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Jay scoffs annoyedly. ‘That’s a fucking expensive price for ramen.’ he thinks, observing the red package thoughtfully.
It’s night-time, and Jay is very hungry. He nearly had a mental breakdown when he realised there was no food at home. So he made the short walk down from his apartment in Seoul to the nearest store.
Seoul was pretty at night, the lights illuminating the streets, people walking their dogs, or couples having a night out.
Eww couples. Jay always had bad luck with love, either falling for someone and them breaking his heart, or relationships that would just break apart.
“Excuse me,” A voice says, reaching across Jay for the ramen that was horribly expensive.
He looks at the stranger and blurts out, “You’d pay that much for some ramen?”
The stranger looked at him offendedly. “Fuck yes, ramen is the love of my life.” He says, pushing the package in front of his face. “Wanna share? You need to realise the wonders of having ramen on a bad day. Seeing as you look annoyed and depressed, you need a pick me up.”
Jay pushes the ramen away from his face. “No thank you I’m fine, but enjoy being broke because that ramen you're having is expensive shit.”
“Nope!” The man wraps his arm around Jay’s waist and drags him to the counter. “You need to lighten up my friend!”
“We’ve just met!” Jay deadpans, attempting to take the stranger's grip off his waist.
“Well my name is Heeseung, and yours?” The man, now identified as Heeseung, says.
“Jay.”
Heeseung pays for the ramen, and after filling it with boiling water, he drags Jay out to a bench, in the cool night air of Seoul.
Heeseung gives him chopsticks and looks at him expectantly. Jay sighs and eats some of the steaming ramen.
“Good right?” Heeseung asks, mouth full. Jays hums appreciatively, anger and annoyance slowly dissipating.
“Thank you,” he says softly, “I feel better now.”
“I’m glad.” Heeseung says, slurping enthusiastically. “Would you like to be friends? We could make this a tradition, just to meet up and have ramen.”
“That sounds great.” Jay agrees.
——————————————————————————
And that's what they do.
They end up meeting every second night, to chat, reminisce and rant about their day.
Jay learns a lot about Heeseung, he has a brother, loves video games, and has a group of chaotic friends.
Heeseung promises to introduce them one day.
And if that makes his heart flutter, that is only for him to know.
——————————————————————————
A year passes, and they fall in love. Jay moves in with Heeseung, and meets his family.
Jay manages to get Heeseung to cut down on the ramen to once a week, because one, his cheeks were getting extremely chubby, and two, Heeseung needed to eat something else.
He grins slightly as walks down the street.
The bell rang as he stepped through the door of the store, the cashier waving at him.
He grabbed the two packets of ramen and made his way to the cashier.
“The usual?” The cashier grinned, smiling after recognising him.
Jay was about to reply when his phone began to buzz. The sound of his ringtone filtered through his pocket.
“Sorry!” He muttered, whipping out his phone and turning away.
“Hello? Is this Park Jongseong, the emergency contact of Lee Heeseung?” An unfamiliar voice asked.
“Yes. What is it? What happened?” He asked, scared of the outcome.
“Lee Heeseung is currently in Hospital A, in a critical condition…”
The sound of shattering glass resonated in the store. Jay began to shake as his phone shattered into smithereens on the floor.
“No it can’t be. No it CAN'T!” He screamed.
——————————————————————————
Jay ran through the hospital, bashing through the doors to the reception.
The receptionist blanched in shock, startled by the slam of his hands on the counter.
“Lee Heeseung.” He enquired breathlessly.
The receptionist flitted over the computer. “Room 143. 2nd floor.”
Jay nodded in thanks, and sprinted.
The second he went to open the door, a doctor nearly barrelled into him.
Jay just stood there and looked at him expectantly.
The doctor sighed, and pulled off his blue rubber gloves. “The broken glass pierced his vital organs. We tried our best we’re so sorry-“
Jay never heard the rest as he pushed past him into the room.
A pale, blood drained figure lay prone on the once clean, pristine hospital bed. Blood stained pillow and sheets, made Jay want to hurl up his lunch.
He made his way slowly to the bedside, trying to comprehend, trying to stomach the fact that Heeseung was gone. The one he loved and wanted to spend the rest of life with was dead.
He shakily reached out for the cold hand, the one that would entwine with his cold ones during a walk in the park, or that would play with his hair.
His head dropped on the stone chest, and tears dripped down his face, soaking the clothes of the dead.
——————————————————————————
“Hey hyung.” Sunoo greeted him as he sat down.
“Hey Sunoo.” Jay replied, a dark and gloomy look on his face.
Sunoo, immediately realising that he wasn’t feeling the best, reached out and squeezed his hand comfortingly.
“What was it this time hyung?” He asked softly.
Jay hung his head low, trying to keep the tears in. “I bought two packets of ramen again. Why do I keep doing this? Why do I keep thinking he’s here when he’s not? I’m so stupid Sunoo.”
“Hyung. You are not stupid. And please don’t blame yourself for his death! He was the one who went out to drink and drove back!”
“AND I SHOULD HAVE STOPPED HIM!” Jay yelled.
The buzz in the cafe immediately stopped, and everyone turned to him. He waved them off with a shaky hand and lowered his voice. “It doesn’t matter. I should have gone with him in the first place.”
Sunoo sighed again and pushed a muffin towards him. “Hyung. It’s been 3 months. It’s either you move on or don’t. Don’t dwell on what you should have done. Heeseung hyung would hate to see you like this.”
“I found a ring.” Jay managed to say calmly, dropping the bomb on Sunoo.
“No…” Sunoo whispered. “He was going to propose. Hyung. No.”
Jay smiled bitterly.
“He had a life to live. One he won’t be here for. Why should I move on Sunoo? Why should I move on knowing that I could have lived the happiest life I could with him? He had dreams, dreams I wanted to be there to witness. I felt devastated when I found that ring Sunoo. He was my one and only. I firmly believe that.”
Jay felt the dam that had built up inside him, slowly crash and flow with the water. His body shook with sobs again as he clutched onto Sunoo’s jacket.
“We’re all here hyung.” He whispered comfortingly to him.
And that’s when he shattered. Shattered like the glass of the windscreen that killed his lover.