Numbness.

It was all he could feel right at the moment.

Donghae stared at his shaking hands for five good minutes until he heard the door opened. “Where is the boy?” he heard the nurse said, but he was busy processing what had just happened earlier. Kyuhyun just disappear right before his eyes, and he can’t even do anything. He gulped as he tried to prevent himself from wailing right here and there.

“Donghae?”

His gaze went from his hands to his best friend, standing at the door frame of the small clinic. He went beside Donghae and sit beside him on the bed, and then he asked the nurse to leave them for minutes. The nurse just nodded and left the room.

“Hae,” Hyukjae started, but Donghae just stared off into space once again. “The nurse said Kyuhyun was here a while ago.” The brunette just nodded. “Where is he?”

“He’s gone.”

“Gone?”

“Gone.”

“Donghae—“

Hyukjae jumped on his seat when Donghae suddenly stood up and gave him a cold glare. “I SAID HE’S GONE! KYUHYUN IS GONE! ING HELL LEE HYUKJAE CAN’T YOU UNDERSTAND THAT SIMPLE STATEMENT?! I FAILED TO PROTECT HIM OKAY?! I FAILED—“ Donghae’s voice faltered as his knees gave out and he slumped on the floor, crying his heart out as he remembered how Kyuhyun had suddenly vanished right before his very own eyes. “I failed..”

Seeing the broken state of Donghae, Hyukjae didn’t know what to do. Sure, he’s used to Donghae’s cold attitude since they were kids, but he never saw Donghae cry; at least not this much.

And he was supposedly the crybaby of them two.

“Why are you crying?”

Hyukjae, now 13 years old, cried as he showed his best friend his bleeding knee. Donghae just blinked and left the room without saying anything, so Hyukjae started wailing more.

However, he suddenly screamed in pain as he felt a sting on his knee. When he opened his eyes, Donghae was there.

And he’s pouring an alcohol on his leg.

“Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!”

“Shut up, Hyukjae. It’s not that painful.” he said as he started treating his knee with beta dine. Minutes passed and he was finished, but Hyukjae is still crying. “Why are you still crying?” asked he.

“B-because I thought you left me alone!!! WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH I LOVE YOU HAE-HAE!!!”

And Donghae promised himself since then to wear armor in case Hyukjae gives him a bear hug.

Gulping in nervousness, Hyukjae knelt beside his best friend and started rubbing his back. “Uhm.. Kyuhyun would be back?” he said.

Donghae never looked at him with so much hope in his eyes.

Donghae was even surprised he reached home without meeting any accidents in his way, thanks to his best friend. As he finally reached their doorstep, Hyukjae gave him back his bag and then proceed in opening the door. His mom would be working overnight today, so Hyukjae decided to sleep over.

“Thanks.” he mumbled weakly when he slumped on the couch. Hyukjae decided to make him some tea.

Sniffing his tears one more, Donghae felt exhausted so he decided to go to his room to rest.

Opening the door of his room with a groan, Donghae held his temples as the pain kicked in. Ugh. This is why he hated it whenever he cried.

But a tug at the hem of his shirt made Donghae stopped and widened his eyes. Slowly, he looked down..

And meet a familiar jade green pair of eyes and lips smiling at him.

“Kyuhyun..”

Donghae knelt and cupped the face of the boy. He can’t control his sobs anymore and he started crying. Kyuhyun, on the other hand, didn’t know what to do. Donghae is hurting and it hurt him to see him crying. So he did the first thing that came up with his mind to comfort Donghae.

Soft lips met trembling ones.

Followed by a loud crash.

“I wish Sungmin could kiss me like that…”

Hyukjae run to the door as Donghae throw him a pillow. “Shut up and go home.”

Hyukjae pouted, but Donghae just ignored him so he left the room.

“And Hyukjae?”

Hearing his best friend called him; Hyukjae stopped walking and peeked through the door. “Yeah?”

“Dream on.”

Now it was Donghae’s face turn to receive a flying slipper.

Clearing his throat, Donghae turned to Kyuhyun who was hugging his pillow and looking at him still with a worried expression. He crawled next to him and scratched his nape. “I-I’m okay now..” he said then smiled. Who wouldn’t be when they were kissed by their crush? Kyuhyun just blinked at him, and then he suddenly yawned. “Sleepy?” Donghae asked. Kyuhyun blinked at him once again, not really understanding what he was saying.

The brunette blinked his eyes as well. “Oh, I forgot you don’t know anything..” he bit his lip and point to Kyuhyun, and then he pointed on the pillow Kyuhyun was holding, before he acted like he was sleeping by placing his clasped hands at his cheek.

Kyuhyun tilted his head and copied what Donghae was doing.

Donghae shook his head. “You,” he said then pointed again towards Kyuhyun. “Sleep.” He pointed to the bed they were sitting, and then he let his body lie on the soft mattress and close his eyes.

