April 19, 1996

"So…how was the date?" Jongin asked after a while of swinging on the little kid's playground. Sehun didn't want to get on the childish things, but Jongin was extremely persistent. The younger boy swung over and kicked Jongin in the leg playfully.

"Don't say it like that," Sehun replied and hung his head. "Was it true you used to call me 'dog'?"

", how much did that boy tell you?" Jongin swore and both boys burst out laughing. "You seem surprisingly calm."

"Why would you say that?"

"Oh, I just thought that you would get your memories back."

"Of for s sake, what the hell is so wrong about telling me about Luhan?! You were just dandy telling me about yourself and practically everyone else on the planet, but not Luhan," Sehun burst out randomly, taking Jongin by surprise. Jongin immediately frowned and kicked Sehun's leg.

"Shut up. You're too loud," Jongin warned him and Sehun narrowed his eyes. "Look, it's a lot more complicated than you think. I will tell you, but only when you start getting your memories back."

"Then start talking, , because it's already begun."

"What?"

"I'm telling you. I'm remembering."

"How the hell- You can't even remember one thing about me!"

"Oh don't get your knickers in a knot," Sehun huffed and blew air at his fringe, "just listen alright? Look, early this morning, I had a sudden memory of Luhan blushing. It was really odd and I don't want to talk about it too much because it's making me uncomfortable. Two, I had three more memories. Luhan was crying in one, being forced to drink wine in another and him talking to me through the car window in the last. That's about as far as I can remember. So, spit the truth."

"Sehun, this isn't easy."

"Holy , you called me by my name."

"Before you and I happened…" Jongin paused and he wondered if he should continue on further with that phrase. Sehun's face contorted into one of frustration and he punched Jongin in the arm.

"Don't pause!" he shouted.

"Before you and I happened,  I used to like Luhan?" Jongin said, his voice raising in the end like as if he was asking a question rather than stating a fact. Sehun's face fell and he pouted.

"Oh. So…were you guys a thing or-"

"Hell no. He didn't like being near me at all. I know this now. Oh god, I'm so embarrassed."

"What? Did you, like, court him or something?"

"More like steal."

"From who?" Jongin went silent and Sehun once again tried to hit him. Jongin quickly dodged and grabbed Sehun's hands, preventing him from abusing him.

"From you," Jongin replied.

"Uh…" Sehun hummed with his mouth wide open. Luhan and me? Sehun thought. No, Luhan said we weren't dating.

"You weren't dating but…well, at least I didn't think you were. Luhan was a little back then-"

"Hey! Don't you dare call him that!" Sehun growled, a sudden anger rising in his stomach for some reason. What the hell was he doing? Jongin had a stricken look on his face, like as if he was about to see the end.

"Sehun, to be honest, we were all little s. You were a stupid and overprotective , Luhan was a disobedient and I was a meddling . You can't deny what was," Jongin replied. "But I wanted Luhan so bad. I even tried to make it look like he was trying to cheat on you."

"So we were dating?"

"No, god dammit! It's just that, there was some unspoken rule that Luhan belonged to you and only you, so when you saw me kissing him, you kind of-"

"Stop!" Sehun shouted and he suddenly stood up, grabbing his head. Jongin gripped the chains holding him up hard in fear that everything had suddenly come flooding back in. That would be the ultimate terror.

"Sehun?"

"I can't…I can't…"

"Sehun, it's okay. And I understand if you want to break up-"

"I can't remember it! I can't remember anything! Nothing! It's not coming to me!" Sehun cried. Jongin breathed a sigh of relief, but Sehun caught it and only got angrier. "I want to remember you kissing him! But I can't recall it!"

"Sehun, calm down. There are kids arriving."

"They can screw themselves," Sehun groaned and kicked at the ground. "You know what? I'm going to go home and talk to Luhan. That's what!"

And once again, Jongin was left alone as he watched his boyfriend walk away from him towards a man he once used to love but cannot remember. Damn, life was unfair. He stayed on the swings.

