Flashback

"Look Umma. I got an A+ on my book report," a young child exclaimed enthusiastically.

"Oh my, Leeteuk. How wonderful." 

The child was beaming as he looked up at his mother. "My teacher says that I'm the smartest kid in the entire fifth grade," he boasted proudly. 

"Well then, I guess this needs to be put up on the fridge," she smiled kindly, taking the piece of paper in her hand. 

When she was done, another small child came to stand next to his brother, also holding something in his small hands. "Umma, I made this drawing today in school. It has our family on it. See? That's you and that's hyung and that's me," he said timidly as he showed her his creation. It could be seen that he had put a lot of effort into making it perfect. 

The woman, however, did not smile as she did with the older child. Instead, she frowned in disappointment. "Really, Donghae. When your brother was in the first grade, he was reading books well above his level, not wasting his time on silly things like this." With that, she turned her back and continued to make dinner. 

The younger of the two put his head down to hide his tears and quickly made his way upstairs to his bedroom clutching his drawing in his hands. As he came into the room, he laid himself down on his bed, head buried in the pillow while silently crying. He felt angry at himself that he couldn't be as smart as his hyung. His hyung always did everything right, but he always seemed to do everything wrong. 

Just then, his older brother, Leeteuk, came into the room, and after quietly shutting the door, made his way to sit at the edge of the bed, petting his brother's hair. "I really like your drawing, Hae. I can't draw as good as that. If you let me have it, I'll hang it up in my room," he said in an attempt to comfort his brother. 

"Really?" Donghae asked as he lifted up to sit on the bed, wiping his eyes dry.

"Really," Leeteuk replied with a smile. 

Donghae smiled at the request. His hyung always knew how to make him feel better.

Donghae's POV~ 

I smiled at the memory. Leeteuk hyung always managed to make me smile, but now he was entering his last year of university. He was busy with his studies so he rarely visited anymore, except on holidays. 

Ever since hyung moved out, Umma hasn't paid me that much attention, but I guess that's because she's been busy with the company so I don't mind. 

I flopped down on my bed and turned my head to look outside the window. It's now the middle of the summer and I don't have anything to do. It's times like these that I miss hyung the most, but I know someone who can cheer me up like hyung used to. 

I picked up my phone and texted my best friend: hey :) what r u doing? Im bored...

A few seconds later, my phone buzzed. The text read: u and me both. come over. i'll order pizza

Kyuhyun's invitation got me out of bed. 

Even though there was a limo ready to take me anywhere I wished, I chose to walk seeing as how Kyuhyunie's place wasn't too far away, and some exercise would do me well. 

Forty minutes later, I was standing in front of Kyu's apartment. 

Kyu and I met back in our sophomore year of high school. He had just moved here by himself.

Flashback~

"Okay class. Settle down. We've got a new student today. He just moved here so do your best to make him feel welcomed." 

I shifted in my seat with my head still buried in a book, not really paying attention to what was happening in front of the classroom. 

"Hello. My name is Cho Kyuhyun. Please take care of me," the new student spoke in a monotoned voice.

"Okay. Now why don't you have a seat in the back next to Donghae." 

My head snapped to the front of the room to see Mr. Park pointing to the seat right next to me. Standing next to Mr. Park was a boy with curly brown hair, pale skin, and wary eyes. His shirt was untucked and his tie hung loosely around his neck. 

Kyuhyun looked at me and then started to make his way over. My eyes followed him and continued to stare even after he had settled down and was now looking at the board as class was resumed. 

I never really had any friends. I was too quiet and didn't make an effort to get close to others. I sat in the back of all my classes where I would be alone - just how I liked it. 

But now there was the new guy. 

He looks like a troublemaker with his clothes on that way.

He must have sensed me staring at him because I saw him glance at me from the corner of his eye.

I quickly turned my head away and directed my attention to the front.

~

After about twenty minutes into the lesson, I gave up. 

Math is just too hard! Too many rules and equations to remember. I mean, seriously. What's up with pi? It's not even a number.

I sighed in frustration. 

"Alright everyone. I've decided to give you all a project to make things a little more fun," Mr. Park suddenly announced. 

Huh? Since when do we get projects in math class?

"Here are the packets with the assignment. It will be due next week and will count as a full test grade," he continued enthusiastically. 

What? Nooo! I'm gonna fail for sure. 

"And you will be partnered up with the person sitting next to you. I will give you the rest of class to start working on it." 

I widened my eyes and turned to look at Kyuhyun. I started to panic. 

By his looks I assumed he mustn't be very smart. That means we're both not gonna know what to do and then we'll fail! Umma will get mad at me. And how are we supposed to work on it together? That means I have to talk to him and he'll have to come over to my house. 

