Everybody stared with wide eyes and parted lips when the new-comer Jonghyun, started to walk away from the student who was assigned to brief him about the university and to the person who was playing on the piano. Warnings weren't in time as they watched in horror when Jonghyun's hand went over to give the person playing the piano a tap on the shoulder. They all knew just what was going to happen the next moment-

Everyone in the room cringed when the piano bench hit the floor roughly as sharp piano keys were heard.

-

Jonghyun took a step back immediately on instinct when the person flinched so badly at his touch and leaned towards the piano, as if it would provide some protection for him as his fingers pressed recklessly onto the piano keys with the lack of grace unlike brief moments ago before Jonghyun decided to approach him - he was so taken aback by his mere tap that he stood up with so much panic and even knocked over the bench that he was previously sitting at.

"Are you-"

Jonghyun wasn't able to finish his sentence when he was suddenly pulled back by the person that was with him earlier and he watched with a confused look as the person who had visibly blanched rushed out of the music room and everyone just made way when he ran towards their directions.

Was he the outcast of this university? Probably yes?

"He's not an outcast in the university, Jonghyun. In fact everyone in the university actually cares for him." His face didn't look less confused with those words by the person whose name was Kibum, from what he had recalled. "I mean, that was what you were thinking inside your head, wasn't it?"

"Then why is everyone-"

Kibum exhaled softly as he shook his head lightly. Jonghyun had a feeling that he wouldn't like to hear what indeed happened as Kibum just took him to the canteen when the bell rung - his head hurt.

-

"Let's just say that something really horrible happened to Jinki, and that the incident just scarred him really so badly."

Jonghyun picked at the carrots that were lying on the plate unattractively, and paused when he knew the name of the person who was playing the piano earlier. Jinki is a pretty name, Jonghyun thought to himself mentally as he looked at Kibum who was still being hesitant on his words.

"I waited for fifteen minutes just to have you saying those twenty words earlier, Kibum. It doesn't hurt for you to be more cooperative."

"I'm his neighbor and childhood friend Jonghyun, I'm probably the only one in the university that really knows what happened to Jinki and saw how he struggled to be fine afterward - I do know this is something that Jinki doesn't want anybody to know about." Kibum rubbed at his temples afterward with another small sigh escaping from his lips, and Jonghyun gulped when he suddenly looked at him questioningly. "Why are you so persistent to know about what happened to Jinki anyway? I mean the people here do ask me, but they don't insist-"

Jonghyun gave another last stab at the poor sliced carrots before shrugging.

"I don't know - when I saw him playing the piano earlier I just..." Jonghyun stopped his words when he saw the look on Kibum - he didn't look good about what he had just heard. "What's wrong - oh , don't tell me that you-"

Kibum flicked Jonghyun's forehead before he could even reach the end of his sentence - those words that he was about to say ended up to be painful groans.

"That's for you and your stupid thoughts, Kim Jonghyun." Kibum pressed some buttons at his phone as he shook his head at how Jonghyun was rubbing the red spot on his forehead with a frown. "Jinki is like a brother to me and Jonghyun, listen carefully."

Jonghyun stopped his actions and raised an eyebrow when Kibum suddenly turned serious.

"Ask me again when you have confirmed that you are really serious about Jinki, and not just some three-minutes of liking after seeing him playing the piano." Kibum cleared his throat afterwards. "Then I would really want to know if you will have the ability to protect him and to have him trusting you - but I will honestly disfigure you if you actually dare to judge him before anything."

Jonghyun gulped.

-

Jonghyun noticed how people actually made ways to have Jinki walking on the corridor without being near to anyone - people around knew to keep at a ten-foot distance and Jinki didn't seem to hate that, he actually looked very much comfortable with it. Still, he walked with his head hung low and Jonghyun could see how Jinki was always biting his bottom lip whenever people came into his sight. Jinki looked really vulnerable.

"Never ever touch him, Kim Jonghyun. I was too surprised when you suddenly walked over to him to stop you - that was a tragedy." Kibum muttered as he fiddled with Jonghyun's phone that looked like it was in the 90s. "There are so many things about Jinki - I'll just sum everything up to make my life easier."

Jonghyun quickly caught his phone when Kibum tossed it away like it worth less than a cent.

"This is repetitive but seriously, don't you ever touch him. If he gets a knife nearby and stabs you, I won't be surprised and I will stab you too if what happened at the music room last week happened again." Jonghyun got choked on the bottle of lemon tea he had just bought immediately. "You can be near him, but actually he feels the safest when people are three feet away from him. Ten-feet are honestly kind of over-reacting and you can talk to him if you want to but he wouldn't answer you. He doesn't speak anymore."

What?

"He doesn't speak anymore, after what has happened to him. It's his way of protecting himself." He noticed how Kibum's stare softened. "His voice is really nice, he sings great and - I miss his voice, when he will always greet people around he sees brightly. I bet he misses the past too, but he just continued to build this wall that people around are just too scared to break."

