17 years later

    It was the blasted pipe again. Once more it broke, sending all the water out to flood the basement with a high whine. Kyungsoo grumbled while going down the staircase to the mess. One more break and he’d sell the crappy house. He hit the last step and instantly saw that he could not fix it this time. The floor was submerged by about two inches, and Kyungsoo ran up the stairs to call a plumber.

    An hour later, there was a knock on the door. He opened it to reveal a young man dressed in a plumbing suit, tool box in hand.

    “Nice to meet you, sir. I’m Dave.” His voice was high and squeaky.

“Kyungsoo.” The older man ushered him in the door.

“You said you had a broken pipe?”

    “Yes, in the basement. Here.” He showed the plumber the open door leading down. Dave took a few steps down and whistled.

    “Oh yup, she’s flooded.”

    Kyungsoo stood at the bottom of the stairs as he watched the plumber set down his tool box and pull out a red claw. He wasn’t sure if he should linger or stay here.

    “Looks like you’ve tried to fix this a couple times.” His head of brown hair was over the pipe as he talked.

    Kyungsoo snorted. “Yeah, I’ve tried to fix everything in this stupid house a couple times.” There was a sharp scratch and a clattering.

    “How’d you come across it?”

    “Well, I’d decided to move out of my second apartment and get a house. The owner didn’t tell me that the plumbing was over a hundred years old and spurted every month.” Kyungsoo twisted the ring on his finger. “I’m not even unpacked and I want to get out.”

    Dave switched the claw for a bag of copper pipe. “Well I mean, you could always sell it.”

    “Yeah.”

Kyungsoo went upstairs to avoid awkwardly standing there. He was through 46 minutes of his second episode when the plumber appeared from the basement door. Kyungsoo paused the screen and stood up, retrieving his wallet. He handed the money over to Dave.

    “The pipe shouldn’t be a problem now, sir.” He stuffed the dollar into his tool box and grinned. This was the third time Kyungsoo had that weird familiarity. The plumber grabbed the door knob.

    “Wait.” Dave turned around.

    Kyungsoo squinted. “Do I know you?” The other looked down at his toolbox in thought.

    “I-I don’t think so. Sorry.” Kyungsoo deflated a bit.

    “No, no that’s okay. I might just be going crazy.” The plumber laughed awkwardly. Soon he left.