Despite having in mind a well organized list of things to do - one of those included looking for a hostel or a new little room to rent for a while - Ryeowook couldn't completely shut the surrounding chatter from the other students out of his mind.

It was too awfully intruding and didn't make him concentrate on how to formally apologize to Kyuhyun, assumed that he ever gathered the right courage to do so.

The day at school was boring as ever. Classes were focusing on to the year's whole study program, so that students could remember some of the thoughest topics before exams. Dongwoon was often spotted before locking himself up in to the library, where he dove, indisturbed, in full-time study sessions on his own; N tried to do the same, but what happened with Ryeowook still prevented him to properly get close to his friends again and resume his usual cheeky behavior. Hyungsik, in the meanwhile, happened to be the busiest out of them all.

He was happy - almost estatic for being object of such trust - because he could find out what troubled Ryeowook in his not-yet-developped-relationship with Kyuhyun, and he was even happier when he tried to be successful in his attempts as a match-maker for the two.

In the meanwhile, moved by the sadness he could read in Ryeowook's eyes whenever he met by chance his other two friends, Hyungsik even tried so hard to set peace between the same N and Dongwoon. The school buildings were huge, yet never too big to hide students and their personal issues, of whichever nature these were.

And, in fact, that afternoon, after giving up to the third music club meeting in a row, Ryeowook was glad to avoid Hyungsik and stay alone for a little while. That way he could try to reorganize his foggy mind and come up with a decent excuse to present to Kyuhyun.

Yes, at that point his mind was still too full of Kyuhyun to really care about the rest of the world, anyway.

As he walked up to the main gate, the boy distractedly dropped the earbuds of his iPod even before managing to turn it on and get more privacy. It happened that, the thought that painfully and continuously filled his mind and imagination, had magically materialized before his eyes. It caught his complete attention and the whole world once again turned off its sounds and colors, as if Ryeowook were now stuck in a little soundproof bubble.

It was surprising how wonderfully sweet the view of a worried Kyuhyun could appear in his subjugated mind, as the man waited for Ryeowook to approach him with arms crossed on his chest and lips pursed in exhausted resignation. Nothing else existed but the man's presence, obviously linked to what had happened the night before. There was no better place than school to look for Ryeowook, if one wanted to really manage to find him.

The boy even contemplated for a brief second the possibility to turn heels and run in the opposite direction, since he wasn't that ready to face the man, but Kyuhyun waited and waited, already too concious to be deserving a proper explanation about Ryeowook's behavior.

And so, with each step he took, Ryeowook's sighs got longer and more resigned until they stopped, and when he was finally closer to meet the other's apparent rage, he held his breath, concious that he could have fainted sooner or later if he kept doing that.

However, when he stood outside the gate's border and was less than a couple of steps apart from Kyuhyun, Ryeowook trembled.

He surely didn't expected what happened next.

Kyuhyun had just freed his arms and lifted one, looking as if ready to punish the boy and beat him up.

What was another slap to punish his obstinate stubborness after the ferocious one stricken by Ryouma only the day before?

Ryeowook jerked a bit, ducked his head, hoping to avoid the hit, and shut his eyes as strongly as possible, so that the world seemed to have lost its light in the blink of an eye...almost literally. But no hit ever reached him.

Instead, what Kyuhyun did was entouring the pretty, petite boy with his arms and, after successfully hugging him around the waist, he drew Ryeowook so close that the student ended up crashing against Kyuhyun's chest.

Unexpected. Everything was unexpected, like daydreaming: finding him there, his anger contrasting with the clear concern in his eyes, the quick hug and now even the soft caresses on his head, accompanied by sighs of relief.

"Thanks God, you're fine!" Kyuhyun's deep voice whispered in his ear. Another shiver rolled down Ryeowook's back when he realized that the man wasn't the least angry like it appeared.

"I was so worried, you can't even imagine how much!" Kyuhyun went on, and for a little while Ryeowook even imagined that the grip Kyuhyun was holding around his waist got strangely tighter, no...he actually felt it "I really thought that some bad people could have hit you or...or worse... I don't even know! I just... Ryeowook, please don't make me scared anymore and come home with me"

Home.

