Every day after his work he has to go home, all alone, through the dark alleys of Seoul. None of his friends or co-workers has to go to the same direction, so he was left by himself on the streets. Slowly he walked, looking around if someone sinister was following.

Hakyeon is the type of guy that is just scared of everything. When they go to an amusement park, he just doesn’t want to go into one of those rides, because they go way too hard for him. Late at nights, when Jaehwan keeps him company together with Sanghyuk, they will tell ghosts stories, but Hakyeon will be sitting there, covering his ears. During marathon film evenings, the sudden snoring of Wonshik will make him jump out of his skin. He tries to be manly, but can’t hide the fact he’s afraid of lots of things.

One of his biggest fears will be the darkness. Just knowing you can’t really see what happens then, is frightening the guy. Also knowing what can happen when you’re all alone and your imagination starts to play tricks on you. Hakyeon wanted to believe it was just his imagination, but he was almost sure that there was something. Someone or something was keeping an eye on him.

At moments like this on the streets, alone and with just here a there a lantern, illuminating the path, he just felt the skin in his neck crawl. The young man had a phobia that something was creeping up on him and…

“Ah!” he yelled loudly when he felt a pair of arms being wrapped around him.

As he turned around, he saw a girl standing there, smiling widely at him. With his hand on his chest, above his heart, the guy had to take a few deep breaths. He hates it when people scare him like this. If it would be Jaehwan, he would have hit him hard enough to leave a small bruise on his arm. Eunyoung was a whole different case. First of all she is still a girl and he respects them, so it would be rude to hit her. Secondly, they were close but not on that level like he has with his friends.

“Hakyeon-ssi!” she mumbled, her smile slowly dropping when she noticed his scared face, “Did I scare you?”

Somewhere the guy was about to shout about she shouldn’t do that ever again to him, but the situation turned out otherwise. He was still too shocked to actually speak and merely nodded a bit. All of that was enough to make girl laugh at his scared expression, while he was slowly regaining his strength.

“I’m sorry. I just wanted to ask you if you wanted to come and go somewhere with me?” she giggled, but smiled then again.

The guy was just standing there, nailed to the ground. She basically just asked him out on a date. In fact, he can go, since the guys were all busy with their own business, and care less about what people will say but there is something off. A feeling of guilt is gnawing on his conscious, reminding him how heartless he can be. Once he was such a to her, turning her down for actually no reason. Every chance she sees, Eunyoung is there again, trying to win him over.

“Eunyoung-ssi, even after all what I did to you?” he asked, looking away from her, since he can’t see her pained face when she tries and tries again.

“Hakyeon, please just once. Then I won’t bother you.”

It was a difficult choice. Break her heart once again or go with her to a place, he doesn’t even know yet himself. His mind was saying then ‘yes’ then ‘no’, confusing him totally. One reason pulled him over the line. Better to be with two, then to be alone in this darkness.

“Okay,” he sighed in the end, letting his head drop while the girl in front of him just started to jump from happiness.

She grabbed his hand and dragged him behind to god-know-where. Hakyeon was happy he had some company now, but still felt badly about all the previous things that had happened before. For that all the guy could do was admire her for her perseverance to get at least a date with him.

--

There they were sitting, late at night nearby the window of a small coffee shop. People were rushing still in and out, without caring about other people. Some that might see them were sending them looks. They perfectly could pass for a couple on a date. Eunyoung had his hands in her smaller ones and sent him smiles the whole time.

“Do you have a girlfriend?”

That question snapped him out of his thoughts. He had only been responding to the questions with simply ‘yeah’ or ‘hm’. Not that he wasn’t interested in what the girl had to tell, it was more that he wasn’t really comfortable. It felt like there was someone keeping an eye on him. That same kind of feeling he had when he was walking alone in the streets.

“N-No? Why do you ask?” he replied, looking at her to find maybe a reason already clear on her face.

“Oh, just… I wanted to know it for sure. I’m going to the restroom,” Eunyoung said, walking away with an obvious smile plastered on her face.

Hakyeon was sitting there, still confused from the question that was thrown at him for the first time. He doesn’t remember when a girl asked him about his relationships. It was strange. The guy had always thought that due his dark skin, he wasn’t that handsome. Most girls ran to Wonshik or Sanghyuk, while he was mostly left alone with Jaehwan. The latter was a gorgeous guy, but most girls fell only later for him. His weapon was his adorable actions and dorky attitude towards lots of stuff.

At that moment the guy took out his phone, looking at it to see if there were any missed calls. His fingers gently moved over the touch screen, going through all his messages apps, but there was nothing. No one seemed to miss him at the moment. When he put his phone back down on the table, he glanced up and made eye contact with someone he has never seen before. Well he had seen quite a lot of people, but not like the type that was sitting there.

When he looked up, a guy around his age was sitting at the table next to them. In front of him he had his coffee and his hand was safely wrapped around the paper cup. His long fingers had a few rings on them and one had a very special sign. Hakyeon’s eyes slowly moved upwards to see the rest of his features. Golden eyes were boring holes in his skull, like he was trying to read his mind. His face was totally emotionless, apart from the corner of his mouth, which was slightly twitched upwards.

Red hair that was slightly spiked up made him look even better. He had that dangerous, yet familiar feel around him. Probably that was the case why the guy was suddenly caught up with staring at the man. Their eye contact was broken when Eunyoung sat down again.

“What are you looking at?” she asked, sounding somewhere bitter as if he was staring at another girl.

“I…I w-was… n-nothing!” he quickly defended himself, raising his hands a bit to make it even more clear.

“Where is she?” the girl muttered, turning around.

When the guy looked over her shoulder, the red haired guy had suddenly disappeared including the coffee. That was pretty fast. Hakyeon just shook his head to erase the image out of his head again.

