Chapter 2

Every school starts at 7.30am, and just like any other morning, Hyukjae was out of his house gate by 6.30am. No, he wasn’t those who find satisfactory in being the first to arrive at school, or at least the first to get into the classroom. He was never one of those. You see, though he had two luxurious cars parked under his house porch, a motorcycle he uses to stroll around the area, Lee Hyukjae always prefers walking to his school. No one knew why, and no one was curious enough to ask him. And so, because he chose to walk, it usually took 45 minutes to get to his school, hence the early leave every morning.

He had his earphones plugged in as he walked, one of his hands in his pocket, holding his phone there. It was already peaceful in the morning without the need to play any music for his ears; no sounds bothered him, no cars passing by that early in the morning. But, it just felt right to have soft music accompanying him every time – his own personal refuge, he guessed.

He crossed the road easily, not bothering to wait for the light to turn green. ‘He’ll be here any second now’ Hyukjae mused inside. He counted ‘3, 2, 1’ and just like he had anticipated, Donghae appeared by his side with an enthusiastic, “Hey!” Hyukjae raised a hand, a sign showing he acknowledge the other’s presence.

“How many times do I have to tell you, that you should look before you cross? Yes, yes, I know there isn’t any car this early, but there is nothing to lose if you just wait a few seconds. When will you start listening to me, Hyukkie? You know what I said is for…” and there went Donghae with his long speech about road safety and he was saying all this was for Hyukjae’s good. He knew Hyukjae had earphones in his ears, but he never cared. He just talked, not concerning whether Hyukjae heard him or not.

Hyukjae did listen actually; he turned down the volume every time Donghae came up to him, which meant every school day. He nodded when it seemed right, or shook his head, or rolled his eyes as the boy continued to blabber about unnecessary things. This was another routine, Hyukjae labelled. Since 9^th Grade, these things kept going on from a day to another, no one made an effort to change them; Hyukjae didn’t. He had known Donghae since back then, and now they were in 11^th Grade.

But, despite knowing each other for so long, one thing Hyukjae wouldn’t – shockingly – label was Donghae himself.  The blonde high schooler never once called Donghae his friend, or mate, or companion. Nope, no such things. He would probably call him an acquaintance instead. He didn’t know much about his school president except for the fact that he was smart – always on top of Hyukjae, which meant he was 2^nd while Donghae was 1^st in the entire school – had a clean record, a bit humble and his cell phone number. Those were what everyone else at school knew too. So really, nothing showed that he and Donghae, in anyway, were friends.

Lee Donghae thought they always were, though. Hyukjae thought that was the reason the dark hair boy stayed talking to him every time he had a chance. Donghae could have talk to someone who would gladly have a conversation with him, smiled back to him and gave him a proper answer. But he chose to walk with Hyukjae to school every dawn, he chose to speak with Hyukjae every morning, he chose to have lunch with Hyukjae every day, he chose to continue acting like a close friend even when Hyukjae didn’t really act like one.

Hyukjae appreciated the effort, but no, he wasn’t going to let Donghae in as a close friend, not yet.

This morning, everything was different. For the first time in more than 2 years, Hyukjae broke the routines. He was out of his house by 7am, instead of the usual 6.30am, and he didn’t walk today; he rode his black and blue BMW Motorrad. Hyukjae was trying to avoid someone, and that someone was Lee Donghae.

He knew the boy must be waiting for him at the usual crossroad, and he was right. When he stopped at the junction, he saw Donghae leaning against a tall wall, a bit jumpy and checking his watch. Hyukjae felt a tad guilty for him, but somehow he was still mad at the other. ‘He’ll leave and run to school soon’ Hyukjae crossed and passed Donghae, looking at him for a moment before focusing on the road again.

Hyukjae wondered, as he parked his bike near a store and took off his helmet, why he had felt betrayed when he saw Donghae acting out of character last night. He didn’t know the other so well, but he still felt upset when he saw the side of Donghae he had never known, even after nearly 3 years of knowing each other.

Donghae was so different when he was beating the poor kid yesterday; it shocked Hyukjae into a loss of words. He could tell the other was angry about something but not once had he seen a sinister look like that on Donghae’s face, plus it didn’t really suit the image. Donghae was this happy, bubbly person he knew, smiling all the time, always giving him hugs he didn’t ask for.  How could he be this angry, dangerous, devilish person suddenly? Seriously, the smirk on his face was scary, but Hyukjae couldn’t deny the fact that Donghae looked almost attractive with it. He was attractive already, but with that he just looked much more.

Hyukjae shook his head immediately, dismissing the thought and walked towards his class. He sat at his place, right at the back of the class, and took out a textbook – randomly. ‘Great’ he mused, sarcasm lingering, as he saw that it was his biology book. He needed something to distract him, and biology won’t help as it was his least favourite subject. So, he resorted to just place his head on the textbook and shut his eyes.

Hyukjae wasn’t napping, so when the door of the classroom screeched open and feet scrambling on the floor in hurried motion, he knew who had entered. When the chair next to his was dragged out from under the table, it was confirmed that Donghae had finally arrived; hair a little dishevelled and was catching his breath. The bell rang right at the moment Donghae had placed his head on the table.

Hyukjae sat up straight then, Donghae followed suit, taming his hair and making himself look presentable – just like every other day. Class started and not once did Hyukjae look at his side. He knew Donghae stole a few glances at him, and he didn’t want to take the chance of looking at those no-where-near innocent eyes. He mocked a clap for the dark hair boy when their math teacher praised his excellent method of answering, still not looking at him.

Recess came, thankfully, and Hyukjae didn’t waste any time before getting up from his seat and walked out of the class.

