“Why are you so annoying?” Luhan grumbled as he watched the younger sitting across from him. He was eating some ramen but was playing with it as he ate.

“It’s because I’m y,” Sehun replied with a smirk and slurped up his noodles.

Luhan made a disgusted face and looked away. He couldn’t believe he let Sehun drag him to this cheap ramen shop just outside of Seoul. He let out a small sigh and without looking at him, he asked: “Are you done yet?”

“You know… you’re awfully rude to someone who saved your life,” Sehun muttered and then drunk the ramen broth before slamming the bowl back on the table with a satisfied “Ahh!”

Luhan tch-ed and rolled his eyes. “I never asked you to save my life.”

“Then die,” Sehun said sharply, staring at Luhan from across the table, “If you’re really going to throw your life away over a girl then you don’t deserve to live.” 

“What are you- Yah! Are you calling me pathetic?” Luhan looked at the younger in shock, barely batting an eyelash.

Sehun’s lips curled up into a thin smile and clasped his hands together on the table, leaning forward ever so slightly. “And if I am?”

“Bastard,” Luhan uttered bitterly under his breath.

Sehun chuckled lightly upon hearing that and shrugged. “I get that a lot… any other insults you got for me?”

“That’s it, I’ll be leaving first,” Luhan said as he rose to his feet.

“So you’re just going to run away from the truth, huh?” Sehun asked, not bothering to look at Luhan. He ran his finger around the rim of his cup of green tea with a gentle look of thoughtfulness adorning his milky white face.

“What do you know about the truth? You don’t even know what happened!” Luhan was almost yelling. He hardly ever yelled.

“Heh, don’t preach to me about the truth… you’re the one who can’t handle it,” Sehun replied blandly, looking up at Luhan with an almost lazy expression.

Luhan was on the verge of tears but he held them back as if his life depended on it. “Y-You… you don’t know anything about me!” His voice cracked every now and then – his emotions were all over the place. The younger's blunt way of speaking made him angry, it made him confused, but lastly, it made the hurt stronger than before. The truth hurts... it especially hurts the more you refuse to believe it. 

“I know you have a kind heart…” Sehun responded softly and stood up, cautiously making his way toward Luhan but surprisingly, Luhan didn’t push him away. “And I can tell you’ve been hurt time and time again.” For a young guy, Sehun was quite insightful and could read almost anyone like a book.

“And I can also tell-,” Sehun began and grabbed Luhan’s arm, flipping it over and delicately brushed his fingers down his forearm, looking at all the faded scars, “That you haven’t had an easy life from the very beginning.”

Luhan yanked his arm away and rolled his sleeves down. “Why are telling me all of this?” Luhan, however, didn’t even notice the hot tears that were trickling down his very own face at the moment.

“Because, as I already told you, I want to help,” Sehun answered, taking one step closer to Luhan. “I want to be able to do this-,”

Sehun reached out slowly and gently wiped Luhan’s tears with his thumb – Luhan’s eyes widened a bit at his gesture. In all his years of living he had never had anyone who wiped away his tears – his mother may have but he didn’t remember. In fact, he could barely remember anything about his mom other than the fact that she was divinely beautiful in an elegant way and she gave off the most pleasant, warm aura that comforted him… much like the comfort he was receiving now from Sehun. It was a light feeling compared to the darkness that surrounded him and engulfed his innocent heart. It was a feeling that he would like to feel for a long time…

“…Why?” Luhan whispered almost inaudibly.

Sehun shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know, to be honest. Seeing you hurt it just… it made me want to protect you.”

“You don’t understand,” Luhan replied, “I’m not who you think I am…”

“Then you’ll have to give me a chance to find out who you are then, huh?” Sehun questioned with a smile. He watched Luhan slowly edge towards him but in a turn of events, he began backing away with a look close to fear in his eyes.

“N-No…” Luhan breathed as he backed away. He trembled like a little deer caught in headlights.

“But Luhan-,” Sehun began, looking worried. He reached out and grabbed his hand but Luhan snatched it away.

“I don’t know what you’re trying to do but stay away from me,” Luhan said, now a good distance away from Sehun, “I’m not going to keep letting people in my life just for them to walk out again. This time I’m going to walk away before you can.” Luhan turned away and walked out of the ramen shop… and walked straight into someone.