“It’s her right?”

Eunyoung was pointing at another girl, who seemed to have attracted a fair amount of men around her. He knows her from his work as a back-up dancer. Seohyun was her name and apparently the girl he was with wasn’t very found of her presence. She’s popular and rising in the land of the famous, but still wasn’t the biggest out of them.

“N-No! I do know her, but there it stops. There was some-,” he cut his own sentence of, knowing she won’t believe him while saying that.

“Whatever. You guys are all the same. When someone famous and pretty walks by, all heads turn!”

She was clearly pissed and Hakyeon couldn’t explain. He sighed deeply before slowly looking up, only to see her staring away from him.

“I worked with her once. Maybe I should leave? I’m sorry that I brought you pain again,” he apologized, feeling bad for it.

That one time Eunyoung had her chance to have a supposed ‘date’ with her long time crush he had to ruin it. Cha Hakyeon, you’re officially the most genius guy in the world.

--

Later that night he was again walking alone in that frightening street of him. As quickly as he could he entered the building. When he noticed what time it is, he was almost sure that Sanghyuk had to be home. He and Sanghyuk mostly stay together and also Jaehwan mostly stays over. It’s because otherwise they won’t have a decent place to stay. Once in a while they stay with their parents or other friends, but always they return like puppies.

The ride up in the lift was horribly silence. In the faint background some music was playing, but it all seemed like it was just some rip off from a spooky horror film. At one point the lift even stopped, making him really frightened. This couldn’t be happening. His heart was racing and felt like it would jump out of his thorax every moment. An icy yell resounded through the building, making the poor guy almost pee in his pants. Slowly he moved over to the corner of the metal cabin. The doors suddenly cracked open.

“Boo!”

“Ah!”

And laughter sounded through the small box. It took the guy a few seconds to recognize to whom that laugh belonged to. When he remembered he turned around to face the younger guy standing in front of him.

“Yah! Sanghyuk! You shouldn’t scare me like that!” Hakyeon mumbled, his hand over his chest, trying to make his heartbeat go down.

“Sorry, Hyung! I just wanted to …”

“Tease me.”

“Well yeah. That’s what you get for at nagging me around the whole day!”

Sometimes he hated Sanghyuk.

--

A couple of days passed since the incident and he was sitting with Jaehwan, Wonshik and Hongbin in a park nearby their dorm. For once the eldest of them was more silent then they were used. Normally he was acting all loud, but now he was rather silent.

“What is wrong?” Hongbin asked in the end, making the others also turn towards the guy.

“He probably saw Seohyun again. Oh, Seohyun-sunbaenim is so pretty! Oh, Seohyun dances so well!” he mimicked the guy the last time he had seen the famous girl during his dance trainings.

Of course the other two had to laugh with the almost perfect imitation of the eldest by their personal mood-maker, Kim Wonshik. Meanwhile Hakyeon just couldn’t laugh or say a thing. Too many thoughts were stuck in his head. When they noticed that, the laughing faded away until they were all silent and coughing.

“It’s Eunyoung,” he muttered, looking up at the guys.

‘…And that one red-haired guy that suddenly popped up.’

“Ah! Is she there again trying to win your heart?” Hongbin guessed, smiling at him that he could tell more about the story.

“I went out with her…”

Immediately the other 3 turned into immature brats that were making noises. They were surprised by it since he always ignored her calls for attention and then suddenly he accepted.

“Yah! What did you do to her?” Jaehwan asked, grinning widely since they all knew he was trying to get to that part of the conversation.

“Nothing special. I was walking home, she followed, asked me out and we went to a café. She went to the restroom, I stared into space and then she came back and thought I was staring at Seohyun…”

“Wait, was Seohyun in a café?”

“And you didn’t call us?”

Jaehwan and Wonshik asked that in turns, but all got a look from the youngest guy. Only he knew that there was something more. Hakyeon could only sign. No one would ever understand what happened that night. If he told them he went with her there because he was scared, they will laugh at him for the rest of the year. If he told them about the red-haired guy, they will judge him. Not the best moment at all.

--

Only he, Jaehwan and Wonshik were left, because Hongbin had a photo-shoot. The guy was so into his career as a photographer, he sometimes forgets about his friends. They ended up in a small place, drinking something while talking. There weren’t a lot of people around and that was just fine. Hakyeon had been staring the whole time at his hands while Jaehwan and Wonshik were engrossed in a conversation about someone they had met before.

At the moment the eldest lifted his head, his eyes once again met with golden eyes. The same guy, sitting this time at the other side of the room, was staring back at him. The more he looked, the more it became painfully obvious that it was familiar. That the meeting in the other café wasn’t their first.

‘Don’t you dare to disappear again.’

‘I won’t.’

Hakyeon shook his head and swallowed, hoping the other two didn’t notice what had happened between them. Luckily another familiar figure appeared, blocking the view. When his eyes travelled upwards, he saw it was Sanghyuk, who came back from school.

“Who told you we were here?” Jaehwan asked. It's not that he doesn't want the younger to be there, but how he could find them so easily.

“Hyung, who was with you?”

“Kong…”

“He told me you guys were most likely here,” Sanghyuk stated with a smile before sitting down next to Hakyeon on the bench.

“Typical,” Jaehwan muttered turning back to Wonshik to continue their conversation, but Sanghyuk had to interrupt it.

“Wonshik-hyung. I heard something interesting in school about you and Minah!”

Now everyone, including Hakyeon, was interested in the news. All, except Wonshik, were leaning closer to the youngest guy in their friend group to listen what he had to tell. When it was rumours or other stories, they were the first that needed to know.

“W-What then? And w-who?” Wonshik asked, with a clear stammer in his words.

“I heard you and Minah, secretly went dating. I know everything and well… Hyeri can’t stop from spilling secrets,” Sanghyuk said with a satisfied grin on his face.

