The evening was very cold and the moon was nowhere to be seen as it was covered by clouds. I was worried it would start raining but the rain never came. I was in the park and walking Choco, more like setting the dog free and lazing on a bench. I was watching the white cloud coming from my mouth like a cigarette smoke and was thinking about my life. I needed to clear my head a little.

Since Donghae appeared, my live has been changing. I can´t say, if it was bad or good because I was quite confused. I came to a conclusion that Donghae didn´t change my life by itself but my very own point of view on it. I always believed that I was a good son, brother and reliable friend. I thought I was a good person over all. Not, special but definitely not the villain. But now I wasn´t so sure. How do you know, if you are a good character? It´s easy to recognize one in the movie, it´s the main hero and his friends. But in real life? I wouldn´t possibly say that I was the main so was I Kangin´s side character? Was I the good one since I always believed that Kangin was the right guy? Does that mean I´m contrasting Donghae who is bad?

No, that´s not it. I´ve said it many times before already that I wasn´t finding Donghae to be a bad person. Yes, he is honest and sometimes rude or cold but it doesn´t mean he is actually a horrible person. And if Donghae is the hero, then opposite to him I´m the villain? It´s not like I don´t have bad habits. I tend to rely on the older people and act bashful just to get what I want. I didn´t become a doctor as my parents wanted but went ahead to be an actor. I haven’t called my sister for a few months by now and in all my past relationships it was me, who broke it off. Sounds possible, I might be the bad guy, after all.

“What are you thinking about?”

I was startled and even let out a low shriek. But it wasn´t needed because it was just Lee Donghae standing in front of me with a plastic bag in his hand. He was buried in his long coat and his brown tresses were pressed down by the long scarf he had tightened around his neck. He was probably returning home from the market and I didn’t ´t even notice him coming.

“Uh, stuff,” I managed to blabber out once I regained consciousness again. And I wasn´t the only one. Choco came running from behind the bench and in her cute white jacket started barking at Donghae.

“Oh, my,” Donghae cooed and crouched down, “still not used to me? You better, I´m gonna bother your daddy quite often after all.” He pulled out the hand he was warming up in his pocket and let my puppy his fingers. When the dog stopped barking and began shaking its tail, Donghae looked up at me with a proud face. I snorted.

“Aren´t you cold sitting like that here?” He asked me standing up. “I would have brought a hot drink, if I knew you were here,” he added before plastering his on the place right beside me. I didn´t move an inch, only wondered what this new character was doing in the game.

“I haven´t thought about the cold until you came,” I said honestly. I was so deep in thoughts that I was barely noticing the temperature.

“Give me your hand, I will check it,” Donghae said and because we were both aware that I wouldn´t do it, he just ruthlessly pushed his own hand into my coat´s pocket where he fished out my cold fingers. “Hm, as I thought. You are frozen.”

“I guess I should go home then,” I muttered a little thrown out of pace by the intimate act.

“Do you want to hang out at mine? You can bring Choco along of course,” Donghae offered as if it was a completely normal thing for me to play around at his place.

“I don´t know,” I didn´t manage to refuse right away for some reason. Probably because I was kind of curious about the Donghae right now. Donghae that worried about my body temperature and that remembered the name of my dog.

“You told me you have a practice tomorrow, which means you don´t need to wake up at dawn like when you have your shift in the zoo. Isn´t it okay to come then?” Donghae surprised me again by his knowledge of my schedule. I was so surprised that I stupidly agreed.

Before I knew it, I was already standing in Donghae´s living room and watching the owner of the house preparing a bowl with water for Choco. I felt totally thrown out place here. I´ve been in this pretty apartment once before but that time it was different. I was practically unconscious when I came and groggy when I left. Today, though, I was perfectly alright. I suddenly didn´t know what to do.

“Don´t stand there like a pole and sit down,” Donghae rolled his eyes at me. He used that cold tone I knew so well and I wondered, what was up his sleeve. If he comes insulting me now, it will become pretty weird.

“Maybe I should go home, after all,” I quietly tried but it didn´t work of course and all I got was another roll of eyes. And surprisingly a cup of hot cocoa.