 

"Luhan! Luhan!" Sehun shouted into the house and all the workers stopped and stared at him in fear. His face was bright red, probably from running seeing from the state of his hair, and his eyes were narrow slits.

"Lu-Luhan is in his r-room…" one of the younger maids called out to him and Sehun nodded in reply before quickly darting off towards the guest area.

"No, Master Sehun! His old room!' another older maid corrected him and he spun around and ran down the opposite hallway.

Sehun's steps sounded empty, despite the loud sounds it made as it thumped against the ground. That was why he fainted when I couldn't remember him. He still loved me? Sehun thought as he slowly approached the awaiting door. He was so confident on his way over. He had a set plan on how he was going to address Luhan and the problem.

But it all went flying out the window when Luhan opened the door.

"Oh? What brings you here?" Luhan asked and Sehun suddenly went frozen. He begged his mind, begged it for another memory, something he could use to give him that little bit of a push forward. Then a miracle came.

Another memory.

It was only half there, like as if the memory had sort of died in the process but left its remains. He could see a bit of the night sky in the top right corner of his memory and closed eyes sitting above everything like a cloud. So peaceful and calm and it was the memory Sehun had been hunting for. Something happy from the past.

"Ma- Are you okay?" Luhan asked and Sehun grinned before stepping in. Luhan sort of laughed as he closed the door behind Sehun. "You still walk in without explanation."

"So it was a natural thing for me to do? Just waltz into your room?" Sehun asked as he placed himself on Luhan's bed. Luhan suddenly rushed over and reached out to towards Sehun, but he stopped himself short by half an arm's length and he curled his fingers into his palm and stepped back.

"Um, you may not want to sit there. It's…dirty," Luhan coughed.

"You think everything about you is dirty," Sehun sighed.

"But yes…you did walk into my room a lot," Luhan replied.

"What did we usually talk about in your room?" Sehun asked. Luhan went bright pink and Sehun caught on quite fast.

"Did we…?" Sehun asked, trailing off for suggestion, making Luhan's eyes bulge out like he had when Sehun asked if they were dating.

"No! Of course not, no! We just…slept," Luhan replied and fiddled with his fingers.

"Nothing more, just sleeping?" Sehun insisted.

"May I ask why you're so persistent?" Luhan asked.

"I may or may not know why you are like this around me," Sehun replied and Luhan visually paled slowly. He shook his head, not quite believing it. "We used to like each other, right?"

"Um…" Luhan mumbled and Sehun sighed.

"I just…I just wanted to tell you…" Sehun halted, feeling a searing pain rip through his chest. he grabbed the hem of his shirt and bit down on his lip. Why was it so hard? He barely even knew Luhan. Barely remembered him. He could only remember fragments of the boy, yet he feels like he's about to throw himself off a cliff.

But Luhan closed his eyes. He already knew what Sehun was going to say.

It's not going to work out. I have Jongin now.

"I know…S-S-Sehun…I know," Luhan whispered, lips stuttering over the name he had forbid himself from saying. He had said it once before and that was hard enough, but to do it again…

"Luhan, I want you to understand though, that you are important to me. I can feel it. I can't remember it, but my heart does and I want you to know that no matter what, for some reason, you dominate my emotions. But…don't you think we're a little bit too old for this. This game isn't fun for either of us, isn't it? Let's just stop. You deserve better than someone who can't even remember you," Sehun said, his voice blurring over as Luhan attempted to block him out mentally.

I know, I know. Please, stop talking. Stop talking.

"I'm leaving in week. Please bare with my presence for another week," Luhan whispered, his eyes shut as he turned his head to the ground.

"I can last a week," Sehun replied before quietly stepping out of the room. He paced himself away from the door and entered the main hall where he heard a buzzing noise coming down from the servant's quarters.

