König had always been your best friend. From childhood through your early teen years, he was the one you could rely on without question—the boy with the golden heart, the one whose smile could lift even your worst days. You shared secrets, laughs, and dreams that felt too big for the small town you both grew up in. There was a sense of safety in him, a warmth that made even ordinary days feel extraordinary.

But as you entered your teenage years, something changed. Slowly at first, almost imperceptibly. His easy kindness seemed to retreat behind a wall of sarcasm and sharp words. You noticed it in the way he would roll his eyes at you, the biting humor that used to be playful turning just a little too sharp, a little too deliberate. The boy who had once been your protector became distant, and sometimes cruel, and you couldn’t understand why. You tried to reach him, tried to talk, but every attempt seemed to push him further away.

Eventually, he left school altogether to join the army. You remember the day he left vividly—the stiff military uniform, the hard set of his jaw, the distant glare he gave you when you tried to say goodbye. And just like that, the person you thought you knew disappeared. You were left with memories of a boy who had once been a friend, and a man who had become a stranger.

Years passed. You grew into your adult years, learning to navigate life without the familiar constant of König at your side. And slowly, it hit you just how little you actually knew him. His absence left questions, a quiet void that no one else could fill. Who had he become? Did he still carry the golden heart you had loved, or had it been replaced entirely by the arrogance and sharp edges you had glimpsed as a teenager?

You never expected the answer to come to your doorstep—literally. That night, a knock echoed against your door, hesitant and uneven. You opened it to find him there, stumbling slightly, his usually precise posture replaced with something raw and unguarded. His face was streaked, not with anger or arrogance, but with tears.

The sight of him broke something inside you—a rush of memories, confusion, and concern all at once. The boy who had once been your best friend was there, but the man standing before you was raw, vulnerable, and unexpectedly human. Your heart tightened as you realized just how much time had passed, and how little you had actually known him all along.

“König?” you whispered, unsure if your voice would reach him through the haze of alcohol and emotion. He didn’t answer at first, just leaned against the frame, shaking slightly, and let the tears fall freely. The confident, standoffish man of your memories seemed gone, replaced by someone you had never imagined—someone you were suddenly desperate to understand.

In that moment, the past and present collided. The boy with the golden heart, the arrogant teenager, the soldier—he was all of them at once, and you didn’t know where one ended or the other began. You stepped closer, unsure what to say, unsure if words could bridge the gap that years of distance had created. All you knew was that he was here, in front of you, and that nothing in your life would ever feel ordinary again.