Luhan dropped his bag on his bedside table and walked to the front of his mirror. He examined his face and his whole body. Luhan sighed. He was looking totally messed up, destroyed in one go. He swiped a thumb over the cut at the end of his lips and flinched from the pain.

“Luhan… You’re a total mess right now.” He said to himself and at that time, he truly felt pathetic. He felt whole-heartedly pathetic. He should’ve fight back or he could’ve just run away but he was weak. He doesn’t have the power even for a revenge on himself.

Since when did it all start? Luhan wondered. Moving to Korea was ought to be a good thing, then his aunt got fed up with him. But he was lucky again to be with his current family before high school happened.

Bullied, that almost sounded like a laughable joke to Luhan at first. To a person who even dared to use a knife against his own skin, bullied?

After a while, he pushed off all the thoughts and walked to his bed before lying down with both hands covering his own face.

“I can’t do this anymore. Anywhere I go, whatever I do, they still won’t let me go. When will this all end?” Another heavy sigh, and then something else crossed Luhan’s mind.

He stood from the bed and reached for his bag. After ping it, he took out the student’s coat, the one that belonged to the first person ever to actually care for him. Oh Sehun from Class 2-A.

Luhan stared at the coat for a long while. His gaze adverted to his bedroom’s door at once when his younger step-brother appeared in sight.

“Hyung… Am I interrupting or something?” Han Kyumin, with his usual bright face waved enthusiastically at Luhan.

“No.” Luhan immediately shook his head. He dropped the coat to his lap and gestured for Kyumin to come over to his side. “When did you get home? When I arrived, no one was around. Where are mom and dad?”

Kyumin made his way towards Luhan and sat close to him. Ignoring Luhan’s questions, his hands went to Luhan’s face and retreated automatically when Luhan grimaced. “Hyung! What happened to you? Are you…” He doesn’t finish his words because Luhan’s brief nod explained everything. “Hyung! Are you stupid or something? Why did you let them do this to you? Look at that face; it’s all ruined, seriously. If I know who did this to you, I would’ve just killed them all or something!”

Luhan bit his bottom lip as Kyumin started to nag, just as he always did. He wanted to stop Kyumin from all of the unnecessary lectures but of course, Kyumin might just snap and he really doesn’t want to get in a fight with his only brother, even though they were not related by blood.

“Hyung, what is wrong with you? What have they done to you? At least, one of them should get a punch or anything at all. Did you even bother to fight back? You didn’t, right? You just let them do whatever they wanted to with you, right? And what is the issue again this time? Did they hit you because of the stupid rumours or what? Tell me, hyung! You can’t keep on going like this.” Kyumin looked over Luhan’s obvious bruises worriedly.

Seeing how concerned Kyumin was, a smile crept up Luhan’s face without him knowing. He felt the sincerity. For once and for all, he felt loved. Actually, he always feels so when being with Kyumin, and his parents.

Kyumin frowned at his reaction. “Why are you smiling? Nothing is funny; I’m not making a joke right now. I’m serious, hyung. This needs to stop before…”

“Thank you. Thank you so much, Kyumin-ah.” Luhan said with his voice filled with sincerity and gratefulness.

Kyumin took Luhan’s hands in his and smiled back. “I care for you, mom and dad care for you, and we all love you. Don’t get hurt, hyung.”

“You won’t tell mom and dad though, right?” Luhan asked while blinking his eyes a few times, trying to feign cuteness and Kyumin laughed at this.

“Hyung, don’t make such face. How am I supposed to say no if you did so? That’s considered cheating, you know?” Kyumin said.

“Thank you, Kyumin.” Luhan let out a short chuckle.

Then, Kyumin noticed the coat on Luhan’s lap and took it before Luhan could stop him. “What is this? Whose coat is this? Ah, so this is Seoul High School student’s coat. …Oh Sehun?”

Luhan spotted the change in Kyumin’s tone of voice. “Why? Do you know him?”