“At least finish the drink first,” Donghae hissed and for the second time today, sat down a little too close to me. He the TV and chose the channel for kids. Somehow I found that cute.

“It´s good,” I felt like I should show some appreciation. the cocolate remains from my lips, I sipped from the drink again.

“Yeah, I bet it is. You turned into a popsicle out there,” Donghae chuckled and slapped my shoulder in a friendly manner. Unknowingly I snickered too.

For some time it was quiet. But it didn´t feel awkward at all. We were watching cartoons that I haven´t seen for ages and it felt very comfortable and nostalgic. I had my Choco under my legs sleeping soundly and drank the whole mug of sweet cocoa. I was feeling good, more than that actually.

“You are smiling,” Donghae whispered from the side and I turned my head only to find him watching me. How long has he been at it anyway?

“It´s fun,” I admitted and wondered, if I shouldn´t keep my amusement down perhaps. Donghae hated it when I was in that ´faked´ happiness. Because it wasn´t the cartoon making me feel happy but the cliché behind it all. It wasn´t any better than watching the falling rain honestly.

“I´m glad,” Donghae smiled back at me and put his hand on my thigh, “take it easy today, okay?” He told me and turned back to the TV. I could only stare at him in awe as I felt his hand run up and down and the sore muscles on my leg.

This side of Donghae was creepy and I couldn´t tell, what was the reason behind his behaviour. It was too abrupt too. First he slays me like a pig at the butchers and a few hours later he wipes my tired face with a towel. Since then he acts like a ing kindergarten teacher towards me, which my brain can´t very well accept. Yes, I could feel the unfriendliness and coldness practically seeping through him even now. I can tell that there are many things he wants to say but he almost always manages to shut them away and instead says something completely out of his character.

“Stop judging, idiot,” I blinked when Donghae´s remark made me realise that I was still staring at him. And once again he managed to break into my mind and read all the secrets I was hiding there. He knew I was confused by him and he knew I was, yeah, judging him.

“You are contradicting yourself too much, I have a hard time understanding, sorry,” I told him everything honestly. I didn´t know, where I found the courage to do it but the fact I spoke up could only mean, that I felt safe right in this place and moment.

“You want an explanation? I thought I told you already that I´m going to find the real you,” Donghae smirked.

“For what reason do you need to know the real me?” For now I decided to push back the ugly thought that, indeed, even Donghae realised that there is this hidden villain inside of me.

“Because the more I´m with you, the more I feel like you are lovable,” Donghae´s smirk vanished and he looked into his lap with a small smile.

“What are you talking about?” I couldn’t ´t help but ask straight again. The way he said it sounded weird, like a confession. I guessed it was just a bad choice of words. And then with a snort something very rude and ugly slipped from my lips and I had my answer. Yeah, I was definitely a ruthless and cruel man.

“Gosh, are you a gay or something?”

“Yeah, I´m a gay or something, Hyukjae,” Donghae said in the coldest tone I´ve heard in a while.

Fanservice:

Eunhyuk would take a bus from home (road A) to X train station. He’ll take the train to B station and change to a bus at road C, travelling to D (the place where Sungmin and him would split up when going home, or meet up in the morning). Eunhyuk would then wait for Sungmin until he turned up, then take a bus at road E together and travel to the company. This takes about 40 minutes.
Unless Sungmin doesn’t head to the company as well, Eunhyuk would then travel to the company straight from home and it’ll only take him 10 minutes. After a day of exhausting daily practices, Sungmin would often lean onto Eunhyuk’s shoulder and fall asleep. Eunhyuk would be on a look out for Sungmin’s station, then wakes Sungmin up when they’ve reached his stop.

Hello! I warned you that Hyukjae is going to surprise you! It´s getting hard to tell, on who´s side you should be, right? Choco is the safest choice... :D Today I used a part of information that not even all ELF know. The friendship of Sungmin and Hyukjae was incredibly deep in the past. This bus routine is just a little piece. It´s so nice, don´t you think? Thank you for reading  and take good care of yourself! - PandaHero