Donghae’s mom was happily watching ‘Love Rain’ airing on KBS when she heard banging noises from upstairs. She was curious of the unidentifiable sounds. She assumed that it was the next door neighbor hammering something on the wall at first but the sound did not end. It started to disturb her enjoying the drama. Seconds later, the sound stopped and a loud bump came from upstairs, exactly from Donghae’s room. The thought of Donghae crossed her mind. Her eyes enlarged.

He better not do it again, she hoped as she rushed up the stairs as fast as her old-legs could bring her. Without knocking or calling for him, she barged into the room to check on him. The sight hurt her eyes so much that her heart felt like broke into millions pieces. She was utterly shattered, looking at her beloved son sprawling unconsciously on the bed. Bright red colored fluid gushing out from his bruised forehead.

Without delaying any second, she approached Donghae who was lying on the bed. She responsibly took care of the whole thing and was really upset with her adored son. She did not and would never agree with Donghae’s absurd and immature thoughts. His point of view was totally the reverse of what she thought.

It had been 5 years since the accident happened, yet Donghae still could not throw away his guiltiness on what happened. She was tired of hearing Donghae putting the entire blame on himself for his husband and Jaehyuk’s death. It was not his fault that Mr. Lee and Jaehyuk died. As soon as Donghae regained his consciousness, her heart was broken. The first line that came out was “I’m the one who should die.” 

“No, Dong -” Her words were cut by Donghae.

“They should be alive now. I bring bad luck to people around me that I love. Right, Mom?” He said straightly.

“Hae, you don’t. Please, honey. Stop saying that. I never want to hear that again,” She replied to his bemused son, tears welling in her eyes.

Donghae seemed unsatisfied and unconvinced with the reply.

“Yes, Mom. I bring bad luck to people surrounding me. It’s clear by just looking at things that happened. Dad died when he saved me from the blaze when our house caught on fire. He will be alive if he didn’t save me. Then, Jaehyuk, my only best friend in this world died because he saved me from the car crash. I don’t know, Mom. All of these things that happened make sense, didn’t they? I shouldn’t be born to this world. I’m just taking away people’s happiness that they deserved to have -”

Donghae did not have chance to continue his meaningless sorrow talks. Mom palmed his mouth to stop any pointless words from Donghae. Those words made her spilled her tears. Donghae saw her pouring tears and it was his fault. He felt sorry for making her crying.

“I’m sorry, Mom. I am such a bad child,” Donghae tried to approach his mom.

He lowered his head while she caressed his hair gently. She shook her head as to mean ‘No’ to Donghae.

“No, honey. I don’t want you to say all of that ever again. Never. You are my only precious child I had in this world and I’m blessed to have you,” She said.

She raised her son’s head to make eye-contact with him. Donghae looked straight into her eyes with his puffy eyes and red runny nose.

“Now listen to me, Lee Donghae. Regarding Dad and Jaehyuk, everything is about fate. God wants them to be with Him in Heaven up there. It was nobody’s fault that caused their death and you’re not the one guilty. They loved you so much that they rather sacrificed their lives for you. I want you to appreciate and be thankful for their loves and sacrifices towards you, my dear. I’m certainly sure they don’t wish to see you live in this misery life, blaming yourself for their death. Please, Hae,” She begged.

Donghae hugged her after listening to all those sincere words from her. What she just said were true, somehow. It made Donghae thought of his Dad and Jaehyuk’s sacrifices. All of a sudden, Eunhyuk’s image greeted his mind.

Eunhyuk was a good guy whom he tried to avoid for only a reason since they first laid eyes on each other. He was innocent. Donghae did not want the past to repeat. He could not accept the person he loved deeply to die for him. He was scared that if he was being close to him that would make the past replay.

Albeit he tried so hard to avoid Eunhyuk, he could not lie to his heart. He wanted to keep away from the boy but his heart was betraying him. Unknowingly, a strange feeling was blossoming deep inside him that he did not want to admit as love. Though, it still was something close to love. He himself did not know where this feeling appear from.

