“I don’t think it’s very appropriate to talk about this here. I will call my colleague who has a night shift tonight and I will ask him to come earlier. Do you think you can wait for about 20 minutes?” He must have a lot of questions and many things to say as well, it will probably take a long time and the store is not the best place to have such a conversation.

“Okay, I will wait at the park down the street.”

“I got it.”

Woohyun noticed that Sunggyu hesitated a bit before leaving, maybe he wanted to ask something else right on the spot, but he decided against it. The older walked out of the store and Woohyun dialed his co-worker’s number.



It was easy to find Sunggyu even though the park was rather big, it was a bit chilly tonight and there were not many people since it was close to 9pm as well. Sunggyu was looking at the ground, kicking the small stones which were in front of him.

“Hyung.” Woohyun called and Sunggyu looked up. “Sorry it took so long.” He apologized, as he settled down next to Sunggyu. He waited for the older to ask him something, because he didn’t know where to begin from either.

“So… you can see ghosts?” Sunggyu questioned, as he played with his fingers. He never thought he would ask somebody such a question. As a kid, he used to believe in ghosts, vampires, trolls, supernatural in general. But as he grew up, he realized that indeed ‘the eyes have to see and the hands need to touch’, that’s when you truly start believing something like that was real. He had never encountered any creature out of this world, so he naturally stopped believing in such things.

“Yes, ever since I was a kid. It was quite scary at first, but I got used to it. Ghosts are not that bad, some are very talkative, but they are still nice.” Woohyun admitted. Sunggyu didn’t ask for details, but Woohyun still wanted to give a little bit more information. The older hummed in response and looked around, it was obvious what he was looking for or more specifically for who, but his eyes just aimlessly wandered around. “He’s in front of you, Hyung.”

“Huh? Oh… um, okay.”

Woohyun was surprised that the ghost hadn’t said a single word until now. He was just staring at Sunggyu. “Do you want to see him?” Woohyun asked and Sunggyu lowered his head again.

“I do, I really want to, but I don’t know what to say to him. I want to believe that what I saw yesterday was real, but it’s hard and I thought I would never be able to see him again. Do you think I will even be able to, maybe yesterday was a one-time thing?”

“We don’t know until we try. I was surprised as well, that you could see him. Something like that has never happened before. I think it was, because I grabbed your shoulders yesterday, that’s why you were able to see him too.” Woohyun eyed Sunggyu’s hands, the older was still nervously playing with his fingers and Woohyun was tempted to grab the other's hands, but the black hair ghost finally spoke.

Don’t even think about it. Just do it like yesterday, grab his shoulders or his arm, I don’t know. But don’t you dare to be all touchy.

“Why not? It’s up to me, not you.” Woohyun replied and Sunggyu lifted his head up, following Woohyun’s eyes to the place where Howon probably was.

Just- huh, why do you have to be so annoying?
 
“Same question back at you.”

You seriously-

“What is it? Are you two fighting?” Sunggyu asked, curiosity filling his eyes.

Yes!

“No, everything is okay. So, I will just place my hand on your shoulder, Hyung. I don’t want to exclude you from this, it’s better if you talk to him yourself.” Sunggyu nodded and closed his eyes, he still wasn’t sure if he was ready for this. Woohyun grabbed his shoulder like ge did yesterday and waited for Sunggyu to open his eyes, but they were still tightly shut. “Come on, Hyung. It’s okay to look.” Sunggyu finally found the courage and dared to look in front of him. His expression changed, but Woohyun wasn’t sure if it was because of disappointment that he couldn’t see Howon or he was just shocked, because he could actually see him. “So? Can you see him, Hyung?” Woohyun asked, as he looked around briefly. He was relieved to see that there was no one around, because yeah he wasn’t alone, talking to a ghost in the park at night, but still both Sunggyu and he were looking ahead, while talking, not at each other.

“Y-yes.” Sunggyu replied, as he extended his arm, trying to reach the black haired male, which was standing in front of him.

“You won’t be able to touch him.” Woohyun decided to clarify, because there was no way Sunggyu could know all the rules. When he first started seeing ghosts, Woohyun tried to grab and touch them as well, they seemed so real, you could mistake them for a normal human being. But they had no shadows or reflection and always wore the same clothes, so Woohyun learnt how to distinguish humans from ghosts over the years, without even talking to them.

