on Brian's face.

"See you guys later" Jae says, waving at Sungjin and Brian.

And Brian tries to ignore the quiet,

"He really looks like Younghyun, should you really keep coming back here?" 

"Yes, I'm gonna keep coming back here, what even-" Jae laughs a bit before saying,

"And I know... But, he's not." 

And Jae and Wonpil are out the door, sharing some small talk.

A couple of hours pass, and it's drawing closer to the time Jae would usually show up

"Bri, didn't your shift end a while ago?" Sungjin asks,

"Yeah, but I figured I'd take some hours. Aren't you happy I'm staying with you?" Brian says with a smile, and Sungjin scoffs before saying,

"I'd rather have to work rush hour alone than have you stay overtime" he jokes.

"Fine, don't call me the next time you're flooded and I'm relaxing with Minri,"

"Sure.. Relaxing," Sungjin says suggestively as he raises his eyebrows, and Brian whips the rag at him. 

"Oh, Jae's back" Sungjin comments, as the sound of a cleaning rag hitting Sungjin's arm masked the ringing of the bell.

"Iced Americano?" the brown haired boy asks, and Jae shakes his head,

"No, it's okay. I'm determined to write tonight, without any coffee."

"Oh, so why'd you come by?"

"I like it here. Plus, Brian said he has something to ask me"

Sungjin looks at Brian and Brian just focuses on Jae,

"Oh." Sungjin says, and Brian hears the amusement in his best friend's voice. 

"I'll wait in my usual corner, and try writing something" Jae informs,

"He can talk to you now." Sungjin answers for Brian,

"His shift ended a while ago. It was weird, him staying back past his hours"  he says, and Brian just glares at him

"Oh, why didn't you tell me? I could've swung by a while ago"

"It's okay, you were hanging out with your friend that Sungjin has a crush on" the latter gets revenge,

"I do not!" Sungjin sounds like an 11 year-old trying to defend himself and Jae muses at the situation.

Brian and Jae are sitting in front of each other, Jae's eyes focused on his laptop screen as Brian searches for ways to ask his question correctly.

"So, uh..." he starts off, and Jae laughs,

"You can speak comfortably. Honestly, you can ask me anything." 

"This isn't my main question, but why are you so open to people?" Brian asks,

"I mean, you only know my name. Not even my family name, and not only that- you're a famous author, yet you seem so open to people and really social."

Brian wonders if the question is offensive, but the thoughtful and not irritated face Jae's displaying tells him no.

"I've been like this my whole life," and Brian wonders if he was like that too. 

He wonders if he didn't used to be protective over himself. But it's hard not to be cautious of who he lets into his life, when he can forget them any day.

"I think it's 'cause I like people." Jae says,

"I like having people to talk to, and being someone they can confide in. It's comforting, having people there for you." 

And Brian smiles before saying,

"Your professional author is showing."

"What can I say, got a thing with words." Jae replies with a smile.

"Okay, so, you don't have to answer if you don't want to because this probably sounds like a breach of privacy" Brian says, and he doesn't know when he and Jae got comfortable enough for him to talk like this.

"Ask away"

And Brian sits there, thinking for a while. He doesn't want to make Jae uncomfortable, but his parents weren't giving him answers, so maybe Jae could.

"What..." he starts off, still unsure if he should ask, but then just goes for it,

"Who's Younghyun?" and Jae's eyes go back to the screen as he bites his lower lip, and Brian's curious emotion is tinged with regret.

"Sorry.." is what Brian adds,

"It's just, you thought I was him, and your friend did too as soon as he saw me, so I was just curious."

"No, it's fine, no need to be sorry." Jae says with a smile, and thinks fondly before saying.

"Hmm.. Let's see, where to start off with Younghyun." 

And Brian finds himself listening so intently that he doesn't hear Sungjin telling him that Minri will be coming by at the end of the day.

"Well, right now, he would be the same age as me, 24." and Brian ignores the fact that he's the same age, too.

"He's not dead or anything, or atleast I don't know if he is. He was someone I was really close to in elementary, and throughout high school. He was always shorter than me, so I wonder if that changed." 

"Why'd he disappear?" Brian asks, and Jae just shrugs,

"Hell if I know... One day, he just left. I don't want to expose his life story, so I'll just say his parents didn't have the best feelings about how close we were."