Donghae woke up and got ready for school. He felt very lazy to go to school. In addition, with the bandage wrapped around his head would make him the teasing stock for the school on that day. Heechul would be the leader for sure. His classmates and teachers would be very busybody asking about it. There was no way Donghae would tell them the truth.

They would go ‘Eww, Donghae is so silly and stupid.’ and ‘Donghae is so immature.’ and lots more. He made up his mind to lie that he fell while running on stairs. Even if that was pretty lame and a cliché excuse, he did not mind as long as they do not know the truth.

At school, he arrived a bit later since his head was being a bit bothersome during the walk to school. He needed to stop at a few points to stabilize his body. Less than five minutes arriving in school, he was already in the class and was putting his bag on the chair. He exhaled loudly and sat on the chair to relieve his tired legs. Not long after that, Eunhyuk entered the class with a smile on his face; intentioned for Donghae of course. Whoever else.

It was quite strange because it was unusual for Eunhyuk to come that early. He kept his wide morning gummy smile as he walked to his place. Donghae slanted his head in the direction of the glassy windows beside him, watching students walked around the school compound. He pretended not to know that Eunhyuk had arrived, here came his ego again.

Eunhyuk knew and was used to his classmate behavior of trying to shun him. He approached his seat and placed his backpack on it. He sat down awkwardly in slow pace. Donghae moved his seat further from Eunhyuk, making a large gap between them. Eunhyuk started the conversation suddenly, breaking the silent.

“At least, you’re aware that I’m here. Donghae-ssi, why did you leave me at the bookstore yesterday?” Eunhyuk started.

Donghae did not reply to his question. Eunhyuk sighed before continuing.

“Because of you, I tripped on the sidewalk, you know? My toes hurt and you just went off like that. It took miles for me to walk back to my driver.” He storied.

Donghae felt guilty for his manners yesterday. He knew it was rude to leave him like that. His acts toward Eunhyuk at the bookstore must upset him. Suddenly, his heart betrayed him again. Unintentionally, he turned his head to Eunhyuk and started to pour questions to brown-headed male.

“Did I? Do your toes still hurt?” Donghae somehow was actually showing his concern to Eunhyuk and it proved he actually cared for him.

Eunhyuk giggled softly, barely audible for the person next to him to hear. He did not know why but he found that the sudden change in Donghae was actually funny. He stopped giggling when his eyes landed on the white bandage with a few tiny red spots on it coiled around Donghae’s head.

“Hey. What happened to you? Why with that bandage? Are you alright?” He shot questions to Donghae.

Eunhyuk laid his left hand on Donghae’s shoulder while the other palmed Donghae’s head with a soft pressure. Donghae had expected this since he opened his eyes this morning. He shifted his head backward to remove Eunhyuk’s hand. He did not forget to brush off the other hand on his shoulder.

“It’s nothing serious. I fell while running on stairs yesterday,” He went with the planned answer.

Eunhyuk did not believe in Donghae’s words. He sighed and looked at Donghae.

“You know what. You are a pretty bad liar. The excuse is so lame, Donghae. Can’t you come out with any new fresh idea?” Eunhyuk .

Donghae was trembling when he heard Eunhyuk’s lines. What with this boy? Why can’t he just believe with me and stop talking? Damn, he thought to himself.

“No, I am saying the truth. I ran too fast and skipped a few steps. I tripped and my head kissed the floor really hard. It bled last night. I swear I’ll never forget to turn on the light at night,” Donghae repeated more detail, not daring to make eye-contact with Eunhyuk.

Donghae stood up and decided to go to the cafe. It was not to buy or eat anything but just to get rid of Eunhyuk and his endless questions.

“Eh? Where are you going?” Eunhyuk asked.