Jonghyun looked over to the music room when he heard music coming inside from it.

"How does his voice sound like?"

"There were actually a lot of recordings of him singing," Kibum exhaled softly. "He broke all of them."

-

Jonghyun seated himself under the shade of the tree and looked over to where Jinki was sitting at. He was seated on this white bench that was a few meters away from where Jonghyun was, and had his earphones plugged with a blue book flipped open. Jonghyun really wasn't stalking him, he just happened to spot Jinki sitting there munching on a sandwich while grabbing tightly onto his music player with an unreadable expression weeks ago when he was on his way home - Jonghyun just decided to come by more often, just to see if Jinki would still be here and yes, he was always there. Jonghyun soon had a habit of coming over here every day right after the lessons ended just so he could sit here and watch Jinki from behind - he was nuts.

Jonghyun never stopped thinking once he was here; why was Jinki always staring at his music player and the blue book whenever he was here?

Regardless of anything, watching Jinki from behind actually soothed him. Sometimes when university had been really rough on him, his anger, exhaustion or unhappiness would all fade away as he took a seat here and looked over to where Jinki would be until the sun made its way down. Sometimes Jonghyun wished he had a better hiding spot, so that he could see what Jinki's expression was as he looked at his phone and the blue book instead of just staring at his back-view.

Jinki was not only a closed book, but a locked one.

-

It was raining that afternoon, when Jonghyun saw Jinki at the bus-stop instead of the river-side where he would always be seated at. He was looking at the sky with again, an unreadable expression and Jonghyun knew it definitely included fear. Wherever Jinki was, fear never left him - it was always there and Jonghyun would always then see a clearly vulnerable wall that Jinki was desperately to build that seemed so strong to other people.

"Jinki, take it."

Jonghyun stood exactly three-feet away from him, and stretched his arms so that Jinki could actually reach the white umbrella that he was holding onto. Jonghyun tried to put on the most reassuring smile ever when Jinki looked at him with uncertainty, and decided to move another one feet closer so that he could get the umbrella into Jinki's small hands. Jonghyun had clearly screwed the first meeting he had with Jinki up, and definitely not the second time-

Jinki flinched at the sudden short distance between them and actually just scuttled out of the bus stop to wherever he was intending to. He screwed their second meeting up, apparently.

-

Jonghyun had really fallen for Jinki, he was serious.

Nobody could possibly not after finding out so much about Jinki. He was really kind; he stopped at his tracks whenever a homeless kitten meowed at him, he bought cans and cans of food for the stray animals living outside of his house, he even took them in when it's raining. It was then Jonghyun could see Jinki smile, when the thankful dogs nuzzled his pale hands and cats purred gently at him - that smile was really stunning, it made Jonghyun to hold his breath for the next five seconds.

Jinki was a silent angel, he was sure.

But knowing so much about Jinki didn't change the fact how he would still treat Jonghyun just like any other people out there. Jinki would avoid him and get all nervous when he tried to talk to him - it was really driving Jonghyun insane; he had no idea how to get closer to Jinki and get his trust. Jinki probably only got the closest with Kibum, they walked together just like any other normal friends out there.

Jonghyun snapped out of his thoughts when he saw Jinki coming into his sight - and really, Jinki was the medicine for all Jonghyun's problems. His headache just disappeared magically -- wait what? Jinki suddenly dropped his white bag onto the ground and stepped onto it carefully, trying to get higher as his arms were outstretched to one of the tree's branches as he stood on his toes. Jinki didn't look he could balance very well, really.

"W-Wait Jinki! It's dangerous!" Jonghyun immediately ran over when Jinki got surprised at his voice and fell behind almost immediately after slipping off from his bag, scrapping his right elbow. Jinki's face tensed up when Jonghyun neared him - he quickly stopped his steps when he realized that he was making Jinki really uncomfortable and quickly took a few steps behind. Jinki was looking down afterwards, his face with a slight grateful expression - he hated people nearing him that much. "Mind telling me what are you trying to do?"

Jonghyun silently prayed for their third meeting to be successful.

Jinki swallowed deeply and made no response, and instead looked at the tree where he had been trying to reach for - why was Jonghyun even seeing a small and white furry ball at one of the branches? Jonghyun just felt his head aching again - this wasn't logical but it could happen with humans' cruel pranks. Jinki was previously trying to get this lost and helpless bunny down from the tree and yes, a bunny was stuck right there. It was obviously a sick prank to pull on a poor, small rabbit.

What happened to humans lately?

