The end of the year meant only one thing: holidays. Those feelings towards Kyuhyun were hastily brushed aside, Ryeowook was too young to worry about such an unimportant matter – he was only a kid after all. Shivering from the cold weather, the young boy went in search of a hot chocolate, but ended up hearing his parents chatting in the kitchen as his mother was busy cooking their dinner.


“I was promoted!” Mr. Kim happily announced to his wife, Ryeowook peeked at them, wondering what that meant, eyes blinking with curiosity.


“Really? That’s great, dear” Mrs. Kim was clearly surprised, but very happy for her husband’s achievement, it was something he’s been trying to reach for quite a while.


“But… I’ll be transferred to another city” he hesitantly finished to inform his wife about the situation, causing her to be astonished. She tilted her head a little bit slightly sad they would have to leave their city – place where they grew up and had so many friends. Soon, she smiled, kissing her husband’s cheek. “It’s fine, as long as the new city have everything we need”


Although little Ryeowook couldn’t fully understand their talk, one thing was for sure: he would have to leave this city.

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With a gloomy feeling, Ryeowook arrived late in the next morning – it didn’t matter, since he would move out soon. It was also their last day of class before winter vacations started, meaning it would be the last time he would see his dear friends. A frown painted his features as he saw a backpack on his desk.


“Why is your backpack on my desk?” Ryeowook pointed his finger at it, watching his seatmate removing it from the desk.


“I was saving the seat for you” Kyuhyun stated as a matter of fact, which caused Ryeowook to roll his eyes.


“The seats are fixed” the young boy pointed out with furrowed eyebrows, wondering why his friend even bothered using such an idiotic excuse.


For a short moment, Ryeowook could swear the cheeks of his friend were lightly reddish. “I forgot. I was doing you a favor, you’re so ungrateful!” little Kyuhyun simply brushed that subject aside with a pout, causing Ryeowook to stare at the other with pure disbelief.


Despite the reason behind the action, Ryeowook smiled sadly at his friend. He would certainly miss his friends.

Hours passed by very fast, as a loud ring signaled lunch time. Ryeowook was spacing out the entire time. The day was passing by so fast, meaning he would be separated from his friends very soon. A hand shook his shoulder, causing him to return to his current reality and stare at the responsible for bringing him back: Kyuhyun. The other boy was clearly worried about the strange way of acting from his friend.


“Fish and monkey went outside already. Let’s go?” Kyuhyun invited his friend since the other seemed quite gloomy today, which was unusual because everyone was happy since winter vacations already arrived. Ryeowook quietly nodded, but was still unmoving.


“Wookie” Kyuhyun called for him, which made the cute boy stare at his friend questioningly.


“Do you like someone?” The sudden question made by Kyuhyun, caused Ryeowook to blush. An awkward silence extended between them, as the cute boy kept wondering why he felt so flushed towards a simple question made by his friend, perhaps because the answer to it was the person who was facing him, which was probably very strange.


“Hm. I like you, Donghae and Eunhyuk” Ryeowook tried to answer in a convincing way, but Kyuhyun simply rolled his eyes. “Not this kind of like” the other complained clearly annoyed with the answer received. Their gazes kept locked, while Ryeowook was desperately thinking which of the alternatives he should answer:
a) You
b) Random girl
c) Nobody


After a long suspense, he finally chose safest path: C.


“Nobody” he anxiously replied, hoping his heartbeats will return to its normal pace. “And you?” he decided to ask back, since there was another silence established as Kyuhyun kept staring at him with an eyebrow raised in disbelief.


“Ah. Nobody as well” the other hastily answered.


“You two are so slow! Do I have to teach you how to walk? Or the cold weather froze your legs?” Eunhyuk suddenly appeared interrupting both that were with red cheeks from the awkward moment between them.


The yard was empty, a few people were on strategic spots under the sun – it was very cold already even though there was no sight of snow yet. All the kids were obviously trembling, but that did not prevent them from playing around like usual. Everything was normal, but the fact Ryeowook wouldn’t be with them anymore.


After school finally ended, they were walking together on the same usual path – little Ryeowook even considered missing the sight of the enormous buildings that he saw every day. Obviously he had to reveal to his friends that he would be leaving, which caused some expected reactions.


“Will you come back soon?” a sobbing Donghae questioned as he shed tears desperately, filled with sadness by the mere thought of never seeing his friend again. Despite everybody being sad, the three kept staring at the crying boy indignantly – how come he was such a crybaby?


“Stop crying, man doesn’t cry!” little Eunhyuk warned his friend while tapping lightly Donghae’s back. Kyuhyun and Ryeowook exchanged puzzled gazes wondering if Eunhyuk was being wise for the first time in his life… “Oh. Forgot, you are a fish. Stop crying, because you’ll die if you lack water.” … or maybe not. The monkey revealed his signature gummy smile after saying those words.


“Go choke on a banana stupid monkey” Donghae retorted in disbelief after hearing such nonsense coming from his friend. Ryeowook simply shook his head negatively, still amused at how those two could fight even in the most inappropriate moments. Kyuhyun, on the other hand, growled. “Are you serious? Can’t you save your fights for later?” the gamer was obviously frowning in disapproval, causing the monkey and the fish to stare at the floor ashamed for their acts.


“He started!” Donghae immediately accused while rudely pointing his finger at Eunhyuk, who sent a death glare at the other. Humorlessly, Kyuhyun rolled his eyes at the useless statement.


After more steps taken, they finally arrived at the place where their paths would be divided. “Aw. Already? I don’t want to go” Donghae stubbornly whined, pulling Ryeowook into a hug, which made the latter speechless. “Don’t worry, Kyu gave me his phone number. I’ll keep in contact” Ryeowook assured his friends with a kind smile on his young features.


“Why only his?” Eunhyuk immediately protested as he felt left out. “You barely remember where you live, imagine remembering your phone number” Kyuhyun teased his friend as the other pouted – it was true, Eunhyuk couldn’t remember the number. Neither Donghae nor Eunhyuk bothered remembering those long numbers, reason why only Kyuhyun shared his phone.


“Oh. Almost forgot” little Kyuhyun exclaimed enthusiastically as he reached for a particular item inside his backpack. “For you” he shyly managed to say, while giving the present for Ryeowook. The cute boy’s eyes were shiny after seeing the item: a colorful shell. It was such a thoughtful present, considering Ryeowook’s previous statement of loving everything from the sea. What surprised the young boy more, was the fact Kyuhyun remembered about a fact told months ago.


“You like Hae because he is a fish. Now you’ll also like me because I gave you a shell” Kyuhyun happily pointed out as Ryeowook kept admiring the beautiful shell. Donghae’s eyes were glimmering from what Kyuhyun said. “You like me?” Donghae questioned as he started clinging onto Ryeowook, while Eunhyuk scoffed.


“He will like the shell, not you, idiot. You still dare to entitle yourself as a genius” the monkey sarcastically spoke while he rolled his eyes in annoyance for not being included in the list of people that Ryeowook liked. “Wait. If he does like you with that shell, what about me?” Eunhyuk desperately questioned while eyeing Ryeowook, who tilted his head confusedly.


“Don’t worry, I’ll make an exception for you” little Ryeowook smiled at his silly friend, who sighed in relief.


Holding tightly the shell in his hands, Ryeowook could bid farewell to his friends. He was very sure they would be friends forever – or at least he hoped they would.


Unfortunately, not always things go accordingly to your wishes…


… their contact completely died.
 

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Short update :P Sorry!