“Kyuhyun-sshi!”

Sungmin ran as fast as he could to catch up with Kyuhyun but Kyuhyun didn't stop to wait for Sungmin. It was probably the first time they met without any of the other members.

“Can I help you?”

Sungmin turned to face Kyuhyun with a grin, “maybe.”

“You really shouldn't be spending alone time with me, Sungmin-sshi,” Kyuhyun warned, stopping in his steps, “you don't want to mess with me.”

Sungmin pouted with his eyes wide open, “but it's been so long since we last spent 'alone time' together.”

“Oh, so you remember me,” Kyuhyun leaned closer to Sungmin, “I thought you'd forgotten everything, every last little thing.”

“I'm good at acting, but I'm sure you already knew that.”

Kyuhyun laughed, “I guess some things just don't change no matter what happens,” he said, stretching back to his full height as he started walking again.

Sungmin frowned, “actually, I didn't really remember anything until I saw your mom yesterday. Now that's a face I'll never forget.”

Kyuhyun made an abrupt stop causing Sungmin to almost clash into him, “are you inferring something?”

“No, of course not, she wasn't the one at fault after all,” Sungmin shrugged.

“I promised the old man I wouldn't say anything,” Kyuhyun added, “not because I'm accepting you, but because it's just best to leave things the way they are.”

Sungmin kept watching Kyuhyun with a confused look. Kyuhyun stopped and patted Sungmin on the head, “you're pretty much useless at this point, with that whole accident and all.”

“You know, you were a lot nicer when we were kids,” Sungmin replied, brushing Kyuhyun's hand off, “and I don't care what dad wants.”

“I can tell, otherwise you wouldn't be here. That accident sure did change you, you never used to go against what the old man wanted.”

Sungmin intertwined his arms with Kyuhyun's, “it wasn't the accident that changed me.”

Kyuhyun flung Sungmin off, “so you say. How's the old man?”

“Fine, I guess. He's never entirely happy, at least after all the stuff that happened back then,” Sungmin replied with a straight face as he tried to cling onto Kyuhyun again.

“There's definitely something different about you,” Kyuhyun pointed out, still trying to fight him off, “but I can't quite pick out what it is.”

Sungmin grinned, “did I become better looking?”

Kyuhyun seriously observed Sungmin's childish face for a while and shook his head, “nope.”

Eunhyuk crept up on them from behind, “when did you two get so close?”

Sungmin immediately straightened himself up and transformed back into the shy guy that he was, Kyuhyun let out a small smirk at the quick change.

“Never,” Kyuhyun answered simply as he continued down the road, “why are you out here alone?”

“Bum had to go home for some kind of anniversary, I had to sit through class all alone,” Eunhyuk fumed, “Yesung and Donghae aren't off yet?”

“Not for another hour or so,” Kyuhyun answered, “let's go get some ice cream.”

“Kyu~ you're the best!” Eunhyuk shouted, wrapping his arms around Kyuhyun's neck, “No wonder you're my favorite!”

Kyuhyun smiled and tried to push Eunhyuk off with lost effort, Sungmin's footsteps slowed down the longer he watched and eventually he fell behind them, observing them from behind.

“Favorite?” Sungmin uttered under his breath, “heh.”

Sungmin and Kyuhyun started living separate lives since they were about nine years old, the time they spent apart is almost equivalent to the time they spent together. Kyuhyun never kept things that were related to Sungmin at heart, not even when they were little.

They arrived at the ice cream shop and Kyuhyun ordered Eunhyuk and his own share, leaving Sungmin to order his own even though he paid for it all together.

As they sat at a rounded table, Sungmin was very obviously in a cranky mood.

“Is something wrong, Sungmin-sshi?” Eunhyuk asked, dabbing at his ice cream.

“No, nothing,” Sungmin politely replied after glancing at Kyuhyun, who was entirely ignoring him.

“Ah! Kyu, look!” Eunhyuk shouted, pointing at the shop across the street, “the new game is out! Let's go see it!”

Kyuhyun shook his head, “you go ahead, I'm kind of tired. I'll wait for you here.”

Eunhyuk nodded, asking if Sungmin wanted to go along with him, but Sungmin kindly rejected as well. Eunhyuk left, leaving the two alone again.

“Did you know I went missing?” Sungmin asked after Eunhyuk left the shop.

Kyuhyun shrugged.

“So you knew?”

Kyuhyun remained silent.

“So... you didn't care?”

Kyuhyun now looked Sungmin in the eyes, but continued to remain silent.

“Your m-mom... did she know?”

Kyuhyun's eyes grew sharper.

“She... didn't care either?”

Kyuhyun was now glaring at Sungmin with one eyebrow lifted and arms crossed, “why would you care if she cared?”

“We lived together for a while after all, she was good to me back then,” Sungmin replied, playing with his melting ice cream.

Kyuhyun closed his eyes and smiled slyly, “ahh... the days we were all together, my mom, your mom, our dad,” Kyuhyun paused for a moment, “oh, excuse me, my ex-dad.”

“No matter what dad says or does, he misses you,” Sungmin tried to explain, “even if he says he doesn't want to see you or your mom.”

“Perhaps,” Kyuhyun shrugged, “I can't say the same though.”

“Anyways,” Sungmin started, trying to change the subject after realizing Kyuhyun's discomfort, “I think I'm starting to recollect bits and pieces of what happened during the time I was missing.”

“Oh really?” Kyuhyun asked monotonously.

“I know you care,” Sungmin angrily inserted, “no matter how much you try to pretend you don't care, I know you do. You're not that heartless.”

“Heartless?”

Eunhyuk was back with a bag in hand, it was the game he was so excited about. Donghae and Yesung were standing behind him.

“Who's heartless?” Donghae asked.

Kyuhyun shrugged and Sungmin went quiet, lowering his head to hide his reddened and angry pout. He wasn't going to let the conversation end like this, never.