Walking towards the light of the street lamp, Seohyun’s shadow stretched with each step she took. And, along with every step, echoed the memories of a past poorly buried, a happiness now history. Seohyun quivered a bit, both from the chill of the autumn night and from the anxiety bottled up inside of her. A small sigh escaping her lips, she sat down on the nearby bench and began the uncomfortable process of waiting.

She took out her Blackberry, lighting up her immediate area as she checked the time. 10:27 PM. Where is he? Seohyun wondered to herself nervously. A small bell chime rang out and Seohyun’s eyes wandered to the screen and she couldn’t help but smile. A text message popped up and at the top it said: “From: Lovely Yonghwa.”

“Seohyuuunnnn~~~~ I miss you already, princess. Is everything going okay?”

With ease, Seohyun typed back:

“Oppa~! <3 I miss you too…neh, it’s fine, oppa doesn’t have to worry about me ^-^”

When she pressed the send button, she kept her eyes glued to the screen until the little green checkmark popped up. Seohyun snapped her phone shut and sighed.

A cool wind blew, whistling through the trees and slightly rustling her hair. This place…it has so many memories… she thought to herself as she observed around her. As the wind continued to blow, it almost felt as if it was bringing the last mournful melody of a song forgotten.

Not far away, standing by a lamp post, Kyuhyun went unnoticed for a while as he stared at her. He had been planning on making his entrance just at that moment, but right when he had been about to walk over, he saw her check her phone and her face light up like a Christmas tree. Kyuhyun clenched his teeth and his fists tightened together as he immediately deduced it: Jung Yonghwa. The bastard that tore them apart, that son of a who…no, he told himself. Calm down. Yonghwa had nothing to do with this; he had simply been there to pick up the pieces of Seohyun when she had broken. In any case, Yonghwa wasn’t at fault; the one at fault was himself, Cho Kyuhyun, the one who had broken her himself.

Swallowing, trying t get rid of the lump that formed in his throat, Kyuhyun gathered up his courage and stepped forward. Seohyun, who had been sort of in a daze for a while, heard the small crinkling of grass underfoot and her eyes met his.

So much had happened, he mused, and yet, she still looked the same as ever...no scratch that. It was true that her pale, clear skin still glowed and her pin-straight hair still had the same glossy shimmer that, if you ran your hands through it (as he longed so much to do so). However…her eyes seemed different. No longer were they bloodshot from sleepless nights (“Kyu, I texted you twice last night. Why don’t you respond anymore? Have I done something wrong?”) or glassy from the tears that overflowed so much (“What’s happening to us, Kyu? I’m so tired of this…”)

Seohyun could feel her heart beating rapidly but with a curious off-beat, like a drummer that was out-of-sync and was smashing randomly on his drums. Still, to this day, he managed to take her breath away. He was beautiful to look at, with his careless curly hair and luscious lips that usually had a snide smirk. But now he was solemn and awkward at that and she wasn't sure what to think or say.

They stared at each other and they might have stayed that way, frozen as the seasons, time and life rushed forward, had Kyuhyun not parted his lips that had suddenly gone dry and said, “Hey.” Seohyun could only stare back up at him, but finally found her wits and whispered back, “Hi.”

Thankfully, only a small moment of awkward silence before he felt a strong vibration in his pocket and he took out his iPhone- and smiled. It was a text from Sooyoung who was waiting in the parking lot of the park half a mile away, asking him if he was okay and letting him know that she was still waiting there. Kyuhyun, still smiling, texted back, telling her not to worry, and, adding a small heart sign, he pressed send.

Truthfully, he was still unsure of how he really felt about Sooyoung. He was certainly grateful that she was there for him and comforted him through the long lonely nights when he was drowning in bitter memories. It had been, after all, mostly Sooyoung’s idea to have the two of them meet here to sort things out. He thought she was pretty cute too- it was just that he didn’t want to disappoint her, to hurt her like he hurt Seohyun…

Seohyun noticed a genuine smile that graced Kyuhyun’s lips and her heart sank as she guessed immediately who sent him a text. Even after they had been apart for so long and she had convinced herself countless times that she was over him…it still hurt. She was still happy for him that her unnie could make him smile more now…but…

Despite that, Seohyun managed to (fake) a small smile and ask, “…from Sooyoung-unnie?” Kyuhyun, as if he were suddenly aware of her presence again, paused for a bit, made a small awkward nod and said, “Yeah.”

Seohyun watched as his eyes flitted around uncomfortably and she said, “You…you should sit…” Kyuhyun merely nodded and sat down beside her as awkward silence and conversation ensued.

“…How’s…how’s Yonghwa?”

“He’s…doing well. How’s Super Junior been doing?”

“We’re fine. ‘Bout to record a new album. It’s doing pretty well.”

After a huge pause, Seohyun turned to him and Kyuhyun saw that the pain he thought had left her eyes…had only been hidden. They came back now, glowing and flaring clearly as she asked, her voice somewhat unsteady now.