“Kim Wonshik! And you didn’t tell me about this?” Hakyeon said, falling finally back into his old role of being the annoying mother-like guy.

“I…I d-don’t know w-what he’s t-talking about!” the orange-haired guy weakly defended himself.

“Tell me all the interesting details,” Jaehwan asked, with a grin, creeping upon the guy.

“Is it…hot?”

All turned towards the elder who sat there with a grin on his face. Little did he know that it would be backfired towards him.

“You have to say that! You go dating with Eunyoung suddenly!”

“So it’s true between you and Minah!”

“No!”

“So is it between me and Eunyoung!”

The two were standing up, leaning over the table to intimidate the other, but both couldn’t help but laugh over it afterwards. The other two were also chuckling since the scene really looked like they would start a fight. Hakyeon and Wonshik have been friends for too long to actually do that.

“I love you Wonshik.”

“I love you too, annoying hyung.”

“What did you say?”

--

The guys were walking back to the dorm of the eldest. They all decided to stay there for the night. All of them had their arms around the others shoulders, while walking and talking like they are drunk. They didn’t touch the stronger drinks, so they aren’t even close to that state. Also they had Jaehwan, who loves to act out like he is drunk, but is anything like it.

“Hyung? Do you have food in fridge?” Sanghyuk questioned when they were nearing the building.

“You went to the store. You should know that!”

“Yeah but I just don’t trust Wonshik-hyung here.”

“Yah!”

The orange-haired male launched himself at the young guy. They were playful wrestling in the middle of the street, with Jaehwan rooting for both of them.

“Hey! At who’s side are you?” Sanghyuk managed to ask during their little fight.

His friends being like that amused Hakyeon. Whenever when he was feeling bad, they would be there, lightening up his day with their playfulness or lame jokes. The word pessimism isn’t in their dictionaries and that was what the eldest liked the most about them.

Suddenly some sort of breeze gave him goose bumps. He turned around to see where it came from. When he saw a nearby tree, it seemed like there was no wind at all, so where does that breeze come from. He looked around, scanning the area. Nothing seemed abnormal, until he found a figure leaning against a brick wall. It was like the figure noticed his staring and looked up.

Golden eyes, red hair, smirk… it was him again.

His body froze at that moment. Again he had those mixed feelings since it was really familiar. Like he knew this guy and yet he didn’t. He doesn’t know a guy who has those features. Someone with such an outspoken face and eyes like that. He kept staring at that spot, until he felt a hand on his shoulder, making him jump.

“Let’s go, hyung,” Jaehwan muttered, smiling at him.

The elder followed, looking one time back to the spot, to see he had already disappeared. Now he was really starting to be afraid. What if he stalks him? In the darkness?

“What are you thinking of?” the guy with raven-black hair questioned, smiling one of his dorky smiles.

“N-Nothing,” he replied, suddenly feeling scared that there might be something totally off.

“Ah! So the wall you were staring it was so interesting that you can think of nothing? Impressive,” Jaehwan continued, trying to cheer him up by one of his gags.

Like that they walked back to the dorm. Once in a while the eldest looked over his shoulder to look if ‘he’ was following. One thing was for sure now. He doesn’t want to go out again, all alone in one of the calmer parts of Seoul. He wasn’t safe anymore and he knew it all too well.

--

That same evening Hakyeon was lying on his mattress, staring up at the ceiling. Jaehwan was tightly sleeping on one side. He reminded a bit of a big baby. Wonshik and Sanghyuk were both kicked out of the room. Both could snore the whole building together. Also the youngest was known for kicking around and speaking loudly while being fast asleep. The last guy of his little group, Hongbin, had also returned.

“You’re still awake?” the latter whispered, while moving closer to the elder guy.

“Hm? Yeah, I can’t sleep,” the guy responded and sat up straight.

“Need someone to talk to?”

“It’s not about talking, Kong. I just… I think Sanghyuk showed me too much of his horror films,” he quickly lied and looked over at the guy.

“Do you want to cuddle up then?”

The elder nodded quickly and they moved their mattresses together. Hongbin lay on his side, waiting for the elder to snuggle up against him. Like that they stayed, trying both to fall asleep since it was already late in the night – or early in the morning.

“I heard something during the photo shoot,” Hongbin suddenly started, making the guy curious about the news.

“What then?”

“I heard Taekwoon is back.”

As if a light bulb appeared above his head, Hakyeon remembered something.

--

“Ta-dah!” Wonshik said when he entered the room.

He finally got rid of that ridiculous orange hair and went to a more appropriate shade of brown. Well, they all loved his orange colour, but the other people around him not. As an underground rapper, he could do whatever he wanted to, but still people judge him.

“I miss it already!” Jaehwan muttered, with a big pout while touching the guy’s still wet hair.

“We still have Sanghyuk as our rainbow man,” the rapper said, while pointing at the purple-like hair of the youngest.

“Ah, but the colour is fading so soon we all lose our funny hair colours,” Sanghyuk muttered.

Hakyeon also coloured his hair from silver to a mix between blonde and brown instead. When you look good, still faint marks of the silver can be found. They did it to start of the year with something new, something special. They didn’t thought they would keep it that long.

“Bye orange. I miss you already. Even when you stung when I applied you,” the guy muttered, while waving at the empty bottle of hair dye he somehow had kept.

Of course the others were cracking up at the comment, since it is Wonshik, the giant goof and mood-maker. Hakyeon couldn’t hold himself as he hugged the younger guy from behind to death. All of them knew that they were such close friends. Nothing could be in between them. The rapper sometimes acts like he doesn’t like moments like this, but they know better.

“Hyung? Can you let me go?” the now brown-haired rapper asked, wriggling to get himself freed but failed once again.

