After the basketball incident, Kyuhyun and Jongwoon finally dated each other officially. As usual, the entire school knew about it by the next morning. Rumor had it that the Kyusung club's members held a secret party to celebrate it around New Year. As for the couple, they sadly didn't spend even a day together during the winter break, because Jongwoon and his brother went back to their hometown to spend a long holiday with their parents. However, the couple still called each other every day and chatted via a face cam. Before long, the winter break was over and they all advanced to the second semester, the last semester of their high school's life...

"It's raining on that day too."

Jongwoon spoke up out of nowhere during the afternoon break while he looked out of the window, staring at raindrops on a window. Everyone stopped whatever they were doing and turned their attention to the black hair boy. While Jongwoon was a lively person, he rarely talked about his past, especially his childhood. Some people did ask him about his childhood but Jongwoon would only smile at them, not saying anything. So, it wasn't a surprise why everyone instantly shut up, waiting for Jongwoon to say anything. That was when Jongwoon realized that he unconsciously said it out loud.

"Oops, did I say that out loud? Haha, don't mind me guys!" Jongwoon smiled sheepishly.

"C'mon Jongwoon! You can't leave us hanging like this!" Hyukjae playfull protested and got support from their classmates.

"Alright, if you guys insist," Jongwoon complied with his friends' whine.

Closing his eyes, Jongwoon began to tell a story he had never told anyone before.

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"When I was seven, my dad got a promotion so we moved from Cheonan to Seoul. You guys might not believe me, but actually, I was overweight when I was young. I was bullied because of it literally on the first day at my new school. Tearing my notebook, stealing my shoes, calling me a pig, pushing me around, you name it. I was living in hell enduring all bullying. However, there was one person who stood up to those bullies and protected me. He was my class-rep so let call him that. Class-rep was a really good person. He chased those bullies away and stayed with me while I was outcasted. He didn't care even though he was teased for being with me. He kept smiling at me and told me that he would protect me.

We got along really quick. We basically became best friends on the first day. I followed after class-rep everywhere since I didn't have any friends but him. We sat together in classes. We had lunch together. We played together during a break. He even stayed with me until my brother came to pick me up. He was really a good person.

One day, I was bullied as usual, but class-rep didn't sit still this time. He fought back and got one of the bullies in tears. That was when everything took a turn for the worse. The next morning, I went to school alone because my brother got up late. I ran into a high school delinquent group on my way. Turned out the leader of the gang was that bully's older brother. They took me to an abandoned factory and beat me to a pulp before leaving me there...

It hurt, it hurt so much. I couldn't move a finger. I cried and cried. It was raining too. I felt both cold and hurt. I thought that I was going to die for sure, that no one would come to find me. I cried so hard that I ran out of tears. I didn't know how long had I been there when class-rep found me. He skipped school and ran around the town looking for me. He found the place and saw me lying on a ground beaten badly. He tried to carry me up and took me out of there, but he wasn't strong enough to do so, plus I was quite heavy too. He gave up on that and just kneeled down beside me, crying his heart out. He cried and blamed himself for not being strong enough to protect me, and that was the last thing I saw before passing out. The end."

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"Wait, what? What do you mean by 'the end'! It can't end like that, right!?" Hyukjae was the first person to break the silence, but that's because Donghae was busy sobbing on his shoulder.

"Well, it really ends here though. After that, my mom got a call from my homeroom teacher that I didn't come to class so she called my brother. My brother then skipped school and looked for me. He was the one who found me and class-rep both passing out and called an ambulance. My dad was very angry about it so he had us moved back to Cheonan as soon as I gained consciousness, even though we had only stayed in Seoul for one week. The end." Jongwoon shrugged.

"That boy, the class-rep who always stayed by your side, it's Kyuhyun, isn't it?" Ryeowook asked.

As everyone waited expectantly, especially Kyuhyun who temporarily forgot how to breathe, Jongwoon merely hummed calmly and looked out of the window again.

"Maybe, or maybe not?"

Jongwoon smiled mysteriously to himself.

*******************************************************

"That kid in Jongwoon's story is definitely you, Kyuhyun," Donghae said as he pressed the button and sent a red shell to Ryeowook.

"I agree, that explains why he likes you so much, but damn Kyuhyun! I don't know that my friend is such a hero!" Hyukjae agreed with his boyfriend. At the same time, he skillfully dodged Kyuhyun's character and raced ahead.

"But I still don't remember him. I mean, I vaguely remember something like that happens, but it's not the 'remember' remember, if you know what I mean," Kyuhyun said as he easily knocked Hyukjae's character out of his way and reached the goal line first.