Kyumin gave Luhan a suspicious look. “What happened between you and him? Why is his coat here with you? He’s not the one who hit you, right?”

“No.”

Kyumin released a relieved sigh. “Thank God. Hyung, you shouldn’t get involved with him.”

Luhan lifted one of his eyebrows up. “Why?”

“Don’t you know him? He’s Oh Sehun! His father is Oh Hansung, the owner of OH Paradise, Seoul’s number one hotel! They had branches all over South Korea, do you really not know? He appeared on news, magazines and TV as one of Korea’s wealthiest man!” Kyumin said and Luhan still doesn’t get it.

“So, that actually means good thing, right? If his father is that wealthy, then he must be living a real good life.” Luhan said as in a matter-of-fact.

“It would’ve been good if he is living a good life but he’s not. That’s the problem.” Kyumin seemed a bit hesitant to continue but Luhan gave him the sign to proceed. “His… his background is quite similar with… hyung.”

Luhan doesn’t know how he was supposed to react, but at that time, his curiosity was over everything. “What… what about it?”

Kyumin knew he should not say anything further, and Luhan’s urging look made him feel even guiltier than he already was. “He also got… abused.”

Hearing the last word, Luhan silently nod his head.

“But anyway, after all that, he literally went from a good boy to a bad boy so you really should not mess with him. He might’ve not done anything, his records might be clean, but that’s all because of his father. He was a great supporter of Seoul High School, his father basically owned the school, but he smoked and skipped class, had been drunk and even once spent a night in jail for driving without license. He’s all that so I don’t want you to get influenced by him.” Kyumin said, giving his warning to Luhan.

“Why… why do you know so much about him?” Luhan asked, still a bit curious.

“Well, he was pretty popular in my school. With someone who has a very well-known father like him, and him himself being an eye candy to the girls, it just happened.” Kyumin said, shrugging his shoulders.

“So, you mean… This isn’t what you actually experienced, but heard from some other people?” Luhan stared at Kyumin, waiting for his confirmation.

“Well, yeah, but…”

“So you don’t really know if he’s like that or not?”

“That’s not the point. The thing is…”

“And there’s a chance that what you heard might not be true?”

“Hyung…”

“Then it’s all settled.” Luhan said.

Kyumin remained quiet for a while after being attacked by Luhan’s unavoidable asks; he pouted and crossed his arms over his chest. “But, hyung…”

“What is it?”

“They said that once you’re a step closer to him, you’ll be stuck forever. I may not know the possibility of the statement’s truthfulness, but be careful, just in case.”

Luhan considered Kyumin’s words, actually. He considered all of them deep within his heart. But he couldn’t just straightforwardly believe in Kyumin since he doesn’t have solid facts and evidences of Sehun’s true nature because somehow, even if they still don’t know each other, even if they both were practically strangers, he felt the kindness in Sehun.

And Luhan knew that no one could argue to that.

The following day, Sehun arrived in front of the stairs leading to the school’s rooftop and almost turned around to go back to his class after thinking of how much he was just being a fool by doing so. He doesn’t have anything to do with Luhan, and he doesn’t really have anything to do there but following what his heart was telling him, he just went anyway.

The cold morning breeze hit him as soon as he took his first step on the rooftop. He walked to the spot where Luhan lied unconsciously yesterday. He wanted to know, he desperately wanted to know what had happened before he got there.

Why did he have been hurt? Who hurt him?

His head ached just by thinking of the questions he wanted answers for. He took out a single cigarette from his pocket along with a lighter. Smoking, it was one thing that has become a habit to him, ever since his father got married to a new woman, someone that he would never approve of other than his biological mother.

The smell of smoke filled the air around him and Sehun liked it. For a few seconds, it was if his problems had also disappeared with the smoke he exhaled out of him. Then, a hand appeared before him and snatched the cigarette away from him.