The grip around his waist only got tighter. The eldest of the group of friends missed these moments a lot and especially after those encounters. With some difficulty the guy laid his head down on his friend’s shoulder, snuggling into the crook of his neck.

At the same time the bell rang and both, Jaehwan and Hongbin, jumped up to be the first to answer. It included a few pushes and nudges, but it was the eldest who made it.

“With Lee Jaehwan incorporation, who can I serv-,” the guy tried to say but was pushed aside by the photographer.

“Hongbin here!”

There was some light blabbering going on, but the eldest didn’t quite catch it. Instead he just kept on holding Wonshik. The younger was getting annoyed by the clingy guy, but just kept standing there. In the end the rapper even placed his hands on top of Hakyeon’s and turned his head a bit with a smile on his face.

“Everything okay, hyung?” he asked, turning into his softer side, which he barely shows around other guys, but for him he can make an exception.

Only when there is Wonshik he can really say what was wrong. The younger fully turned around and now they stood there, like they were some sort of couple.

“So many things and I can’t even understand them,” he muttered, while slowly moving his head up and their eyes met.

“Oh… I think I interrupted something.”

When they turned around they saw Sanghyuk standing there, when he had come out of the kitchen. They didn’t even remember when he had gone into it. The two started laughing while slowly letting go of each other. Hakyeon just kept smiling while stepping closer towards the youngest.

“Jealous?” he asked when he was right next to boy, wrapping his arms around his waist.

Sanghyuk tightly closed his eyes, hoping that the other won’t go any further. These were the moments Hakyeon loved the most, teasing the younger guys. Also it was a nice payback for when he had scared him in the lift. Meanwhile Sanghyuk hated this and wanted that someone would interrupt this moment. The rapper wasn’t an option since he was laughing at them. But finally the front door of the dorm opened, revealing Hongbin and Jaehwan with another special guest.

“Taekwoon-hyung!” the rapper shouted when he saw the broad-shouldered guy entering the dorm.

Suddenly he was there again. Their long lost friend, who always appears once in a while since he is always busy travelling around as a music composer. The eldest just kept standing there, staring at his face. Flashes of what happened in the previous nights appeared in his head. Golden eyes. Red hair. Familiar. Unfamiliar. The guy shook his head and instead plastered a big grin on his face while walking closer to the guy, which was surrounded by the younger guys.

“Taekwoon-ie!” he shouted while hugging the other male, who made a face that he disliked it.

This friend of him is something really strange. He’s not like all the other guys that are around him. Sanghyuk is a young guy who still is in school and wins every girl because he is cute. Wonshik is a rapper that is charismatic on stage but a giant teddy bear off stage and a goofball. Hongbin is the photographer who would be even better when he was in front of the camera as a model. Also he is a really fun guy to be with. Jaehwan is a natural-born-performer. He pulls gags out of nowhere and he just doesn’t change in front of strangers or in front of his friends.

But then there is Taekwoon who is really something special. From the outside you would say he his a cold-hearted guy – sometimes he can get to that level that people think he is a serial killer. On the inside he really loves his friends and his music, but he isn’t the best expresser out of them all. Like it was said, that title is something more for Jaehwan, the 4D-vendor.

The other male pushed him in the end off, sighing deeply before turning to the others that stayed away from him. All of them were happy to see him again.

“So where have you been? Have you met cool artists? Did you tell them about me?” Wonshik fired questions but was just pushed aside.

“Everywhere. Yes and no. I’m not staying for long here, I have a meeting in a few hours,” he announced.

All sat down on the ground, trying to figure out how the guy had spent his time. At the same time Hakyeon was trying to figure out some clues.

--

The eldest was cornered in the bathroom, while cold eyed were staring down at him. A small smirk appeared on the other’s face. Wonshik was sleeping, far away from the other guys since really his snoring is a problem. Jaehwan, Hongbin and Sanghyuk were already far in dreamland.

It had been a few days since the other male had returned from his trips. The first nights he didn’t stay but now he would stay, for at least one night. And that was also the reason why he was suddenly backed up against a cold tile wall in the bathroom.

“T-Taekwoon.”

As his warm breathing was going over the tanned skin of Hakyeon’s neck, he pressed more against the guy. With a grin he pulled back and their faces were only inches apart from each other.

“What’s the problem?” he asked, eyes never leaving the guy’s face.

Every little move his muscles made were registered by the guy’s eyes. Hakyeon was slightly scared but he so loved it. Merely a second later lips were pressed against his own. He was struggling against, trying to get away from it, but no. The other was way too strong and could easily hold him back. Instead he stopped resisting and was carried away by the slowly movements of the guy. It didn’t last that long before the dark-haired guy pulled back.

No words were exchanged but the eldest of the two just stomped away from the scene. He walked straight into the bedroom where Hongbin was waking up from the hard noises.

“W-What happened?” the photographer asked barely awake but just enough to catch the eldest when he fell next to him.

The younger immediately pulled him closer, rubbing soothing circles on his back while he tries to calm him down. He didn’t ask for more information, yet. Instead he hugged his friend closer until his breathing became more even. When Hakyeon was like this, something he regretted really badly happened. The guy was fully awake by now and still something was begging him to ask what was going on moments earlier. But he didn’t need to question him all over again.

“T-Taekwoon. H-He… kissed me,” the elder guy sobbed, desperately clinging onto Hongbin’s shirt that was stained with wet marks.

That was already enough information. They all knew about their little affair that had been going on for months, before they caught them. A month later the other guy had to leave and stayed away from a long time. When he returned they acted distant, so everyone thought they had moved on, but apparently not completely. Hongbin had to close his eyes and collect all his thoughts before saying something stupid, but then he noticed the elder guy had fallen asleep against his chest.

