I wish i could say that things had turned out just like the movies. That after that brief yet beautiful meeting I had bumped into him on the streets the next day, and that some beautiful dramatic song had played and that over time I'd gotten to know Lee

Jonghyun even more. Sweet mother of goodness, how I wish I could say that.

But I can't. That chance meeting did not come the day after that. Or the next two days, even weeks...

In fact, it took a year. Approximately three hundred and sixty-five days until again I saw those black eyes, so shadowed by pain I could almost swear it was gray.

I also wish I could say that in the span of those years I'd always remembered him. That every waking moment after that had been me remembering the haunting, crisp way his fingers strummed against his guitar. That every time I saw my dinosaur hoobae I'd remember that other Jonghyun, the one whose single glance had me spilling secrets. And it's true, for a long time that's what happened: he engraved himself and his music in me, and I couldn't get him out. I saw people perform acoustics on Music Bank and I'd think of how much better Lee Jonghyun could have done it, I saw guitars and I'd wonder which one would suit him best.

But a few stolen minutes one drunken night can only do so much, no matter how special or striking those several instants might have been. And so to be honest, he gradually eased himself out of my mind.

(To be even more honest, I can't be sure if I'd entirely forgotten about him... or if maybe having him in the back of my mind had become so much a part of me I didn't even notice anymore.)

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Unnie."

"Hm?" Turning away from my phone, I stared inquiringly at the maknae: Fingers tangling, untangling, and tapping on the pillow on her lap, she seemed really nervous about something. "Unnie," she repeated. "Can I have a favor?"

I laughed and nodded. Even among the members, I still shared a kind of bond with Seohyun, us being the two youngest among the nine.

"Well, I kind of want you to meet someone. He's - uh- really, important~"

"Oooh!" I crawled over to the other side of the bed where Seohyun was, wriggling my eyebrows. "Is our Seo... dating?"

"Unnie!" She blushed and let out a high pitched squeal, slapping me lightly on the back. I continued wriggling my eyebrows.

"Well, it sounds funny when you say it like that," she conceded, and I grinned. "I didn't want to bring all the unnies at the same time, I thought it'd create too much attention."

"When are we meeting him?" I asked, taking out my planner and beginning to write on it.

She replied, "At one of his gigs tomorrow night."

"Gigs?"

"Neh, this weekend. He's in a band," she explained.

I was still deep in focus, carefully writing down the dates. Still the word band sent a kind of shock through my chest, but I didn't have time to remember why in such a fleeting moment. Soon, Seohyun was off and about, blabbering about the boy that had stolen her heart.

____________________________________________________________________________________

Looking around at the dimly lit, little bar, I couldn't help but cup my hands to my mouth and murmur: "Seororo, this place looks a wee bit shady. Are you sure this is it?"

The girl just laughed. "This is the underground music industry, unnie. Not all stages are like Music Bank," she said, before dragging me expertly through the crowd. "No need to worry about the fans, unnie, everybody here's used to seeing me around."

Sure enough, no one pointed or yelled. I was led behind the small, almost makeshift-looking stage without a hitch. Seohyun pulls aside a thin blue curtain, revealing four boys seated on stools: the other three are faced back, tuning their instruments. One, however, is faced towards us, grinning with his arms wide open.

“Seo!” he exclaims, at the exact same moment as the maknae in question, squealing, enters his embrace. “Oppa I missed you,” she mutters in a muffled voice, face still buried in his chest.

The boy smiles a light, easy going smile. “Me too, kiddo.”

One arm still wrapped around Seohyun, he stretches one hand out towards me and grins. “Hello Yoona ssi, I’m Jung Yonghwa.”

“Hey Yonghwa,” I smile back.

At the same moment, Seohyun, who has untangled herself from Yonghwa, pulls me over. “Unnie! Let’s go meet Minhyuk and Jungshin and Jonghyun.”

Goodbye heartbeat. Suffocation. Stammering. “J-Jonghyun, you say?” I manage to get out.

“He’s a Lee,” Seohyun giggles, painfully oblivious. “Lee Jonghyun, not our dinosaur.”

Oh.

My.

God.

“Here unnie, I’ll introduce you,” maknae says, leading me across the room. And I don’t know if I should run along with her or slow down as much as possible or just sit on the floor or maybe just run away because my thoughts are jumbled and I just can’t breathe at all and then again how can I be sure it’s really him and what am I supposed to do, what does one say?

I have nothing else to do but follow her as she calls out. “Jonghyun oppa,” she calls, and the figure in black turns to us.

And it is him. The same almond shaped, black-grey eyes, exactly the way I first saw them: trained on the strings of a guitar. He looks up, and I know he knows, that he knows that I know and sweet mother of goodness we both know.

Seohyun looks at both of us. “Do you know each other?” she asks Jonghyun curiously. And he looks at me and I look at him and I see that he is a little bit too unsure. Maybe I am as well: it’s been much too long, compared to the few minutes we spent together.

Finally, he shakes his head.

“No, Seohyun, we don’t.”

Author's Note: Has it been almost a year since I updated? OH MY FREAKING GOODNESS :) So sorry to those who have been waiting a while! Hope you guys will forgive me with this update... it's not bad in my opinion :D Anyway, comments! Btw, since the first chapter was set in 2009 (Gee era, yup yup) and this one is in 2010... I figured I'd make some YongSeo action. <3 /laughs FEEL FREE TO COMMENT, LOVES! :)