Chapter 8
The Blue of the Sky on Rainy Days
Although the evening had seemed liked it had gone smoothly to him, Eunhyuk had a terrible nightmare that night. He was in a large grayish-white room completely tiled, wet and cloudy with vapor. One could hear noises like whips or water being thrown on the floor, and screams. He was there but people did not seem to see him. Then screams were heard at the other end of the room; arrived four strong men who each held a skinny and white little body by its limbs as he struggled like hell with tears of terror. It was Donghae, whose eyes were bulging and who seemed totally helpless in the nurses’ iron grip.
- "Leave him alone, you’re hurting him, you’re gonna break his ankles and wrists!" Eunhyuk wanted to scream, but no one seemed to hear him.
Seeing Donghae so humiliated, so fragile, his s exposed to everyone’s sight, made him want to cry and all the more furiously when he saw the brown leather straps that were embedded to the tiled wall, under huge showerhead where stinging and burning water gushed from, according to the vapor it exuded.
- "No, no!" He shouted in vain again, trying to grab the nurses’ legs to prevent them from approaching Donghae and attach him to the wall, "leave him alone!"
And Donghae’s groans, choked by water splashes, responded to his despair as large leather ties were tightened around his arms and bare thighs, no longer having enough strength to struggle.
- "Donghae!" Eunhyuk shouted as he woke up, sweaty in his bed and heart pounding.
That shower thing haunted him all day and he felt very bad. During physics, he did not follow anything, the movie of this horrible nightmare where he had felt so helpless was repeatedly playing in his head; in letters, he thought that what he had imagined was probably not the truth and that he would one day propose his help to shower Donghae; in English, he thought that maybe Donghae did not like getting water in his eyes and that he could bring him his swimming goggles, and that he also could, himself being under the water jet, tell him to join him, thus proving him there was no danger (indeed, the boy was most probably intimidated finding himself in the middle of all those nurses in white coats, and being the only one having to take a shower that he was most probably taking as a punishment which was specifically reserved to him); in math, while somehow trying to follow in order not to spoil Donghae’s work, he thought that his idea would probably seem weird at the center and that people would look at him with a weird eye; in history class, he did not know what to do anymore and waited the entire hour for the lesson to finally end, in order to go to the hospital. He needed to see that Donghae was fine for reassurance.
This time, Heechul did not even offer him to come and hang out with their gang of friends, merely looking at him trotting towards the sports fields.
- "I’d give a lot to know where or to whom he runs to like that", he thought while throwing his cigarette end on the ground before stepping on it with the heel of his varnished doc martin. "A math teacher can’t possibly make him so enthusiastic ..."
When Eunhyuk arrived in front of the center, he paused a moment to admire its facade. It was a fairly large rectangular building about forty years old, presenting no architectural innovation, in front of which stood a little used parking lot. A small porch, decorated with a few boxes of plucked geraniums, advanced to point out the entry from which nurses or doctors in white coats came out from. As he observed this building that looked so banal, Eunhyuk wondered if it did not hide painful secrets. He detailed the windows of the five floors, wondering if one of them housed the fateful shower he had so well imagined. Before, this center did not represent much to him, he was only thinking about it replaying in his head the elevator, Kaehyun’s smile, the playroom, Kangin’s arms, Donghae's face, his small morose bedroom. He now felt it like a kind of coercive force that kept Donghae in some kind of prison. For the first time, he regretted not being able to meet his friend somewhere else. But he went in, and it was Kaehyun who greeted him first:
- "Hello Eunhyuk. I wanted to thank you again for last night, it was a complete success! It’s really good for Donghae to be confronted to his usual little routine’s break. I think he did very well, honestly, I was almost sure we would at least make a fuss once."
Without really understanding why, that second to last word tasted bitter to Eunhyuk. He more and more had the feeling that Donghae was the target of a small amount of aggressions he had not seen at first, but that he could sense better now that his sensitivity was sharper, having learned to always be very attentive towards his friend.
Without really understanding why, that second to last word tasted bitter to Eunhyuk. He more and more had the feeling that Donghae was the target of a small amount of aggressions he had not seen at first, but that he could sense better now that his sensitivity was sharper, having learned to always be very attentive towards his friend.
