Again, somewhere in this city today
two people will meet and fall in love
And the curtains will be violently opened

Yearning to be loved by someone who is already loved— that was the kind of feeling swelling inside of Luhan's chest as he watches Yifan gently brushes the fallen strand of ebony black hair from Yixing's eyes. Yixing glances at the man of his life and sweetly smiles, deep dimples pinching his cheeks. To just simply watch from afar should've been a bliss even for the lonely Luhan, but somewhere along the way, fate found its way forcing Luhan into the perfect life of Yifan and Yixing.

Two years ago, Luhan was the outcast, kicked out from his wealthy family and forced to live on the streets. Being alone for so long, the boy honed his instincts to fight against his fate. His feminine face often causes him troubles as it unconsciously lures other men to him. Wealthy men to be exact. However, in Luhan's eyes, all he could see was big, fat juicy fishes flopping on the cutting board, ready to be slice and cut until its' golden treasure emerges from the blood. Luhan spent his time leisurely with these filthy rich men. He plays them. Pretending to be their lover, snaking his fingers into their pockets, and once the money is in his hands, he bails out. That's it. No emotional attachment or whatsoever. Luhan never allows any man to go further than to him.

Exactly two winters ago from today was the day his fate took a change of turn. Walking down the crowded street of Christmas time, Luhan busily shuffled through, blowing at his hands to warm up. Men adorning the Santa suits continuously forced "presents" into his hands, and with a light bow, he pulled the content from its' wrapping. At least the free tissues inside the beautiful scarlet wrappings was good enough to wipe away the bubbling snot from his nose.

Luhan is an impatient man, always busily trotting through life, collecting coins, and preparing to make his next move. He doesn't know what loneliness means. He has been living his life perfectly alone, unfitted to be in the same world as the parents who has disowned him for failing high school. Even as he briefly watched the couples around him hand in hand or lips on lips, Luhan doesn't feel a single bit of envy.

Until he passed by Yifan that night.

It was an utter coincidence that the two brushed by each other, lightly tipping on the shoulders. Luhan was trying to catch the falling tissues escaping through his fingertips while Yifan was busily watching the boy who would not give up on his one of many free tissues. The man in the expensive suit, strongly smelling of cologne was laughing at Luhan, and it had angered him.

Yifan quickly proved himself to be a gentleman, explaining himself and offering to treat the boy to simple coffee at his favorite cafe down the street. Luhan snickered at the taller man, sniffing in the scent of money.

That was his first, and favorite memory. Just the two of them silently drinking milk coffee at the shop, and while Luhan was busy counting the stars of the milky way inside his coffee, Yifan pestered the boy, asking for his name, his age, and his place. Luhan denied all questions, and quickly shuffled out of the cafe, slamming the glass door behind.

Even so, everything eventually,
someday, has an end.

Fate has its own mysterious ways. Shortly after, Yifan bumped into Luhan again at his workplace, and caught the boy red-handed sneaking his hands into a co-worker's pants. The taller man angrily pulled the boy onto the roof, lecturing him for hours. Mistakenly believing that Luhan had troubles for money, Yifan continuously showered Luhan with pity, offering job opportunities for the boy. And somehow along the way, Luhan found himself working a proper job under Yifan's care.

His heart started to move, one beat at a time.

Yifan became the most beautiful thing in the world. Luhan's heart fluttered violently each time he ran into the man at the workplace. Sometimes the taller man would , and sometimes he would compliment him. Nonetheless, Luhan took every breaths, syllables, and words directly to heart, keeping them buried there.

Despite his inner stubbornness, Luhan appeared bubbly and adorable to Yifan's friends, and everyone came to adore him. Sehun, Yifan's nephew, attached himself to Luhan faster than the sound of thunder, clinging to the boy's side and showering him with luxurious presents. Although Luhan hated the way Sehun treated him, he can't hate him; Sehun was like the other side of him— his old self who spent the nights chasing wealth. The next one to befriend him was Chanyeol and Baekhyun, the two close friends turned lovers couple. Among Yifan's circle of friends, Chanyeol and Baekhyun were known as the troublesome couple. One moment, they might be arguing but the next, they are already being lovey dovey, sweetly enticing one another until even sugars must turn into salts. Luhan envied their relationship. It was strangely beautiful. The final pair to befriend Luhan was Kai and his older boyfriend Kyungsoo. Kai and Kyungsoo has the strangest relationship, and even now, Luhan still can't quite understand. Kai is the y tanned beast of the university, constantly flirting with women. He has a bad habit, and quite can't keep his hands from other people's pants. Each time that he is caught red-handed, Kyungsoo, his boyfriend, is the one who takes the hit from his sleeping partner and apologizes on Kai's behalf. Luhan had expected the two to break up a long time ago, but after each affairs, Luhan always sees Kai the next day clinging to Kyungsoo, wrapping his long arms around the smaller doe eyed boy.

Then finally there is Zhang Yixing. Yifan's perfect boyfriend.

Yixing is everything that Luhan is not. Perfectly well mannered, mild, sweet. He is an angel to everyone else, and every time something happens, he is the man to go to among Yifan's circle of friends.

Yixing is the reason Luhan learned about envy. That sweet beautiful face, pale skin, and deep dimples is the reason every morning Luhan looked himself in the mirror wishing he had a different smiling face.

Again, somewhere in this city today
two people will be split,
And the curtains are quietly dropped.

Yifan is a kind, kind man. Perhaps that was the reason why he took Luhan's innocence that first time.  Being caught in the rain after their first argument, Yifan and Luhan were stranded in the middle of nowhere, shivering. Yifan didn't speak, but quietly, he turned to flutter his beautiful lashes at Luhan, lifting the panicking boy by the chin. Their first kiss tasted like the bitter taste of chocolate mixed with the taste of sweet delicacy. Taking shelter from the rain inside of a run-down cabin, Yifan wrapped his arms around Luhan, brushing his long fingertips against the smaller boy's back. Warmth escaped their bodies, and both men silently clung to one another. Until a soft sob escaped from Luhan's blinking eyes.