“Hey, it’s good to see you again. I mean, it’s because you can see me, as well so…” The ghost said with a bashful smile and Woohyun frowned.

Oh my god, why is he talking like this?? What’s with this sweet-sounding voice? Totally an act, whenever I could see him – that was totally the real him! Rude and annoying, always trying to piss me off! Woohyun glanced at Sunggyu and noticed the super big smile on his face, he had seen him smile before and laugh, but it was nothing compared to this.

“This is so- Oh, Howon… why are you still here? It’s been 6 years.” Sunggyu questioned, hands covering his face, but Woohyun still managed to see the older’s teary eyes. Sunggyu was beyond happy that he could see Howon again, but it pained him to know that the other stayed behind.

6 years? That’s a long time indeed. It’s nothing close to Sayeon-noona’s record though.

Lim Sayeon was a ghost, which Woohyun met when he was 16. She had died in her early 30s, because of an illness, but couldn’t move on, because she wanted to make sure that her 5 year daughter will have a normal and happy life. She roamed around as a ghost for a total of 24 years and was finally able to go to the other side, after her daughter married and seemed more than happy.

“I could ask you the same question – why are you living like this? It’s been 6 years, but you haven’t moved on either. You go back to my grave every other week and you talk to me, I listened to everything you know. Because I never left you side, I was always around you.”

Woohyun could feel that Sunggyu’s body was slightly trembling right now, maybe this was a little bit too much for him to take in and Woohyun thought it would be for the best to stop for today, but-

“How could I live normally after you left me so suddenly? How could I, when I loved you so much?”

Sunggyu’s question echoed in the deserted park, as he couldn’t hold back his tears any longer.





After that day, Sunggyu started coming to the store at 9.30pm, instead of 6pm. He still bought the same 3 things – mineral water, spicy ramen and dark chocolate. But he came this late, because he always waited for Woohyun to finish work, so they could go to the park.

Woohyun’s hunch had been right – Sunggyu and Howon really used to date. Woohyun stayed silent most of the time and let the other two talk instead, so he learnt quite a lot about their past together – the two used to be classmates, well they were not in the same class, but they attended the same school and they were both the same age. Not any more though, since Howon died 6 years ago when he was 21, so Woohyun was again right, because he always thought that the black haired ghost looked slightly younger than him. As he listened to their conversations, he also found out that Howon and Sunggyu had their 3rd anniversary a few months before Howon’s death and that their parents knew about their relationship, but were fine with it and even had gatherings from time to time.

Woohyun found it a bit weird though – Sunggyu got used to the whole situation a little too fast, speaking with his dead boyfriend on a daily basis was now something normal. Sunggyu still talked to Woohyun of course, but most of the time Woohyun felt like a third wheel – like that 3rd person who hangs out with a couple and feels totally out of place. But he could still spend some time with his dear customer and they still talked much more than before, so Woohyun was satisfied with the progress, if you could even call it like that.

One day, on the fourth week after they started having these odd meetings, Sunggyu asked a question, which caught off guard both Howon and Woohyun.

“Do you want to come to my place tonight, Woohyun?”

The younger froze at the question, his eyes were about to pop out. “W-what?”

Yeaah, whaat?? The ghost asked in disbelief.

“We are wearing coats and scarves, but I’m still cold, I doubt it's any differnt for you. It’s almost December, it can even start snowing these days. I just wanted us to go somewhere warm. I-I mean, we could go to a café or something, but there are people there, so…”

“Yeah, you are right. It’s quite cold this week. Okay, I’ll come. I don’t mind at all.”

But I do mind! Hello?? Yah, don’t pretend that you can’t hear me!

Ignore him, ignore him. Woohyun sang in his head, as he walked side by side with his crush.



Woohyun was surprised that Sunggyu’s place was actually not very close, it took them over 20 minutes to get there and as the older came to the store every day, Woohyun thought that the Sunggyu lived somewhere in the area.

Woohyun took off his shoes and walked inside, the apartment wasn’t very big, it probably had just one more room than Woohyun’s, but the kitchen and the living room were more spacious, Woohyun could only guess what the other rooms were like. He still managed to spot a photo in a frame, right next to the TV, Woo