Present day.

With his hands in his pockets, he walks with his face staring at the ground. Daniel adjusts his baseball hat, heaving a sigh of regret. He makes small, calculative steps as he approaches his manager. “Let’s make a stop at my old apartment. I need to clear my things. I have to move out before the weekend.”

“Sure. Give me 5 minutes, I need to make a phone call.” Daniel’s Manager responds and walks away.

Daniel continues to walk towards the car and pauses in his stride. He digs his shoes into the dirt and bites his lower lip. He turns around and sees JaeBeom sitting next to Giselle, at the bench where he had sat earlier. He felt a heavy tug in his chest and an overwhelming surge of emotions started flooding in. He had built up so much hope for this relationship. He had searched for her for so long since he saw her at that restaurant, only to have to let her go like this. He held in a sniff and cleared his throat as soon as he saw his manager approach the car.

Half an hour later, Daniel walks up to his apartment door, dragging his feet as if he’s about to do something he was going to regret. It’s inevitable and I have to move on, he kept reminding himself. He takes a deep breath and unlocks his front door. He hadn’t been to his apartment in many weeks now, since he’s been bunking at the dorm for the filming of the show. He didn’t come home after his last off day. He had gone to stay with Seong Woo and they both drank themselves to oblivion for two whole days, straight.

As he takes a step into his apartment and takes a whiff of his home, where he had spent 2 years while training after graduation. Daniel’s apartment was a small 900sq studio apartment, situated conveniently next to a train station. If he were to open his bedroom window, he’d be smelling smoke emanating from the trains that zoomed by. He closed his eyes and recalls the couch potato-ing, drinking sessions with Seong Woo and Minhyun at the dining table and the number of times he’d sleep-in due to depression for not getting gigs or not successfully obtaining any placing during the yearly showcase. He opened his eyes and he sees a ghostly figure resembling Giselle running playfully around the couch while he tries to catch her for eating all his chips. He smiled to himself and closes the front door.

He left his keys in the monkey pot, next to the door and goes straight for his bedroom. The scent of strawberry and passion fruit moisturizer takes over his senses. It was like she was still there. He leans an arm on the doorframe and takes in the memory of her. His hands now covering his face, he could still remember the smell of her hair, her playful demeanor and how she had fit so snugly in his arms every morning when she stayed over.

He pulls himself together and walks to his wardrobe, grabbing his suitcase and a duffel bag. He starts throwing in his clothes into the suitcase when he suddenly stops and pulls up a blue midriff t-shirt, too small to be his. He chokes and folds it neatly and sets it on the bed. He then sees a piece of paper folded in between two of his t-shirts. He pulled the folded paper out and opened it. He saw her handwriting and cleared his throat.

Dear Daniel,

I don’t know when you’ll see this but just thought I’d tell you that I’m loving every single moment here. I’ve not had this much happiness in a long time. You’ve made me feel so loved, I sometimes feel like I don’t deserve it. If I wake up here and I don’t feel you next to me, I feel lost. So you better not go anywhere far! Remember your promise not to leave? I’m gonna make sure you keep your word!

Loving you lots and lots baby!

G

He shuts his eyes in absolute regret and hung his head down low. He took a deep breath and read the message again. She must’ve written this quite awhile back, probably while we were still together, he concluded. He turned towards his bed and once again saw an apparition of her lying down with the sheets covered up to her neck, facing the window, away from him. He saw a vision of himself turning over, leaning across her waist and pulling her closer to him, spooning her into his arms. She doesn’t turn; instead she pulls the covers over his arm, letting him into her warmth. He nuzzles his face into her hair and neck and smelling that sweet strawberry scent which made him feel the comfort of home. He saw himself in this position with her till the sun rose that morning. He smiled at the memory of her being jolted awake by the trains that passed by noisily across from his apartment every morning too, and that soft muttered cuss she makes when the train beeps and horns at the same time.