Pressing his lips suddenly onto Luhan's lips, things quickly escalated from innocent kisses to deep kisses, starting from the neck down to his thighs. Luhan closed his eyes, pressing his fists close to his chin, shivering as Yifan's light kisses travel down his body. He could hear the sounds of falling rain outside of the dusty room.

The moment they became one, Luhan's body was split in half. His heart was crying out, yearning to caress Yifan's sweaty cheeks until he saw those eyes glittering with tears. Yifan was always beautiful, but that night underneath the moonlight where rain endlessly fell,  Yifan's tearful face was the most beautiful. With that thought in mind, Luhan reached forward, wrapping his shivering pale arm around Yifan's back, drawing him closer until Yifan can rest on his beating chest. The tears ceased. The loneliness dispersed. Nothing was left but the sounds of two hearts synchronizing until only one beat was left.

Yifan is beautiful, but sometimes he feels a strong loneliness. Luhan is a strange creature unable to understand the pain of others. Perhaps that wasn't true. His heart that does not understand, understood best what loneliness is.

Even though Yixing's beautiful face flashed by, Luhan's heart did not falter.

Because Yifan is a perfectly broken human being.

"Maria" There is a person that I love
At times he feel very lonely
But eventually that person that I love
will be fulfilled in every ways

The next time Yifan took Luhan was at the office, caught in between their work and lust. Yifan was breathing down his neck while the smaller boy wrapped his thighs around the taller man, pressed roughly onto the office desk. The next time was in Yifan's car, and then at an expensive hotel, and then at Yifan's and Yixing's apartment. Before they knew it, they were planning trips together, shopping for matching gifts, and secretly calling one another on sleepless nights.

Sometimes when Luhan was in Yifan's arms, the taller would speaks of undisclosed pain. Loneliness would permeate the room, drowning Luhan into the memories of the young Yifan who was abandoned at birth, rejected from his parents. Growing with constant fear that everyone would shuns him, Yifan grew into independent man hiding behind a facade of gentleness.

Perhaps because they both shared something in common, Yifan and Luhan drowned themselves in pleasure, sweetly reassuring one another that they needed each other.

Yifan is gentle. He is afraid to hurt others. Luhan knows that too.

Yixing is also gentle. Yixing will never hurt Yifan, and believing so, Luhan forced his eyes shut, burying his tearful face into the other man's chest.

"Everything will be alright," Luhan muttered alone.

But the day came when Yixing discovered the truth. For the first time, Yifan and Yixing, the couple whom everyone thought were perfectly sculpted to be together, fell apart. Yixing packed up his things, leaving into the dark night. With every sniffs, his deep dimples revealed his hidden pain.

Yifan sunk onto the floor, burying his face inside of his palms as if to shut the entire world out.  And Luhan helplessly watched.

Everyone hated Luhan.

The friends who were Yixing's friends before becoming Luhan's friends spited him, speaking of vulgarities as they judged him one by one. Backstabber, cheater, , . Name-calling didn't hurt him, not one bit.

As long as he had Yifan, everything will be fine.

"Why him and not me?" Sehun had asked, angrily shaking Luhan by the shoulders.

"Maria" There is someone that I love
At times he bear very deep wounds.
But that person that I love

eventually will be healed of all things

Yifan returned to Yixing. Crawling back on his knees, breaking down into tiny pieces of glass. Luhan watched painfully as the angelic Yixing gathered every pieces and put the man back into life. Something that Luhan would never be able to do.

Time passed, and slowly everything returned to normal. Those who blamed him begin to speak to him again. The only one who remained as before was Sehun who constantly questioned his love for Yifan.

"Maybe you only saw him as a father..." Sehun had accused. Luhan only laughed.

Yifan sometimes casually brushed past Luhan, greeting him normally. Sometimes they laughed together, happily chatting inside of the same cafe. A special place for the two of them.

Yifan proposed to Yixing, replacing the matching ring to Luhan's with a new proper ring.

On their special day, they kiss an oath of forever, and silently Luhan watches. Everyone is there. The couple who always bicker, and the couple who never breaks up. Everyone is still together like before.

Yearning to be loved by someone who is already loved— that was the kind of feeling swelling inside of Luhan's chest as he watches Yifan gently brushes the fallen strand of ebony black hair from Yixing's eyes.

It is Christmas again, and the bells start to chime reminding Luhan of that night two years ago. Luhan is waiting in the same place, watching people busily passes by. In the sea of people, his tiny figure disappears.

Luhan is waiting.

After giving Yifan's a proper letter, asking the man to officially reject him once and forever, Luhan continued to wait. Even though, the next day, Yifan cruelly proposed to Yixing, never responding back.

 Even so, Luhan is clinging onto hope. He is still waiting for the man who had pulled him out of the cold. The man who shared a cup of warm coffee with him. Luhan remembered the stars glittering inside of his milky coffee that night. They reminded him of Yifan's tears, and softly he smiles. Yifan's tears are the only thing he is certain Yixing would never have. Those are the tears only Luhan can understands.

When Yifan promised Yixing an oath of eternity earlier, Luhan had wondered to himself too: how long exactly is eternity?

Snow starts to fall.

Luhan lingers in the cold, waiting.

"Maria" Everyone is crying
But I want to believe
"Maria" So I'm praying now
that this will be my last love
The beginning always comes at random
but the ending always have a reason.

A/N: Sorry for any errors. Will check again later ^_^