Author's Note: (Read to avoid confusion)

This is a special chapter that took place way, way before. This does not effect the story as a whole.

P.S.: This chapter is dedicated to VIXX's leader N.

Hakyeon, the Human, and Leo, the Cockroach

There must be a certain question that’s in every reader’s head. How did Hakyeon, the human, meet Leo, the cockroach? Well, it’s a very long story. But Hakyeon would be more than willing to tell that story to everyone, probably because he loved Leo so much.

Though Hakyeon had only known Leo for almost four years, the history of his love for cockroaches started way before. It all started years ago when he first read Spiderman when he was seven. He believed that if he were bitten by a spider, he’d be the next Spiderman. That was the reason why he avoided being bitten by mosquitoes, afraid that he would be the first Mosquitoman. And so, the seven-year-old did his best to be bitten by spiders to no avail. However, something unfortunate happened. Instead of a spider biting him, a cockroach bit Hakyeon’s hand. The poor boy was depressed for days, thinking that he would be a Cockroachman. At first, he hated it. Until one day, he decided that he’d accept his ‘fate’.

From then on, Hakyeon tried his best to embrace his new-found ability. He started talking to cockroaches.

“It’s been three years since he started talking to cockroaches. He’s ten already, too old for imaginary friends. We have no choice. Let’s bring him to a psychiatrist.” Hakyeon’s father, Mr. Cha, suggested to Mrs. Cha, Hakyeon’s mother.

Mrs. Cha shook her head, rapidly, rejecting her husband’s idea. “No, we won’t do that. That kid has an imagination, so? Just because he is imaginative, you want to lock him up? Nope. We won’t bring him to a psychiatrist.” She said firmly.

Years passed and Hakyeon never stopped talking to cockroaches. He was twenty-two and already a trot singer yet he still talked to cockroaches. In his defense, it’s not because he believed that he was a Cockroachman but because he just found comfort talking to cockroaches (though it was pretty obvious that he was secretly believing that he was Cockroachman).

It was one rainy day and the trot singer was so bored, staying at his own condominium unit alone. He already finished reading ten encyclopedias about cockroaches yet he was still bored. He rolled around his bed. That was when his eyes caught something, a small cockroach was sadly crawling (or walking or whatever people call it). The cockroach, of course, had no expression. But somehow, Hakyeon see-through it. He cried. He was moved by the cockroach who was probably abandoned by its parents.

If only the cockroach could convey its emotion on its face, it would probably give Hakyeon a weirded out glance. Anyone in his or her sane mind would be weirded out by how Hakyeon was acting. But Hakyeon did not seem to get that fact. Instead, he took the cockroach in his hands.

“Don’t worry, little buddy. We’re best friends from now on.” Much to the cockroach’s annoyance, that’s how the 22-year-old Hakyeon became its supposedly best friend. “If we’re going to become friends, I should give you a name, right?” Hakyeon stated. He pursed his lips, thinking hard about the name. The cockroach glared at him – it was amazing how Hakyeon even knew that. “Uh-huh!” Hakyeon exclaimed. “You’re so charismatic. I shall call you Leo.”

From then on, Hakyeon and Leo became the best of friends – at least in Hakyeon’s perspective. The two had an amazing love and hate relationship. Leo would usually pretend to be dead when Hakyeon was around but Hakyeon knew better than to believe in a cockroach. It was amazing how Leo did not abandon Hakyeon. Guess some relationships were really like Tom and Jerry. They teased each other, knocked down, and irritated each other but they knew that they would not be able to live without each other.

Just kidding. Leo had tried to run away from Hakyeon’s side quite a lot of times.

It had only been three months since their meeting and Leo had tried to escape for five times. The reason? Well, nothing, just Hakyeon’s loud mouth. Who would wake up at two in the morning just to tell a cockroach his dreams? Exactly, Cha Hakyeon. Leo had no sleep because of Hakyeon yet that 22-year-old trot singer did not seem to care about the poor cockroach’s sleep.

