Being discharged from the military had been overwhelming. The amount of gifts and fan support he received warmed his heart and gave him hope for the future. He joined Super Show right away, doing a show in Paris and one in London. He loved Europe, it was different from Korea and it amused him like a little kid. Fans chanted his name so loud when he stepped on the stage for the first time after discharging. He was close to tears.

The gap between the Europe leg and the US leg of the tour was filled with TV shows, Radio, photo shoots, promotional events and … , for others though. For him the schedules were much lighter; A couple of variety TV and a few hours on Sukira. As for the rest of the time he would practice choreographies, monitor himself through internet or just laze around. He lost a considerable amount of weight for this comeback, what made him gain it in the first place? He doesn’t want to think about it! People would justify it with “lack of activity”, “eating normally because he wasn’t on a constant diet” and so on, but they were wrong.
Manager Hyung came to their dorm that night.
“You’re flying to Thailand for a concert next week.”
“Am I going to?” Heechul questioned.
“Oh, Right! Yes, you’re going too, the set list is Mr. Simple and y, Free and Single!” he clarified and then left.
Heechul went back to his paused game.

The night before the flight, Ryeowook kept nagging about how he had to prerecord Sukira for the two days they were away and was so tired. Also he has some vague memory of the others talking about the concert performances in the other room, but he was far too indifferent to remember.

They reach the concert venue for rehearsals when he finally lays an eye on the concert’s promotional poster with their faces on it; Not just theirs but other performers too.  “Pretty Poster.” He thinks to himself and goes backstage.

Opening and closing acts are always the most important acts. They were the opening act.
Being opening act had its pros and its flaws. You got to enjoy the rest of the show without worrying about how your stage’s gonna turn out. But still the heavy weight of a breath taking opening stage was on their shoulders. And their performance was no less than that.
They first performed Mr. Simple and then he stepped off the stage to go back to his seat.
As he stumbled through hallways his eyes caught sight of a familiar face who was looking directly back at him.
His mind snapped back to the other night.
“Hangeng Hyung is also performing?!” one surprised voice had exclaimed!
“Should we tell Heechul Hyung?” Kangin had said.
“I bet he already knows; what difference would it make anyway?” Sungmin had answered.
As his brain processed all that information the tall figure in front of him moved closer while Heechul’s own body was stoned and unmoving.
“Heechul?!”
“His soft voice” Heechul thought.
Heechul fisted his fingers and his vision was focused back to the man standing before him.
“Hello!” Hangeng was the one to speak again.
“I can’t say a word!!!” Heechul screamed in his mind.
“You looked beautiful as always on the stage tonight!” Hangeng half smiled.
“Beautiful!” Heechul repeated to himself.
Hangeng was confused by Heechul’s silence. They were in a far corner of the hallway but they weren’t alone; on the other side stood a production team member.
Hangeng grasped Heechul’s hand and lead him to his dressing room without making a scene. Heechul went back to standing still as soon as Hangeng let go of his hand. This time he stared down at the floor. He had become so weak; he was struggling to hold back his tears. “Why even cry?!” he thought.
“Thank you!” Heechul managed to say, barely audible.
“What?” Hangeng brows shaped a question mark.
“For telling me I look pretty!” he wasn’t staring at the floor anymore but at Hangeng’s eyes again.
“Is it the way it is? Do we thank each other for compliments? Do we speak as we are strangers?” was what went through Hangeng’s mind.
“Heechul, I … “ He was cut off by Heechul; “Come to my hotel room tonight!”
Rational decision but Heechul left the dressing room before he could change his mind or Hangeng could protest.
He doesn’t even know how he made it back to his seat. Everybody else was already there. Everyone shot him questioning looks.
“Sorry, Bathroom!” was the only thing he could come up with at that moment.
Closing acts are as important as opening ones.
That was when Hangeng appeared on the stage!
Everyone wanted to check on Heechul but they didn’t dare to so they just looked from the corner of their eyes. Heechul was sunken far too deep in his thoughts to see their faces.

