20 September 2013

Eunhyuk slumped across the table, turning his head to look at Shindong. His roommate raised an eyebrow, slurping his instant noodles. “What up, bro?” Shindong mumbled around a mouthful of ramen.

“Ryeowook is obsessed with Kyuhyun.”

“What? Have they even met?” he furrowed his brow, taking a swig of his water.

“I thought it was just a passing thing because Kyuhyun went and did something sweet,” Eunhyuk rolled his eyes, thinking about the lyrics he had left Ryeowook a few days prior, “but he’s completely crazy about his mystery music partner. Apparently it was exactly what Ryeowook had been searching for and now he’s bent on pounding out the rest of the song. He keeps perking up every time I’m on my phone as if it’s always gonna be Kyuhyun or something. I have other friends,” he grumbled.

Shindong snorted. “Sounds like a little crush.”

“Maybe,” he chuckled, “but if that was the case, I definitely wouldn’t approve.” His roommate gave him a questioning look. Eunhyuk waved his hand absently. “It’s just…I love Kyu, seriously I do. He’s an amazing guy and he’s super nice to me, but he’s a total . I’ve told him that before too. He just laughs it off or tries to defend himself, but it’s obvious that he has a serious problem when it comes to his emotions.” Eunhyuk paused, thinking. “What I mean is, Kyuhyun isn’t good enough for someone like Ryeowook. They don’t match each other.”

“Is that really for you to decide?” Shindong remarked, taking another bite of his noodles. The textbook next to him was flipped open and covered in highlighter. It seemed to be the same biology textbook he had been looking at before. Eunhyuk idly wondered how hard that class must be if Shindong was always studying for it. “Like, shouldn’t they be allowed to choose who they date?”

“Kyuhyun slept with two people this semester already. He has a boyfriend,” Eunhyuk deadpanned.

He choked on the food, coughing slightly. Swallowing, Shindong stared at the lanky male with wide eyes. “That fast? How can someone even hook up that fast?” he demanded.

“How should I know?” Eunhyuk shrugged, “apparently he’s hot.”

“I’ve seen his pictures. He’s pretty attractive,” Shindong agreed reluctantly, “but that’s still not good. He needs to control himself. Damn.”

He laughed, nodding faintly. “Yeah, I’m always scolding him for playing around, but lately it seems worse than before. Kyuhyun’s coping mechanism has always been…uhm, other people. He’s not good with a lot of things and he has a lot of concerns that just come out the wrong way.”

“That no excuse. He should just break up with his boyfriend.”

“He’s the only one that makes Kyuhyun happy. Or at least, that’s what Kyuhyun says,” Eunhyuk argued softly, half-heartedly. He covered his head, laughing out of sheer discomfort. “Do you see why I don’t want him anywhere near Ryeowook? The kid hasn’t even dated anyone before. He’s so innocent and Kyuhyun is the exact opposite of that. They’re on complete opposite ends of the spectrum. If they ever dated, I would never approve. I’m serious.”

***

Ryeowook sat in a daze, his nearly completed first draft playing in his mind. Most of the lyrics had started rolling out of him after receiving those four lines from Eunhyuk’s friend, Kyuhyun. It was as if the melody suddenly emerged, wanting to meet the gift of words. Every day after class he raced to a practice room and composed while writing more and more lines.

Most of the time, he didn’t realize how late it was until Donghae or Eunhyuk came looking for him. Kibum had his own things to deal with, which was fine with him. They were great roommates for the very reason that they didn’t spend every waking moment together. There were plenty of unspoken rules between them, such as no talking in the morning or finding a way to have a meal together at least once a week. A lot of the time, Ryeowook found his way to Jongwoon’s room where he had the older male help him by listening to the piece he had been pouring his heart and soul into.

Sometimes, Jongwoon would be amazed, other times he would critique, but every time, he was kind enough to lend his voice as a demo for Ryeowook to hear the song from an outsider’s perspective. Slowly but surely, the past three days had been spent in an intensive air of composition. Every night and during all of his free time, he would go to the RA and show him whatever he was working on in hopes of some sort of comment or reaction.

And it was all thanks to Cho Kyuhyun.

He had broken the block in Ryeowook’s mind. Now the music flowed free, sweet, sorrowful and oh-so beautiful. He couldn’t take credit for all of it though. That music belonged to more than just him. It belonged to whatever force had granted him the ability to grasp the threads that after being woven together, produced a sound so captivating he could barely comprehend it.

A warm wind is blowing like it was that night

The flowers you lovingly planted have bloomed

Before I know it spring has come again

I still want to deeply sleep like it’s winter

Ryeowook hummed the song, head rocking back and forth to the beat. His fingers wandered down to the piano keys, tapping out the melody. Slowly, his lips parted, the last of warm days rolling over him through the open window. The leaves were turning the color of sunset, falling away from their brittle branches. He murmured along, smiling softly.

You are so very far, so very far

To be honest I miss you every day

Even the very small, very small trivial things

make me think of you every day

Although he had no idea what Kyuhyun looked like, that person would always be his musical savior. It didn’t matter what sort of person he was. Somehow, he had been the only one capable of clearly seeing Ryeowook’s vision. They were in-sync, producing a song together without having met. Wasn’t that incredible? It was completely unheard of for Ryeowook. Truly, this song was proving itself to be fate.

He opened his eyes, frowning a little when he missed a key on the piano. Maybe it was the beginning of the turning gears. Fate had brought him those precious lyrics and maybe fate would bring him his precious person soon too.

