Hyukjae disappeared.

Donghae hadn’t even given the monkey a last glance out the window before pulling the window shut and collapsing onto his bed, letting out loud frustrated sighs. He flipped onto his side and reached for his plush monkey by habit before realizing that he’d just thrown it out. Half of him suddenly wanted to sprint all the way down to look for the toy because it was his father’s last present to him, but at the thought of Hyukjae, Donghae hardened his heart and decided that perhaps the toy was better off lying in the gutter where nobody would ever find it.

He thought he could enjoy the peace and tranquillity of not always having to deal with a troublesome, and erted monkey man who was always waiting for him patiently in his bedroom at last. For once he felt in control of himself and not always having to listen to Hyukjae’s whims. Donghae buried himself under the blankets with his smartphone in his hand, blushing hard as he looked at the photo he took of his first kiss with Siwon. He gingerly touched his lips and smiled, remembering the taller man’s smooth warm lips pressing lightly against his own. Donghae lost himself in the memory and slowly drifted off to sleep.

Things would finally go right for him.

* * *

Actually, things never went right after that.

Donghae refused to attribute his previous success of overcoming his clumsiness to the lucky monkey, but ever since the last incident happened, everything started going downhill. First he dropped his phone into the toilet, then forgot that he left his laptop in the back of the company car for an entire scorching hot afternoon, causing the laptop to expand and break. His landlord decided to raise the rent without notice. His credit card maxed out half a month before his pay was due and Donghae relied only on one small bowl of plain rice and a bit of kimchi every day for three weeks until he received his week-late check, which to his utter dismay got soaked and smudged in the rain somehow so he had to wait for another week before the company decided to issue another paycheck to him. Siwon had been generous enough to help Donghae out every time he ran into trouble, but Donghae knew that he couldn’t keep going like this although his wealthy boyfriend insisted that it was fine and he didn’t have to repay anything.

The final straw happened when his sleeve got caught in a machine at the factory and in his panic kicked all the ‘STOP’ buttons on the panel, causing all the machines to shut down immediately, ruining tonnes of batches of candy altogether. Just a couple more seconds and Donghae’s arm would have been totally crushed under the heavy wheels of the machine. He panicked so much that as soon as a few colleagues helped him rip out his sleeve, Donghae fell to the ground with a loud sob and passed out.

He got a permanent leave from the company in the form of a pink slip a week after that. His hands trembled as he read the words in the official letter that he no longer had to go to work anymore. Lips quivering, Donghae shoved the letter aside and curled into hi