- "Oh yeah, that's great, everything went well", he replied. "He slept well last night?"
- "I don’t know, I'm fortunately not on the night shift", the nurse replied, "I luckily have a life to relax a little bit outside of tiring work hours!"
It was while laughing together that they parted in front of the playroom. But Donghae he, was not fooled by Eunhyuk’s false good mood; without he had said anything while they were doing math next to each other, he felt his friend being distracted and anxious. But since he did not know why, he figured it was his fault and, forgetting to continue his calculations, began to tilt his head to the side, nervously fiddling the buttons of his shirt.
- "Well, what’s going on Donghae", Eunhyuk softly asked him while also putting his pen down.
- "Is... Is Eunhyuk... angry with Donghae?" The young man asked, stumbling on almost every word.
- "Hey, what's with this way of speaking?" Eunhyuk immediately replied in a tone nice enough not to scare him, suddenly feeling lighter and more comfortable upon seeing Donghae’s odd little strand slide on his forehead. "When you talk about yourself, you have to say 'I' or 'me', and when you want to talk to me; you have to say 'you'. Come on; ask me again with the right words."
- "Are ... are you angry with me?" Donghae asked again, applying himself as best he could to please his friend.
- "Of course not", Eunhyuk reassured him with a smile, patting his head with the flat of his hand, "you're still a good boy and a good friend. It's just that I have things in my mind lately. Let's take a quick walk in the yard; it’ll change my mind off things okay?"
Seeing them stand up, Kangin had no desire to move and indicated by a small hand sign that they could manage by themselves. You control him much better than I do anyway, he justified.
- "Saw that Donghae, you really do a lot of progress!" Eunhyuk pointed out in the elevator, "you can go down alone now!"
Donghae showed a little grin and went back to the contemplation of his shoes without answering anything. But Eunhyuk knew they had not obtained a true permission, that it was rather the nurses’ weariness and indifference which had created this situation. The two boys then both walked over to the small yard that was behind the center and overlooked the playing fields, to avoid cars in case there would be some. Donghae, his large red sweater floating around him, went to stuck his fingers in the grid, as usual. Eunhyuk lit a cigarette behind the shelter of his hand.
Donghae showed a little grin and went back to the contemplation of his shoes without answering anything. But Eunhyuk knew they had not obtained a true permission, that it was rather the nurses’ weariness and indifference which had created this situation. The two boys then both walked over to the small yard that was behind the center and overlooked the playing fields, to avoid cars in case there would be some. Donghae, his large red sweater floating around him, went to stuck his fingers in the grid, as usual. Eunhyuk lit a cigarette behind the shelter of his hand.
- "You won’t report me, huh?" He told Donghae.
After a few quiet puffs, a few birds having sang aimlessly in the sky, he added in a slightly more hoarse tone:
- "Donghae ... if anything was wrong, if some people were not treating you well, you'd tell me right? You can confide to me you know. I won’t let anyone bother you. It mustn’t be easy to live here every day, huh? If something’s wrong, tell me. I'll protect you", he promised in a swagger way to try and hide his discomfort and the first tear that started to tingle his eye.
For only answer, Donghae approached him with a straight face, and put his mouth on his. The cigarette Eunhyuk was holding between his fingers fell to the ground, or, more precisely, in a puddle of water, which was rather fortunate. Donghae barely moved, his small mouth hardly daring to lean against the lower lip of Eunhyuk who, more than flesh, felt a breath caress him. He did not push him away despite his surprise, his first reaction, rather than to try and protect his honor, his manhood or whatnot, was to think about how such a move would hurt him if he refused his affection. After a moment he was not able to calculate wery well, but was probably relatively short, the small palpitating mouth pulled back, letting the wind come and cool his lips, driving away the warmth that the chaste kiss had brought to his face. He opened his eyes to see that Donghae’s were still closed, eyelids swept by the tip of his hair that the wind twisted on his forehead under the blue sky from where a few raindrops started to fall.
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Hey hey~ This is so cute TT
By the way !! Gosh.. I read this story twice, and now that I translate it, I read it two more times! I had to wait for my third reading to understand the relation between the title and the story! The last sentence say it all ! I think.. I’m not sure still but.. Would make sense ! =)
So yeah.. Just needed to share this with you because I felt so proud on the moment XD
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