--- 4 years ago, High School ---

***

It was the first day of school after the winter break. Lee Donghae was walking the corridor alone, with earphone in his ears. Even though the rock music was blasting on his ears he could still hear people greeting everyone and saying 'happy new year' to each other. He walked straight to the locker, not minding everyone who greeted them, or at least smiled at him. Just when he was about to open his locker, he felt his phone vibrated in his pocket. He took it out, a message notification popped up on his screen. It was from Eunhyuk, reminding him of the gig he and his band had tonight. Lee Donghae let out a sigh and put his phone back in his pocket. Suddenly the school bell rang, then Donghae marched to his first class that day, science.

If the students in the school were asked to describe Lee Donghae, they would probably answer with words such as strange, scary, cold, and anything that could describe someone that looked scary, never talked to anyone at school, and didn't care about everything going on around him. He was simply a mystery to the students in his school. Little did they know that Lee Donghae had his own live beside school, his own identity that made him alive.

9:03 pm

"You're 3 minutes late, as usual." They guy wih the black leather jacket crossed his arm on his chest, his eyes were locked on the guy who was standing in front of him. "It's 9.03, you should've been here at 7." Donghae gave the man a smirk, and he marched to the hallway, leaving that man alone. 

"Hey, Eunhyuk, tell your bassist to get ready. You're going up soon." Heechul, the band's manager yelled from the 2nd floor. The man with the black leather jacket who turned out to be Eunhyuk nodded at the manager's order, and he immediately ran to the band's dressing room. As soon as he got into the dressing room, he carefully counted his band member. 1...2...3...4...5...5...5... and he yelled in anger.

"Where's Lee Donghae?!" And by his that, he turned everyone's heads towards him. The 5 guys inside the room looked around the room and shook their heads simultaneously. "I've never seen him today. Maybe he got hit by a truck or something." Said the guy with the black sleeveless shirt that showed all of the tattoos on his arm. "Well, if he really is hit by a truck, Heechul must be slapping each and everyone of us, Kangin." The sleeveless-shirt guy who turned out to be Kangin just rolled his eyes and dragged himself to the sofa in the middle of the dressing room. Eunhyuk let out a big sigh and went out of the door, heading outside of the club.

Eunhyuk headed to a narrow alley near the club, and he was right. Donghae was there, smoking his cigarettes. Donghae didn't move a bit even though Eunhyuk already stood in front of him. "Lee Donghae, the one and only son of the Lee family, owner of the Lee Enterprise. The biggest company in South Korea. What are you doing here in the small alley, sir? Somebody might've kidnapped you and ask for ransom." Eunhyuk smirked at his own mockery. But the guy in front of him didn't even lift his head up. For a moment they just stood like that. Face to face with silence surrounding them. Suddenly, Donghae walked away.

"Where are you going?!" Yelled Eunhyuk. "To the club, we have a performance to do." Said Donghae, without turning his head around.

***

"Yuri! Where are you going on Saturday?" Yoona clung her hand to her best friend's arm. Yuri rolled her eyes, thinking. "Oh right, I have a practice this Saturday. What's up?" Yoona then pouted in disappointment. "I just thought it would be nice for us to go for a girls' night out. There's a this cute new cafe near my house." Yuri chuckled and turned to her best friend. She playfully hit Yoona on her forehead. Yoona cringed in pain. 

"You know I'll be having practices on every weekends this month. The national championship is coming in front of our noses." Yuri said as she opened her locker and arranged her things. She was looking for something particular. Yoona just stood there, still pouting and frowning. "It's not like you're the one who compete anyway..." She mumbled. Yuri just laughed and shook her head at Yoona's statement. Yuri took quite a long time looking for something in her locker, when suddenly the bell rang. Yuri let out a sigh, disappointed that she couldn't find the thing she was looking for, and closed her locker. Yoona and her got into the same class for the first period, history class.

The teacher who taught the history class was a killer one. Her name was Mrs. Park Ji Yeon, but the students called her Mrs. Gummy instead. Every students in school knew best that skipping Mrs. Gummy's first period class was a criminal. And someone just committed a crime.

"Lee Donghae." Mrs. Gummy called the student's name in the absence list. No answer. "Lee Donghae." Still nothing. The other students in the class started to murmur, wondering where the hell this Lee Donghae guy went. "Mister Lee Donghae!" The 3rd time Mrs. Gummy called his name, everyone in the class was shocked. But Mrs. Gummy's yelling was useless. Lee Donghae was not in class. She sighed and rolled her eyes before she put down her absence list. "Well, whoever finds him today, bring him to my office, okay?" Then she started writing on the whiteboard. 

