It was winter and most students were preparing for the final examinations of the semester. Hyukjae and Donghae’s friendship has tightened more than ever. They were practically together everywhere. It had come to Donghae’s senses that Hyukjae wasn’t a bad roommate at all. It’s just that Hyukjae might not adapt well at the beginning. It was late Friday evening when study week had just started. Most students took their chances to go home to study (more like to relax) but Donghae, Kyuhyun and Sungmin decided to stay at hostel to study. Meanwhile, Hyukjae was the only one who will go back to his hometown due to some issues.

      “Hyukkie Hyukkie, bring a lot of food when you come back!” said the naughty Donghae to Hyukjae. Hyukjae stuck his tongue out. “Nuisance.” The three of roommates bid farewell to Hyukjae at the gate of their hostel. They walked together back to their room.

      “Want to do something crazy?” asked Kyuhyun as soon as they arrived in their room. “What is it, Kyuhyun?” asked Donghae innocently. “Gaming time!!!” shouted Kyuhyun eagerly. Sungmin and Donghae could only shake their heads in disbelief. He never left his gaming hobby. Well, he might not come to the CR anymore, but he can’t be apart from his game at all. That was Cho Kyuhyun’s disease.

      Because Donghae already missed Hyukjae, he sat on Hyukjae’s desk instead of his own. He looked at Hyukjae’s board on his desk. It used to be empty but now it was filled with mind maps and colorful notes.

      “Wow… how creative.” Muttered Donghae in awed. Donghae observed the board again and then he encountered a very familiar sticky note.

You are forever my favorite brother – Yours truly

      “Who is this ‘Yours truly’ anyway? A boy or a girl?” Donghae muttered by himself at Hyukjae’s desk. He gave a thought for a while. Hyukjae never talked or mentioned about his family or his neighborhood. He also didn’t tell them why he needs to go back to his hometown on the study week. Donghae didn’t know if he had a brother or a sister. Unlike Hyukjae, Kyuhyun and Sungmin both tell them about their family. Kyuhyun has an older sister while Sungmin has a younger brother. Meanwhile, Donghae also tell his roommates that he had a married older brother.

      ‘Hmm… maybe he doesn’t feel like telling me yet.’ Consoled Donghae at himself. But it has been a while now. All of the members of room number 11 were like family, they talked to each other, laughed with each other, shared everything together, even sometimes sleeping together on the floor after a tiring revising session. But no, Hyukjae didn’t mention about his family at all. When the topics of family came across, Hyukjae went back to his desk saying that he needed to finish his lab reports when Donghae thought that he’d already finished it during lab.

      Suddenly, somebody knocked their door. Sungmin, who was closest to the door opened it and saw Siwon smiling at them. “Hi. Mind if I come? All my roommates have already gone back to their hometown. And I’m all alone right now.” Sungmin welcomed Siwon inside their room. “Hey there Siwon, our lecture hall’s representative!!” greeted Donghae from Hyukjae’s desk and high-fived Siwon. Siwon looked around and saw Kyuhyun.

      “Hi there Kyuhyun. Gaming again?” teased Siwon and Kyuhyun just nodded. “Yup. The best way to release my stress is gaming.” Kyuhyun talked without looking at Siwon because he was focusing on his game. Siwon looked around first and noticed Hyukjae wasn’t there. “Donghae, where is Eunhyuk?” Donghae stopped staring at Hyukjae’s board and looked at Siwon like he gone mad. “Eunhyuk? Who is Eunhyuk?” Donghae frowned and looked at Siwon. Siwon scratched his head several times. ‘Oops!’

      “What I meant is, where is Hyukjae?” Donghae went towards Siwon and stared at him. He tiptoed himself because Siwon is so freaking taller than him. “Who is Eunhyuk? Tell me everything, class representative! Spill the beans right now! Eunhyuk is Hyukjae, right? What do you know about Hyukjae? I remembered the first time we met you tell me about Hyukjae, so tell me more now!” Donghae was practically screaming at Siwon right now because he lost his patience.

      “Wow, calm down, Donghae. Okay, okay, I’ll tell you only if you keep your composure, okay?” Siwon gave up and put Donghae back on the chair. Kyuhyun was no longer interested in his game and Sungmin also stopped reading his book. All of them gathered at Siwon and looked at him questionably. Awkward silence filled the room before Siwon finally spoken up.

      “Okay, I knew Eunhyuk, erm, I mean I knew Hyukjae before. We lived in the same neighborhood but we are not from the same school. I bet he never tell you guys about his family right?” asked Siwon and all three of them nodded fast, impatient to hear more.

      “In our neighborhood, we called him Eunhyuk. He was such a lively kid to be honest. He lived happily with his mother, father and his older sister. He was really close with his older sister…” before Siwon could proceed, Sungmin interrupted. “Was? He is no longer close with his older sister?” Donghae looked at Sungmin then he looked at Siwon. Siwon nodded. “There was some unfortunate event that occurred before he went here, before he registered at Silver City College. That might explains to you all why he looked like he had no manners at all. Because the truth is, he is such a good son and brother to his family and sister. Well…”

      Donghae was getting more impatient. “So, then what happens??” Siwon took a deep breath before he continued. “Before he registered here, maybe a couple of weeks back, his sister put on a farewell party for Hyukjae. Well, things were going around well during the party but apparently, Hyukjae drank too much that night.” Donghae wasn’t ready to hear what will Siwon saying next. Siwon continued, “He drank too much but he insisted of driving his sister back home. Thus, he drove his sister home and he never made it to their house. They had an accident.”

      “An accident??” asked the three of them. Siwon nodded. “Hyukjae’s car hit the tree on the road and he was charged with driving under the influence of alcohol. Apparently, that caused his sister to lose her life.” Donghae, Kyuhyun and Sungmin were speechless. Siwon still proceed, “It’s a miracle that Hyukjae survived that crash, but his sister couldn’t make it. He blamed himself for that incident and thus changed his attitude to a bad mannered person. It was the talk of the town. He didn’t even have driving license. So, you could understand his feelings right?” Suddenly, tears were rolling down to Donghae’s cheek. He didn’t know this at all. No.