Someone once told me I was a firefly. I was confused at the remark and waved it off. But, this person persisted with the topic and explained why I was a firefly.

“You glow.”

I, for one, absolutely didn’t glow.

“Yes, you really do glow.”

I know I didn’t glow. I was a normal person with my own personality. A bit cold is what people considered me as, but that was me. I had my reasons.

“I’m serious, Oh Sehun. Listen to me, have you ever looked at yourself in the mirror? Your eyes shine! Your voice is smooth and soothing and your presence is alluring. You totally glow, such a firefly.”

I didn’t believe her.

○●○●○

“Sehun, hurry up! You’re slowing us all down,” Kai shouted as he hurled the pack of spray paints around with him. I grinned before picking up my pace to match Kai’s light jogging.

We ended up under a bridge in the middle of the night. It was a hot summer’s day with the air sticking to us. We all wore shorts and wife beaters but they didn’t do much to ease the heat.

I stared at the empty wall in front of us. I could hear the rumble of the cars every once in a while on top of the bridge.

“We really shouldn’t be doing this,” Suho said as he ran his hand across the wall. Kai made a square with both index and thumbs at the center, marking his spot.

“We never do what we should be,” he pointed out. I chuckled a bit before taking out the red spray paint; it was my favourite. I shook the can a bit as I moved to the right side of the wall.

“I’ll start,” I pressed the nuzzle and the red colour began covering the wall. There wasn’t a specific idea I had in mind; I just wanted to cover the wall with anything.

“I call blue!” I head Baekhyun shout.

Soon, everyone was spraying the wall carelessly. Our designs definitely weren’t the same. I swear I saw Chanyeol create a snake while I was making the moon at one point. But, when I took a step back, everything fit together nicely.

“Ew, what is that?” D.O pointed out to a red and black design made by me. I covered up my design protectively, “It’s a heart!”

“Tch,” D.O threw his bottle on the ground and began kicking it around. Kai tried to get it from him but it didn’t work as D.O was the more skilled soccer player. The two ended up getting into an actual soccer game while the rest of us watched from the sides.

“What do you wana do after this?” Chanyeol asked as he ruffled his messy hair.

I took out my phone to check the time; 1:00 am. It was pretty late and we had school the next day. It wasn’t like it truly mattered, though. I was about to put my phone away when it suddenly vibrated.

It was my mom.

I stared at the screen for a bit before unlocking it, “Hello?”

“Sehun-ah, you have school tomorrow. Where are you? Come home,” She said, her voice full of concern.

I sighed, “Mom, it’s okay. I’ll just skip school tomorrow.”

It was my Mom’s turn to sigh after she heard my reply. I knew what was coming up next; it was the usual talk we had. She told me that I had to come home immediately after insisting on how important school was. I complied with her orders and shut my phone.

“Gotta go, boys,” I stood up and stretched my arms around. I waved to my friends before walking away.

○●○●○

I ended up on the streets of Seoul with my hands shoved in my pockets. There were a moderate amount of people outside, probably due to the weather. Nobody could sleep in the hot weather so they all decided to spend the night out.

I stopped at an intersection when the sound of sirens caught my attention. I looked behind me to see an ambulance charging through the roads with full force. It zoomed through the red lights and was soon out of sight.

I wondered where the ambulance was going. Was somebody hurt? Was someone dying?

“The light changed,” Someone said as they bumped shoulders with me. I regained my composure and walked forward. It was when I crossed the intersection that I found where the ambulance went. There were people crowded around a restaurant and paramedics carried a stretcher with what seemed like a girl on it. From behind, I could see her Mother crying and her Father trying to calm her down.

I hope she’s okay, I guess.

○●○●○

“Wana hit the club tonight?” D.O nudged me during class. I pushed his elbow away as he disturbed my sleep. I murmured a no and turned my head around to find a more comfortable position on my history textbook.

“Come on, Sehun. Let’s go,” He whispered. I shook my head and continued trying to fall asleep.

D.O eventually gave up and moved on to Kai who he knew wouldn’t refuse a trip to the club although we were still minors. I never found much interest in clubs to be honest. I had gone once or twice, but every time I always left because I found interest in driving down streets and throwing stuff at people.

○●○●○

“You’re so boring,” Kai said as he slung an arm around me. I raised my eyebrow at him, “Why is that?”