Sehun widened his eyes in annoyance, ready to spurt out his anger to know that someone actually had the courage to disturb him. But when he turned his head to his side, whatever he was planning on doing, all vanish in one second. Luhan.

“Smoking is not good for your health. Don’t you know? It could kill you, so you shouldn’t smoke.” Luhan said, stepping on Sehun’s unfinished cigarette and squashing it with his foot.

Sehun observed his actions. Whatever was in his head, the questions he already prepared, why couldn’t he mutter them out now? “What do you think you’re doing? Do you want to die?” Instead, that came out and Sehun regretted saying it, all of it.

Luhan doesn’t look frightened though. He even dared to smile as he took a step closer towards Sehun. “Oh Sehun?” When Sehun doesn’t reply, he moved his gaze lower to Sehun’s chest and saw the nametag on his shirt. He had gotten the right person. He handed Sehun something; his coat. “I’ve washed it.”

Sehun doesn’t even look at it. “You.” He pointed a finger at Luhan who stared at him with a confused look. “Yesterday…” what actually happened? Those words were stuck in his throat and Sehun couldn’t seem to voice them out.

“Ah! I almost forgot. Thank you for what happened yesterday.” Luhan said, finally tossing the coat to Sehun’s hands when he doesn’t take it from him. Then, without saying anything else, he turned around and was about to walk away when Sehun caught his wrist and spun him so suddenly that he almost collided with the said guy.

Sehun leaned forward until the distance between the two of them were only a few centimetres apart. This way, he could see Luhan’s face better. Luhan had been occupying his mind and he still couldn’t figure out why. Seeing Luhan up close, the more he felt that Luhan truly looked beautiful.

“What… what are you doing?”

Luhan’s sudden question brought Sehun back to life.

Luhan struggled to break free from Sehun’s tight hold but it was to no avail. Clearly, just seeing from their height and body difference, Sehun would be stronger than him. He’s small and petite while Sehun was tall and fit. “If you don’t have anything to say, can you please let me go?”

“No.” It was an immediate answer, an answer that actually brought shock over the two of them. By now, Sehun was already wondering why his mouth wouldn’t do as his brain told because he knew that if he let go of Luhan now, they probably wouldn’t be able to meet again later because something deep inside of him was telling him that he wanted to– no, he needed to know more about Luhan.

“What… what did you say?” Luhan thought that he had heard him wrong.

Sehun couldn’t think straight. “Meet me here after school.” He found himself saying, then loosening the grip around Luhan’s wrist, he walked away first, disappearing from Luhan’s sight in just mere seconds.

Still shocked, Luhan took a deep breath and collapsed to the ground when he exhaled. With trembling hands, he hugged his knees and hid his face. He could hear the sound of his heart beating loud and clear in his ears.

It was the first time someone had been so close, so intimate to him. It was the first time that he trembled so much not because of fear, but because of embarrassment. Was he shy? Luhan doesn’t want to admit it, but it probably shows. He felt his ears and face getting all hot and red, the beating of his heart doesn’t even slow down.

When he had originally planned to return the coat to Sehun after school, he had then met with Sehun, just like a fate, at the school’s rooftop where he then found Sehun smoking. He couldn’t stand people who smoke, and he doesn’t know why he was feeling disappointed to know that one of Kyumin’s statement about Sehun was right, so he took the cigarette away from Sehun. He probably felt annoyed and wanted to have his revenge on me!

Luhan hit his own chest a few times. “Stop it, stop it, just stop it! Why are you being so loud? It’s only Sehun, calm down.” He got frustrated with himself in the end.

How can Oh Sehun, a mere stranger, affect him so much?

What Luhan doesn’t know was Sehun actually felt the same. Leaning against the wall right next to the stairs, Sehun punched the wall regretfully as he couldn’t speak more to Luhan. For now, he wouldn’t be able to measure his own feelings, but the summersaults that his heart did just now when being so close to Luhan clearly indicated something.

And Sehun laughed to himself after a bit, because they were only strangers; strangers with so many affections.

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