Ryeowook felt like being stabbed for how much powerful that word was to him.

He pressed his petite body against Kyuhyun's in the most natural way possible and accepted that hug, relaxing all his stiff muscles due to the previously gathered tension. Nuzzling his head under Kyuhyun's neck, his arms responded to the hold and strongly gripped the man's shirt on his shoulder blades until he began to lightly sob. Muttering incoherent words about how sorry he was for running away when Kyuhyun had only been the kindest man alive for offering him a shelter, Ryeowook explained in tears that he had felt a burden for intruding in the little scene between Kyuhyun and the girl he saw at his place.

"It's okay, don't worry" Kyuhyun tilted back his head and felt Ryeowook's hair tickle his neck. A little smile appeared on his mouth as his eyes were cast on the infinite sky above "You aren't a burden, not for me at least. So don't worry about staying at my place until we find a better solution, we will work it out together, okay? How does that sound?" he suggested and his hand never ceased to the boy's silky hair.

Ryeowook nodded, silent, while his hair brushed against the taller man's neck and made this one lightly giggle.

"I-I want to apologize...to you and your...your girlfirend" Ryeowook stuttered upon lifting his head and fighting so much against his pride for bearing his glossy, teary eyes in Kyuhyun's warmer ones "I-I didn't-"

He couldn't go on. Kyuhyun's shoulders began to lift and drop in little, repetitive shrugs while he tried to keep from bursting into laughter: "You're so funny - he pronounced - what made you think that Kim's my girlfriend?" and finally asked, making Ryeowook to abruptly stop crying and frown in a questioning look.

"I-I just... She...she hugged you, and she said she loves you and, you said that too, and..." some of the last tears quickly rolled down his soft cheeks, streaking them in clear, wet lines.

Kyuhyun amiably pinched his nose: "Silly! We love each other but only as friends! Despite being really pretty, she's already engaged and definitely not my type" he explained with a grin, too amused while reading the unexplicable expression of astonishment depicted all over Ryeowook's blushing face. He was getting of a lovely shade of red after realizing his wrong assumptions, but couldn't retain a little smile to escape and curve his mouth for the discovery, due to which his heart was undeniably feeling lighter and much jumpy in excitement.

"Give me your bag and follow me, we're going home. There, you'll have to tell me everything, okay?" Kyuhyun suggested, the little mistake made by Ryeowook already forgotten. The boy nodded and answered back "I will, but only if you tell me more about...Kim..." no, he couldn't forget about the girl that had, just for one day, ruined his fantasies about trying to conquer Kyuhyun's heart. Now that she was a minor problem - better, no problem at all - Ryeowook wanted to know more about the enemy that for once had threatened to defeat him.

"Oh...she's just a friend, as I said" Kyuhyun began his story as he walked side by side with Ryeowook and had in mind to reach the closest subway station, so they could go home as quickly as possible "We met at the start of university five or six years ago, I don't even remember. We were both freshmen and enrolled in the same art course, with the only difference that I had to drop out before my last year and she managed to graduate. Anyway we chose two different paths to follow before graduation. I like painting, brushes and colors are my life; she's more of a photographer instead and likes digital tricks on the computer. She's really good!" he told the whole story and added a final compliment.

"A photographer?" Ryeowook repeated, memorizing all those notions about the girl.

"Yes, but at the moment she works only as an assistant for our former professor at university" Kyuhyun added "That's why she was at my place yesterday. It seems there's a photography contest at school and winners can get a few money prizes as well as a full scholarship to cover tuition fees. She knows about my situation and wanted to help me, even though the official sign up date is already expired" the man slumped both shoulders and gravely sighed, before fixing back Ryeowook's bag on a shoulder with a little hop.

"Are you trying to enter the contest?"

"I hope so, but it's difficult and I already know I will fail, even though she's making the impossible to submit some of my pictures to the professor's folder" Kyuhyun said "Do you know that she's the owner of the pictures that got exchanged at the shop?" the man slipped a little trivia into the discussion and got Ryeowook's attention.

"Really?! I thought those were yours..." Ryeowook exclaimed, a ti