Who knew that Taekwoon would still like him? Or was it for something else. Hongbin could only stay awake and stare up at the ceiling. The guest was sleeping on the couch, if he was sleeping at all. He definitely knew one guy was deep asleep: Wonshik.

--

It was an early morning when Hakyeon woke up, smiling from ear to ear when he noticed the sleeping figure of Taekwoon right next to him. He had to admit that the slightly younger guy was cute when he was deep asleep.

When the elder one was about to get out of the bed, he felt a hand grabbing his. He landed back onto the mattress, right against the other’s broad chest. Something that didn’t really happened a lot, occurred at that moment. The elder guy was in some way shower with small pecks all over his neck.

“Good morning to you, Taekwoon-ie,” the guy chuckled and he turned lazily around to stare into his eyes.

Normally they are cold. A piercing stare that makes you shiver. It’s like he is staring right through you, into your mind, reading all the thoughts that are crossing at that moment. Your soul is opened up to him and he knows you in merely a second. This time it was different. His eyes hard turned into warm orbs. The tanned guy wanted to stare all day in them, but then he noticed the smile being formed on his lips.

“Morning Hakyeon,” he mumbled back, leaning in to peck his lover’s lips.

But like always it developed into more. Soon there was more pressure and the movements became faster. Desire seized them. Hands were greedier, pulling and pushing around the mattress, caressing and touching the other’s body, until a knock on the door interrupted them. Quickly they tried to act as normal as they could. Luckily it wasn’t on the door of their room, but the front door, so normally they didn’t hear that much. The elder one of the two jumped up and dressed him in the first shirt he could find that was shattered around the room.

Opening the door he saw two of his friends standing there. The moment they took a good look at the guy, they knew he had a rough night.

“Someone left some marks,” the guy smiled, dimple clearly appearing.

“It’s visible. Even on your skin,” the other fell in, making again a lame joke.

“What do you two need?”

“Hyung, we basically live here too. And Wonshik here wanted to come back because Jongin and Kyungsoo’s cooking is normally good, but yesterday it was terrible. I don’t want to know what happened in that kitchen,” Hongbin muttered while entering the dorm, kicking off his shoes and headed straight to the bedroom.

“Are those your clothes shattered around the room?” Hongbin asked, turning around while standing in the doorpost.

“Hey… isn’t that Taekwoon-hyung’s shirt?” Wonshik noticed then, stepping closer to inspect the piece of clothing even better.

With the photographer staring down at him and the rapper inspecting the shirt he was wearing, he felt like a mouse trapped by cats. How can he now explain what has happened the night before and what has been going on for even longer to those two?

“You two… Are you guys having an affair or?” Hongbin smiled when his mind was progressing all the information.

By that time Taekwoon had stepped out of the room, dressed in shorts and a shirt. His eyes had turned back into those cold eyes. The first one to receive the treatment was Hongbin.

“Taekwoon-hyung. I was joking you know. I didn’t mean it like that,” he muttered, slowly moving away from the elder.

“Yes. We have,” Hakyeon answered in the end, biting his lip.

“I knew it! I just knew it!” Wonshik yelled but stopped the second he got a glance from Taekwoon.

--

A month passed and the second eldest had left them again since he had lots of work to do for the current groups he was helping out. Hongbin knew better why he had left; knowing it was all about Hakyeon who still wasn’t over the bathroom incident.

It was late at night again and all were asleep, except for Hongbin who was just staring out of the window in the living area. They all slept together in the living room for once. It was mainly because Jaehwan wanted to tell ghost stories again with all of them. Somewhere it was a wonder they hadn’t woken up yet from the loud snoring, coming from no one else then Wonshik.

The photographer turned his head back to the guys that were sleeping. Wonshik was lying again in his vampire-like posture. His mouth was wide open while snoring loudly. Oh girls had to see this, they would definitely find this a turn-off. The guy chuckled softly at his own comment he had made. Sanghyuk other was also snoring, but he was quieter then the other guy. The youngest had the hood of his sweater pulled over his face while sleeping on his stomach on a cushion that had to be some figure. Jaehwan was fast asleep while lying on his side. Normally Hongbin has to lie in between them and has to face the difficulty of constantly moving the vendor’s arms from his body. Sometimes he could be really clinging in his sleep.

Hakyeon…

The eldest never was that agile in his sleep. He had his moments but never like this. The guy was constantly tossing and turning around. His breathing was faster as usual, while cold sweat was rolling down the sides of his face. Hongbin stood up from his place to move closer to his friend. When he saw the tormented expressions he was making, he knew the eldest was having a nightmare.

The loud moving around woke up the youngest of the room. Lazily he rubbed his eyes while staring up at the back of the photographer.

“What’s wrong?” he asked while yawning and sitting up straight on the floor.

“I…I think he’s having a nightmare,” Hongbin whispered back, eyes never leaving the guy’s face.

Somewhere he wanted to wake him up so they all could go to sleep, but on the other side is it that Hakyeon can be very frightening when he’s angry. That moment when he walks up to you with his threatening face on, ready to place his hands on your throat and choke to death. The guy had to shake his head lightly when thinking about those moments. He is even scarier then Taekwoon-hyung.

--

“Stop!”

He kept running away. Only looking over his shoulder to send one of those grins.

“I thought you wouldn’t disappear!”

He didn’t even stop.

Hakyeon was already out of energy. Stopping with running since his legs couldn’t take it anymore. The redhead disappeared out of sight.

“Is someone here?”

His voice was echoing against the walls of an alley he ended up.

“Wonshik?”

Not even a snore.

“Jaehwan?”

Not even a joke.

“Sanghyuk?”

Not even a laugh.

“Hongbin?”

Not even an appearance of the handsomest guy he knew.

“T-Taekwoon?”

Nothing.

“Someone?”