"Were you guys dating?" and Brian wants to smack himself for being so thoughtless and just letting the question slip. Jae gives a sad, regretful laugh before saying,

"No. No, we weren't. God, it's kind of weird telling you about him, considering you look exactly like him." he laughs a bit at the end of his words, and then silence takes over.

The silence gives Brian time to think. He chooses to not ask if Younghyun had a tattoo, or when Younghyun had disappeared, or if Jae had always been blonde, even at the age of around 15. 

"Can I ask you something?" Jae says. and Brian looks up,

"Uh, yeah, okay. I can't promise answering everything though," and Jae responds with,

"Fair enough." and Brian waits until Jae says,

"Who are you?"

And Brian gapes for too long so Jae says,

"You're not Younghyun, you're Brian. But, just who are you?" 

Brian wants to know the answer to that question himself. He wants to reply with "I don't know." but instead, says

"Well, I'm Brian Kang." 

"Park Jaehyung, nice to meet you." and Brian doesn't know if they had met long before. 

"I'm 24, work here with that annoying piece of-"

"I can hear you." Sungjin interrupts, and Brian and Jae laugh.

"I work here, but I consider myself to be a musician. You met my girlfriend, Minri, and that's pretty much it."

"Hmm, what instrument do you play? Or do you just sing?"

"I play the guitar, and sing a bit." Brian says and Jae laughs before saying,

"Okay, you're not Younghyun, then. Even though he had one, Younghyun couldn't play guitar to save his life," 

And Brian chooses to ignore the countless times his parents would look at him, surprised, while eating, and when he asked what's wrong they would say,

"You never used to eat that. You hated that.".

He doesn't pay mind to the words of the doctor telling him that due to the loss of memory and identity, Brian may find himself doing things he never did before.

And he disregards the fact that the only reason he started playing guitar was because there just happened to be one in his room.

"When'd you start playing?" Jae asks,

"About 3 years ago." he answers,

"Oh, that's pretty recent. Have you liked music since you were young, though?"

"I don't know. I mean, I guess I could have." 

Jae gives a curious face before asking,

"What's that supposed to mean?"  and Brian looks at him, wondering if he should tell Jae or not. And he decides, why the Hell not?

"I have this condition, and I can't remember my past."

"Alzheimer's?"

"What, no dude, I'm 24" Brian says, and Jae shrugs,

"There have been cases where it occurs when people are like, middle-aged." and they laugh a bit before Jae says,

"So, what do you have? If you don't mind me asking."

"It's something called dissociative fugue disorder... It's like if someone pressed the reset button on my life, and I lose all my memories from before that point in time. For all I know, 2 resets have happened. So, you asking me 'who are you' is something I, myself, would like to know for certain."

"Oh my God..." Jae says quietly as he stares into Brian's eyes.

A few moments have passed, and neither of them have looked away.

"You're fascinating." Jae says, and Brian doesn't know how to respond. 

"Uh, thanks? I mean, I don't really think forgetting my whole is fascinating, but..." is what Brian says to the compliment that make him sound like something other than human.

Jae looks at him for a little longer before snapping his fingers, and Brian can almost hear the light bulb turning on in the blonde man's head.

"Thank you." he says, and Brian gives him a bewildered expression,

"For what?"

"For inspiring me." Jae answers with a smile,

"You've dispelled my writer's block. Okay, hear me out. So, a man, let's call him 'A' has what you have, dissociate fugue disorder, right? So, he has a lover, and let's call them 'B' but then A suffers a reset. Completely forgetting everything they had, and so they're separated for a while. Then, in some strange twist of fate, they meet again. A has a new lover, but B knows it's him. And so, the story can go on to be about the struggle B goes through while trying to either, get over A, or get him back."

It's a long silence, and the two are just staring at each other.

"So, what do you think?" Jae asks about his prompt, that he kind of seems proud of.

"Do you normally share your plots and ideas to strangers?"

"Do you normally tell strangers your life story? Or at least, what you remember of it." Jae counters, before giving Brian a smile and going on to say,

"I think we're too involved with each other to be called 'strangers' at this point."

"Fair enough," Brian says,

"That being said, you should stop with the awkward small talk whenever we meet" Jae says and Brian hears Sungjin's laugh, before he pretends to hit Jae, making the latter flinch with a laugh.

