"It's so... empty here..." Donghae mumbled and looked through Hyukjae's empty bedroom.

His parents had let them sleep till the forenoon, but eventually they could no longer postpone it and so Mrs Lee went upstairs and woke the boys with a heavy heart.

Now, the two boys were standing in the middle of an empty room, holding each other's hand and Donghae's sad eyes wandered over the bare walls.

They both knew that they barely had more time, because they could hear Hyukjae's parents from below and through the open front door while they loaded the last crates in their car and the big truck.

"Hyukjae? Are you coming?" Mr Lee shouted from below and brought the penultimate crate with some important things of his son into his car.

Donghae drew a sharp breath when Hyukjae suddenly squeezed his hand tight, but neither looked at him or moved.

"I'm sorry..." Hyukjae whispered and immediately loosened his grip on Hae's hand, as he felt the wince of Donghae. "Ferry you... do- do you come with us?"

"Of course!" Donghae smiled fondly, nodded and gave Hyukjae a kiss on the cheek and grinned as the older blushed a deep shade of red.

"HYUKJAE! DONGHAE!" Now Mrs Lee called for them and with a last sigh, the two boys turned around and left the house.

With a last glance over his shoulder, Hyukjae said goodbye to his home and rose along with Donghae into the car.

During the ride to the airport, neither Hyukjae nor Donghae spoke a word. They just sat next to each other in the back seat and held the hand of the other, while Hyukjae rested his head on his friend's shoulder

Also at the airport the two were unnaturally quiet, so that their parents eyed them repeatedly with suspicion, yet always smiled when they saw that Donghae and Hyukjae just sat there, hand in hand, and talked quietly.

"It will be hard for the two..." Hyukjae's mother sighed finally and turned to Donghae's mother. "They are so attached to each other..."

"Yes... I think if he had the chance, Hae would immediately fly you..." Donghae's mother nodded with a smile. "But we're living in the 20th century. But hey, they have mobile phones and the Internet."

"That's true... but I can imagine that it's not the same for the two." Mrs. Lee said, looked up when her husband came back to her and whispered softly into her ear. She sighed and shook her head as she watched Hyukjae and Donghae out of the corner of her eye.

"Uhm, Hae..." Hyukjae said softly, without looking up from his feet, pulled something carefully out of his pocket.

"Mh?" questioningly, Donghae looked up.

"I... I want to... to give you something!" Hyukjae mumbled with a blush, as he held his closed fist over Donghae's lap.

Perplex, Donghae looked from him at his fist before he held his hand under Hyukjae's and caught what the latter let drop.

His eyes widened in surprise when he realized that it was a chain which Hyukie had given him. A fine silver chain with a little monkey as a pendant. "Hyukie what-"

"As a gift!" Hyukjae cut him mid-sentence, as the blush on his cheeks still darkened. "So... so that you don't forget me!"

"AWWW ~!" giggling, Donghae wrapped his arms around Hyukjae's neck and hugged him. "Thank you!" he whispered that only Hyukjae could hear him. "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! And I have something for you too..."

Now it was Donghae, who pulled something from his pocket and pressed it a puzzled Hyukjae into the hand.

Hyukjae cautiously opened his hand and had to blink several times before he could smile at Donghae with watery eyes. "Thank you..." he said softly, but with a cracked voice and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "It's really beautiful..."

He held the same fine silver chain, which he had previously given to Donghae in his hands, only that he instead of the monkey, now a silver dolphin called his own.

"I'll put it on for you!" Donghae smiled and tried his best to not let Hyukjae know how bad he felt in truth. When the elder turned around, that he could put the chain round his neck, Donghae swallowed briefly and quickly wiped with the sleeve of his sweater over his eyes. "Finish." he smiled. "Now, everyone knows that you're mine!"

"Then I will also add your chain!" Hyukjae grinned and put the others chain around his cervical, when he turned with a nod.

Hyukjae looked satisfied at the chain around Donghae's neck. "And now everyone knows that you're mine" he repeated Hae's words with a wide grin as he took Donghae's hand and held it. "Forever." Donghae nodded.

But their happiness was short-lived, because only moments Hyukjae's mother appeared in their field of vision and went on her knees.

"Honey... we need to go..." she said with an apologetic smile and Hyukjae's cheek. "I don't want..." Hyukjae hiccupped and clung to Donghae. "Can I- can't stay here?"

"Unfortunately no, darling..." Mrs Lee sighed and stood up when her husband called for her.

"I-I don't wan- want!" sobing, Hyukjae clung to Donghae. "I want to stay here. With you!"

