"How do you know my name?" 

The man gasped and threw his hand up over his mouth as if the gesture could retract the sharp intake of breath. "I am so sorry." The pink shade over his cheeks intensified. "How rude of me not to have given you my name when I know yours. Please don't think me a creep or anything like it."

"Now that you mention it." Youngjae hummed and tilted his chin somewhat up towards the ceiling. He held firm to his nonchalant expression as the need to recoil hummed through his nerves. It was incomprehensible to think he had just responded in a manner that evoked a sense of light-hearted playfulness. You greet strangers with the mentality that they will stay strangers. Youngjae had stuck to that maxim for as long as he could recall so just now, why had he failed to follow through on it? 

The man gazed at him pensively. The smallest glimmer of a smile appeared, giving his cheeks the opportunity to show a softer side to his otherwise sharp features. "Yugyeom," he said in the split second before Youngjae turned to face him.

"What?"

The man smiled. "Oh, see. There I go again not making any sense." He tipped his head forward and in one fluid motion, folded his hands behind his lower back. "My name is Yugyeom," he said as he dipped forward ever so slightly. "A pleasure to have finally made your acquaintaince." 

Youngjae felt his heart thump lightly against his chest. "Hello, Yugyeom. Nice to meet you, too." 

The man's shoulders relaxed from the tension Youngjae could only assume came from the fear of rejection. Youngjae bit back his unethused feelings about the way he had spoken to him up to this point. If he had already made the mistake of acting like someone who could be confided in then there was no point in feigning indifference now. "But, there is one thing you forgot."

Yugyeom jerked upwards. He swallowed. "Yes?"

"You haven't answered my question."

# 

Youngjae headed to his work station. It wasn't until he was rummaging through the last of his drawers that he realized he had placed the bottle of fertilizer underneath his desk. He stooped and found it toppled over on the ground. He picked it up and pulled up, forgetting that he was underneath the desk. He smacked straight into it and groaned. His pinprick of a headache morphed into a pulsating monstrosity intent on holding him back.

Youngjae reached back and rubbed the back of his head. He had meant to set his materials down before heading to the vending machines near the gym for some much-needed food but the thought of finding someone in here had knocked the thought aside. 

Sighing, he stood and pressed his palms to the desk. While he waited for the incesstant throbbing to subside, he scanned the large desktop calendar taped to the center of his desk. As his eyes moved from the dates to the reminders scribbled in the upper right hand corner, a bright pink note caught his attention. He reached out and peeled it away from the tiny colored cactus on the corner of his desk. 

Hello, 

Leaving this note because I didn't want to wake you. I'm Yugyeom. Well, not the note. (>< Sorry, bad pun) ... 
I'll be working in the conservatory with you from now on. Please do take care of me. 

Sincerely, 

Yugyeom [I'm sorry I don't know which honorific to use]

Youngjae read over the note another few times- paying particular attention to the middle. It was refreshing to meet a character like Yugyeom's. A little on the odd side but someone who was likely to stick to his way of living life. Youngjae might even consider the note endearing. 

He folded the note before placing it in the recycling bin near his desk. With the headache having numbed out to a bearable pounding, Youngjae headed back towards Yugyeom. 

There was only one hose throughout the entire conservatory. There was never a need for more then one anyways. Before Youngjae, the students who worked within the conservatory's embrace didn't have to worry about feeding the plants since there was a gardener who cared for them. She was an elderly woman who made her rounds every so often within the week. On occassion, she would stroll through the school with her Pomeranian, much to the administration's chagrin.

It wasn't until 'supplemental' budgetary cuts came sometime last year within the winter that the gardener was dismissed among a set of other changes. While some students did notice the woman with the Pomeranian no longer appeared on campus, no one actually missed her. Not even the students who were conducting their work within the conservatory since by the time she was fired, they had already graduated some days earlier.

Youngjae was recalling the inexplicably warm day in March when he met the gardener for the first and last time when a voice filtered into his head. The concrete image of Mrs. Lim entrusting the plants to Youngjae dispersed into a hazy set of feelings before ultimately flitting away. 

Youngjae snapped to attention within the conservatory. In front of him was a succulent that threatened to break free from its now too-small ceramic container. It had grown so much since he came to the conservatory some weeks ago and while Youngjae was surprised to see the change, didn't mind it. In fact, he welcomed it. From what Mrs. Lim had told him, it seemed as if no amount of nutrients or sunlight would ever bring it up to its full potential. Seeing it now, with its swollen appearance and thick, sturdy spikes, Youngjae felt his heart swell with pride. The succulent had won the battle against whatever was trying to keep it from flourishing. 

A soft grunt from Yugyeom. Followed by an apology. "I didn't mean to startle you. Well, no, that's not entirely true. I-" Another grunt.

Confused by the sounds, Youngjae looked over his shoulder. He had just enough time to make note that Yugyeom was nowhere in his line of sight before he realized that he was high above the ground. Youngjae yelped and instinctively wrapped an arm around the silver step in front of him. He shut his eyes and clung to what he realized was a ladder. He was so engrossed in his memory to have noticed where his legs had taken him.

"Oh, God. Now I'm really sorry." Yugyeom threw down the hose and hurried over to Youngjae's side. 

Youngjae shook his head. He tried to bite back the stream of laughter that bubbled up inside his throat, to no avail. The sound escaped and he felt his muscles relax. "Don't apologize. As you'll more then likely come to see, I zone out quite often."

"But-"

"Really, I'm okay. I didn't fall, did I?"  

Yugyeom looked down at his empty hands before looking up at Youngjae with a sheepish smile. "No, you didn't." 

Youngjae looked away. He was probably looking too far into the innocent gesture. There was no way Yugyeom could be the slightest bit erse. Jaebum was beginning to rub off on him with all the wrongness of his entity.

Youngjae thought back to what Yugyeom was saying earlier before he zoned out. The words "medical" and "student" were the only two that surfaced through the haze. Taking a jab with his best guess, Youngjae tried to continue the conversation. "So you dropped out of the medical field?" He climbed down the ladder.

"Yeah." Yugyeom started fiddling with his fingers. "I tried my hand as a doctor and then a coroner but as my mind will have it, there is no difference between the living and the dead if I have to cut either open."

"What? That means you are from the city."

"How did you know?" He looked up at Youngjae with a sense of purity only a child untainted by troubles could offer. He must have had a life devoid of worry or woe. But who was Youngjae to make assumptions? No one could guess the life he had lived. 

"Because this school doesn't offer those kinds of services for medical students. Not even the biology kids get to stay in town. You can do your first two years towards your bachelors but after that, it's to the city you go." 

"But you guys aren't even a small town. Why doesn't the school offer apprenticeships here?"

Youngjae shrugged. "Guess it's easier for the school to control their resources that way." He ambled over to the plants Yugyeom had been watering earlier. He pressed two fingers to the top before digging in slightly. Surprisingly, he had watered them perfectly. 

From the corner of his eye, Youngjae noticed the flaming red hose and the sounds from earlier resounded through his head. He reached over and grabbed the hose. "Were you trying to turn the knob?" He stood and looked over at Yugyeom. Portions of his beige shirt were darker in shade from where the water had seeped into the thick fabric.  

Yugyeom lowered his gaze and smiled. He pulled his shirt back, only to have it slam back onto his skin with a wet thud. "Guess you could say that." 

"It won't do you much good but if you would like," Youngja