Chapter 9
The Blue of the Sky on Rainy Days
The next day, it rained cats and dogs all day. During break time, unable to go out without risking ruining his styled hair, Heechul came to visit Eunhyuk in his classroom. He found him slumped on his desk, looking pensive, gazing at a small sheet of paper on which a rosette was drawn.
- "Your little cousin did this for you?" He asked while loudly pulling a chair from the desk beside to sit next to him.
- "Oh, uh ... yeah, well it's something old anyway", Eunhyuk muttered. "Saw how it's raining outside?" He asked to change topic while folding his paper. "That’s so good, that idiot of Eeteuk will go back home on his little bike and will end up completely soaked."
- "Oh yeah damn, I hope he’ll catch meningitis and that we won’t have test tomorrow! There are so many irregular verbs; I always prepare cheat sheets on the ones that end up not being in the test. Well anyway, I guess it's useless to offer you to come to the center today?"
Eunhyuk indeed wondered if he would go this afternoon, feeling the need to think about what had happened the night before in the yard to know what he should do, and clear his mind. Then he realized that Heechul was probably talking about the mall.
- "Oh I will, I'm in, man", he answered for the first time after quite some time.
He confusedly thought that he had to try to lead a somewhat normal life, with normal high school students who had normal reactions, and not always remain confined with his strange friend who vegetated in his small playroom. Their intimacy was getting a bit bigger and it scared him: if Donghae was to permanently enter his life, he knew it would change a lot of things, that there would be difficult times, maybe times when he would greatly suffer from the lack of communication. That’s why he preferred to give a wide berth to be able to look at things with more composure, and Heechul offered him a perfect way to get his mind off things.
The mall still had its pretty dilapidated looks, its toilets neon-lit, its few shops and family restaurants from where a lingering frying smell escaped. The boys were walking, dragging their feet in those long corridors mainly lit by artificial light, walk as slowed by idleness, long laughing at their jokes, as if their laughter was the syrup of a candy flowing into their throat .
- "Hey guys, look over there, it's Yoo Ra and her friends", Yesung greedily pointed in their direction.
- "Hey guys, look over there, it's Yoo Ra and her friends", Yesung greedily pointed in their direction.
The two small colored groups joined together, beginning a strange courtship made of jokes, compliments and small teasing some middle-aged women, leaving the supermarket bent by the load of heavy plastic bags they were carrying, were looking at with a drowsy and indifferent air, as if the memory of another life they had lived long ago was playing in front of them.
Yoo Ra was particularly pretty that day, her hair looking a bit out of control because of the rain, and Heechul was very excited and full of energy for once his friend was coming to hang out with him, which made their outing last until late at night, supported by the activity of their youth hormones, the wet and cool weather, the beer cans and the electro music that Shindong’s small portable radio was playing. Light touches became more frequent as the night advanced. Eunhyuk did his best to set the mood, displaying naughty smiles between bumpers of alcohol, spicing the anecdotes Heechul told to awe girls with sarcastic remarks. His eyes often landed on Yoo Ra’s tangy, pink skirt, which was the scene’s most colorful point, and found himself letting his gaze wander over her slender legs. Yesung pushed him with his arm to force him to move closer to her, not daring to do so himself.
In the end, when it was already very late and that the rain had finally stopped falling outside, the young people loudly bidding goodbye in the street, Eunhyuk found himself kissing Yoo Ra fully. Hands around the waist of the girl whose long hair tickled him sometimes, he kissed her languidly with large jaw movements that could make American series actors envy. Both knew the others, from afar, were looking at them while bidding their goodbyes.
Eunhyuk had the distinct feeling he was accomplishing a social act, that this kiss was like a performance he was doing to strengthen his position within the group, to prove his value. He knew it was the same for Yoo Ra who had to keep her reputation of only dating the coolest guys. As he was kissing her, he remembered Donghae’s very brief light touch against his lips. The two kisses were nothing alike, and the one, very sensual, he was exchanging with Yoo Ra, prevented him from focusing well on the memory of the other one. Trying to recall the slightly sad yard, the blue sky and the wind, he realized that Donghae, who wielded words with such difficulty, had expressed with his so innocent gesture, a very chaste affection, from which he did not have to be afraid. His kiss did not mean anything else than 'I love you, don’t cry', but from a very pure love, without any idea of 'I want you' or ‘belong to me'. He gradually realized he felt no particular pleasure kissing the girl, that the memory of their kiss would not torment him the next day, that he would not wonder about it as he had done for Donghae. He thought that his social life did not really matter as it was not what would make him happy, he felt more comfortable doing math in hospital rather than staying out late with the feeling of having no energy left to take a shower even though he felt dirty. What Yoo Ra wanted, he did not really know, any more than he knew what he himself wanted, but he knew Donghae needed affection. The desire to protect this boy who seemed to have received so little in his life became greater as his lips finally parted from the girl’s.
* * *
- "Damn, you've made a strike with Yoo Ra yesterday, lucky guy!" Heechul exclaimed as a greeting when he saw him during break time the next day. "So, how was it?"
Eunhyuk, who quickly folded a small square of paper that he stuffed in his pocket, afraid of offending his friend by answering him 'too much tongue, too much saliva, too long, beer breath', only answered:
Eunhyuk, who quickly folded a small square of paper that he stuffed in his pocket, afraid of offending his friend by answering him 'too much tongue, too much saliva, too long, beer breath', only answered:
- "Can’t really remember it, I drank too much."
- "Oh no, you ! You've got Yoo Ra, it isn’t nothing! Everyone was talking about it in the hallways this morning, man! Oh well, it’s okay, you'll be able to do it when you want now", he said while nudging him with a wink.
Eunhyuk, who constantly looked at his watch, was not very concerned by these questions.
- "Aha", Heechul continued with a naughty little laugh, "you can’t wait to see her, huh? You wanna hang out with us today or you want us to leave you guys alone?"
-" Nah sorry, I have a family thing I absolutely can’t miss today", Eunhyuk lied without the slightest hint of shame or hesitation, "my mother would kill me ... I'll send you a message when I'm free, ok? Oh, don’t sulk Chulie, I even wonder if I shouldn't skip class not to be late since it’s very important you know."
- "As if Eunhyuk would hesitate to skip class... man, I can’t recognize you lately", Heechul said with a disappointed look, going back towards his classroom.
- "Aha", Heechul continued with a naughty little laugh, "you can’t wait to see her, huh? You wanna hang out with us today or you want us to leave you guys alone?"
-" Nah sorry, I have a family thing I absolutely can’t miss today", Eunhyuk lied without the slightest hint of shame or hesitation, "my mother would kill me ... I'll send you a message when I'm free, ok? Oh, don’t sulk Chulie, I even wonder if I shouldn't skip class not to be late since it’s very important you know."
- "As if Eunhyuk would hesitate to skip class... man, I can’t recognize you lately", Heechul said with a disappointed look, going back towards his classroom.
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Please, please~ I'm not the author >.<
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