Donghae trudged through the hallway. He was frowning and mulling over all the things that happened on his first day of school. It wasn't the best of first days, but thankfully, nothing big happened. Calm and quiet, how he liked it. Other than Kibum, he hadn't seen any of his friends, or they had decided not to confront him. Whichever way it was, the brunet was glad that he didn't need to do any unnecessary explaining. For which he was extremely grateful that Zhoumi hadn't brought anything up.

Making his way to the very back of the large house, Donghae dropped his bag at the side of the hall. When he was finally at the end of the long hallway, he stood in front of the familiar white door. Slowly taking the key out of its respective keeping place, he unlocked the door and stepped inside.

Seeping into the comforting warmth and silence of his confinement room, Donghae sat by the window. He was lost in his thoughts, enjoying the rain the slowly drizzled down. Of course, it wasn't as heavy or exciting as the other day, but light rain was just as delightful to watch as any other weather. Just staring outside calmed his nerves, he could somehow forget what Kibum pestered him about all day, and the questioning gaze that his new friend would send him whenever he thought the brunet wasn't looking.

“Yah! Lee Donghae!” Sungmin's voice rumbled throughout the house, startling the calm of the white room.

“What does he want now?” Donghae wondered to himself, sighing deeply as he took out a pair of earphones and his music player.

“Don't you dare ignore me!” Sungmin yelled again, but his housemate had already escaped from his yells and into the world of music.

A frustrated grunt followed by a short scream was the last thing the black haired male did before stomping off down the hall. Sungmin wasn't exactly the patient type, especially when it came to dealing with Donghae. He wasn't too happy about what his friend did, but he was slightly willing to let it go because it was the first day of school.

 A soft rhythm echoed through Donghae's ears as he turned the music up. Putting something in his brain, like music, was a good way for him to distract himself, to fill his mind of a nice sensation rather than troubling thoughts. He would often sit alone in his special room, listening away to his music and sometimes humming along. If he was especially sad or angry – highly emotional – it wasn't rare to hear him singing along.

Of course, Sungmin couldn't complain because he was fairly good at singing.

I wonder where he was today? I didn't see him at all. Donghae thought, pursing his lips as he thought. Did he skip? Shaking his head, the brunet willed himself to not think about a certain person. To trap all his feelings deep within him, somewhere where no one could see what he was thinking. A confined jar in the depths of his heart and mind, locking it and throwing the key away. I can't keep thinking like this, it isn't healthy. He warned himself, turning the music louder and counting the beats as they passed.

He desperately hoped that the jar within him would hold. That it wouldn't crack and spill out everything he was feeling. He imagined wrapping the metaphorical glass jar with different materials, tinfoil, plasticine, clay, sand, alien technology. Everything his mind could come up with.

A week had passed since school started, and nothing exciting had occurred. The teachers and classes were equally boring, nothing much to say about them. The students ignored Donghae, and even though he had caught a glimpse of some of his previous friends, he didn't go to greet them; neither did they. He only had Kibum, Zhoumi, and Henry. Sungmin offered for them to sit with him and his friends, but that wasn't something Donghae could agree to, so he refused every time.

“Hae, what are you doing?” Zhoumi asked, poking his friend's shoulder with his pencil.

“Huh? Oh, sorry.” Donghae mumbled, blinking confusedly and looking up, “What did you say?”

“Seriously, you sure are something.” Said Zhoumi, shaking his head in disbelief.

“What? What'd I do?”

“You were zoning out again, and the bell rang like five minutes ago.”

“Oh...really?” He smiled sheepishly, rubbing his nape and gathering his things as he quickly stood up.

They walked out of the classroom, on their way to the cafeteria. Since the bell had rang a while ago, the halls were mostly deserted, everyone already gone to the cafeteria or somewhere else to spend their lunch.

“Do you have your assignment ready for Ms. Won?” Zhoumi asked.

“Which subject is she?” The brunet asked instead.

“Science, dummy.”

“Riight, uh well, I think I do...”

“Why so uncertain?”

“Is that project the one where we have to write an essay on birds?”

“What! What kind of assignment is that?!”

“S-So it's not that one...”

“Of course not! This is science, Hae, science! We aren't studying to become birdologists.”

“I-I don't t-think that's a word.”

“You just don't think at all.”

“Yah!”

Donghae smacked Zhoumi's shoulder lightly, grimacing at him and turning his head the other way. The taller only laughed, telling Donghae what he was supposed to do and that he could copy his notes.

“Really? Daebak!” Donghae said, jumping up and down.

Zhoumi reached out his hand, ruffling the brunet's hair. Donghae stopped where he was, widening his eyes as a faint memory flashed upon him.

“You're too cute to be true, HaeHae.”