“Lee Hyukjae! Wait!” he heard Donghae shouted, and Hyukjae sighed. This was ridiculously embarrassing, having his name screamed in the hall filled with students. If he didn’t see the bad, cool, slightly attractive Donghae by himself, he wouldn’t have believed it in a million years that the boy could be like that. He walked faster then, ducking through people and avoided being seen by the one looking for him.

Hyukjae got passed through a lot of them and was able to be one of the earliest in the line. He grabbed a plate as he neared, hoping the canteen aunty would work quicker. But before his turn came, someone gripped his arm, turning him around and his eyes met with Donghae as the plate he was holding fell on the floor with a loud clunk. Luckily it was plastic.

“I need to talk to you, Hyukkie,” Donghae’s voice sounded demanding, but at the same time desperate and begging.

Hyukjae continued to stared back into those eyes, knowing if he had look elsewhere, he would see all the other people looking at the scene Donghae just created. Sighing out loud, Hyukjae pushed Donghae’s hand off him, “Fine. We talk,” he said before neared the snack stall. He grabbed strawberry creamed bread, paid for it, before leading the way out of the canteen, hoping damn hard that no one would follow them.

And apparently, no one did, after they saw the small fire in Donghae’s eyes that they had never seen before.

Hyukjae sat on one of the many benches in the soccer field. He opened the wrapper and took a bite of the bread as he waited for Donghae to sit too. Clearly, the dark hair boy was hesitating as he took slow steps and hung his head down. Hyukjae didn’t know why he felt like doing the same, but he chose to look up at the sky instead. When Donghae finally sat down, Hyukjae had finished half of his bread.

“Talk,” urged Hyukjae softly as he took another bite.

“Why are you avoiding me?”

“I wasn’t –”

“You are,” Donghae retorted flatly, leaving no space for Hyukjae to deny, “You agreed that we will talk today. But you avoided me. Why?” Donghae sounded almost like he was sulking, sadness was visible in his tone.

It made Hyukjae feel bad slightly, but he himself couldn’t understand he avoided Donghae in the first place, and he told him, “Don’t know.” Silence ensued after that; both boys out of words for a moment. Not sure what could he do to stop the awkwardness from ensuing next, Hyukjae offered the head of student council his bread, guessing he might be hungry. Luckily, Donghae took it with a smile and ate it, if not Hyukjae would have hide his head under the seat.

After a while, Donghae said hesitatingly, “You’re not thinking badly of me, are you?” Hyukjae shrugged. “I hope you’re not. I mean, I have reasons why I did that.”

“What reasons?” Hyukjae tried saying with less enthusiasm, not wanting to become nosy suddenly, but he wanted to know why.

“Can I… not tell you?”

Hyukjae stood up then, “Then this conversation is over. Bye.” He walked down the steps and onto the field, heading towards the entrance door. But before he could do that, Donghae tackled him to the ground.

“No, no, no! Hyukkie! Don’t! It’s not over. Our relationship is not yet over!” Donghae was in hysteric. He was on top of Hyukjae, his hands pinning Hyukjae down to the ground.

Hyukjae tried to wriggle out from underneath the other, but it was hard, and obviously Donghae was strong, “Ow! Hae! I didn’t say anything about relation. I said conversation!”

Blushes crept onto Donghae’s face and then to his ears and then his neck. He felt hot. They were so red! He immediately let go of Hyukjae and scrambled away, sitting on the grass now. ‘!’ he cursed.

Hyukjae sat up then, swept off some of the grass that had stuck to his sleeve before looking at Donghae, who had his face now buried in his knees and his arms wrapped around them. He nearly laughed. This was the boy who was kicking someone last night? “Donghae, you’re okay?”

“I’m sorry, I really am. Okay, I’ll tell you why, alright. Maybe you won’t understand, but I’ll tell you,” Donghae looked up, his eyes frantic though his face wasn’t so red anymore.

The blonde nodded, “I’ll listen.”

Donghae bit his lip, “You sure you need to know?”

Hyukjae huffed out a breath, “Yes, Hae! I need to know. If not, I don’t know what to think about you. Tell me, and maybe I won’t think of you as some sort of a bastard, because that’s the nearest conclusion I can get from what I saw last night.”

The dark hair boy gaped for a short while, his eyes wide, “How can you think of me as a bastard? I didn’t do anything wrong! Well, except for the fact that I smoked a little,” he finished with a whisper.

“Kicking a kid is wrong, Donghae. I bet he is three or four years younger than us. You could be in jail right now if he report.”

“He won’t. He deserved it,” Donghae was sneering as he remembered the kid from his neighbourhood.

“Why would he deserve it?” the more Hyukjae listened, the more he thought Donghae was dangerous.

“He was spying on me.”

Hyukjae sighed again, “Now, you’re just being ridiculous.”

“He admitted it, Hyukkie,” Donghae said softly, willing Hyukjae to believe his words.

“He was scared, of course he’d admit to anything,” Hyukjae reasoned out.

“He was scared, yes, of me. But terror makes you speak the truth,” the smirk from last night was once again playing on Donghae’s lips.

Hyukjae just had to stare at those attracting smirk for a moment before he blinked, “Why would he spy on you?”

“My uncle.”

The bell chose to ring at that moment. Donghae stood up and brushed his hands together before holding one out to help Hyukjae, and he smiled when Hyukjae took it.

I have my mid year exam tomorrow, but I really have no heart to study - at all. Wish me luck, guys! So I chose to finish this chapter. I know the beginning is quite slow, but, we need to bear with that a little. Hope you like it! What do you think of the story now? Bye.