"Well, remember or not, you two do love each other so it should be fine, right? Now, why the hell are we discussing Kyuhyun's love life while playing Mario Cart? And Lee Donghae! Stop throwing items at me already! You and I are in the last place anyway!" Ryeowook shouted angrily.

"Nope, I'm in seventh place. You are the one who is in the last place." Donghae smirked and sent a red shell at Ryeowook who was about to reach the goal line.

"LEE-DONG-HAE!" Ryeowook shouted angrily and jumped at Donghae.

Just before Donghae was murdered by Ryeowook, Kyuhyun's sister came into the room with drinks and snacks. She smiled and friendly greeted her younger brother's friends. She asked where Jongwoon was, seeing how they normally hanging out together all the time. Hyukjae explained that the boy had to run some errands for his brother so he couldn't come. Just as she was about to get out of the room, Donghae stopped her.

"Wait, noona, was there any incident about bullying that happened while Kyuhyun was in an elementary school?"

"Huh? Why did you want to know that? Though I don't think there was something like th- Ah! No, there was one! It was quite a talk of the town too!"

They looked at each other, all thinking about the same thing.

"Noona, please tell us about it," Kyuhyun said to his sister with a hopeful voice.

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"You were around seven years old when that happened. A new student in your class got bullied just because he was chubby. However, you were the only one who stood up for him and befriended him. I still remember it, you excitedly told us that day when we came home how you wanted to be the new kid's knight in shining armor, just like in a cartoon you usually watched. You really liked that kid. There wasn't a day you wouldn't talk to us about this kid. You even got in a fight with this kid's bullies. Mom almost passed out when she got a call from your teacher! You proudly boasted to us how you protected your friend and called your bruises 'evidence of an honorable victory', can you believe that!

On the next day, mom got a call from your school informing us that you were hospitalized. Mom, dad, and I quickly went to the hospital. There, we found police talking with a middle-aged woman and a teenage boy, they were your friend's mother and older brother. Apparently, the poor boy was beaten by a delinquent group, and you skipped school to search for him when he didn't show up in class. You ran around the town looking for your friend even though it was raining heavily. Because of that, you passed out from coldness and caught a bad cold. You were hospitalized for almost a week because your fever wouldn't go down.

As soon as you got better, you begged us to take you to see your friend. But... He had already gone even before you woke up. The boy's father didn't want his son to stay in a town where he only had a bad memory, so he was sent to a hospital in his hometown when his condition was stable. After that, his brother got in a fight with that group of delinquents and beat them half-death so he was kicked out of the school. His father was busy filing a lawsuit at the school for ignoring the bullying and at those delinquent's parents for attempt murder while defending his elder son's action. At the same time, we were busy with your illness so we didn't contact that boy's parents even once. When we realized it, it was too late to do anything since the entire family had already moved out of Seoul.

Kyuhyun, did you remember it? You were so upset about it that you wouldn't stop whining for three weeks straight! But as time went on and you met more people growing up, you simply stopped mentioning that boy. Even I forget about it until you guys bringing it up."

******************************************************************

That night, Kyuhyun had a dream.

He was standing in an empty classroom. In front of him stood two boys, a lanky boy with brown hair and a chubby boy with black hair. However, he couldn't see the chubby boy's face no matter how hard he tried to squint due to a mist-like veil was covering his face. The chubby boy was crying in the other boy's arm who patted his messy black hair in a soothing manner.

"You should stay away from me or else you'll get bullied too."

"You don't have to be afraid of them, I'll protect you!"

"Really...?"

"Of course!"

Then, the scene changed. This time Kyuhyun stood in a deserted hallway with the same two boys. The chubby boy sniffled softly as he looked down at his feet, one of his shoes was nowhere to be seen.

"Sorry... I lost my shoe when I went to a toilet..."

"You don't have to lie to me. Those bastards stoles it from you, right?"

".........Yes,"

"Aish! I'll go teaching them a lesson!"

"No! I don't want you to get in trouble because of me..."

"...Sigh, if you say so. Let's us go searching for your shoe then!"

The scene changed again. This time Kyuhyun stood in a bustling cafeteria. At the corner of the cafeteria, two boys sat together eating their lunch while other kids laughing and pointing at their table. The chubby boy's nose almost poked into his lunchbox from how low his head hung down. On the other hand, the brown hair boy was eating nonchalantly.

"Why do they laugh at me...? Does my hair look weird...?"

"Don't listen to them. They're stupid."

"But..."

"Look, Umma made me octopus-shaped sausages, aren't they cute?" 

