@lamouremporte - SUNGMIN - NOTHING L I K E US
his heart thuds, loud and all too powerful inside his ribcage. it’s been 10 years since high school ended along with the entirety of what used to be his entire world. minjae looks at the entrance and is assaulted by a rush of nostalgia. he remembers that first kiss that happened in this exact corridor when neither of them was supposed to be still here. sungmin’s face had been softened by sunlight spilling inside through the windows above them and his eyes were so, so bright, minjae had wondered if perhaps he was looking at a star.
then life happened. their paths bifurcated into two separate lines that stretched before them in parallel. sometimes, minjae heard sungmin’s name being whispered between old acquaintances when he came back from japan. but time continued to pass and even the frequency in these mentions faded from existence. ten years had gone like that and yet, even now, all those memories rushing back to his head still hold the same power over him as they did in the first days of real separation.
they had been together for a year and a half. but when minjae left to start pursuing his dream, all it took was a misunderstanding for them to be over. for the longest time, minjae carried bitterness laced together with a bone-aching longing. he felt deceived, wondered all too often if all they had lived, all the promises they made to each other between kisses, had been no more than a fleeting infatuation. sungmin had gotten over him too soon and that had hurt.
but life went on and eventually, minjae found someone new. yet he still looked back, still wondered what may have come of his former flame, if he still liked the same snacks during long afternoons, if he still liked those kinds of movies minjae cringed about, if he ever thought about him too.
❝ you got too cute, ❞ seohyun, one of the girls he used to be friends with comments as she pinches his cheek. he laughs, embarrassed and looking away in an attempt to evade her antics.
round eyes fall on a familiar face and it cuts the air short. he gasps, the sound almost nonexistent as he catches his heart in his throat. sungmin is there, the angle of his face a telltale of his age, of his maturity. seohyun turns to look in the same direction too and she smiles a bit, waving at the elder male.
❝ sungmin-oppa! ❞ she greets him.
Sungmin hadn’t planned on attending the reunion. So many thing had changed in the ten years since he had last set foot in the halls of the school, and he would rather have forgotten about the majority of the memories that the building held for him. However, his wife, or rather ex-wife, was spending the day packing her belongings in the apartment that they had once shared. Sungmin found himself desperate for anything to distract him from the woman who was packing away life as he had known it for the past nine years.
He came to a sudden stop, staring at the entrance of the building that stood before him as he tried to gain the courage to enter. Sungmin felt himself instantly overwhelmed with memories of what had been so many years ago. Specifically memories of him. Every good memory that Sungmin had from his high school years involved Minjae. He used to occupy Sungmin’s thoughts constantly, especially in the months following their parting. As years passed he slowly found the boy slipping from his memory but, in that moment, he couldn't help but to think of what could have been, if only he had done things differently.
He knew that he had moved on too fast. The women currently packing in his apartment was proof of that. Sungmin had nobody to blame for that other than himself. He had gotten jealous and acted too rashly and then moved on in an attempt to speed up the process of forgetting about Minjae, even though he wanted to do everything but. Sungmin had convinced himself that he was happy and Minjae was nothing but a part of his past. And he had believed it.
He took a deep breath, pushing the memories of skipped classes and stolen kisses aside as he entered the building, plastering a smile across his face as he greeted old friends that he hadn’t seen in a number of years. He could only hope that Minjae had other plans and he wasn’t going to be amongst the crowd of people who were gathered in his old school.
The conversation he was having with several acquaintances was interrupted by a voice that was still all-too-familiar to Sungmin, even after all of the years that has passed.
“Seohyun!” He exclaimed, turning to face the girl with whom he used to spend so much time. “You haven’t changed a bit!” Sungmin opened his arms for a hug from her, happy to be reunited with his old friend.
The smile on his face instantly fades as he notices the man over Seohyun’s shoulder. Albeit aged, there was no denying who stood before him. Sungmin had spent many hours memorising every inch of Minjae’s face and he would never be able to erase it from his mind.
He found himself staring at the floor, unable to meet his eyes. “Minjae.” He murmured, under his breath.
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