A female cashier butted up to the counter next to Dongwoo and elbowed him to the side. She whispered, “Peach. Mango. Now,” and smiled at Hoya, though his eyes followed Dongwoo along the back bar as he made the smoothie. He watched his hands follow the same, unhurried pace that he remembered. He looked the same as he did back then, even though it had been so long. It was as if time had stopped for Dongwoo the day he disappeared.

Dongwoo returned to the counter and placed the cup carefully on the surface. He smirked and let out a little laugh hoping to lighten the mood; the way Hoya stared at him made him nervous and tense.  “Here you go, sir,” he said, “You know, this is my favorite too, I hope you enjoy it.”

Hoya hesitated before grabbing the smoothie. As he did, Dongwoo turned away and began cleaning slowly at his station. Hoya backed away to a small table off the side of the counter, sitting facing the bar. His drink sat in front of him, untouched and melting. He knew this was Dongwoo's favorite drink; he used to make fun of him, saying it was girly but when he left, Hoya started drinking it too. He wasn't even sure if he really liked it, but the smell reminded Hoya of him, and he wanted to hold onto that.

People came in and out of the store, passing him to sit, and then passing him to leave, cellphones rang now and then, loud cars passed honking their horns and revving their engines, but Hoya didn’t notice any of it. He watched Dongwoo work behind the counter, biting his lip anxiously. He was friendly, animated, and sweet. Just like he remembered.

After about a half hour, Dongwoo made it out from behind the counter. He hovered over a table next to Hoya, wiping the surface with a wet cloth and grabbing up cups that had been left behind.

“Hyung.” Hoya called.

Dongwoo looked up, surprised, and pointed to himself. Hoya nodded. “Yes?”

“Take a break,” he said, pushing out the chair next to him.

Frowning, Dongwoo made his way over and slowly lowered into the chair. He gripped the cleaning cloth tightly in his hand and waited for the other man to say something, trying not to feel his piercing gaze.

“Do you really not remember me?” Hoya asked.

“I-“ Dongwoo laughed nervously, his eyes crinkling, “I really don’t… but-“

“You bastard.”

“What?”

Hoya sighed and looked away. “After everything, you just can’t remember…”

“What am I supposed to remember? We must not have met recently,” he rubbed the back of his head and stared at the table, “so it must have been a while ago… Did we go to school together or something?”

Hoya nodded, “Yeah… we went to school together.” Yes, that was true, but there was so much more to it than that; just saying those plain words left a bitter taste in his mouth.

“Ah… that’s it then.” Dongwoo sat up straight and flicked the cloth onto the table, then linked his hands together, “I’m sorry,” he started, “but it was a few years ago, I was in some sort of accident. I don’t really remember anything before then.” He reached up and parted his hair just above his ear, revealing a long scar, “See? I hit my head and had some memory loss. I didn’t forget you on purpose.”

Hoya glanced at the scar, then clenched his eyes shut.

“Were we close?”

Hoya shook his head, “No way,” he whispered, speechless. He jumped up suddenly and his eyes darted to the exit. “I- I’ll be back sometime… t-thanks for the drink,” he stuttered. He stumbled over a chair as he bolted for the door. Dongwoo watched in awe; what was going on?

“Hey!” he called, though Hoya didn’t stop. He frowned and picked up his untouched drink, “He didn’t even try it,” he said sadly. He clicked his tongue disapprovingly and threw it in the trash, “What a weird guy…”

He slammed the door to his home office and screamed as he pushed everything from his desk in one swift motion. Papers scattered, pens tumbled to the floor, and a small lamp fell and shattered into pieces. He gripped the edge of the desk and exhaled slowly, something catching in the back of his throat. Why was this happening? He kicked at the broken lamp then slid to the floor. He leaned against the desk and closed his eyes; he didn’t know what to do. “Why even show up at all, you bastard,” he whined.

He could have gone on if he had never seen Dongwoo again; it would have been better than this. The sadness he was filled with before was easy, comfortable, but this- this left him confused, angry, miserable. He couldn’t get his face out of his head.  

His phone rang. He pulled it out of his inner jacket pocket and looked at the name that flashed at him. Myungsoo. He knew that Myungsoo really cared about him, but he was one of the last people he wanted to talk to right now. He let the phone drop to the floor next to him, and after a few minutes, rolled onto his knees and pushed himself to his feet.

He stepped around the desk to his large executive chair. He sank into the seat and opened the desk drawer on the very bottom. Inside was a small, old box, which he pulled out and held on his lap for a moment before opening. He took out the contents, his old treasures, and flipped through them slowly: pictures of them at school, eating together on the weekends, playing during the holidays. The deeper he got into the pile, the happier the two of them looked. The last picture was the most recent of the two of them. He couldn’t remember who had taken it, but he remembered they had snuck up on them; they were at the edge of the river, both laying on their backs, Hoya using Dongwoo’s stomach as a pillow. Hoya’s eyes were closed, with a soft smile playing on his lips, though Dongwoo looked shocked, a finger to his lips telling the cameraman to be quiet, not to wake him.

Hoya stared at it. That was a good day, one of the best days- when he first realized he really loved Dongwoo. He should have told him then; would things have turned out the same if he had? Hoya closed his eyes and tried to breathe slowly. He took out the next piece and put the pictures back in the box. His eyes fluttered open and rested on the familiar card; he opened it every year on his birthday even though it killed him to do so. “My birthday’s not until tomorrow,” he sighed, “I wonder if this is cheating?” Hoya opened the card and read the entire message once, then reread the last line over and over again.

“Remember- hyung loves you the most!”

“I couldn’t forget,” he whispered, a tear rolling down his cheek, “I just have to make it come back to you, too.”

Sorry this took so long, I have about a thousand excuses but you probably have heard them all before. I'll try to update quicker for you. Thanks a bunch for reading and I hope you like it!