Seoul 1969

“Don’t worry about me, Daehyun” the girl whimpers to the older boy. “You should go on home already.”

Before the boy even has time to speak, Himchan interrupts his train of thought. “She’s right Daehyun” the elder pats his shoulder as he speaks, “you’ve got an early morning tomorrow. You have to catch that train.” He turns to the girl caressing her hair as he continues, “I’m here now, and I’ll look after her.”

The haggard boy shakes his head as he continues staring at the girl lying in the hospital bed. He sighs at the black eye she’s sporting and a tear trails down his cheeks when his fingers brush against the IV tubes coming out of her veins. “I’m not leaving” he mutters darkly, holding the girl’s hands tighter in his own as he shifts closer to her. “I can’t leave her alone.”

Alarm crosses Himchan’s features and he moves forward in his seat to pull Daehyun away from the girl. “You’re crazy, right?” He demands of the boy. Staring at the red-rimmed eyes that hold anger in them. “Youngjae’s father passed away, Daehyun. You can’t just not go!”

At the name of his friend, Daehyun’s eyes shake in their sockets and he bites his lips, looking away. Staring once more at the injured girl in front of him, “I can’t leave her alone here, Chan. I won’t.”

The elder’s expression softens at his words and Himchan brings his hands to the boy’s neck to rub the nape of his neck to calm him down a little. “I’ll be here, Daehyun. I’m here for her.”

“Exactly, Daehyunie” the girl beams at him, grabbing onto Himchan’s hand as she speaks. “Himchan will look after me. And it’s only a matter of days. I’ll be out of here in no time.”

Uncertainty still shines in the boy’s eyes and he stares at the smiling girl. “What if they come back while I’m gone?” He mumbles to himself. It’s a rhetoric question and both his friends know that he’s not looking for an answer. But Himchan replies nonetheless.

“Then she can stay with me.” The girl looks at the elder sharply but when he smiles back at her assuring, she simply gulps and nods her head, albeit a bit warily. “You should go. You have to.”

When Daehyun doesn’t answer the girl then speaks, “you’re scared of seeing him, aren’t you?” Neither Daehyun nor Himchan add to her query, so she smiles weakly and continues “you’re scared of what will happen when you two finally meet so you’re just looking for excuses to avoid going.”

“I’m crazy, huh?” He chuckles dimly. “After sending him all those letters, I’m avoiding the chance meet him now.”

A hand on his back makes him look up from the girl and Himchan is staring at him with a gentle smile. “Go.” He shakes the boy, determination in his voice. “You have to go. Meet Youngjae and ask him why he never replied. Beg him for forgiveness if you have and tell him you want to stay friends. That you don’t mind that he’s gay.” Himchan’s voice cracks as he says “don’t miss this chance, Daehyun. Youngjae deserves to meet you again.”

Limply, Daehyun falls into the elder’s embrace and nods his head in his friend’s chest. Hope bubbling in his gut at the thought of finally meeting Youngjae.

Seoul 2017

Junhong sits numb at the dining table staring at the little old lady in front of him. She doesn’t look all that old but her hair has all turned grey. A lopsided smile rests on her lips and she is tittering in her seat clapping her hands every once in a while Himchan’s wife pours the stew in her bowl. The oddest thing about her though, are the burn marks lining her arms and the side of her neck.

“Did you have fun today, Sweetie?” Himchan asks the old woman who Junhong has seen for the first time ever. “Did Sooyoung buy you a lot of cotton candy?”

Mutely the old lady nods her head, resembling a small child, as she starts slurping the stew in her bowl. Her movements looking awfully similar to a five-year-old instead of a sixty-year-old. She steals a look at Junhong but quickly shifts her attention towards the rice bowl in front of her.

“We even bought her a brand new hairpin” Himchan’s wife beams at the pair, pointing at the flower pin in the woman’s hair. “Didn’t you want to show it to Himchan, huh?” She smiles at her, ruffling the woman’s hair.

The woman shyly looks at Himchan, wary of Junhong’s gaze at her, and points at the hairpin in her bun. “Is pink…” she mumbles inaudibly then goes back to her food.

Watching the scene unfold in front of him, Junhong doesn’t know what to make of this scenario. Himchan and his wife are talking so fondly with the old lady as if she were a mere child and even her actions suggest a regressive mentality. But he just can’t understand what all this means.

“Junhong” Himchan’s voice breaks through his internal dialogue and he looks at the old man with enlarged eyes. “Eat up