All throughout class, Donghae ignored the glares he received from the others. Some of them were whispering too. The only conversation he managed to make out from the two students in front of him was, “How come he couldn't talk?” “I don't know. Maybe he has some sort of mental issue.”

Donghae rolled his eyes and stared out the window at the snow. I do not, he replied spitefully in his mind. My only issue is you people who come up with such ridiculous lies.

The bell rang, signaling lunch. Hyukjae hadn't realized how hungry he was until his stomach growled.

“Minnie, let's go eat,” he said, stretching his arms.

“But, what about Donghae?” Sungmin asked, noticing how students shoved him as they walked by.

Hyukjae had seen it too, but purposely acted like he hadn't. “He'll be fine.”

At lunch, the news that somehow the famous Lee Hyukjae knew the strange Lee Donghae spread like wildfire throughout the school. Hyukjae sighed, knowing how troublesome things were about to become. He blamed it all on Donghae.

Of course, rumors began to accumulate with each passing day. After a week, nearly everyone in the school thought Lee Donghae was a freak. He still didn't talk to anyone and became a target of bullying once again. No one stopped to help him. A couple of times, he came home with bloody lips and bruised cheeks, which he tried to hide from Hyukjae's parents. Hyukjae knew that Donghae was getting beat up practically every day after school. He knew that Donghae would not fight back and only get beaten harder.

Despite the pain, Donghae never made a sound. The fact that he didn't say anything made his attackers more frustrated and violent.

Hyukjae always stared at the floor as a black-and-blue Donghae sulked into his room across from Hyukjae's and shut the door. For some reason, the sight made Hyukjae's chest tighten. As hard as he tried, Hyukjae was finding it more and more difficult to watch Donghae get hurt.

One day, Hyukjae was walking in the hallway when he heard a loud crash. He followed the noise, his steps quickening as it got louder.

“So what's your deal, huh? You gonna tell us or not?”

The angry, demanding voice boomed around the corner. Hyukjae stopped and cautiously glanced from behind the adjacent wall. Donghae slammed back against the lockers nearly three feet away from Hyukjae.

The red head hid out of the sight of the guys bullying Donghae. Hyukjae closed his eyes in an attempt to block the images from his head. Donghae didn't look good. The front of his uniform was slightly ripped from being grabbed forcefully. A this trail of blood was visible on the back of his neck, probably form being pushed against them repeatedly.

“You know, we're getting pissed off by your attitude.”

“You think you're better than us.”

The voices rang painfully in Hyukjae's ears.

He wanted them to stop and leave Donghae alone. He opened his mouth to speak, but his throat closed up on him. The word “stop” was on the tip of his tongue. It was begging him to utter the word out loud and end Donghae's suffering.

Hyukjae slid down the wall and placed his head in his hands. He couldn't do it. Why couldn't he say it? Why couldn't he protect Donghae? Why couldn't he admit that he wanted to?

They eventually left Donghae alone, but not until the boy could barely stand up. Staggering to his feet, Donghae leaned against the wall for support. His whole body felt as if it had been pushed under a bus. He turned the corner and stopped when he saw Hyukjae still crouched on the ground, covering his face.

The red head heard the light footsteps, but refused to move. Donghae said nothing and walked past him to retrieve his bag and go home.

Hyukjae fisted his hair in frustration.

“I'm sorry,” he whispered. “I'm trying. I'm trying...”

A month went by in a blur. Donghae gazed out the window and made imaginary patterns in the snowflakes. By the end of the day, the snow had stopped falling, but there were an extra three or four inches on the ground.

Hyukjae stood up to leave. He said goodbye to Sungmin and Kyuhyun who were going to Kyuhyun's to “study.” Smiling to himself, Hyukjae turned to see Donghae packing up his books. His smile disappeared when some “accidentally” elbowed the books out of his hands and laughed as they scattered on the floor. Hyukjae sighed as he watched Donghae kneel down to pick them up and place them in his bag.

His History book had landed near Hyukjae's foot, so he picked it up and went over to where Donghae was still hunched over on the floor. Holding the book out, Hyukjae cleared his throat. Two shiny, chocolate eyes looked up to meet his. Donghae took the book from Hyukjae, ignoring the flicker of electricity that numbed his fingers as they brushed Hyukjae's.

