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"he said he came here 'cause he wanted to see innie!" the little girl told hyunjin. "yeah? did he say why?" 


"nope!" 


"Okay then go ask him when he is going to leave."


"Okay!" the little girl ran back down to ask minho the 7th question. "Minho!  when are you leaving?"


"chae! That's rude!" her mom scolded. "uhm... after I talk to jeongin." Minho answered. she ran back up to Hyunjin and told him.


" I remember he called me and told me you're here. when my dad told you not to come anymore, it wasn't me he told him to ask. it was hyunjin." oh.. he didn't want me around. I watched chae as she got herself orange juice and left again. "hyunjin later moved to Canada, for good."


I took a deep breath, trying to let everything sink in. hyunjin was alive, hyunjin was here when I came ten years ago, and hyunjin moved to Canada for good. "can I have his address?"


"his what?"


"his address, I wanna see him again. I want to talk to him."


jeongins eyes widen, but then they rested again, and he hummed. "hyunjin made lots of friends in Canada. The girl in the photo was his closest friend, she was Canadian. her mother owned a tattoo shop." jeongin took out his phone and started scrolling or doing something on it as he spoke. "hyunjin soon liked to get tattoos. he had on his back, leg, arm, chest, and knuckles. yes,  hyunjin was a great person, but he had bad habits. you know he started drinking at 14. at first, it was a controllable amount. but as he grew up, the habit got worse. soon he became an alcoholic."


"oh.." is all I could say. "even tho he partied every weekend. he still took his studies seriously. he was still good in uni. I went to visit with straykids from time to time. one time I convinced him to start dating. but he said he liked it better alone." for some reason, for the first time since we started this topic, jeongin started crying.


"3 years into uni, he called me one day crying. he could barely breathe. he told me his mom died."


I think I started crying too. she was so nice to me, she loved me, I was her son too. I remembered...the stuff I said about her...that night..and I cried harder.  "that's when his drinking habit got worse. That's when his studies were no longer important. I think... I think that's where it started."


"Hyunjin would pass the year on the edge. almost failing. his friend, the girl I told you about, harper told me he started smoking too. and drinking way too much. when I and him called or spoke, he would never tell me this. he played innocent." more tears were forming in his eyes each time he wiped them, and more fell. "he booked a ticket to Korea, 4 months ago."


"He's coming to Korea?" my heart beamed with hope. "He's in Korea?" I asked again. jeongin tried to catch his breath and speak. his voice cracked a little when he spoke. my heart also cracked. "he told me to reach out to you, to tell you he's coming and he wanted to see you. that he missed you. but...but three days before his flight...harper called me. she said, she said hyunjin passed away. drug overdose." my heart sank and I think I started sobbing loudly. "I don't know when it started, no one knew. I didn't know he was... into drugs...I didn't know, I didn't know." he cried loudly. he covered his face and cried into his hands. 


streams of tears were falling and I felt like throwing up. for the past ten years, hyunjin was alive. hyunjin wanted to see me. hyunjin was into drugs. Hyunjin died...only three months ago. I'm three months late. I thought he was gone for ten years, but I'm only three months late.

for about ten minutes, neither one of us stopped crying. and no one comforted the other. jeongin wiped his tears and looked at me, and at the sight of me, more tears formed in his eyes. "Stop crying you asshole and follow me" he tried to act tough and force a tone, I looked up at him. he was standing, waiting for me to stand up too.


I stood up and followed him to his room. once we got in I realized how it didn't change at all. same old pink room with the princess bed. he probably doesn't sleep anymore, ai mean he was in dorms now with the members. he sat down in front of two medium-sized boxes. he sighed before he opened them.


"When he died...he had no one left but me, harper, and you. we were the three people he was closest to even tho he had many friends. harper couldn't be remembered him, so I took all his stuff." he stared blankly at the clothes inside the box. he pulled out a denim jacket and hugged it. "I kept them to myself because there was no one else I could share them with. no one else but you. he stood up and turned around, handing me the denim jacket. 


"it was his favorite, it smells of him the most" I took the unfamiliar jacket and hugged it, smelling his scent on it. "I don't think he ever washed it" he commented then turned around to look for something else in the box. he grabbed a familiar brown coat and a black hoodie. "You got him this. he told me. it wasn't his size anymore, but it was so special to him, so he kept it." he handed me the coat, and I remembered it. I gave it to him as a gift. he then handed me the hoodie. "Grocery store." is all he said.


I walked into the grocery and went to find myself a drink, not many people were there, there was a couple at the counter and an old man in the snacks section. A guy was wearing a hoodie in the drinks section. He was holding the drinks and snacks in his arm. I stood next to him reading the expiry date of my drink and one of the snacks he's holding fell. "Oh let me help, sir." i smiled leaning over to help him, but froze when he spoke.

"Minho?"

I looked up at him to find, no one other than the school's blonde boy, Hwang hyunjin. I smiled at him then looked at what he's holding...


I brought the hoodie to my face and smelled it. it still smelled like him. he then opened the other box, which had other stuff and a few clothes. he took out a USB flash drive and handed it to me. "I forced him to do this, but I think you should have it. I watched it and, he said he wanted to give you it. he said he will give you it when he's ready." I took the USB drive and looked at it then kept it in my pocket. I watched as jeongin kneeled next to his bed and pulled out a box that looked like a fancy suitcase then walked back to me. it was kind of big, and you can only carry it.


"His art supplies. there are a few sketchbooks too, pencil sketches and his watercolour paintings. they're beautiful. you should keep them. "


"But...why won't you keep them?" 


"I kept some stuff, but the majority of the rest is your face, so I don't wanna keep it. but there is more too. at the bottom, you can find his drawings when he was a kid."


to be continued...


how is it so far?







"Lie" Hyunho ffWhere stories live. Discover now