Mornings aren’t that tough, not in Kyungsoo’s opinion, but when you have been in a rather tiny car for hours on end it’s always exhausting. Moving to another city was, however, not exhausting, but a difficult task to many; changing schools, losing contact with friends and just the sad goodbyes made most of the teenagers often cry or feel down. But to Kyungsoo it was different. He didn’t feel any kind of liking towards his old school, nor to his so-called friends and neither to the city itself. He just wanted to start over again, and this time do it right. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

”Are you okay back there, honey?” A female voice resonated through the car as the question hung in the air for a couple of seconds.

”I’m fine mom.” Kyungsoo said with a sigh. ”And keep your eyes on the road, please.”

His mother’s eyes went immediately from the reflection of Kyungsoo in the rearview to straight ahead of her.

”Kyungsoo, look!” His dad said as he suddenly pointed out of the window. The boy did as he was told but didn’t quite catch what the older meant.

”Did you see it?” His father said enthusiastically as he looked over his shoulder.

”See what?”

”The poster!” The elder said with a jump, his wife grinning at the childish behavior.

”What poster? Dad, can you please calm dow-”  

”There’s gonna be a festival! Tonight!” Mr. Do’s smile was extravagantly wide and happy.

”So?”

”So… You wanna go?”

”Tonight?” Kyungsoo said with an arched eyebrow.

”Yeah.”

”No.”

”Why not?” His father whined.

”Because I’m not going with you two and I know you won’t let me go there alone.”

”But we won’t bother you at all!” Mr. Do assured.

”No, it’s not a good idea.” Kyungsoo answered.

”Darling, who said I let you go?” Mrs. Do suddenly said.

”Come on honey, he needs to get out and-”

”I’m not talking about him.” She said and pointed at Kyungsoo. ”I’m talking about you.” And gave her husband a look. ”You won't go anywhere tonight.”  

Kyungsoo chuckled as the discussion developed into a parents-staying-at-home-day and teenager-going-out-alone-night.

⋆⋆⋆⋆

There he was, in the middle of a crowd of people, having no idea where to go or what to do as the sky was turning pitch black. There were stands selling unnecessary things everywhere — everything from candy to ridiculous wigs. Nothing really caught his eyes until he saw a stage not too far from where he was standing, right in the center of the big event. He walked over to the place and soon realized that the host was taking people from the audience to sing.

”People actually volunteer to perform here?” Kyungsoo said to himself in disbelief.  

”You’ve got a problem with that?” A sudden voice to his right side said.

Kyungsoo, startled by the person’s intrusion, jumped in surprise, feeling his soul shrink as he looked up at the taller male, blonde hair perfectly styled to lean just a little bit to his right.

”S-sorry…” Kyungsoo said carefully, taking a step to the side.

The blonde guy huffed and turned his gaze back to the performance, eyes glued on a tall boy on the stage.

⋆⋆⋆⋆

”Yifan is sure doing one hell of a job.” Jongdae said, crossing his arms and giving the older on the stage an approving nod.

”He’s not bad.” Sehun replied, not really interested in the performance.  

”Oh, Sehunnie, don’t be jealous.” Jongdae said, patting the other’s back with a grin.

”I’m not!” Sehun reproached and shoved the hand off of him. ”And don’t call me Sehunnie!”

”Okay big boy.” The older said and pinched the other’s cheek.

”Yah!” Sehun shouted and gave the other a threatening look, which only made Jongdae laugh shamelessly. ”Just because we’ve known each other since kids it doesn’t mean I still am one!”

”Alright, alright. Now, where’s Tao?”

”Don’t know. I’ve been looking for him since we got here, he just… disappeared.”

Jongdae looked around, not seeing the younger boy either. He was going to say a mean, but funny of course, comment when the music suddenly stopped, having no other option but to applause.

”Yo! Yo! Yo! So… Wasn’t that incredible? I think Yifan deserves another round of applauses, don’t you think folks?” The MC’s voice resonated through the speakers as the crowd cheered once again for the tall boy. ”Now… Do we have another volunteer?”

It was a blonde, doe-eyed, not too short, young boy who presented and held the peculiar concert. And Sehun tried, he really tried to take his eyes off of him, but it seemed as is everything else around him had disappeared, just like Tao, and the only thing he could look at was that gorgeous being walking on the stage. Jongdae, amazed by his friend’s reaction, looked intensely at the way Sehun’s eyes slowly blinked and how his mouth fell open in a gape. Jongdae was near dying from the laughter when he waved a hand in front of the younger’s view, the other looking partly lost for a moment.

