Synxis.

 

It has been approximately fifteen years, eight hours and twenty-five minutes since Minseok was born into this world. It’s now 8.25 am in the morning, and he’s sitting on his bed with half-closed eyes and a bedhead. Yes, he was born at midnight, exactly when the clock strikes the number 12, and everyone said that he’s a special child.

 

But right now, he feels anything but special.

 

He can’t hear a sound, his left hand hurts, and his head is pounding so hard that he wouldn’t be shocked if it burst anytime now. Fortunately it didn’t, and slowly he gets up from his bed and head outside. When he exited his room, he still doesn’t hear a sound, except from his breathing and his pounding head. Which means that nobody is home. With a shrug, he headed towards the dining room, and as soon as he stepped his foot inside, he can smell the sweet scent of sweet potato porridge. He actually had planned to wash up first, but with the condition of his hand and the grumbling of his tummy, he decided that he can do that later.

Without a second thought, he digs in. He’s lucky that he broke his left hand and not his right, so he can still eat and do many other activities by himself. Today is workday, and his father had gone to work, while his sister had gone to school. His mother is also not home, which means she’s probably gone to help Mrs. Beth in the market again.

If not for his broken arm, Minseok should’ve gone to school himself. By now he would probably be sitting in class listening to teacher Jun’s lecture. But he’s on a sick leave, because he just had to fell down from a slope two days ago when he was hunting in the woods. He just had to. Now he won’t be able to spend his birthday having fun, he won’t be able to hunt for a few days, and he also won’t be able to play with his friends. He won’t be able to help in the market, and he most definitely won’t be able to swin in the lake.

 

How he hates his clumsiness.

 

Feeling the tears that are threatening to fall, Minseok hurriedly ate his porridge and stood up, deciding that all he need right now is just to feel the cool breeze of spring againts his skin and the scent of early morning grass filling his nose. And he could get all that by the side of the lake. So off to the lake he goes.

 

Minseok is always fond of ice and snow. No doubt that his favorite season is winter, and he have a high tolerance towards cold. He loves how the snow falls onto the ground, or how the lake freezes upon the cold, or how the snowflakes would shine brightly against his skin before disappearing completely like it never even existed. He loves the feeling of the snow against his face and the cold against his skin. Minseok has always have a warmer body wamth than most people, so he feels very comfortable in the cold.

But when winter is over, all the ice and snow melts into water and disappear from the ground. The lake changes back to it’s liquid state, and the temperature rises back from minus. So when it’s not winter, Minseok makes do with the cool water of the lake. The area around the lake is always cooler than the other areas in town, so Minseok spends most of his time there. Either it be playing with his friends, hanging out with his sister, or simply spending his alone time. Today, it’s the latter.

 

As soon as he reached the lake, he started running, as he can feel the tears slowly breaking out from his eyes. He plopped himself down by the edge of the lake and removed his shoes, before plunging his feet into the water. Only then does tears start to roll down his cheeks.

Usually on his birthday, he would be spending the day playing around and having fun. After school he would go to the market with his friends to mess around, and they would after that go to the lake for a swin. Then his sister would come and they would eat his mother’s food and spend a mini picnic there by the lake. And after spending his days with his friends he would go home, and spend the rest of the day happily with his family. His mother would bake him his favorite cake, and his father would tell funny stories that will result in the family doubling in laughter.

Usually, his birthday is the best day of the year for him.

 

This year, his birthday is the worst day in the year for him.

 

He’s alone, he can’t even bask in the lake’s cool water, his head is pounding, his left hand is broken and it hurts, and he’s crying. No matter how strong the wind blows, he’s still crying. He does not found himself comforted by the cold breeze.

 

A much to cold breeze for a day in spring.

 

A much too cold water for a lake in the spring.

