love, me | gyuricky

two.

Gyuvin received the first email on the day of his 21st birthday. Maybe it was just that unshakeable optimism that seemed to cling to people on special days in their life, but he thought he'd honestly had a good day. He'd been surprised by his friends banging on his dorm room door at eight in the morning with a mango cake and balloons and lots of gifts, he'd been wished a happy birthday a dozen times just walking out of his dorm building alone, and to top it all off like a maraschino cherry on a sundae, his lecture on maritime law had ended half an hour early, and he'd reached the bus stop just in time for the bus to pull up and he hadn't even needed to run for it.

Those were simple pleasures, really, but Gyuvin liked to find joy in them. What was life if not one simple pleasure after another that kept people looking forward?

He was back in his dorm room now, just past four in the afternoon. He set his bag down at the edge of his desk and opened his laptop. He had plans to meet his friends for dinner and drinks to celebrate his birthday later, but he wasn't due to meet them till half past six, which left enough time for him to hang around and do nothing for a good hour.

To tell the truth, Gyuvin had no mood to be doing his readings or finishing his assignments on his birthday. It was the one day a year he could use that excuse, so he figured he was entitled to take whatever loopholes the universe deigned to offer him.

His fingers had already entered the keystrokes to switch to his email tab, purely out of habit. All his school assignment emails were funneled to his designated school email, which meant his personal email inbox was typically pretty quiet save for the occasional social media ping or brand advertisement he'd forgotten to unsubscribe to, but there was a new notification lit up just at the top. He figured there was no harm just reading it. It wasn't like he had anything better to do in the meantime, anyway.

Sender: Unknown Domain

Subject: Happy birthday!

Gyuvin almost laughed out loud. He wondered which of his friends was bored enough to be sending him birthday wishes over email of all platforms. Some of his college friends didn't even have his email, considering how obsolete it was starting to become relative to more popular communication platforms like KakaoTalk and Instagram.

Dear Gyuvin,

Happy birthday! You're 21 this year, aren't you? How are you doing in law school? I heard it's difficult, so hang in there. Zhanghao and Yunseo and the others are celebrating with you tonight, right? I wish I could be there.

Honestly I don't even know if this email will go through. Maybe this is just a shout into the void. I don't know anymore. I have to try, at the very least.

I'm sorry if any of this sounds strange to you. I didn't expect things to turn out this way either. But just know that I'm not anyone dangerous, I'm not trying to hurt you, and I hope to be someone you can share your troubles with. I know this must sound crazy, but take a chance on me, won't you?

Anyway, please reply if you receive this. Happy birthday again, and I hope you have the best year ahead.

Love,

me

Gyuvin blinked at his screen, frozen in confusion. He'd originally thought the email was just a gag sent by one of his friends as a joke, but somehow it just didn't seem like it.

Who was this? Who was "me"? How did he know Gyuvin, and know that Zhanghao and Yunseo and Seungeon and all the others were friends, and that they were celebrating his birthday that night?

Gyuvin switched to a fresh tab and started typing.

What does|

What does unknown do|

What does unknown domain m|

What does unknown domain mean in email?|

Enter.

Unknown domain is an error message displayed by most electronic mailing services when the system does not recognise the identity of the sender or the domain the mail originates from. Some electr...

"Unknown domain" showing in sender box? 4 quick fixes on PC...

How to solve unknown domain issue? | Quora
Answer: if i'm not wrong, sometimes it's a software issue that pops up if...

All his software was up to date, and he'd just gotten a new computer at the end of last year. He was sure, somehow that none of those fixes would change anything.

"Just know that I'm not anyone dangerous, I'm not trying to hurt you, and I hope to be someone you can share your troubles with."

Who the hell was this, speaking to him so intimately, asking him to share his troubles when he wouldn't even sign off his email with a proper name? What the fuck kind of moniker was "me?"

He almost started typing an email reply, but he stopped in his tracks. If the sender was unknown, then he didn't even have an address to put in the To: box. How the hell was he supposed to answer an email to someone he didn't know?

"This person must be crazy," he sighed, shaking his head and switching tabs over to Spotify. "I'll just forget about it. What a strange email."

"What is it?" Jiwoong called from across the room.

Gyuvin startled for a second before regaining his senses. "Gosh, hyung, I didn't even know you were home." Jiwoong's desk was blocked from his view by the way the wall was constructed, which meant unless Jiwoong made any noise, sometimes Gyuvin didn't even know he was there.

"Sorry for scaring you," Jiwoong laughed, kicking at the floor to roll his wheely chair into the center of their room. "But I'm not sorry. What crazy person? Happy birthday again by the way."

Jiwoong had been the first to wish him, actually. He'd just yelled "happy birthday" from his bed when midnight struck, but he gave Gyuvin a really pretty new laptop case in the morning, along with promises to treat him to a meal sometime before the semester ended. Jiwoong was a year older, which meant while Gyuvin was a third-year Jiwoong was in his final year, so he'd be graduating by the time winter came around.

"Thanks hyung," Gyuvin answered good-naturedly. "It's nothing, actually, I just got this email from this unknown sender and it was full of weird stuff."

"I get those sometimes too, just ignore them," Jiwoong said. "They're scammers, mostly."

"Yeah, you're probably right," Gyuvin agreed. "Was I disturbing your studying? Sorry, hyung."

"When are you not disturbing me?" Jiwoong asked, raising an eyebrow. "Kidding. Obviously not. I've put up with you as a roommate for one and a half years. Nothing fazes me anymore."

"You're right, get used to it," Gyuvin laughed. He spent the rest of his free hour playing mindless no-internet-needed games on his phone. He only bothered to get up from his chair when it was nearing six, to get changed so he could meet the others for dinner.

"Hyung, do you like my fit?" He made a show of spinning in a circle and striking a few exaggerated model poses just for laughs. He had on a leather jacket and his favorite pair of cargos.

"I love your fit," Jiwoong said, pretending not to look away from his computer screen.

"Ah, hyung, you didn't even look..."

"I'm joking, Gyu. You look great. Have fun!"

Gyuvin was finally satisfied with that answer, leaving the dorm room with a jangle of keys.