"I will get it down safely, so no worries alright?" Jonghyun gave a small smile to Jinki who just nodded in return, and his smile just got wider at how Jinki was answering him with lesser fear and with more hopes building in his brown orbs - all due to the help of this small bunny trapped above. "Trust me,"

Jonghyun wasn't a tall person, he really wasn't but to the hell with heights, he could climb trees and that was all enough. Jonghyun coughed awkwardly at the thought of his miserable height, and looked up to where the probably badly frightened bunny was and proceeded to have his palms pressed against the rough bark as he pushed himself up from the ground. Climbing trees weren't new to him; he always did that whenever he wanted to hide from his mother who found his failing test papers.

Jonghyun smiled when he felt the small animal going into his hands, and just when he was thinking of where to keep this rabbit at as he made his way down he saw Jinki breaking into this small and really precious smile when he saw the bunny sitting on his palms safely-

Jonghyun fell off from the tree immediately, as cruel fate loved to.

-

Jonghyun found his vision blackening out and returning as he groaned softly in pain when his back hit the ground harshly. It was definitely not a light fall, he found his head hurting real badly with his back but it all stopped when Jinki was seated just right beside him with a worried look and his hands were holding onto the rabbit that he tried his best to protect when they fell - the most important fact was, maybe people really do see angels when they were about to die.

His vision turned black instantly - so did this meant that their third meeting was successful?

-<3-

After three days of hospitalization, Jonghyun found himself standing before Jinki's house with a slip of paper in his hands. He unfolded it carefully, and smiled when he saw those words that were written in such nice hand-writing even if this was the tenth time he was reading this. Of course, this slip of paper had to be from Jinki to be so precious to Jonghyun; he could still remember how he was cheering with joy when Kibum came to the hospital and passed this note to him, telling him that it was from Jinki.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean for you to get hurt. Hopefully your injuries aren't serious and you will recover soon to see the rabbit that you have saved..?"

He snapped out of his thoughts when the window on the second floor was pushed open and Jinki came into his sight immediately. Jonghyun's face was immediately plastered with a silly grin as he watched Jinki adjusting the curtains carefully without noticing his presence - Jonghyun blinked when Jinki turned and took a familiar looking small and white animal into his hands with great cautious.

Jonghyun always knew white came off as a great color with Jinki.

Jinki's vision finally fell on Jonghyun after brief moments, and hesitated for at least a minute before waving back at the half-blonde who was already waving with a wide grin. Jonghyun stood on his toes, feeling nervous suddenly when Jinki left the window and was probably going downstairs to actually meet him - Kim Jonghyun.

And he really did; Jonghyun just couldn't stop smiling when Jinki took small steps outside of his house. Well, Jinki looked like he wanted to know why Jonghyun was here and apparently Jonghyun himself had no idea - he just wanted to see Jinki and obviously he would freak the other out if he actually just said that.

"Just wanted to thank you for the note you have written," It was the lousiest excuse ever, Jonghyun knew. "I mean really, it meant a lot-"

A small smile graced Jinki's gentle features as he shook his head lightly. It was times like this when Jonghyun wished Jinki would speak, he really looked like he wanted to say something but he wouldn't bring himself to, and instead he unexpectedly walked closer to Jonghyun but stopped when they were two feet apart. Jonghyun felt like he had just improved in a math's examination.

Jinki outstretched his arms towards him and besides the rabbit that was sitting on his palms obediently, he noticed some scars on Jinki's wrists and how frail he suddenly looked despite how gorgeous he really was - Jonghyun quickly shifted his vision back to the bunny before Jinki got uncomfortable under his stare.

"It's really soft, just like cotton. Are you keeping it as your pet?" Jonghyun asked awkwardly as he took the bunny over with his own rough hands, and felt its soft fur pressed lightly against his palms. It made Jonghyun kind of proud at the sight of this bunny being safe and sound; after all he had fallen from the tree when he was trying to rescue it. Jinki's fingers suddenly reached forward and brushed the rabbit gently - Jonghyun noticed they were only a feet apart. Jinki's face was closer so much than before, and Jonghyun could just see how pale he was as Jinki nodded his head gently. "It will definitely be well-taken of, since it's you who is taking care of it."

All was good until Jinki flinched when their fingers accidentally touched while brushing the small bunny that was going to fall asleep anytime. Jonghyun expected it, Jinki was afraid of physical contacts with people but sometimes he just wished Jinki would trust him more.

"Don't be afraid of me, Jinki." Jinki looked at him with a surprised expression on his face, it seemed like he was never expecting those words to be said from Jonghyun. "Really, believe me."

And this was another response that Jonghyun expected; with Jinki lowering his head with the usual unreadable expression as he took the small animal over with his cold hands before going back to his house - but Jonghyun didn't expect how disappointed he would be feeling.

- T B C -

A/N: This is too long, so I actually have to break it into parts. I'm not even finished and I've fourteen thousands words of this already but it has been sitting in my drafts for one whole year so I've decided to upload it up while I try to find my muse back to complete this OTL I'll upload the other chapters soon after I finish proof-reading them and... yea. That's it. Hoped you've enjoyed.