Pancakes permeated the whole house after Jongin stepped out of the shower. He had found clothes were already laid out on the bed for him and didn’t find any harm in putting them on. Drying his hair and making his way to the kitchen, he scans around the living space. The place was cozy with Pororo and Rilakuma decorations here and there and photo frames where themed pieces were not placed. Two people frequently appeared in the photos – Jongin and Yerin. Both of them were smiling side by side as if the world only belonged to them, but the Jongin of the present decided to be ignorant for now, moving on to scope the rest of the area. Pillows and folded blankets lay in various parts of the apartment, presumably in places where naps would be comfortable. Finally, the idol’s eyes reached the dining room table where his supposed ‘wife’ was plating the final pancake on the dish closest to him. Assorted fruits and other toppings for the breakfast were scattered on the table as well.

Jongin sat down in his chair and waited for the other person to sit down as well. Even though he was a bit skeptical of who owned the living space, the man still had manners. Through the bar window, he spotted the female hanging up her apron and quickly scrawl a message on what he presumed was her whiteboard. Yerin returned with a skip in her steps in contrast to her previous actions before and pulled up the chair across from her husband.

I’m sorry about being upset earlier… I made an American style breakfast if that’s okay with you. ^.^

The wife used the whiteboard as a wall to hide behind with her eyes peering over the top to see the other’s reaction. The action made the husband smile a bit, allowing Yerin to let out the breath she was holding in. In the short period of time knowing the girl sitting across from Jongin, he found her quite adorable. The furniture already said a lot about her, but the manner in which she did everything made the male think her actions were almost endearing, actually. Jongin wiped away those thoughts and said he didn’t mind before replying they should dig in. They ate in a rather comfortable silence. Occasional glances were snuck between the two. Jongin inquired whether he should completely trust the girl across from him, yet trusted her enough to dig into the breakfast since the other was eating as well. On the other hand, Yerin worried whether her husband was ill or if he bumped his head at some point. She just couldn’t fathom how the other suddenly had amnesia, making him think is thirteen years younger.

A cough interrupted the wife’s thoughts and Jongin was ruffling his hair – a habit of his whenever he was nervous. Yerin held back a giggle while the other breakfast mate was trying to find a topic to start on without coming off too rude.

“I, uhm, I’m sorry about yelling at you earlier. That was a bit rude of me. I-I mean you’ve been kind enough to make me breakfast and lay out clothes for me. And I don’t think you’re a sasaeng since you’re familiar with Kyungsoo hyung and you’re not keeping me captive or anything. Though, I’m still a bit skeptical because I don’t remember you at all and it’s kind of impossible that I woke up to thirteen years in the future with a w-wife. I hope you understand…” The raven-haired man looked up to meet coffee-colored eyes that flickered disappointment but quickly changed to softened eyes with a sad smile in understanding the statement.

It’s okay if you don’t remember right now. I’m just glad to see you are physically well… I think.

“If you don’t mind me asking, why do you write on a whiteboard to talk?”

I thought it was kind of obvious that I can’t talk, so I use a whiteboard to write what I want to say.

“I kind of figured, but why write on a white board instead of using sign language or a computer?”

Yerin tapped on her whiteboard after writing the message, as if contemplating whether she should add on more of an explanation. Instead, she decided to show the message as it was.

Writing like this is just more convenient for me.

Jongin muttered an ‘oh’, not wanting to intrude any further. An urgent knock at the door thankfully interrupted the awkward tension which only meant Kyungsoo had arrived. Jongin took the chance to wipe his mouth with a napkin before excusing himself to open the door for one of his closest band members. As soon as the front door was unlocked, the said band member barged into the house with a slew of nonstop questions.

“Jongin, are you okay? I rushed over right away when you called. You don’t look like you have a fever or cold. Did you bump your head on something? Did you eat something bad? Where’s your wife? I need to talk to her,” the shorter male said without taking a breath.

“Hyung, calm down and breathe,” only then did Kyungsoo take in some air. “First of all, I’m perfectly fine physically, I think. And second – wait, hyung, did your shoulders get broader?”

“Jongin, you’re getting off topic!” By then Yerin had finished clearing the dining table and peaked over to where the boisterous noise was coming from. She gave a curt bow and wave, making the visitor give a slight sigh of relief.

“Oh thank god. Yerin, what’s wrong with Jongin?” Jongin scoffed at Kyungsoo’s action as if he couldn’t answer for himself.

