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The first thing Hanbin notices when he wakes up is that there is a very attractive man sleeping in the chair beside his bed.
He’s incredibly handsome, delicate features soft in his sleep, dyed blond hair slightly rumpled as if he’d been nervously running his fingers through it earlier. The handsome stranger looks a little out of place, curled up with his knees to his chest as he must have been trying to find a comfortable way to sit in the chair. This stranger belongs on stage or on the cover of a magazine, rather than curled up sleeping on some little chair.
The second thing that Hanbin notices is that he’s in a hospital.
Unlike the handsome stranger sleeping in a chair, Hanbin had been sleeping in a hospital bed. There’s an IV in his arm that itches as he moves a little, a heart monitor attached to his finger and a thin blanket that crinkles when he moves that’s covering him.
The third thing Hanbin notices is that other than his own name, he can’t seem to really remember anything. Not the name of the handsome stranger beside him, or why he was in the hospital in the first place, or really, now that he was trying to think about it, there wasn’t anything in his head at all.
No thoughts, head empty.
He tries to think about things - his job, his favorite foods, his favorite color, the name of the incredibly handsome stranger sleeping just a foot away - but all of that thinking makes his head hurt, and the heart monitor that he is strapped to starts to beep with an increasingly louder frequency.
Loud enough that the handsome stranger blinks awake, opening his eyes to meet Hanbin’s eyes. The handsome stranger is even more handsome now that he’s awake. Hanbin watches as he yawns a little, and wiggles himself out of the cramped position he had been sleeping in, before the handsome stranger smiles a soft, sweet smile and says, “You’re finally awake. How do you feel?”
“Yes,” Hanbin says.
He’s not one hundred percent sure that’s the right answer to that question. Actually, judging by the way the handsome stranger furrows his brow, he’s pretty sure that’s not the right answer at all, but every word in the history of language itself had jumbled together in his brain the second the stranger opened his eyes, so it’s about the best he can manage.
“You feel yes ,” the handsome stranger questions him.
“Good,” Hanbin corrects, the word he meant to say finally coming back into his brain. “I feel good.”
“No pain,” he asks.
Hanbin shakes his head. Whatever the hospital is giving him through the IV must be the good stuff .
He doesn’t realize he’s said that much out loud until the handsome stranger huffs out a small laugh, and oh, Hanbin likes the way his laugh sounds, he wants to make the handsome stranger laugh more often.
“Was I in a tragic car accident and nearly on the brink of death for days on end?”
“You had an appendectomy,” he explains.
That word bounces around the empty space in Hanbin’s brain , nothing coming to mind when he says it. Maybe his non-amnesia filled self would remember, but right now, he’s got nothing.
“I’ve never heard that word before in my life,” Hanbin tells him.
The handsome stranger laughs again, gesturing toward his own body to explain, “Your appendix, they took it out. The doctors said you might have some trouble remembering what happened until the anesthesia completely wears off,” he says, before sighing. “Speaking of which, I should probably call a nurse now that you’re awake.”
He should probably mention to the handsome stranger that he’s currently forgotten more than just why he was in the hospital.
But he doesn’t like the way that worried expression looks on the handsome stranger’s face. He should never have to worry again. A man as handsome and perfect looking as him should only ever have a happy expression on his face. Hanbin silently vows to make sure of that.
So when the handsome stranger stands up to press the call button on the stand next to the hospital bed, Hanbin reaches up to take the stranger’s hand instead, stopping him from calling someone in to interrupt them.
“Binnie, what are you doing?”
His heart rate jumps at the familiarity of the nickname that falls from the handsome stranger’s lips. Hanbin likes the way it sounds far too much.
He doesn’t, however, like the way the heart monitor that he’s attached to begins to beep loudly again, drawing the attention of the handsome stranger away from Hanbin and to its display instead.
Hanbin squeezes down on the handsome stranger’s hand to bring his attention back to him, before answering the question the handsome stranger had asked - “I’m trying to stop you from leaving.”
“Why?”
“Because I don’t want you to leave.”
Apparently, in addition to having amnesia, he also seems to have lost his brain to mouth filter.
