TRIGGER WARNING: SUICIDE RIGHT AT THE END FOR ANYONE SENSITIVE TO THIS please watch out take care and be safe!! you're all lovelies and i would be devastated to lose any of u im gna put red dashes in case u wanna skip even tho its just two paragraphs ahh

“This is so cool!” Donghae exclaims after a whole day of following Hyukjae around while he runs errands. Honestly Hyukjae would call one of these days a sort of ‘filler’ day, but with someone who provides commentary, it turned out to be rather fun. Especially while grocery shopping.

Hyukjae orders his usual lunch at the café down his street (“the usual again, Hyukjae? Why not change it up a bit?” Irene would always ask, but Hyukjae just laughs it off). It’s rather quiet and empty, but he still chooses not to reply to Donghae, just in case.

“Here’s your order, Hyuk, have a nice day!” says the waitress whose name always slips his mind, smiling happily. She places the tray on the table and Hyukjae thanks her with a nod paired with a smile, the familiarity of the sandwich and hot chocolate reminding Hyukjae that he’s finished with all the errands. Donghae looks back and forth between the two and raises an eyebrow from where he sits on the inside of the booth. He looks at Hyukjae, directly across him, and questions.

“How do you know everyone in this town?”

“I…” Hyukjae begins, but then realises that although the café is rather empty, he’s still in public and there are still people around and doesn’t want to seem like a psychopath. He merely shrugs and takes a bite of his sandwich. Unsatisfied, Donghae pouts slightly and crosses his arms.

His eyes wander around the shop in boredom and he stares at one point for a few seconds before ducking his head slightly in obvious avoidance. Hyukjae looks up from his sandwich curiously but doesn’t say anything.

“That girl behind you…” Donghae says in a hushed whisper, just in case anyone could possibly hear.  “She keeps staring at me. I’m sure she can’t see me though… but it’s kind of creepy. I also think she’s the same person as that girl from your building? The guard one from last night?”

Hyukjae furrows his brows in confusion and turns around slightly from where he sits, catching the girl (indeed, it is Ji Eun) to be staring at Donghae with a sad glint in her eye, as if she was remembering something. She sees Hyukjae turn back to look at her and shifts her focus to Hyukjae, smiling almost too brightly, as if she were hiding something, and waving before continuing to wipe cups as if nothing had happened.

“She’s weird,” Hyukjae hears Donghae continue to ramble, and he notes that Ji Eun almost makes an effort to not look up at the table they sit at again. “I don’t like her. She’s creepy.”

Hyukjae looks at Ji Eun a little longer than he thinks he should, and is pretty sure Ji Eun can feel his gaze on her, but she remains wiping the cups. He turns back round, wipes his mouth with the tissue and takes a final sip of the drink he’d ordered and stands up, making his way towards Ji Eun behind the bar.

“Hey Ji Eun,” Hyukjae says with a friendly, comfortable smile. Ji Eun looks back up, and Hyukjae is taken aback at how tired she looks, like she’d been wiping cups for days on end with no sleep. “How’s… everything? You look a bit tired, are you okay?”

Ji Eun shakes her head with a small, uneasy laugh.

“I’m fine, Hyuk, don’t worry,” she says, words falling off her tongue like she had rehearsed them. She pulls out a smile, plastered and unwavering, yet curiously insincere.

“Don’t lie, Ji Eun, you know that’s not good for you,” Hyukjae says simply. Ji Eun’s smile is so watery that Hyukjae thinks she would start crying at any given moment. “If it’s all too much you should take a break.”

Ji Eun’s smile drops and she looks down thoughtfully, and Hyukjae feels like he’s breached some sort of privacy before she looks back up with relief on her face.

“Yeah…” she starts, and it sounds more like she’s talking to herself than anything. “I do think it’s been a little too much recently. I guess I’ll just… take today off.” Ji Eun pauses, and it looks like she has something to say, but she’s considering whether or not it would be wise to say it. She does though, a simple, “thanks Hyukjae.”

Hyukjae smiles brightly back at her, glad that Ji Eun opened up a bit. “You’re welcome; any time!”

He then waves a goodbye to her as she takes off her apron and disappears into the back room in a haste. Turning around to leave, he then smiles at the rest of the staff, bowing slightly as well, before finally leaving the shop. Feeling a sudden familiar chill in the air, Hyukjae puts his hands in his pockets and doesn’t think twice.

Donghae follows again, ready to fall back into a comfortable silence when Hyukjae finally speaks again.

“We’ll take the long way. It’s less popular, so we can talk,” he says. It’s short and simple and makes Donghae smile, because he’s been bored all day and dying to talk to Hyukjae.

In a pure, impulsive move, Donghae reaches out to grab Hyukjae’s hand. Hyukjae flinches for a second and looks at Donghae. He looks almost angry and Donghae is considering apologising, but then Hyukjae smiles and continues to walk.

“You need to warn me next time,” he says with a sigh, still smiling. Donghae feels like a weight has just been lifted off his shoulders. “Your hands are so cold, I swear. It’s such an odd feeling.”

“Your hands aren’t perfect either you know,” Donghae says, matter-of-fact. “They’re really…”

He and Hyukjae look each other in the eye and Hyukjae grins stupidly, and Donghae considers smacking him across the face. He opts to bump Hyukjae’s shoulder with his own and laughs dumbly.

“You’re so stupid, I swear,” he says. Donghae’s expression turns a little bit more serious when he asks, “So why was Ji Eun there anyway? I thought she was a guard? And why was she staring at me?”

“Well,” Hyukjae fidgets, and Donghae considers this rather uncharacteristic. “She’s in between jobs because…she’s kind of poor? She works the late night shift at the apartment and works here in the afternoons... I think she cleans houses on weekends too, actually.”

Donghae bites his lips and they keep walking as usual, not giving a second thought to how and why Hyukjae knows all this. Donghae swings their arms a bit between them, and Hyukjae holds back a smile at Donghae’s childishness.

“Does Ji Eun live in the same building?”

“Uhm,” Hyukjae drawls. He thinks for a second. “I don’t think so, no