Eunhyuk gripped on Donghae’s wrist reflexively when he realized that the male was standing. Donghae looked down and glared at the fingers wrapped around his wrist. Eunhyuk realized about it and quickly pulled his hand back.

“I’m hungry. I’m going to the café,” Donghae lied for the third time that day.

Great job. Donghae walked a few steps trying to pass through the small gap between Eunhyuk and the behind table but luck left his side. He tripped on the leg of Eunhyuk’s seat and his face was about to kiss the floor. Reflexively, Eunhyuk grabbed his waist at lightning speed. Donghae was indeed a clumsy boy.

“Wow. Be careful. You don’t want to kiss the floor again, right? Are you planning on having second bandage around your head?” Eunhyuk teased sarcastically.

As clumsy as he was, Donghae did not want to lose to the monkey-faced boy. He could not accept sarcastic teasing. So, a small battle would not ruin the world, right?

“Oh. Yes, I am. I’ll use bandage with Nemo printed on it. It will make me look even cuter.” He replied.

Eunhyuk laughed at the bandage-headed boy’s adorableness.

“No need for that. You’re already cute even if there’s no bandage encircling your head, my dear.” Eunhyuk shaped his sweet gummy smile on his thick lips.

Donghae could feel his skin on the cheeks turning warm. Ah, I must be blushing, Donghae thought and his cheeks turning pinkish as Eunhyuk called him ‘dear’. He dropped his head and hurriedly walked out of the classroom. He palmed his warm cheeks as he moved his legs. Soon, when he felt a bit better and normal, he strolled around the school to spend his early morning. Enjoying the nature was quite enjoying sometimes but the stares that the students that passed by him gave spoiled the peace in his mind.

When the bell rang, he went back to class. It was their first lesson, Mathematics. He surely did not want to mess up with Mr. Kang. Both Donghae and Eunhyuk had broken their awkwardness. They were not awkward like their first day meet even though Donghae still staying away from Eunhyuk. Yet, sometimes Donghae had been rather slack about his ego towards Eunhyuk by showing his worry.

During their third lesson, which happened to be History subject, Mr.Chen stepped into the class with a big thick book in his right arm. He had that serious never-smiling face as he put his things on the table. The loud thump of the dictionary-like book hitting the table silenced the chaos and noisy class. Even Heechul kept quiet. The atmosphere turned tension though nothing happened.

Nobody was allowed to talk or play, neither lost their attention during lesson. It was like learning in an army school during Mr. Chen’s lesson. Whoever bold enough to cross the rules, they would spend their time doing punishment after school or at the detention. He was a strict educator.

During Mr. Chen’s lesson, Eunhyuk swore he was extremely sleepy along the lesson. It was History, who would not feeling like flying to dreamland? Eunhyuk did. He hardly offered his concentration to the boring ancient story the old man was babbling about. He rather slept and had a nice dream. Eunhyuk could not stand his sleepiness any longer.

Suddenly, he lost the battle to keep his eyes opened and fell slumbering for a few good seconds. His head hit the table hard and the pain made him opened his eyes immediately. He was wide awake with the bang on his bumpy forehead for a while. He was so lucky not to get caught by Mr. Chen.

However, Eunhyuk’s eyes slowly sealed together as he laid his head gently on the table. He shifted on his seat to get a better comfy position. While Donghae beside him was deadly worried that he would get caught by Mr. Chen, Eunhyuk ignored the whispering escaping between his lips. He did not want Eunhyuk to be punished by Mr. Chen.

Donghae tried to shake Eunhyuk’s hand to wake him from his slumber. It seemed like the light touch was not working on him. He tried to shake harder but it was still useless. Donghae let out a small soft sigh and poked Eunhyuk waist under the table. The sleeping figure stayed unmoved.

Donghae pressed a small part of Eunhyuk’s skin on the waist between his thumb and forefinger and squeezed it. The pinch got Eunhyuk on his sense and he rapidly popped opened his eyes and sat up. He was alarmed by the pain on his waist. He shot mad glares at Donghae for interrupting his peaceful sleep. Donghae ignored the glares and whispered to the glaring boy in a very low voice, scared to be heard by Mr. Chen.