”What?” Sehun said frustrated after getting out of his trance.

”So… Tao, right?” Jongdae said trying his best to contain his laugh.

”Shut up!” The blonde shouted, hitting the other’s arm playfully.

”Please don’t fall in love with the school’s flower boy when you already have a boyfriend.” Jongdae pleaded laughing.

”Shh!” Sehun frantically hushed him, looking around to see if his boyfriend was anywhere near. ”Does he really go to our school?” Sehun whispered, his eyes shining in the dark.

”Wow, those priorities.”

”Jongdae!”

”Calm down Sehun, Tao won’t find out about your little crush.” Jongdae said pinching the other’s cheek again. ”And yes, he’s a senior this year, which means you can’t be near him.”

”Why not?” The boy whined. ”And I don’t have a crush, okay?!”

”Because this is your first year and his last.” Jongdae said with a convincing tone, although his eyebrow crooked a little when a question popped up in his mind. ”Not even on Tao?”

Sehun was so frustrated that he with no hesitation lifted Jongdae’s arm when the MC asked again for any volunteers.

”Here! You have one here!”  

⋆⋆⋆⋆

Kyungsoo looked at his left, surprised that someone volunteered for another person. Deep down he knew that he shouldn’t have taken his eyes off of the strange boy that wouldn’t stop sending him glares, but he did, and when he felt his arm being raised up in the air he knew something bad would happen.

”Here too! Another one here!”

.

”Great!” The MC said with a smile. ”Why not make a duet then?”

Kyungsoo froze. He hated being the one everyone looked at. He hated to sing with others, less in front of people. He hated the situation and he hated that the weird boy went to stand right behind him. Kyungsoo cringed when the male put his hands on his shoulders, slowly leaning in.

”You should hurry.” He whispered right next to his ear and then pushed him forward, forcing him to go up the stairs that led to the stage.

Kyungsoo definitely took his time to go up. He saw that the other boy was already beside the MC and he noticed that it wasn’t only his inner self that felt small, but his outer self too. He was the shortest of the three and the only one with dark hair. Kyungsoo felt a bit left out, which was what he was trying to avoid.

”This is certainly something new.” The tallest of them said, which turned out to be the MC. ”And by new I mean this pretty little thing.” He said and went to guide Kyungsoo to the middle of the stage, the latter’s eyes widening in fear.

”What’s your name, dear?” The MC asked with a gentle tone, tilting his mic so Kyungsoo could answer.

The younger gulped and hesitated for a second.

”K-Kyungsoo…”

”What a wonderful name, Kyungsoo! Let’s see what your partner’s name is.” The guy turned around and tilted the mic to the other boy.

”I’m Jongdae.” The boy said with a secure fling of his personality.

”And I’m Luhan everybody!” The MC said with a laugh, bowing once. Kyungsoo glanced over at Jongdae and saw how the other bowed too, not waiting a second himself to imitate the others’ actions. When they stood up straight again Luhan led them to the two chairs that had been set up, helping them with the microphones.

”So, guys, what song?” Luhan said to them privately, holding the mic away.

Kyungsoo didn’t speak, he just couldn’t. He felt how his tongue had just died inside his mouth and how his legs wouldn’t stop shaking. He was so frightened that he could feel his heart pounding against his ribcage, the sweat running down his back, his head aching from the situation.

”Singing or rapping, Kyungsoo?” Jongdae asked him gently, putting a hand on his knee.

Kyungsoo looked at him and took a deep breath.

”S-singing please…”

The words came out as a whisper but it was enough for Jongdae to hear. The other nodded and gave him a smile.

”Let’s sing Melted then.”

”You sure? It’s a quite difficult song…” Luhan said with a tentative expression.

”I’ll take the high notes hyung, don’t worry.”

Luhan gave the younger boy a nod and went backstage to fix the music and the lyrics for them.

”Well, we have a song!” The MC shouted to the audience and the response was immediate — screams, whistles, claps, everyone looked like they were dying to see their performance. Which was just about the contrary of what Kyungsoo felt; like he could die if he actually went through with it.

”Let’s count down folks!” Luhan shouted and Kyungsoo gulped in fear.

”3…”

”You’ll do it great.” Jongdae whispered next to the shorter’s right ear.

”2…”

”I’m sure of it.” Jongdae’s reassuring smile did calm Kyungsoo a little, but not enough.

