He was standing in an eerie alleyway in the dark, when a shadow suddenly ran behind him. He span around holding his breath. In the corner, deep within ten paces away there was a stir in the darkness. Something was there. Someone familiar. The shadow was weeping, his crying was muffled as he had his face covered behind his hands.

"Jong-Jongin?" The silhouette snapped around and began to run as soon as it saw Taemin. Taemin was quick with his feet as he ran after him, however he came face to face with a dead end once he turned a corner. His hair was matted with sweat against his forehead as he frantically tried to find another way. But he was too late.

Taemin woke up with a jolt and glared into the hallway in his house. He slowly got up from the couch and starred at the floor.

"Taeminnie?" 

Taemin raised his head and looked at the corner of the living room at the mention of his name. There was no one there.

He walked to the kitchen and got himself a glass of cold water, after drinking it, he made his way to the balcony and gazed at the sunset: a distant look in his eyes, recalling the day they first met.

10 years ago...

"Taemin, what do want for your lunch?" his mum shouted from the kitchen.

"Just pack me anything mum!" Taemin replied back whilst he tried to pack all his books into his bag. He was running late because once again he had woken up late for school. He quickly ran out of his room and picked up the lunch box his mum had placed on the kitchen counter, when suddenly his mum called him.

"Wait for Luhan, he's almost ready," his mum said.

"Mum no, he hasn't even woken up yet," Taemin sighed.

Just then Luhan sprinted down the stairs fully dressed in his uniform, and quickly showed a thumbs up motioning that he was ready. Their mum waved at them as they hurriedly left their house slamming the door behind them.

Jongin was watching tv whilst munching on the toast that his mum had prepared for him. He had both his legs on top of the coffee table not caring about the time even though he knew he was going to be late.

"Put your legs down, Jongin," his dad stated as he was reading the newspaper. Jongin listened and put his legs down, but still had his eyes glued to the tv.

"Jongin, I packed you three chicken and bacon sandwiches, your favourite flavoured crisps, a chocolate drink, a bottle of water and some fruits. Is this enough or do you need anything else?" His mother's loving voice asked.

"No mum that's enough, thanks though," Jongin said but still didn't look away from the tv he was watching.

"Stop giving all your food to your friends and try and eat something for yourself as well Jongin," his mum said worriedly.

"Yeah alright mum," he answered back.

"Jongin are you not going to be late for school?" His dad asked his son.

"No dad, the last bell does not go until quarter to nine."

"Why are you going to school before the last bell, leave now or else you're going to be late," his dad said looking at his son.

Jongin reluctantly got up, got his bag that was next to him and was going to leave when his dad called him.

"Jongin, do you not know how to wear a tie properly? When are you going to learn these basic things Jongin?" His dad said disapprovingly at his son as he got up to his feet and fixed Jongin's tie and his blazer collar. Then he patted his shoulder pleased with the way he looked now, and told Jongin that he could leave.

Jongin walked out of his house and quickly got on his motorbike to leave for school, but his mum followed him outside.

"Jongin, go in the car, it looks like it's going to rain," his mum said.

"No mum, I like the motorbike more," he hastily replied as he put the key in and started the vehicle.

"At least wear a rain coat," his mum suggested.

"A rain coat? Mum what do you think is going to happen to my image, if I got to school in a rain coat?" Jongin asked rhetorically. With that he said goodbye to his mum and left.

A few minutes later...

Jongin was soaking wet in the rain. His books were definitely soaked and ripped by now. And to make the situation any better, there was heavy traffic ahead of him.

He sighed and looked around to see if there was any other way he could take to get to school, when he noticed a boy about his age trying to fix his cycle. There was another boy who was younger than him and was making hand gestures which seemed to say that they were running late, and with the look on his face, he was angry. The other boy in return was also making hand gestures motioning for him to wait a little longer.

Looking at the scene a few feet away from him, Jongin (being the very helpful boy he claimed to be) got off his motorbike and walked their way. 

"May I help?" He nearly shouted as the rain was drowning out his voice. 

The boy who was kneeling on the floor trying to fix his cycle's chain looked up at Jongin and got up.

"Thank you. I've been trying to fix it for so long," Taemin said. 

Jongin kneeled down to fix the cycle's chain. Luhan asked who the new boy was by nudging his chin at him and looking at his older brother for an answer. Taemin simply shrugged in return. After a while Jongin got up.

"I fixed it," he said beaming and proud of himself.

"Oh, thank you so much," Taemin said truly grateful for the stranger who helped him.

"What school do you go to?" Jongin asked curiosly.

"Thank you," Taemin said instead, totally ignoring Jongin's question.

Jongin looked confused, not sure whether the boy heard him or not, as the boy moved his cycle and got on. The younger boy looked at Jongin, pitying him, and waved goodbye before he got on the cycle as well, behind his brother. Jongin waved back in return feeling a bit disappointed. 

During break time at school Jongin was in a deep thought as he was not able to forget the boy's face who he saw that morning in the rain. He got an idea and nudged his friend who was next to him watching videos of kittens on his phone. 

"Hey Sehun, do you know what school wears a dark green blazer, black troussers and has leaves as its logo?" 

"Why are you asking Jongin?" Sehun asked playfully.

"Do you know or what?" Jongin asked impatiently.

