3 months later

Hwang Minhyun woke up to his normal Saturday morning; quiet. He checked the clock only to find out he was 2 hour earlier than his alarm which was supposed to ring at 7 AM. It had been a non-stop episode of him having difficulty sleeping at night. He always woke up in the middle of the night every one or two hours. It was all because a dream he had. It was not a sweet dream, not a nightmare either. It was a dream but it felt so lucid to him. He rubbed his eyes before finally decided to get up and do some exercise. Perhaps an early morning jog could help him figure out why Yesoo kept appearing in his dream.

Right. Yesoo. It had been a week since he started to have a series of dream that involved Yesoo. He didn't hate it, nor like it. Disturbing? Not really. He found it more like confusing. This dream was like a flashback of his journey with Yesoo from the very first day. It pictured a pair of happy lovebirds with genuine smile to each other. He smiled at that picture. It kept going on for days. Until the smile faded away slowly, until it was gone completely. He started to feel something must be wrong.

What he noticed in his dreams – and what he thought it was one of the causes why he was feeling strange – was how Yesoo at first always held his hand tightly that slowly she loosened up, until she gave it up and let it go. Minhyun had to admit that he was upset to see that scene. But he couldn't unsee that. The dream that felt so real kept going on, and finally it showed how Yesoo slowly decelerated her walking pace. 5 seconds ago she was still by his side, 5 seconds later she walked behind him, and eventually she just stopped walking. Minhyun felt like roaring at his own self who didn't even look around to see Yesoo was not there anymore. But he couldn't. No matter how much he wanted to open his mouth, even just a little.

I was like that? He laughed at himself. Right, I was like that.

Sometimes he thought to himself, why did he say yes in the first place? So what if Yesoo was the first girl ever confessed to him? Did he like her too? Or maybe he was feeling thankful to her?

Frankly all Minhyun knew about Yesoo was that she was from College of Design, where the building campus was the closest to his Theater and Film Department. Until one day she showed up to confess to him.

If it wasn't Jung Yesoo, would he still say yes?

In the middle of working hour, Minhyun found himself staring at one particular contact in his phone; Jung Yesoo. He remembered the last time he called and texted her, the profile picture was herself in a mountain that was taken in autumn last year. He remembered it because he was the one who took that photo. Now it was changed into abstract, random doodles.

Minhyun was too absorbed in his own thoughts that he didn't realize Jisoo was standing behind him. "Is that Yesoo? She draws that? She's good," Jisoo loudly said, which of course startled Minhyun.

Minhyun immediately locked his phone while chuckling awkwardly. He didn't answer Jisoo.

"How is she doing? It's been a while," Jisoo asked.

It was hard for Minhyun to not get flustered. Luckily his stone face sometimes helped him at a time like this. He only said a short yes.

Jisoo shrugged before leaving him alone. He noticed something wrong with Minhyun. But he wouldn't push him any further since he knew how Minhyun was never open about his feelings. "Don't forget to have lunch!" Jisoo half shouted at him.

It had been days that he didn't eat well. It was either skipping meal, or eating too much unhealthy food, or eating too less food. The clock showed lunch time. He didn't feel like eating, but his stomach was growling. With heavy steps, he dragged himself to the cafe across the office.

His feet stopped when his eyes recognized a short haired girl that looked unfamiliarly familiar at the cashier. He wished his eyes were deceiving him, but he knew his heart wished it was her. His feet felt heavier as he approached her and he still went for it regardless.

"Yesoo?" he called.

The girl turned her head as she flipped her hair. "Minhyun," she greeted back with a beam, and clearly sounded surprised.

They ended up sitting together, face to face. Yesoo maintained her smile, which wasn't as wide and genuine as he could remember. "It's been a while," Yesoo started the conversation.

"Yeah." Minhyun was loss at words for a second. "You got your hair cut."

Yesoo automatically her own hair. "As you see," she said, sipping her hot latte.

"Are you meeting your client around here?"

"No," she spoke with low voice. There was this hesitant feeling when she talked. "I'm meeting someone else."

Minhyun stunned for a moment. "Someone?"

She nodded.

Still stunned, Minhyun's gaze eventually landed on her hands which were holding on her glass tightly. He unconsciously glared at her finger with a ring on it. As long as he knew Yesoo, she never wore any jewelry or accessories on her hands. And now, a ring?

"Anyway, how are you doing?" Minhyun changed the topic because he had a bad feeling lingering in his head.

"I'm good. How about you?"

"I'm okay as well." He faked a smile. No, I'm not okay. "Look. About us..."

Yesoo's smile faded once she heard the word us. And before Minhyun continued speaking, her phone rang just on time and she excused herself to pick up her phone.

"I'm sorry, but I gotta go now."

Minhyun was flustered, particularly thinking that he hadn’t finished talking. Yet to make her stay there wasn’t a wise option as well. He just had to send her off. "Oh, okay. Be careful on your way."

She hurriedly left the cafe, leaving Minhyun whose eyes followed her until she walked out of there. And that was when he caught someone else was already waiting for her outside. That someone else was no other than Hui. He could see Hui's genuine happy smile when Yesoo came to him. He could see Hui immediately took her hand before really leaving the cafe area. Am I dreaming? he thought to himself.

He wished it was a dream. In his dream lately he saw someone else offered his hands to Yesoo who already let go of Minhyun's. He couldn't clearly see the face. All he knew that in his dream she without doubt accepted the offer and firmly gripped onto the hands reaching to her.

Minhyun sat still and stared at nothing, leaving his hot chamomile tea remained full. He even ignored numerous missed calls; 10 from Jisoo, 3 from Raina, and 2 from Seonho. And now his phone was ringing again. Minhyun didn't even bother to look at his phone.

"Oh, Minhyun hyung is here." One of the callers happened to find him and approached him.

"Oh, Seonho, Guanlin, you're here," Minhyun weakly said.

"Raina noona is looking for you."

Minhyun stayed silent, making the two younger boys confused. Both Seonho and Guanlin quietly looked at each other while guessing what happened to their senior.

"Seonho and Guanlin, you know Lee Hwitaek?"

"Hui hyung? Yes, we do."

"Hwitaek.. what kind of person is he?"

"He's nice, kind, and very friendly. He works very hard to make a good music."

"Ah, really?"

"Does he... have a girlfriend?" Minhyun didn't even know why he asked that. Maybe he was slowly losing his consciousness.

"He just got married a couple months ago," Seonho answered, a little bit excitedly. "It was quite shocking because he barely had no life other than writing lyrics and producing songs. No one ever knew he had a girlfriend."

"I envy him. He's married to his best friend," Guanlin added, showing his gummy smile.

Married? Minhyun smirked, slightly chuckling in disbelief. To his best friend?