***

It was 3 o'clock and the last school bell had rung already. Yuri walked back to her locker and still looking for a thing she had been looking for since this morning. Yoona had already got home, her dad picked her up. Yoona's dad often picked Yoona from school because his office is just a 2 minutes walk from school, and fortunately his shift ended at 3, the perfect time to pick his daughter up from school. Sometimes Yuri hitched a ride home with them, but today she couldn't. She had something to do.

Yuri was busy moving things in her locker when someone suddenly tapped her shoulder. "Hey." Yuri jumped out of shock. It was Mrs. Gummy. The sight of Mrs. Gummy itself had already frightened Yuri. She bowed and greeted her. "Good afternoon, ma'am. Sorry, I was surprised..." Surprisingly, Mrs. Gummy smiled. Yuri believed that she looked very pretty when she smiled. If only she smiled more often.

"It's okay, sorry to freak you out. Anyway, where's that kid?" Asked Mrs. Gumy. Yuri stood in confusion. "Pardon...?" Said Yuri. Mrs. Gummy's smile faded away, she raised one of her eyebrow. "That kid who didn't show up in my class this morning. Where is he?" Yuri shook her head slowly. Everyone in school knew that finding Lee Donghae would like finding a diamond in the rough. You did not find him, he found you.

"Well, I've heard a good deal of him and some rumours about him in this school. I was just worried that he might do something bad to himself. Could you do me a favor, Ms. Kwon?" Asked Mrs. Gummy. Yuri had no courage to say no. "Please find him for me, will you? You don't have to drag him to my office because certainly it would be a hard job. Just make sure he is still alive." Yuri nodded slowly. Mrs. Gummy patted Yuri on her shoulder and walked away. Yuri was still standing there bewildered, when suddenly Mrs. Gummy turned around to face Yuri. "Now, Ms. Kwon." And Yuri immediately took off.

Yuri had no idea where she should look for Lee Donghae. She went to the rooftop and found no one. Gym, classrooms, hallway, cafetaria, library, music studio, laboratories, auditorium, audivisual room, even restrooms, all had already been searched by Yuri but she did not found him. Finally she gave up. It was already 5 o'clock and the school was already  empty. Yuri decided to continue her search tomorrow morning before class started, so she headed to the parking lot.

In the parking lot, her car was the only car left, and she saw some motorcycles parked in her parking lot. She walked real slowly towards her car, when she saw a man sitting on a motorbike beside her car. It was him. Lee Donghae. Yuri got very happy and confused at the same time. She had never talked to him before. Donghae did not lift his head or move even a bit, so Yuri thought he did not realize her presence now. She took a deep breath and marched toward him. Now she was standing in front of him.

"Hello." Said Yuri. No reply. "Where were you this morning? The teacher was looking for you." Still no answer. Yuri sighed, the thought of Donghae was deaf suddenly crossed her mind, so she moved closer. 

"I didn't know the cheerleader captain is allowed to talk to me." Suddenly Donghae spoke up. Yuri jolted in shock. She frowned."I believe I can talk to everyone I want. What makes you different?" She crossed her arms in front of her chest. Yes, Yuri was the highschool cheerleader team captain. Yuri was always bothered with the high school clique talks. She was tired of everyone thinking very highly of her. 

Donghae didn't answer her question. He stood up from his motorbike and picked up his helmet. "Aren't you going home?" He said. Yuri was a bit surprised by the question. "I... I will, soon. Yeah I've got things to do." Said Yuri, smiling. 

"Liar." Said Donghae coldly. Yuri's smile faded from her face. Donghae then pointed his finger to the car beside his motorbike. "That's yours, right?" Yuri nodded slowly, still in confusion. Then Donghae pointed his finger on Yuri. "And that bag is yours too, right?" Yuri nodded again. Then silence. Donghae just left their conversation hanging in mid air. Yuri broke the ice first.

"Okay, I lied. I was going to go home but I lost my keys. I've searched it in my bag, locker, jacket, but I couldn't find it. I swear I have put it in my locker but it wasn't there." Yuri finally blurted everything out. "Hop on." Said Donghae suddenly. Yuri was in disbelieve, she wasn't sure she heard it right. "What?" She asked again. This time, Donghae started his motorbike's engine. "I said, hop on. Your house must be very far because you drive here." Said Donghae.

"But you don't know my house...." Yuri mumbled. But Donghae heard her clearly. "You'll show me." The day was getting darker and Yuri had no choice left. It was either walked for miles to her house which would cause her to get sick or kidnapped in the middle of the way, or to ride with Lee Donghae. 

Well, this guy doesn't take no for an answer.... Thought Yuri. So she did as what he commanded. She hopped on his motorbike and they took off.

***