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I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. My eyes must be playing tricks on me.

He spoke again, “The last time I saw you, I remember that you still know how to talk.”

What was I supposed to say? How was I supposed to react?

So I went with my gut feelings. I lunged forward and threw my arms around his neck, tightly. I heard him chuckling softly as he wrapped his own arms around my shaking body.

“I’m sorry,” I sobbed into his ear pathetically. I could feel the tears slipping down my face, drenching his shirt, but Minhyuk didn’t seem to mind though. He just held me close, tightly and safely.

It felt good; it felt really good to be in his arms again.

“You don’t have anything to be sorry for.” I could hear the smile in his face, and he sounded really sincere – like I haven’t been the world’s worst best friend all these time.

But as I pulled away from him, I couldn’t help asking, “W-what are you doing here? How did you even know where to find me?”

He winked. “I told you, I would look for you right? No matter where you hide, or how far you go – I will find you. You can’t escape me, Rong-Rong.”

I smacked his arm, hard. “Stop calling me that.”

He pretended to be hurt, clutching his arm painfully. “You still haven’t changed, have you? And nope, I’m going to keep on calling you that, forever and ever and ever – “

“Okay!” I giggled. Sniffing back my tears, I said, “Fine. Since it’s you, I’ll let it pass. But you still haven’t answered my question.”

He shot me a bewildered look. “Do I actually need a reason to see my best friend again? I miss you of course!”

I rolled my eyes.

He laughed.

“Alright. But first, is there any place that we can talk? Not at your home, if you don’t mind.”

~

I led him to a playground, the one I used to go to when I needed to be alone; and not so far off from the house. We walked side by side in silence, until we reached an empty bench and he gestured for me to sit down first.

“So, tell me...how have you been all these while without me?” he asked as he settled down next to me.

“Miserable,” I answered automatically, with a straight face. Hearing that, Minhyuk burst out laughing.

“Ah, I knew it. You can’t even last 5 seconds without me – “

“That’s not true!” I started to protest, but then he gave me this look that said – ‘i know you better than you know yourself’. “Okay fine. 5 seconds is still exaggerated but you’re right, I can’t function well without you.”

Minhyuk grimaced. “Being corny, aren’t we here?”

I swatted his arm playfully. “You started it!”

Minhyuk laughed again, a hearty laugh, the one which made his eyes disappears totally and lilting up his face brightly. I felt something tugging at the corner of my heart.

It was nice, being with my best friend again. He makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside – a feeling that no one else seem to be able to offer.

When the laughter died down between us, his expression turned serious once again as he looked at me directly in the eyes.

“It was hard, after you left. Sure, I had the guys to play with but things weren’t the same without you around. I had no one to tease, to bully – “ he chuckled when he saw me pouting. “...well, to put it short – when you left, you took away a part of me too.”

I kept quiet as I let him carry on talking.

“I begged my parents day and night, to let me search for you. I even attempted to run away once, in the middle of the night. I packed all my things – you know that list we made up when we promised each other to go camping? Just the two of us?” I nodded and smiled.

Minhyuk laughed again, this time quieter than before. He had a faraway gaze in his eyes, as he looked past me and stared into the distance.

“I had barely gotten away, when they got hold of me and practically had to tie me down to my bed to ensure that I won’t run off again. It’s funny now, when I think back about it.”

My head hung low, guilt and remorse overwhelming me. I stared down at my black heels, not knowing what else to say. Minhyuk had suffered a lot because of me; because of my selfish act. Why didn’t I spare a thought for him when I made the decision to just leave him behind?

“But I guess, in a way, it made me stronger though. I was just more determined than ever to find you. I promised myself, that when I’m able to stand on my own two feet – I will set off by myself to kidnap you.”

I raised an eyebrow questioningly at him.

“I'm just kidding!” he chuckled. “You’d probably knock me down before I can even tie you up.”

I smirked. “I’m glad you’re still aware of my strength.”

Minhyuk scoffed. “Of course. You used to give me lots of bruises.” I giggled at the thought of it. “But anyway, I tried my best asking around for people who might have an idea to where you’ve moved to. Turns out that one of my high-school friends, oh – you remember Yoon Bomi, right?”

My forehead ceased as I tried to picture the girl he was talking about.

“Oh! Yeah, I do. Why?”

“Well yeah, coincidentally, her parents are friends with your aunt and uncle and they had told them about where they were moving to before you guys left. You know, if I had known that it would be that easy, I wouldn’t have spent half of my childhood wailing out for you.”

I bit my bottom lip guiltily.

“Did you really do that?”

“Do what?”

“Wailing out for me.”

He just grinned, cocking his head to one side and asked, “You think?”

I didn’t know what else to say, so I just did what I could think of – the only two words that could express how miserable I was feeling.

“I’m sorry.”