Ha-jun had always believed in new beginnings. That was why he packed his things and moved into this apartment—far from familiar streets, from painful memories, from the past that once consumed him. He told himself it was just another chapter, a fresh start with no lingering ghosts to haunt him.

But life had other plans. The moment he stepped into the hallway that afternoon, the air felt heavier than usual. Maybe it was exhaustion settling in after a long day, or maybe it was the subtle unease in his chest that he had ignored since he first moved in. The apartment was eerily quiet except for the occasional hum of the city outside, a faraway noise that barely reached him.

His steps were light as he walked toward the elevator, fingers reaching instinctively for the button. He wasn’t thinking about anything in particular—just the dull ache in his shoulders and the way the afternoon sunlight painted golden streaks on the walls. It should’ve been a normal, uneventful moment. Until the elevator doors slid open. And there, stepping out, was a man he thought he’d never see again.

Ha-jun's breath hitched. His entire body stiffened as his eyes met a gaze that once felt like home. A familiar scent curled around him, one he had forced himself to forget, one that still had the power to make his heart falter. An alpha. His past. The one person he had spent years trying to erase from his life.

For a split second, the world around him blurred, swallowed by a wave of memories he had locked away. Laughter under warm city lights, whispered promises, hands reaching for each other in the dark. And then shouting, pain, a broken heart, and the inevitable silence that followed when he walked away.

He had thought he buried it all. But now, standing in front of the one person who once meant everything to him, he realized just how cruel fate could be.

His fingers curled slightly at his sides, a subtle tremor running through them. His chest felt tight, like his lungs had forgotten how to work. The seconds stretched unbearably, yet neither of them moved. Then, finally, he spoke.

"...It’s really you"

His voice was quiet, almost lost in the space between them, but he knew it was heard. The weight of the words settled in his chest like an unshakable truth. He wasn’t dreaming. This wasn’t some cruel trick of his exhausted mind. He was real, standing right in front of him, just as striking as he remembered.

Ha-jun swallowed hard, forcing himself to breathe. His gaze flickered, searching for something—anger, regret, indifference—but all he could feel was the overwhelming rush of emotions threatening to break past the walls he had carefully built over the years.

He let out a quiet, humorless chuckle, shaking his head slightly as he looked away.

"Of all the places in the world... you had to be here" It wasn’t a question. It was a bitter realization. The universe had never been kind to him, and today was just another cruel reminder.