Chapter 3

Sunday – Present day

Donghae walked with slumped shoulders and a heaving heart as he carried his shoulder-hung backpack to his spot opposite the park.

It was approaching near one in the morning and he felt like death itself had washed over him and left him feeling as dry and empty as one could ever have felt at that moment in time. In fact, the fact that his father was lying in a state of endless sleep only proved his feelings to be all the more valid, as he felt his current state a live replica of the state his father was in. His world was dark again, his eyes rapidly rejecting the light.

He had kept to himself the several thoughts that cascaded his mind of the many memories he had with his still father.  He recalled the first time he had learned to kick a ball. He was three going on four and his dad appeared to be a looming giant over his tiny head. He remembered vaguely how he’d been thrown into the air by strong arms because he had finally managed to get his footing correct enough to kick the ball in a straight line.
   That was his first memory of his dad; hazy, but so filled with emotion that he felt he relived it each time he thought back to it.

He recalled the time he had skidded so hard on his bicycle that he’d gone flying off the contraption to find himself bleeding at the palm and knees.  His father had carried him crying in his even stronger arms, effortlessly so, to their home – which at the time had been smaller. He remembered how gently his father had used the disinfectant doused soft cotton to wipe away at his raw flesh. He remembers how he’s laughed about the scar he would earn from the fall, and how he said that with each scar earned in life, every boy grew into man.

He wondered if perhaps his bleeding heart would leave a scar that would make him tough. Perhaps the giant scar that would appear from his present pain would make him into a strong man. A man as strong as his father was, or even stronger.

 He thought back to how happy they had been in those times, when Donghwa was still innocent and obedient, and his mother never stopped smiling. His father was always joking and playing with them like the big child he was.
  He used to feel his heart fill with joy during those times, it used to flood him and consume his world. They used to be so happy, so full. When his dad was around the world had always seemed brighter.
   He hadn’t actually realised how that feeling had slowly, gradually faded from his live. It was as if the world was draining his very substance, allowing him to believe that all was well when truly, all was not. There had always been love in his family; they were fairly well off in that regard. But as he and Donghwa had grown, the joy that had consumed them had been disrupted, dulled.
  They had gotten to spend less and less time together, as a family; life had always managed to get busier and busier as the days passed, what with school work and all; His mother’s booming online business and his brothers hazardous social life. His father had grown quite high within his field of work and many promotions equalled to many more days separated from his family; abroad attending meeting, in offices that offered no warmth.
A prosperous family they were, stable and happy, but less complete.

His mother, how lovely she was; he’d never taken the time to appreciate her anymore. He had forgotten to be grateful and had taken his parents for granted. They had all forgotten to be grateful for each other. They used to eat their family meals around the dining room table, but that was years ago.
 Lately, Donghae had taken to eating with his dad in the lounge; his mother left sitting at the dining room table eating alone as Donghwa carried his plate to his room to do heaven knows what as he ate his meal.
 They had all lived under the same roof, loving each other, but never really taking the time to appreciate each other. They had taken what was given without a single utterance of thanks to one another.

Donghae had been under the impression that the life that he led was a happy one, a good one. He was wrong.

As he walked down the familiar path leading him to his place of safety and refuge, he asked himself how?
  How could such a thing have happened in such a short space of time? How could is father be laying in a hospital bed in a coma and half way to death’s door- if not closer? Why was God doing this to him? Was it because he hadn’t taken the time lately to really appreciate what he had? Did it always apply that you never knew what you had until it was gone? Was that the big moral of this story? If so, then why did it have to be in the form of illness that they were taught this lesson? Why couldn’t it have been in the form of a divorce or separation? Death was too permanent and too final. Why couldn’t they learn to appreciate each other and still keep their father?

Why? 

Donghae asked himself all these questions as he turned the corner and spotted the place where he had been finding his comfort of late. He wondered if his special place would bring him any peace at all so early in the morning.

Donghae headed slowly and slightly strenuously to the bench located near the pathway at the small entrance of the park. He could vaguely see the shadows of the trees as they danced about in the cool breeze that swept over the vacant piece of property, and he was unable to make out the shape of another person sitting at the corner of the bench until he was a few meters away and the stranger had spotted him.

Donghae's heart jumped crazily in his chest as the stranger got up from his spot on the wooden bench and started making his way towards him. He hadn't realised until that very moment just how much danger he had been exposing himself to by leaving his safe home each night to chase shadows in the dark.
  Had his belief in a higher power truly been the reason behind his lack of rationality? Seeing as how the stranger was getting ever so close to him with his intimidating stance and hooded silhouette, Donghae could only think that the only feasible answer to that question was 'Yes'.