A breeze blew past his arms, making him shiver from the sudden coldness. He turns around, looking at a cloud of dust gathering. There he was again. Red hair, golden eyes, dangerous smirk.

“I am.”

Long, graceful strides towards the already trembling tanned guy. He cringed when he looked more in those eyes. It was like a fire was suddenly burning behind them.

Sharp fangs appeared when he felt something pierce his neck. Everything became pitch black again.

“Hyung! Hyung, calm down!”

Hakyeon opened his eyes only to find the worried eyes of Hongbin looked down at him. His eyes went down to look at his hands. One was in the photographer’s hand while the other was trembling like the light on a candle. When his eyes were frantically searching around for him all he could see, were the two guys that were sleeping, Hongbin and the youngest peeking over his friend’s shoulder.

“Are you okay?” the guy asked softly, trying not to wake up one of the other two.

The eldest wanted to say yes, but all he could was uttering out a small ‘yes’. Of course that was enough to trigger the curiosity inside the two youngest guys and they scooted even closer.

“W-What was about?” Sanghyuk asked, impressed by how he was trembling.

He couldn’t tell. Words were begging to be spoken, but were stuck in his throat. He tried but no sound came out, only a bit of small whimpering. The two younger boys looked at each other, giving up the hope that he would tell them. Instead they sat next to him, each wrapping an arm around the trembling elder guy.

“Try to sleep again. We will be here,” Hongbin mumbled, hugging his friend closer while looking over at the younger.

Both had a grip on the guy while they tried to sleep again, even though those snores coming from the rapper weren’t help. But soon all three of them were back asleep. Hakyeon was too tired to think even longer about that dream. With them next to him, it didn’t happen again.

The following morning Hakyeon woke up, to find his friends basically lying on top of them. It was a dream but it felt so real in some way. The guy looked around only to find Jaehwan sitting at his feet, staring at him with a confused look across his face.

“What?” Hakyeon asked, while raising his eyebrow at the guy.

“Why are you three lying like that?”

The elder guy didn’t really have an answer ready. Luckily Hongbin woke up in time and he wriggled himself loose from the sleeping position.

“Hakyeon had a nightmare. He seemed really scared so we stayed at his side,” the photographer explained while standing up and stretching his sore back.

Jaehwan just looked from the guy standing to the eldest who was still lying down with the youngest curled up against him. He just nodded before standing up and walking towards the kitchen. Jaehwan didn’t need to know every little detail and that is what the eldest liked about him.

--

“No! I don’t want to! Can’t just watch an action film? Or something as Iron Man?” Wonshik complained, using giant puppy eyes to convince Hongbin that it wasn’t a good idea.

Hongbin just shook his head at the elder one of them.

“Pacific Rim? Man of Steel? Something else then another horror?”

Still the guy stood there, smiling while shaking his head. Once he said ‘no’, it will be ‘no’ and especially when it is against Wonshik. The latter is always against the films the others choose, since he isn’t that manly. Well, he is very manly from the outside but he is just so soft on the inside. The eldest was also against the horror idea but it was 3 against 2 so they had to accept their defeat.

While they were still arguing, Hakyeon was in the kitchen, preparing some snacks to eat during the film. The other two were too busy watching the equally old guys playing around. He couldn’t help and stop for a moment his actions, looking at the boys.

“Hongbin, please! I will do everything you want!”

“Everything?”

“Except kissing you and sleeping with you.”

“That’s not everything so, no.”

Everyone couldn’t help but laugh at the desperate calls of Wonshik to watch something else. He could really turn into a big baby. The guy fell on his knees, begging to change the film. Hakyeon smiled seeing that scene. He shook his head while he turned around to get the snacks. Somehow he thought he had seen something red pass next to him. He looked around to find nothing and shook his head again while taking the tray and went into the living room. As hungry wolves they all got to the food.

The rapper had given up at begging and just sat down next to Jaehwan and Hongbin. Hakyeon had Jaehwan also next to him and on the other side Sanghyuk. Out of habit the elder wrapped an arm around the younger one. The student didn’t even protest and just let him be, while the opening credits were rolling.

It didn’t take long before Wonshik was already clinging onto the photographer’s arm, while the latter did the same thing back. Apparently even this film was too much for him. Together they sat there, in a corner, being two scared kids. The vendor was just slowly munching on the food while being engrossed by the film and the same goes for Sanghyuk, who had Hakyeon clinging onto him.

“C-Can we take a break?” Wonshik muttered out from his small spot and without even a reaction of the others the screen froze.

“Yah! Why aren’t you talking? What are you saying?”

Jaehwan had to pull of once again one of his crazy jokes while the three scared guys were finally relaxing. Sanghyuk just leaned back while smiling at the eldest who was almost sitting on his lap.

“I’m back in a moment.”

With that Hakyeon finally let go of the youngest and quickly went into the bathroom. There he couldn’t help but lean over the sink. This film was really scaring him to the core. Slowly the looked up into the mirror. He saw himself still with a face of shock, but behind him a familiar figure was standing. Red hair. A grin was spreading on his face while he just stood there.

“What are you doing he-?” Hakyeon softly asked, turning around only to see him gone.

When he turned back to the mirror he wasn’t there anymore. This was the second time he had noticed something like that. First in the kitchen, now here in the bathroom. He was slowly becoming scared from his own mind playing tricks on him.

‘Calm down Hakyeon. It’s just mind playing tricks on you. Nothing can be here. No one excepts those 3 in the living room.’

‘You wish it was.’

He turned to his left, seeing him standing there, grinning widely while stepping closer to him. In fear the guy grabbed the skin while shouting loudly. As response he got the two scared kids yelling back in the same tone before he heard feet rushing towards the bathroom. By that time he had his eyes closed and his knees had given in. He was sitting there on the ground, trying to block out the vision of him.

