"Uh...Jongin-sshi?"

Kyungsoo didn't exactly know how to react to what just happened. Five minutes ago he was working on his English composition and he was pretty sure that nobody was there inside his safe haven known as library but him. Seriously, what on earth just happened?

The situation reminded him to this commercial he saw this morning during breakfast where angels were falling out of nowhere to some random man's bathroom because he was using a certain deodorant brand... and it was downright stupid for Kyungsoo. How ironic it was for him to be in a rather similar situation –though this was surely not a bathroom, he didn't use that brand of a deodorant, and Jongin was surely not an angel... wasn't him?

What angels wore hoodie? He should've at least dressed in something more... angelic, right?

Kyungsoo was more curious than scared of this whole situation because Jongin was not a student here; at least not as far as he knew. But come on, he was in student council! There's no way he wouldn't know if Jongin was happened to be a transfer student or something. Jongin was surely not a freshman either because Kyungsoo knew everyone's faces and there's no way he would've missed this one.

"Ugh."

Kyungsoo snapped back to reality when he heard that another painful sound of a human. The mess in front of him was trying to make a movement.

And to be honest, all Jongin wanted to do was bawl right then and there because (1) his back hurt so much from the fall and the waist injury he thought he was done with months ago just had to act up, and (2) everything was so awkward he wanted to bury himself alive.

"Will you even help me, ouch, up?" Jongin added the third reason to bawl because (3) how desperate did he sound just now?

"Oh, right. Sorry." Kyungsoo immediately crouched down and helped the boy up. He could tell how painful it was from the way Jongin was whimpering in his arms. "Are you alright?"

"Well, how do you think?" Damn, he did sound very desperate.

"Not very well," They exchanged glances for a while. "I'll take you to the nurse."

"No, wait– I'm– Ah– Damn it." Jongin wanted to reason with this boy because taking him to the nurse would be quite risky and he needed to see Chanyeol right away, but his aching back and waist begged to differ.

"I'm taking you to the nurse. The school's over anyway, so it might just be us. You've got some explanation to do, you know."

“So…how was your, uh, date with Chanyeol?”

After much difficulty to take Jongin from the library to the infirmary (carrying someone almost twice your size requires hard work, mind you), Kyungsoo put the whimpering boy on the bed and applied some ointments on his back and waist, which Jongin was, again, very thankful of.

Kyungsoo decided to break the awkward silence they had been in for about fifteen minutes now, and he saw this as a perfect chance to make Jongin spill out everything.

And he could feel Jongin tensed up because of the question.

“Well, it wasn’t as pleasant as I expected.” Jongin’s voice came out as half-mumble because he literally buried his face on the pillow while lying on his stomach.

“I knew it. So it’s all your fault.”

“My fau– What fault?” Jongin abruptly got up because of the need to refute such accusation, but his body screamed no and he fell back to the bed in a millisecond, while Kyungsoo was just judging him hard from the side of the bed and shook his head.

“Chanyeol is a little bit– Hey, don’t move too much. So, yeah, there’s something off with him lately. He speaks less, spacing out even more than he always does like he’s getting back to his old self…kind of.”

Jongin didn’t miss the old self part.

“How long have you known him, uh..?”

“Just…long enough,” Kyungsoo said as he’s done with Jongin’s injury and went to wash his hands.

“My name’s Kyungsoo by the way.”

****

Yixing had been walking back and forth in the kitchen for a while because he couldn’t remember what he just now remembered to write down on the grocery list. He had to go shopping in the morning and it was late now and he was tired but he wouldn’t sleep before he recalled that thing.

Was it beef? But he had checked the fridge and there were more than enough beef to cook. The young master really loved beef and having a proper stock of beef was of course necessary.

“Stop moving around, you’re making me dizzy.” Yixing jumped a little when he heard Joonmyun’s voice. He was leaning on the door frame, watching Zitao’s silly butler frowning and thinking really hard in amusement.

“Pardon me, sir. I was just trying to…remember something.” He bowed like three times in apology.

“The bow was not necessary though,” Joonmyun smiled. Sometimes he found it cute how Yixing was so obedient and acted more like a slave than a butler. “Anyway, do you mind if we talk now? Grocery can wait anyway.”

“O-of course I wouldn’t mind, sir.” Yixing bowed, again, and this time Joonmyun couldn’t contain his laughter anymore.

“You should stop bowing too much, at least in front of me.”

“Y-yes, sir.”

They went outside to the backyard of the Huang’s mansion. Well, backyard was an understatement though.

There it was; a massive garden maze where Zitao and Joonmyun often play around at, back on their childhood days. Its beauty was timeless; it’s always green as if time couldn’t touch, and the moonlight above magically turned the garden into something surreal.

It had always been beautiful there, as if the garden was a whole different space in the dirty world they were living in.

Yixing loved the maze but he was never brave enough to wander around it alone because he might not be able to come out. He was never good with direction anyway.

“Come on, let’s have a walk.”

They entered the maze, grocery list long forgotten, and walked in a somewhat comfortable silence.

“Yixing,” Joonmyun finally took the initiative to break it. “Do you remember Park Chanyeol?”

Author's note:

Hello, this is hardcorefan! First of all, I'm really sorry for not updating for ages (again?) ;_;

Anyway I experienced a writer's block and was quite busy with college and all, but now I have much free time (yeay!) I'm sooo excited to continue PCFP because honestly, I enjoy working on this story the most >..<

Lastly, thank you very much for all subscribers, voters, (silent) readers and all of you guys for staying with this junk story :*

Also, comments are <3

Until then...