Chapter 10
The Blue of the Sky on Rainy Days
When Eunhyuk arrived at the center later that day, Kaehyun rushed to talk to him:
- "Eunhyuk, you must imperatively agree to do me a huge favor! Say you will, I beg you! I’ll be grateful for fourteen generations!"
- "Uh ... okay", accepted the student who wanted to lose as little time as possible before going to see Donghae, "but what's so important?"
- "Well ... Donghae got a horrible attack yesterday. He wanted to put the shirt you gave him, but he had already worn it several times and I told him we had to wash it and that he had to dress differently. But he did not want to let go and stayed shirtless all day, squeezing it so hard against him that no one managed to take it away from him or make him wear a shirt. Since we were afraid he would catch a cold, we resorted to drastic measures and three nurses were needed to cover him up. He started to scream ..."
- "You should have called me instead of doing this to him!" Eunhyuk cut her off.
- "But it’s the hospital staff’s job to handle this kind of thing, we can’t just call a civil like this ... Well anyway, he screamed so loudly that all patients also began to go crazy, they heard him from his room, and he was struggling so much I was afraid he would choke for good. After an hour, he began to calm down ..."
- "Normal, he was most probably exhausted after such treatment ..."
- "And he began to sob", Kaehyun continued as if she had not heard him. "I didn’t understand much of his mumblings, but he often asked why you hadn’t come, if you were angry with him, and I don’t know what else. We never really know what’s going in those kids’ twisted minds..."
Eunhyuk's heart sank, not because of Kaehyun’s last words, to which he did absolutely not agree, but because he realized he was the cause of all Donghae’s anguish and suffering. The poor boy certainly thought that Eunhyuk had not come to make him understand that he no longer wanted to be his friend, that he did not need to see him, that he was not particularly happy when he was with him, and that he had not liked his way of showing his affection with a kiss. Eunhyuk wanted to punch himself. 'And here I was with my "I need to think" what an idiot I am!'.
- "Eunhyuk, you must imperatively agree to do me a huge favor! Say you will, I beg you! I’ll be grateful for fourteen generations!"
- "Uh ... okay", accepted the student who wanted to lose as little time as possible before going to see Donghae, "but what's so important?"
- "Well ... Donghae got a horrible attack yesterday. He wanted to put the shirt you gave him, but he had already worn it several times and I told him we had to wash it and that he had to dress differently. But he did not want to let go and stayed shirtless all day, squeezing it so hard against him that no one managed to take it away from him or make him wear a shirt. Since we were afraid he would catch a cold, we resorted to drastic measures and three nurses were needed to cover him up. He started to scream ..."
- "You should have called me instead of doing this to him!" Eunhyuk cut her off.
- "But it’s the hospital staff’s job to handle this kind of thing, we can’t just call a civil like this ... Well anyway, he screamed so loudly that all patients also began to go crazy, they heard him from his room, and he was struggling so much I was afraid he would choke for good. After an hour, he began to calm down ..."
- "Normal, he was most probably exhausted after such treatment ..."
- "And he began to sob", Kaehyun continued as if she had not heard him. "I didn’t understand much of his mumblings, but he often asked why you hadn’t come, if you were angry with him, and I don’t know what else. We never really know what’s going in those kids’ twisted minds..."
Eunhyuk's heart sank, not because of Kaehyun’s last words, to which he did absolutely not agree, but because he realized he was the cause of all Donghae’s anguish and suffering. The poor boy certainly thought that Eunhyuk had not come to make him understand that he no longer wanted to be his friend, that he did not need to see him, that he was not particularly happy when he was with him, and that he had not liked his way of showing his affection with a kiss. Eunhyuk wanted to punch himself. 'And here I was with my "I need to think" what an idiot I am!'.
- "... So to calm him down, I told him that no, you adored Donghae of course, and that you had besides agreed to come to the trip-farm to accompany him. Act as if he was really your friend, please, save us, and come."
Eunhyuk got the urge to protest and say that Donghae actually was his friend, but he thought it would be useless since it seemed so inconceivable to everyone for an autistic like him to be worth friendship.
Eunhyuk got the urge to protest and say that Donghae actually was his friend, but he thought it would be useless since it seemed so inconceivable to everyone for an autistic like him to be worth friendship.
- "What is a trip-farm?" He asked instead.