 

After minutes of crying, he found himself slightly feeling better. The pounding in his head is gone and although his hand still hurts, he doesn’t feel as sad anymore. But something is wrong. For some reason, the temperature is colder than normal spring temperatures. It’s starting to feel like winter. And his feet…

Shocked, Minseok pulled out his feet from the water and finally paid the lake a look. It wasfrozen. The lake was frozen like how it would be in the winter. Strangely the spot where his feet had been was not frozen, but after he took out his feet it also started to froze, slowly, until all of the surface turns into ice.

He stood up, his hurting hand long forgotten, as he saw that the grass where he was sitting just now is also frozen. They have turned into ice. With his heart racing and his mind a jumbled mess, he took a careful step back. And indeed, the grass that he stepped on went frozen. Then he can feel all the blood gone from his legs, and his arms, and his body. He felt the dark engulfing him and he fell.

 

Fifteen years old Minseok just saw the lake freezing in the warmth of spring.

---

 

 

“Yixiiiing!”

 

“Zhang Yixing!!!”

 

A boy peeked his head from behind a door.

 

“There you are! I have been searching for you.”

 

After a minute of silence, the cogs in the boy’s head finally snaps into place and his eyes brighten at the sight of his dearest person.

 

“Mamaaa!!!!”

 

Soon the woman finds herself being engulfed by the not-so-tiny-anymore boy.

 

“Zhang Yixing! You’re fifteen years old now, stop acting like a five years old child,” a scolding voice could be heard from the other side of the hallway.

“Ah, Ma, I’m home,” the woman unlatched herself from his son and bowed down towards her own mother.

“Welcome back, Lili. How was your journey?”

“It was wonderful Ma. But of course, I’m very glad to be home.”

“Yixing, make your mother a cup of tea. We’ll talk inside,” the nearly-seventy years old lady urged her daughter.

While Yixing went off to make tea just as his grandma requested of him, the pair of mother and daughter went inside the living room and sat themselves down.

“Where is father?”

The question was followed by a minute-long silence.

“He’s been down with a cold for the past two days. He’s been working himself too hard, I believe. But he’s better now, and he’s been planning on paying his loyal assistant a visit tomorrow.”

“Mr. Kim? Hasn’t he been moved to work in the other village?”

“Indeed, but he decided that it’s time for him to see what Mr. Kim had done. Although, we’re sure that he’d done a great job on structuring that village. It’s more lively there now I heard. Oh, and he planned on bringing Yixing along.”

At the statement, the daughter arched her eyebrow.

“Yixing? Why?”

“He said Mr. Kim have a son that’s around Yixing’s age, so he was hoping that Yixing would acquire a friend from that visit.”

Lili let out a tone of understatement, and just then, Yixing entered the room with three cups of tea. He set the tea on the table in front of his mother and grandma, before he himself plopped himself down beside his mother.

“Thank you, Yixing,” both his mother and grandma thanked.

He nodded, his dimple showing itself.

 

“Maybe you should tell us about your trip, Lili?”

---

 

 

He had dressed himself in his best attire today. His father had told the whole family at dinner yesterday that the village’s leader is coming to visit them today. He told them to dress their best and act their best manner, while he himself went to greet the village’s leader by the village’s gate.

Minseok’s father had been working as the village’s leader assistant for years before the village’s leader, Mr. Zhang, gave him the opportunity to prove his leadership. He was given the task of structuring the other village that Mr. Zhang found on his way home from a trip. The village that he found was so small and poor and it doesn’t have a sturdy foundation. So his father moved to the village and started working on structuring the village to life. Minseok’sfather also met his mother there, and they married, had Minseok and his sister, and have been living there since. His father would often visits his home village and meet Mr. Zhang, but personally, Mr. Zhang never really came to the village himself. He only heard and knew about the village from his father and other worker’s report.

After years Mr. Zhang finally decided to visit them, so Minseok supposed that there must be some special occasion. He needs to look and act his best indeed.