Your comforting scent fills the room

in the flowers scattered around

Because I’m afraid one day I won’t be able to feel it

I want to take hold of even the air that you were in

His heart still sped up at those lines, feeling the strength of that stranger who knew him so well. If there was some way he could thank Kyuhyun, he would. Eunhyuk was so reluctant to talk about his friend, so that had become a dead-end of information.

Ryeowook sighed. “Maybe I’ll be able to show him the song next time…,” he mumbled, dismayed. It seemed so far off. Would he even be able to see Eunhyuk’s friend again? The odds didn’t seem to be in his favor, especially when Eunhyuk was adamantly withholding everything he knew as if he didn’t want to hand his friend over. Ryeowook didn’t want to steal Kyuhyun…he pouted, “Just wanna thank you…,” he grouched alone.

Breathing deeply, he leaned his head on the piano again, pressing the keys nearly inaudibly. “You are so very far…so very far…” Kyuhyun...

***

Heechul lightly smacked Kyuhyun’s arm. They were sitting on the couch of the older one’s apartment, watching the latest episode of a popular drama. Heechul was hugging a pillow, glaring at his friend. “Will you stop that?” he demanded sharply, pressing pause on the show.

“What are you talking about?” Kyuhyun frowned, rubbing his stinging arm. “You hit harder than you think.”

He rolled his eyes. “You’re humming.”

“What? No I’m not.”

“Yes you are. It’s the same damn tune you’ve been humming for like…the past three days, I swear.” Sighing, Heechul leaned back, gazing at the underclassman. “Even I’ve memorized it.” He mimicked the melody, seeing Kyuhyun’s eyes widen in recognition. “See? I’m not lying. You’ve been singing it every day for a while now.”

“I didn’t know,” he muttered, looking down, confused. Even he didn’t know where the song was coming from. It had emerged that day Henry hijacked him. He thought it would’ve died down after writing down those lyrics for Ryeowook, but someone the music had only gotten louder in his mind. It was still a broken melody with gaps everywhere, but he could hear it clearly. The song would be beautiful if it was ever completed. Eunhyuk had sent him a short text saying “Thank you so much!! – R” the same day he headed back to SME.

On another note, ever since then, Henry hadn’t spoken to him. In fact, he hadn’t heard a peep from the kid. Kyuhyun was surprised that he hadn’t thought of it until just then too. Normally, if you met G-Dragon’s little genius, you would try to stay in as much contact as possible, right?

But it had slipped his mind so easily. Kyuhyun sighed, feeling incredibly slow. Shaking his head, he got up. “I’m a little tired. Gonna head back,” he stated, grabbing his light jacket from the kitchen table.

“You sure?” Heechul called.

“Yeah, night,” Kyuhyun responded, waving as he shut the door behind him. Since being back, he and Heechul hadn’t been doing anything. Kyuhyun was too distracted and it wasn’t like he was some fiend. In fact, he didn’t care that much about it, but somehow, when the opportunity came up, he just didn’t say no. Did that make him an addict? Well, he did say no when the person was unattractive, so maybe that made it a little better – physically speaking. Health-wise, it probably had some major drawbacks to be sleeping around.

What was the harm though? He used protection and he was only young once. As long as Sungmin didn’t find out, then things were fine.

Those were Kyuhyun’s usual rationalities. However, he just hadn’t been feeling lonely the past few days. That song…it occupied every dark corner of his mind, bringing to life something inside of him that he didn’t know existed. It felt like it had been sitting in wait – biding its time until the right day to unleash itself.

Grabbing his phone, he dialed Henry’s number. Slowing to a stop, Kyuhyun stood still in the park on campus. The path was paved with cobblestone, large trees rustling overhead. He stood near one of the floodlights, teetering back and forth on his feet as he listened to the dial tone.

“Kyuhyun?” Henry’s voice came through, sounding surprised. “What’s up?”

“You busy right now?”

Henry looked across the small kitchen table to where Jiyoung was watching him with one of those unreadable smiles. The teen never knew how to take them. They were so unnerving and silent and deathly calm that Henry normally tried to dance around an answer until he got a slight nod or a chuckle from Jiyoung that told him he had chosen correctly. “Uhm…gimme a sec,” he mumbled, setting the phone on Hold. “My friend is wondering if I’m busy right now.”

“Are you?” Jiyoung murmured, tilting his head slightly, smile growing. “Who’s the friend?”

“Cho Kyuhyun,” Henry responded, “He’s super nice and cool. He speaks Mandarin too.”

“Ah, I see,” he nodded, “well, you can invite him over.” Jiyoung offered, standing up. He circled around, placing his hands on Henry’s shoulders, leaning over until his lips were just barely brushing against the younger male’s ear, “I don’t mind guests once in a while.”

Henry couldn’t stop the shiver that raked his body. Making a noise of understanding, he fumbled with his phone. Somewhere in the background, he could’ve sworn he heard Jiyoung chuckle as he slid his hands away. Sighing breathlessly as the older man went into the living room, Henry put the phone to his ear, saying, “If you wanna come over, that would be okay.”

“Come over?” Kyuhyun choked on air. “Are you serious?”

“Yeah, I got permission,” he replied, slowly calming down.

“Can I sleepover?”

Henry laughed. “That would be awesome! I’m always so bored alone.” He glanced at Jiyoung, but the latter didn’t seem to be listening. Or more likely, he didn’t care.

“Give me the address and I’ll head over.”

“Sure, I’ll text it to you.” Henry said his goodbyes and then pulled up a blank message, typing in the address and apartment number before sending it to Kyuhyun. He smiled to himself, stomach turning with excitement.