He felt the mattress moved as another body lay beside him. When Donghae opened his eyes, he was surprised when he saw that Kyuhyun’s face was now close to his, and he was more surprised when the boy started caressing his cheek by his thumb.

He smiled and just pulled Kyuhyun into a warm embrace.

Kyuhyun then snuggled into Donghae and let out a small smile, which didn’t go unnoticed by the other. Donghae kissed Kyuhyun’s forehead before they both fell into dreamland.

An hour later after the two boys fell asleep, a figure suddenly appeared followed by another who came from the window.

“What in the heavens are you doing here?” the guy in an elegant white cloak shrieked through his gritted teeth as the person from the window came in and hugged him. “You know I could kill you with a single blink, monkey.”

The guy huffed, but nonetheless he let the guy go. “I knew you wouldn’t because you love me~” he sing sang, his gums showing. “And for your question earlier, I know you knew very well what I’m doing here.”

“You never learn.”

“But you love me bunny~”

“Shut up.”

“Sungminnie—“

“Lee Hyukjae.”

Hyukjae just smiled at the pissed bunny beside him.

Sungmin was one of the guardians of the Mirrored World (along with his friend Ryeowook and Shindong) who fell in love with Hyukjae the first time his eyes landed on him. They first met each other when Hyukjae’s mother bought the mirror Sungmin was trapped inside because of an ancient spell Ryeowook accidentally casted on him long, long time ago. Not even Heechul and Leeteuk know about his existence. The mirror was placed in Hyukjae’s room, and the boy accidentally tripped and pressed his lips on the mirror, making Sungmin free from the spell. The two then had a connection when Sungmin kissed the ten-year old Hyukjae on the floor; which is a sign of thanking him, but Hyukjae already fell for him the minute he pressed his lips on his. So he nags Sungmin every day to court him. Until Sungmin followed Hyuk one day and learned about Donghae’s case, thus Sungmin find a way back into the Mirrored World and met the new lord of the era: Heechul, and his right hand Leeteuk. They agreed that Sungmin would protect Donghae and Kyuhyun until it was found.

“Protect them from what?” little Hyukjae asked as he snuggled his body with Sungmin on the bench they were sitting outside the garden of their house one time.

“Shadows.”

“So,” Hyukjae said as he dragged the resisting guardian on the corner of the room. “What is going on?”

Sungmin simply rolled his eyes and lean his body on the white wall next to him. Then he sighed as he looked at the two boys sleeping peacefully on the bed, clearly having the world of their own as their bodies tangled with each other. Years of observing Donghae as his classmate made him realize that the poor boy was only having nothing to hold onto life besides Hyukjae, Kyuhyun and his mother. It hurts how he knew would be Donghae’s state when he found out about the truth. A single tear fell from his eye, which was wiped by Hyukjae’s thumb immediately.

“Sungmin?” he asked, worried clear from his eyes.

“They’ve found it, Hyukjae.” he mumbled, and he felt himself cried even more as the red head’s eyes widened in shock.

“They’ve found Donghae.”

Donghae felt relaxed, wonderful even.

Turning his head to his side, he found the most adorable person scrunching his nose side to side, before he sniffed and frown. As if smelling something different, the boy snuggled closer towards his chest, and Donghae was sure as hell that he was indeed enjoying it. He tightened his hands on the boy’s waist, making his face rest on the crook of his neck. He also did the same and started sniffing Kyuhyun as he was mentally laughing hard at his silliness. But as his face rested on the boy’s shoulder and closed his eyes, he was surprised when he suddenly heard a soft sound.

“Hae..”

His eyes widened in shock.

“Hae…” came the hoarse, little voice of his.

Hearing his voice for the first time made Donghae shocked; but hearing Kyuhyun said his name for the first time he stepped foot on earth was nerve-wracking, to the point where Donghae blushed hard and weird and he felt giddy all of a sudden. His throat felt dry, and the soft growl from his stomach isn’t much helping taking away the fluttering feeling inside it.

“Hae.. ?”

Hearing Kyuhyun calling his name felt like he was swimming in chocolates and marshmallows – too sweet and too soft. Somehow, his name sounded more beautiful in Kyuhyun’s tongue. It’s like he was being lulled to sleep with an angel, only this angel is real. A sudden caress on his nose made his eyes opened.

Brown eyes meet Jade green ones.

And Donghae wasn’t the man with words; especially when expressing his feelings.

But he didn’t know it was up to the extent that he couldn’t control his own words.

“Would you go on a date with me?”

A seven year-old boy came skipping happily down the hallway, giggling and squealing excitedly as he made it past the maid’s quarters, before he ran up the stairs and arriving at the hallway of his parent’s room. He jumped in excitement as he knocked on the door many times loudly, waiting for either his Mom or Dad to open up.