“Looks like I’ve found you,” Kai said, his voice slightly bitter.

Luhan slowly looked up at him and backed away quickly, backing straight into Sehun. He looked back at Sehun and then back at Kai who was impatiently tapping his foot on the ground. ‘Aish…’ he thought and ran his hand through his hair, keeping his eyes trained on the ground. He was trapped between two very unhappy men.

“What’s going on?” Kai asked, looking at a trapped Luhan.

“He’s on a date with me,” Sehun answered with a smirk. He eyed Kai with false amusement before uttering a small “heh” under his breath.

“Don’t make me laugh,” Kai mused with a sarcastic laugh.

Sehun started to charge forward at Kai. “Yah! What are you-,” was all he managed to say before being held back by Luhan.

“Why are you here?” Luhan asked, finally looking up at Kai.

“Jen called and told me to find you,” Kai answered, “She said you were upset and she was worried about you.”

“I don’t care about any of that,” Luhan spat, glaring at Kai, “What? You want me to apologize or something? Then fine, I’ll return the fake apology she gave me.”

“So you’re honestly mad at her for not loving you back?” Kai asked sharply.

“I’m mad that no one ever told me about you two! I’m mad that I didn’t even have a chance to protect myself from the pain I’m feeling now!” Luhan yelled. Once again, he was yelling but he just couldn’t stop… his blood was boiling and his heart was continuing to shatter.

“If we had told you, would the result have been any different?” Kai questioned rhetorically, “In the end, you still would’ve been hurt. Besides… what’s life without pain? If we never hurt, how do we know if we’re still alive?”

“You can only take so much pain before you truly die,” Luhan retorted, once again feeling heated tears sliding down his face.

“Pabo,” Kai said and walked up to Luhan, placing a hand on his shoulder, “That’s only if you let the pain destroy you. Once you let it overtake you, there’s no going back. You’re stronger than this and you know it…”

Luhan was crying even harder now, his shoulders heaving up and down. Sehun stood back with a blank look on his face, part of him wanting to comfort Luhan but he was so confused… he didn’t know if Luhan wanted him to. Hell, he wasn’t even sure he Luhan liked him in the slightest bit.

“Why are you just standing there?” Kai asked as he waved to Sehun to get his attention, “get over here.”

“O-Oh…” Sehun snapped out of his thoughts and walked over to Kai almost cautiously, unsure of his intentions.

“Can I trust you with my best friend?” Kai answered while eyeing him for any sign of dishonesty.

“Yes, of course,” Sehun said and fidgeted awkwardly, the urge to comfort Luhan was intensifying now that he practically stood beside him.

“Then please, do so… Comfort him and never let him out of your sight,” Kai replied at glanced at Luhan, “I have a feeling he’ll need you now more than ever.”

Sehun nodded and pulled Luhan into his arms, his back soothingly while letting Luhan cry on his shoulder. How he liked the feeling of holding Luhan like this… however the moment was too bittersweet to truly enjoy and he frowned slightly, hating to see Luhan suffer like this.

“I’m entrusting him to you as of now… so make him happy,” Kai requested, “And, just a tip, you may want to change your hair color in case I ever need to hunt you down. It was way too easy to find out where you were because of your rainbow colored hair, you know?”

Sehun let out a sarcastic chuckle. “Don’t count on it. You won’t need to hunt me down… I don’t plan on going anywhere – not unless Luhan is with me.”

“Good kid,” Kai praised with a smirk and threw up his hand to wave goodbye, “Catch you later then. I’ll be calling once I get to California too.”

Kai began walking away and Sehun watched him with a smile. “Douchebag,” he uttered lightheartedly and patted Luhan’s back, “Let’s go to my place for tonight.”

Luhan nodded into his shoulder and the two began making their way to Sehun’s place all the while Sehun pondered many things. Why does he care so much? Why was he so protective over Luhan in such a short time? …Was love at first sight even a feasible thing to think? He didn’t know. All he knew was that he felt it was his duty to protect Luhan and to repair his heart. He didn’t care how long it took – he wasn’t about to give up on him like everyone else has. Besides, he was never one to give up easily anyway.

Until Luhan’s heart was fixed, Sehun planned on being there for him every step of the way...

Enjoy lovelies! <3 Feedback is appreciated!

^w^