January, 15, 2015 (94 days before death).

If Luhan had been completely devoid of friends, the doctors might have noticed there was something off about the boy, but his very normal connection to the world kept their suspicions at bay.

Luhan didn't particularly like Byun Baekhyun, but he didn't not like him either. Byun Baekhyun was the type of person you come across and then 20 years down the road when you're leasing an apartment with him, you ask yourself; how did I ever like him in the first place?

Luhan and Baekhyun took their evening lunch commute in the courtyard every day since the day they met. Luhan liked the open air. Baekhyun liked the lack of supervision that allowed him to smoke.

Luhan had treated Baekhyun as some sort of best friend. He never shared any real personal details about himself, and he never talked about Sehun. It was a part of their dynamic to just sit in silence unless either of them really needed to talk to the other. In Luhan's case, everyone always knew something new about him whether he knew them or not. In Baekhyun's case, not enough people knew about him. Luhan had once suspected that Baekhyun only stayed in his presence to soak up some the second hand attention, but their moments in the courtyard always reassured him that Baekhyun must genuinely enjoy his company. In the courtyard, there was no one to speculate; no one to know. As a person who would willingly give his life story to a stranger, Luhan liked to keep his life a secret from the people he actually knew.

The air was its usual chilly cold. Luhan had been sporting the same red scarf for the past few days; it's itchy wool consistency hiding the bruised skin underneath. Baekhyun sported a tailored school uniform. Its tacky yellow fabric was hemmed in specific places to accentuate Baekhyun's figure. His nearly blue fingers loosely held a cigarette, it's ashes falling haphazardly onto the frosted grass.

“Do you ever think about life after death, Luhan?”

“Life...after death?”

“Yeah. Like ghosts and . Do you believe in any of that?”

“I never thought about it much.”

“It's a crock of . Then again, you never know. Some of these depressed prep s must have offed themselves