^{omg this is lapslock im so sorry}

^{but i do hope you enjoy!!}

tzuyu halts in her steps, the muscles in her cheeks holding the framed smile on her pale face loosening, a slight grimace unconsciously forming.

crossing her arms, nayeon gives her a look over, doing the same with junhoe, observing his disheveled state. junhoe is not known for being tidy and neat, a contrast against tzuyu. like how black contrasts against white. a perfect combination, a twisted sort of complement. one eyebrow raises itself, nayeon cannot mask the distaste that shines in her eyes, honing the sheer look of disconcert slapped on her face. no greetings, no words exchanged, no honorifics. she gives the younger girl a curt nod to let her know she has been waiting.

behind, jinhwan jumps and waves at tzuyu exaggeratedly, using large movements. he points at nayeon and does the gesture of the index finger slicing through the neck. then he swerves to nayeon's left to be in junhoe's line of sight and points to tzuyu then winks. junhoe shakes his head in defeat and embarrassment, having no choice of what else to do. 

tzuyu averts her gaze from him, if anything, he isn't helping. he looks ridiculous that she would have laughed if circumstances had been different. her composed posture wavering, feeling the full effect of the trouble — is it really a problem? — shifting its weight on her shoulders.

dust dances nonchalantly in the light peeking through the windows. the atmosphere thick with emotions of anger and disbelief. something crackles in the implacable silence, something intensive that the littlest of movements has the chance of being preyed upon. and it is a risk she is willing to take.

she clears and quietly utters, "nayeon..." the words hanging heavily. a whisper that is loud enough in this kind of unnerving silence.

nayeon uncrosses her arms in front of her and repositions her body, taut and stretched as a violin string that is worn and overly used. but that is what she is: an instrument, always following all the renditions of the sounds made by her owner, in which case the sisters. she shakes her head and eases the tension out of her. though she cannot help the lifting of her brows in surprise when tzuyu even dares call her. her nose wrinkling, she speaks in a pinched voice, apparent that she isn't as relaxed as how she wants it to appear, "what are you two doing here, fooling around? do you know the consequences if the sisters see you?" chest visibly doing the action of inhaling and exhaling in a fast pace. her breath hitches, and she stops talking altogether. her eyes glisten.

tzuyu purses her lips and clenches her fist. her heart thudding and her head down, she looks at nayeon beneath her eyelids. she desperately wants to tell nayeon that they, tzuyu and junhoe, aren't doing anything out of the ordinary, and it isn't what nayeon's thinking. tzuyu doesn't like junhoe — at least that's what she tells herself. junhoe stares holes at tzuyu's back, trying to think what she is currently pondering over, what thoughts are running her mind given the situation.

tzuyu bows at nayeon for a minute then stands right back up. "i'm sorry, unnie, but it isn't what you think," tzuyu says weakly. her voice echoing in the loud and deafening silence. eyes not lifting from the floor, stuck on the cracks and dirt that has accumulated there, she's too ashamed to look anywhere else.

"if the sisters have seen you doing what you were doing, they would be revolted and would have punished you both. consider yourself lucky i won't turn you in this time, but the next time i see you like this...," her voice cracks, and she lets the rest of the sentence fall in anonymity. jinhwan makes an awed face at her, not hiding his adoration for the girl. nayeon gives them a last heated gaze and sternly tells junhoe before leaving, "junhoe, you've been fifteen minutes late in your duty."

jinhwan waves at tzuyu and junhoe goodbye before following nayeon like a lovesick puppy. in the hall, they hear nayeon's voice echo and bounce into the room, "jinhwan, you do the dishes for today."

tzuyu stands still in her position, unmoving, but for the slight quake in her shoulders. junhoe sighs and rests his head on the wall before moving up and walking to tzuyu.

"tzuyu," he whispers her name. the warning from earlier forgotten. he hears her quiet sobs as he holds her shoulders and gently but firmly urges her to face him. her body wracking under his grip.

"tzuyu," he whispers her name again, feeling useless as he watches her sob there. he wants her to open up to him, to be her confidant. but he just isn't good with words and expressing his feelings. instead, he just hugs her to him, tucking her head under his chin. she feels his heart thumping and chest breathing under her hands that are covering her face, not wanting him to see her in such a messy state. though, unknown to her that junhoe will always look at her lovingly in all her states and moods — ranging from happy, quiet and thoughtful, and her feeling sad and breaking down. his arms crawl from around her shoulders to her waist, staying and resting there. his face burns with an unfamiliar feeling.

her sobs continue, but she feels oddly comforted. always has his nearness consoled her.

even when they were still kids and the first time they met. when she remembers waking up, burning.

as a kid, when it had happened, she didn't remember how she had ended up on the bed. she vaguely remembers searching the place and the feeling of having an icy fist enclosed around her heart, strangling her, causing her to heave in breaths between breaths, because she didn't know where she was. 