Sehun stomped over there, ready to tell the servants to be quiet and calm themselves down, but all of a sudden, when he stepped into the room, the servants turned to him and placed their fingers against their mouths and pointed to the T.V. Sehun gathered with them at the back and watched as a female figure appeared on the screen and climbed up onto the podium. The president of Korea was standing there, welcoming her into his arms, tears streaming down his face. Then slowly, a voice was narrated over the scene.

"Our president, Park Jungshin, is finally reunited with his daughter, Park Kyungin after her mysterious disappearance seven years ago. Kyungin arrived on the door step of the president's main house early this morning-"

The room was eerily quiet. Sehun took a step back and forced himself to exit the room.

Get out of here, Sehun thought to himself.

 

"Jongin, it's over."

"."

"Not us, you ."

"…Sehun, I…I'm sorry."

"Yeah. Me too."

 

"Sehun, yo!" cried a familiar female voice. Sehun spun around in shock and saw Hyoyeon standing behind him, carrying a packet of lollies. Way to go, Hyoyeon.

"Why are you here?" Sehun asked.

"A certain boyfriend called me over, telling me his boyfriend was in the dumps," Hyoyeon chuckled. "What happened now? Lover's quarrel?"

"Old time lovers quarrel."

"Say what?"

"Luhan. He came back yesterday," Sehun replied. 

"How in the world did you manage to fight with him after one day? I thought you can't even remember him anyway," Hyoyeon replied. Sehun took a quick glance at her face and she looked sort of panicky. Her fingers were picking at the ground. 

"Jongin told me about him."

"And you believed him?"

"Yes. Luhan confirmed it later."

"Oh, Sehun, that's...I feel terrible. I miss him so much. I used to have a crush on him, you know. When he saved me from the tree when we were little. I thought he was a knight disguised as a servant. I later realised he was actually just a servant," Hyoyeon laughed. "But then you guys- Oh whoops, sorry."

"No it's okay. You can tell me about it."

"It's really not that important."

"Then tell me something important."

"Um, you might want to look at what tree you are under right now."

 

Sehun came back home quite late after sitting out on the field. Luhan, of course, did not dare to ask where he had been, but couldn't help but over hear the boy talking about his whereabouts at the dinner table. 

"Were you alone?" his parents asked, a worried look on their faces.

"Hyoyeon was with me," Sehun said and his parents sighed with relief. "Why do you do that with Hyoyeon only?! Eunhyuk's a guy and you are still scared when I mention that I was with him!"

"Young Miss Hyoyeon was always more stronger than Eunhyuk," Luhan spoke up with a laugh on his tongue as he took a sip from his soup. Sehun gave him a sideways looked and grinned. 

"She was pretty good with rope," Sehun admitted. 

"What are they talking about?" Jodi asked Luhan quietly. 

"Useless . You'd die of boredom if you knew," Luhan quickly covered and Jodi laughed silently. 

"Luhan, if I remember correctly, isn't it your birthday tomorrow?" Mrs. Oh asked and Luhan swore that he had never seen Sehun's head snap towards Luhan as fast before in his life. 

"Why didn't you tell me? Before I told you all those things today- Sorry Luhan!" Sehun cried, dropping his utensils into his bowl. 

"It's not polite to put down your spoon unless you've finished eating. And don't slurp," Luhan nagged and when he saw a grin appearing on the Oh parents' faces, he suddenly went bright red when he suddenly realised he had his servant mode again. 

"I haven't even got you a present," Sehun said and Luhan shook his head.

"I don't want anything," Luhan replied and Sehun immediately pouted to himself. He had to give Luhan something, had to, after what Hyoyeon had showed him earlier that day. "I really don't want anything."

"Are you sure?" Mrs. Oh asked. Luhan looked around the table and decided to be a little bit of a snob. One for the team.

"Well, I'm a model, I can practicaly afford anything I want," Luhan said in a naggy tone. It was the kind he usually used in English, but it was weird hearing it in Korean. Everyone at the table gave him disapproving looks but didn't question it any further. Sehun didn't drop his determined gaze, but all he wanted him to do was to look away just like everyone else.