 “Do you want to die? Mr. Chen will slice you into half if he caught you breaking the rules,” Donghae whispered, frowning.

“Whatever but his class is damn so boring. What the hell the old man is nagging front there?” Eunhyuk responded with the same volume to Donghae.

Mr. Chen caught them whispering slyly to each other, or that what he thought. And he really disliked people not giving full attention while he was explaining in the front. Eunhyuk and Donghae did not have a really good luck on that day. Mr. Chen cleared his throat, sounding purposely done.

“Oh, yes! Our Donghae and Eunhyuk have something to share with us, class,” He suddenly announced loudly, which actually was warning the boys in his own way.

Donghae’s hands became icy cold suddenly and the blood flowed faster than necessary in his body, making him feeling nervous. He felt anxious but part of him knew what was coming next. Meanwhile, Eunhyuk widened his eyes when he heard his name being called by Mr. Chen. By just looking at the teacher’s expression, he knew this was a sign that he and Donghae was in deep trouble.

The two boys turned their head to the front, looking dumbfounded. In the meantime, the whole class switched their attention to Donghae and Eunhyuk. They were completely silent. Mr. Chen marched to both of them when he did not get any reply from them.

“I remember asking both of whether you have anything to share with the class. Both of you seemed too busy with your little chitchat just now. I’m giving you chance to share it with your class.” Mr. Chen’s voice showed how mad he was at the moment.

Donghae just kept silent. He forgot how to speak, even breathing. Eunhyuk stared at the lowering head Donghae, feeling guilty. He knew he should be responsible for his thoughtless act minutes ago. He should not sleep and listened to Donghae. He was the one to put blame for and had dragged Donghae along with him into this matter, so he answered the glaring old man.

“No, Sir. Nothing. I’m very sorry for disturbing your class,” Eunhyuk spoke up.

Unfortunately, no excuse could be accepted during Mr. Chen’s class unless it involved death. Nobody die right now, right? So, whatever else…

“Sorry. You know the rules in my class. Each one of you needs to pay 100% attention during my explanation and lesson. What are both of you thinking? As a punishment, I want both of you to stay after school and clean the class. Both of you get it?” The old man said in a dead serious tone.

Donghae and Eunhyuk had their jaws hanging low. But Donghae knew it was useless to protest against Mr. Chen. Whatever he said was a sure order. They lowered their head and nodded slowly. From the corner of his eyes, Eunhyuk could see Heechul smiling upon hearing them being scolded.

The school bell rang for its last time for that day, marking that the school session had ended. It was the most rejoicing time for the students but not to Donghae and Eunhyuk, who got punished by their History teacher. Donghae gathered his books and stationery later than usual. He had no reason to rush like what other students did. After all, he would end up stuck and cleaning the class with Eunhyuk.

He did think of escaping from the punishment but thinking of what Mr. Chen going to penalize him later, which might be worse, he better cancel his idea. On the other hand, Eunhyuk threw his bag on the teacher’s table and heaved a huge sigh.

“Ah, why do I need to do all this? Mr. Chen is a crazy man. How could he blame me for gossiping with you? I don’t gossip! And his class was utterly like watching a History channel on TV while having a pillow on your side. Gah!” Eunhyuk complained mainly to nobody.

“Shut up, Eunhyuk! If he heard you, I won’t get involve cleaning the store room later. You dragged me into this matter and you better feel blameworthy for it. Or I’ll kick you later,” Donghae yelled from the corner of the class.

Eunhyuk remembered he was the one who cause Donghae to stay with him at that time. Back in that time, Donghae was trying to wake him up but the old man got the wrong idea and thought they were playing and gossiping around during his explanation. It was his turn to make a move to start cleaning, which he was not really good in. He moved slothfully, being unwilling to start the task.