- "Oh, nothing too bad, it's just a weekend with patients when we go to a farm not far away from here, it makes them go out a bit, they see chickens, cows, pick some things and vent in the open air. We only do this once a year because it requires a very large number of attendants to watch over all patients. I know it probably bothers you to waste one of your Saturday nights, but I beg you, I don’t know what Donghae ..."
- "Oh no problem, I’ll come. When is it?"
- "In two weeks. Do you think you have enough time to have your parents’ permission until then?"
- "Yes, I got it. Gonna see Donghae now, later."
"...bit of clay to all of you, and you’re going to shape it to make a small pot okay? Don’t put it everywhere, I beg you. Before cooking them, we’ll write your names on it with a small wooden pen, this way, everyone we’ll be able to take his own back."
With zest, the young patients all started to knead the clay they had first wet to make it soft and pliable. Donghae, he, was looking at the small mound of clay that had been placed in front of him, with suspicion and did not dare touch it. Eunhyuk put his finger on it and pressed until it started to push in, thus digging a small tunnel in the mound, and then looked at Donghae while squinting. The latter looked a bit puzzled, then, seeing that Eunhyuk remained frozen in this position, he waved his hand in front of his eyes with a stiff movement.
- "Eunhyuk?" He said in a small voice.
- "Boo!" The latter did as he would have done his little cousin, and he got a somewhat similar reaction since Donghae jumped and hid his face behind his hands.
Eunhyuk, while laughing, looked at him, with his plaid shirt, his slightly shy and lost air, that strand that fell over his eyes, and he found him cute for the first time. He did not only note it this one time, as he had already done it by the way, that he was not ugly, but found that a certain beauty emanated from his small alley cat sweet face.
- "I missed you", he said without almost thinking about it, resting his cheek in his hand.
- "Me too", the young patient replied with a serious and almost sad tone that made Eunhyuk inwardly curse himself once again.
He would have liked to tell him he did not blame him at all for what had happened in the yard in front of the fence, and that he did not have to be afraid, but he did not really know how to formulate all this without seeming forced.
- "Me too", the young patient replied with a serious and almost sad tone that made Eunhyuk inwardly curse himself once again.
He would have liked to tell him he did not blame him at all for what had happened in the yard in front of the fence, and that he did not have to be afraid, but he did not really know how to formulate all this without seeming forced.
- "Donghae", he exclaimed, suddenly finding an idea to reassure him and show him that nothing had changed between them, "let’s mold matching things? A bit like a puzzle you know ... we would each have a half form. There's always stuff like this in dramas."
The young patient did not respond to his suggestion. He suddenly seemed interested by his mound of clay, in which he had plunged his hands and was pulling in all directions. But Eunhyuk quickly understood he was trying to separate two small mounds to put his plan to work, and he ruffled his hair with his hand to show his satisfaction.
- "What an efficacious boy! So, what form do you want to make?"
Donghae remained puzzled by this question. He looked around him and his eyes stopped on the window that he pointed at.
- "Don’t be silly; make me a pretty sentence with an adjective and a conditional in", Eunhyuk ordered him.
"We have to work in order to improve your speaking you know."
- "I would like to make the shape of this small white cloud that we can see through the window." Donghae said in a soft voice.
This sentence sounded like music to Eunhyuk’s ears. It was a bit as if he heard his friend's voice for the first time, which had finally taken its full form, which had come out pure of his throat, as dusted.
- "Okay", he answered with an enthusiasm that surprised himself, "let's get to work!"
In the end, over all the clay that was available for them, they only used very little of it, Donghae having abandoned the major part of what they had to his comrades. On the small cloud they had formed, and with the wooden pen Eunhyuk had asked for to cut it in half, imitating a smaller cloud in its cutting edges, they both wrote down a piece of their name.
- "We just have to paint it white and varnish it. Oh, and I'll also make a small hole to put a twine", Eunhyuk concluded under the admiring gaze of the other patients, who slightly regretted having got into the realization of complicated vases and pencil holders.
In the end, over all the clay that was available for them, they only used very little of it, Donghae having abandoned the major part of what they had to his comrades. On the small cloud they had formed, and with the wooden pen Eunhyuk had asked for to cut it in half, imitating a smaller cloud in its cutting edges, they both wrote down a piece of their name.
- "We just have to paint it white and varnish it. Oh, and I'll also make a small hole to put a twine", Eunhyuk concluded under the admiring gaze of the other patients, who slightly regretted having got into the realization of complicated vases and pencil holders.
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