 

April 20, 1996

Waking up did not feel pleasant.

It was like he had woken up in America once again on his birthday, lonely and once again only craving one gift.

Sehun didn't even stick around for the morning. The moment Luhan came out of his room, Sehun was putting on his jacket and giving sneaky glances behind him before he snuck out through the front door. Luhan had hid behind the wall and only stepped out of his hiding place when Sehun had closed the door behind him. He held his breath and felt his heart drop again. He should've expected this anyway, after what had happened the previous day. And if Sehun was going to go anywhere, he was going to meet up with Jongin. Luhan knew it.

 

"Dog!" a voice shouted from behind him and Sehun didn't even have enough time to turn around when a huge weight planted himself onto Sehun's back, pulling both boys to the ground. Sehun groaned in slight pain before pushing Jongin off and proceeding to elbow him in the stomach.

"You !" Sehun laughed before pulling Jongin up to his feet and pulling them over to the playground. Sehun took the top of the slide while Jongin sat at the bottom, facing up like he was expecting Sehun to slide down any minute and into his arms. It was a pretty tempting idea though.

"I have gathered you all here today-"

"Oh shut it, Jongin."

"But seriously. Don't you want to know why I called you over?"

"I guess."

"Say you want it, ."

"Give me the d-eats, heh."

"It's Luhan's birthday."

"Yeah," Sehun deadpanned and he paused for a second. "I know. But why did you call out me here for that?"

"We should give him a birthday present."

"I haven't even picked anything and he even said he didn't want anything," Sehun bit back.

"No, listen. I thought about this a lot last night and I think it will work."

"You did some thinking? That's new."

"Wow, Sehun. Top notch come back."

"Okay fine, lay it out. Tell me your plan," Sehun replied. Jongin took a deep breath and Sehun suddenly felt the air go still. Jongin was too quite all of a sudden and dragging out the silence for much too long. Then Sehun watched with horror as Jongin strained a smile onto his face. His heart thudded hard and he could almost hear glass shattering. He gripped the slide rails and began to mumble out small 'no's.

"I think-"

"Jongin, no. Shut up now."

"Listen to me, Sehun."

"I said, shut the up," Sehun said, speaking in vulgar and raw english that made Jongin pause in his speech. "I know what you're going to say and I refuse to go along with it."

"Sehun-"

"What did I tell you, you brownie?! You know what? Go home. Think it out again. This was a waste of time." Sehun got up to leave, but when he jumped off the playground, Jongin qiuckly reached out to him and grabbed his hand, pulling him hard so that Sehun was soon falling into Jongin's embrace. Immediately, Sehun burst into tears and he slammed his fist into Jongin's chest.

"Four years. It took me four years to like you," Jongin whispered to Sehun and Sehun listened quietly, the only sounds he made being the soft sniffles into Jongin's shoulder. "It only took you a second to like Luhan. Doesn't that mean something?"

"Please..." Sehun sobbed. 

"You did it once and you can do it again. Plus, our relationship was a bit messed up anyway. I mean, we hadn't even kissed because that's a bit awkward for me," Jongin chuckled and he reached out and patted Sehun's head. "It's sort of odd thinking of us four years ago. The me four years ago would've already been rolling with you on the ground in an intense wrestle as we attempt to kill each other." Sehun sort of laughed. 

"We don't have to do this, Jongin. Not for just one guy who appeared out of nowhere. I don't really care about the past anymore."

"Sehun, if only you knew," Jongin whispered. "You are the universe to someone, you know. And that person is probably in his room right now, bawling his eyes out, asking why the heavens made you lose that stupid letter."

"What letter?" Sehun asked. 

"You know, sometimes I think that's the reason why you liked me after you got amnesia. You might've been a little bit confused about Luhan's letter to you. 'Turn a blind eye to his hate'. He wasn't talking about me, you know," Jongin said and looked directly into Sehun's eyes, like he was waiting for something. 