"I'll leave you to your writing, then." the barista gets up,

"I'm assuming I'll see you soon?"

"Oh, yeah, definitely. I'll be doing most of my writing here, now that I have an idea" 

"Here, still?" Brian asks, "Why not at the comfort of your own home?"

And Brian can't explain the warm feeling he gets when Jae looks into his eyes, and flashes him a cute smile. It's thankful, but the author's eyes are unreadable as he says,

"Because my inspiration is here." 

To avoid Jae noticing his surprisingly red cheeks, Brian turns around so that he doesn't look at Jae for too long.

"Lame" with a laugh, is all Brian responds with because his brain is searching for the reason why he's blushing, as he walks back to go back behind the counter with Sungjin..

Jae's laughing too, but then it trails off. 

Maybe it's because Jae and Brian always meet face to face, but it's only now that Jae sees black ink that marks Brian's nape. 

Not much is exposed, but the letters are pretty much legible. It's the same letters that Younghyun had, in the exact same place where he remembers Younghyun telling the tattoo artist to place the design, when he turned 20.

Jae's thoughts are interrupted for a moment when the entrance bell goes off, and Minri walks in happily skipping to Brian, and Sungjin playfully stops her saying,

"Only staff allowed back here."

The blonde author looks at Brian who's hugging Minri, and it's at that moment that Jaehyung realizes that the idea inspired by Brian, the plot he created and was excited to start writing; was a story, with 'A' being Younghyun, and pathetic 'B' who's left to struggle and figure things out alone, being himself.

"Oh, going already?" Sungjin asks as he notices Jae packing up.

"U-Uh, yeah, it's getting late, and I'm just a little more tired than usual, today." Jae doesn't mean to sound panicked, but he can't help it because Younghyun is right in front of him, but he's not the Younghyun he knows; the Younghyun that knows Jae.

"Oh... Okay, see you soon, then Jae." Sungjin replies.

"Bye guys!" Jae says as naturally as he can, and walks out the cafe. 

Jae's sitting on Wonpil's couch as the shorter of the two makes some tea.

"I'm telling you, it's him." Jae says as Wonpil walks towards him with the cups, and sits across from Jae.

"Jae, you don't know that. It could just be someone with the same tattoo as him,"

"Living in the city we grew up in? The same face we both remember, even his voice? And about the tattoo, yeah sure, I would understand if it was the same tattoo but it's on the same place Younghyun had it."

It's quiet as Jae bites his lower lip, thinking about the lost Younghyun who has resurfaced as Brian.

"And what if it is?" Wonpil finally says something, and Jae looks up from his knees.

"He is" Jae says quietly before Wonpil continues,

"So what if Brian is Younghyun? He doesn't know that, he doesn't remember anything about us, Jae. He's not the same Younghyun that we knew; that you loved."

Wonpil makes a good point, and even Jae can't deny the obvious facts. And there's also the fact that Brian may not even be Younghyun, but Jae wants to take a chance.

"What group are you in?" Jae asks after a while. 

They've been sitting quietly for almost 20 minutes, both of them thinking and sipping their tea in Wonpil's dimly lit living room.

"What?" Wonpil asks, confused as to where this random question was coming from.

"They say there are 2 groups of people. Group 1 thinks everything that happens is coincidence, while Group 2 believes that everything happens for a reason. So, what group are you in?"

"Group 2." he answers.

"Okay, same. And so, I'm going to choose to believe that I met Brian for a reason." Jae says, and leans back and Wonpil looks at him suspiciously as Jae says,

"Whether the reason being he's actually Younghyun is something I'm just going to have to find out."

AUTHOR'S NOTE;

DAY6 ON ASC. BLESS UP, SO EXCITED OMF- i can't. LOL, i'm happy that they're getting more involved in like shows and stuff.. i need more content of my boys <3 

ok so, hi guys. LOL here's chapter 3 ! (: hope it wasn't too bad. thank you guys SO SO SO much for the comments you guys leave! they really push me to keep writing this story, so i hope this chapter didn't disappoint you guys ! :3 also, thank you for the upvotes and subscribers! (: glad to know some of you actually want to keep updated on this story haha. ok! so, please subscribe to keep updated, upvote if you're liking the story so far and also PLEASE comment ANYTHING you want to say about this story! :D i'll try and update soon, but until then, peace guys! <3- Zen