Third person POV:
Ae was left heartbroken after Pete's disappearance. He didn't leave the apartment for a week and everyone was worried about him. Finally, Oh coaxed him into opening the door and the sight was more than disturbing. The room was a complete mess with things lying around and Ae looked like a walking zombie. What was more disturbing was the way Ae looked.
He developed bags below the eyes and, little hairs were growing on his face. Also there was smell scattered around the room. "Ae!!" Ae's mother, Tuli, cried out seeing her son in the most miserable situation. She couldn't believe her eyes. she rushed inside the room, pulling Ae into a hug and rubbing his back. "What's the matter son? Why are you behaving like this?" Tuli asked.
Ae didn't say anything except 'he left'. He had been saying it continuously as if he was hypnotized to say those words. "Ae... Ae... Look at me... Ae??" Tuli called cupping her son's cheeks and making him look at her. Ae's eyes seemed to be lifeless as he stared blankly at his mother. "Ae?? Please tell us what happened?" Tuli cried out. She was hurt seeing her son like this.
After a lot of persuasion, Ae finally spoke but his words were limited. Tin came to help him and narrated to everyone what has happened. All the people present at the place were shocked with the revelation and were concerned why the young boy would have left without any notice.
Ae's parents took Ae back home. They tried their best to cheer the boy up but he looked all lost. He didn't set foot in his apartment after he was brought back home. Tuli tried to convince him to sell the apartment but Ae denied saying that the place held Pete's memories, their memories... He didn't want to lose anything related to Pete so he locked the apartment and kept the key to himself.
It had been over a month since Pete disappeared, Tin and Ae's family were desperately trying to locate the person. But it looked like they vanished like smoke in air. Ae was trying his best to find Pete but he would always have disappointment in return.
One day when Ae returned back home from college, he found a girl sitting in the hall. "Ae!! Come here!! Champoo had come home to meet you. She wants your help." Tuli spoke. Ae walked up to her and smiled to his mother before turning to look at Champoo. He smiled at her and inquired, "Hi... what do you need help with?" None of the two people present in the hall knew that Ae was forcing himself to smile. It was not genuine.
Champoo was daughter of Tuli's friend and Ae knew her from childhood. They used to play together when they were small but as Ae started growing up, he was more interested in football and the time he spent with Champoo started to get reduce till finally, he stopped meeting her. It's been years that he had spoken to the girl now.
"P'Ae... Sawasdee kha!! I needed your help with some college work. Will it be fine if I come to visit you here?" Champoo asked. Ae just nodded in response and then turned to leave. He was not interested in talking to the girl, in fact, he was not interested in talking to anyone.
Only Ae knew his plight and the pain he was feeling. He was sitting alone in bedroom when Tuli walked in. "Ae?? Can I talk to you?" she asked while sitting down in front of him. Ae looked at her and nodded in response before turning his gaze to look out of the window.
"Ae, you should stop searching for Pete now. You have tried your best, we all did but there is no sign of him. If he loved you so much, he wouldn't have left you broken. Why did he leave when I had already accepted him? Why did he make you sad, son? Ae, you should think about us, we are worried for you. You being in this condition constantly is making us get worried. Even your niece is worried for you. You need to move on and learn to be happy." Tuli spoke.
Ae didn't say a word and stayed quiet. He listened to everything but he didn't want to reply to anyone. For him, everything was meaningless.
Days passed by without any sign of Pete but Ae would always be searching for him. One day, Ae was walking towards the parking lot with Can when a white car passed by him. He looked at the car and then started to run behind it shouting loudly, "Pete!! Pete!! Stop!! Pete!! Please Stop!!"
Can noticed the behavior and rushed behind him. He grabbed Ae's hand and pulled him back, making him stop. "Can, let me go. Pete is going away.... Can!! Leave me!!" Ae yelped trying to pull his hand from the grip.
"Ae!! Stop!!" Can shouted holding Ae tightly and pulling him back. "It's not Pete!! Did you see the number of the car? It doesn't belong to Pete." Can tried to snap Ae out of the trance. Tears rolled down Ae's cheeks as he saw the car disappear. It felt like Pete just disappeared in front of his eyes.
"Calm down Ae.... Shhhh..." Can said hugging his best friend and consoling him. He could feel the pain of the person and was feeling bad for him. But he too couldn't do anything.
The occurrence of such incidences was more often since Ae was getting obsessed with Pete's memories. Once, he was walking through the crowd with Pond. The ex-roommate and still the closet buddy of Ae, asked him to tag along for a small shopping. Ae wasn't excited about the idea but he still agreed of going along.