Abruptly, Donghae appeared out of nowhere in front of him with a water-filled bucket and a mop. He had already intelligently divided their task. Since Eunhyuk was the cause of this entire punishment thing, he would do the mopping while Donghae would just arrange the chairs and tables and cleaned the whiteboard. Plus, he used his bandaged head as an excuse. A new fresh idea, right? Eunhyuk whined and gave out a long pout.

“Hae-ah, should I the one who do this?” He whined again.

“Oh, of course, you need to. Remember who brought us into this? What do you expect from me, huh?” Donghae said and sent the other a sharp glare.

Eunhyuk bowed down his head and no words spoken by him. He indeed was really bad in this kind of works. It felt awkward when he first hold the mop. It felt like it was his first date with the mop. He failed a lot of times. Normally, it would be his maid’s job to do all the cleaning stuff. Donghae kept shaking his head, looking at how spoilt the brat was that he even did not know how to mop the floor.

He knew if he let Eunhyuk did that by himself in that snail’s pace, they would stay here till tomorrow. Two hours had past but Eunhyuk was still not done and struggling with the first area of the class. Donghae who was done organizing the tables and chairs and cleaning the whiteboard, called for Eunhyuk.

“Eunhyuk-ssi, are you sure you can do that alone?” Donghae asked sympathetically.

Eunhyuk tried not to look like a spoilt little brat even though he was still struggling with the mop.

“Yeah, I’m doing fine. I’m just not use with this mop,” Eunhyuk replied, trying to sound as confident as he as, which failed.

He wanted to lie to Donghae but the other obviously could see how much Eunhyuk was struggling with the mop.  You’re a bad liar yourself, Donghae thought. He walked casually to him and grabbed the mop kindly from him. Eunhyuk was surprised with Donghae’s sudden acts.

“Come on. Let me help you. You look really bad doing this,” Donghae complained.

Did Donghae was…trying to…help me? Is this for real, Eunhyuk thought and he could not hide the smile creeping on his lips. Donghae was not the normal ‘Donghae’ like how he was this morning. He was showing his care and concern to Eunhyuk. Deep bottom in his heart, Eunhyuk was touched in a kind of way. Donghae looked up suspiciously.

“Don’t think of anything odd. I’m just showing you how to get the work done earlier. You are slow like sloth,” Donghae said flatly.

“Hey, that’s harsh,” Eunhyuk whined.

Eunhyuk sighed as he expected Donghae to say at least something nice to him. Yet, deep inside, he knew the mopping boy cared for him. It was just his mounting ego that blocked him from admitting that. Donghae showed a demo for two minutes, showing a good example how to mop. He passed the mop to Eunhyuk to let him continue.

As Eunhyuk as it would be, he failed again. He rather asked to dance with the mop than using it to clean the floor. Donghae sighed and walked closer to Eunhyuk. He pressed his body against Eunhyuk’s skinny back and held his hands gripping on the mop. Eunhyuk felt his heart running marathon in his chest. It might penetrate his chest later. He never thought he would get to be this close to Donghae. It felt warm.

Donghae moved the mop in a patterned way. His heart itself was sky-rocketing in his chest. It was beating in a quick rate that Donghae had to learn how to breathe. He only felt this when he was with Jaehyuk but in this case, it was not Jaehyuk but Eunhyuk. They kept their hands glued on each other as Donghae lead Eunhyuk the mopping. Unknowingly, they were already done for the whole class.

Without realization, their disagreement against each other to clean the class and Eunhyuk’s slow-paced work consumed lots of hour. They took almost three hours to get it perfectly done. The school guards usually would be packing their things by now. They both were extremely late by that time. Donghae ran down the stairs as fast as he could approach the school gate, rushing like mad. Eunhyuk obediently followed him from behind, too tired to run.

