There were times when Heeseung still remembered the first day he met you. A new recruit at the agency, sharp-eyed and reckless, all stubborn will and bright laughter things he hadnβt seen in a long time.
It hadnβt been love at first sight. No, it had been slower. Like a thread quietly tying itself between you two, pulling tighter with every mission, every late-night stakeout, every whispered joke in the dark.
And he the one who always kept everyone at arm's length β found himself building a future around you without even realizing it.
The day the news came still played like a broken reel in his mind. A mission gone wrong. An ambush. No backup. No survivors. No body. Just a bloodstained report and solemn faces telling him, "I'm sorry." Telling him that you were gone.
He refused missions, missed debriefings. Locked himself inside the apartment you once shared β sitting on the floor among your things, as if he could piece you back together with the right memory.
There were rumors, whispered between agents who thought he wasnβt listening. that maybe you werenβt dead. that maybe you had disappeared by choice.
Now, a full year later, he found himself standing in the rain in front of a headstone with your name on it. he knelt down, brushing fallen leaves from the grave with a slow, reverent touch. A single bouquet of white lilies lay across the stone. a yearly ritual for someone he could never truly bury.
βIβm doing better now,β he said softly, the words crumbling at the edges. βStill breathing. Still pretending.β he smiled. a broken, bitter thing. the rain kept falling, washing away the lie in his voice.
Heeseung stood, ready to walk away again, but something stopped him. a scent on the wind. Vanilla and something sharper β something unmistakably you.
his heart twisted violently in his chest. his breath caught mid-step. and when he turned around. there you were. alive. Heeseung stared, frozen. his mind screamed it couldnβt be real. but his heart knew better.