Jongin first sees him when he's fourteen. Set before sundown, in a training room filled with the stench of his own sweat, a mop of dark hair and deep eyes with his lips set in a seemingly permanent straight line, nodded at him through the mirror from behind, startling him. The boy however, did not seem to realise.

"Do you mind if I use this room?" the boy asked. Jongin doesn't remember nodding his head but the boy entered and tossed his bag beside Jongin's anyway. 

"So, are you new here?" Jongin asks politely, trying to initiate a conversation between the two. He tilts his head before nodding slightly.

"Not all that new. 6 months isn't that new right? I'm Sehun by the way, seeing that you don't really recognise me." Sehun said, a coy smile playing along his lips. Jongin thinks that this one has got a character.

"O-oh. I'm Jongin. Kim Jongin. Sorry I haven't seen you around, it's just that it's pretty packed in here with all the new trainees a-and," he gives Sehun a sheepish smile and a small shrug, "I guess you aren't that easy to spot in the crowd."

Sehun sticks his tongue out playfully as Jongin smacks his back with a "Aww buddy, c'mon." They end up practicing together till its near midnight before they go for supper, soda in their cups and huge bowls overflowing with spicy ramyun. 

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"Oh. My. Gosh. Tell me I did not spend this whole week's allowance on five bowls of ramyun and three litres of soda," Jongin groans, a hand on his stomach as Sehun laughs heartily. Their faces were both red due to the spices in the soup, and they were more than bloated.

"I feel for you bro. In fact, I think I'm about to explode." Sehun replies.

Apart from the fact that he doesn't explode, and instead lets out a long and loud burp, which causes Jongin to laugh so hard that he begins to hiccup and Sehun declares that they have to order another bottle of soda (they pay for whole bottle using small change and they don't even care that the cashier seems pissed). Jongin doesn't even remind him that the soda won't help, and as they walk out of the ramyun store (chased out, apparently), Sehun gives Jongin a satisfied smile. They both chug down the bottle in a matter of seconds and they don't even care if they would be bloated tomorrow (neither do they care that they both burp at least 10 times on the way back, and each burp was loud enough to wake the neighbourhood at this time of the night). 

Because for today, they're happy.

Bloated, foolish, and ridiculously happy. 

"Hey bro," Sehun chuckles as he pats Jongin on the back. "I'll see you around."

"Rest well, and we should really do this more often," Jongin smiles back.

He's elated when Sehun nods back in agreement before they part, and he feels great. Scratch that. In fact, he felt amazing. This night was so much fun. And boy was he lucky, he had made such a great friend. 

Perhaps that was when every thing started to go wrong.

The paper boat sets sail.

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A/N: oh my lovely subscribers, i am so sorry for not updating this in FOREVER. either way, the first chapter is up and it is terribly short. but fret not, the following chapters are promising. and about that cryptic last sentence......... have fun guessing my friends (;