"Hyukie..." Donghae sniffed and hugged his weeping friend. "I... I don't want you to go..." Crying, he buried his face in Hyukjae's hair, called inhaled one last time the oh so familiar scent after strawberries and oranges. Oh how he will miss this scent...

But to no avail. Hyukjae had to get on the plane... whether he wanted to or not.

"A-are you com- coming with me y- yet?" Hyukjae asked with a cracking voice as he looked with tear-stained face up at Donghae.

"Of course!" Donghae whispered back with a sad nod, was afraid that if he speak louder, he would have no voice.

With heavy hearts, the two boys slipped from the bench on which they had been sitting all the time and followed their parents to the Check-in, where they stopped one last time.

"I'll call you every day!" Donghae sobbed and hugged Hyukjae again. "And- and I say Appa that he shall show me how to write e-mails!" "Okay." Hyukjae nodded and forced a smile before he gave Donghae a short, quick kiss. "We write and call and I'll come to visit you during the holidays..." "Or I'll come to you..." Donghae smiled through his tears and both boys grinned.

They hugged each other tight for the last time before she broke apart and Hyukjae went with his parents to the Check-in counter where their boarding cards have been read.

Hyukjae was about to hand his card to the man behind the counter, his parents had already proceeded in and were waiting for him, when he suddenly turned away from the switch and ran back, along at the other waiting people, and threw himself directly in Donghae's wide open arms.

"HYUKJAE!" Hyukjae heard his mother shouting after him. "Hyukjae, what are you doing?"

She had hastily spoken to the officer and he had let her kindly go back again. "Honey... we need to go! Please come on now."

"One more moment!" Hyukjae said, nodding, without looking at his mother. "Donghae... Don't forget me!"

"I won't!" Donghae smiled into his embrace and pressed his Hyukie one last time at himself. "But same for you, don't forget me!"

"I won't!" Donghae repeated Hyukjae's words before they finally broke apart and Hyukjae went with his mother back and through the Check-in counter.

"Eunhyukie!" Donghae cried out when his father suddenly lifted him up on the railing. "Hyukieee!"

Questioningly, Hyukjae turned around and ran back a few steps, waved at Donghae and with a teary face, but was still smiling. "DONGHAEE!" he called back, waving his best friend for the last time.

"GOODBYEEEE!" Donghae shouted, was laughing and sobbing at the same time. "DON'T FORGET MEEEE!!!"

"Come on..." Donghae's mother said and walked next to her son in a crouch. "His plane has departed more than half an hour ago." She smiled. "I'm sure Hyukjae will call you once they have arrived."

Donghae sighed nodding and let go of the grid, which he had held all the time and looked at the sky.

His mother was right. There was no reason to stay any longer here, and if he was honest, it was getting really cold. "May- may I stay awake until he has called me?" He asked sheepishly, as he grabbed the hand of his mother and left the observation deck with her.

Mrs Lee nodded in agreement. "But before that you make yourself ready for bedQ" she said with a grin, and drove finally with he floundering son home. Donghae couldn't wait what Hyukjae had to report to him.

~

In the following months, Donghae and Hyukjae spoke and saw each other exclusively through webcam. They often talked for hours about absolutely trivial things they experienced during the day and which they would have preferably done together with the other.

More months passed; Christmas came and it was the first time for Donghae and Hyukjae that they couldn't see each other. The same was for New Year's. It was a strange feeling for the both that they could see, but not embrace each other, like they had done it all the years before.

Then came their first summer vacation and Donghae managed to persuade his parents to let him fly to the United States and thus to Hyukie.

Both were happy and scared, since they hadn't seen each other for over a three quarters of a year. But from the very first moment Hyukjae saw Donghae at the airport, it was a very tearful reunion.

They spent as much time together as possible and never parted, unless they went to the bathroom, never longer than a few minutes.

The other children in Hyukjae's neighborhood soon began to whisper behind their hands and believed that they were secret lovers, or a love-couple.

But those little rumors didn't really bother Hyukjae and Donghae, and even not that the other children didn't want to play with them. They prefers to spend the time alone with each other and enjoyed every moment they could spend together, because who could say, when they would meet next time?

The following holiday it was Hyukjae who flew back to Seoul and to Donghae. It was a warm reunion, because it was the first time in over a year, that Hyukjae also met his friends again.

After also the second year had flown by, Hyukjae and his parents went together on a vacation trip Seoul and Donghae couldn't believe his own luck when his mother told him that Hyukjae would come for three whole weeks and then even to be at Christmas and New Year with him.

Then it took another six months before Donghae could fly to be with Hyukjae again. They had agreed that he would be the first weeks with Hyukie and that they then would fly to Seoul to stay the remaining time at Donghae's house.