“I'm going home first,” Hyukjae said quietly. He stood up and brushed the front of his pants off before grabbing his bag and disappearing out the door. He didn't wait for Donghae's reply because he figured he wouldn't get one.

But Donghae blinked, feeling the tingling sensation from his fingertips spread up his arm to his chest and squeeze his heart. “Thank you,” he whispered, staring at his History book.

Outside, Donghae thought he'd make it home without any trouble. That is, until the person who particularly took pleasure in beating Donghae each day stepped in front of him. The rest of his crew was right behind him. Donghae sighed.

“You gonna talk today? Freak.” The large boy grabbed Donghae's collar roughly. “Or are you too stupid to make words?”

I'm probably a whole lot smarter than you, Donghae answered in his mind, mentally rolling his eyes. There was no use wasting precious air on this moron. His sarcastic remarks were cut off in mid-thought as a fist collided with his stomach.

Donghae gasped, stumbling backwards. Before he could take a breath, someone's foot, he couldn't tell who's, kicked him viciously in the ribs. His body jerked forward as someone else stepped on his back. Donghae knelt in the snow, feeling the cold sensation melting into his clothes.

“We're just trying to help you,” the leader of the gang said. “If you just talked like a normal person the rumors would stop and we'd leave you alone.”

Donghae panted, still trying to take in a decent amount of oxygen. He felt a rough hand grip his chin that forced him to look up at the bully and his friends. Something caught the bully's eye.

“What do we have here?”

Meanwhile, Hyukjae was halfway off the school campus when he felt something weird. It was as if a hidden attraction was begging him to turn around and walk back towards the school.

Then, he heard someone yelling, a desperate voice crying out in such immense pain that Hyukjae nearly fell to the ground. His head whipped around and before he knew it, he was running as fast as he possibly could towards the voice.

In the massive horizon of white, a small crowd of figures stood in the middle of the treeless campus. One of them was being held back by the others as he struggled to break free.

Hyukjae felt his heart stop as the voice screamed again.

“Give it back! Give it back!”

Donghae was being restrained by the leader's gang as he pulled as hard as he could to free himself. Tears streamed down his cheeks from the pain in his arms and neck, but mostly from the emotional distress he was in.

“Give it back!” he cried helplessly.

The leader simply laughed as he twirled Donghae's necklace in his hand. As Donghae was being assaulted, his necklace had slipped out from under the collar of his shirt. The head bully had yanked it forcefully from Donghae's neck, leaving behind bleeding, burn marks where the chain had scratched his neck. The leader pretended to throw the necklace behind him into the endless expanse of snow.

“No!” Donghae shouted, his voice hoarse from screaming. “Don't!”

“So he does talk,” the bully sneered.

“Please, don't...” Donghae stared at the silver ring dangling at the end of the necklace. Appa.

Hyukjae skidded to a stop as he saw what was happening. Anger and hatred filled his entire being. Sure, Donghae was a little strange, but no one deserved to be treated the way the brunette had been. Hyukjae had known it was wrong, but he had chose to stay out of the whole matter. But now, Donghae looked so broken and weak that Hyukjae himself was speechless.

Just as he took a step forward to help Donghae, the necklace was already flying in the air. It landed in the array of freshly fallen snow and sank among the white canvas.

Donghae slumped forward in defeat. It was gone. There was no way that he would ever find it in all the snow.

“You bastard!” Hyukjae swore as he swung his leg and kicked the bully square in his chest. Sungmin had taught him a thing or two about martial arts. “What the hell did you do that for?!”

The jerk struggled to stand up so some of his gang went over to help him, but Hyukjae cut them off. They halted where they stood and backed away. This was Lee Hyukjae they were staring down, and a very pissed off Lee Hyukjae. Hyukjae turned to the two others still holding Donghae back.

“Leave,” he demanded, a deadly serious tone sending shivers down the backs of the bullies.

They immediately let go of Donghae and ran.

The brunette was still in shock, so much so, that he fainted. Hyukjae caught him in his arms. Even unconscious, tears were still rolling down his red cheeks. Hyukjae ignored the traces of blood left on his uniform as he piggybacked Donghae all the way home. Luckily, his parents weren't coming home until later that night.

Hyukjae kicked the door shut behind him and went into the bathroom. He started running hot water in the tub. Donghae was shivering violently. His uniform was soaked through from falling in the snow. Taking off Donghae's bloodstained sweater, Hyukjae began to Donghae's shirt. Hyukjae grit his teeth as he saw the bruises left from previous beatings. He would have never seen them if he hadn't been taking care of him now.

