“Tell me a story,” Daehyun says, playing with your warm fingers as you sat next to him. You had decided to come over and spend time with him. You gave him a bemused stare when he called you over. He was that lazy to walk a few meters to get to yours, so he made you come to him.

“A story? What kind of story?” you question, tilting your head in a questioning manner.

Daehyun stopped playing with your fingers and went into a deep thought. You blink at him as the clock ticked. He was thinking seriously. You watch him tap his chin, covered by his mask, and hum to himself.

“You,” he stated, startling you, “tell me a story about you.” You stared at him as you inwardly backed away. You weren’t really the type to talk about yourself. “Please.”

“Does it have to be about me?” you question, pouting. Daehyun nodded his head in return.

“Yes. I want to learn more about you.”

Your heart shook a little. He was being completely honest. He wanted to know more about you, about how you are you. You bite your lower lip, you were quite nervous to reveal about your past. It wasn’t that amazing, nor was it that tragic. But it was the stepping stones that made you the person you are now. You weren’t sure if you became better but you did learn a few life lessons.

Exhaling you nod at Daehyun, who’s eyes brightened at your reply. You raised your hand to stop him from exclaiming as you looked at him in the eye. “But in return, you have to tell me about yourself too.” Daehyun eagerly nodded his head as his eyes crinkled in a smile.

“Alright, it not like I have anything to hide anymore.”

You smiled. Maybe opening up will help you.

***

“You first,” you say to Daehyun who squawked scornfully but relented anyway.

“uhh..I’m a food lover and still am,” he shrugged as you gave him a look of amusement. What a way to start a story. “I was quite a troublemaker when I was younger. I loved causing trouble because I got bored really easily, it was also how I ran into B.A.P. They became my friends who helped bust me out of trouble. I rubbed off of them in the end and when I did pranks, at least one of them would join in.”

“Not surprising really,” you mutter, earning a chuckle from Daehyun.

“Everything was well until the start of junior high school. It was funny really, how I told them I wasn’t some person who would fall in love easily cause in the end, I fell for MinAh.” You leaned in a little as you concentrated harder at his words. Daehyun smiled as he racked his fingers through your hair soothingly. “That’s when I saw her as a perfect girlfriend. When she smiled, when she laughed, when she would pout-anything she did made me fall for her. I confessed to her during my second year at junior high school.”

You nodded in response as you continued to listen intently. Daehyun stopped grooming your hair before letting out a sigh as his hand dropped to side. “We got together of course and I thought I was the happiest man on earth until she started changing. The things she liked before became her dislike, the things that made her laugh, annoyed her. I didn’t know what was happening but I was confused and scared that I was losing her. Then one day, in our senior years of junior high school, she visited me. I was quite surprised because really…she stopped doing that for quite some time.”

Letting out a shaky breathe he looked at you with hurt eyes. “She came to me, to tell me it was over. I was puzzled. I thought she was joking, but then she said she was leaving, leaving me and her hometown to go overseas. God, I felt helpless.” You sniff at this as your eyes became a little teary.

Sad stories always made you teary.

“When she started to walk away, I grabbed her, I told her not to leave but in the end she left, not without hurling insults at me. She said I wasn’t good enough. I was too loud and annoying. She said she was happy that she was leaving me, that I was not the person she really liked. Whatever I did, she would shoot me down because of it.” Daehyun laughed bitterly as he held your hands for comfort.

“And because of that, I felt disconnected. I was hurt and started to shy away from people, giving them a blank or cold stare. When needed, I would insult them-to drive them away. I had to be the opposite of who I was, I did it because of her mainly. I wanted to show her I was not that loud and annoying person she thought I was, I wanted to show her I was strong, that I wasn’t affected by her words.”

‘Daehyun’ you brushed your thumb across his hand as pity filled you.

“That’s why I wear a mask. It helps me feel secure around people. It helps me to mask my emotions away. But then I met you. The way you looked at me made me feel sick at first-because when you looked at me, you looked at me with warmth and love. I wasn’t sure if it was a crush at first but I realized you were that type.”

You flush as he mentions you but eagerly listened.

“You were the type that fell in love, but never showed it-only to admire from afar. You were the type that wanted to understand the hidden part of the person, you were the type that would fall in love and stay loyal and it scared me. It scared me because I became a person who hid away their true emotions, and act on others like how MinAh treated me when she changed.”

“I insulted you, I hurt you, yet you still liked me. I knew because even though you were irritated with me, you stilled cared for me in one way or another-you even tried to understand me. I guess after meeting you at the park where you cried, my heart silently yearned for you.”

“I then started to notice more things about you, your obvious likes and dislikes, what could irritate you, what could make you go on cloud 9,”