Hi readers, sorry for not writing more often. 

I literally, just came home after my last mid-semester test. and it just had to be the hardest one: Commercial Law. So i was feeling quite down and decided to write. I hope it makes sense. Not in my right state of mind. 

Enjoy.

ps:// comments and subscriptions are much appreciated. Shoutout to new subscribers!! 

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“Shhh… Hae, be careful”

“why are we here?”

Hyukjae sat straight and raised his head to an angle, “good question…”

“Hyuk, I’m telling you, I don’t feel good about this”

“you never feel good about anything”

“It’s different today”

“Yeah? How so?” Hyukjae asked, still crouching as low as he can, to avoid any attention.

It was just after sunset and the duo was supposed to be in their respective houses, doing whatever it is that they usually do at this time of the day. But when they stopped to buy Hyukjae’s ice cream, the boys spotted their classmate surrounded by a group of boys. Bigger boys. And that was all it took to increase Hyukjae’s curiosity levels.

“I feel baaaaad…”

“that’s not an explanation!!” Hyukjae unintentionally raised his voice before continuing to show his dissatisfaction in a whisper.

“why can’t we just approach them? And ask them questions…you know, like a normal person…” Donghae said in a sarcastic manner.

Hyukjae raised his head again, and stopped crawling. Donghae, who wasn’t really paying attention to his front, bumped into his friend’s bottom. After giving each other a glare, their gaze softened and Hyukjae whispered in a not-so-subtle voice: Have you seen the size of those boys? And have you seen MY size?

Donghae only chuckled at the skinny boy.

“Stop it, Hae. I’m serious. I want to know why Sungmin was with those boys.”

Sensing the seriousness, Donghae stopped laughing and continued to “spy” on the boys.

“do you think he’s involved in, you know…”

“What?”

“Mafia?”

“Dude we’re only 9 years old!”

“Who knows… and plus, Minnie is older.”

“Okay, he’s 10. Still doesn’t justify him being in a mafia.”

“Justify?”

Hyukjae momentarily forgot that he was speaking to Donghae. That means, he needs to be using normal language – language that normal 9 year olds would understand. Perhaps… even simpler words.

“Never mind…”

“Shhh… look, he’s going inside that building.”

Both of them raised their heads slightly higher, from behind the bush, to see what that building was.

“Billiards…” Hyukjae absent-mindedly read the sign.

Donghae sat on his bottom while Hyukjae continued to be alert of his surrounding. Sensing the discomfort of his friend, Hyukjae turned to face Donghae and inquired if everything was okay.

“Ummm…” Donghae fiddled with his fingers, “Is Billiards a bad place? I’m sort of getting worried for Minnie. And you know, we’re just sitting here, doing nothing.”

Hyukjae thought for a while and agreed. They were all friends since birth. So no matter how big and dangerous-looking those boys were, they were obligated to drag him out of there.

“Are you ready?”

The two boys stood in front of the dim building, their school bags behind them and their hand, unintentionally, holding the other’s. With a deep breath, they took their first step.

“Hyukkie…”

“Yeah?”

“If anything happens to me, just know that I’ll always always be in your heart. And that I’ll always always love you. And that I’ll always always be your best friend.”

If it was some other time, Hyukjae would have made fun of Donghae’s usual dramatic statements – but now, to be completely honest with himself, Hyukjae was kind of scared too. So his grip on Donghae’s hand tightened and they both gave each other a warm smile.

“Hyukjae? Donghae?”

Their moment was interrupted by Sungmin’s voice. The group of boys looked at each other, each taken by surprise.

“What are you doing here?” Sungmin asked, the boys behind him displayed the same look of curiosity

“What are YOU doing here?” Hyukjae redirected the question to him.

“Well…uhh… I’m…”

“It’s okay Minnie. Let’s go.” Hyukjae said in a very assertive tone

“What? Where are we going?”

“home.”

“What? I just came now. Don’t take me away. I want to play.”

