Life Rule #8: To listen, be silent.

"Okay, now state your question first and then your answer."

I saw the looks of my classmates, and my mind suddenly went idle. Fortunately, I was able to get right back on my tracks as our teacher spoke.

"Good afternoon, everyone. 'What is your dominant fear?' was the question I got. The fear that is the most dominant for me, which keeps on bothering me, is the fear that someday, people would be too selfish, too angry and too hateful that they would be unable to do small deeds of love, that they would forget about love – how to love themselves and to love others," I uttered loudly and clearly and of course, with just a little bit of feelings.

I gathered all my courage to look straight into everyone's eyes. While scanning the room, I found Hyukjae lowering his head.

"To put it simply, it is the fear of losing love."

Hyukjae slowly lifted his head and gazed at me. What.

"I listed some of my fears, but this one just popped up into my mind, and I realized that this is actually the most frightening of all. It's scary to think that maybe the time will come where families would be broken, friendships would not last and people would stop caring about others because of their greed and pride."

Seeing his cold eyes staring at me, I avoided looking at him as much as possible. And then I noticed that he also did the same, hiding his face and having a hard time on where to focus his eyes on.

"They would be eaten completely by the phantoms of life that they fully forget to resort to the little but good things life still has to offer. I'm afraid that people might forget to do small acts of kindness – because these acts, even just a mere eye-to-eye contact, touch of the hand, softly voiced greeting or a simple smile, eventually become the roots of peace and love without us knowing."

But those eye-to-eye contacts actually felt eerie.

"Love has many meanings, but it could not be absolutely defined, it can neither be measured nor seen, but its power is so overwhelming that it makes everything feel so good and makes living life happy and carefree. It gives meaning to the world, so losing it is equivalent to experiencing doomsday."

Hyukjae returned to his usual self by the time I finished.

"That's where I will end. Thank you."

"Woah, that was deep, Donghae. You got a great point right there," our teacher praised, raising his eyebrows and nodding in agreement. "Thank you. You may now take your seat. Next would be Hyukjae?"

I bowed and went towards my desk, passing through a walking but seemed-so-stressed-and-uncomfortable Hyukjae.

"When you think of your lonely times, what scares you most out of the experience?" he uttered, and his eyes could not focus on a single thing. They kept on rolling every second that he seemed so nervous and disturbed by this. But his voice hid those.

"When I think of my lonely times, the thing that scares me the most is that the possibility that it might happen again and that I might not escape from it when time comes. It scares me to think that I might run out of ways on how to solve the problem, because maybe my self would just suddenly run out of motivation and perseverance to rise out from that lonely haven."

He looked so serious his eyes were ready to your soul and to take the unicorns and ponies and burn them alive.

"You can see the sunshine, but you're still trapped in a dark basement. Because when loneliness strikes, it seems like a dementor is notoriously the soul, leaving it restless and hopeless – all the energy is out, leaving you so empty, and it would be so out that even the people around you can't do anything about you. It eats you up, leaving you as an empty clam without your pearl."

I just noticed that I haven't removed my eyes from him eversince he spoke.

"And it is epidemic. That's why most people hide and cover up their loneliness because they don't want to affect others and to make them worry," he asserted with great conviction that you could have it mistaken as an election campaign.

"I'm afraid that I would be so helpless and I'd hate myself for that. I'd hate myself for being so pitiful that I can't even bring and help myself out of it."

Was I really listening to Hyukjae? As in my classmate Lee Hyukjae?

"Sadness can kill, but not many are aware of it, because some people's sadness is just worse than others' sadness." He stopped for a moment, and to me, it looked like he couldn't believe what he just did out there. "That would be all. Thank you."

Even our teacher went speechless. And I would not deny that I was also that way, too.

My vision was still fixed at the now empty spot where Hyukjae was as he went back and sat beside me. I glanced at him for a second and decided to let my Generosity Department work this thing out.

"You did great," I whispered as I moved my head towards him.

I was not expecting for an answer since it was an impromptu act, but what he said was actually... nice. "Thanks."

We went on for the rest of the class like that, and a big burden was removed from my full chest when the bell rang. We were now closer to calling it a day. Hyukjae moved away, of course, without saying anything. As if I were expecting to hear some. I looked around me and found the piece of torn paper he brought with him on the desk beside me, a book lying on it, preventing it from flying away with the harsh, cold wind.

Because the cat got curious, I took it and hurriedly hid it inside my bag.

Didn't know why I did that though.

*******

As soon as class ended, I looked at Siwon first and observed him.

He was busily putting his books and notebooks back into his luxurious bag. And when I say luxurious, it really is luxurious and expensive. Not fit for a high school student. Except if you were as rich as Siwon.

Nonetheless, I still bore my eyes into him, neglecting our other classmates who were already ready and were going out of the room. Everyone was busy, but I just sat there still and waited for him to finally notice me.

When he finally finished packing, he glanced to where I was.

"Oh, you're not going out?" stunned, he asked.

With my head resting on my palm, I suspiciously looked at him from the corner of my eye. "You really don't remember?"

"Remember what?"

"Seriously, you don't?"

He scratched his head unconsciously and looked for the answers around him. When he deemed unable to grasp the answer, he gave up and asked, "Ah, I really don't know! Just tell me, okay?" he whined. "Time is so precious right now. I need to go home early to finish organizing my room. Like, really, my room is a total mess. I would be dead if ever Mom will see it in that state," he said worriedly, his eyes widening.

I mentally facepalmed myself and sighed heavily. "Ah, how can you be so slow? If you're gonna keep doing this, I really won't tolerate you asking me to buy you lunch just because you haven't been going home at the right time."