“Hyung, are you okay?” Sanghyuk asked while he sat down next to the man.

Slowly he tried to open one eye. The student was the closest by, trying to take the elder guy in his arms to calm him down. Further there was Jaehwan, halfway in the room, standing there with an expression of shock on his face. Right outside the bathroom the two were standing, still slightly holding onto each other. He frantically started to look around, but nowhere he found a sigh for the redhead.

“Maybe Pacific Rim was a better option,” Hongbin muttered from outside the room while trying to prey the rapper off his arm.

At the same time the youngest helped his friend back on his feet. Hakyeon’s knees were still wobbly and didn’t want to cooperate with him, but he knew that the younger had a strong grip of him. Together with their jokester the two came out of the bathroom. Faintly he heard them ask about what had happened, but he couldn’t form an answer.

His mind was blank apart from that one image. It felt so real. So close, like he was really there and not a hallucination. His mind wasn’t playing tricks. He was sure of that! He was here.

‘He…was here in my apartment.’

When they sat him down on the couch, the two were already changing the film to another. Meanwhile Jaehwan and Sanghyuk kneeled in front of the couch, staring at up at the eldest. Hakyeon was looking at his lap; his mind still didn’t really register what had happened in the bathroom. He stood there ready to attack him.

“Hyung, are you okay now?” Sanghyuk tried again, making the guy look up for only a slightly bit.

They barely made eye contact, while he was doubting if he should tell. He might tell them, but then it is the question if they would believe him. All he did was slowly nodding to the question while Sanghyuk got a small smile on his face. The younger rubbed his friend’s knee while he tried to comfort him.

“What happened?” Jaehwan asked, turning away when the noise of the film the two were playing was interrupting them.

He can’t tell. Words were blocked in the back of his throat. He tried and tried to utter them out, but they got blocked. Like someone was keeping them inside him forcing him to say nothing about him.

“I…I think I s-saw a spider in the shower,” he lied then, much against his will.

Both guys looked at each other. They both knew there was something more then just ‘a spider’. He’s scared of such small things but he won’t freak out like that. Both were smarter, but thought it was a reflection from the film they were watching.

‘Stop doing this to me.’

‘Only when you dare to come closer to me.’

‘Why don’t you come?’

‘If you want it…’

--

He was standing in front of the building, staring at the door while Minseok was closing up everything. Hakyeon was impatient wanting to leave to home as quickly as possible.

A few days back he had learnt that Minseok, one of his co-workers, also had to go into the same direction as he goes. It was the best gift he had gotten, since that meant his weird imagination couldn’t start playing around. It was foolish but better to have company. The shorter guy turned around with a big smile on his face while they started walking.

“Yah! Hakyeon-ssi!”

When the two guys turned around, they saw Eunyoung standing. Arms crossed and an angry expression on her face. Normally she doesn’t greet him like that. With angry movements she stepped closer, until she was close enough to…

“Aish! Why was that?” Hakyeon yelled when a hand had flown across his cheek.

He saw that Minseok carefully took a few steps back while looking at the two. When he turned back to see Eunyoung, he could clearly see the tears in her eyes. He was confused. What happened that she has to act like this towards him? The guy wanted to take a step closer to hug her, but all she did was stepping backwards with arms stretched out to indicate he shouldn’t come closer.

“Eunyoung? Why did you do that?”

“I heard about it.”

“About what?”

The guy suddenly had a bad feeling creeping up his spine. He didn’t know what she was talking about, but felt like it wasn’t a good thing. Hakyeon waited for her to continue, which she did after a few deep breaths.

“I heard it from Hyeri. I heard about that affair of you and Taekwoon-oppa. You liar!” she was now fully in tears.

He was shocked. How did she know about that? Sanghyuk had sworn to keep his mouth shut to everyone. Only between the walls of the apartment there could be talked about that subject. He felt like he was nailed to ground now. Apart from that, she called him a liar, which he is. He always said he was straight as a ruler, but in fact had a weak for a guy. How could he be so stupid?

When he turned towards Minseok, he saw he was also pale from the news, but he didn’t do anything. Back towards Eunyoung, when suddenly one of her friends appeared. Nothing was said, but she led the girl away towards a car that was parked a bit further away from them. The guy couldn’t do anything and he felt bad. He turned towards his new friend, who was nervously fiddling with his phone. He knew it. After that would come out, Minseok would try to get away.

“One of my friends asked me to come over. If you don’t believe me, here, the message is sent even before we left,” the guy mumbled, turning his phone so he could read the message.

Quickly he scanned it before moving his hand that he can leave. There was no one that could pick him up now. Jaehwan had a night shift in the store he works and can’t leave his place. Sanghyuk was on a two-day field trip with his school. Hongbin had another photo-shoot for a group while Wonshik was in Busan for a concert and won’t be back until the morning. When he turned to his side, Minseok was walking already in the shadows, fading away and blending into the stream of people.

That was it. The moment he wasn’t hoping for, to go back to the dorm all alone, without company. Well, he knew there would be company, but not the kind he wanted. Not the friendly talks all the way to the building, but the cold chills that creep up in the back of his neck when he walks alone. There is no one to talk with, only Hakyeon, the city, the wind and him.

Slowly he started to move, walking towards the dorm. At first quite some people passed him, but were all to busy to pay attention to the frightened guy. Every step he took he was looking around, trying to find that redhead somewhere. The closer he got to his destination, the less people were passing by. It became so empty that with every step he heard, he had to stop and turn around.

His heart was racing while his breathing was uneven. His eyes were wide and his mind was alert to take action if he needed it. His hand had an even stronger grip around the strap of his backpack. To somehow calm him down Hakyeon started to hum one of the songs they had been dancing to while the apartment building was coming closer and closer.