That’s exactly the reason why Leo tried to escape when Hakyeon was sleeping in the middle of the night. Leo made sure to crawl away as quiet as he could. Now, he wouldn’t want Hakyeon to wake up, right? If he was not a cockroach, Leo would probably be laughing happily when he was finally near the door. But his happiness was sure short-lived. Perhaps, he had killed a king in his past life and karma’s biting his back right at that moment for Hakyeon woke up.

“Leo, where are you going in the middle of the night?” Hakyeon asked in his groggy, obviously sleepy voice yet he still managed to be annoying. “Go back to bed now. I can hear your crawling, I cannot sleep properly.” He muttered, yawning after he spoke.

The cockroach was probably glaring towards Hakyeon already. He would have escaped successfully if not for Hakyeon’s incredible hearing ability. Seriously, how does one hear a cockroach crawling? Oh, right, he was Hakyeon. He was impossible and made every impossible possible. If only the cockroach could, it would have let out a sigh before crawling back to his bed – a doll’s bed that Hakyeon stole from his niece.

“Good boy.” Hakyeon nodded his head. With a satisfied grin, he laid his back on his bed. If he was not a trot singer, he could be a security guard. He’d surely catch a lot of thief with that extremely polished hearing talent.

But hearing was not the only thing that Hakyeon was good at. He could be a great GPS too! Once, Leo had escaped successfully when Hakyeon was working. The cockroach thought that he had successfully escaped from the annoying trot singer after a year of failing only to stood corrected.

Leo went to the city. No one could imagine how hard it was. He even rode a bus just so he could be sure that he was far enough from the already 23-year-old Hakyeon. The cockroach had never felt so free in his whole life until the moment that he escaped!

It was half past seven and Leo was still wandering around, looking for a new home but to no avail. He kind of missed Hakyeon but there was no way that he’d come back. That guy was like an annoying girlfriend – kind yet plain annoying. There’s no way—

All of a sudden, Leo felt himself being lifted up above the ground and then he was enveloped in a hug. He knew exactly who it was though he did not know exactly how he was found.

“Leo! You’ve been here all along!” Yup. It was Hakyeon. His annoying voice – for Leo, at least – confirmed it all. “I’ve been worried sick! I thought I won’t see you ever again. When I went home, you’re already gone. So, I asked the cockroaches where you went. Then, I went looking for you. I asked the other households and even the bus drivers if they have seen a cockroach. Some of them did but I know that those were not you. They’re copy-cats.” Hakyeon babbled.

Leo would not want to admit but he found it amazing how Hakyeon could differentiate cockroaches from one another. Because you in their right mind could do that? Definitely not Hakyeon because he was not in his right mind. Yup. Definitely not in his right mind.

“Anyway, luckily, I met this guy walking around the city. He has a large nose and he looks foreign. He told me that he saw a charismatic cockroach walking alone and I knew right away that it was you.” Hakyeon continued to babble. Leo was secretly flattered because it was not every day that a cockroach would receive compliments. “Leo, promise me that you’ll never leave home again, okay?”

Of course, Leo did not promise Hakyeon that. In fact, the cockroach tried to escape quite a lot more times after that but to no avail. Hakyeon always – as in always – found a way to find him. Be it using his sense of hearing, smell, vision, or simply asking around, Hakyeon always found Leo.

But that’s just how they were – Hakyeon, the human and Leo, the cockroach.

Author's Note: 

Like last time, I will also update next week, Wednesday (GMT+8), if I receive 5 comments. If not, I'll update the week after. However, I will update a birthday special for VIXX's Hyuk.

Thanks for reading and commenting! ^^

Special thanks to all those who commented. And to those who upvoted, marlia91, LeeJi98, Karenkitty1092, Taotic, and Sweatervest_Suho, thank you so much! It means a lot to me.