As expected, the two of them arrived late for the next class receiving a punishment for their lack of punctuality. Afterwards class there was only Ryeowook and Kyuhyun making some exercises the teacher commanded them to solve. Ryeowook grumbled by the mere thought he was grounded in the first day here. Although both already ended their exercises, the teacher used the following reason to lock them inside the room: reflect about your mistakes.


Ryeowook was using his palms to support his head, clearly bored as he had nothing to do neither nothing to talk about with Kyuhyun since they were mere strangers now. Kyuhyun, on the other hand, was yawning continuously. Although the silent atmosphere bothered them, one didn’t have courage to start a conversation while the other still felt rather embarrassed for discovering his mistake after several years.


“So… how was the other city you used to live?” Kyuhyun tried to find a subject to talk about since he didn’t want to bluntly start asking what the other liked and disliked because it sounded rather strange. “So-so” Ryeowook answered shortly, not wanting to extend their talk since he felt insecure about talking – what if he said something wrong? What if Kyuhyun noticed how boring he was and decided to exclude him from the group?


He couldn’t risk the opportunity to have friends again.


They still had about ten minutes before the grumpy teacher allowed them to go home, for Ryeowook those minutes seemed endless. Kyuhyun studied the situation, knowing how different Ryeowook was from the one of his memories, the latter used to be lively while this one is plainly shy. Perhaps he still felt intimidated by him? Not quite, he was very different in other aspects as well. “Remember we used to play pointless games when we had nothing better to do? Want to play a game?”


Ryeowook spared him a glance, nodding since playing games couldn’t go wrong. Kyuhyun hastily tore a paper from his notebook, starting to draw the small lines of each letter, forming eight in total and at the end drew a gibbet. “I am so nice I’ll even give you a tip. It’s a characteristic very evident on me” he flashed a smirk while the other tilted his head.


“O?” Ryeowook started by the vowels because they were safer choices.


Kyuhyun wrote the placement of the letter in the line: _ _ _ _ _ O _ _


“Vagabond?” Ryeowook frowned since he deduced it would be an adjective since Kyuhyun did say it was a characteristic very evident on him, also because he couldn’t remember any other word that had the letter O in that place.


“No!” Kyuhyun exclaimed indignantly, drawing a circumference to form the head. “I should already consider you lost the game, but go on” he grumbled offended for being called that.


“A?” Ryeowook guessed going with the vowels was still safer. Kyuhyun remained quiet and placed the letter in its position.


_ A _ _ _ O _ _


“I”


“No” Kyuhyun drew the torso of the man, staring at the other waiting for the next letter.

_ A _ _ _ O _ E

“E” Kyuhyun thought it was easy already, why the other didn’t get it yet?

“D” Ryeowook was really distracted with the game, eager to discover the word.

_ A _ D _ O _ E

“L” now the man had one arm.

“C” ok, scratch that, he had two arms.

“S”

_ A _ D _ S O _ E

“Oh! I get it you are handsome?” Ryeowook blurted out the adjective that described Kyuhyun, but after he realized how that sounded he averted his gaze embarrassed. Before Kyuhyun could say anything, the teacher appeared. “You’re free to go. Remember to be punctual next time” the man said, leaving right after.


Ryeowook was already packing his belongings, wanting to bury his head somewhere to prevent from talking with Kyuhyun more. As Ryeowook was about to say his farewells, the other was faster to talk. “Do you live nearby?” Kyuhyun asked with interest, backpack already on his back only waiting for Ryeowook.


“Hm... yes?” Ryeowook was slightly taken aback by the question. He certainly didn’t want to spend more time with the other. “Will you go alone?” Ryeowook stared at the other awkwardly, not understanding where this talk was leading to as he nodded.


Inside Kyuhyun’s mind he was questioning himself. ‘Doesn’t that sound stalkerish?’


“I’ll accompany you then, you might get lost” Kyuhyun promptly offered his help. It was late afternoon, the sun was slowly setting.


‘But I’ll be with him, not following him so it certainly isn’t!’ Kyuhyun hastily concluded while watching the other nod reluctantly, accepting his company – it would be impolite to refuse such a gentle proposal.


Ryeowook was clearly confused to the reason behind Kyuhyun’s decision to stick with him independent in which direction he lived – didn’t he have anything else to do? Although embarrassed by the earlier happening, he admitted Kyuhyun was indeed a handsome man. ‘Doesn’t he have anything else to do? Shouldn’t he be with his girlfriend, since he is handsome enough to have one?’ he mused as his eyes were fixed on the other male walking beside him. Kyuhyun noticed the gaze, staring back only causing Ryeowook to quickly avert again.


The atmosphere between them was so awkward.


As they were already at the gates of the school, Ryeowook observed the city, missing the feeling of living in a big city instead of the secluded one he used to live before. The petite boy observed his childhood friend, promptly saying before they started to walk towards his home. “I am really grateful, but you don’t need to come with me” Ryeowook tried to get rid of Kyuhyun’s company, through the passing years he learned to enjoy loneliness.


“It doesn’t bother me. Consider it as our bonding time, just like during our childhood!” Kyuhyun exclaimed gleefully, causing Ryeowook to quirk his eyebrows at the other making a ‘what the ’ expression. It was somewhat strange this behavior coming from someone who early this morning was accusing him of not contacting him at all. Though it felt comfortable to walk with Kyuhyun since it reminded him of his childhood – happy moments of his life.


Of course Kyuhyun wouldn’t reveal he was planning on discovering where Ryeowook’s house was with the purpose of digging into his past in order to discover what affected his childhood friend to the point of him changing from a carefree person to a retracted one.


“Just a question, but since when are you scared of insects? I don’t remember this side of you at all” Ryeowook decided to question just out of curiosity, since he did saw an interesting reaction during lunch time when Eunhyuk and Donghae showed up.


Kyuhyun’s eyes widened, his palms started do sweat as he nervously tried to cover up his stupid fear by denying it. “S-scared o-of w-what? I was only surprised” well, the stuttering gave away, but at least he tried. Ryeowook tilted his head, wondering how screaming could be a signal of only being surprised. Though he giggled inwardly he wouldn’t dare doing it out loud, afraid this would affect his recovering relationship with Kyuhyun.


From that day onwards, Kyuhyun would always accompany Ryeowook towards his home, this way misunderstandings wouldn’t happen anymore – at least now they exchanged the numbers correctly.

-------

update for my love Hyungg sorry for not being able to update frequently 3