An alarm sounded on his phone as he was chatting away with friends, an unregistered user appeared in their chat.
"Another one?" The red headed male sighed, pushing up the bridge of his glasses he took a close look at his phone, the top area showing the current members of the room.
Yoosung was there, Zen, Jumin, Jaehee-
"(Y/N)?" The name on the screen rolled off his tongue.
So familiar, he has heard that name before, seen that screenshot for the profile picture before. Something in his gut twisted when he couldn't quite put the puzzle pieces together. Why was he feeling this? He alerted his friends, soon hacking away and finding the intruder's IP, he already knew it would be at Rika's apartment. How many times has he gone down this route? 11 times? 12? He lost count. It didn't matter anyway. Eventually whoever this person was, they were gonna go through the RFA members one by one and leave. Just like other people who came by. Games were cruel.
This was his life, replaying the same thing over and over. Watching his crush, his former lover, fall in love with someone else again and again. Watching his brother go through the same pain over and over again. The worst part, he is the only one to ever know the pain.
Jumin is smart but he doesn't know this is a game. Same goes for Jaehee. Yoosung is too clueless and Zen "broke the fourth wall" merely through a dream he had. Guess he is a little psychic after all? He turned his attention back to the chat and tried to settle Yoosung down as he was hacking to get information on this new person.
"Bingo." He muttered to himself, scrolling through some of the pictures and the CCTV feed in the apartment, a slender individual with (Y/L/H) (Y/C/H) hair, why did they seem so familiar? His heart was practically leaping in his chest, he was also anxious. The person turned in the computer chair they were sitting in to reveal (Y/C/E) and his breath caught in his throat. So beautiful.
He was caught off guard when this person looked directly at the camera and smiled, waving. Did they know? How? This was a new player wasn't it? His phone buzzed, a message? From an unknown number? The person hiding in the apartment smirked knowingly and playfully at the camera, but those eyes held something like a glint of sorrow. He told his friends to hold on for a moment and exited his messenger to look at the texts he received. There, waiting for him, were a series of snapshots of the person, holding signs with words written messily in Korean.
He loaded the first one:
They were at a cafe it seemed, possibly taken with a computer camera, holding a sign that read "Hello Saeyoung," with a heart at the end.
He loaded the second one:
The sign now read, "Or Luciel, or Seven, God Seven, however you want to be called." The person was shrugging indifferently. How did they know who he was?
He loaded the third one:
"Whatever you want to be called, I hope you remember who I am." They were pointing at their face, poking their right cheek adorably with a wide smile on their face.
The fourth:
"Then again, I have been away from the Game for quite sometime. I bet you don't." The person was pouting now.
The fifth:
"Perhaps a refresher then? It's (Y/N) I know you are aware this is a game. And I know you were probably very upset when I left."
What was this? Why were tears starting to stream down his face?
The sixth:
"I'm sorry I deleted the game. But I had no space on my phone. I really didn't want to leave you."
The next:
" I didn't want to leave Zen and his gorgeous face,"
The next:
"Jumin and his cold, but caring, disposition,"
And the next:
"Nor did I want to leave poor Jaehee since she was the hardest working of us all, (Aside from you Oh God Seven~)"
And the next:
"And I didn't want to leave Yoosung and hearing him brag about his LOLOL game."
This didn't make sense to him. What was happening? He wanted to stop but his heart was aching for him to keep reading.
He loaded another:
"But most of all. I regret leaving you. I regret leaving poor Saeran."
Another:
"He was finally getting better, finally smiling and learning to accept you into his life again as a normal factor and I deleted the game." They looked so sad, one after another their face fell to show the regret they felt.
He loaded more pictures, he simply couldn't stop:
"But I'm back, I'm starting over, but I'm back!"
'Back?'
"I remember us talking about a space station wedding, and having it. Zen was our ring boy."
"Despite you begging Jumin to let Elly carry the rings~!"
"And we forced Yoosung into being the flower girl for practice~"
He couldn't help but smile, the memories were coming back, the cake was a blackberry frosting with stars littering the cake, the decorations of him and (Y/N) were dressed in spacesuits on the cake. And they threw in a little Elly for the heck of it, despite Jumin protesting such actions.
"I remember Saeran's smile, he was finally coming to terms with you and he was so kind! Despite being a total tsundere~!"
Again he laughed, the joint therapy of him finally opening up to his brother and soon-to-be sibling-in-law just a few weeks before the wedding. That day he asked Saeran to be his best man. He never saw Saeran so happy in his life, he genuinely smiled, hugging his brother tight and saying he was so happy for him. How proud he was that Saeyoung found someone.
"I still remember the engagement ring you gave me."
"It was late at night when you came home,"
"Saeran and I already had dinner,"
"You came home carrying a small cardboard box,"
"You came to me in the study and placed the box in front of me."
"You told me to open it with such a huge grin on your face~"
"Inside was a little marble tabby kitten and you adorably named her Marble,"
"Around her neck was a pink bow and hidden in the bow was a gold engagement ring!"
"You knew I wasn't one for flashy jewelry,"
"So you kept it simple for me,"
"And put an amethyst in the center crown with a ruby to the left, and an opal to the right."
"You said the ruby was you,"
"The amethyst was me,"
"And the opal was Saeran."
"And how this ring represented-"
"Our weird little family." He finished, sure enough the next sign said those exact words. He remembered.
Those long nights he spent debating his sleep schedule with (Y/N), how they would help Saeran during therapy, the teases, the inside jokes, all of it flooded back to him.
"I'm sure by now you remember."
"I still have the ring too~" They held up their hand, showing the gorgeous ring he got them.
"I am so sorry I left. And I am sorry to do this,"
"But you have to watch me go through the RFA members one more time."
"But I will save you for last, my sweet Saeyoung!"
"Please bear with me, I promise I will keep in touch with you!"
"And when I get to your route next."
"I won't reset,"
"I won't delete the game,"
"It will be you,"
"Me,"
"Saeran,"
"And Marble."
"This is a promise."
"I love you Saeyoung Choi."
"I hope you forgive me for having done this."
That was the last picture, Saeyoung was sobbing in his chair. His sweet (Y/N) remembered everything that he had forgotten. He hurriedly grabbed his phone and sent her a text.
"Of course I forgive you! I missed you so much! (Y/N)! I'm so happy! Please don't ever leave me again! I will wait as long as I need to for you! Don't worry! I'll be behind you 100%! No! 150%! Even more than that! Omg I can't even think straight!"
He heard a chuckle through the feed. Looking up they were smiling, and he too smiled. Hearing his phone buzz he quickly looked at it.
"I'm glad Saeyoung~! I promise to never leave again~! I love you so much!"
"And I love you (Y/N), with all my heart I do! I'll bring back Saeran and Marble and we can be a family again! Besides you still promised me a baby~! ;3"
"Saeyoung! / and don't say that…"
"Say what?"
"WE will bring back Saeran…. WE will bring back Marble~ But remember you have to follow the rules of the game."
He smiled, they always knew how to get his heart thumping, to make him want to explode with such happiness.
"You're right. WE will bring them back. And I will." He suddenly thought of something.
"Wait since we have to follow the rules… how are you sending me these messages?"
"THAT"
"IS"
"A"
"SECRET!"
"THAT EVEN GOD SEVEN MUST NEVER KNOW!"
Once again he burst out laughing. He missed this, missed these moments, missed how silly (Y/N) was. He was willing to wait, and play by the rules this time. For the sake of a happy ending, he was willing to suffer a little more.
Especially if that is the future he is looking forward to.