"I think it's Wallington," Chanyeol answered, who was on the other side of Jongin.

"No, it isn't Wallington," Jongin muttered shaking his head.

"It's Chestnut Grove's uniform Jongin. My sister goes there," said a girl who was in his class, who he didn't notice was standing on the other side of the corridor.

"At least does your sister look nice?" Sehun asked her snickering.

"Oh my god, why are you even talking to that idiot?" The girl who was next to her asked annoyed, at what Sehun said to her friend.

Sehun and Chanyeol just laughed in return not really caring about what the girls said. 'This is going to be a long day,' Jongin thought.

After school:

"Dude, do we really need to pick up the old guy?" Sehun asked as they waited outside the school gates of Chestnut Grove. 

"Yeah dude, he's my friend," Jongin replied watching the gate intently. 

"Why are you even friends with an old person?" Sehun asked. Jongin just ignored him and continued watching the gate as a few students started coming out.

"Seriously dude, who is it?" Chanyeol asked not believing the stupid excuse Jongin came up with.

"A boy. I saw him. In the rain. This morning."Jongin said eyes still roaming for the familiar face. 

"Ahhh that's nice," Sehun complimented smiling at Jongin. Jongin returned the smile to his friend who wasn't so annoyed like he was before. 

He was waiting for about ten minutes but couldn't find the boy he was looking for. After a while he saw him coming with two other boys and the kid he saw with him earlier that day, pushing his cycle with him just like his other two friends.

"He's coming, he's coming, he's coming," Jongin whispered frantically, face beaming.

"I thought he would look a bit better," Sehun said disappointedly.

"Not the short one, the taller one next to him, the one with the brown hair," Jongin pointed out.

"Yeah, I'm talking about the one with the brown hair. The shorter one looks better though," Sehun said as he looked at the boy who was with Taemin that morning.

Jongin gave him a weird look because that kid looked like he was probably twelve years old and Sehun was a whole three years older. 

"Hey Key hyung, when are you going to dye your hair?" Taemin asked as he walked out of the gate with his two friends and Luhan. 

"I don't know, because I still haven't made up my mind on what colour to dye it yet," Key asnwered uncertainly.

"You should probably dye it blonde," Minho suggested. 

"Yeah hyung, dye it blonde it will really sui- Taemin didn't get a chance to finish his sentence because Luhan was shaking his arm violently, trying to get his attention.

"What is it now?" Taemin asked annoyed.

Luhan pointed at the direction where three boys were whispering to each other, looking at him. After a while Taemin realised who it was and quickly turned his head around. 

"Guys, remember when I said a boy helped me fix my cycle chain this morning?" Taemin asked his friends. Both of them nodded, and Taemin looked the way the three boys were still standing, to motion who he was talking about. 

"I feel like they're following me. The one that looks tanned looks a bit dodgy as well, he even asked what school I go to but I ignored him. I didn't even think he would actually come," Taemin explained to his friends. 

Back where Jongin, Sehun and Chanyeol were standing, they could see that the boy noticed them and was now saying something to his friends, peeking at Jongin every few seconds. Then they quickly started to walk faster.

"He's leaving, he's leaving, he's leaving," Jongin said quickly. "Come let's go behind him," he said getting on his motorbike.

"No man, I have a project that's due in, I can't come. Sorry Jongin," Chanyeol said sadly.

"Doesn't matter Jongin, I'll come with you," Sehun said as he quickly got on behind him. Both of them waved goodbye at Chanyeol and started the way the boy had left.

"Bye Luhan, get home carefully," Taemin said as he turned another street heading a different direction to where his house was with both of his friends. Luhan waved goodbye and continued on his way home.

"Oh my- oh- oh my god. Why do they have a cycle if they're not going to ride it?!" Sehun complained trying to catch his breath as Jongin and Sehun were pushing the motorbike with their feet, not riding it. They were sweating because for the past twenty five minutes they had been following the boy without riding the bike, as they were trying to keep a distance between the boy and themselves.

Finally after a while, the boys started to ride their cycles, and Jongin was thanking God, because he definitely could not be pushing the bike with his feet any longer. He started the motorbike and followed the boy.

"I can't believe my mum is still nagging me about going to the USA," Taemin complained.

"Uuh, not again," Minho started, honestly Taemin always talked about this. 

"If I were you, I would surely go," Key said.

"I'm not even interested to go there," Taemin said as they came to a halt. They got off their cycles, parked them outside the building and walked up the stairs.

After a while, Jongin and Sehun stopped outside a building where they saw the boys parking their cycles. Sehun's face immediately formed a frown as he saw the building in front of him.

'Lighthouse Tuition' read the board hanging outside.

"Eww dude, he goes to tuition!" Sehun said disgusted. "We should have just followed the shorter boy," he said. 

Jongin turned around and gave a judging look towards his friend.

"N-no, th-that's not what I mean. We could have found out where he lives if we had followed the shorter boy," Sehun stuttered.

Jongin turned around and looked at the building. Slowly a smile began to form on his lips. 

"No Sehun, this place is way better," he said.

Not knowing what his friend was saying, Sehun starred blankly at Jongin waiting for him to say why this place was better than finding out where he lived. Then realisation hit him. 

"No Jongin, don't let it be what I'm thinking it is. No you can't do that!" Sehun shouted.

Jongin's smile just stretched wider.