“You’re not coming to the club!” He exclaimed as if it was something so evident. I shrugged my shoulders, “I have other plans, Kai.”

“Let’s ask Kris to take us tonight. He’d be up to it,” Baekhyun said as he proceeded to take out his phone. Kris was like our older brother. He was always there for us and made sure to get us out of any major trouble—that happened a lot.

I made a bubble with my gum and popped it to say, “Tell him I’m not coming. I’m doing other things tonight.”

“What other things? What are you up to, Oh Sehun?” Suho questioned. I gave him a mischievous smile and shook my head, “Not telling you, hyung.”

I was meeting up with a couple of friends from Busan. They came to Seoul every once in a while and today we were set to break into a warehouse. It held some electronics and I really wanted a new laptop. So, why not?

“What are you doing Sehun?” Chanyeol said as he wrapped an arm around my neck. I laughed and pushed him away, “Breaking into a warehouse.”

“Ahh,” they all replied before going off to do something else.

○●○●○

The day passed by in a blur and before I knew it, I was standing behind a tree dressed in all black at 1 a.m. in the morning. I had a small black bag slung around my shoulders to stuff any stolen goods in.

“Sehun!” I heard someone whisper. I turned around and saw my group of friends advance towards me. I grinned at them and gave them all high fives and fist bumps.

“Okay, so what’s the plan?” I asked as we all hunched behind a bush. There were 5 of us and we were covered in black.

“There’s an entrance at the North side and the security guard uses it. He always leaves it unlocked at 2:00 when he goes to get his coffee. It takes him about 15 minutes to go and come back. So, we need to finish in 10 minutes and be back here before he comes back.” The oldest, Hyunshik, said. We all nodded and waited for the clock to strike 2.

We all sat around on the floor playing with our phones. I badly wanted to talk to one of them but couldn’t since we had to be as quiet as possible. I kicked one of my friend’s leg just for fun. He kicked me back and after a while, we were in a competition to see who could kick the longest and hardest.

“Stop it!” Hyunshik hissed before breaking our legs apart, “It’s 2:00, he should be coming out now.”

I rose a bit to see past the bush. As planned, he came out and didn’t lock the door.

“Go!” Hyunshik said as he led us to the door. We walked in a straight line, hunched down. The adrenaline began to kick in and I was getting more excited by the step.

“Okay, go and grab whatever you can!” Hyunshik said as he held the door open for all of us.

The warehouse was dimly lit, but it was enough for me to see the precious electronics. First, there were TVs and that was something I definitely wasn’t going to take. I moved to the right and went down the long rows of TVs. After a while, I could see them; the laptops. I turned to the left and began jogging down to grab the nicest one in sight.

“Which one?” I asked myself. There were a variety of colours and brands. I needed something small and unnoticeable—my mom couldn’t find out about this. So, picking the bright red one wasn’t a good idea.

“Black it is.”

I grabbed the laptop and stuffed it into my bag before turning around and walking back to the entrance. I was close to the TVs again when I saw, from the small crack in between rows, a brand new tablet. It was newest on the market and it was something I wanted. I checked the time and saw that I had two minutes left. 2 minutes were enough, right?

Without a second thought, I turned around and began running through the stacks. The tablet was sitting proudly on the fifth row, ready to be stolen. I stretched my arm out to reach for it but my height let me down. I looked around for something to stand on and the boxes lying around were my only option. I stood on a box and reached out of the tablet when my phone vibrated. There was a text.

Get out now! Another security guard came. There’s like 5 of them. Leave now!

I looked around and saw nobody so I quickly reached for the tablet; there was no way I was leaving this behind. I stretched my arm up and successfully got it within my grasp. It was going perfect, now I would just run. I pulled the tablet down and stepped off the box.

A crashing sound was heard. I turned to my right and saw that some things had fallen.

“Who’s there?!” I heard a guard yell. My eyes widened and I began running. Quickly retracing my steps, I ran past the laptops and the phones. I could see the TVs again and was determined to get out of there.

“Catch him!”

I shot a glance back to see two guards chasing me. .

The damn laptop in my bag was weighing me down and the fact that there were guards chasing me wasn’t doing anything to ease my nerves.

I could see the door wide open. I was almost there. I pushed my legs to run a bit harder but they all of a sudden stopped.

“Gotcha.”