He thinks the year is 2014 and Exo is only in their second year since debuting. I think he’s suffering memory loss. That he thinks I am a stranger.

“Oh . Jongin, what was the last thing you remember?”

“Hyung, stop treating me like a patient that just recovered from getting hit by a truck! I swear I’m not crazy. I woke up and now it’s thirteen years into the future. Thirteen years didn’t pass. Besides, we went to that TVQX concert after the MAMA awards just yesterday.”

“Yeah, we are going to the doctor’s. Let’s go.”

Jongin was practically dragged out of the apartment despite his pleas of ‘hyung, please’ and ‘I swear I’m perfectly fine’. Yerin waved from behind with a thumb up for support until the two males disappeared into the lift. The ride to the hospital was uncooperative as Jongin kept whining in the passenger seat that he didn’t want blood tests and so forth. Kyungsoo only endured until they stopped at a red light and made for the taller one’s neck while slapping him on the head multiple times. The rest of the ride was fairly silent other than occasional whines from the tanned male hushed by the shorter; owl-eyed male giving him a glare.

Before entering, Kyungsoo handed Jongin a face mask from the glove compartment in case anyone recognized him. The testing was uncomfortable and most of the visit was spent waiting. Hesitantly, the taller initiated conversation with the thoroughly annoyed band member.

“So, how are things?”

“Very stressful because I have to deal with a thirty-three year old man that thinks he’s in his twenties and still in a boy band,” owl eyes huffed.

“I’m sorry – wait, Exo disbanded?!”

“We’re getting old, Jongin. All of us have completed our military service and our bodies aren’t as lively as it used to be when we debuted. Most of us chose to have solo careers and management basically want us gone to make room for new artists.”

“No way! I thought we’d be like TVXQ sunbaenims! Or g.o.d. sunbaenims! What happened to ‘We are one’?” Kyungsoo sighed but then gave Jongin a pitiful gaze.

“Well a lot of things happen in thirteen years. We were worked to the bone all of the time without breaks and most of us grew tired of it. Even though you were one of the most passionate ones out Exo, we were all surprised that you were one of the first ones to quit.”

“What?! Why the hell would I ever do that?!” Jongin searched for truth in the shorter one’s eyes and was only given a chuckle in return.

“Love does things to you. You still love to dance though and ended up opening your own dance studio along with some restaurants. The last thing you remembered was going to that TVXQ concert thirteen years ago, right?” A pregnant pause filled the examination room the two were waiting in. Kyungsoo respectfully gave the former idol time to answer since he knew it was a lot to take in all at once.

“Hypothetically - if I really did lose thirteen years of my memory - then yeah, that was the last thing I remember. Why do you ask?”

“Oh boy. You don’t remember meeting Yerin the next day? Anything about Yerin at all?”

“Nope, not a single clue. All I know is she is my supposed ‘wife’ and she is mute.”

“You don’t even remember getting married or how she became mute?!” Kyungsoo exclaimed.

A retort never came as a doctor knocked and came into the room to give them a report. Bewilderment spread across Jongin’s chiseled features, but Kyungsoo muttered that they’d continue the conversation for later. Wait, so Yerin wasn’t mute before? How was she when he met her after the concert? Even worse, was he the reason why she became mute? The doctor cleared to gain attention back to the reason for the visit. Reports from the examination stated there was nothing physically wrong with Jongin nor was there any detection of anything detrimental entering his system with the blood test. They came to the conclusion that the memory loss was a psychological regression, but a brain scan was needed to be done.

Eyes on Jongin, the doctor asked the same questions Kyungsoo had been asking this whole time. The former idol gave the same responses and the doctor stated the memory loss must be due to his wife which triggered something, but that was only a guess. The doctor walked closer to Jongin, much closer than necessary and seductively said he was welcome to come back if something else happened with his wife. At that point, Kyungsoo stated their visit was over and forced the taller male to bow with him before leaving. The rushed pair garnered several eyes. It was inevitable that someone would shout ‘Kaisoo!’ which made others in the vicinity recognize them.

Just like the idol days, people started to swarm them for pictures even though some of the crowd didn’t really know them, just instinctively following for a candid shot of celebrities. Both of the former idols rushed for the car and only let out a breath once they were on the road.

“I haven’t had to run from fans for a while. My stamina is going down.”