”1!”

”I doubt it.” Kyungsoo answered right when the beautiful piano started to play.

He closed his eyes, trying to conceal his nerves and regain his vocal cords. He took two deep breaths and was just about to face the public when he heard a beautiful voice coming from his left. Kyungsoo looked to the origin of the voice and met a pair of hazel eyes looking straight back at him. It moved his heart when he felt a hand clasp itself against his own, a squeeze being provoked from Jongdae’s muscles that were trying to make him feel better. Kyungsoo was so mesmerized by Jongdae’s incredible way of singing that he accidentally missed his first little part, but he quickly caught up with the next, his voice singing the lower notes. He preferred to sing the male’s part anyway, partly because it was easier but also because he had less to sing. Although at this point in the song, already getting into the chorus, he felt something he had been craving for to feel: companionship. Breaking the eye contact for the first time since the song started he dared to look at the public, confident enough to pull out the whole song.  

⋆⋆⋆⋆

Sehun searched, ran through the mass of people and shouted his boyfriend’s name. Excuses and apologies were thrown out of his mouth as he tried aimlessly to find Tao. But when he did, a part of him wished he hadn’t.

”Sehun-ah!” Tao ran to the younger and enfolded him with a hug.

”Hyung, I’ve been looking for you for almost an hour, where were you?”

”With Yifan of course!” Tao said as he backed and pointed at the much taller male, who only gave Sehun a smirk as a greeting.

”Oh… Right. But weren’t you performing just now?” Sehun said, his words directed to the oldest.

”Yeah, Tao was like in the front row or something.” Yifan said with a sign of indifference towards Sehun’s words or feelings.

Even if he hated what had happened, Sehun couldn’t help but smile sadly when Tao started to giggle and hit Yifan playfully. He wasn’t brave enough to stand up against the taller, much stronger and older male. He was only a little boy compared to the other man, so he backed off a bit to the side and waited for Jongdae to come back.

⋆⋆⋆⋆

Kyungsoo went down the stairs of the stage when the song ended. His feet were too heavy to be able to walk properly and his legs wouldn’t stop shaking, which Jongdae noticed and immediately went to stand by his side, helping him get down.

”Th-thank you.” Kyungsoo said shyly when they’d reached the ground.

”No problem.” The other answered with a smile, a real smile that comforted Kyungsoo’s heart.

They bid each other goodbye, much to the youngest lamentation, and Kyungsoo was once again left alone.

Although after been put through the stress of singing in front of a quarter of the city’s neighborhoods he had had enough of the people surrounding him. He just wanted to go somewhere calm, somewhere less crowded, and it didn’t take long before he found a place. The tent that covered the swimming pool was quite big, which caught the attention of many, but curiously nobody was there. Well, except for one boy.

Kyungsoo neared the boy, a strange feeling building a castle inside of him. The scene was weird, just not right. The boy was standing on the edge of the pool, clothes on and body slumped together. He looked like he was going to do something… Something that worried Kyungsoo’s heart immensely.

And when he did, Kyungsoo froze for the second time that day.

Water splashed to the sides as the body fell down, arms flailing upwards in the desperate attempt to get some air. Kyungsoo’s eyes widened in fear as he saw how the poor boy tried with all his force, with all his will, to keep himself afloat. His clothes hung heavily down his body, dragging him to the bottom. The water kept intruding his mouth to access his lungs. Kyungsoo was unable to think of a proper solution when the other was drowning before his eyes.

There was a brief second, a moment, when the brown haired teenager in the water turned around and saw Kyungsoo’s horrified state watch him go away. It wasn’t audible since no words were spoken, but the slow shake of the boy’s head and the somber brown eyes letting tears slip down made it clear that he didn’t want Kyungsoo’s help.

He was aware of the consequences and still, the boy had jumped.

When his body wasn’t visible above the water anymore panic washed over Kyungsoo and rationality smacked him in the face. He quickly took off his shoes and screamed for help before jumping into the water, not a single drop of doubt preventing him from saving that boy’s life.

⋆⋆⋆⋆

Yixing walked over to the bench where Minseok was chatting with Chanyeol, Joonmyun walking by his side eating his pink cotton candy. Chanyeol didn’t think twice before snatching a bit of the candy, his fingers when done.

”You sure love sugar.” Minseok said with a laugh.

”I can’t live without sugar.” Chanyeol answered, cheeks all sticky.