“What happened to us, Kyuhyun-oppa? Why can’t we just forgive and forget and move on?”

Kyuhyun sighed. “I don’t know, Seohyun. It’s not that easy.”

“You’re damn right it’s not that easy!” her voice suddenly hitched up an octave and Kyuhyun stared at her in disbelief. Seohyun never swore, not even when she had been frustrated beyond belief with him (Darn you, Kyuhyun, do you just not care anymore?!) What had happened? When had they drifted so out of sync that they barely knew each other anymore?

“Yonghwa-oppa…he takes good care of me. He’s always loved me, and I’m beginning to appreciate that. But every time I’m alone, every time I wait for Yonghwa-oppa to text me back…the loneliness comes back, Kyu. It’s a parasite, it’s eating me from the inside. And no matter how hard I try, I can’t get out of the whirlpool of memories that try so hard to drown me…”

Kyuhyun simply sat there, stunned. All this time, he had been a selfish, idiotic fool to think that he was the only one who felt that way. Seohyun was at the very edge of her control and glistening tears were starting to pool at her eyes.

“It’s…it’s like we’re frozen, isn’t it…” came Kyuhyun’s voice. It was Seohyun’s turn to gaze at him as he went on. “The seasons pass and time moves on…but we’re motionless. We can’t move on, we’re rooted so tightly to these memories…it must mean something. Either it means we’re too stubborn…or…”

Seohyun gasped and found herself pressed chest to chest with the man she once knew so well. “N…N-No! Kyu! What are you doing?! We-We don’t have anything with each other! It’s hopeless…no matter what we do, we can never go back...”

“Then I will not let you go.” Her eyes widened as he tightened his grasp. “You…you have no idea, Seohyun,” said Kyuhyun, his voice muffled and shaky, his nose inhaling her scent. “Yeah, Sooyoung makes me happy, yeah it’s a relief…but I miss you, Seohyun. I miss you so much, sometimes I feel like I’m sick if I don’t see you. And I have been sick. Sick with jealousy of seeing you with Yonghwa, sick with misery of not seeing you at least once.”

Seohyun began to tear up and she could hold her voice steady no longer. “Kyu, you pabo…I’M the one that missed you. Even before we fell apart…you wouldn’t respond to me. I thought something was terribly wrong; I thought I was doing something terribly wrong. I’m happy for you and unnie…but I always wish till I’m numb that I’m right by your side, that I’m still the one that makes you happy…”

There was a pause before she felt her shoulder get wet. She drew back in astonishment and saw Kyuhyun’s eyes glisten. Simultaneously, a scripted action in a play, they both reached out to dry the other’s tears. As they did, they were engulfed in nothing but each other, and in the background swirled the memories of a time past: a first meeting in a park (“You’re such a snark, sunbaenim” “You’re pretty uptight yourself”), moments together (“Call me oppa.” “Is that a command?” “Yes.” “Haha fine then, Kyuhyun snark-pabo-oppa.” “Get back here, you!”) , filming a music video together (“This is embarrassing, oppa…” “Really…? I think…you’re cute- I MEAN it’s a pretty cute storyline, yeah.”) , a first confession (“I like you, oppa.” “I like you too, Seohyun.”), more moments together (“Oppa’s way to bad…Oppa Nappa~” “Oh yeah? I’m about to get worse…” “Ahh~”), falling apart (“Kyu…why are you in such a bad mood all the time, now?” “Wouldn’t you love to know why, Mrs. Jung Yonghwa?” “Oppa, stop it…”) breaking down (“I can’t take it anymore, oppa. Let’s break up.” “…”), and many more memories that overwhelmed them.

They were in each others’ arms again as they cried together silently. “…Let’s stay like this Seohyun,” said Kyuhyun. “We can’t,  Kyu,” sniffled Seohyun. “I love you, I miss you, but I can’t be with you. Don’t you understand? Time is making us drift apart and no matter how much we try, we can never go back to the way it was before.” He was quiet for a minute before he said, “…Then I’d much rather stay here, in this moment. With you. Forever. Unmoving, unchanging.” Seohyun said nothing since she agreed completely with him and buried her face in his chest.

In this one fold of time, they were frozen within the memories, at least for a moment. They were together which was what mattered most, for that one moment that no one could take away from them. And oftentimes, from moments like this, hope is found to be fertilized.  

A/N: Cee-Cee here again! i didnt like writing this particular seokyu oneshot. i dunno, the angst/plot for this one took so long to come up with and school just started so i had a ton of work to do as well T_T

update! i may/may not take a brief hiatus from my current series. i dunno, i've kind of hit a writers block right now and i dont have any inspirations, ideas or much drive to write the series in general =/  you might think so, but i honestly appreciate every single comment/subscriber i get. i love every single one of my subscribers for thinking my story was interesting enough to subscribe to.

i dunno, is it cause there are so many pairings that its a problem? its a complicated plot to begin with...D:

anyway, tis all for now! next up is YOONHAE once again! and for those waiting patiently for MinYul, do not worry! it shall be posted (soon enough hopefully) ^^