“Hyung, what are you talking about? You never had much stamina,” Jongin still had the energy to tease even though he was also out of breath. The famous devil-soo glare was given to the taller, but he was let off this time for they both needed more air and Kyungsoo was driving. Jongin regained his breath first and asked what he has been meaning to ask.

“Man, my handsomeness and Kaisoo are still alive, aren’t they?” which earned him a slap across the arm.

“Ow, okay, I’m joking. Don’t crash the car on us,” which only earned Jongin a huff from the driver. “Back to more serious matters, what did you mean earlier by ‘how Yerin became mute’? Did I cause that? And, oh god, could it be that it was just so terrible of an accident that I just forgot everything about the last thirteen years of my life and my own wife? Hyung, what am I going to do? The guilt is getting to me!”

“Okay, first of all, you need to relax and stop clinging to my arm. I need to drive,” Jongin slowly released the sleeve of the shirt he unconsciously grabbed onto. The owl-eyed man sighed and continued, “Second of all, I don’t think I am qualified to answer those questions. I have no idea how you got to this state and I think this matter is between you and Yerin to talk out. It’s not my secret to tell and I don’t know what domestic you guys had. And if you’re still worried about what type of person she is, well you wouldn’t have chosen her to be your wife for no reason, right? She’s a really sweet and funny person that’s trustworthy. Actually, all of Exo were pretty jealous when you two got together.”

Jongin finally relaxed a bit which was also a relief to Kyungsoo to see his best friend not fruiting out for once that day.

“Hyung,” Jongin started and the driver gave a hum for him to continue. “You told me what happened to me after I left Exo, but what about everyone else? What about you?”

“Hmm, I continued to be a solo artist along with acting. Chen hyung is also a solo artist, but he also does variety shows with Chanyeol and Baekhyun. Baekhyun and Suho hyung have their own radio shows which we visit sometimes. Lay hyung became a dance instructor and a composer. Oh, Chanyeol also composes. Xiumin hyung wasn’t really much for the idol life anymore, but he still does some modeling. Sehun is a model and a dance instructor and Tao does acting and modeling. Even though Exo disbanded, all of us are still under SM’s management. Oh, I think you still do some modeling campaigns.” The tanned male only nodded to these words. All of this was unbelievable, but understandable. Their occupations really did match well.

“If you don’t mind me asking, what about Luhan and Kris – er, I mean Yifan.”

“Haha, I thought you would ask. We eventually all met up again at award shows in China and caught up. They became great actors and solo artists in China. There were some slanders at first, but we really did miss each other over the years, so everything was forgiven over hotpot.”

“I thought so. After all, they were in my wedding photo so we must have made up somehow,” a smirk spread across Jongin’s handsome features and he wiggled his eyebrows. “Speaking of weddings, who’s already married and who’s still single.”

“Gosh, you sound like a gossiping ahjumma. I think only Sehun, Tao, Baekhyun, and Chanyeol are single bachelors at the moment. The rest of us have girlfriends or got married,” Kyungsoo glanced over at his fellow former bandmate to only see anticipated eyes trained on him.

“Y-yes, I’m one of the members that have a girlfriend,” Kyungsoo blushed while keeping his eyes on the road.

“Hyung, why didn’t you tell me?!” Jongin shook the shorter one’s shoulders. The car started swerving and Kyungsoo had to swat away grabby hands.

“Aish, because I knew this would happen! Look what you did! Now other cars are honking at us.”

An apologetic puppy was forgiven because Kyungsoo felt bad for making Jongin turn into a kicked puppy. The rest of the ride was just talking about things Jongin didn’t remember and just mindless banter in general. Once they reached Jongin’s shared apartment with Yerin, Kyungsoo bid him farewell and reminded him that he would probably have to clear his schedule for now and focus on recovering and making an appointment for a brain scan. The tanned male waved off the paler male and took a deep breath as he gazed up at the apartment building. He braced himself to meet the wife he has no clue about and stepped up to the passcode pad. A finger lifted to punch in the code.

, he didn’t ask for the passcode number.

______________________________

A/N: This week has been the death of me. Managed to write another chapter! I swear everything will get started in the next chapter. I'll either post another chapter next weekend with midterms coming up -.-' 

Anyway, good luck to anyone taking exams!

Subs and comments are appreciated!

~Audrey

P.S.- To get you in the holiday spirit, have some EXO!