Once they were at the school main gate, it was already locked and chained. Donghae shook the steel gate vigorously yet hopelessly. Wishing it would unlock by itself would happen only if they saw Nemo flying around them, which would never happen. Eunhyuk gained all of his energy and shouted for help to unlock the gate. He also screamed and yelled for the guards but they were nowhere. Now, both of them were trapped in the school and it was getting dark.

Eunhyuk brought his cell phone but he dumbly forgot to charge the battery earlier. Neither Donghae nor Eunhyuk had coins to use the public phone to make a call. It was like fate made them trapped in the school. Donghae turned his head to Eunhyuk and scowled at him. He walked in fast rate and pinned Eunhyuk to the nearest wall. His hands pressed Eunhyuk’s shoulders. He could feel how bony they were. His chest heaved up and down.

 “This is your entire fault! If you’re not that slow in mopping, we could leave the class earlier. And we won’t be trapped in school right now,” Donghae yelled.

Eunhyuk was startled but he was mad at Donghae as well. He inhaled deeply.

“What do you mean by my entire fault? If you stopped nagging at me, I must have done it faster,” Eunhyuk involuntarily raised his voice to Donghae.

Both of them were mad as they could not think of a mature solution for the problem. Donghae’s hands which were still pressing against Eunhyuk’s shoulder loosen their pressure against the skin. He dropped and leaned his head against Eunhyuk’s well-built chest. Eunhyuk was surprised but he could feel Donghae was scared and worried of some kind of feeling he was dealing with at that moment.

Eunhyuk slowly wrapped his right arm around Donghae’s shoulders while the other his back in slow rate to calm him down. He looked down and his face accidentally hit Donghae’s smooth hair. He inhaled the scent and let it stayed in his mind.

“Hae, are you alright? You look worried over something,” Eunhyuk asked worriedly.

Eunhyuk felt a little nod on his chest.

“What is it about? You don’t mind telling me, right?” Eunhyuk asked caringly.

Donghae lifted his head a bit and whispered softly into Eunhyuk’s ear, blowing warm air as he uttered words. Eunhyuk’s ear turned reddish.

“It going to be dark later,” Donghae whispered.

Eunhyuk did not get the hidden meaning between those lines.

“Yeah, I know it going to be dark later. So what, Hae?” He asked, puzzled.

Donghae did not reply. He parted from the embrace and left Eunhyuk on his spot. He dropped onto the ground at the corner of a wooden bench nearby slowly. Then, he wrapped his arms around his knees and cuddled himself. Eunhyuk walked toward him and got everything Donghae was trying to say.

“Ah, so you’re scared of dark?” Eunhyuk said.

Eunhyuk smiled gently at Donghae. Donghae nodded his head. Eunhyuk could not believe an ego boy like Donghae was actually scared of darkness. Unlike Eunhyuk, he was not scared of dark but he really anxious to be alone. Everybody was not perfect. They had their own flaw. Filling each other’s flaw would make them perfect for each other. Being together would overcome their weakness. Eunhyuk put his hand on Donghae’s back, comforting him with warmth.

 “It’s okay, Hae. I’m here beside you. We won’t go to dark place. I promise you. As long as you promise not to leave me alone,” Eunhyuk uttered words that were really calming Donghae.

The situation had change entirely. Donghae and Eunhyuk were not battling who was better anymore. Donghae had completely fall into Eunhyuk’s charm while he tried to comfort and calm him. His terror of darkness had conquered his egoism toward Eunhyuk. Eunhyuk’s successfully penetrated through Donghae’s ego shielding. Both of them could get along now. Not as best friend yet but close enough to sustain being together for one night. Who knows what might happen later?

Sorry for not updating for too long. GUYSSS, Donghae and Eunhyuk is getting closer. Donghae can throw away his ego to the sea now. lol. Comments and new subscribers are loved. Sorry if sometime I am being lazy bum to reply comments. You may kick my guys xP

CREDIT TO MY SISTER FOR THE IDEAS!