Then that something happened. 

The letter came back. He could remember it. He could remember exactly what was written on it. Sehun remembered crossing the road, wondering what on Earth it could've meant. Could it really have been perhaps about Jongin? Or was it aimed at someone else?

Sehun snapped his head up to meet up with Jongin's.

"Luhan is not that selfish. He would not write a letter telling me to get over myself and like him again," Sehun replied. 

"You're right, he isn't...or is he? I don't know, Sehun. To me, Luhan was the real bad guy here. Sure he followed your rules and everything, but he wasn't necessarily a nice guy overall. He was just too needy. Always eager to please you. Always thinking about you. You were all he knew."

"So why did he leave?"

"Because of all those reasons. Don't you get it?"

"I think...I think I do."

"Go to him, Sehun. He's waiting for you. You both need each other more than you both know."

"What about you?"

"What about me? Who are you?"

"What?"

"Why are you talking to me, you dog?" Jongin asked, his face contorting to rather snarky look and Sehun got a glimpse of what the possible past Jongin was like. He shoved Sehun out of his arms and then turned around, walking in the opposite direction.

"Your house is the opposite way!' Sehun shouted to him.

"I'm going to take a little walk," Jongin shouted back and Sehun watched him disappear out of his view before he suddenly realised how quiet it was. The air was thin but it was suffocating him. He needed to go.

 

"Luhan..." came a small whisper through his door. Luhan quickly wiped away his tears and shoved a whole bunch of stuff underneath his bed before he got up and opened the door. Jessica was standing outside and the sight of her brought him back to tears. She rushed forward and held him close to her and he held onto her too, sobbing into her hair.

"It's great to see you again, Jess," he murmured. 

"As to you, Lu," Jessica replied. "But, enough crying. I have an important message from Master Sehun."

"Oh God, please don't tell me," Luhan murmured. 

"No listen. Sehun wants to meet you. At the tree. He said you'd know which one," Jessica replied. Luhan gripped his shirt in panic. How did Sehun remember the tree? Why did Sehun want him? Why did Sehun want him at the tree? So many questions, but he wasn't going to find out waiting in his room. He dashed out, forgetting to grab his coat in the process, but he didn't care. He didn't care that the cold air was biting at his skin or that he had forgotten to put on shoes so he was now running through grass, his feets occasionally stepping on stones. 

He dashes out onto the field, looking around, trying to find Sehun, but he couldn't see him yet. Luhan still remembered where the tree was though and he quickly ran in the direction of it. As he grew closer towards the tree, his heart began to slam into his chest in panic. What was he going to say? What were they going to talk about? 

But when he arrived at the tree...no one was there. Was he tricked? Did Sehun get the wrong tree? Luhan looked around, trying to find Sehun. he went around the tree several times and even darted into the neighbouring trees to see if he was hiding anywhere. Then all of a sudden, he was pushed back into the old times, when they were young teenagers, playing hide and seek in the trees. He remembered where Sehun had last hid on their last game together. 

Luhan ran back to the tree and stood at the base. He didn't dare look up yet. Instead, he ran his fingers over the familiar carvings and felt tears rising to his eyes. His heart...how could he begin to explain how he felt? Nostalgic? Pained? Terrified?

In love. 

Then he looked up. 

And Sehun was staring back down at him, a soft and gentle look on his face. 

Luhan stepped back and let Sehun jump down. When he reached the ground, he laughed a little. 

"You actually tried to find me. You always used to give up when we were little," Sehun chuckled and Luhan's breath got caught in his throat. 

"How-"

"Came to me on the way here," Sehun shrugged. "Wasn't it our favourite game? Hide and seek? Oh God and remember when I thought I was the king of the winds? How embarrassing!"