Donghae blushed, looking down and shifting his feet. Suddenly, a warm hand rested atop his head, slowly ruffling his soft brown locks. Startled, the boy looked up, staring into comforting brown eyes. He stared intently at the eyes, so dark they seemed black, but to him, they were more beautiful than anything he has ever seen before.

“You don't like it?”

“N-No..i-it's not t-that...” Donghae stuttered, lowering his head once again.

Before he could process what was happening, his chin was being lifted upwards. Soft lips gently touching his and hands caressing his sides. Donghae felt like he was in the best place on earth.

“Are you alright?” Zhoumi's voice brought the brunet out of his trance.

“Huh? Oh...sorry.” Donghae apologized, shaking his head and stuffing the memory inside of him.

“What was that all about?” Zhoumi asked, his voice laced with concern.

“Oh, nothing.” Donghae said, attempting to smile without it seeming fake.

The red head was just about to say something back, when there was a sudden third person beside him. Surprised, the tall boy looked to his side, shaking his head when he saw the boy who looked like a chipmunk with his plump cheeks.

“Henly, why aren't you eating?” Zhoumi asked.

“I was waiting for you, but you didn't show up.” Henry explained, pouting lightly.

“Sorry we kept you waiting, but you could have eaten with other friends.” The china man said, although he petted the boy's hair fondly.

“I just remembered!” Donghae exclaimed, pointing his finger in the air like something was really important.

“What?” Zhoumi asked, staring oddly at his friend.

“I forgot some textbooks in my locker! I need to go get them now.” Donghae told the two, waving goodbye and dashing off. Leaving two very confused boys behind.

“Those two would totally make a good couple.” Donghae said to himself, nodding to agree with what he said.

Slowing down to walk along the halls, he made his way down the hall, his shoes clicking on the tile as he went. Donghae stopped by his locker, opening it up and grabbing some books that he needed. It wasn't an excuse when he said he forgot some textbooks in his locker.

Once he had everything he needed, the brunet turned around. Although, as soon as he did so, a hand roughly crashed against the lockers, directly beside Donghae's head. Shocked at what just happened, Donghae shut his eyes tightly, afraid that he was about to get beat up.

“Don't act so afraid, hyung. I can't hurt you.” The perpetrator said, although his voice was calm and seemingly concerned.

Slowly opening his eyes, Donghae was met with a familiar face.

“Minho!” Donghae exclaimed. Immediately calming down as he saw the familiar brown hair and wide eyes.

“That's me, hyung.” Minho smiled.

“Wah, you didn't have to scare me like that...” Donghae said, smacking the younger one's head lightly.

“Oh, this? Sorry.” Minho said, taking his arm away from the other and rubbing his nape while looking down.

“You do know that you could have just called my name or something.”

“But where's the fun in that?”

“I don't think I had any fun with your little prank.”

“Of course not, it's usually only fun for the one doing it.”

“Seriously, you always surprise me day after day.”

Donghae shook his head and pushed himself off of the lockers, walking towards the cafeteria.

“Can I sit with you at lunch?” Minho asked, quickly catching up.

“What? All of your friends abandon you because of your pranks?” Donghae asked back, chuckling at the upset expression on his friend's face.

“That's not it! Can't I just sit with you this one time?”

“Fine, fine.”

Minho hugged the other, squeezing him tightly before releasing. They walked down the halls for a few more minutes, catching up on the summer and how they were doing. Simple small talk. Nothing big. Until Minho started to fidget and open his mouth, only to close it after.

“Spit it out, Minho.” Donghae said, annoyed at the taller boy.

“Well, you see, I was just wondering...” Minho paused, deciding how he should handle his words.

“This better not be about what I think it is.” Donghae warned.

“But hyung! I just want to know how you are.”

“I'm perfectly fine, do you see anything wrong with me?”

“That's not what I meant, are you sure that you are alright with what happened?”

“Why wouldn't I be? It's not like the world ended or something.”

“It may not have ended for everyone else, but you are a different case.”

“Stop it, Minho. Don't you dare go any further.”

“Have you talked to him?”

Donghae stopped walking, turning around to glare at the younger.

“Have you at least seen him?” Minho tried again, averting his gaze as he couldn't handle the burning glare from his friend.

“Let's stop talking about this now. I'm hungry.” Donghae said threateningly, turning and walking faster than before to his destination.

“,” Minho muttered to himself, quickly running to catch up, “sorry hyung, I won't bring it up again. Just please let me sit with you?”

“Don't talk about it again.” Donghae warned, receiving a quick nod from his friend.

Although the boy had many different things to say, he knew that he shouldn't. That it would be a bad thing to keep bringing something like this up when his friend obviously wasn't going to talk about it. But that didn't mean Minho couldn't think about what he wanted to say. I guess you haven't gotten over it yet, hyung.