They were walking among lot of people when Ae saw mop of brown hair ahead. "Pete?" he muttered and began walking in haste pushing the crowd aside. He wanted to see that person, make sure that he was fine. He finally made up to the person and then grabbed his shoulder and turned him around.
But then, he was disappointed as the person turned out to be stranger. "Sorry sorry..." Pond came rushing from behind and started to apologise to the person. "I am sorry, my friend just mistook you for one of our friend. I am really sorry." Pond apologized. The person understood the situation and then walked away assuring that everything was fine.
"Ae, are you alright?" Pond asked in concern. Ae just shook his head and let out a sigh. Pond clearly understood what Ae was going through because he himself have witnessed how Ae and Pete came closer. He knew what Ae was feeling and was trying his best to reduce the pain of the other person.
Days seemed to pass by quickly, and it had been four months after Pete's disappearance but Ae still hoped to see him. His heart kept telling him that he will meet Pete. No matter how many people he may come across, the place Pete held in his heart will never be replaced by anyone.
Champoo's visits to Ae's place were more often and Ae would help her with the work. She tried to make Ae smile and keep him happy but it was finally Pete that could make Ae feel all the emotions. Ae was a bit more comfortable with her now compared to earlier. He would ask her few things and talk to her but he kept them limited. Tuli felt relieved seeing her son coming back to his normal self.
Even though Ae was finally accepting the reality, things changed a lot. Everyone expected Ae to be himself again but the incident had the other effect on him. He turned emotionless completely. He couldn't feel happiness, pain or anything.
Ae wanted to try new things and this new things weren't good ones because he was trying to destroy himself. He once got into a race with street racers and was riding his bike at high speed. He just missed an inch otherwise he would have lost his life. But he was least bothered about it.
Some other day, he had a bet of jumping from the cliff. He didn't think once and threw himself from the cliff. The rush of adrenaline made him feel excited and he wanted to keep tasting it. He wanted to see how long he could survive.
Ae's methods of dealing with the pain went to extremes. They went to an extent when Tuli was being all concerned and had to ask Oh to look after Ae. She knew her son has lost his desire to live and was trying to get himself killed.
It was a day, when there was a football match in the college. Ae being the important player, couldn't skip the match since Can had called a while ago and informed that he will not be able to make it on time since he had some emergency. Both the teams were already gathered on the field and the students have already crowded the stand to watch the match.
The referee blew the whistle and the match began. Ae was in his full mode and was rushing with the ball towards the goal post of other team. Just five minutes in field and Ae managed to score a goal. The opposite team was surprised to see their careful defense getting blew off. By the end of the first half, there were three goals from Ae.
The opponents were frustrated and planned a strategy of making Ae sit out. They knew if Ae, continued to play, he would surely make them lose. When the second half started, the players from opponents team began targeting Ae.
They were blocking him and also purposely trying to come in his way making him fall down. It continued the same way but Ae was not someone to give up. Ae got the control of the ball and started to rush towards the goal. Just then, there was a reflection of glass and he blinked his eyes.
It reminded him about something..... about someone.... About Pete... he remembered that, once the light reflecting from Pete's watch had saved their team from goal. The familiar face of a cute person was back in Ae's mind and he froze on spot. His eyes searching for that one person for whom, his heart was beating anxiously. In the stand, there were many people, pretty girls but his eyes didn't care for anyone but only for that one face.
Ae was too lost in his world to notice what was happening. The next second, everything was blur as the player from opponent team got the possession of ball and shot it towards the other player. Unfortunately, his foot slipped and the angle of the shot changed. The ball came in Ae's direction in high speed and....
*thud*
Ae felt to the ground and everyone rushed towards him. He had a little nosebleed and also, his elbow was injured and bleeding. The ball had hit him really hard,. Techno was completely in shock after seeing the person lying on the floor being careless about himself.
They felt it was necessary to take this young boy to hospital. Ae protested and denied but no one was ready to listen to him. Finally, he had to listen to all and let them take him to hospital. But then again, he didn't want anyone around so he asked everyone to leave stating that he will directly go home after treatment.
For Ae, getting hurt was something he liked. For him, living the life was like a burden and if he cannot have Pete back, he would rather prefer to get himself killed. The meaning of life completely changed for him after Pete left. He was on self-destruction mode.
The doctor checked him and asked him few questions before proceeding to clean the wounds and bandage them. He placed an ice-pack on Ae's head where the ball has hit since there was a little bump there. Ae was getting annoyed staying in the hospital and wanted to get out as soon as possible.