The scene changed again. This time Kyuhyun was in a playground. He saw two boys playing together while keeping their distance from other kids. The brown hair boy threw a beachball at his friend but it flew over his head. The black hair boy quickly chased after the ball. He ran past a group of four boys, one of them sticking his foot out, causing the chubby boy to trip and fall facefirst to the ground. He sat up and whimpered in pain, blood trickling down his nose. The lanky boy was immediately by his side checking on him. The four boys pointed and laughed at them causing the chubby boy to sink even lower to the ground. Kyuhyun was furious at those boys, but before he got to do anything, the lanky boy beat him to it. The boy jumped at the bullies and punched one of them on the face. Soon, everything turned into pure chaos, some kids screaming, some crying, some cheering loudly, and some with sensible thinking running off to get a teacher. It took three teachers to stop the fight. All six children were taken to see the principle. Because it was an act of defending his friend, the brown hair boy got away from punishment. As for the group of bullies, they were scolded for their action but got no punishment either. After the commotion ended, Kyuhyun followed after the two boys to an empty corridor. The lanky boy whimpered in pain as the chubby boy gently pressed a soaked handkerchief on his bruised cheek.

"I'm sorry, you got hurt because of me..."

"Neither I nor you are at fault here, stop apologizing."

"But... If you didn't try to protect me, then..."

"I said, stop apologizing, it's my choice to do that so you shouldn't feel bad about it."

".....Thank you, K-"

The scene abruptly changed before Kyuhyun got to hear what the chubby boy about to say. This time, he was standing at an empty field in front of an abandoned factory. Behind him was a giant tree, its leaves were the only bright color in this world of grey. Heavy raindrops falling against his face felt so real he almost forgot that he was dreaming. A voice of someone mourning in pain pulled him out of his trance. Turning to the direction of the voice, Kyuhyun saw the familiar chubby boy lying on the ground with many bruises all over his body. He quickly kneeled down beside the boy and tried to carry him up, but his hands passed through the boy's body as if he was touching air. Looking around desperately, Kyuhyun cursing out loud as to why his younger self took so long to come here. His heart felt like it could break into a million pieces at any time now. He wanted to protect this boy, to pull him in his embrace and tell him that everything will be alright, that he wouldn't let any harm befall him.

That Kyuhyun liked, no, loved, that Kyuhyun loved him, and wished to hold him in his arms forever.

"Don't cry,"

Kyuhyun looked down at the boy in front of him. His face was still blurred but Kyuhyun could tell that the boy was smiling despite his condition. He didn't know when his younger self had arrived and sat in his place. Kyuhyun reached his hand out to touch those chubby cheeks, only to find out that his younger self also reaching his out to his friend. Suddenly, Kyuhyun felt cold, his body shivered, and his head ached so much he could barely hold his consciousness. The headache made it harder to focus on what was going on. The line between Kyuhyun and his younger self began to get more blurr. At the same time, it got harder to tell whether he was still dreaming or not. Why did the small hand holding tightly on his own felt so real? It was as if this wasn't a dream, but a forgotten memory.

A memory?

Kyuhyun looked down at the boy in his (or his younger self?) arms, the mist-like veil that covered the boy's face slowly disappeared, a pair of beautiful black eyes greeted him. Kyuhyun widened his eyes. His mouth formed a shape calling out a name he once held dear to his heart.

"________?"

*********************************************************************

"Is there something special about this park that makes you insist on taking me here?"

Jongwoon asked as he took in the beautiful scenery of lush green trees and colorful flowers. Kyuhyun didn't say anything but kept leading his boyfriend deeper into the park. After walking in silence for a while, they came to stop in front of a giant old tree. Spring was coming so many buds were spotted on the branches. Kyuhyun let go of Jongwoon's hand and moved closer to the tree. He placed his hand on the trunk and looked at it with a sorrowful expression.

"You just move here so you might not know it, but this park is renovated from an abandoned factory."

"Abandoned... Factory...?"

Before Jongwoon got to ask anything, Kyuhyun turned back and stepped toward him. He caught his boyfriend's small hands in his owns and held it firmly. Looking at Kyuhyun's brown eyes, Jongwoon's heart skipped a beat and slammed up against his chest. Although he already guessed what his boyfriend was about to say to him, he still wanted to hear it himself so he waited patiently. Without breaking their eyes contacts, Kyuhyun spoke up.

"I remember everything now. How we met, how we befriended, how those bastards bullied you, and... How I couldn't save you on that day..."

"Kyu..."

"I know you'll tell me that it wasn't my fault but it still makes me feel bad. So, give me one more chance, I won't fail you this time. I'll stay with you and protect you from any harm. I swear... I swear I won't let you go through those painful experiences ever again, Jongwoonie."

