The night was dark. The subtle, cool wind complimented the calmness of the surroundings. The trees were slowly swaying from side to side, occasionally rustling the leaves, bringing soft music to ears.

Across the street, a white house stood. Through the windows, lights shone from the ground floor: it was obvious that there were still people awake. Upstairs was dimly lit, if not completely dark.

In a room at the very end of the house, lay 2 babies. Silence prevailed as the 2 slept, in peace. It was just over their bed time but they were already in deep sleep. Perhaps, their hectic schedule of eating and pooping through out the day has exhausted them. Or perhaps, having spent the entire day playing with each other, Donghae and Eunhyuk were tired. What they did, or said, to each other remained a mystery. They communicated in their own language – which none could comprehend.

Donghae was tightly tucked into his cot while Hyukjae, on a nearby mattress that Donghae would sleep on in the day. The parents have decided that it was only fair that there are 2 sleeping areas in each of their houses – since the 2 babies were inseparable.

In the serenity of the night, a sudden gush of violent wind made subtle noise. The windows shook lightly. Hyukjae, known as a light-sleeper, stirred – stretching his short arms and yawning with closed eyes. Then as though nothing had happened, he returned to his previous position. Meanwhile, in the cot, Donghae was oblivious and remained asleep. The sudden violent wind outside did not affect him – in fact, he had fallen deeper in his sleep.

Who would’ve thought that babies were capable of snoring? Perhaps, Donghae took after his father. The young baby’s breathing slowly became louder. And soon, the baby began to snore.

A few metres away, Hyukjae stretched his arms again and turned slightly to lie down on his stomach.

Then all of a sudden, an extremely loud snore was heard and Hyukjae lifted his head, his eyes shot open as he looked around to search for the criminal. Once the shock subsided, Hyukjae closed his eyes again and attempted to resume sleeping.

A whole minute passed before another loud snore was heard, and Hyukjae shot up and looked around again. This time, making some noise as though asking ‘who is there?’. But when only silence answered his question, he rested his head once again, ready to resume his much-needed sleep.

The wind began to become more violent as the random gushes of wind rattled the windows. But the subtle noise of the wind only lulled Donghae deeper in his sleep. Hyukjae, on the other hand, became restless. Not because of the wind; but because of the random loud pig-like snorts that seem to be calling him.

After many times of waking up, and sleeping, and only to be woken up again by that loud snorting sound, Hyukjae began to cry.

Soon after, his mom came, carried him gently, patting his tiny body. All was well. Until that snort sounded itself again. Hyukjae’s eyes immediately shot open and he began to cry. For some reason, he knew that sound would haunt him for the rest of his life.

Seeing this, his mom let out a soft chuckle and left the room to call Donghae’s mother. When they both entered the room, they waited for the snort sound to repeat. And, of course, as soon as it abruptly disturbed the silence – and Hyukjae’s sleep – the older baby boy cried.

Donghae’s mom laughed uncontrollably, and had to be pushed out of the room so that they would not wake the culprit.

Hyukjae, by this time, was wide awake. He simply lay still in his mother’s embrace, observing the two older women laughing at something he didn’t find funny.

Donghae lay, oblivious of his surroundings. He continued to sleep.

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*3 years later*

“alright class…time to gather up for our show and tell session”

The group of 3 and 4 year olds