“The one and only” Jiyong answered.

Taeyeon nodded, clearing .

“I-It’s been a while” she forced a smile, which, even fake, made his heart beat faster than he ever thought it could “Eight years?”

“Ten” he whispered, glaring straight at her “Ten and five days. You left me on June 5th, 2007” he completed.

“Oh” she coughed awkwardly, glancing at her friend, who had no idea of what was going on “Fany, this is Jiyong, my-“ she interrupted herself “A friend of mine” she added and he laughed sarcastically.

“It’s nice how you see our history as a friendship” he grinned falsely.

“I am Tiffany” the woman said, trying to break the ice “Pleasure to meet you” she extended her hand towards him, but he didn’t bother grabbing it.

“Tiffany is my girlfriend” Taeyeon informed quickly, which made Jiyong shallow his own saliva in anger.

“Girlfriend?” he greeted his teeth in disbelief “Since when you do girls?”

Tiffany and Taeyeon froze at his sentence. He had become so bitter.

“I like humans, Jiyong, not only males” she said.

He moved his head silently.

“Good to know. Is she the reason why you disappeared from my life?”

“I haven’t known Tae for that long” Tiffany explained “So I am pretty sure I-“

“You don’t need to do that, Fany” Taeyeon spoke “I owe nothing to you, Jiyong” she stared at him firmly, observing as he ran his fingers through his black hair.

“I loved you” Jiyong muttered, taking her off guard “Forever. Or did you forget that?”

Taeyeon chuckled, passing her tongue through .

“Forever is relative-“

“Shut the up, Kim Taeyeon” he yelled “Forever means forever, not ‘you can abandon me the next day because I will be fine.’”

She stood still. He had changed a lot. And, apparently, because of her.

In that moment, and probably because of his screaming, the others boys appeared.

“What happened, Ji?” Taeyang asked, worried.

“Guys, I want to introduce you to this lady” he hissed, pointing at Taeyeon.

Seungri smiled, bowing at her.

“Hi, I am Seungri-“

“This is Kim Taeyeon. Have you heard of her?” Jiyong turned at them and, by the look on their faces, they had.

---

It was almost 2 AM but they didn’t seem to care. They kept on drinking as if there was no tomorrow.

“Okay, okay, I have one!” Seungri yelled, extending his hand.

“Go ahead, panda” Taeyang ordered.

The youngest threw a whole cup of beer down his throat and turned to Jiyong.

“For you, Ji” he pointed at the friend, who nodded “Why are you so mean all the time?” he asked, bringing silence into the room “I know, with our profession, we can’t be nice to everyone, but why are you so cold? What happened that made you this cruel and…” he stopped “Sad?”

The others stood quiet.

They wanted to hear his answer.

Jiyong sipped a bit of his vodka and he felt a lung on his heart.

“A girl” he whispered, closing his eyes strongly as the desperate need to cry took over him.

“But…” Daesung furrowed his eyebrows “You told us you don’t get involved with women.”

“Because of her” Jiyong continued, playing with the liquid in his hand “She ed me up. Big time. And, after that, I didn’t allow anyone to get too close and steal her place. So, instead, I shut myself out” he finished.

---

“We should get going, Fany” Taeyeon hissed, grabbing the girlfriend from the hand.

Watching that, Jiyong held her wrist angrily and made her part from Tiffany.

“Why did you go away? Why did you disappear? You said you loved me back. So why would you do such a thing?” he inquired, clearly desperate.

Taeyeon sighed tiredly, glancing at him.

“Because stuff happened and I needed to leave. It wasn’t safe to me anymore” she answered, memories filling her mind.

Jiyong’s expression changed. It softened. It might have been ten years, but he still could read inside her. He could see her soul, in ways no one would ever be able to.

He took a step closer to her.

“I could have protected you” he spoke warmly “I wouldn’t let anyone touch you or do any harm to you” he informed, staring right into her eyes “But how am I supposed to do that if you hide yourself somewhere I can’t find you?”

She froze at his words.

That was him. That was the Kwon Jiyong that once owned her heart.

“Tae” Tiffany called her out “The girls are waiting.”

Taeyeon shook her head, diverting her gaze from Jiyong’s.

“Yes” she smiled weakly.

Tiffany did the same, turning around to say goodbye to the boys. But, accidentally, she twisted her ankle and almost fell.

“Got you!” Seunghyun exclaimed, holding her easily on his large arms.

She locked her glance on his. He was such a view.

He managed to put her back up and she smiled, blushing a little.

“Be careful” he hissed, amazed by how beautiful she was.

“T-Thank you” she bowed politely “It was nice meeting you all. Have a good evening” she waved friendly, pulling the trolley with her towards the cashier.

Taeyeon followed her.

Jiyong observed and it hurt him. He was losing her again.

“I searched for you!” he shouted.

And she stopped.

“Jeju, Busan, Incheon, Goyang…” he said “I even went to Tokyo, Osaka, Bangkok. All the places you wanted to go. I looked for you everywhere. And then… I got clueless.”

She sighed, closing her eyes so she wouldn’t let the tear that insisted in escaping come out.

“You dreamed about visiting all of these towns” he added.

Without glaring backwards, she continued her path.

“Dreams change, Jiyong” she muttered, disappearing from his sight.