Lee Hyukjae stared at the calm clear stream and heaved a deep sigh. Raising his hand to his face, he winced when he caressed his split lips. There were bruises all over his face and some of them already turned dark purple.

His life was a wreck. People kept messing with him, just because he looked like a delinquent, he finally came to light that he was adopted, he got no friends to turn to and most of all, his relationship with his parents were straining with each passing day to the point of suffocating. He could barely breath at home.

Hyukjae gritted his teeth and ran his calloused fingers through his blonde hair feeling frustrated with himself. The evening breeze blew softly, whispering a soft note that echoed thorough the clearing and he slowly lain down on the field of clovers. He stared at the sky that was turning red hue for a while before closing his eyes. Taking a deep breath, he tried to calm his mixed feelings.

“Let me die already,” he muttered.

“Don’t say that.”

Hyukjae snapped his eyes open at the voice and turned his head to the side. A boy was sitting beside him, hugging his knees to his chest and was staring ahead at the setting sun.

When did he get here?

Hyukjae stared at the boy and eventually the boy shifted his gaze onto him. The boy smiled and Hyukjae felt his breath stuck in his lungs at the sight. The boy was beautiful. Simply beautiful.

They locked gazes for what felt like an eternity and he could not help himself from drowning in the other’s eyes because there was something so…mesmerizing about those orbs. He realized he was probably looked dumb right now, gawking at the stranger beside him so openly but the boy didn’t seem to mind. He was still smiling in any case so he thought, why the hell not?

“-here?”

Hyukjae blinked and noticed the boy’s lips were moving. Was he talking to him?

“Yes, I was talking to you.” The boy chuckled, amused.

“Did I say that out loud?” Hyukjae blurted out.

The other boy was now laughing and Hyukjae probably should be pissed at him for laughing at him but he found himself unable to. The other looked so open, so free when he laughed that Hyukjae went back to gawking, mesmerized once again by the boy.

The other boy apparently suddenly became self-conscious at his staring because his laughter started to die down and Hyukjae felt disappointment rouse in him at that and unconsciously he whispered, “No, don’t stop.”

The laughter immediately died at his soft-spoken words and he felt a moment of panic that came with the thought that he had said something wrong but it was quickly assuaged by the butterflies that were fluttering furiously in his middle at the blush that had dusted the other boy’s cheeks.

“What’s your name?”

The boy averted his gaze and stared down at his lap bashfully, embarrassed as he answered, “Lee Donghae.”