"hey," he'd quietly said. her head had jolted to his direction and she looked at him from her bed. she still remembers how youthful junhoe had looked back then, all the scars he has now weren't branded on him, his rugged looks used to be clean and unhardened. all when they were still ignorant of the world. he was sitting on another bed not far from hers, looking like he'd been there, waiting for her to wake up.

using her arms as her lever, she sat, but almost as instantly she felt a splitting headache drum in her head and fell back to the bed.

"easy!" the boy had exclaimed as he walked towards her. he sat on the edge of her bed and gently pressed his hand on her forehead. it felt hot to the touch.

tzuyu groaned. she still felt nauseous and queasy. "what happened?" her voice sounded throaty and horrible, but she could care less; she was sick and her head felt like killing her.

he retrieved his hand from her warm forehead and sighed, his eyes roaming around the room. "you're still sick. you passed out earlier," he murmured. his words a lull, soothing her headache and queasy feeling.

her eyes searched his face for answers but came up with nothing. his face resembling nothing near to any emotion he was feeling. "why is my throat burning?"

"perhaps from the medicine the sisters forced you to take," he answered crudely, eyes not leaving her face.

from the window beside her bed, the night sky was cloudless and starless, the moon emanating a greenish glow, making the surroundings look creepy, giving her goosebumps. the illumination refracted the elder guy a weird and odd luminescence, reminiscing a character from her favorite game, persona.

and when his words left his lips, she was suddenly into her mind's vortex.

she remembered a train glaring and darting at her. a strange sensation of burning parching and scorching her brain. she remembered being pushed down to the mattress, and water drowning her. she remembered it all too well. then she looked back at him when she'd finally leafed through and got down from the high of her memories.

"i remember," she'd faintly said, utterly tired and confused. her memory lane rushed and leaked her power in huge amounts. her lids felt heavy.

he merely smiled and offered his hand, "i'm junhoe. i'm thirteen."

she glanced up at his smiling and friendly figure and took his hand. immediately, his large fist swallowed and enfolded her delicate, pale hand. "tzuyu," she paused, still disorientated, feeling silly she had to think of how old she was, "um.. i'm eleven."

and if it could be sillier, the handshake resembled a pact, and somehow had sealed their fate.

they stay there until she's finally recovered. she wipes her tears and laughs, uncertain of what to do. he holds her face up to his, his touch a soft caress, his gaze fond. her eyes shimmer with unshed tears, apparently her sobs aren't enough to tend to her sore feelings.

but then nayeon's words ring in tzuyu's ears.

she pulls back from junhoe and a faint whisper passes through them, "i have to go."

leaving junhoe alone staring after her in confusion, sadness, and frustration.

he is about to call her and raises his arm in a daze but then thinks better of it and weakly lets his arm fall back to his side, fist clenching.

seeing her recoil from his touch whooshes the breath out of him.

***

junhoe pads his way to the hall and down to the dining room. all the while rousing the other children awake from their sleep. he'd stop at their doorframe and knock on their door, saying, "wake up! it's time for school." then he'd go on to the next room, doing exactly the same.

once inside the small dining room, he inhales the sweet aroma of food set on the table. tzuyu is already seated on one of the chairs, spreading butter on her bread loaf. he takes the seat next to hers.

she jolts when he moves the chair back, obviously still worked up and unable to move on from the happenstance earlier in junhoe's room.

"hey," he greets and her delicate shoulder, treading on lightly as if tending to an easily scared wild animal. the tension eases out of her body. she continues spreading some butter onto her bread and bites a chunk out of it.

"hey," she greets back through the food in , muffling her voice. she takes another bite and swallows, her cheeks puffed out. "nayeon is mad because she's the one who served breakfast again when it should have been your turn."

junhoe reaches for his own piece of bread through the conglomeration of dishes. he shrugs his shoulder and starts spreading butter on his bread then pours himself and tzuyu a glass of milk afterward. tzuyu thanks him. the movements automatic and incorporated in his system, just another routine in his otherwise boring and dull life.

"did she say anything else?" he asks tzuyu. she shakes her head in response.

