-C H A P T E R O N E-

Day One

His Monkey Plush Toy

Donghae

The heavy oak door opened with quite a slam as I barged in with Tiffany Hwang clinging on to her life in my arms, sweat dripping off my forehead as I dashed her to the bed and called for the doctor.

            “Hyung, Tiffany’s down, she needs immediate help!” I screamed, “…and probably, a nice cup of tea?”

Tiffany giggled and shook her head when I changed the she’s-in-danger-somebody-help-her-or-she’ll-die-soon tone in my voice to a butler-like, good-morning-my-lady-what-shall-I-serve-you-today tone, winking at her while turning the kettle on to start preparing her some tea.

Leeteuk peeked from behind the wall of the small compartment which he calls his office, his glasses resting slightly lower on the bridge of his nose as he nibbled the end of his ball point pen. From the looks of it, he was probably bored out his head before I came.

“Oh, looks like Prince Donghae has found another damsel in distress,” he said mockingly, just to annoy me before smiling at Tiffany, pushing himself off his chair and put on his white coat. “What seems to be the problem?”

“Tiffany has a bit of a fever,” I immediately answered on my classmate’s behalf. Okay, carrying her in my arms (yes, I carried her bridal style; now don’t be jealous ladies) was a bit overreacting, but hey, the poor girl was sick. And it is my duty as a member of the student council to bring her to the doctor’s office before anything bad happens.

Really, I should be given an award for this, ‘Lee Donghae, Most Helpful of The Year’ or at least, the Prince of Health.

            I think I went a bit too far there. But a guy can dream right? I am pretty much like a prince in this school, not to brag or anything but I just am. It’s always me who signs up first when it comes to helping a friend in need which explains my wide circle of friends in this school.

            “Your temperature had gone up pretty high, you should’ve come here sooner,” Leeteuk hyung told my classmate with a fret, putting away the thermometer in the sterilizer.

Tiffany smiled sheepishly, her cheeks turning slightly pink probably because of the heat, “I wanted to, but I didn’t want to disturb the lesson,” she said softly. “But luckily Donghae-sshi noticed and offered to take me here,”

            “It was nothing,” I beamed at her, feeling rather full of myself and filled the admission form on her behalf. “It was a good chance to skip class anyway, History was getting kind of slow for me,”

            “Well despite the fact that you did that intentionally to skip Jongwoon’s class; that was pretty nice of you Donghae, I can see why you’re so popular,” Leeteuk commented, lightly pressing on his stiff shoulders. “You are pretty cute yourself…aish, my shoulders are feeling stiff,”

I let out a slight chuckle and quickly massage Leeteuk hyung’s shoulders, “Aish hyung. You don’t have to compliment me so much; I would’ve massaged your shoulders for you if you just ask,”

That wasn’t a lie; I’m just a er for compliments, which is why I like doing good deeds in the first place. The feeling when people (especially the daughters of Eve) starts showering me with praises is such a good feeling, I feel like kissing everybody- with an exception to guys, that is.

            As I pleasure my exhausted hyung’s tensed shoulder with my gifted hands for massaging, my gaze fell on a cute monkey plush toy in a devil’s costume, which apparently had awaken my inner fanboy self.

            “Hyung, I’ve never seen this in your office before,” I asked, trying very hard to hold my fanboy spazzing as I pick the palm-sized toy up and examine it, eyes twinkling the moment I realized that I wasn’t wrong when I saw the design.

            “The toy?” Leeteuk asked, sounding uninterested. “I got it from a friend; there was actually a reason to why he gave me that…”

            “Are you kidding me? Your friend gaveyou this for free?”

Well there goes my inner fanboy-ness.

“This is a limited edition Zodiac Plushie Collection.  There’s only three of them in Korea right now- well the monkey version that is. I managed to get my hands on two already, but the Devil Monkey is just impossible to get. Oh my god the things I’d do just to get my hands on the whole set. All twelve of them would make me a multi-billionaire,” I practically exploded with enthusiasm. “There’s a reason why the Devil Monkey is so special too, the pitchfork its holding is actually a real pitchfork made from pure, solid gold,”

I can feel that Leeteuk was giving me the what-the--is-he-talking-about look judging from the silence that followed after my spasm of fanboy drabbles. But come one, the monkey has a golden pitchfork. Doesn’t that interest you even at the slightest?

Okay, other than the fact that I love helping people I also have a ing crazy healthy obsession for stuffed toys. Don’t give me any looks now, I know I'm a boy but blame my mother for buying me these things for every single occasion. Heck, she even encourages me to buy these things using my allowance money. And it’s not that bad, I only have a few now since I tend to give them away to my classmates for their birthdays.

            “You seem to know a lot about stuffed toys, Donghae,” Leeteuk finally spoke once she gave Tiffany her medicine.

          “Well it’s only because they’re fun once you start collecting. You see they make really good decorations and-”

            “For god’s sake, will you shut the up?”

Immediately I shut my mouth, surprised to know there was another student occupying one of the beds. The fabric that was draping one of the beds was pulled to reveal a rather familiar dishevelled figure with messy brown hair, looking like he was ready to murder someone, which was obviously me.

            “This is a freaking infirmary darn it, which mean you should really keep your ramblings to yourself,” he continued, sounding like I had annoyed the living s out him (which I did) before our gazes met. Unconsciously we both frowned at each other as a form of greeting. “I had a feeling it was you,” he added in a raspy tone.