~

But as fate would have it, the contact between them became less and less over the time. Due to the time shift it happend more and more that they missed the moment at which they could talk to each other and also their visits during the holidays became less and less.

Three years later, their contact had finally come to a completely halt. Each went his own way, and it didn't took long and they had forgotten their promise and began to forget each other...

~

It was one of those days where the hours went unnaturally slowly. Bored, Donghae sat in his chair and stared thoughtfully out of the window, was watching how new snow fell again.

Why did it have to snow so much in the recent days? The amount of snow paralyzed the traffic, trams and subway were overcrowded and it was just way too cold. He yawned tired and rested his head on the table.

"Morning Hae? Awake all night again?" a familiar voice asked and Donghae turned his head in the direction from which she came.

"Good morning, Sungmin-shii!" he weary greeted the elder who sat on the seat in front of him. "No, I was actually sleeping early - even though not particularly very good..."

"Wow, something completely new that YOU can't sleep." Kyuhyun smirked and appeared in Donghae's view, as he sat on the seat next to Sungmin and showed the other a warm smile.

Sungmin replied the smile in the same way, so Donghae just rolled grinning his eyes and turned his head back toward the window.

"...Hae? Donghae?!"

"What?" asked the called, lifted his head and looked at Sungmin, who had turned around to him and eyed him questioningly.

"If you've already heard about that we get someone new in the class." Sungmin asked again and grinned broadly at him. "Hopefully not again such a conceited glamor boy..." "Perhaps it's indeed a nice girl..." it came casually from Kyuhyun, who was playing with his PSP.

Sungmin and even Donghae looked irritated him, before Sungmin punched him lightly on the shoulder and then again turned grinning back at Donghae.

"What was that now?" Kyuhyun asked grumbling and rubbed above his upper arm. "Just like that." Sungmin smiled fondly at him over his shoulder and held his eye contact. "Yeah... love you too..." the younger mumbled and turned again at his PSP.

"So Hae! Boy or girl?" Sungmin said with a broad smile and looked at the younger man. Donghae rested his head in his hands and thought for a moment. "I don't know..." he finally said with a shrug and looked out the window again. "And basically I don't care..."

Sungmin hung his head and sighed, and Donghae was glad that the school bell rang at this moment and their teacher already came a few moments later.

Disinterested, Donghae just looked out of the window; the new kid and if it was a boy or a girl, he even could check later, or tomorrow.

Maybe he could skip the next two classes, when he sneaked over lunch in the library.

"LEE DONGHAE! Are you listening to at all?" suddenly the voice of their teacher Hyunsoo echoed through the classroom, as a piece of chalk met Donghae's head. "Just do at least as if you're would interested!"

At that moment, as the chalk met his head, Donghae jumped up and looked guiltily forward. "Pardon!" he quickly bowed before he sat back down and dropped his head at the table.

Hyunsoo shook his head and sighed annoyed before he went on and announced finally the long-awaited news that their new student was a boy.

"He was born and raised in Korea, but has lived in the United States since he was ten. So please regard that his korean is probably a little bit rusty with the time." Hyunsoo said and turned toward the door. "Come in, please!"

The door slid open, and all the girls and also some of the boys held their breath as a tall, slender boy with dark red hair came in and smiled uncertainly as he stood in front of the class.

"God! He's cute" Donghae heard the whisper of some girls. "I wonder if he has a girlfriend?Or what type he prefers."

Donghae pitied the poor wretch. He would be now and in the following days the number one topic and everybody would like to befriend with him. Most of the boys would like to have him in one of their sports clubs, and the girls would besiege him ask him about his hobbies, his interests, if he has a girlfriend or a crush and so on.

"Hello, my name is Lee Hyukjae, but you can call me Eunhyuk if you want. I've spent the last years in America, but because of the dislocation of my father, we moved back to korea some weeks ago. I'm pleased to make your acquaintance and hope we get along fine."

His head shot up, as Donghae heard the name of their new classmate. That couldn't be. That had to be a very, very stupid coincidence that this boy there had the same name.

And what if, after all? It was already three years ago that he had lost touch with HIS Eunhyuk- he didn't knew why, but the contact had simply become less and less with the time and therefore he couldn't tell how he looked like now. But if he was honest, was the face of the boy very familiar.

The voice of Hyunsoo yanked Donghae from his thoughts and he turned his attention back to the teacher.

"Okay Hyukjae-ah... if it's okay with you, there is a free desk for you next to Donghae-ah." the man said and gestured to the empty seat next to Donghae. The latter swallowed and tried his best to control his wild beating heart.

