A knock at your door that next Sunday morning was unusual. As if you didn’t have a door, you peeked out from your bedroom into the living room. Could it have been your Grandfather? Or…was it Emjae on the other side? Maybe it was just a mail-man who was working on his off day…as Sundays were usually days they took a break from delivering mail.

You opened the door to see Dokyeom standing there with a dozen of red roses in one hand and a white envelope in the other. His dark hair was brushed back revealing part of his forehead. His hairstyle was different. It suited him well.

Should you be surprised that he had brought you flowers?

Dokyeom handed them to you, “Unfortunately these are not from me. They were just delivered to the wrong place. The envelope says…”

In the midst of pronouncing it, Dokyeom flipped the envelope to reveal a name. Instead of accepting the roses, you snatched the envelope into your hands.

Dokyeom watched you rip the card into fourths in shock.

“Keep the roses,” you demanded and slammed your door shut leaving Dokyeom confused. He innocently stared at your door and frowned to himself.

“But I don’t have any use for it,” he replied from outside.

“Then give it to someone!!”

“Like who?”

“I don’t know; someone you like or something!!”

“Ok well…I guess I’ll just leave these roses at your door then,”

You yanked your door open to see him walking away, “I said give it to someone. Why are you leaving it here??”

“You said to give it to someone I like,” Dokyeom reasoned triggering you to glance down at the freshly bloomed red roses he placed at your doorstep.

You sat in your living room with the card taped back together. The envelope was still in shreds beside it. When you ripped it earlier, it was all because Michael Jung was printed on the front of the envelope. Now that you thought about it, it was crazy that just his name was enough to piss you off. Or was it the fact that he used his real name instead of the nickname you gave him? You sighed and flipped the letter open:

Dear my beautiful childhood friend,

I’m leaving back overseas today. To be truthful I’m going to get engaged soon. I still love you very much and I’m sorry for everything. I wish I had more courage. I know you hate me now and things will never be the same. My phone has been disconnected, I know. I shouldn’t have been so selfish to keep you waiting. I’ve actually been back for a short period of time but I won’t be staying. I’m sorry on behalf of Jumi for being rude to you. I was so shocked to see you that I had such a hard time thinking of the right words to say. Congratulations for making it to Pledis University. I know how much you admire that school. Also, I’m happy that you are with Wonwoo. I’ve heard great things about him. I wish him and especially you, the best of everything. ~Emjae

“You STUPID IDIOT!” you screamed at the top of your lungs while tossing the roses out from your front door. You struggled to re-rip the taped card before you gave up, crumpled it and pitched it out as well.

Dokyeom stopped sweeping his walkway at the sound of your voice. He watched the bouquet of roses hit the ground as a few red petals fell loose. The half crumpled card rolled away from the roses and into a small ditch a few inches away.

Dokyeom witnessed you slam your door furiously and wondered what could have been so bad about those roses that it caused you to act like a psychotic neighbor. He contemplated for a few minutes before he walked over to the roses to pick them up and retrieve the ripped letter.

Dokyeom opened his trash can and stuck the roses and the ripped letter deep into his trash bucket. He had made the effort to pick up the loose petals as well. He glanced over at your window and wondered if you were ok. He had seen parts of the ripped letter and had never felt so helpless. Now it all made sense to him why you appeared so out of it yesterday at Jeonghan’s showcase. It was all because Emjae was there. And he was there with his soon-to-be fiancée. But Wonwoo? You were his girlfriend? When?

Dokyeom sulked in the midst of his deductive reasoning. Everyone knew who Emjae was. He had been in town for roughly one month already. He was a student from overseas who majored in engineering with a minor is cinematography. He even attended Pledis during the day to collaborate on photos with Jeonghan. How did it happen to be that Emjae was a part of your past as well?

With his elbow propped and chin in palm, Dokyeom sat at a table in the showroom lost in his own thoughts while his friends rummaged around him. Although they were there Sunday night helping Jeonghan clean up his photos, Dokyeom found himself preoccupied by his own mind.

“Dokyeom can you help me take the strings off of these photos?” Jeonghan asked but Dokyeom didn’t budge.

“Hello??” Mingyu added while waving his hand in front of Dokyeom’s eyes that were focused on midair. “Helloooo????” Mingyu announced again.

“What?” Dokyeom responded as he straightened up his back.

“What is wrong with you? You’re like a zombie today,” Woozi questioned as he pulled a chair out from beside Dokyeom to sit down.

Dokyeom sighed to remove the heavy feeling in his chest, “Ok…sit down I’ll tell you,”

And just like that, all twelve of his friends surrounded him with chairs.

They stared at each other in silence and then burst into a laugh together while Dokyoem crossed his arms unamused.

“When are you going to stop telling the lie that she lives next to you?” Seungcheol teased.

“It’s true though,” Dokyeom replied.

Seungkwan stopped laughing, “Can you get to the actual story?”

“I’m getting there. But I have to remind you guys that s