It’s been a week since that evening when Siwon dropped Kyuhyun off by his apartment block and proposed a friendship to the frail but charming boy. He couldn’t forget the smile on Kyuhyun’s face when he said, “Next time. I’ll give you my number when I see you again next time.”

Then it had been Siwon’s new routine before he goes to sleep every night. Right before he closes his eyes, he will whisper to his pillow.

“Next time, Kyu. I will see you next time.”

But it’s been a week, and the expected meeting had not occurred yet. Siwon would drive very slowly along the road which they met before, then ended up stranded in front of Kyuhyun’s apartment building, trying to find the courage to just go in and ask for the boy. But by the end of the day, he would always come home empty handed, without seeing Kyuhyun again, let alone getting Kyuhyun’s phone number.

“Yah! Siwon-ah! What’s with the gloomy face?! You’re way too depressed lately!”

Siwon looked around. Ah yes, he was walking down the school corridor. Siwon lost focus easily anytime he was alone. It would only take a few seconds to make Siwon drown in a thought full of Kyuhyun these days.

“Yah! Are you coming or not?!” someone yelled at him again.

He looked across and saw his friend since kindergarten standing impatiently by the window, hands crossed on his chest.

“Oh, Hae. Yeah, coming.” Siwon hurried to the shorter boy, who eyed him suspiciously.

His friend Donghae was whining exaggeratingly about his strange behavior like how he spaced out all the time. Then a couple of girls passed by and Siwon accidently heard what they were talking about.

“I heard he’s there again at the gate.” One of the girls said to her friend.

“Who? The Yeongdam boy?” the other asked curiously.

“Yea. I heard Yura tried to talk to him yesterday, but he ignored her. People saw Yura went home crying. I bet that never got ignored in her life.”

“It’s such a shame though, that Yeongdam boy is so cute. I wouldn’t mind going out with him.”

“I know right? Even the guys thought he’s cute.”

Siwon froze. Yeongdam? Cute? Gate?

He hurried to chase after the girls, leaving Donghae who also chased after him a few seconds later.

“Excuse me, I heard you talking earlier. Who’s at the gate?” He asked the girls.

“You don’t know? Aww, Siwon-ah... You should hang out more. There’s this guy who kept coming here every day and does nothing but stand by the school gate and look around. From his uniform, we know that he’s from Yeongdam High, but nobody knows what he wants or what he is looking for because he never talked and always ignored whoever trying to speak to him” the girl explained.

“What does he look like?” Siwon asked.

“Cute. Really cute.” The other girl answered.

“Pale skin? Brown hair? Almond eyes? Plump lips?” Siwon asked again.

“Yes. You’ve seen him?” the girl asked back.

“What’s the matter Siwon-ah? You know that kid?” Donghae suddenly asked. He was about to put his arm around Siwon’s shoulder, which was weird because Siwon was a few inches taller than he was, but before he could do it Siwon already dashed out towards the school gate, screaming “Sorry I gotta go, Hae! I can’t go to soccer practice! See ya!”

And then there he was, standing outside the gate, strikingly beautiful and so inviting. Siwon ran with all his might and out the school gate towards the pale boy.

“Kyuhyun,” he said, “What are you doing here?”

Kyuhyun sighed.

“Trying to see you,” he said, “and to give you this. Do whatever you want with it. It doesn’t matter now.” He stuffed a folded paper in Siwon’s hands and walked away.

Siwon, dumbfounded once again, was torn between watching Kyuhyun’s beautiful back or taking a look at the paper in his hand. Then curiosity got the best of him. He quickly unfolded the piece of paper. And in an instant, his face lit up and he broke to a radiant smile. Inside the folded paper, written with a green pen, was Kyuhyun’s name and phone number.

By the time Siwon realized that he had been wasting time grinning at a piece of paper like an idiot, Kyuhyun was already 20 meters away and Siwon had to sprint to catch up with the boy, screaming “Hey Kyu! Kyuhyun! Hey, wait up!!”

“Heeyy... Why did you leave?” Siwon asked once he had Kyuhyun by the arm.

“You, didn’t seem happy to see me. So I thought...”

Siwon then laughed and made various expressions Kyuhyun couldn’t seem to understand.

“Look at me, look at my face. How can you say I’m not happy to see you? See??”  Siwon tried to show Kyuhyun how much he was happy to see him.

“You’re weird.” Kyuhyun finally laughed. And Siwon just had the urge to hug the boy. People were staring at them, hugging by the side of the road. But Siwon didn’t care. He had learnt not to care. Kyuhyun is there with him, nothing else mattered.

“So why are you standing there at the gate?” Siwon asked Kyuhyun again.

“I told you.” Kyuhyun turned his face away, “I wanted to see you. I was afraid that there wouldn’t be a next time and I won’t see you ever again. I needed luck, so I tried making luck by coming here, hoping to see you out.”

“You went through all the trouble just to see me?” Siwon was surprised, “why didn’t you just ask someone to call me out?”

“I was shy, okay?” Kyuhyun blushed, “I wouldn’t know what to say.”

Again, Siwon felt something in his stomach. Why was he feeling warm seeing Kyuhyun blushed?

“I’m sorry, Kyu... I have school activities every day, so I always went home late. I’ve been hoping to see you too, you know.” Siwon explained, “You want to grab a burger? I’m craving for some snack.”

“You don’t have activities today?” Kyuhyun hesitated.

Siwon grinned.

“Skipping once in a while wouldn’t hurt, right?” he winked and swung his arm over Kyuhyun’s skinny shoulders.

“Why am I feeling like a bad influence?” Kyuhyun joked as he let his new friend dragged his body with him, “I’ve only seen you twice and you already skip school for me.”

Siwon chuckled lightly.

“I’m not skipping school, it’s just an extracurricular. Those are very different things.” He reasoned.

“Ah, mister-know-it-all... I bet you don’t have other friends. That’s why you were so eager to make friends with me.” Kyuhyun joked again.

“You, sir, are underestimating me. If you dared to ask, you will know that I am one of the most popular kids in school. Everybody knows me.” Siwon joked back.

“But your school is very exclusive. It has like, 20 students max.” Kyuhyun seemed to like making fun of people, or maybe just Siwon in particular.

As they joked all the way to the burger shop, Siwon learned about comfort. More than his grandiose house, more than his king-sized bed, more than his luxurious cars, he found Kyuhyun’s presence to be much more comforting. And there, with his arms around Kyuhyun’s underweighted body, he felt like he belonged.

What is it, Kyu? What is it about you that felt so nice to be around? Can I be like this, Kyu? Can I like you like this?

=2=