I could not recall the last time I saw him, let alone recall my entire past with him. But then again, I didn’t think there was an exact past to recall.

During the first weekend after moving in and settling down, I visited my favorite, local café for my daily dose caffeine – despite it being a non-work day and since I had yet to replenish my coffee bean supply. I was sitting on a bar stool overlooking one of the city’s calmer streets when I heard a deep, husky voice call out my name skeptically.

“Sehun…”

As I dumbly rose from my stool, I gawked at the man dressed dashingly in a light-washed blue denim button down shirt, dark jeans, and expensive sneakers. His eyes were hidden behind a dark pair of shades, but I could recognize him simply by his cynical grin and signature bleached blonde hair, styled up with the sides shaved, exposing his dark roots.

“Fancy seeing you here, Miss Stellar Assistant,” Sehun greeted me with a mischievous chuckle as he took the stool next to mine.

I met Sehun during my first days working as an assistant for one of the most renowned fashion photographers in the city. At that time, I was still a sophomore in college, and Sehun was only a year older than me. At such a young age, he was already a well-known model, established both on the runway and in the studio.

My boss and mentor at the time was the designated photographer for the clothing line for which he was one of the main models every season. Thus, I maintained a close professional relationship with him. Plus, during breaks, after a few sessions of exchanging curt, polite words, we began conversing more often, just like everyone else working in the studio. Friendly relationships between the models and behind-the-scenes staff just made the photo shoots proceed more smoothly and efficiently.

After I left the studio and embarked on my own professional photography career, Sehun and I barely kept in contact – just a “Happy Holidays” and “Happy Birthday” sent here and there; I hadn’t seen him in person since. It was not surprising at all, since he was busy traveling around the globe to walk in various shows and participate in shoots, and I did not start booking shoots with the top brands and magazines until recently.

Sehun was the closest definition to a close friend I had during my apprenticeship period, apart from the stylists and a few other assistants that stayed in the studio. Despite his seemingly cold and high-strung appearance, Sehun was incredibly easy going, which even surprised me the first time we had a decent conversation. We maintained a comfortable and quite intimate friendship, but it was hard to continue after we stopped working together. It was not that I valued the relationship or him as a person too little; I always had trouble keeping in touch with people and keeping the status quo of relationships, and this time it was no different.

“God, I was so worried it wasn’t you!” he said with a hearty chuckle. “That would’ve been embarrassing.”

“Now, our dashing model here wouldn’t want that, would we?” I teased, to which he simply responded with a boyish laugh – a trait that I missed the most about him – before he continued to sip his honey green tea, an old favorite.

“I’ve missed you! How long has it been? Two years?”

“I think three now. How have you been?”

“I’ve been traveling a lot lately, so it’s pretty tiring. But almost the same. Life stops changing at some point. How about you?”

How was I? No one has asked me this question in