Now that my clothes were on and there was no back and forth headaches, Jonghyun, Minho and I walked together down the hall to go to the front desk to sign me out. Minho pursed his lips in disappointment, pondering on the news I’d just told them.

“The countryside huh?” Minho repeated for the third time.

Jonghyun sighed and rolled his eyes.

“Hey if he says he’s gotta go, he’s gotta go.”

“Do you really have to go now?” Minho asked, peeking his head over from Jonghyun to see me.

I pulled my lips in with regret and slowly nodded.

“I don’t know why. I just feel like Kai might be there and I have to know more to the story than what I know now.”

“Well,” Minho began with a shrug, “if you want to know more about the story, why didn’t you just ask the doctor about your sister?”

I shook my head, thinking back on the conversation that I and the doctor had in the garden.

“It just doesn’t seem like the right news to hear from a doctor.”

Jonghyun nodded in agreement.

“I agree.” He replied. “Something like that should be told from your boyfriend who you really just found out about and remembered. There’s a lot more in depth stuff that comes with this.”

He looked towards Minho as he talked.

“You realize that right?” He asked the man.

 “Yeah, yeah I get it.” He muttered, “I just feel like I finally made a new friend, even if his memory is lost. But now, he’s off back to the country.”

“Only until I find what I’m looking for.” I corrected him.

I liked that he worried about me and it made me smiled how he referred to me as a friend even though we hadn’t known each other for long. However, when the three of us had met up again after the doctor brought us back, he was looking around the hospital room as if suspecting something. Then, without much thought, he had turned to me and pointed, pulling his lips to the side. His finger wiggled in front of me but he shook his head. I had asked him what was on his mind, but he simply told me ‘never mind.’ He’d said that his head was playing games with him. It was as if he was trying to remember something he’d forgotten.

And though Jonghyun didn’t speak much about the subject of friendship, I could tell from the little looks that he’d given me, that he thought some sense of us being friends. He wasn’t really mean to me ever since the whole hotel room visit.

“And plus,” I continued, “There are a couple of things that I would like to know more about. Not just my sister and the argument I had with Kai but about the weird chain necklace I have or why the picture of me and him are torn. Did I throw away the other part?”

“I mean, if it’s torn, then you probably did. You probably did it when you and him had that argument.” Minho answered.

I had come to the same conclusion as well. But from time to time, my mind would wander and tell me that it was some place I just wasn’t remembering. If we were really close as the doctor told me, there was no way I would tear out a picture of the two of us and throw it away just because of an argument. But then again, I guess it all depended on what the argument was about.

“Here we are,” Jonghyun said gesturing towards the front desk.

Just as I was about to walk with Minho by my side he stopped and looked sideways, tilting his head while making the strangest of faces. A mixture of confusion and question? I stopped as well, along with Jonghyun and the two of us stared back at him, our eyes following his that lead to an open hospital room down the hall with a small window on the side and a desk sitting underneath the window.

“Minho?” I asked. “Something the matter?”

He snapped out of whatever trance he was in and stared at the both of us for a moment before speaking.

“No,” he shook his head, “I just thought I remembered something. I’m not sure what it was, though.” He laughed, scratching the back of his head.

My stare lasted longer on him that I meant it to and he seemed to pick that up, turning his head to the side. Perhaps his condition affected his memory as well? Perhaps there was more to his problem than he spoke of. And a part of me wondered, did Jonghyun know as well.

****

Minho and Jonghyun said their goodbyes to me when the three of us walked to the front desk after I repacked my things and made sure I had my wallet along with the letter and my necklace. This time, I wore it around my neck for protection, for now, it seemed more important than anything else. Once again, it was just a feeling. And this strange feeling was leading me back to the countryside just at it had lead me to the city. In the back of my head as I checked out of the hotel, I could hear Kai’s words saying, “I’ll always find you.”

I considered this another memory other than my mind simply playing tricks on me. I refused to think otherwise.

I had called Onew and Key with the number they gave me and asked them if it was alright that I came back. From the call, I’d found out that they’d been trying to reach me the entire day but instead of telling them I was in the hospital throughout most of the day, I told them that I’d decided to take a walk around the city and see if I remembered anything. Whatever they had to say, it seemed important, but as soon as they were going to tell me, the connection broke off and I was left with a dead noise on their end.

Jonghyun and Minho had sent a ride for me and with last painful goodbyes, mostly from Minho and a laugh from Jonghyun, I left.

The ride was longer than I remembered, or maybe it was because a part of me was regretting coming back. It had less to do with the mystery and more to do with the damn tree that kept popping back into my mind. Every time I thought about it, all I could remember were the dead leaves and muddy ground. It was as if I were reliving the nightmare all over again.   

But when I finally arrived, I let the feeling go. I had the driver leave me at the road where the tree stood and where Onew and Key said they first found me. There were a couple of people, but not a lot, walking down the road. They looked towards me with familiar eyes but when I looked back, they turned away. Before our connection broke off, I had told them where I wanted to meet, but now I wasn’t completely sure if they’d heard me or not. So there I stood with my suitcase in hand, necklace on neck, and wallet in pocket. I turned to look at the dreading tree that made it’s on center of spotlight.

It was grander than I remembered. More familiar than before. As if I had been here long ago, but not last week. No. It was something else.

