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Happy Birthday. 1840 words.

Hyukjae closed his eyes, lifting his arms up in the air until they were by both sides of his body. He could feel the cold air blowing against his skin and he smiled bitterly, thinking about how his father just hit him to death and now all his injuries felt like opening again.

Of course, the physical pain was nothing compared of how wounded he was in the inside.

Because when his father killed his mother hitting her with a belt, the police said it was just an accident and did nothing. Because when his sister decided to run away with a drug addict and he tried to stop her, his father laughed and hit her until she swore to never come back to them.

The only one left was him and even when he tried to go away several times, he was always being dragged by his father for being under the adult age. He then would be beaten up because he was an ungrateful son.

He always tried to make himself believe that it wasn’t that bad. That there were people way worst than him, that the fact of being extremely poor and having to work part time for him to pay the university’s fee, was something common. He owned the school several months of the fee and he didn’t have enough money to pay them all. He tried to convince himself that he was lucky his father wasn’t an alcoholic because that would make him way more violent, that he didn’t have to work to pay for everything the other needed and that his father just wanted him because he could get the government’s payment for being a single parent.

Hyukjae would be thrown away as soon as he turned twenty one.

Which was tomorrow.

“So, are you jumping or what?” Hyukjae heard a voice and he turned to his side, opening his eyes but not taking his hands down and even less, going down the wall that marked the line between the rooftop of that fifty three floor building and the street waiting for his body to crash against it. “It’s getting cold you know? I would like to see the complete show.”

And that was Cho Kyuhyun, the perfect boy from college that could have everything he wanted to. He was rich and handsome, not to mention he was smart and cool and people loved him always. He also had loving parents and a sister that looked more like a model and that was always smiling and helping others whenever she could.

Cho Kyuhyun was everything that Hyukjae wasn’t.

“Can you at least leave me alone for now?” Hyukjae asked annoyed, because at least in his last minutes, he wanted to be finally alone and at peace.

“I certainly can, but I won’t,” Kyuhyun answered resting his hands on the wall and looking down the lights of the street. “You don’t seem to be the kind of guy who would kill himself jumping from a building.”

“What do you even know about me?” Hyukjae asked coldly, not even stepping back an inch. In the last months, Cho Kyuhyun suddenly decided that he should stick to Hyukjae and talk and talk even when Hyukjae didn’t say a thing to him.

Kyuhyun shrugged and closed his eyes as he rested his body comfortably and felt the air hit his pale skin softly. “I thought you were stronger than that,” he said. “I thought you were smart enough.”

Hyukjae frowned and finally looked down at Kyuhyun, his hands lowering as well and his fists clenching. “Well, maybe I just can’t stand it anymore,” he hissed. “Maybe my body doesn’t want to keep being hit, maybe my eyes are tired to cry myself to sleep, maybe my feet can’t walk anymore carrying my soul, maybe my lips can’t fake more smiles, maybe my head can’t lift itself to look at someone else’s eyes, maybe I can’t keep on, maybe I’m not smart, maybe I’m not strong, how could you know it?”

Kyuhyun looked up and chuckled. “I don’t, that’s the mystery about you, that even when I try my best, I just can’t figure you out, I can’t look through your eyes and find out what’s bothering you. You have so many flaws that it makes you perfect,” he smiled. “If you want to die, just tell me already your secret.”

Hyukjae pursed his lips in annoyance, a warm tear threatening to fall down his eyes. “Leave me alone… please…,” he begged, now lifting his arms again and closing his eyes, giving his mind just a few more seconds before saying goodbye. A soft smile plastered in his lips, he was young, yes. But he has been through so much that he’s more than thankful to put an end to that pain already.

A small step ahead and Hyukjae felt the adrenalin of jumping already. The smile grew wider with the thought of everything ending already. He lifted his right food, already floating in the air and he couldn’t wait for it to fall down already.

A strong pair of arms hugged him for behind and pulled him back.

Both males fell down the floor with loud grunts of pain, Hyukjae being mad more than pained. “WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?!” he yelled standing up and turning down to Kyuhyun over the floor, tears of frustration going down his black eyes, his broken lips shaking from anger. “YOU IDIOT!”

Kyuhyun sighed and stood up as well. “Hyukja-”

“Do you know how embarrassed I am now?! So you even know how painful it is to feel myself almost free and now I’m a prisoner again! JUST LET ME DIE DAMN IT!” Hyukjae screamed.

Kyuhyun hugged Hyukjae tightly and smiled for himself as Hyukjae tried hard to set himself free.

“Let me go idiot!” Hyukjae shrugged frenetically. “Let me go Kyuhyun!” he asked, his voice fading away and shaky. “Just let me die…,” he ended up whispering, trying to hit Kyuhyun but not even having the strength to do so.

