Part 1: Stuck in the Past

Chapter 1: A beautiful day

It is a very beautiful day in Seoul.

The weather couldn’t be anymore perfect, with the sun peeking through the clouds in the sky, while the frisky morning breeze flows through the somewhat empty streets. It’s hard to imagine that in just a couple hours, the streets will be full of people, rushing to get to school and to work.

In a neighborhood not too far from the main subway station, a man walks out of an apartment complex with his hands tucked into his jacket pockets. He is quite tall, and his outfit only further enhance his lanky figure. Dressed in a blue light v-neck tee and black jeans, completed with a dark blue jacket, he briskly made his way out of the quiet neighborhood and into the main street. Minhyuk is in no rush, but he also did not want to miss his appointment with a friend.

Almost all the stores and offices surrounding the neighborhood are closed, with the exception of a few cafes and pastry shops that were open and doing morning preparations for the busy day. Inside one particular shop, there is a young man who is diligently arranging the tables and chairs. He does it with so much care that one would think that his performance evaluation was based on how straight he can line up the furnitures. It is very amusing to watch as he hops around the shop to inspect the furniture, occasionally squinting his eyes to gauge the distance between them.

Minhyuk waits before going in the shop because he is highly amused by these actions, but upon seeing the young man scrunches up his face in annoyance, he couldn’t help but chuckles and steps inside to tease his friend.

“Kihyun-ah, I don’t think anyone is going to hold up a magnifying glass to inspect how straight these chairs are.” Minhyuk says, letting the door fall shut behind him. A little jingling noise alerts Kihyun that someone has come into the shop, but he doesn’t need to turn around to figure out who it was. Kihyun knows that voice too well to know who it belongs to, and who else would be here at 6:30AM anyways.

“It’s still going to bother me if it’s not straight, it doesn’t matter if no one else notices it.” Kihyun grumbles and eyes Minhyuk from the corner of his eyes. “Did you lock the doors after you left?”

“No, I left it open for thieves to come in and steal all of our belongings” Minhyuk replies, his arms crossed and his eyes unblinking. Meanwhile, Kihyun rolls his eyes so far back one would think they would never come back out again.

“I was going to give you a free Frappuccino but on second thoughts, maybe I should give you a sasspucino instead.”

Minhyuk’s face cringes up in disgust at Kihyun’s poor taste of puns, but instead of a sly remark, Minhyuk chooses to ignore it for the sake of the free coffee.

“It always amazes me how much the youth loves these sugar-induced drinks with almost no nutritional benefits.” He turns his attention slightly away from Kihyun to study the gigantic menu hanging on the wall.

“Leave us alone, we are a generation of overworked, debt-ridden college students with crippling high-functioning depression. These kind of stuff gives us joy.” Kihyun let out a soft sigh. It’s sad how true it was, the millennials got a really crappy bargain from their predecessors.

“Well, I think I’m going to take a plain black coffee, to match your dark and bitter future.” Minhyuk grins, earning himself a glare from Kihyun who grumbles something about spitting in his coffee.

As Kihyun disappears behind the counter to prepare the coffee, Minhyuk casually sits himself down one of the cushioned arm chair in the corner of the shop and pulls out a brown, leather-bound journal. As he was flipping through the pages, a photograph fell out and lands by his foot. The picture shows a small boy, not older than 7 or 8, being held by man with a lanky figure, in a grey suit and a hat that shielded most of his face.

It’s been nearly 16 years since this picture was taken, but it still felt like it was yesterday. The memories flooded Minhyuk’s mind as he reaches down to pick up the photograph, but to his surprise, Kihyun had already beat him to it.

“You still have this picture?” Kihyun’s eyebrow raises slightly in question, but one could tell from how fondly he looked at the picture, that he was happy to see it. “I can’t believe it’s been 16 years since my mom passed away.”

“I’m sorry Kihyun”

“Don’t be, I’m okay now, and you’ve helped me out a lot these past 16 years.” Kihyun smiles and tucks the picture back into the journal. “Here’s your coffee, now get out and go to work because I have to open soon.”

“Ok Grumpy, I’m leaving.” Minhyuk laughs and pulls himself up from the chair. He carefully tucks his journal away into his bag and grabs the coffee from Kihyun. “Thanks for the coffee kiddo.”

“Have a good day at work.” Kihyun calls out after him as he made his way out of the cafe.

“You sound like my wife, Kihyun-ah.” Minhyuk teases as he pokes his head in throu