He can hear Taemin's feet shuffling in the other room, can hear him rummaging through it to collect and pack the last items he left. He sits on the couch in front of the turned-off  TV, his lukewarm coffee sits on the living room table, and thinks about how they ended up this way, and how it all started.

…

I finally got back to my apartment, after finishing my last midterm exam, more than ready to sleep through the entire next week. I took off my shoes and got into bed, not even bothering to change my clothes, but apparently some dark force decided against my plans. The dark force, a.k.a Kim Kibum, my supposedly best friend, was banging on my apartment door like a madman, demanding I'll go out shopping with him in Namdaemun market, as his official bag carrier, of course. Knowing him for, unfortunately, a long time, I knew that there was no use trying to ignore him, and really no chance for me to get any sleep. So I got up, changed my clothes to more fitting ones than the "student-who-hadn't-slept-in-like-eternity" outfit,  knowing I won't hear the end of it if Kibum saw me in those, and went out with him. More like, was dragged by him into every store and stall there was, with the bags piling in my hands. At some point, though, I got tired of listening to him flirting with the saleswoman (or was it a salesman?) in some store to get a discount, so I stepped outside to clear my head and rest for a bit.

How ironic was it, that when I came out for some fresh air, my eyes took in the sight of the most beautiful creature in the entire universe, standing by a stall, smoking a cigarette.

Damn, you were gorgeous, just like you are now, only your hair was blond back then, not fiery red, like it is now. You looked bored out of your mind. But even then you looked like an angel, those amazing mixed feminine-masculine features, your lean body, those captivating lips of yours… they could kill me right then and there and I'd die a happy man because the last sight I'd see is you.

I don't know what possessed me to do it, but suddenly, I was standing next to you, asking for a cigarette, when the only two thoughts running through my mind at that moment were "wow, he's even more beautiful up close" and "since when do I smoke?". You looked at me with a blank expression, before pulling out a cigarette and handing it to me. That was when I realized how stupid I'd look if I asked for a light too. But I did anyway, just to get you attention for one more moment. You took out a lighter and lit it for me.

Didn't think it would back fire in my face (a/n: no pun intended… or was it?...) when I started coughing like crazy and made a complete fool of myself. Ii was so busy praying that the ground would swallow me, that I almost missed that beautiful sound, a sweet, quiet laugh. I turned my flushed face in your direction, and saw you laugh. And then you said those magical words-

"You're cute, I'll give you that"