My thoughts were interrupted by the rumble of a truck and when I turned to see, I knew immediately who it was. I walked over the way it was coming without looking, excited to see the two of them again. The truck was higher than I remembered. I couldn’t see the passenger’s seat but when the driver’s side opened up I smiled. Out walked Onew with a goofy smile as before.

“Taemin!” He yelled. “Didn’t think we were going to get you back.”

He walked over to me and pulled me into a hug, my hand slipping from the grasp of my suitcase.

“But, I have even more exciting or devastating news. I’m not sure which one because you’ve forgotten a lot of stuff.” He chuckled, doing that familiar gesture of scratching the back of his head.

“Me too,” I smiled. “I found out a lot more than-“

The passenger side of the truck opened, surprising me out of my words. Onew kept the goofy smile on his face and moved out of the way, giving me full view.

They were familiar; the slender long legs that stepped out the vehicle. The person wore dark blue jeans but their back was turned from me as they closed the door so all I could see was the cream colored short sleeve shirt that they wore. But that dark hair and that…tan skin...He turned around to face me.

“Kai.”

His dark brown eyes met mine and when he heard his name, they widened. I could see Onew from the side of me leave and go back to the truck.

“You remember...me?” His voice was so soothing as he talked.

It was deep and alluring, melting a part of me that felt as if it waited ages to hear his voice.

He walked closer to me but for some reason, I stepped back. I could see it in his eyes that he was hurt by my actions. Even I was. I didn’t understand my body.

“I-I’m sorry.” He stammered, looking down in an apologetic manner. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“N-No. I’m sorry. I-I don’t know why I did that.” I replied.

I made my feet stop in their place and waited for him to approach me. He could tell and started walking my way.

He was…

Beautiful.

Just as my memory had depicted him.

He came so close that I could feel his breath on mine. It didn’t bother me at all.

“Kai,” I repeated.

He smiled and carefully put his hand up to my cheek, just like the memory.

“I’m not scaring you, am I?” He asked.

I answered by pulling my hand up and touching his cheek as well. It just all seemed so surreal.

“I…saw you…in my memory,” I said.

He chuckled and pulled me in for a hug. It was surprising but comforting and immediately I felt like I was where I was supposed to be.

“I told you I’d always find you.”

And he did one last surprising thing.

He kissed me.

****

Key and Onew were kind enough to let us stay in the extra room I stayed in before. I could see the awkward stares at the both of them as Kai sat next to me at the kitchen table. Key had made dinner and Onew was already gobbling down.

“I’m sorry but you already know how he is by now.” Key said to Kai, then shoved Onew with his shoulder.

Onew coughed on his food, banging on his chest to stuff it down.

“It’s good, that the two of you found each other.” Onew muffled.

I smiled, awkwardly. None of this felt real, but my mind couldn’t go this far to play tricks on me. Kai was here now, where were my questions? But every time I looked at him, nothing came to mind. I looked down at my food and sighed.

“T-Taemin, are you alright?” Kai asked me, that dark soothing voice getting to me once again. “You can ask me anything you want.”

“We can leave you two alone and go eat in our room together.” Key suggested with a smile but I shook my head in disagreement.

I tried to put on the best smile I could but after a second had passed, I felt myself standing up from my seat.

“Sorry everyone, I’m just not in the eating mood right now. A lot on my mind.” The words rushed out of my mouth. “I’ll just be outside.”

I rushed out the door in quick steps and was immediately greeted by the night skies. Nighttime seemed to fall faster over here. With barely any outside lights I could see the night’s stars just as before. I walked down from their house and onto the beach where me and Onew had sat last time I was here.

The sound and rush of the sea eased my mind. I leaned back, sitting my hands behind me and letting the night air in. It was cool and just right.

“Are you alright?” I heard his voice.

Without me looking up, Kai came and sat right next to me.

“I know that’s a cliché question. I’m sorry.”

This time, it was me who chuckled.

“Why do you keep saying that? There’s nothing to be sorry about.”

“For kissing you. I usually don’t do that when we first meet.” He smiled, looking down at the sand.

“When we first meet?” I turned in a questionable glance.

“It’s not the first time you’ve forgotten me. I’ve just learned how to better approach it when you do. And now I made things even worse with the argument we had last-“

“Kiss me again!” I exclaimed, cutting him off.

I don’t know what had come over me but I didn’t want to think about all the negative stuff right now. I didn’t want to sulk. Everything was beautiful tonight and I was with a beautiful creature. I knew we had a fight but it’s the last thing I wanted my mind on.

“W-What?” He stuttered.

To him, we’d probably kissed a thousand times but to me, it was fresh and new.

“Kiss me again,” I repeated, serious this time, my voice low, begging.

He said nothing, but instead leaned over to me and grabbed my face. His lips met mines and I could feel the heat from his mouth. His kiss was hot and caressing. His lips moved from side to side, up and down, exploring all parts of mines. And before I could protest, he was already in it. Deep in it. His tongue overlapping mines.  His free hand went down towards my waist and caressed my hips. The feeling was so exciting and refreshing. A moan easily escaped my lips as we both fell down into the sand. This is what I wanted to feel from the first time that I even thought of his name. This moment right now.

His body moved against mine and we fit almost like a puzzle piece. His other hand moved from my cheek and made its way up to my lips. Tonight, this wasn’t a dream, he was really here. With me.