Jong In cursed the first day they met. He cursed it to damnation. He cursed the younger him whose weak, faltering heart could not withstand the heartbreakingly beauty in the pair of innocent round eyes that glanced around the classroom forlornly and had oh-so enthusiastically offered to take Do Kyung Soo on a tour around the school. He cursed him to Hell and back.

If he had the ability to rewind time, he would go back to that very day and stop himself from raising his hand to catch the attention of the teacher. He would’ve turned the other way when Kyung Soo came over and sat down by his side. And he would’ve stabbed himself right in the heart so that the present him would never have to feel the pain that he was currently experiencing.

He refused to make any form of contact with the elder despite the other seemingly pulling all the strings he could. Kyung Soo tried texting, calling and even ended up on the younger’s doorstep. Jong In merely chucked his phone aside, drew up his covers to his nose, his side and ignored the voice calling out his name from the other side. Soon, the vibrations under his pillow ceased, and so did the relentless pounding on his door.

He was finally set free now from the that was Kyung Soo. The elder granted his unspoken wish and left him alone. Why wasn’t he happy still? Why was he still an empty shell? Why was he still pining for Kyung Soo pathetically, forlornly, hopelessly?

The answer was simple.

It was because the answer to Jong In was Kyung Soo.

Two years had passed since that day Jong In ran out of the café without once turning back like the coward that he was. Two years had passed since he last saw Kyung Soo’s heart-shaped face and perfect features. It was needless to say that Jong In was beyond shocked when the doorbell to his apartment rang and he opened the door to find the elder once again on the other side, smiling up at him brightly as though the two years of absence hadn’t existed. Jong In’s eyes widened in disbelief.

Kyung Soo had definitely grown in the past two years. Not in terms of height, but in all other aspects. He had definitely become more mature. The cheery sparkle that always appeared in his eyes was now gone, the brightly burning fire tamed into small, controlled flame. The preppy “Hey, Jong In!” was replaced with a calmer, more sophisticated “Hi”. Or… Maybe it was simply because they were practically strangers to each other.

His left ring finger was now embellished with a white gold band. A small, round diamond was set atop the sparkly metal, and that was all the design there was to the ring. Simple, plain and not-at-all eye-catching, the fuss-free way Kyung Soo’d always liked things. Jong In thought to himself that Joon Myeon must have known the elder as well as he did.

“Hey, hyung.” Jong In replied stiffly, choosing to fix his eyes on the grey blemish on the wall behind Kyung Soo instead of the elder. “I… really wasn’t expecting you. Would… Would you like to come in and sit for a while?”

“Sure,” Kyung Soo gracefully accepted the invitation and came indoors as Jong In stepped away from the door to make way for the elder. He took his time removing his shoes by the door as his eyes roamed around the small apartment, taking in the furnishing and décor that he hadn’t seen in more than two years. “Your place is still the same.”

 One thing Kyung Soo noted, though, was that all the pictures of the two of them displayed on the mantelpieces and hanging on walls were now gone. Jong In had removed all of them. In their place stood either blank frames or plain, empty space with traces of faint outlines where the frames once were and sunlight had caused the colour of the surrounding wall space to fade more. It was as though they never existed.

“Yeah, well, I didn’t see the need to change anything.” Jong In mumbled as he led the way into the living room. “Oh, but I renovated the guest bedroom, and converted it into a mini practice studio with Taemin’s help.”

“Ah, that dancing kid you befriended on your last year of high school?”

“Mmhmm,” Jong In hummed noncommittally and settled down on the couch, signalling Kyung Soo to do the same. He picked up a throw cushion and set it in his lap. “We co-own a studio together now. It’s in downtown, and we take turns giving lessons. It’s pretty fun to be your own boss.”

“It does sound like it. I’m glad you’re doing something that you like. I know studying had never been your forte.”

“Yeah…” They sat right next to each other with shoulders almost touching, yet in their hearts the gap between them was wider than the Pacific Ocean. Jong In cleared his throat. “Uhm, what brings you here today?”

“Oh!” Kyung Soo rummaged through his messenger bag and brandished a red envelope. “Right. Uhm. I’m here to give you this. I… I’m getting married.”

Jong In accepted it from the elder and focussed on top of the envelope where the couple’s names were printed in gold in a fancy cursive scrawl. “I’m making my rounds visiting the relatives and passing them the wedding invites. Even though we’ve really drifted apart from when we were young, I really hope that you can come. It would mean a lot to me if you could make it.”