Guilt wracked Hyukjae's body.

“I'm sorry,” he whispered pathetically. “I've been a bad brother.”

“Yeah, you have,” a meek voice replied with a hint of sarcasm. Donghae opened his eyes and stared at Hyukjae. “But I never gave you the chance to be a good one.”

Hyukjae then realized that his hands were resting on the waist band of Donghae's pants. He pulled back and said quickly, “Take a long bath.” He quickly got up and left the bathroom. Leaning against the door, he hid his flushed face with the back of his hand.

About a half an hour later, Donghae emerged from the bathroom. Hyukjae had brought him some clean pajamas. He went into his room where Hyukjae was sitting on his bed with the first-aid kit. The red head motioned for Donghae to come over. When he did, Hyukjae began to apply pain-relieving medicine on Donghae's neck with his fingers. Donghae involuntarily shuddered as the thin fingers ghosted over the sensitive area between his neck and shoulder. Hyukjae laid bandages across the two wounds and examined Donghae's face. There was a small cut on the corner of Donghae's mouth. He gently dabbed a small amount of the medicine on the cut. Donghae winced.

“Sorry,” Hyukjae said as he put the kit on the nightstand and faced Donghae again. “Sorry for everything.”

“Why did you come back?” Donghae asked, completely ignoring Hyukjae's apology.

Hyukjae looked at his hands then back at Donghae. “Because I heard your voice.”

The brunette blushed a bright red, but it was hidden because his face was already flushed from the exposure to the cold earlier and the hot bath he just took. Suddenly, a thought occurred to him and emotions began to spill over.

“I-I lost it.... That guy threw it. My Appa's gone forever.” More tears filled his eyes as the brunette bit out the words. “He's gone. What am I going to do?”

Hyukjae chewed his lip nervously. He wasn't good at this comforting thing. He stiffly reached for Donghae and wrapped his arms around the sobbing brunette's shoulders. Donghae didn't protest and leaned into Hyukjae's embrace, circling his arms around the red head's waist and crying loud, audible sobs into his sweatshirt.

“Shh...” Hyukjae whispered in Donghae's ear. “It's going to be okay. As your brother, I promise to take care of you from now on.”

Donghae nodded, accepting Hyukjae's promise. He was also tired of being alone.

After a few minutes, Donghae had cried himself to sleep in Hyukjae's arms. The older boy placed Donghae under the covers and his hair lightly before walking down the stairs to the front door. Where the loving actions, hugging, and nice words came from, Hyukjae didn't know. All he did know was that he had to make things right. Donghae was his younger brother. He had to be the one to protect him and keep him from crying.

Hyukjae grabbed his heavy winter jacket, a hat, and a flashlight as he opened the door. Snow had begun to fall again and the sky had gone dark. Hyukjae gripped the flashlight and put the hood of his jacket over his hat-covered head and began walking towards the school.

Hyukjae's fingers were numb along with his nose and face. One hand held the flashlight and the other dug furiously in the snow. He knew that the necklace had fallen somewhere near here...erm...right?

“God dammit! Can it stop snowing for ten minutes?!” Hyukjae hissed under his breath.

Every time Hyukjae felt that his search was futile, the image of Donghae's crying face popped into his head and he'd keep looking. He didn't know why it bothered him so much. Maybe it was because Donghae hardly ever showed any emotion, and suddenly he looked so vulnerable and scared, like a kicked puppy. Just seeing those thin lips quivering and those tear-stained cheeks made Hyukjae want to make all the pain go away. He had to protect Donghae from the rest of the bastards in this world. He sighed, remembering that not too long ago, he had been one of them.

Hyukjae scanned the ankle-deep snow field with the flashlight. A small glint out of the corner of his eye caught his attention.

“Impossible,” he whispered.

A few feet away from him, Hyukjae definitely saw something metallic in the snow. Trudging over to it, Hyukjae dropped to his knees and dug. Just covered by the newly fallen snow was the silver chain and a little bit to the right was the ring. If Hyukjae hadn't been so exhausted and freezing, he would have jumped around in pure joy. He found it! Snatching both the chain and the ring from the ground, Hyukjae stuffed them in his pocket and started his way back home, a gummy smile never leaving his lips.