Sunggyu wakes up to an unnatural weight and warmth; his shoulder is aching. But somehow, that weight and warmth is familiar— it’s almost as though he has experienced it somewhere... somewhere...

Suddenly it hits Sunggyu. Her.

Her. How she always likes to rest her head on his shoulders. How he always ends up falling asleep in that position. And somehow, Sunggyu can’t help it but feels his heartbeat accelerate. He can’t help it but it feels exactly like deja vu. And at that very moment, even if his mind is telling him that this is all fake, it’s not real, his heart is begging for him not to let go.

Sunggyu knows that it’s not her. He knows that it’s all probably not real, she’s not here, she’s not coming back, she’s dead. 

Dead.

And then suddenly the word’s meaning hits him hard. She’s /i dead. She’s not returning anymore. She’s not coming back to him anymore. He won’t see her face, see her smile, touch her hair, hear her voice or laughter anymore.

She’s gone.

Woohyun wakes up abruptly by the loud, angry rapping on the door. His eyes still half open, he almost attempts to stretch his somehow aching arms before his body reacts extra warmth and then he remembers.

Sunggyu.

Woohyun opens his eyes to find his own face alarmingly close to Sunggyu’s— in fact he finds his own head buried comfortably in the curve of Sunggyu’s neck— . He is so close, he can actually see the streaks of red on the strands of dull black hair up close. And then he notices the glossy cheeks again. Woohyun’s fingers brush against those cheeks on impulse, and his fingers come off slightly wet. Sunggyu’s tears.

And then Sunggyu twitches.

Woohyun panics, and tries to carefully pry Sunggyu’s stiff body off his so that he can lie him down without waking the latter up; the last thing Woohyun needs is for an angsty Sunggyu to wake up and angst all over him. That doesn’t make sense, but somehow Woohyun manages to lie Sunggyu down peacefully before the rapping on the door starts again.

Woohyun takes a step forward, tripping on the duvet covers abandoned on the floor, ending up in him leaping out of his almost-fall, and hopping on one foot to the door. He cracks the door open and inch, and sighs in exasperation when he sees who it is outside. The intruder greets him with a sunny smile.

“The , Myungsoo,” Woohyun hisses, “do you have to be so loud in the morning?” 

Myungsoo shrugs, a laid-back grin  hanging loosely off his lips. “Did our precious Woohyun-sshi forget how he announced his arrival the last time he was at my dorm in the morning?” 

“Get to the point.” 

“Aren’t you going to let me in?” 

“Sunggyu’s still sleeping,” Woohyun warns, but he opens the door anyway. Myungsoo troops in, hands casually stuck in the pockets of his black denim jeans, looking around, a slight amused expression on his face replacing the laid-back grin. 

“You live messily,” Myungsoo finally comments, his eyebrows raising at the sight of all the abandoned duvet covers on the floor. Woohyun hastily goes over and sweeps up the entire mess with his arms, dumping it on his own bed. 

He turns around, and something about Sunggyu’s sleeping figure melts his heart a little. Woohyun picks up his own blanket, and drapes it carefully over Sunggyu, pulling it up all the way till his chin.

“That’s actually the first time I saw hyung sleeping so soundly,” Myungsoo suddenly comments.

Hyung.

“Sunggyu’s your hyung?” Woohyun blurts out, turning to face the younger. His expression must look funny, because Myungsoo chuckles.

“You are my hyung too, aren’t you?” Myungsoo grins. “But yes, Sunggyu and I are related... in a way.” 

And then suddenly it makes sense to Woohyun. Kim Myungsoo. Kim Sunggyu. And suddenly it makes a lot of sense.

“Tell me more,” Woohyun demands, his eyes narrowing. Damn, just how many secrets does he not know?

“Maybe later. We have to prepare for our date, you know?” Myungsoo’s trademark smirk comes on again. “Storytelling can continue later. But maybe you want to change your clothes first?” 

Woohyun has never felt like punching anyone in the face so hard, before. 

Okay, so Woohyun thinks that the ‘childcare center’ that he’s going to is filled with screaming, stubborn kids.

He’s wrong.

The moment he spots the building that’s supposedly the ‘childcare center’, he shudders a little, involuntarily. The place looks like a prison building, from the outside, painted in dull colours of blue, white and grey. But when he enters, he can’t help but feel a little creeped out by the fact that the plain, white corridors are completely empty and completely silent, save for Myungsoo’s and his heavy footsteps.

“Is this place normally like this?” Woohyun asks, finding that his voice has reduced to a mere whisper, and Myungsoo shoots him a small grin. But somehow Woohyun notices that Myungsoo’s grin is a little off today.

“The kids here are extremely sensitive, hyung. So don’t go around shooting your mouth off as usual; you might hurt some of their little hearts.” 

Woohyun can’t be sure if Myungsoo is joking or just kidding. But the look in Myungsoo’s eyes suddenly change, and he suddenly knows that no, Myungsoo is not kidding him.

“But why? Aren’t all kids sensitive?” 

Myungsoo takes in a breath, his shoulders rising and falling steadily. “Hyung, do you know what wards of the state are?” 

Woohyun shakes his head truthfully.

“It means that the government takes care of them. Either their parents decided that they don’t want to take care of this child anymore, or that the state deems their parents unfit to raise them. So yeah, naturally they’re more sensitive than usual.” 

Woohyun’s shocked into silence. The way that Myungsoo says it casually has him stumped. He opens his mouth, as though he’s about to say something, but then thinks better of it, and closes his mouth. 

They reach a reception counter (at least, Woohyun thinks that it’s a reception counter), and the middle-aged lady at the counter smiles at Myungsoo, who casually rests his arms on the cool surface of the counter.

“Myungsoo-sshi, you’re here again,” she says, before taking a short glance at Woohyun. “And I see you’ve brought a friend?” 

Myungsoo nudges Woohyun, who immediately bows to the counter lady. “His name is Woohyun,” Myungsoo introduces him before he has a chance to introduce himself, “he doesn’t understand why I like kids so much, so I brought him here.” 

The counter lady nods, an amused  expression on her face, before she looks back down at her computer screen. “Today Daehyun’s down with the flu, and given Myungsoo-sshi’s weak immune system, I don’t think it’s advisable to visit him today. Though, the kid has been asking for you.” 

“Tell him that I’ll make him a newspaper hat once he recovers,” Myungsoo replies jokingly. “So who are the lucky kids today?” 

The counter lady smiles again, before she clicks on something, and replies, “Dorm 18 today. The kids there have taken a liking to you. Especially Seolyeon.” 

“I wouldn’t dye my hair red for Seolyeon, though,” Myungsoo grins. “She’s always asking people to dye their hair red. Woohyun might do it, though.” 

Red hair?

Woohyun’s brain spins overtime.

“No way,” Woohyun replies quickly, elbowing Myungsoo. “Who would dye their hair red for someone else anyway?” 

The atmosphere suddenly turns quiet and tense, and Woohyun wants to give himself a pat on the back for learning some wit off Myungsoo.

But Myungsoo just grins after a few seconds. “Seolyeon has great persuading skills, you know.” 

Turning back to the receptionist, Myungsoo grins mischievously. “So, our darling Seol for Woohyun hyung today?”