            “Well I never knew you were there, I wouldn’t have spoken so loud if I did,” I replied rather honestly. Mind you, I wasn’t feeling sorry that I disturbed his sleep; believe me; I’d be more than glad to do that. In fact I wish to keep him up all night if I could so he wouldn’t be able to play his precious soccer the next day due to extreme exhaustion. Yes people. I hate this kid, as much as I hate the colour pink thanks to my middle school friend, Sungmin for giving me a pink thong for my birthday for as long as he knew me.

The boy before me ruffled his hair and got off the bed, buttoning up his shirt when he realize Tiffany was within radar, staring at his perfectly engineered abs that was, to even my amazement, visible through the wife beater he was wearing inside.

            “Show off,” I muttered, blocking Tiffany’s view on purpose so that she wouldn’t corrupt her sweet, innocent mind. Like seriously, who the wears two layers of clothing in this heat? It’s summer, but knowing this guy he probably enjoys doing a in front of the girls as he takes off his shirt to leave just his wife beater on before joining his soccer team for a playoff.

This guy, Lee Hyukjae. He the school’s famous jock mainly because he’s a little good looking, well not as good looking as me but girls find him y (yes, y. I know. Lets gag yesterday’s dinner out of our system, people) in just about everything he does.

Well his clear, milky white complexion was quite astounding being that he spends his waking hours sweating himself under the sun chasing after a ball; and his perfect jaw line was a winner with a touch of that burning charisma of his whether he’s on or off the field, so I guess it’s understandable why Tiffany looked as if Hyukjae had stripped himself the moment she saw him.

            “Ah, Hyukjae sshi, sorry; is your head still hurting? Do you want to go back to sleep?” Leeteuk asked, sounding concerned. Well, he gets paid for doing it and he’s the school doctor, but if you ask me, really; there’s no need to show even the slightest bit of concern to Hyukjae.

            “No thanks, hyung. This blabber mouth woke me up anyway. Just give me some medicine,” Hyukjae replied with a grunt, looking at my direction.

            “Pfft, headache, huh?” I snorted. “Bet you just wanted to skip class,”

            “Like you’re the one to talk, Donghae,” Leeteuk chipped in, shaking his head as he handed Hyukjae his pills.

I noticed Hyukjae was staring at me as he gulped down his medicine and I couldn’t resist the urge to yell “What?” right back at the cynical look on his face.

Here it comes…

            “You cut off your bangs again!” he yelled back teasingly, grinning evilly at me. “Hah, you were ugly enough back then, but now you’re super ugly!”

My hand immediately went up to my forehead and brushed my bangs off my face. Darn it. Of all the people, why him? I wouldn’t mind if it was Lee Hyori who saw my horrid hair but why him, Lee Hyukjae. God, I will never hear the end of this. Somebody just kill me now. Or better yet, kill him.

            “Oh shut it Monkey, quit making fun of other people’s hair. In a few years time you’ll be kissing your hair goodbye - including the ones off your head. Yeah, Hyukjae; we both know you’re going to end up bald someday, it’s in your monkey genes, remember?” I shot back at his face and boy it was sweet seeing the way his expression change when I made fun of his family’s genes.

            “You take that back you darn Fishy! Or I’ll make you pay for making fun of my genes!”

Well I didn’t mean to be rude, but it really is in his genes. His dad is bald, his grandfather is, and I think overheard him complaining to his mother that his hair loss is getting worrisome a few months ago. So that was a valid point of argument.

Oh you might be curious as to why I called him Monkey and he calls me Fishy. Obviously it’s to annoy the living out of the other  but on the other hand, it’s also what we used to call each other when were kids.

Back then it was sort of endearing, even though I don’t know how it can be considered as a form of affection from calling another person a stupid, annoying primate that never knows when to settle down no matter how many bananas you give him (I have issues with monkeys, okay?) but then again, I was only seven. On another part, Hyukjae himself looks like a monkey, and I wouldn’t call him that if he didn’t say I look like a fish when I had my mouth open.

Heck, the bastard was a jerk even when he was a kid. How was I friends with him in the first place? Anyway, now that we are perfectly grown men, able to solve an argument like this maturely-

            “Now that I look at you, are you sure you weren’t name East Sea because you look like a fish the moment you arrived in this world? Your mom must’ve been shocked she screamed the name ‘East Sea’ by mistake because you remind her of a fish,”

Oh, he did not just say that.

            “What did you just s-”

My, my…you two are worse than kids.

            I paused. Did somebody just talked?  And is that a chuckle I'm hearing? I looked around the room, all the beds seemed to be vacant and there’s only Leeteuk, Hyukjae, Tiffany and I in this room. I could swear I heard a voice talking, and I know it was someone else.

Hyukjae raised an eyebrow as he watched me scan around the room as if there’s a hidden limited edition plush toy hidden in the room somewhere other than the Devil Monkey.

            “Did you hear that?” I asked Leeteuk, “I thought I heard somebody talking, and chuckling too. It sounded like a man, but rather effeminate. You know, like those man-divas you see on TV…”

            Leeteuk looked at me, his face showing both confusion and amusement mixed together and maybe, if I'm reading his face right, freaked out. “Did you say…d-diva?” he stuttered. “Err, no. I don’t think so…”

            Despite my lack of confidence in the older one’s reply, I simply brushed it off. “It’s strange though. Well, anyway…I’ll be off to class then, take care Fanny-ah!” I said, winking at my classmate before shifting my gaze to Hyukjae, changing it into a glare. “And you better not be talking s about me behind my back, bastard,”

I stomped my way out and slammed the door behind me, frowning as I tried fixing my hair along the way, but failed miserably. He would always notice the changes I do, whether it’s good or bad, he’s always the first to point it out. Guess he’s still the same old observant friend he is.