Daehyun walked along the shore of a beach with his shoes in his hand. He felt the grains of sand fall between the cracks of his toes with each step. The sound of the seaside was all Daehyun could hear as the sun said its final goodbyes for the day, staining the sky an array of pinkish red hues.

“I’ve always wanted to see the beaches in Busan,” Youngjae had told him many times, “We’ve known each other for how many years?”

“Too many,” Daehyun smiled.

“And you just keep taking me to other beaches. When are you going to take me to see the ones at Busan? Ah you’re always such a disappointment,” Youngjae teased, “I bet it’s because you have all those fans screaming for you now. You’ve forgotten me haven’t you? Ah, I knew you would.”

“Never,” Daehyun replied most definitely, “I’m never going to forget you. You’re always so worried that I’m going to forget you one day. What if you forgot about me? Are you going to forget about me?”

“Impossible,” Youngjae beamed angelically.

“Then it’s impossible for me to forget you too.”

Youngjae shook his head at Daehyun’s comment as he walked side by side with him. They both embraced the moment of silence together as they simply absorbed each other’s company. No words were needed to be said between them, knowing that they were walking beside each other was enough. Daehyun looked over at Youngjae’s perfect profile and trailed down to his hands that hung limping on his side.

Daehyun continued to stroll along the shore and felt Youngjae’s hand brush against his own. Taking advantage of that brief moment of contact, Daehyun reached his fingers out towards Youngjae and took his hand into his own. He felt Youngjae’s fingers intertwine with his as neither of them said a word about their silent gesture. The smile that was plastered across his face never faltered as they continued walking along the shore, taking each passing second like a precious treasure.

“I’ve got something to ask you,” Daehyun began as he felt Youngjae turn to him with inquisitive eyes, “Do you remember a…”

“Do I remember a what?” Youngjae asked curiously.

Daehyun looked over at Youngjae with all his perfect imperfections. A part of him wanted to ask about the kiss he thought they shared years ago. He wanted to ask and find out the truth but at the same time he didn’t. He wanted to leave it as a mystery. If it was real it would have been the just the unsaid words they pair never shared and if it was all a dream, Daehyun could at least believe it was all real.

“Nothing,” Daehyun murmured and felt Youngjae look over at him curiously. Daehyun added simply, “Something’s are better left unanswered.”

“Ah, I see,” Youngjae smiled sweetly as their fingers remained laced with each other. “Daehyun, what’s your favourite time of day?” he asked with his thumb gently circling Daehyun’s hand.

Daehyun looked over at him rather puzzled and shrugged his shoulders, “I don’t have a favourite time of day.”

Youngjae kept his eyes on his feet for a moment before stopping in his tracks and stared off into the horizon. Daehyun stopped as well and watched Youngjae squint at the horizon with a grin across his face, “My favourite is when the sun meets the horizon because it’s both the start and the end of the day. Our day might be ending but somewhere else in the world, their day is just beginning.”

Daehyun turned to see what Youngjae had been talking about but he never got to see it as he woke up from his deep slumber. He moaned as he sat up in his seat and stretched out his arms.

“Finally awake huh?” Yongguk asked from the front passenger seat of Himchan’s car.

“Yeah,” he replied as he stared out the window.

A glorious sky of rich orange and red hovered above as they just so happened to drive past a familiar beach.

“Himchan?” Daehyun called from the backseat.

“What? Do you need to pee again?” he barked as he glanced over at him through the rear-view mirror.

“No but can you pull over anyway? There’s something I gotta do” he explained.

“Yeah I know you have to pee. You don’t have to pretend like you’re not going to. I saw how much water you drank before. Just be quick okay? We gotta get to the stadium soon. Do you know how hard it is for the makeup artists to paint your face on?”

Daehyun flicked the back of Himchan’s head as he pulled over. “I’ll be quick,” he replied as he hopped out of the car.

He took off his shoes and made his way down to the shore despite having Himchan glowering at him. It was as if he was still dreaming the only thing that was missing was Youngjae himself. But he was there with him; he was always there beside him every step of the way.

Daehyun pulled out Youngjae’s old phone from his back pocket. He had always carried it with him, despite it no longer working. It was more of a momentum than anything else but Daehyun didn’t need it anymore. He had other things to remember Youngjae by and those things could never be stripped off of him.

“Hey Youngjae,” Daehyun smiled at the horizon, “I probably look like a right now. Standing in the middle of the beach and talking to no one but I’m talking to you okay?”

There was no reply except for the sounds of the crashing waves.

“I’m finally back in Busan for tonight’s performance so I figured I better take you down to the beach before you get mad at me. I mean I’ve made you wait long enough already,” Daehyun continued as he looked around the empty beach, “Well Youngjae, this is it. The beaches of Busan. It’s nothing special but I know you love it. Anyway I have to go get back to the others. I wouldn’t want to get Himchan mad. I think he's still a little mad at me for eating his ice cream. But before I go I just want to say that I hope you’re proud of me. Things probably didn’t work out the way you probably wanted but I got there in the end and I have you to thank.”

He looked down at Youngjae’s phone in his hand and caught his own bright expression reflect off the glass. Daehyun was ready to let go of it at last. He had been teased countless times by Himchan for carrying such a useless item but Daehyun still held onto it. He held onto it not only for the memories they carried but also for this moment. The beaches of Busan, the one place Youngjae had always wanted to go. So this was the place Daehyun was going to say goodbye to the old phone.

With all the force he could muster he hurled Youngjae’s phone over into the sea and watched the water engulf it wholeheartedly, taking Daehyun’s woes along with it.

“I’ll see you later Youngjae,” Daehyun half saluted the horizon and made his way back up towards the car. But before he left the beach he added one last thing as he faced the horizon once more, “Oh and Youngjae,” Daehyun took in a deep breath and screamed at the top of his lungs so that even the heavens could hear him.

“I REMEMBER!”