Chapter 14
The Blue of the Sky on Rainy Days
Donghae, exhausting the remaining of his strength to resist, seemed about to faint as some kind of feverish panic seized him.
- "Don’t hurt him ..." Eunhyuk said in a faint voice, a pang in his heart as he saw the trio go away in the hallway with difficulty.
- "Don’t hurt him ..." Eunhyuk said in a faint voice, a pang in his heart as he saw the trio go away in the hallway with difficulty.
- "No!" Donghae began to scream, completely letting himself fall on the floor to make it harder to pull him, "I don’t want to!"
- "Enough with your fuss Donghae, if you don’t calm down right now, we'll have to get you the straps!" Kangin threatened him while lifting him from the floor with a hand.
- "Eunhyuk!" The young patient called with a heartbreaking voice.
- "Enough with your fuss Donghae, if you don’t calm down right now, we'll have to get you the straps!" Kangin threatened him while lifting him from the floor with a hand.
- "Eunhyuk!" The young patient called with a heartbreaking voice.
The latter, who could not resolve himself to quit the place, arrived to him in three big steps, not knowing what to do to help him, but really wanting to slap his friend’s incompetent nurses. Indeed, Donghae, who was completely disheveled and compressed under Kangin’s arm, looked so miserable it made his heart ache.
- "Let him go", Eunhyuk asked the nurse, spreading his arm to pick Donghae who fell into pieces.
- "Ah, you see, don’t cry anymore!" Kaehyun said, taking this chance as she was eager to go home. "Eunhyuk will make you take your bath; everything will be okay, alright? Oh, look at all that snot you put everywhere, it's disgusting."
- "Ah, you see, don’t cry anymore!" Kaehyun said, taking this chance as she was eager to go home. "Eunhyuk will make you take your bath; everything will be okay, alright? Oh, look at all that snot you put everywhere, it's disgusting."
And thus, without really knowing how, Eunhyuk found himself in the center’s shower room; hand on Donghae's shoulder as he was still taken by disparate hiccups. It was a large windowless room very similar to the one he had imagined in his dream, expect that it seemed cleaner and whiter, and that young patients gently played with plastic ducks under the supervision of nurses in pink caps. Further in this room, however, was a door opening on a smaller room that rowed three large showers. Eunhyuk felt nauseous upon seeing thick, brown leather straps sealed to the wall with metal hinges. So patients were really tied like animals...
- "Why do you need to put him in that room, why can’t he wash in the other one?" He asked, trying to contain his anger not to transmit it to Donghae.
- "It's such a mess to wash him, he scares all the other patients, they all start screaming and try to run everywhere... well, I let you imagine."
- "Yes, but it’s normal to be afraid in this place, it looks like a set from Hitchcock ..."
- "Okay, won’t gonna spend the night on this, I have a train to catch", Kangin cut him off, starting to regulate the temperature of the water jet gushing from the huge shower head hanging to the ceiling, while Kaehyun was ing the shirt of Donghae who was shaking like a leaf, once again having a hard time to breath.
- "It's such a mess to wash him, he scares all the other patients, they all start screaming and try to run everywhere... well, I let you imagine."
- "Yes, but it’s normal to be afraid in this place, it looks like a set from Hitchcock ..."
- "Okay, won’t gonna spend the night on this, I have a train to catch", Kangin cut him off, starting to regulate the temperature of the water jet gushing from the huge shower head hanging to the ceiling, while Kaehyun was ing the shirt of Donghae who was shaking like a leaf, once again having a hard time to breath.
When she took his shorts and socks off, he cast a pleading look at Eunhyuk who was remaining rooted on the spot, almost looking as anxious as he was. Then, as the young patient had bent forwards, shoulders hunched to protect his body heat, she unceremoniously dropped his little boy white underpants. Eunhyuk looked away, cheeks suddenly red. He had the impression that Kaehyun had defiled him by revealing, for the very first time, the ness of his lover in such a ugly and uncomfortable environment, and that by stripping him with so little decency, she was not treating him like a human at all. Donghae looked so fragile, devoid of any protection, shivering, while next to him the powerful jet seemed to hit the ground in plumes of vapor.
- "Come on, go ahead", Kangin said as he pushed him, looking at his watch from the corner of his eye.
In a second, Eunhyuk took a decision and began to unbuckle his belt at full speed, pulling off his shoes without undoing the laces, passing his shirt over his head with such force that it almost tore his ears
- "Go Donghae, I’m coming", he said, trying to give himself a light and cheerful tone not to make the situation even more bizarre than it already was.