He probably sensed my dilemma because the next thing I knew, he shifted in his seat to face me. "I've read through the assignment. It doesn't seem too hard. We can work on it at my place after school." 

"O-oh. Okay." 

Just then, the bell rang. 

"I guess I'll see see you after school then," he said giving me a small smile while getting up to leave. 

(end of flashback)

And since that day, we've been inseparable. 

I knocked on the door and waited no more than five seconds before the door was opened, revealing a clumsily dressed Kyu. He was wearing a pair of sweats and a t-shirt that was covered in wrinkles. Hs hair was stuck up in all directions and he had on his reading glasses. He looked so different from when I had first met him. 

I let out a small laugh as I took off my shoes and followed him into the small apartment. "Did you just get out of bed?" 

"It's three in the afternoon, Hae. How long do you expect me to sleep for?" he asked from where he was seated on the floor in front of the couch, tv on, and a pizza box open on the coffee table. 

I joined him on the floor and grabbed a slice of pizza, Kyu doing the same. 

We sat in a comfortable silence for a while, eating as we watched tv. 

I really like Kyu's place. I once told him and he said I was crazy. Even though I lived in a mansion with more rooms than I could remember, it never felt like home. But Kyuhyun's apartment was small and cozy, and there was always a comfortable feeling. 

After about ten minutes, half the pizza box was empty. As Kyu finished his last bite, he turned to face me. "Anything new happen since yesterday?"

"Um, nothing much. Umma said there's gonna be another company party at our house in a couple of days."

"Really, Hae. I don't get why you still call her 'Umma'. I mean, the old hag only uses you to look good for the public. She's only nice to you when she makes you go to those stupid business parties," Kyu said looking annoyed. 

I pouted. "That's not nice, Kyu. She's still my Umma."

Kyu sighed frustration. 

"What about you? Are you working tonight?" I asked, trying to change the topic. 

"Oh, yeah. Heechul hyung called me this morning to tell me that I need to work tonight," he said looking even more annoyed now. Kyu worked in a bar as a bartender. How he got the job I don't know. 

"Oh. You only have a couple more hours before you have to go in. What do you want to do until then?" 

"Hmmm. We could play that new game we bought at the mall last time. I still haven't opened it," Kyu said while looking at me with hopeful eyes. Before I had time to react, he was already up, dashing into his room, returning with the game in his hand. He popped it into the system and rushed back next to me, handing me a controller. 

We spent the next couple of hours on the floor playing games. We fell over with laughter every time one of us screwed up, and whenever Kyu won, he would let out a victory cry which I'm sure the neighbors heard. 

It was around seven o' clock when Kyu had claimed yet another victory, jumping around the room throwing his fists in the air while I remained on the floor with my hands folded against my chest, pouting and glaring at my best friend. 

"Hahaha! You at this, Hae! Even if you cheated I bet you still wouldn't win," he exclaimed playfully. 

My pout deepened. Just then, we heard Kyu's phone start to vibrate furiously. I watched as he answered the call. 

"Hel-" Before he could even finish, his face scrunched up and he held the phone at arm's length away from his ear, indicating that the person at the other end was shouting obnoxiously. When it seemed that the person had calmed down, Kyu brought the phone back up to his ear. "Yeah, yeah. I'l be right there," he said, turning the phone off before the other had a chance to say anything. 

"That was Heechul. Apparently, I was supposed to have been there thirty minutes ago," he said as he glanced at the clock. 

"Well then, what are you just standing there for? Go get dressed! Hurry before Heechul hyung comes and drags you there himself," I warned as I pushed him into his room. When I made sure he was indeed getting ready, I made my way into the living room to help clean up the mess we had made. 

Ten minutes later, Kyu came out of the room wearing his uniform: black slacks, a black button down that was folded to the elbows, and a thin red tie. He had managed to tame his wild hair which was now styled down perfectly. I had to admit that he cleaned up well. 

He circled around the room throwing seemingly random things into his bag and then headed for the door as I hurried after him. He locked the door and we started walking towards the bar. Because it was summer, the sun was just beginning to set. We arrived in front of the bar a couple of minutes later seeing as how it wasn't very far from where Kyu lived. 

Kyu turned to me and grumbled, " Heechul is gonna kill me." 

"It's your fault. You kept making so much of a fuss over the game that we forgot about the time." 

"My fault?" he looked surprised. "You're the one who kept losing." 

"What does that have to do with anything?" 

Just then, an angry looking Heechul was seen storming out of the bar and right at us. 

"Yah, Cho Kyuhyun!" 

"Uh-oh" Kyu said under his breath and gave me a quick hug and tried to escape. 

Before he could make a run for it, Heechul hyung grabbed him by his shirt collar and started dragging him inside, too enraged to notice my presence. After quite a commotion, hyung got Kyu inside the bar and closed the door behind him. 

I hope Kyu's going to be alright.