He had sent Kangin, which at the time shared a room with him, to Donghae and Henry’s room with good excuse. He was hoping that Hangeng would come! But then again, what are the chances?
He opened the door to a Hangeng, in his eyes there was happiness and sorrow and something else! Hangeng came in and stood in the small hallway.
“Take a seat!” was the first words they spoke.
Hangeng sat on one of the two single sofas in the room, Heechul sat on the bed facing Hangeng.
“I’m happy to see you again!” Hangeng said as a matter of factly , his voice didn’t show any signs of happiness what so ever.
Then silence took over.
After a minute or so of taking in Hangeng’s face; Hangeng could hear Heechul’s soft sobs against the pillow in his hands. His first reaction was to stand from the sofa ; he paused. “Heechul had talked so formally to me, maybe he doesn’t want me to go near him, to comfort him, why is he crying?!”
But it was so natural for him to wrap himself around Heechul and wipe his tears away like he had done so many times before.
Instinct took over, he sat on the bed wrapping Heechul in a soft back hug; he was waiting to be shouted at or kicked off the bed but there was no struggle.
“Are you still hurting?” Hangeng said.
Gulping down alcohol until he lost sight of everything had become Heechul’s life for months. He couldn’t do it before going into military that often. Being away gave him enough time to drown in sadness, drown in memories, and drown in alcohol.
All the signs had been there. How could anyone not notice? He even gained so much weight because of it.
“I am. I know I shouldn’t be. I know I should have gotten over it a long time ago, but I couldn’t. I just … couldn’t.” Heechul said in between his sobs turned tears.
Hangeng must have been blind to miss all the symptoms but then maybe he just wasn’t looking, just like Heechul hadn’t been looking at him. It hurt too much, it just hurt too much.
Heechul turned around to face Hangeng with his teary eyes.
“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry!”
“there’s nothing to be sorry about, I will be forever sorry for causing you so much pain but being sorry will not make it okay, will it?”
Heechul wiped his tears with his hand. Hangeng looked around the room and took a paper tissue from the table beside him and handed it to Heechul.
Heechul smiled widely after his tears were wiped clean, his eyes still red and puffy though.
He pressed his lips to Hangeng’s forehead. The latter closed his eyes shocked by the sudden contact.
“I just needed a good cry I guess; a confession. Thank you for coming!”
“Always!”
“Heechul” Hangeng mostly whimpered. “You…talk so … formally to me and now you … I just don’t … get it!” Hangeng had forgotten so much of his Korean.
“I … I tried to forget… tried to become formal like strangers…” he couldn’t look at Hangeng anymore. “But then I couldn’t … how long has it been? Three years? Four years?”
“Heechul, you know you could always call me, always talk to me, even come to see me… it’s not that hard.”
“Yeah?! Not that hard and why haven’t you done any of them?”
“I …. “ Hangeng was out of words. “I didn’t want to make you uncomfortable… give you … your time.”
Heechul stood up from the bed. “Well, Look what has become of me, give me time? To make a bigger mess out of myself?”  His voice louder with each word. “Just because I don’t talk about it on TV anymore doesn’t mean I’m okay.”  More furious with each word. “Time alone gives you depression and depression gives you everything else! You should know better!” he gave up sitting on the bed again!
“Okay, okay , calm down, I’m sorry again for being stupid and selfish…I wanted to get away too, I stopped thinking about it hoping it would stop hurting … but it just grew more unbearable!”
“Heh..” Heechul smirked. “We’re such Pabos. Do you want a glass of water or something?” not waiting for Hangeng’s answer he went to the mini fridge and grabbed a small water bottle.
“Heechul, should I stay the night?” Heechul just stood there his back facing Hangeng. Then he turned around, “here you go!” tossing the bottle at Hangeng.
He grabbed his phone from the nightstand and typed something on it. After he was finished he was met by Hangeng’s questioning look.
“Just texting Youngwoon, told him to stay where he is!”
Hangeng took a moment to process heechul’s words and then he smiled brightly.
“Oh…of course!”
“I mean who knows when we will next bump into each other again?” Heechul’s voice both sarcastic and sad.
They cuddled to sleep.
The next morning Hangeng left before Heechul was awake, or he thought he did.
Heechul didn’t want to bear the goodbye scene. He just wanted to skip it.

Two months later they met at a restaurant in Upper East Side New York while both were on tour.