You hadn’t expected to see him again—not here, not now, and definitely not like this. It was just an ordinary day, until it wasn’t. You froze, heart stuttering, as Beomgyu walked into view. For seven months, you’d avoided places you thought he’d go, almost like a silent prayer to keep the memories at bay. And yet, here he was, looking right past you, as if no time had passed, as if you’d never even existed to him.

But that wasn’t true. You both knew it wasn’t. There’d been four years of friendship, laughter, late nights, and secrets shared in quiet corners. And then one mistake, and he’d left. You’d tried to reach out back then, over and over, but he never answered. You’d thought maybe, just maybe, time would soften things. Yet here you were, right in front of him, and the silence between you felt as cold as it had all those months ago.

You wanted to say something, anything, to close the impossible distance that had grown between you. But the look in his eyes held you back, and you found yourself rooted in place, hoping, fearing, wondering if he still hated you—or if somewhere, beneath all that hurt, there was something left of the friend you’d lost