Another tiring school day, and another night spent in the small white room. Sometimes, Sungmin would lean his ear against the door, trying to listen in on whatever his friend could be doing. But of course, this never worked out as Donghae was constantly quiet inside the room. How could Sungmin be disappointed for not hearing anything, when there wasn't much to make noise with. The elder figured it's better to hear nothing, than hearing his housemate talking to himself. Yes, definitely better than Hae being crazy.

The door suddenly opened, resulting in Donghae falling on his back. He groaned and blinked twice, opening his eyes to see a frowning brunet above him.

“Hyung, what were you doing?” Donghae asked, reaching out to help the other up.

“N-Nothing...” He stuttered, averting his eyes. “U-Uh, what do you want for dinner?” He quickly added, fumbling about and trying to change the topic.

It wasn't that Donghae couldn't tell that his friend was up to something, he just didn't want to argue about it. Instead, he simply walked past the black haired boy, chuckling slightly.

“Yah! What's so funny?” Sungmin called, running to catch up.

“I feel like noodles today.” said Donghae as he walked into the kitchen and sat down at the island.

“Seriously!? Noodles! You're too vague, Hae.” Sungmin said, shaking his head and forgetting what he was doing before.

Their dinner was finished, and they enjoyed a tasteful meal of noodles. Sungmin didn't feel like cooking a lot, so he made a simple dish of spaghetti. Which turned out quite nicely, although Donghae ended up getting it all over the place. At the end of dinner, his mouth was painted orange from the sauce, and the counter around his plate was coated in a layer of noodle, meat, and sauce. Not something Sungmin would want to clean up.

“Since I cooked dinner, you have to clean the kitchen!” Sungmin declared, smiling triumphantly when Donghae hung his head in unfortunate compliance.

Although it was a big house, only the two of them lived there. They kept the place mostly clean,  except for Donghae's room that would sometimes end up looking as though a tornado came through it. Since it was just the two of them, it didn't take much to keep everything tidy and neat. There were plenty of dishes and even a dishwasher, but because of the lack of people, they didn't use much. It was doubted that either of them even knew how to use the dish washing machine. It was easier to use the sink, usually only several dishes were made, and it wasn't much hassle to wash them manually.

Not shockingly, Donghae managed to clean up quickly. When he was done, he made his way to the living room where Sungmin was already watching a drama. He sat down on the couch, beside Sungmin, and fixated his eyes on the television.

“You watch too many dramas, hyung.” Donghae said, grinning.

“I do not!” Sungmin argued, turning to look at the brunet.

“Do too. You've been watching a whole lot more recently.”

“It's all Wookie's fault.”

“Don't blame Ryewook,” Donghae said, thinking of his friend's petite cousin. “but then again, you hang out with him so much, it's not hard to believe he has been rubbing off on you.”

They spent their evening chatting idly on the couch while watching whatever shows were on. A drama or two and the odd variety show. It was something that they hadn't done in a while, and it made Sungmin hope that Donghae was getting better.

The next day at school, Sungmin had to stay home because he had caught the stomach flu, and was puking up anything he ate. Donghae had offered that he would help, but Sungmin had refused, saying that his boyfriend, Choi Siwon, would be coming over to take care of him. To which Donghae had made a sly remark about not being able to rest.

Sighing, Donghae gripped his backpack straps and walked towards his homeroom class. He was hoping for another stress free day, without friends coming up to him with concerned gazes. He didn't need to be any of their worries, as he could take care of himself.

“Lee Donghae!” Zhoumi's voice and sudden hug attack shocked Donghae as he almost fell forward.

“Geez, Zhoumi, you gotta stop doing that! You're gonna give me a heart attack one day.” Donghae exclaimed, trying to shrug the boy off of his back.

“Oh come on, you know you love me!” Zhoumi said playfully, pecking the brunet's cheek and running off to their class.

Donghae however, was in a trance from the sudden affection. It reminded him of a different time, not so long ago.

“Come one, Hae baby, we both know you love me.” A sweet voice hummed, as a beautiful blond circled him, hand on his waist.

Donghae stuttered, not knowing how to react. Instead, he lowered his blushing face, biting his lip and staring at the floor.

“Maybe this will help...” The alluring voice said again, and the boy leaned in, placing a pair of soft lips against his cheek, lingering there even after he had pulled away.

Donghae shook his head, trying to push the memory back inside of him. As soon as he had collected himself, he started to walk towards his classroom. Although a foot seemed to stick out under his feet, and trip him as he fell to the hard floor with a thud. He winced as a foot came down on his side, stepping on his ribs. He let out a pained whine and clenched his teeth, trying to keep his mouth shut. Afraid to open his eyes, in fear of who might be above him, he kept them closed and hoped that it wasn't a certain person.

“Oops, I didn't know the floor could make sounds?” Although luck did not appear to be on his side today.

The foot removed itself from Donghae, and he took this opportunity to quickly stand up and back away a few steps. His head was lowered, as he muttered under his breath, “What do you want?”

“Well I was just walking, I guess I didn't notice that there was some extra filth on the ground.” The bully snickered.

“Can you just leave me alone, Hyukjae?” Donghae asked quietly, hoping this would just end.

“Who says I would even want to be near scum like you?” The blond retorted, scoffing and giving the brunet a dirty look.

“Please...”

“Tch, you're a sick bastard, Lee Donghae.” Hyukjae said the boy's voice with menace, hatred, so pure it made Donghae cringe.

“Yah! Just who do you think you are to be picking on him?” Zhoumi asked, appearing beside the seemingly smaller brunet, and wrapping a protective arm across his shoulders.

“Oh? Got a new boyfriend already?” Hyukjae taunted, glaring at the tall China man.

“You didn't answer my question, who are you?” Zhoumi tried again, staring dangerously at the bully.

“Just leave it be, MiMi,” Donghae spoke up, pulling at Zhoumi's wrist, “let's just go.”

The taller took one last look at Hyukjae and turned around, following Donghae.

“Wow! You've sure got him whipped!” Hyukjae yelled, laughing mockingly, “Good to know you're still the same good for nothing I know!”