They all laughed, Yixing taking the advantage to link his arm with Joonmyun’s.

”Where’s Jongdae? His performance finished a while ago.” Joonmyun asked Minseok.

”He’s probably with Sehun or something.”

”Sehun? Who’s Sehun?” Yixing asked curiously.

”Oh Sehun, he’s starting the first year with us this year.”

”In E.C.W.S?” Joonmyun asked a little incredulous. ”But I thought he was poor.”

”He’s not poor Joonmyun, he’s just… not rich.” Minseok answered and took a bit of the little cotton candy left, Chanyeol munching enormous pieces in the background.  

”But how-”

”How he got accepted? He got a special scholarship.”  

”A scholarship?” Chanyeol asked with his mouth full. ”Does E.C.W.S even have that?”

”He’s brilliant, a genius. Jongdae’s words.”

”Yeah, well, I don’t really trust your boyfriend so…” Joonmyun said as he took the last bit of the cotton candy into his mouth.

”He’s gonna be in Jongin’s class then.” Yixing spoke up.

”Probably, unless they end up in different hallways.”

”Where is Jongin by the way?” Chanyeol asked.

”I don’t know, he told us he was going to some pool or something.” Joonmyun said as he threw the empty cone in the trash can, unlinking his arm with Yixing’s in the act.

”What?” Chanyeol said, voice dark and deadly serious.

Joonmyun gave him a confused look, like asking him what he meant.

”Oh my ing- Jongin can’t swim, dammit!” Chanyeol shouted.

Not a second passed as the tallest of them stood up and ran frantically through the crowd of people, the others trailing quickly behind.

⋆⋆⋆⋆

Toes, fingers, limbs and soon head, that’s the order of the body parts Kyungsoo stopped feeling due to the freezing water. The blurry vision was preventing him from really seeing the other body; only a black spot in the middle of all the light blue could be distinguished by the shorter’s eyes.

He was close, really close, and he swam as fast as his thin body let him. The grip around the boy’s wrist wasn’t the hard part, getting him out of the water was, which was a much more difficult task. The boy’s skin was cold, lips almost purple and nails turning blue. Kyungsoo dragged the other’s body closer to him but the weight of the dark haired male sank them both. Soon enough Kyungsoo’s feet were touching the floor, panic creeping up on him again as he couldn’t bring his own body to the surface, less another one too. The pressure against his chest made him go dizzy without air, his ears rang loudly and his head was going mad with the horrible ache he felt. But still, Kyungsoo knew that he couldn’t let himself die there, nor the boy with him, so he tried endlessly to regain some strength and pull both of them up — one arm linked under the other’s armpits and the other helping his legs swim — Kyungsoo made it to the top, exhausted but relieved with the little intake of air that he caught. Although the air didn’t last much as, once again, the other body dragged him down.

He tried, he really tried to get the boy out of the pool, but each time he pushed the other up he himself was pushed down by the weight. Tears welled up in his eyes, his brain already assuming that there was only one person that could remotely live: the boy or him.

That is until suddenly the weight disappeared. Nothing held him back from going up, nothing but his own will, which he doubted had strength enough to fight for himself as he had fought for another person. Kyungsoo’s vision was already blurry, but the darkening spaces weren’t there before. Hope slowly left as his body sunk deeper and deeper into the abyss.

And just as suddenly as the boy’s body disappeared a hand grabbed his own and pulled him up, out of the water.

He coughed and coughed out all the water that he had accidentally swallowed. The ringing in his ears was still there, not a single voice being heard except his own thoughts. He blinked once, twice, three times and looked around him. Kyungsoo was out of the water, a gentle wind giving his skin goosebumps, and many boys were surrounding him, none he was acquaintance with. A hand patted his back as he coughed again, he turned his head to see the stranger who had possibly saved his life — brown hair, the same eye color and a worried face, like a reflection of himself.

”You okay?” The guy asked, his voice sounding like it was miles away. Kyungsoo only nodded, his head turning to his left as he heard another voice.

The boy that had been drowning was lying on the hard floor, not moving. Another male, visibly the tallest of them, was screaming at him, banging his chest and plain out crying over the dead body.

”Jongin, for God’s sake, w-wake up!” He said in between tears, his voice hitching as he barely couldn’t talk such a state.

Kyungsoo refused to believe that the boy had already died when he had gone so far to save him. He refused to believe that he was dead, so he neared him as fast as his worn out body could and shoved mercilessly the tall guy to the side.

