Forget-me-not

Seungmin

"Why did we come here?" Seungmin asked with a raised eyebrow. "Why do I feel like you fucked something up? What did you do?"

"Maybe we shouldn't jump to conclusions, hyung." I.N frowned and glanced between Hyunjin and Seungmin. Seungmin looked annoyed whereas a look of guilt came across Hyunjin's face. I.N squinted at him, "unless you really did do something."

"Well, you know, eating ramen by the Han River is fun," Hyunjin started.

After splurging at a nearby convenience store, the three had set up their feast at a worn picnic bench a few days later. The wood had darkened and warped with age. It was still cold outside, so they were bundled in their jackets and scarves. Steam rolled off their boiling noodles and lifted up into the air.

"What did you do?" Seungmin repeated himself.

"And why did you bring me along?" I.N added.

"I brought you along because Seungmin is emotional and sad."

"No I'm not!"

"Oh, shut up." Hyunjin pushed a hand towards Seungmin to quiet him and turned back to I.N. "You're mature and smart and as an honorary member of paboracha, I-"

"You're literally the leader of that group. It's practically your middle name; Hwang-Pabo-Hyunjin." Seungmin took his time slowly pronouncing each word. "Do you even know what the word honorary means?"

"Shut! Up!"

Seungmin rolled his eyes and glanced down at his noodles. He picked up the bowl and placed it beneath his chin. Using his chopsticks, he picked up the noodles and let the broth drip from them. He blew on them to cool them down further.

"As I was saying," Hyunjin continued, "I came here hoping to find Cynthia."

"I told you I didn't want to see her yet."

"Can you let me get the full story out before you jump to conclusions?"

"Okay, I think we all need to take a deep breath and relax. If we start bickering, we're never going to get an explanation. Let's all just breathe and remember where we are. We're in public and the last thing we need is for Dispatch to release an article of us fighting."

Hyunjin and Seungmin went quiet at I.N's words. Even though he was the youngest, he had a knack for offering great advice. The pair stayed silent for a few moments. Seungmin finally took a bite from his noodles.

Hyunjin dipped his chopsticks into his bowl and stirred his noodles around, but he didn't take a bite. I.N scooped up a large mouthful, shoved them into his mouth still hot, and loudly slurped them. The sudden noise caused Seungmin to side-eye him and Hyunjin to glance over with a wrinkled nose.

He chewed and swallowed his noodles. The strands, despite the burning sensation, slipped down his throat. "Hyung," his eyes went to Hyunjin, "why are we really here?"

Hyunjin sighed and dropped his chopsticks. "I was on a phone call with Cynthia at the beginning of the week. Everything was going great until I lost track of time. Flora caught her on the phone and I'm pretty sure she caught Cynthia talking to me."

The noodles that Seungmin was in the process of swallowing became stuck in his throat. He inhaled and choked on them. Beside him, I.N thumped him on his back hard enough that it stung. He swallowed again and sucked in a breath of clear oxygen.

"What happened after that?" I.N stole the words right out of Seungmin's mouth.

"The two of them fought. Flora wanted to see Cynthia's phone, but she didn't want to hand it over. She ended the call and I think she finally gave the phone up. I haven't talked to her since then. My texts go unanswered and my phone calls don't go through. I get told that the number is no longer available."

Seungmin frowned down at the table. Worry was taking over him again. Flora's unforgiving threats echoed around his head. What if Flora really did take Cynthia and leave?

"Did you try calling her from another number?" I.N offered.

Hyunjin shook his head and pulled out his phone. I.N took out his own phone and unlocked it. He handed it over to Hyunjin, so he could attempt to contact Cynthia. After checking the time, Hyunjin picked up I.N's phone, glanced at Cynthia's number in his own phone, and dialed it.

On the third ring, Cynthia picked up. Hyunjin's whole face lit up with excitement. Even I.N looked excited. The only one who didn't share it was Seungmin. He kept staring at his noodles lost in his own thoughts. He hadn't heard Cynthia's actual voice in so long.

"Cynthia?" Hyunjin got out. "Are you alright? It's me, it's Hyunjin."

"Hyunjin? Oh my god, are you okay? You haven't messaged or called me! Your number disappeared from my phone. I was hoping you'd contact me again soon. I feel like I'm going crazy."

I.N and Hyunjin shared a look. I.N mouthed the word 'blocked' and Hyunjin nodded. Flora must have blocked and deleted his number, so Cynthia couldn't contact him and he couldn't contact her.

Hyunjin shifted in his seat. "Are you doing anything tomorrow? I wanted to see if you wanted to hang out by the river tomorrow morning. We could get coffee or something."

Over in the apartment, Cynthia beamed. She had been waiting for something to do. Flora kept her phone hostage for a few days and without the GPS on it, she hadn't been able to go outside.

"Sure, we can hang out! What time? Where do you want me to meet you?"

While the two continued talking, Seungmin got up and left the picnic table. He walked closer to the river and shoved his hands in his pockets. He wasn't there for long until I.N snuck up beside him asking if he was alright.

"That used to be me, you know? I used to call her and talk to her like that when I was on tour. I used to meet her here by the river. That used to be our thing."

"It can still be your thing. All you have to do is talk to her. I'm sure she'll understand, hyung. Don't you remember how it was when you first met her? Despite what you think, I think some of her is still the same Cynthia."

Of course, he remembered how it was meeting Cynthia. The pair met right outside the JYP building. Seungmin had accidentally bumped into her and dumped coffee on the front of her white shirt while heading back to the dorm.

Distraught and worried, he tugged her into the nearest store to pay for a new shirt insisting that she couldn't walk around like that. Cynthia had been sweet and understanding the whole time. She was adamant that she could buy herself a new shirt, but Seungmin refused to hear it.

After he bought the shirt, Cynthia insisted that she could buy him a new coffee. Instead of blaming him, she insisted that they were both at fault and not paying attention to where they were going. When he tried to get out of it, she gently grabbed his hand and tugged him to the nearest coffee place.

Her hand was soft and warm. It was a bit smaller than his, but it slipped into his perfectly. He liked holding her hand like that. It was so casual and yet it filled him with butterflies and turned his heart into ooze. Even before he truly knew her fully, he was smitten and head over heels.

"I know, Innie, I know."