"Yeah, y-yeah, it was..." Luhan laughed as well, but it soon broke into a sob and suddenly he felt familiar arms around him. It wasn't the same from four years ago, but that was a given. It was still the same person. He still felt the same pain as he always did.

"You were terrible at it. You barely even tried to hide. Said you weren't creative enough. Look at you now," Sehun said, not knowing exactly how to word his sentences anymore. He was slowly losing it, losing it to the way how Luhan broke himself apart bit by bit.

"What are y-you trying t-to s-say?" Luhan sniffed and Sehun palced his hands on Luhan's shoulder, pushing him down so that both of them could sit on the ground. Luhan kept his eyes trained on Sehun this whole time and Sehun could see the confusion in them. He was confused too, to be honest. He only broke up with his boyfriend about half an hour ago for a guy he sort of but not quite knew.

"I'm saying it's a good day," Sehun replied and smiled warmly, trying to understand himself. Luhan was losing it, he was losing it. This was all too awkward, too sudden, to messy. So imperfect.

"Do you really think so?" Luhan asked, his eyes darting up to the markings on the trees. Then Sehun reached out and grabbed Luhan's hand, holding it like as if he was trying to warm him up despite the nice weather.

Sehun looked into Luhan's eyes for one second and in that one moment, the whole world came back to him. It came back to him even when it refused to be free around Jongin. It was like it was waiting for the gunman to pull the trigger.

Sehun nodded his head as tears sprung to his eyes.

"I miss you," Sehun whispered.

And this time, Sehun did not let Luhan go.

 

 

Solitary was something Jongin was used to his whole life. Sure he had a few people waltz in and out of his life that may have made his days a little bit more interesting, but for some reason, he never felt full enough. Sure his eldest brother will try to become the town's new mayor and his next brother would probably work in the law department, but what about Jongin? As far as he knew, he was the pitiful one. The one used to soften his father's image. He was the image boy.

"Hey son, are you okay?" came a slurred voice. Jongin spun around and looked up to see a middle aged man standing next to him. "I don't think you should be sitting there."

"I'm not going to jump," Jongin said, staring at the large expanse of water underneath the bridge he was sitting on.

"Life may not be so good right now, but hey, at least...at least y-you're not me," the man cried, suddenly bursting out into tears at the end and stumbling off into the bushes. Jongin watched him leave.

"I'm not going to jump," Jongin whispered to himself.

But the water was so enticing.

Jongin stood up from his place and slowly began to walk back in the direction of his house.

Maybe not today.

---

 

OMFG OMFG THE FIC IS OVER. CAN CAN CAN YOU BELIEVE IT? Can I, believe it????

It was amazing having you guys. There are some readers that I will probably remember for the rest of my life due to their extreme support of this fic. I would love to give a special shout out to that one person, yeah you know who you are, who reccomended my fic on the story 'The facts of the most shipped couple in EXO, HunHan'. Man, I love you so much because you did it and you never told me you did and I believe that that is the awesomest thing ever that you decided not to tell me, because I had the joy of searching up my fic and founding out like that. I was practically over the moon. I lafffff you. 

Anyways, so this is the end of this fic, but I will be starting a new and more challenged fic Kitchen King, which will be more modern based. And it will be the lovely Kaisoo this time. Kaisoo is actually my top OTP and I love how they can be written in any way. 

Also, I will have a FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions or just any questions in general). So guys, any questions about A Child's Game? Go ahead! I swear that a lot of you will have a lot of questions. Sometimes I put a lot of hidden meanings throughout the place, but luckily a few of you are smart enough to catch on. Ahahaha. 

I love you guys. Haha, thank you for reading. 

Interesting fact: I have absolutely no idea how many subscribers are subscribed to this story. Whenever the 'new subscriber' link appears on my screen, I click it, but I don't look at it and then click away from it. SO PLEASE DON'T TELL ME HOW MANY SUBSCRIBERS I'VE GOT. HAHAHHA

 

See ya guys soon! Will update my new fic after EXO's comeback.