Prologue

A Supposedly Faithful Encounter(?)

Never ever would Sehun have thought that he’d be spending his young adult years in a crappy apartment that had small cracks here and there – but it was all he could afford. He basically spent most of his money on Marvel comics, Disney merchandise (Donald Duck ones to be specific), science books and magazines that contained little pointless but interesting facts and the most expensive collection of them all – videogames. All of his leftover cash basically went to instant foods and cheap clothes from bargain stores.

Thankfully his job was kind of stable. Working at a bookstore was rather rewarding. It was quiet, or at least most of the time, plus he’d get to snatch a book and read through the entire thing. He just happened to stumble across some comics and thanks to that rather faithful event he started to collect the Marvel series. Deadpool is awesome.

He sniffed, ruffling his brown hair and pushing his glasses so that they’d rest at a higher position on the bridge of his nose. His fingers tapped hastily on the keyboard of his Toshiba laptop, writing God knows what. In fact, he was been writing so long that he had lost track of time, as the clock soon hit 10PM. Today was a free day for the brunet, and he couldn’t complain, really.

It was extremely dark outside already. He stretched his arms, holding them up in the air. He stood up from the creaking office chair and worked his way towards the one and only window in his messy room, pushing the lame navy curtains out of the way. His eyes trailed from the glittery sky towards the café that still seemed to be open at this late hour. The streetlights kissed the ground, lightening up the pathway for those who still walked nearby.

He then noticed a boy walking out of said café – black padded coat to protect his body from the cold night breezes as a noticeable tiny puff of breath revealed itself thanks to said cold. Then the café lights went out. Sehun allowed himself to observe the boring building in front of him, staring at the window where no other than eternal stalker and best friend Baekhyun resided. He always thought the guy purposely went to live at the opposite building of his just to wave at him every torturing morning with an annoying, bright smile on his face.

His fingers fiddled with the telescope, preparing it so he can do his daily stargazing hobby. He was lucky enough to see falling stars slipping their way into his sight, hell, he swore he could even see some planets.

The stargazing hobby was the reason for  his dark circles.

~~~~~~~~~~~

The alarm ringed at 8AM exact, not only making the annoying trrring sound, but also decided to include those small vibrating noises as Sehun recalled he once slapped it on the ground and just… left it there ever since. Deciding to finally pick the poor thing up and put it back to its original place, he put a stop to the noise and dragged himself to the bathroom. God, he thought. He looked horrible, he’d tell himself that every morning, but never took the time to actually do something about his looks. He’d just shower, quickly brush his hair and teeth, put on some clothes and went for some breakfast that was mainly a bowl of cereal and milk. Then he’d head off to work.

Packing his things – wallet, phone he’s had for more than four years, apartment keys – and putting on his shoes, he exited his apartment and locked the door. He walked into the elevator, pushed a button and slowly travelled downwards. As soon as he stepped out of the building, he was greeted by direct sunlight hitting him in the face. Joy.

Luckily the bookstore he worked at wasn’t that far to begin with. He’d just had to walk for approximately fifteen to twenty minutes and boom, he’s there, ready to work and greet customers with the little bit of brightness he had left in him in this glorious morning.

He greeted the staff who seemed equally groggy, except for one – Chanyeol. The guy’s got the nickname ‘Happy Virus’ for a reason. Fellow staff members Tao, Yifan (likes to be called Kris for an unknown odd reason) and Jongin wondered how one could be so irritatingly happy all the damn time. It must be a curse of some sort.

Sehun then walked off to his spot behind the counter, grabbing a comic to entertain himself as the others prepared things he didn’t really care about.

The store then opened at 9AM. Sometimes he wondered why they would open so early in the morning when basically everyone knew that not even a dog would bother coming in at this hour. However, surprise showed in his eyes when they saw a small figure walk in, hand gripped on a shoulder bag and greeting Kris who stood nearby rearranging books, equally surprised. The figure then disappeared in the section Sehun knew a little bit too well – the comic section. It was basically his sanctuary, and he knew what comic stood where as if he knew it like the back of his hand. And he did know.

It didn’t take long before said figure was visible again in the brunet’s eyes. He squinted his eyes at them, probably looking like some creepy idiot, but at that point he didn’t care. Then it hit him – it was the same person he saw last night coming out from the café.

He didn’t really notice the familiar boy walking towards him, a comic book in his hand and wallet in the other. “Um,” said the boy as he waved the comic in front of him. “Hi, I’d like to buy this comic, please.”
Sehun then snapped out of little ‘trance’, recklessly throwing away the comic he had in his own hands behind him, earning  a whiny and faint “Hey!” from Kris who witnessed the action.

He merely nodded, grabbing the comic – a Donald Duck one - the boy hand in his hands and scanned the barcode on it. “That’ll be ￦5,500, please.”

The boy took out the money and handed it over, and Sehun hastily grabbed it like some nervous dimwit. He was sure the boy was kind of freaked out at how stupid he was acting by the way he looked at him, and he mentally slapped himself.

“Thank you,” the boy said and bowed, quickly walking out of the store. Sehun dropped back down on his seat, letting out a heavy sigh. He looked at the entrance / exit, looking at the disappearing figure.

He swore he saw the boy sparing him a second glance.

A smack hit him on the back of his head. “You!” shouted Kris. “You shouldn’t treat a precious item like this like some piece of garbage. This is worth money!”

~~~~~~~~~~~

Nothing much eventful happened in the bookstore after that, and the embarrassing memory from earlier this morning still haunted his mind, his ears turning red every time he recalled every detail of it. How his hand basically snatched the money from the boy’s hand, the way the boy’s eyes widened at the action, how Kris smacked him with the same magazine he threw on the ground that time (he told him he was just destroying the magazine by rolling it up and smacking people with it, which resulted into another smack).

6PM then  greeted him and told him to shoo out of the store. Sehun politely bowed to the staff members and walked his way out. Chanyeol then resumed back to cleaning the floors with a mop whilst singing to TVXQ’s Rising Sun and screaming off-key at Changmin’s long note.

He opened his apartment door and took off his torn coat and sneakers, leaving them both on the floor. God, he really needed to clean up the living room. It was a freaking mess – clothes and socks resting on the couch, the floor, the TV, everywhere. His bed’s blanket was basically the pile of clothes he’d cover himself in, and honestly, he never thought of how disgusting it was until he walked in his room.

He his Playstation2, old but still perfectly functional, and played some good ol’ Sonic games on it. Honestly, he wasn’t in the mood for games right now, but it was to act as a distraction from a certain something. Yes, it still bothered him, and it made things even worse that he knew that the boy was either a regular visitor or worked at the café.

Talking about said boy, Sehun took note of how innocent the boy’s face looked. Like, really innocent. He doesn’t recall or remember any other that had such innocence written on it, and he didn’t know if it was a good or bad thing. Even the littlest of kids didn’t possess such angelic looks, and one would wonder how an obviously-no-little-kid kept such a baby face. Perhaps it’s the (good) genes.

He then stood up and walked towards his trusty telescope. He hesitated, and then proceeded to what he thought was wrong and downright stalker-ish, but temptation got the better of him. He peered through the telescope, lowering so it would now focus on the sight of the café instead. His heart skipped a beat when he saw the boy from before near the huge window, serving people their coffees and little snacks. So he does work there, after all.

He his lips as he continued to look at the boy, how a polite smile got planted on his face when he thanked the customers and offering a shy bow before walking off, mostly out of sight, which disappointed Sehun, and he didn’t know if he should be creeped out or not.

He decided to be. A lot.