Someone did though, but the boy didn’t recognize the man so he took one step back, only to retreat immediately as he saw his mother. “Mom!” he squealed happily, hugging her as he ran to her. The mother, however, just stood there motionless, eyeing him with a grave expression. “Mom?” he asked, but his mother was no longer looking at him, but the tall man behind. She then looked at his father; lying on the bed as if all of his worries abandoned him as he never looked that peaceful. His mother nodded her head slowly, as if it hurts her too much to do so; and the little boy could only frown in confusion as the man in white covered his father fully with a white cloth, before they leave the room minutes later. “Mom, why did they cover Daddy’s face with a blanket? Isn’t it supposed to be up to his shoulder only? He won’t be able to breathe mom.”

As the boy was about to hold the white cloth however, his mother suddenly dropped on her knees and hugged the confused boy in her arms.

“I’m sorry, Donghae.”

And the boy felt that a part of him literally vanished.

Three months.

It’s been three months since the day Donghae first asked Kyuhyun on a date. He remembered it clearly just like yesterday. How Kyuhyun’s face frown at the word ‘date’, but seeing Donghae being happy all afternoon he had come to a realization that dates makes Donghae happy; so he was too eager to nod his head whenever the brunette always asked him to one.

However, those past three months had also been the weirdest months for Donghae.

Like that one time when he and Sungmin was walking home together (Hyukjae kidnapped Kyuhyun and brought him home to play StarCraft), the sky suddenly turned pitch black. He was about to scream in shock when someone clasped a hand on his mouth and dragged him to who knows where. But suddenly the person holding him disappeared and left him shivering alone in dark, seeing nothing. He heard a loud shriek, and then the darkness vanished in a blink of an eye. Sungmin found him inside a dark alley the next minute, shivering and hugging his knees. They never walked on that street ever again.

Another time when he and Kyuhyun was on their date, Donghae suddenly had a weird feeling that something was following them. Sure, they’ve found out that it was Hyukjae and Sungmin who were following them, but Donghae still had the feeling it wasn’t them. Also, the constant nightmare he was having every night isn’t really helping on making him relax; especially when he was alone.

But despite all of that, Donghae chose to ignore them, as his attention was all for Kyuhyun only.

Hyukjae is the person who dares to kidnap Kyuhyun to him though. Donghae’s mother also accepted Kyuhyun the moment she first saw him. At Kyuhyun’s first week at their house they were able to buy him clothes and other necessary items for him. And since Kyuhyun doesn’t know anything about our world (which was a great mystery for Donghae’s mother), Donghae and Hyukjae, together with Sungmin, were the ones that teaches Kyuhyun on how to speak and other primary knowledge.

Kyuhyun, on the other hand, really enjoys their company, but what makes his heart flutter most is when Donghae gave him his rare toothless smile. It makes Kyuhyun also happy knowing that he was able to make the smile more genuine than those fake or forced ones.

“Happee.” Kyuhyun mumbled once in their tutoring lesson with Hyukjae and Sungmin.

The three male laughed at his cuteness, whilst Kyuhyun remained smiling at them and looking at Donghae. He grins widely when Donghae gave him a thumb up sign.

And after those three, long months, Donghae finally chose to tell Kyuhyun about his feelings for him.

The two were currently having another date; walking anywhere their feet would lead them too. Kyuhyun pulled Donghae earlier at an Ice cream parlor and pointed to a vanilla flavored ice cream. Donghae smiled at him and bought two cones, before they left the shop hand in hand. They were now near the park just a few blocks away from the train station. As the two were on their way though, Donghae spotted a shop for couples. It peak his interest so he guided them towards it.

The moment they entered the shop though, Kyuhyun suddenly squealed and ran past the different couple products.

Donghae chuckled and walked towards the counter.

“Hello sir! How may I help you?” a woman in her twenties greeted and bowed to him. Donghae bowed back and gestured towards the hyperventilating Kyuhyun. The woman instantly got his point and from the rack at her side, she gets a white box and opened it, then she hands it to Donghae.

“Couple rings are one of the most items couples buy for their partner nowadays sir.”

Donghae smiled and inspect the rings giddily. The design was simple, yet the carvings made it elegant and one of a kind.

“How much is it?”

“Hae..”

 Donghae turn to find Kyuhyun staring at his pocket. He laughed softly then pulled the boy with him, bringing them on a bench under a big tree. He cleared his throat and held Kyuhyun’s both hands by his own. Then he gets the little white box from his pocket and opened it. Kyuhyun looked at the rings curiously, and he gets one even before Donghae could stop him.

Kyuhyun bites the ring as he thought it was food.

And Donghae failed miserably in stopping a guffaw.

He shook his head and took the ring back from Kyuhyun’s hand; he then took the other ring out of the box. He held Kyuhyun’s left hand and insert the ring on his ring finger, and then he wear his. Smiling giddily, he looked up at Kyuhyun; only to find him slowly disappearing.

He felt his world stop.

His smile fell.

And he just stared blankly as Kyuhyun vanished completely; his ring making a little sound of ‘ting!’ as it hit the ground.