I’ll get manager hyung to mail her belongings back to Giselle as he makes a mental note. He folds her message and arranges it in his wallet. Daniel finished packing his clothes and shoes and sets it at the front door. He then goes to the bathroom and sees a grey Disney hoodie hanging off the door handle. He smiled to himself while taking the hoodie off the handle, and hangs it over his shoulder. He could still smell the strawberry scented moisturizer she slathers on so often. He recalls her complaining, while sitting on his bed. “No matter how many times I put this on, my hands are still dry!” she exclaims.

“So why’re you still using it?” He walks towards her and threw himself on the bed.

“Because it smells nice.” She sprays the moisturizer over her shoulders and arms.

“Would you like me to help you with that? It spreads better when someone else does it for you….” Daniel playfully reaches over and smothers Giselle with kisses all over her neck. That strawberry scent still lingering all over her hair and body.

Back to reality you dork, he snaps himself back to where he was. He was now staring at himself in the mirror in the bathroom. He the tap and splashed his face with water since he found himself feeling too absorbed in the memory of her. He turned over to the shower and saw that she had also left her toiletries; passion fruit scented body gel, some glossy hair shampoo, a loofah and a facial cleanser. He realized that he needed to do this fast, or he’ll be drowned in all the memories of them being together, that he might just combust and go back on his decision to move on from all of this.

The decision to move out from his apartment was two-fold. It was a step suggested by his new agency, to ease him into the boyband image, living with his team members in a dorm and also, for him to leave behind his past life, so that he can build a newer and better one. He found it extremely difficult to let go of this apartment as it had so many memories of him growing up in a big city. He had left his hometown with big dreams to become a big star. He was living it now. What has made him what he is now, was this apartment and all the memories that came with it. He heaved a sigh of resignation.

He told himself that he must move on. He was thankful for having life treat him well so far, at the same time, feeling regret that he hadn’t done enough for her. He hadn’t given himself enough for Giselle, not enough reasons for her to stay. Like Seong Woo said, if she didn’t let go the way she did, he would’ve ended up hurting her by not being able to give her his time, they’d always be planning to meet and only to be mobbed by fans or never be able to have a private life.

Daniel continued packing that night and whatever he had left at the apartment, he made a mental note to let his manager know to dispose of it all and mail Giselle’s belongings to the address he had specified. Once he was satisfied with what he had in his suitcase and duffel bag, he sat on his couch and swiped through his phone’s playlist. He selected Dean x Gaeko’s ‘D (Half Moon)’ and places his phone on the coffee table, as he laid back and closed his eyes.

* * * * *

Throwback to a year and a half ago.

“Bro, I totally forgot I had a date tonight! Imma need you to cover my shift, dude. The bar just called me to remind me. Please? I’ll throw in a month’s supply of that yucky jelly gummies you like so much.” pleaded Minhyun. “You don’t want me to miss out on this date do you? Considering I’ve never actually been on a proper one before, so I really need this!”

Daniel looks at him with narrowed eyes. “Dude, you don’t date. You’ve never dated in your whole life. Who is this girl by the way? Does she know your last date was via text message?“ He sniggers and attempts to block a headlock by Minhyun.

“Very funny, dude!” He headlocks Daniel and pokes his ribs.

“Do you want me to take your shift or not? I wont do it like this!” Daniel struggles to free himself from the chokehold.

“Okkkkk…. Imma hands off. So you’ll do it?”

“I’ll do it, on one condition.”

“Name it. I’ll do it. I’m THAT desperate. She’s hot.”

Daniel laughs and puts up his hands. “I’m sure she is. So the condition is, 15 bags of jelly gummies AND you find me a date if your girl has a hot friend too. Deal?”

“Deal” and they shook on it.

Hours later, Daniel clocks in at Olivo’s Gourmet Restaurant and Bar at 7pm that evening, ready for his shift for the night. He didn’t mind the part-time hours here since it was located at Hard Carry Grove, a high-end affluent neighbourhood where the customers were civilized and weren’t too fussy. He had customers who would send hi