Tick! Tock! Tick! Tock!

It was so quiet. The silence enveloped him, suffocated him. His eyes staring blankly at the ceiling in his dark room. Darkness... Silence... As if he was blind and deaf. But he wasn't. The sound of clock ticking by, echoed in the quiet dorm.

Slowly, Mir sat up in his bed. He threw his legs by the side of his bed. He felt so... Quiet. He hated this silence. He looked up again, combing his hair back with his fingers. Ever so slowly, he stood up and dragged his feet towards the big mirror in his room. There, he saw his reflection. A boy with bleached hair, wide hooded eyes, staring back at him in the dark.

He reached out his hands to his own reflection. Wincing as his tip of finger touched the mirror, he whispered a quiet "Cold." But he didn't pull back his hand and his finger moved to outline the reflection of his own cheekbone to his eyes. Why did he look so sad...?

Then, he did it again. The routine that he never failed to do when he was stuck in a sleepless night and found himself staring into the mirror. Forcing a stiff smile to his lips. Forcing the sadness in his eyes to leave. But, no... He still looked sad. His reflection looked sad. 

Was that why his friends kept asking him if he was okay even when he laughed and joked with them like always? Even when he acted like everything was normal? Did they see the same thing as what he saw right now? A boy with a sad smile and sorrowful eyes. Was this what they saw? So, his smile couldn't hide his tears. Not when his eyes looked so dull and empty.

Mir swallowed. His throat felt dry. Turning around from the sad reflection of his, he went out of his room. He tried not to make any noises as he shuffled through the hall way towards the kitchen. He squinted when the bright light assaulted his sight as he the light in the kitchen.

Taking a glass of cold water, he stood by the sink. Tick! Tock! Tick! Tock! The clock still ticking and he wondered why the night felt so long. He the pipe, letting the sound of water flowing out into the sink and the clock ticking accompanied him as he washed his now empty glasses. He turned it back off and watched as small droplets of water fall in a slow rythm into the sink. Tick! Tick! Tick! 

They were like music. The sound of the clock and the sound of the water dropping. A music that echoed in his ears and somehow able to match the sound of his heartbeat. Was this the music of the loneliness? He felt it crawled under his skin, making him shivered involuntarily. Weird how sounds could sunk so deep in your very being.

Later, Mir heard shuffles of footsteps. He didn't turn to look and waited. He waited until a pair of arms enveloped his waist from behind, giving him enough warmth for him to stop himself shivering. "Can't sleep?" Mir nodded. "Me too."

"Too quiet."

"Yea..." The arms left him and Mir felt cold again.

"Cold." Mir whispered and felt shiver ran through his frame.

"It is."

"Hyung... Why is it so quiet?" Mir asked. When he got no reply, he his heels to face GO. GO was smiling sadly at him and Mir got reminded to his own reflection in the mirror. He... Was sad.

"Because sound can't reach you." Another voice came in and the duo turned to see the tired leader leaning on the kitchen doorframe. "What are you hearing right now, Mir?"

Mir blinked slowly. There was a moment of silence as Mir waited and tried to find the sounds. Tried to name the sounds until he finally found the most accurate words for them. "I hear silence."

It was true. He heard only silence. Mir stared deep into Seungho's eyes. And he knew they looked exactly the same. The older's eyes were as sorrowful as his own. The three of them. All three of them were like the reflection in the mirror. They were similar.

Seungho exhaled a soft breath and approached the duo. As he stood right in front of the maknae, he reached out his hand and hold onto Mir's forearm. In a gentle tug, Mir took the remaining steps and found himself being engulfed into Seungho's warm embrace. "Now. What do you hear?" He repeated.

Mir lowered his head a bit and put his hand over Seungho's chest. He let his ear glued there and he closed his eyes. "Your heartbeat."

"Still silent?" Seungho asked again.

Mir pulled away as he stood up straight again and Seungho easily unwrapped his hands from Mir's small frame. "No." He reached for GO's hand in a tight grip. "And it's warm." He saw as GO smiled at his gesture. Somehow, that smile stopped the chills that was torturing him and was replaced with a warm glow.

Because there was no more silence. There would be no silence as long as he had these two. It was lonely when it was only the sound of his heartbeat. But not anymore. Because their three heartbeat matched and form a new music. Music that chased away all the silence that he hated. And now, finally, he could smile. A smile that came out straight from his heart and he knew he wasn't alone... 

And like the mirror, there were three reflection of them. Smiling happily and breaking the rules of the mirror, they reached to each other, letting their hands interwined into the warmth that chased away the cold. And they weren't alone... They never were. All they needed to do was to reached out to realize that they were not alone...

- don't bash. Peace :) -