"You... You remember it! Kyunnie!"

Hearing and saying names he hadn't used for so long brought tears to his eyes. Jongwoon quickly blinked them away as this was a time for smiling, not crying. He threw himself in Kyuhyun's arms and hugged him tightly. Truth be told, he had never hoped that Kyuhyun would remember him because he was happy just being able to be with Kyuhyun again. Now, however, Kyuhyun remembered him and even took him here to remake their promises. He was so happy that no word could describe his happiness, so he showed it through his action instead. Jongwoon leaned in and kissed Kyuhyun softly to which the other man gladly reciprocated. Their kisses were a pure and sweet chaste kiss that lasted only a short while. They parted from each other with a bright smile on their faces, before leaning in and kissing again. Under the warm sunlight and gentle breeze, the couple kissed and kissed again as if to compensate for the time they had lost.

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"Still, I can't believe that I forget you. Did you know that it takes listening to you and my noona to finally remember it?" Kyuhyun said after they pulled apart.

"Well, I do physically change so much from when I was young so it's really not your fault. And if it makes you feel better, I actually don't remember you too when we first met again." Jongwoon smiled sheepishly.

"What? Really? But I thought you remember me, that's why you kept following me around?" Kyuhyun was puzzled now.

"Yeah, I just feel like I have seen your face before but I have no memory of it. I even asked you at that time if we've met before, remember? As for the reason why I followed you around, it was because I think you're hot so I wanted to get to know you more. Once I really got to know you, that was when I fell in love with you for real. I only remember you as my hero the class-rep not long before the basketball incident." Jongwoon explained while chuckled to himself.

"I can't believe that neither of us instantly remember it, you know, like in a romance novel?" Kyuhyun shrugged.

"Well, this is a real-life though. And I actually think it's better this way because both of us fall in love with who we really are nowadays, not because of the past. Not that the past shouldn't be treasured, but, don't you like it? The fact that we're somebody new to each other and get to learn about each other from the beginning together." Jongwoon smiled brightly

"Ha, being a smart as usual, eh?" Kyuhyun playfully teased his boyfriend.

"So, do I get any reward for being a smart ?" Jongwoon tilted his head and looked at Kyuhyun with not-so-innocent eyes.

Kyuhyun chuckled but gladly kissed Jongwoon again. Their lips stayed connect longer than their past kisses. Kyuhyun pulled Jongwoon closer to him, one hand resting on that thin waist while the other one cradling his nape. He could feel Jongwoon's small hands clenching on his shirt and it drove him crazy. Moving his lips more vigorously, Kyuhyun was about to deepen their kiss but stopped when a streak of light appeared out nowhere and blinded his vision for a second. He cursed in annoyance and accidentally broke their kiss. While assuring Jongwoon that the boy did nothing wrong, Kyuhyun saw a suspicious figure with a binocular in their hand looking at their direction, behind that person was a group of girls looking as suspicious as that person.

"Goddamn it! Can't I have some privacy for a second!"

Kyuhyun cursed venomously and dragged the clueless Jongwoon to where that suspicious group was.

************************************************************************

Not far from the giant tree where Kyuhyun and Jongwoon were standing, a group of suspicious-looking girls and three boys were trying their hardest not to squeal. Some girls looked like they were on the verge of hyperventilating, while the rest were busy taking photos of the couple kissing. One girl brushed a tear of happiness off her eyes and turned to talk to the shortest male in their group as the other two were busy squealing over the couple's cuteness.

"Leader-nim, our boys finally get a happy ending together! Does that mean our group has to disband?"

"No, we won't disband. It's our mission to pass down this wonderful tale to our juniors and so on."

"Leader-nim...! Yes! I'll follow you and the church of Kyusung to the end of the world!"

The girl sniffed as she saluted the boy with the utmost respect. The boy nodded resolutely and resumed to spy on the Kyusung couple through a binocular. Suddenly, his face turned pale. He quickly put down the binocular and turned to the group, his voice full of command and resounding.

"You girls! Scatter! Now!"

The girls immediately ran away in every direction, leaving the three boys alone. The shortest boy quickly threw the binocular in his bag while the other two boys tried to compose themselves in a few deep breaths. Not long after the girls all disappearing, Kyuhyun and Jongwoon showed up. Kyuhyun frowned when he saw the three boys' faces. He said through gritted teeth.

"What the hell! Why were you stalking us around? And what's it with that binocular and those girls? Lee Donghae, Lee Hyukjae, Kim Ryeowook!?"

"It's for the greatest good, but I doubt you will understand it."

Ryeowook said with a straight face while Donghae and Hyukjae nodded behind him.