When Kyungsoo woke up on that Saturday morning, he awoke to find Chanyeol already awake and the side of his bed left empty.

Kyungsoo quickly got up, snatched his glasses from the nightstand before hastily putting them on and unplugging his phone from the charger; then rushing out the living room and was utterly relieved to see Chanyeol sitting down on the floor in front of the coffee table, cross-legged and studying the Go board Kyungsoo had laid out on the table.

 

 

Kyungsoo had been playing a match against himself for a few weeks now, usually for a few hours on his off days and he still had no idea on how to end the game because he didn’t want either side to lose.

Until either player decided to pass and end the game or one player concedes defeat, a game of Go might go on for a long time.

 

Chanyeol was studying the board and the arrangements of the black and white pieces currently in play.

“You focus too much on beating the white pieces on the lower left side,” Chanyeol noted, pointing to the Go board.

Kyungsoo hummed in thought, folding his arms over his chest as he stood up and observed the Go board he had left in play, “How do you think I can actually finish this?”

Chanyeol chuckled, “First, you have to pick a side which you want to win on. You can play against yourself and see which side wins but it’ll be hard. If you give yourself an advantage on one side, it’ll make things easier for yourself.”

“As said by the professional himself,” Kyungsoo smiled, padding off to the kitchen and asking Chanyeol if he wanted coffee or tea.

Chanyeol just wanted plain water.

 

 

Kyungsoo fried a few eggs and made cup noodles for breakfast; as those were the only things he had in his kitchen. Kyungsoo hardly ever ate at home and his meals mostly consisted of takeaway, deliveries and the hospital cafeteria’s food.

Kyungsoo ate with Chanyeol on the small dining table only enough for three people at most. Kyungsoo’s apartment wasn’t exactly “guest-friendly” and mostly made to suit his own needs.

He hardly, if ever, had people over at his place anyway.

 

Chanyeol was quiet during breakfast and hardly spoke but that was expected of him.

Kyungsoo was actually worried about what happened last night when he was trying to go to sleep. Did Chanyeol even remember what he said or did last night that bothered Kyungsoo?

Kyungsoo knew that Chanyeol wasn’t going to talk about it or even bring the topic up, knowing his condition so it was up to Kyungsoo to bring it up if he ever wanted to discuss it.

But considering the sensitivity of the topic and the emotional turmoil that surrounded it, Kyungsoo felt it was wiser and safe to be quiet for it now.

 

But for how long should he continue to keep silent about it, Kyungsoo wondered?

It seemed like everyone around Chanyeol had been sweeping things under the carpet and ignoring all those questions because it seemed like the best option but was it?

Eventually, it would come back to haunt Chanyeol and maybe it already did.

Kyungsoo believed that for someone who lived in the emotional reticence and silence like Chanyeol, Kyungsoo had to be Chanyeol’s voice that could help him get through all this turmoil.

 

 

After breakfast, Chanyeol helped clear up by wiping the table and putting the chairs away while Kyungsoo washed the dishes.

Kyungsoo did not ask for the help and Chanyeol was the one who insisted he wanted to help.

 

After all that was done, Chanyeol stood in front of his wide open travel bag and stared for a long time at it, looking at his clothes and essentials that had been packed up for him by the assistants at the Japan Go association.

If not for them, Chanyeol would have probably just traveled with only his wallet, passport and the clothes on his back.

Go was the only one thing that Chanyeol could remain fully functional at these days. For almost everything else, he required assistance with.

 

Kyungsoo walked into the room and saw Chanyeol looking over at his travel bag and not knowing what to do.

“You don’t have to bring much. It’s only a few days and we’re going out of town anyway,” Kyungsoo advised, picking out a few shirts and trousers for Chanyeol. “These are good. It’s warm anyway because it’s almost July so you can dress light. You can put the rest away in my drawer so you don’t have to carry around so much. Don’t forget your pajamas, towels, and undergarments.”

“Oh,” Chanyeol gaped before he nodded, “I will do that then.”