“With THEM?” Donghae spoke, for the first time since they all met. His tone was a bit demeaning and it suggested his negative view on the other boys.

Sungmin looked to his back and when he was finally able to grasp the situation, he laughed.

“guys… these are my cousins.”

“cousins?” Donghae asked again, not believing his friend, “Why do they look like that?”

Sungmin widened his eyes and quickly scanned the faces of his cousins for any sort of hurt or anger. Hyukjae was quick to catch on things and unconsciously pulled Donghae behind him. Right. Like Hyukjae could save Donghae if anything were to happen.

But it was his instinct.

“Hae…” Sungmin tried really hard to supress his chuckle, “that’s not nice of you”

“S..S…Sorry…it’s just that…they’re…they’re…”

Hyukjae quickly slapped Donghae and the latter, due to the excessive force, took a step back.

“Ouch…what was that for?”

But Hyukjae was surprised by his own actions too. So he couldn’t say anything, but instead, he gave Donghae eye signs. And Donghae understood. He was to shut up if he wanted to stay alive.

Sungmin just laughed. And he walked past them before suggesting they all go for ice-cream. His treat.

Sungmin and his ‘gang’ walked at the front, while the duo remained a few steps behind them at all times. They were still suspicious. Sungmin’s family was the ‘educated’ and ‘reserved’ type. They know that very well. So to have cousins who are very buff and talked really aggressively and behaved as though they were some sort of bullies, was actually a surprise to Hyukjae and Donghae.

When Sungmin’s cousins were ordering their ice cream, Hyukjae, Donghae and Sungmin took a seat on the nearest table in the Ice Cream parlour. Sungmin noticed that Donghae was still constantly looking back towards the group of boys.

“Stop judging.” Sungmin said as a half-joke

“Sorry…” Donghae replied in a low voice

“Are they really your cousins Minnie?”

Sungmin nodded.

A few minutes passed and after much conversations and jokes, Donghae and Hyukjae acknowledged that the boys don’t seem at all bad. They were friendly and quite funny. It is an old adage to say ‘never judge people’. And that was the lesson Donghae and Hyukjae had learnt.

On their way home, the duo couldn’t stop talking about their friend’s cousins. They were very cheerful, especially Hyukjae, who was very appreciative of the fact that he was able to have a double doze of his daily ice cream routine.

Suddenly, Donghae stopped, turned to his right and slapped Hyukjae.

“Ouch! What was that for?” Hyukjae asked while rubbing his cheeks.

“You slapped me before!”

“That was because you were saying stupid stuff.”

“What? You thought they were a mafia too, okay!”

“Yeah. But you don’t go saying that to their face.”

Donghae opened his mouth to argue again, but closed them as soon as he was out of points.

“… but you could’ve just closed my mouth or something. You slapped me! It hurt!”

“And you just slapped ME”

then there was a moment of silence in which neither knew what to say next.

“…equal?”

“I guess so…”

They resumed their walk. This time with a little lesser enthusiasm than before.

“Hey Hae…”

Donghae turned to his right, where Hyukjae was.

“That thing you said…”

“I say a lot of things… which one?”

“About…you know…”

“huh?”

“About always being in my heart.”

“OKAY!!!! I KNEW YOU WERE GOING TO MAKE FUN OF ME SOONER OR LATER FOR THAT. OK I TAKE IT BACK. I TAKE IT BACK SO YOU CAN’T EVER TEASE ME CAUSE IT NEVER HAPPENED. I NEVER SAID IT!”

Donghae spoke in extreme speed to defend himself. He knew his friend too well. Hyukjae was a prankster. And he knew, right after he made that statement, that Hyukjae would make fun of his mushiness and cheesiness.

But there’s another old adage, perhaps a better known one, that we should never assume we know someone too well. After all, we can’t read what is in people’s mind or heart. and that is another lesson Donghae needs to learn.

Hyukjae was not going to make fun of him. He simply wanted to affirm the statement. Because Hyukjae, too, wanted to say that he would always always be in his Hae’s heart.