Kyuhyun closed his eyes and hugged Hyukjae tighter, Hyukjae hiding his face in his chest, still sobbing lightly and gripping on Kyuhyun’s shirt tightly. “You might not be able to stand it anymore, your body might not want to keep being hit to, your eyes might be tired of crying, your feet might be unable to keep on walking, your head might stay low, you might not be able to keep on going, you might not be smart or strong, but Hyuk, I’m selfish, how will I be able to even live without fully understanding you? I want to know more and learn about you… I want everything that has to be with you,” Kyuhyun said Hyukjae’s back. “So please don’t die, not yet, please…”

Hyukjae’s soft sobs became louder and he looked at Kyuhyun’s eyes directly. “No Kyuhyun… there’s nothing you should like about me… I’m nothing… so please let me die already… you have no idea how painful it is…,” he cried with begging eyes, hoping Kyuhyun would understand.

Kyuhyun smiled gently and leaned closer to kiss Hyukjae’s purple eyes and cheeks, drying away his tears. “I won’t let you die, not when I worked so hard in finding you after you leaving college for a whole week, not when I almost die when I saw you standing there… do you have any idea of how much it scared me to lose you? I wasn’t going to be able to see your eyes again… nor to see your smile, even when it’s fake… I couldn’t just stay like this Hyukjae, I can’t just let you die.”

Hyukjae bit his already swollen lip and hid his face in Kyuhyun’s shoulders. “I hate you so much Kyuhyun… you have no idea…”

Kyuhyun chuckled and closed his eyes, smelling Hyukjae’s sweet scent. “You know Hyuk… when I saw you up there I was terrified…” he admitted sighing loudly, thanking the heavens that Hyukjae was now in his embrace. “I promised myself that if I got you to come down I would take you with me and never let go of you… I don’t care about your father or your life, you’ll come with me and never go away because if you do, you’ll make me die as well…”

“Don’t make such promises Kyuhyun, because you won’t fulfill them and I’m tired of broken promises already, I can’t take it anymore…,” Hyukjae’s muffled voice sounded against Kyuhyun’s body and the taller chuckled.

“Hyukjae, will you stay with me if I tell you that I love you?” Kyuhyun asked caressing Hyukjae’s pink cheeks and chuckling at Hyukjae’s shocked face.

“D-Don’t talk nonsense Kyuhyun! It’s not funny! I’m embarrassed enough already!” Hyukjae frowned offended, pushing Kyuhyun away. “Go away now! We have nothing in common! I don’t even know why you’re here!”

Kyuhyun felt something painful in his chest for Hyukjae not believing in his words and took a step closer towards the smaller. “Isn’t that beautiful Hyukjae? To have nothing in common and discover things from each other every second…,” Kyuhyun said finally reaching Hyukjae’s hands and gripping them tightly, afraid that Hyukjae would decide to kill himself at the moment. “Please… just give me a chance… can you live for me Hyukjae?”

Hyukjae looked down and his tears couldn’t stop flowing. He nodded slowly, hesitantly; and Kyuhyun made him turn up to look at him. “Will you kiss me now?”

Hyukjae looked at Kyuhyun with an amusement look, bright, hopeful and honest eyes that Kyuhyun had seen for the very first time and it made him feel like the king of the world, because he was probably the first person to look at those eyes. And when Hyukjae nodded shyly again, a light blush tainting his cheeks, Kyuhyun felt his heart flutter.

“If you kiss me now Hyukjae, it means you’re accepting a deal of always being by my side,” Kyuhyun said serious. “Are you ready for that Hyuk? Can you stand being with me day and night? Because I won’t let you die, ever.”

Hyukjae nodded again, holding on Kyuhyun’s shirt like a lost kid.

Kyuhyun smiled and leaned closer until their lips joined together. The kiss was smooth and gentle, Kyuhyun moving his lips slowly until Hyukjae responded and kissed back as well. They could taste the salty tears in their lips and Hyukjae was still sobbing as the bell of the town’s clock rang indicating it was already midnight.

“Hyukjae…,” Kyuhyun called cupping Hyukjae’s face after the soft kiss. “I love you.”

Hyukjae closed his eyes and hugged Kyuhyun tightly. “I guess I love you too,” he whispered lowly to the taller, hiding his deep blush and warm smile.

“That’s enough for me,” Kyuhyun smiled. “Hyukjae,” he called after a few minutes of just being there in silence, looking at the lights of the city.

Hyukjae turned to the other with a confused look.

Kyuhyun smiled and squeezed Hyukjae’s hand. “Happy birthday.”

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