“Well then, do you want to shower first? I still have to make some phone calls first,” Kyungsoo suggested.

“Ok, I will,” Chanyeol muttered lowly, agreeing to be the one to shower first.

Kyungsoo made sure to call his colleague, the lab technician from the hospital, whose spare car he was renting for the weekend to drive out of town with.

After confirming the time the car would be delivered in front of his apartment block, Kyungsoo also packed his clothes and things he would need for the weekend away from home and his hometown.

Kyungsoo didn’t question yet whether it sounded like a good idea at the time and if it was alright to be bringing Chanyeol back to a place he hadn’t been to in over a decade, and when things were very different than they were now.

 

 

When they were both ready and packed to go, Kyungsoo double-checked to make sure he didn’t leave anything on and running, besides the fridge.

“We’re not using the train. I mean, we could use it to get there but I would like for us to travel around easier back in our hometown. You know hard it was to even catch a bus there,” Kyungsoo told Chanyeol as they were walking down the apartment’s open-air hallway and headed to the elevator.

“So, how are we getting there?” Chanyeol asked, walking behind Kyungsoo, carrying his bag in front of him.

“I’m driving,” Kyungsoo answered, pressing the elevator buttons and waiting for it to reach their floor.

Chanyeol looked at Kyungsoo confusedly, and Kyungsoo noticed how puzzled Chanyeol looked.

“What? I can drive, you know. I got my license in the army because they made me drive around those jeeps on the base.” Kyungsoo spoke up.

“But you don’t have a car,” Chanyeol commented, stepping into the elevator following behind Kyungsoo.

Kyungsoo pressed the button for the ground floor, turning his head to Chanyeol, “It’s too much of a hassle to maintain one. I don’t have time for it but I’m renting a car from my co-worker.”

 

Once the elevator reached the ground floor in the apartment lobby, Chanyeol and Kyungsoo both alighted from the elevator with Chanyeol following from behind, always letting Kyungsoo walk first.

Kyungsoo, then, instructed Chanyeol to wait there in the lobby while he went out the building to talk to his co-worker and take the keys to the car he was renting.

Kyungsoo did this so because he didn’t want to make Chanyeol uncomfortable if his co-worker tried talking to him too even if it was just as a polite and friendly gesture.

Casual conversations with strangers were something that was outside of Chanyeol’s capability for now.

 

 

 

Once the co-worker had departed and Kyungsoo had the keys to the car, Kyungsoo went back to the lobby to get Chanyeol and show him the way to the car.

Kyungsoo took Chanyeol’s bag and placed it on the rear seat together with his own.

Chanyeol tried getting in and sitting behind but Kyungsoo made sure to stop him and ask him to sit in front in the passenger seat beside him.

 

“Alright, I’ll just need to fill up a bit more gas before we can hit the highway. We’ll be there in just a bit over an hour. Do you want to eat something along the way?” Kyungsoo asked warmly, buckling Chanyeol’s seatbelt and putting it in place before doing the same for his side.

“I am a bit hungry,” Chanyeol responded, voice low as usual.

“We’ll stop at a drive through then after the gas station,” Kyungsoo suggested, taking his phone out and putting it on his lap before beginning the drive.

 

 

The drive to their hometown too was quiet as expected. Chanyeol ate the food from the fast food drive through and then fell asleep with his head leaning against the window.

Chanyeol slept for most of the drive and Kyungsoo wondered if it was because he didn’t get enough sleep the prior night, especially after what had happened and that revelation that sunk Kyungsoo’s heart.

Kyungsoo could almost feel Chanyeol’s pain.

 

 

Kyungsoo woke Chanyeol up once he drove past the signboard which displayed a welcome message to the medium-sized town they used to live in.

Chanyeol stirred awake and looked around through the car windows at the rows of shops and the town center that was now unfamiliar and seemed so foreign to him.

“I went here three years ago with my family on a road trip. It has changed a bit since then,” Kyungsoo informed, driving slower so he could properly read the signs and note the landscape.