Hyukjae nodded and went on his way through the class, ignored skillfully the looks of the others and dropped sighing into the seat beside Donghae. "Done..." he murmured softly and closed his eyes. When he opened them again, there was a wide grin on his face when he looked Donghae. "Hi!"

Perplex Donghae turned to the side. "Uhm... hi." he smiled shyly back. "N-nice to meet you!" "My pleasure!" Hyukjae grinned, before he turned to the front, where Hyunsoo started his lesson.

~

When it rang for lunch, the students almost fled from the classroom. No one wanted to be the last to arrive at the cafeteria and thus to wait long in the queue of the food bank.

"Are you coming?" Sungmin asked yawning, as only Donghae, Kyuhyun and he were in the classroom. Kyuhyun had his arm around Sungmin's waist and they were together waiting for Donghae. But the latter shook his head. "I'm somehow not really hungry..." he said with an apologetic smile.

Skeptically, Sungmin and Kyuhyhun eyed him briefly before they glanced at each other. "Okay... see you later then." Sungmin smiled and left the room with Kyuhyun at his side.

Donghae sighed and slumped back in his chair, ran his fingers through his hair. "Fresh air..." he muttered and left the room. Since he had heard the name of their new classmate, he was thinking way to much about his childhood friend.

Broodingly, he carefully through the empty corridors and was about to disappear in the direction of the library when someone suddenly grabbed him by his wrist and turned him around.

Donghae looked up and was completely amazed when he saw that Hyukjae was standing in front of him.

"I need to talk to you!" Hyukjae said with an apologetic smile and pulled Donghae behind him through the halls. "Wha- Hey wait! I-I can walk alone!"

But Hyukjae seemed not to hear him and a few moments later, Donghae was standing in an empty classroom; looked even more perplexed at Hyukjae when the latter locked the door behind him.

As Hyukie saw the look of Donghae, he smiled apologetically. "I don't want to be disturbed." he said and was searching for something in his pocket, pulled finally his closed fist with a chain out of it.

"I uh... your name is Donghae, right?" Hyukjae asked uncertainly, hiding his hand behind his back. "With last name Lee?"

For the split of a second, donghae thought that he should say something else, but he decided against it. "Yes... Lee Donghae." he nodded slowly and leaned against one of the tables. "And what exactly do you want from me now?"

"I uhm... would like to ehm... to show you something." Hyukjae said and took a few deep breaths. "If it doesn't say you something, then... then it would be nice if we could forget this here... I mean, I would still like to be friends with you, but this here is very important for me and I simply have to show it to you..."

Since he wasn't sure what to say, Donghae just nodded and wondered what the other wanted to show him.

"Okay..." Hyukjae nodded and lifted his hand from which the chain was hanging. He turned his hand with the palm up and presented Donghae a necklace with a dolphin pendant.

It took a moment, but suddenly Donghae's eyes widened and he reached into the inside pocket of his uniform jacket and pulled out a necklace with a pendant and a monkey pendant and showed it with a broad smile to Hyukjae.

~

"I hope you know that you have broke your promise, right?" Hyukjae asked with a grin, as Donghae and he were together walking home. They didn't really stayed the way, but were just enjoying it that they could talking to each other again could.

"Yah! You also!" Donghae laughed protesting. "We both had stopped calling each other and have barely recognized the other!" "Also true again..." Hyukjae nodded, played in his coat pocket with the chain. "But I have to be honest, I was a little surprised that you still have the chain."

"I couldn't throw it away..." Donghae sighed and pulled it out of his pocket. "Even though I have hardly worn it, I had it with me always. She was my connection to you and I had the feeling that you're with me as long as I only have the chain."

"Same here..." Hyukjae nodded with red cheeks and looked at his feet. "Especially in the last few years, where I hadn't seen you, nor spoken. I always had the feeling that I'm missing something if I tried to change my habits and to let the chain at home..."

They walked silently side by side for a while, before Donghae noticed the exactly way, they were walking.

"Hey... where do you live now?" he asked curiously as they came in the view of his house. Even from a distance, he saw the big moving truck and how eager boxes and furniture were carried into the house next door.

"Well..." embarrassed, Hyukjae scratched his cheek. "It seems that our parents had more contact during the years than we had, and therefore thought that it would be nice, when we live next to each other."

"No!" Donghae stopped abruptly and looked speechless at the older. "That means, I can see you as often as I want and can always visit you? Whenever I want? And we can do whatever we want?!"

"Uhm... yeah..." Hyukjae nodded and blushed to his hair tips. "But you-you uhm, you know that it sounded a little bit... ambiguous..."

Laughing, Donghae grabbed his friend's hand and pulled him along. "You can see it how you want." he grinned at him over his shoulder. "Anyway, now that I have you back, I'll never let you go again!"

~END~