 

Minseok and his sister were sitting in the living room while their mother prepared tea when they heard the sound of the front door opening they immediately stood up, waiting for their guest to get inside.

From the door enter five people, Minseok’s father, an elderly man he supposed is Mr. Zhang, a boy around his age, and two men with formal clothing. He supposed those two men are some kind of the village’s men bodyguard or maybe personal assistants.

“Good morning,” both Minseok and his sister, Sohee, chorused.

The guests greeted back, commenting here and there about the pair of siblings. Not long after they all sat themselves down in the quite spacious living room, Minseok’s mother entered the living room with cups of tea, setting them all down on the coffee table while exchanging greetings.

“It’s an honor to have you here, Mr. Zhang,” his father started after his mother sat herself down.

“Ah, yes, I see you’ve done a great job in structuring this village. It’s very lively here now. As expected, you don’t disappoint, Kim.”

“Thank you, Mr. Zhang,” his father ended his sentence with a laugh.

“Now, while we talk and reminisce the past a bit here, how about we let your beautiful children show Yixing here around town?”

At Mr. Zhang’s words, Minseok and Sohee took their cue and led the young man out. Turns out, the young man, whose name is Yixing, is Mr. Zhang’s grandson.

 

“Nice to meet you Yixing! I’m Kim Minseok, and this is my little sister Kim Sohee.”

“Hi Yixing-oppa,” Sohee smiled.

“It’s okay to call you that right?” she added after a beat.

“Sure, sure it’s okay,” Yixing’s corner of the lips tug upwards, showing his sweet dimple.

“Right! Now, where should we go?”

 

The group decided to play around the village, from the houses complex to the village center, from the shops to the market. And after spending hours playing around, the three of them grew close. Yixing is a very friendly person, and although he is quite slow at times and is very sincere, just like a small child, he can still joke around and have fun. Minseok and Sohee immediately like him, just as he immediately likes the pair. So by the end of the day, just before sunset, the pair of siblings decided to show Yixing their favorite place.

The lake by the edge of the village.

Yixing was very excited when they told him their next destination. He admitted that he really likes the water, and that it must be refreshing to soak in thelake’s cool water in this warm temperature. So off they go with springs in their steps, and as soon as they arrived by the lake, they plopped their feet into the cool water, enjoying the warm breeze and the nice scent of flowers. They spend the time with small talks here and there, getting to know each other closely. They then made a promise that they would play with each other again. Yixing would visit them when he’s got some free time, and the Kim siblings are also going to convince their parents to let them visit the main village to meet Yixing.

“There’s sooo many things that I could show you! Oh oh and we definitely need to go to Mrs. Marie’s stall! She serves some very delicious baozi and soups!” In some point Yixing got carried away in trying to tell the siblings what they could do in Yixing’s home village, and the siblings can’t help but chuckle at Yixing’s adorable accent.

Yixing was just explaining about the villagers and all the different things they do, when a huge wind came up and they were all hit in the face and fell down on their back. After some several moment of shock and silence, they broke out into a laugh.

“Hahaha I got too carrie–“

“CHIIII!!!!”

Sohee gasped as she looked at her new friend, his usual half-lidded eyes now wide open. Her friend Yixing was gaping at the small bit of the frozen lake, a look of shock clearly shown on his face. The frozen bit of grass glistened under the sunlight, and Yixing could see no steam coming out despite the difference of temperature between the frozen grass and the sunlight. He looked at Minseok, his new friend who had just sneezed before all the froze came crashing towards the small bit of lake and the grass.

“Yi-Yixing..this… uh…. I-I mean–“ Sohee sputtered.

“I think you caught the spring flu,” was all that Yixing could muster out from his still-gaping mouth.

He can’t believe that there’s someone like him.

 

 

 

.....

I was at school when SM decided to release that exactos thingy and omg can I just sit here and cry? How can you guys even decode those teasers I feel so stupid T_T

Oh well, here's chapter one!

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