”Hey! Get the away fro-”

”Chanyeol stop, let him do it.” A short brunet said, a hand preventing the tall one from attacking Kyungsoo. It was the same brunet who was at the same time dialing the emergency number, the same brunet who was letting a blonde guy with a cute dimple cry on his shoulder.

Kyungsoo took advantage of the situation to take the control and at last save the boy who’s name he assumed was Jongin. His hands ripped open the shirt the boy on the floor was wearing, and checked his pulse on his throat, noticing there was none. There was no reason to check if he was breathing or not when the blood in his veins didn’t stream as they should, so he began doing one of the few things he was actually good at; CPR.

”What’s he- What are you doing?!” Chanyeol shouted as Kyungsoo took off his jacket and put it under Jongin’s feet, lifting them up a bit.

The same brunet from before shushed him and whispered something, Chanyeol looking at him with a glint of hope.

”Really?”

And the shorter boy nodded.

Kyungsoo ignored them and focused on his only and most important task. On his knees, he put both of his hands on Jongin’s chest, one on top of the other, and pressed down. His weary body was squeezing out the last drops of strength he had left. He pushed down twenty times and took a small break, which wasn’t a break but rather a stop to make the other second part, and probably the most famous one, of the CPR.

He put a hand on Jongin’s forehead, fingers clasping his nose so no air would escape, and the other under his chin, opening his mouth. With both his hands he tilted the head backward so that the throat wouldn’t lock and then leaned in.

It wasn’t a specific feeling he felt when he covered his own mouth over the boy’s, but he did feel something. Maybe it was the coldness of the lips or the dead feeling of the skin, nonetheless, he blew out hot air and saw how Jongin’s chest swelled up. Kyungsoo broke the contact to breathe and repeated the action, feeling exactly the same thing he’d felt the first time.

And then he speeded up, pushing the chest down twenty times and exhaling into the other’s mouth two. In Kyungsoo’s mind everything felt like it went in slow motion, but in reality, it was going too fast. Kyungsoo barely got to feel a beat of the living heart when he was taken away by a paramedic, the ambulance siren’s sound circling around his head like a swarm of annoying bees. When he stood up everything dropped down, his blood, his soul, even his head as he fainted in the doctor’s arms.

⋆⋆⋆⋆

White. The first thing Kyungsoo saw when he opened his eyes was the sterile white from the ceiling. He felt the flooding of something inserted into his arm and looked over to see what it was. Accustoming his eyes to the bright color he noticed his mother sitting on a hospital chair just by his side.

”Mom?” He said, voice hoarse.

The lady woke up from her momentary sleep to crack a smile at the sight of her boy awake.

”Kyungsoo, honey.” She said and hugged him, eyes b with joy. ”How are you? Does it hurt somewhere? I’ll call the doct-”

”Mom, I’m fine.”

”You are not fine.”

”A little tired then.” Kyungsoo said with a heavy smile.

Just then did the doctor enter, his dad behind, and went immediately to check on him. She looked at the monitor on his left and took out her flashlight to look at his pupils.

”Hi Kyungsoo, I’m Dr. Park.” She said with a smile, stretching out her hand for Kyungsoo to shake it, which he took willingly. ”Can you please sit up?”

Kyungsoo did, obviously, as he was told. She asked him to breath heavily as she took the stethoscope to see how well his lungs were functioning, and so he did. He agreed to all of the tests she made and finally when the doctor told his parents that he only needed to rest he gladly asked for the discharge.

”Are you sure you don’t want to stay until tomorrow?” Dr. Park asked gently.

”I’m sure.”

”Kyungsoo, I can stay with you here if you want me to.”

”No mom, I want to go home, rest there and then start school fresh on Monday.”

With some more convincing, his parents agreed to take him home, Dr. Park helping him a little when they thought it was a bad idea, which he was immensely thankful of.

Kyungsoo was just about to leave when a thought popped up in his mind.

”What about Jongin? Where is he?” He asked, almost frantically, Dr. Park.

”Kim Jongin? He’s still unconscious, but he’ll wake up in any minute now.” She said with a reassuring smile.

”I want to see him.” Kyungsoo said, feeling his mother nudge him lightly.

”That would be impossible dear, his father has cut off the permission of any visits during his stay here.”

He couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed with the news, no other option but to leave.

A million questions ate his mind on the way back home, all about that boy: Who was he? Why was he there all alone? And why the hell did he jump?