Taking his courage in both hands, he sent his underpants rolling in a corner under Kaehyun and Kangin’s surprised eyes, then rushed under the water to try and hide his body, wondering what in the world had taken him.
Kaehyun, looking away this time, awkwardly said she was leaving them between boys, which made Kangin sigh as he was now almost certain he would have to wait for the 08.15 pm train. In a surly gesture, he sent Donghae join Eunhyuk underwater.
My god, Eunhyuk thought, that’s really nonsense ... Here I am taking a shower with a cat while they hate it, and I even find myself when there’s a nurse in the room...
Donghae, who looked even more frail than usual compared to the powerful nurse, had advanced, with a disgusted and frightened air, a timid toe towards the water that was squirting on the floor. Eunhyuk grabbed him by his forearm and pulled him under the spray in a gentle firmness, then poured a generous amount of shampoo into his hands, showing him on himself with a smile how he should do it.
In a second, Eunhyuk took a decision and began to unbuckle his belt at full speed, pulling off his shoes without undoing the laces, passing his shirt over his head with such force that it almost tore his ears
- "Go Donghae, I’m coming", he said, trying to give himself a light and cheerful tone not to make the situation even more bizarre than it already was.
Taking his courage in both hands, he sent his underpants rolling in a corner under Kaehyun and Kangin’s surprised eyes, then rushed under the water to try and hide his body, wondering what in the world had taken him.
Kaehyun, looking away this time, awkwardly said she was leaving them between boys, which made Kangin sigh as he was now almost certain he would have to wait for the 08.15 pm train. In a surly gesture, he sent Donghae join Eunhyuk underwater.
My god, Eunhyuk thought, that’s really nonsense ... Here I am taking a shower with a cat while they hate it, and I even find myself when there’s a nurse in the room...
Donghae, who looked even more frail than usual compared to the powerful nurse, had advanced, with a disgusted and frightened air, a timid toe towards the water that was squirting on the floor. Eunhyuk grabbed him by his forearm and pulled him under the spray in a gentle firmness, then poured a generous amount of shampoo into his hands, showing him on himself with a smile how he should do it.
* * *
- "So, what was so urgent to do yesterday afternoon?" Heechul asked him as a greeting on the following morning, feet nonchalantly resting on his table.
- "Uh..." Eunhyuk began, remembering his very eventful evening, not knowing what he would be able to make up, putting his bag on the table with infinite slowness to save time, "I ... I had something ..."
- "... Important to do", Heechul continued. "No but for real? I may not be as good as you in math, but I'm not stupid you know."
- "Uh..." Eunhyuk began, remembering his very eventful evening, not knowing what he would be able to make up, putting his bag on the table with infinite slowness to save time, "I ... I had something ..."
- "... Important to do", Heechul continued. "No but for real? I may not be as good as you in math, but I'm not stupid you know."
Eunhyuk swallowed with difficulty and told the first thing that crossed his mind.
- "Well actually, I met Yoo Ra ..."
- "Huh, huh", replied Heechul who had spent a lot of time on the phone with the girl in the evening and knew it was not the truth, "so why do you hid things and don’t tell me directly then?"
- "We don’t really want to spread our relationship to everyone’s eyes that's all ..." Eunhyuk replied in an elusive air.
- "As if. I do remind you that it's thanks to me that you know her, and well anyway, would it seriously kill you to say goodbye when you leave."
- "I'm sorry man, I was anxious to see her; you know how it is..."
Heechul scanned him from head to toes, then threw him a smirk:
- "Yeah, yeah I suppose. Okay, since you guys were alone yesterday, you can come and hang out with us today after classes, well, if we’re good enough for you?"
- "Well..." Eunhyuk replied while guiltily joining his two forefingers. "I... I have to study math for the Olympiads, I promised Choi, and well, I have to work hard to have a decent level, I'm not a genius ..."
- "It’s okay, stop it", Heechul sighed with a kick in the table before going, vowing to make him pay for his betrayal one day or another. "What’s your problem huh?" He shouted to take his anger out on a girl with bunched who looked at him with a frightened air, "wanna me, huh? Dammit..."