Siwon just looked at me like he had just discovered the most amazing answer he was finding for years. "Ah! That! Right!" he said and then chuckled. "Oh, sorry. I just feel so busy and tired of all these school stuff. You know, high school life. I need a break."

I started packing my bag and arranged my desk. "That's why they put 'school' with 'high.' Everything should be balanced. Equilibrium was needed."

Siwon snorted at my remark.

"Whatever. It's a promise, dude. Now fulfil it," I commanded as I pointed my finger to him and walked out of the room.

"Sure. I really did withdraw, okay. So no worries."

"Woah, you can really be trusted, my friend!" I uttered sarcastically through the cramped hallway, with a number of perplexed students going in and out of their classrooms, some cleaning and some excited to go home.

*******

There is this convenience store we go on occasionally whenever we feel like gulping on for loads of food and drinks. It really lives up to its purpose because it is the one nearest to our school and it is just so convenient. Not to mention they have loads of strawberry milk.

"Oh, pepero! Almond pepero! I'll add this, okay?" I said as my eyes landed on a shelf full of different pepero flavors.

"Hey, hey, hey, what's with the pepero? We only agreed with the strawberry milk!" Siwon retorted with his eyebrows battling each other. He held on to a small basket containing my cartons of strawberry milk, and he filled it with lots and lots of those healthy snack bars with low calorie count, low cholesterol and low sugar content. It's just a Choi Siwon thing.

"Then can I go to your house tomorrow?"

"What are you gonna do there?" he asked curiously like did not have any clue.

"I'll talk to your dad. I'll tell him what you've been up to!" I exclaimed happily, feeling so excited.

Siwon stood up straight and fixed his eyes on me. "Donghae, are you using that card again to blackmail me?"

"Blackmail? Am I doing that? Like I said, I'll just tell your dad your whereabouts - where you went every night since last week," I defended.

"Oh! You like this almond pepero the best, right? Get as many as you want! You know, Hae, I have actually saved a lot that's why I'm treating you today."

"Wow, why did you suddenly became so generous, dude? I'm just gonna tell you're father how a hardworking student you are because you come to our house almost every after class just to study and get some help from me. No need to get so nervous, okay?"

"Nervous? Someone's nervous? Really? Oh no, not me. Of course you'll tell Dad that, am I right, Mr. Lee Donghae?"

"Then it's a deal! I'll visit you tomorrow since tomorrow's Friday. Which means... I'm free to do whatever I want."

"Tss. Okay, do whatever you want."

"Hey, hey, come here, that's Hyukjae, right?" I remarked when I saw Hyukjae entering the store. He was moving fast, so I was not really sure if it was him. So I sought help from Siwon by disturbing him while he was still busy searching for nutritious food.

"Where? Oh, yeah, that's undoubtedly him."

"What is he buying?"

"Wait, I'll look at it. Uhm, food. Chips, gum, chips, mints, chips and milk."

"Milk? You sure?" I asked, glinting at him, who was raising his head above the shelfs. I had no urgent choice but to smack him. "Hey, hide your high head!"

"Aw! Yes, I'm sure!"

"Shh, tone it down, will you?"

He just gave me that look that could kill. "Hey, why don't we follow him around?"

"What? Why would we do that? But that's a good idea, actually. Pay quickly, okay? And I'll follow him."

I grabbed some snacks within my reach and poured them over our half-full basket. I slowly grabbed the glass-door handle, quietly went out of the store and inspected the area. Hyukjae was just a few meters away from me, and he was heading towards the nearby neighborhood. I tiptoed until I reached the nearest lightpost and stopped there.

"I don't know what I'm doing today, but my guts tell me to follow you around. So as early as this, even though you can't hear me, I'm sorry."

Yep, so that my conscience won't bug me if ever something off would happen.

Hyukjae walked unconsciously still, with the contents of his plastic bag wiggling as he took one step at a time.

As much as I didn't want my precious minutes to be squandered, I quickly followed him, but I still maintained that ten-meter rule. Not exactly though, of course. I stopped everytime I got the chance to hide on something big or something where I could pose as a statue or a bystander. Thankfully, he was not looking back, clearly focusing on the road ahead of him.

"Donghae! Where is he?" Siwon exclaimed from behind, with the plastic bag he carried shuffling its contents, making screeching and unpleasant sounds. Noisy Siwon is noisy. But he finally found his way to me. Aww. But eww.

"Shh! He might hear us! There. Near that house," I implied as we hid behind the bounteous potted plant at the corner of a nearby house.

He seemed like he was waiting for something or someone.

And then what we saw disturbed and awakened the sleeping spirits inside us. Even Siwon pulled on his signature Sibrows.

A kid from the nearby house went rushing to Hyukjae, hugging his thin legs tightly. And here's the catch. She has Hyukjae's eyes. She looks like him so much. As in so much.

He just smiled at the little creature showing affection to him and kneeled to reach her stance.

Here's the second catch: Sungmin said that excluding his parents, Hyukjae only has his older sister. No more, no less.

"Oh my good lord of the heavens," Siwon uttered in great shock.

"Bloody hell," I murmured in complete disbelief.

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WELCOME BACK, PARK JUNGSOO!! *throws unlimited supply of confetti* Seriously, to all who have stayed and patiently waited and are still here celebrating his return after two years filled with changes and different happenings (your age even added two years! how long and great is that?!), I salute you. Congrats! You're awesome. lol so I'm also awesome ok

And 7jib is finally around the corner!! we have waited for this for so long sooooooo amazing omg

and teuk really looked manly in that ig update of yeye. wow. army did great to him.

HOORAY FOR UPDATING!!! thank you for all those who subscribed and to all who read this but did not subscribe subscribe now ok lol I really appreciate it. sending lots of less than three to all!