"Donghae!" heard Donghae as the wind began to play with his hair, sending it dancing about his head to fill the stillness of the night. He hadn't even realised that he had already turned to make his escape and so he was caught off guard by the stranger's knowledge of his name.

Donghae found himself at a standstill as he tried to figure out if he had ever heard that voice before. He was certain that he might have heard it but he was also more than certain that that voice wasn't one that he heard on a regular basis.
  Donghae panicked. Could this stranger have been stalking him all along and awaiting the perfect moment to pounce on his prey? Is that why he knew his name?

Something inside Donghae's head told him to run, rationality perhaps, but just below his frantic head his heart felt it better for him to take the risk of staying to find out who this stranger was. 

Donghae began to move his feet, slowly closing the distance between him and the approaching figure. The stranger had ceased all movement in favour of waiting when he saw that Donghae's immediate reaction to his advance had been to move in the opposite direction.
  As Donghae filled the gap between them, he started to see familiar features that he would not have expected to see so late in the night and at such a place.

Could that really have been who he thought it was or was he suffering from a delusion created by his current emotional state? Donghae’s train of though was cut short when he heard the stranger’s voice once again.

"Hi." The cold beaten and husky voice greeted him as he stopped before the last person he had been expecting to see. Donghae was unsure as to how to reply and so he opted to stutter out the simplest response he could think of at the time.

“H-hello.” replied Donghae, he placed his hands into his jean pockets and waited for the other boy to talk. When the boy failed to say anything, Donghae saw fit to fill the silence that lingered between them.

“So… Eunhyuk was it?” he uttered out in an uncertain voice, needless to say that his anxiety at finding the said boy there in the middle of the night was outweighed by the sudden shyness that took over him.

Donghae watched as the boy nodded his head in a similarly shy manner to his and reclined his shoulders as would a snail hiding in its shell. As little time as Donghae had gotten spend with the boy, he had never come to know him as a shy person, quiet perhaps, but not shy.

“Mind telling me what you’re doing here so late Eunhyuk?” Donghae found himself saying perhaps a bit too firmly. He couldn't help but to notice how Eunhyuk flinched at the unintentional bite in his tone. Donghae took an apologetic step forward and was about to open his mouth to say sorry for his harsh tone when he saw how Eunhyuk stepped away from him as he did so. A confused silence passed between them as they looked at each other. Somehow, the interaction had become awkward.

As the silence continued with nothing but the sound of the blowing wind playing between the two, Donghae found himself trying to figure out the reason behind the other boy's presence there. So far he had felt no malicious intent coming from Eunhyuk, in fact, since the initial fright of having stumbled upon another person at his spot, Donghae realised that he had been surprisingly calm considering the time and place. It was almost as if Eunhyuk's presence had dulled his worries and all he could think about was him and what he was doing there. 

Donghae actually found it strange that he felt so comfortable in Eunhyuk's presence, like he had been spending a considerable amount of time with him. He could have easily put it down to it probably being because he was too familiar with this place but the fact that he could just barely sense the strong presence he normally felt when he was there made him feel like something was off. 

Why did he feel so safe when he wasn't being consumed by the peaceful grace of his saviour’s existence?

"I came for you" Donghae was broken out of his thoughts by the sound of Eunhyuk's voice. The latter had moved to sit on the bench nearby while Donghae had been within his own thoughts. Donghae found himself levitating towards the space next to him until he was seated and staring straight ahead at the shaking trees in the morning darkness; the oddness of the moment as clear to him as the approaching day.

"You came for me..." Donghae thought aloud, "but how did you know I'd be here?" With his line of sight never changing, Donghae spoke to the boy next to him. He wasn't really expecting an answer but was pleased to find that Eunhyuk was feeling slightly talkative at that moment.

"I live right across the street from this park" was Eunhyuk's response. "I saw you sitting here one night and wondered why you come."

"You live over there?" Donghae asked, surprised as he pointed behind him and watched as Eunhyuk nodded in reply.

"Oh." Donghae said. The silence that followed was one of mutual understanding but awkward nonetheless; both boys were thinking; both needed time to be in their own heads.

                                                                                *

Hyukjae spent a moment sorting through his thoughts before trying to formulate a new sentence. He was stuck between being himself and trying to act like Eunhyuk.

Had this truly been the correct action to take? As much as he had needed a host and as willing as Eunhyuk had been to let him use his ham body, Hyukjae was starting to have doubts about his entire plan.
 Could he really bring himself to live as a mere human being? Even if it was for the sake of protecting and looking over his assigned family, Hyukjae was having a difficult time imagining himself being able to do any of anythi