The handsome stranger looks pleased at that, a perfect smile gracing his lips. It hits Hanbin at once how soft the strangers lips look, they’re probably the perfect lips for kissing.
“I’ll stay when the nurse comes,” the stranger promises, using his other hand to press the button to call the nurses to come check on him.
Hanbin pouts, not happy to have not gotten what he wanted, but at least the handsome stranger keeps holding his hand.
He’s rubbing his thumb over the back of Hanbin’s hand in what he clearly intends to mean as a comforting manner. His chest feels warm with a feeling like love at the handsome stranger’s gesture, which is nice. There is a touch of familiarity in the gesture, as if this handsome stranger knows just how to soothe Hanbin from previous experience.
Which probably means they knew each other before this moment.
“Can I ask you a question before the nurse gets here?”
The handsome stranger nods, “What is it, Bin-ah?”
There’s probably better ways to go about this.
He’ll blame the anesthesia later, when teased about it by their friends for having somehow completely evaporated his brain to mouth filter.
But for now, Hanbin needs to know - “What’s your name?”
A series of emotions flicker across the handsome stranger’s face, surprise first, then concern for a while, before finally settling on something like mild amusement.
“You don’t know my name,” he asks.
Hanbin shakes his head.
“Do you know your name?”
“Sung Hanbin,” that he knows easy enough.
“What about what day it is?”
He hazards a guess, “Wednesday.”
“Wrong,” the handsome stranger says. “What about what we do for a living?”
“We’re coworkers?” Hanbin asks, with a surprised tone. How lucky he must be to be coworkers with some as handsome as the stranger sitting next to him! Not that he imagines he’d do very well in some office job with someone as handsome as the stranger sitting in the cubicle across from him.
“I’ll take that as a no,” the handsome stranger says, shaking his head. “What do you remember? Tell me something you know.”
There’s not much in his head.
His brain is still all fuzzy, like a lost connection.
“That you’re the most handsome person I have ever seen in my life,” Hanbin tells him.
The handsome stranger smiles a little, clearly liking the compliment, though when he speaks, it’s with a scolding tone “Ahh, Bin, you should have told me right away that you couldn’t remember anything!”
Admittedly, he probably should have.
“Sorry,” Hanbin says, before asking, “Can I know your name now?”
The handsome stranger’s mouth opens with a small “ Oh ,” having only now realized that he never did answer Hanbin’s question before he says, “Zhang Hao, but you normally just call me Hao-hyung.”
“Hao-hyung,” he repeats, liking the way the name sounds as he says the name out loud. A perfect name for a perfect person. “And we’re just … Coworkers ?”
There’s an amused smile on his face as he replies, “Boyfriends too.”
And oh yes, that’s even better than just learning his name. Learning that this handsome stranger wasn’t a stranger, but his boyfriend, has to be the best possible news ever.
Hanbin’s eyes flicker back down to Hao’s lips, the ones he had thought before looked soft and extremely kissable, and asks, “Can I kiss you?”
Hao laughs. He really does love the sound of his laughter. He can’t wait to hear it a hundred more times, at least.
Though Hanbin does pout a little when Hao says, “No.”
“Why?”
“You can’t just go around kissing strangers, Bin-ah,” Hao teases him.
“But you’re not a stranger,” sure, Hanbin had been referring to Hao in his head as ‘the handsome stranger’ for the last ten minutes, but Hao didn’t need to know that. Hanbin tries to counter Hao’s refusal - “You just said you’re my boyfriend!”
Hao smiles and leans forward, and for a second, Hanbin thinks he’s going to get what he asked for. His flawless logic clearly has convinced Hao that kissing is the best option.
But instead of kissing his lips, Hao presses a kiss to the top of his head, and says, “Later, bǎobèi.”
He may not remember much, but he knows what that means.
Hanbin holds out his pinky finger towards Hao and asks, “Promise?”
“Promise,” Hao replies, as he laces their fingers together. “Now be good until the nurse comes and all your anesthesia wears off fully.”
Hanbin nods.
Getting his memories back sounds like a good idea.
Though he wouldn’t mind if he never did get them back if it meant he got to fall in love with the handsome stranger named Zhang Hao all over again.