 

Chanyeol didn’t feel like he knew this place anymore, not even in the slightest bit.

Kyungsoo drove past their high school and excitedly pointed it out to Chanyeol, saying, “Look, the building hasn’t changed since then but I see they made an extension to the building since I last came here. The baseball field still does look bad though even in the summer. I swear the school never takes care of it.”

Then, they drove by the town’s community center where Chanyeol used to play Go at with the older and retired folk. Kyungsoo also made sure to happily point it out to Chanyeol.

“Do you remember that place? We used to go there every day,” Kyungsoo joyfully mentioned.

“Oh, that’s my old home. We sold it about ten years ago!” Kyungsoo eagerly told Chanyeol about.

Chanyeol only nodded, affirming whatever it was Kyungsoo said but not adding anything to the conversation.

 

Chanyeol wanted to know where they were headed to and what their destination was but he was actually afraid of an answer and chose to remain silent instead, especially in a place where he knew no one and anything else anymore.

Kyungsoo continued driving further down the two-lane road, past the shop lots and modern homes. Further down; the road was only with one-lanes on either flow of traffic, there were hardly any more shops in sight and the houses were older and sparsely separated from each other with more rice fields in the view.

Now, this was familiar to Chanyeol. It was slowly coming back to him but before he could even form a sentence and rehearse what he wanted to say to Kyungsoo, the car came to a halt in front of a family-run convenience store just in front of the house of the people who ran it.

 

“I need to ask the people in the store for the directions. I can’t believe I forgot where the guest house is even though my family stayed there the last time we were here. Wait for me, okay?” Kyungsoo exclaimed before taking off his seatbelt and putting his phone down the seat and then exiting the car, leaving Chanyeol alone in the car with the engine still running.

 

 

Chanyeol remembered this store very much. It was where he used to drop by with Kyungsoo every day after school.

Sometimes, the store owner would even give them free dumplings if they dropped by near closing time, usually after spending the entire weekend night fooling away by playing Go and old console games instead of doing homework.

Chanyeol also remembered the few people in this town he actually knew, still. Although he knew no one else anymore, he could never forget these two men who still lived in the same town and Chanyeol wasn’t actually keen on seeing them again.

 

In fact, Chanyeol had been silently worrying and stressing if he should run into them again because he wouldn’t know what to do and say, except cower in fear and possibly make a fool of himself but he felt slightly assured to have Kyungsoo by his side.

Chanyeol looked to his side, at the driver’s seat and saw that it was empty.

Chanyeol was frantic and panicking when he realized that he was there, waiting in the car alone without Kyungsoo.

 

But Kyungsoo arrived just in time, waving off to the store owner and jogging back to the car. If Kyungsoo hadn’t arrived just at the right time he did, Chanyeol would have run out of the car in bewilderment and anxiousness to search for Kyungsoo.

Kyungsoo was like his personal clutch that made him feel safe and secure. Maybe, Chanyeol was beginning to depend on Kyungsoo too much.

 

“I got the directions already; it’s just down this road. We’ll be staying at a guest house that opened a few years ago. The owners aren’t from here so they don’t know you so I don’t think they’ll ask you too many questions. Are you okay with that?” Kyungsoo questioned, making sure Chanyeol was comfortable with the arrangements.

Chanyeol nodded, tugging on his seatbelt like a clutch to make himself feel secure and at ease. Chanyeol didn’t want Kyungsoo to know of the slight and sudden panic attack he had to realize that he was alone in such a scary and foreign place.

Because that was what their hometown is now to Chanyeol.

 

 

Kyungsoo continued the drive down the one-lane road, flanked by fields and greenery, before making a turn at a fork into the road to drive up to a rather large wooden house designed in a traditional style with two floors and a wide gated compound inside.

Kyungsoo parked at one of the guest designated spots as specified by a sign near the parking area.

“We’re here,” Kyungsoo announced, unbuckling his seatbelt before helping with Chanyeol’s.

Doing that, Kyungsoo could