“Shouldn’t you be doing this with Joon Myeon hyung instead?” Jong In frowned naturally as the name of the elder’s fiancé was brought up. His nimble fingers flipped the envelope around to find the back sealed with a customised sticker bearing the wedding date in the same shade of gold. “You should be delivering invites with your fiancé. Why are you doing this by yourself?”

“Jong In, why are you being like this?” Was that resentment Jong In detected in Kyung Soo’s tone? Why was he feeling resentful? What did Jong In ever do to deserve that resentment? Sure, he’d disappeared for two years without a trace, but at least he hadn’t been the one who kept so many secrets over the course of their friendship. He’d only kept one. “I know I was at fault for keeping such an important piece of news from you, but Joon Myeonnie has nothing to do with this so don’t be upset at him…”

No reply was heard from the younger and Kyung Soo took it as a cue to continue. “He’s busy with work today. He’s been working overtime lately to clear out his schedule for the wedding and our honeymoon afterwards… And… He needs to deal with the wedding preparations on top of his hectic work schedule. I didn’t want to feel like a burden and decided to help out as much as I could.”

“Okay.”

A bout of silence fell across them, making both parties fidget on the couch uncomfortably. This had never happened before in the years of knowing each other. They’d never run out of a conversation topic before. Every moment together was always filled with laughter or chatter, or spent in comfortable, content silence. This was the first time they’d felt awkward with each other. As though they were strangers who’d just met.

Two full minutes was spent with Kyung Soo biting down on his plump lower lip and twiddling his thumbs nervously while Jong In watched as the elder did so, a million thoughts running through their minds.

They turned towards each other simultaneously.

“It’s okay if you don–”

“I’ll go.” Kyung Soo had opened his mouth first to speak but Jong In beat him to it.

“What?” Kyung Soo looked up at the younger with widened puppy dog eyes as though he thought he’d heard something wrong. That pair of glossy dark brown orbs, looking up at him wondrously and with so much adoration as though he was the best thing to sliced bread. Jong In’s biggest weakness.

Jong In swallowed the lump that risen to his throat and willed himself not to look away from his former best friend. How could he ever deny any of Kyung Soo’s requests? “I said I’ll go, hyung. It’s your wedding. I can’t possibly miss it. I won’t miss it for anything in the world. I’ll definitely go. Even if someone were to break my legs or send me into a semi-coma I’ll turn up still.”

Kyung Soo breathed a sigh he hadn’t realised he was holding in and his shoulders slumped in relief. “Thank you, Jong In. You have no idea how much this means to me. As your best friend, or perhaps, former best friend, you have no idea how much this means to me.”

Nor do you know how much you mean to me.

“I need to go now and continue delivering the invitations. Can… Can I stop by here again later at night, though? I really want to spend some time with you and this would probably be one of the only rare days before I start getting really busy with wedding preparations.” Kyung Soo mistook the younger’s gaping jaw as a sign of incredulity and hurried to correct himself. “I... It’s okay if you don’t want to. I mean, of course you wouldn’t want to. I’m sorry for putting across such a ridiculous request so soon after we’ve met again. I’ll just be going–”

Even after so many years, the soft spot Jong In always had for Kyung Soo hadn’t changed. There was no way he could ever deny the elder any request. Jong In’s hand shot out with lightning quick reflexes and caught Kyung Soo by the wrist before he could stand up properly. “It’s okay, hyung. I was merely surprised. You can come over. I don’t have much on today anyway so I’ll probably just be hanging around at home the entire day.”

“Alright, so I’ll come by around 7PM? I’ll cook and everything so you don’t have to prepare dinner for me.”

Jong In forced a bright smile onto his face as he walked the elder to the door. “Sure, hyung. See you tonight.”

At 9PM Jong In found himself curled up under a woollen blanket he shared with Kyung Soo, their tummies digesting the delicious dinner the elder had whipped up for them using ingredients solely scoured from Jong In’s pathetically bare refrigerator, as they stared blankly ahead at the mind-numbing action film playing on TV.

“I missed this,” Kyung Soo snuggled deeper into the soft blanket and hummed in contentment when his cold toes brushed over the younger’s warm ones. “This feels just like the old times, huh, back in middle school where we would stay over at each other’s house every other day.”

“Yeah,” Jong In didn’t lift his eyes from the screen. “Just like the old times.”