* * *
Sitting on his bed at night, staring at the dark sky through the window, Eunhyuk was feeling weird, like a bit confused by his own lies he had not been able to avoid and Heechul’s pernicious questions, the history test he had failed, his own cowardice, Yoo Ra insistent messages, his father’s bawling downstairs watching TV, those horrible leather straps hanging in the shower that had marked him for life, the uncertainty of the future, the prospect of the Olympiads that came closer day by day, and the growing anxiety concerning his purpose in life.
- "Isn’t there some purity aside from in Donghae’s heart in this world?" He sighed. "Oh, damn, I feel like fighting suddenly, to put my mind back in place."
Not daring to call Heechul after their morning conversation and his dramatic departure, he dialed Shindong’s number:
- "Hi dude, what are you doing?"
- "Uh ... I’m eating my mother’s kimchi, and you? You're not doing 'something important' this time?"
In front of his friend’s cold answer, he preferred to retreat hastily. Yesung’s cell phone rang busy. As for Yoo Ra, he never had the slightest desire to call her. Not finding anything else to do, he busied himself with math exercises, hoping to fall asleep head in his sheets of paper, but ended up smoking while wistfully thinking that his life had taken a strange turn and was starting to become quite complicated. His cell phone rang as his eyelids were starting to get heavy.
- "Isn’t there some purity aside from in Donghae’s heart in this world?" He sighed. "Oh, damn, I feel like fighting suddenly, to put my mind back in place."
Not daring to call Heechul after their morning conversation and his dramatic departure, he dialed Shindong’s number:
- "Hi dude, what are you doing?"
- "Uh ... I’m eating my mother’s kimchi, and you? You're not doing 'something important' this time?"
In front of his friend’s cold answer, he preferred to retreat hastily. Yesung’s cell phone rang busy. As for Yoo Ra, he never had the slightest desire to call her. Not finding anything else to do, he busied himself with math exercises, hoping to fall asleep head in his sheets of paper, but ended up smoking while wistfully thinking that his life had taken a strange turn and was starting to become quite complicated. His cell phone rang as his eyelids were starting to get heavy.
- "Eunhyuk, Yoo Ra here. Sorry to call you so late, but I’ve just got Chulie on the phone and it seems like things aren’t going well between you two. I know you don’t really like me to meddle in your business but, well..."
- "No, don't worry, it's kind of you to worry about us", the high school student replied between yawns. "I don’t really know what has gotten into him, it's just something stupid, it’ll be settled tomorrow you'll see", he said without really believing it himself, but mainly because he did not want this conversation to last hours.
- "Oh, great", the young woman replied, sounding genuinely relieved. "Hmm ... Honestly, there’s something else I wanted to talk to you about..."
- "Uh-huh?" Eunhyuk politely encouraged her.
- "Well, I'm happy to date you and all, but well, we don’t meet a lot.... well, I mean, we didn’t go out just the two of us..."
On the other line, Eunhyuk took his head in his hands. Dating you? I didn’t know that, we just kissed and I was drunk! What did I put myself into again? He asked himself with despair, taking a deep breath to find an inspired answer:
- "Yeah that’s true, and I’m the first one to regret it Yoo Ra, you know. But it’s all because of the competition, you know, the Math Olympiads. This thing is like a bet to myself, I want to do it thoroughly, that's why I don’t have time, I work like crazy. And that’s also why Heechul thinks I neglect him", he explained. "But I promise that as soon as it’s done, and it’s not in a long time, we’ll go out just the two of us (and I'll have to explain her that we’re not really what she thinks we are.)"
He eventually hung up completely blank, even more exhausted than the day he had discussed for an hour with Kaehyun to convince her in persuading the director to sign authorizations for Donghae’s participation, using all the arguments he had in store and reminding her of his progress, his complete sentences, his walks outside, and a major fact in Kangin’s schedule, that he now could take his shower without a problem.
It was the thought of their common and chaste shower time that calmed him down and allowed him to find a restful sleep. The memory of Donghae’s body was nothing obscene or even vaguely ; it only represented the essential simplicity and honesty of his friend, mixed to the smell of shampoo. He hung to his memory while falling asleep, imagining the hot water falling on his back and remembering Donghae’s soft and wet skin when he had entirely wrapped him in a thick, white towel. He had been happy to see the young patient relax in his arms for the umpteenth time that evening, and succeed in extricating himself from his irrational fear as from brambles. As he felt himself falling asleep, Eunhyuk realized, while squeezing his pillow against him, that Donghae was the source of all this commotion in his life, but that he was also the one from whom he drew his comfort from.
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