"she didn't really tell anything else and just stormed out of the room all of a sudden as if in a hurry," she tells him. junhoe is about to sigh in relief when she adds, "but i do think she'll make you serve breakfast tomorrow or something."

he stiffens and tzuyu leans her head on his shoulder for a minute and whispers, "joke." then breaks into giggles.

knowing the others would arrive late makes them carefree and careless of their surroundings. it's peaceful as it is. he hates waking up in the mornings, but it is just when he would find peace in the noisy and loud orphanage, always buzzing with life throughout the day. but not in the mornings. essentially not in the mornings when everyone has still evidence of having been into their dreamland sticking in their eyelids, when everyone is still too sleepy to function. it's the quiet in the morning that anchors him to stay in the orphanage even if he has been itching to leave the place. that and tzuyu.

junhoe catches a whiff of her scent.

the act evokes a wide smile from him, then he swiftly pushes her head down as retaliation, causing it to hover inches above her plate. she squeals but immediately stifles it down.

"stop!" she sharply whispers. laughing, junhoe lets go of her head and tzuyu slaps him on the shoulder. her hands quickly find their way to her hair and start brushing through.

almost as if in cue, the other children file inside the dining room. nayeon walks into the room with heavy steps and a straight, long face. junhoe's and tzuyu's eyes follow her as she settles on the spot in front tzuyu, not even acknowledging the younger girl.

suddenly, tzuyu stops eating and rests her hand on the table, jabbing fingers into her palm. junhoe looks at her wearily, but her head stays down, eyes glued to her plate. the sounds of plates being turned over, glasses clinking, chairs scraping echo in the room. the kids laugh as they get themselves their own plates of food, playing in the table, and soon, the sisters enter the room, helping the children. nayeon, tzuyu, junhoe stand from their chairs and politely greet the sisters. jinhwan follows, still wearing an apron and gloves solely for dishwashing.

tzuyu lifts her eyes to nayeon. she flinches and her head ducks down when she sees nayeon has been staring at her.

"are you okay?" junhoe asks her. they all sit back down once the sisters have left and gone to the kitchen to see how work has been doing. tzuyu nods.

but it doesn't stop junhoe from reaching out to her hand under the table. eyes widening, her head jolts at him. his eyebrows lift, the same question going through them, not needing to be said aloud, "are you okay?"

she imperceptibly nods and continues eating using her right hand. junhoe pries her left hand open and entangles their fingers together, in a manner that suggests they have been doing this since a very long time, under the table. unable to suppress it any longer, they grin at each other through their food, in their peripherals, sharing a secret only the two of them know.

***

a gust of wind breezes through the trees, making the bells attached to the doors throughout the neighbourhood tinkle. the soft sunlight falling down on them, basking them in its light and warm presence. tzuyu breathes in the fresh air and memorizes every detail of the street. from the people mulling around, sweeping the streets to the whispers of sands scattered here and there, gleaming, in the gravel, the sedimentary rocks crunching under their footsteps. junhoe has his earphones in, hands stuffed in his pocket, toying with the cloth inside.

they didn't talk with each other on their way to school, though they would shoot each other momentary glances.

in the other side of the road, nayeon and jinhwan walk on the cobblestones. their laughs echoing through the quiet rows of houses.

tzuyu squeezes junhoe's hand and smiles knowingly at him, having a guess of what is up. in the days that have passed, jinhwan and nayeon were acting closer and more comfortable with each other. though nayeon doesn't want the question to be asked, she already denies anything going and relating to the topic.

"jinhwan, my brother," she always says. jinhwan would smile at her, but he never responds.

before turning around the corner, the end of the same route they are going through, nayeon can't help calling tzuyu.

the clacking of their shoes on the cement stop as tzuyu faces her, surprised. nayeon visibly hesitates but then she waves. "be safe on your way!"

tzuyu breaks into a smile as her heart starts thrumming rhythmically in her ribcage. she waves back too exhilaratingly and shouts through the small distance wedged in between them, "stay safe, nayeon!"

nayeon grins at her. jinhwan looks at nayeon with a shocked expression on his face. biting his lips, his face reddens as he attempts to suppress down the laughter threatening to bubble in his throat. nayeon turns her back to tzuyu and snaps at jinhwan. he pokes her in the shoulder, but she just grabs his arm and hauls him to follow her.

tzuyu stares at their retreating figures, a smile etched on her face and her eyes sparkling. junhoe fondly looks at the girl glowing with love and kindness before him, taking all the details and pushing them to the back of his mind. a treasure box to be opened in some other time.

and however it may be, nayeon loves tzuyu dearly under all circumstances.

_{unedited hehe}