As the movie dragged on, Kyung Soo found his eyelids growing gradually heavier until eyes drifted shut, the comfortable lull of the audio from the TV speakers and the hum of the air conditioner slowly drawing him into the clutches of sleep.

A bump to the side of the couch woke the elder up again. His eyes fluttered open to see the ending credits roll as Jong In climbed off the sofa to turn the TV off. The wall clock registered the current time to be twelve minutes past eleven. He hadn’t even realised he had dozed off during the movie, much less napped like a baby for over two hours.

Kyung Soo stretched his spindly arms over his head and stifled a yawn behind his hand. “Can I sleep over tonight? It’s kind of late and I think I’ve already missed the last bus home.”

The dancer’s eyes snapped over towards the elder at once, movements frozen with the television remote still clutched in his hand. “If… If Joon Myeon hyung doesn’t mind… Yeah, sure…” Jong In replied stiffly as he fiddled with his fingers. “Does he know you’re over at my house?”

“Yeah, I called him on the way over. He’s okay with it.”

“It’s fine then,” Jong In replied softly as he stooped to pack up the coffee table. “Uhm, where do you want to…? I mean… I mean I’ll take the couch tonight. You can have my bed.” He straightened up and tilted his head in the direction of the bathroom. “I have extra toiletries in the cabinet under the sink so if you can wash up…”

“Can’t we both fit in your bed? It’s a Queen sized one, isn’t it?” Seeing the hesitation in Jong In’s eyes Kyung Soo rose to his feet and gambolled over to the younger, tugging on his arm childishly. “Oh come on, Jong In. I can’t possibly let you let you take the couch when you’re the host, can I? I’ll feel bad if I do.”

Jong In could never deny Kyung Soo his request, could he? Half an hour spent washing up and winding down, the pair settled in to Jong In’s bedroom, staring at the plain white ceiling as they laid side by side in the younger’s pyjamas. Kyung Soo sighed blissfully and rolled over onto his side to look at Jong In. “This really feels like the old times.”

“But we can’t go back to the old times, hyung, not when we’re like this.” Jong In was adamant not to meet Kyung Soo’s wide-eyed gaze no matter how much a struggle he had to put up to fight the urge to look over. “There were too many unspoken secrets between us. We can’t go on like this, hyung. It’s bound to kill us both sooner or later.”

It’s bound to kill me sooner or later.

And there it was, the confrontation time that Kyung Soo dreaded but knew he had to face. The elder knew that Jong In had been hurting the whole time from his lies and half-truths. The latter had always been sensitive to feelings, and it was no wonder how he had betrayed Jong In’s trust with his hidden secrets. Jong In didn’t deserve any of this, and it was time to make right.

“I’m sorry.” This was the apology that Jong In had longed for and longed for more. Kyung Soo had finally said these two words to him. But why wasn’t he feeling liberated yet? He blinked once, slowly, before forcing his eyes shut, drowning himself in memories.

“I’m sorry for keeping so many things from you before. You were my best friend, and it was only right that I told you everything.” Kyung Soo exhaled shakily, tears inevitably b in his eyes as he thought of the hardships the younger had to endure alone. “And that’s gonna change. I’m going to change. Nothing will get between us ever again, Jong In ah.”

“Really?” Jong In eyed the elder, sceptical but with good reason.

“I promise,” Kyung Soo reaffirmed, holding his little finger out. “I pinky promise you. I’ll get better. We’ll get better.”

The elder had never done anything like that with him before.

“You said so yourself; you better not back out of our deal this time, okay?” To which Kyung Soo nodded fervently. Looking into Kyung Soo’s beautiful, hypnotising eyes for confirmation, Jong In held out his own hand and hooked his pinky finger across the elder’s, bringing up his thumb and pressing it against Kyung Soo’s as a sign to seal the agreement. “There, it’s set in stone now. You’ve just signed yourself up for a lifetime commitment to this friendship.”

 “I signed myself up for a lifetime commitment to you, Jong In ah.” Kyung Soo leaned forward and placed a chaste kiss on the unsuspecting Jong In’s cheek. “Thanks for accepting me back into your life.”

Through this all, Jong In never mustered the courage to confess to Kyung Soo.

- - - - - - -

A/N: This marks the end of The Man Who Stopped Time!

Thank you guys for showing your support in this humble little story. Though it took me some time to complete this three-shot, well, I finally did it, didn't I? XD And I definitely feel better having written out everything that was troubling me inside. Once again, thanks for being a great reader! :)

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