07:30AM, Hostel A, earlier that day

Knock! Knock!

Knock! Knock!

“Haish, I’m coming, I’m coming.” Grumpy with his throbbing head due to last night’s hangover, DongHae stumbled to the door. He banged his toes on the side table and cursed audibly.

“Ah, such bad luck so early in the morning.”

Limping, he managed to reach the door without any further injuries. He unlocked the door and opened it widely.

“Who is it?”

Silence. Nobody’s there.

DongHae looked around but saw no one. Irritated, he stepped out of his small hostel room for a better view of the corridor. No sign of other human beings or any living things around. Becoming more aggravated, he stomped back to his door, only to have his injured toe banged again into another object this time.

Yelping in pain and frustration, DongHae kicked said object with his good foot. With a small thud, the object rolled on the floor, spilling out everything inside it. Interested, DongHae squinted; he hopped on one foot and crouched down beside it.

It was a shoebox, with some small items in them. A cute small Nemo keychain, a photo, a bracelet, and a small pink envelope with ‘Play this’ written on it. At a glance, he knew from whom those items came from. He picked up the box and all its content and headed back to his room. 

Feeling sober all of a sudden, DongHae sat at his study desk while he examined the box. He looked at the items one by one in silence.

The keychain, it was still in a good shape, a sign showing that the previous owner had really taken care of it. He then looked at the bracelet, a silver chain with a golden small key dangling in the middle, a match with one that he owned, the one with the small golden lock.

The picture, he noticed, was the picture they took about a year ago on their school trip. The blond boy besides him smiled so brightly, showing off his sweet gummy smile, while DongHae wrapped his arm around the latter’s shoulder. He looked younger and they looked happier back then.

The last one, the pink envelope. DongHae picked it up and inhaled the scent of the envelope; strawberry, as expected. He tore it and spilled the content onto his desk. A small silver IPod fell from the envelope opening. He played with the IPod in between his fingers, contemplating whether he should play it or not.

He knows what this is all about. Even without listening to the content of the IPod, he knew, it must be because of his stupid act last night. DongHae leaned heavily into his chair and cast his gaze outside his window. He crumpled the envelope in his hand.

“Pabo”

He picked up his headphones, shoved the end of the wire into the IPod socket, and pressed play.

***