A small breeze went past him. It looked innocent but that was the moment he stopped, totally taken over by panic. Slowly he dared to turn his head, just enough to peek over his shoulder. Nothing. He turned then over to his other. He had to gulp down his spit before starting to walk away. His pace was much faster as before while thinking of a route to escape. In the end he decided to take a sharp turn right, going straight into an alleyway that was only big enough to fit one person.

He stopped thinking he had shaken him off. The guy looked again over his shoulder, seeing that no one had followed him. He sighed in relief before turning around.

The next second he knew, was that he was being pushed against the wall. At the same time he was staring into golden eyes. The slight grin on the owner of those eyes was enough to make the small hairs in the back of his neck stand up straight.

“I told you. If you want it, I would come,” the guy said, his grin fading away when he saw that Hakyeon had his eyes closed.

Instead he punched the wall hard, making the guy flinch at the sound. His eyes shot open and he was forced to make eye contact, but he couldn’t. Instead his eyes started to wander to his attacker’s hands. That’s when everything suddenly came to a hold. For a moment he thought his heart wasn’t beating. His mind went blank and his breathing stopped.

On his finger was a ring. A ring he knows all too well, since he has exactly the same. So do Jaehwan and Wonshik. Also Hongbin has one in the exact same version and don’t forget Sanghyuk. And most importantly…

When he looked back up, he finally connected the pieces.

“T-Taekwoon?”

He grinned once again before standing up straight right in front of the guy. His arms were crossed while looking at Hakyeon, who seemed to relax in some way. The elder one of the two was nervous, not knowing what he should do. Should he run or talk to his friend in his different…appearance?

“Finally you figured it out.”

“W-What happened to y-you? A f-few days b-back you weren’t l-like this…” the guy stuttered while his eyes moved down again to the ring on his fingers.

This couldn’t be the same Taekwoon as he used to know. This guy is different. The one he knows doesn’t have that red hair and those golden-coloured eyes. Instead he had brown hair and dark brown eyes. The more he looked to more he recognized him. The same cold-like look in his eyes, that only became warm when it was around his friends. That grin that always came when he had a plan for the elder guy to strike back. The same facial features, only slightly sharper then what he’s used to.

“Depends on how long you want the story…”

“Tell me everything! Why! What are you!” the eldest suddenly raised his voice.

All the emotions running around in his system were finally being released. The redhead just shook his head while letting out a deep sigh.

“What I am isn’t easy to explain and I won’t. Just let me say I am a creature of the night. Once the night falls I just change. Nothing can stop it, absolutely nothing.”

Hakyeon was slightly shuddering when he saw those eyes suddenly flared up while telling the story. It was like when he talked about it, the burning became stronger. He shuffled his feet nervously, wanting to make a run, but interested in the story at the same time.

“W-Why did you follow me around? Talk to me when you weren’t around? Haunt me in my sleep? Scare the crap out of me in the bathroom?”

“I wanted to let you know what I am. It’s difficult to hide it forever towards everyone. I needed to find a way to get closer to you. The stalking was mainly to keep an eye on you. You know…I still love you.”

“Liar.”

Again the other just sighed and looked away. His hands were turning into fists, while trying to calm himself down. When he looked back towards the guy, he calmed a little bit down.

“You went away and ignored me later, not me. We still can be friends.”

“Then how.”

“Stop stalking. Stop haunting. Stop everything to scare me. Especially at night and when I am alone,” Hakyeon muttered, feeling how his heartbeat was increasing like crazy.

“Bu-,”

“If you dare, I will just ignore you like you did to me.”

It was like he was defeated. Somehow the more sensitive Taekwoon suddenly appeared, while his head hung low. The elder one was sure of his words. It wasn’t easy for him to pass on after their incident. He kept staring at the guy in front of him. When the redhead raised his head, his eyes were suddenly brown again and becoming warmer.

“I will do it then. But I can sometimes check up on you when I am here and you are walking around at ni-.”

“If you just don’t do it to scare me.”

--

“Bye Minseok!” Hakyeon said, waving when they parted ways.

With slow steps he walked towards his dorm, smiling while he passed the couples. When he passed the café he once went to with Eunyoung, he has her sitting. In front of her she had another guy and it seemed like they were finding it very well with each other. He stopped, looking at them with a smile on his face. At that moment she looked right in his way. Quickly he lifted his thumbs up before continuing his usual stroll back home.

His phone vibrating in the pocket of his jeans, made him stop once again. He took it out only to see Hongbin had sent him a message.

‘We will be at the dorm tonight!’

It was just enough information to make the elder smile, while slipping his phone back in his pocket. With the same grin he walked further, passing a group of people that were talking outside a house. Everyone looked at him, like he was someone incredibly famous.

But then he was there again at the places where less people were during the night. Normally chills would creep up on his spine, making him shiver. His chest would tighten and his heartbeat would become painful. His legs don’t want to move anymore but he had to force them to keep on going further. Somewhere behind him he heard footsteps, nearing him slowly. Momentarily he paused his tracks. If this had been a while ago, he would have grabbed the strap of his bag tighter while whistling a song to distract his overworking mind. Now he just stopped, while grinning. It didn’t stay by just that. His soundless form of amusement became chuckling while shaking his head from side to side.

“What did I tell you?” he asked, slightly turning his head.

There was no one in sight, but he knew someone was listening to him. Where he was, he doesn’t care; but he was somewhere around him. The wind carried a small groan with it, making the elder one even more amused. He warned him, but he can’t make it true. He likes the younger way too much to do that.

Without any hesitation, he continued his walk. He didn’t hear him anymore, so he probably was already ahead of him towards the dorm.

Hakyeon was relieved that his fears had finally disappeared. Like it was just a word that disappeared into thin air. A phobia he called it once, making the other boys laugh like crazy. In some way he could say he overcame it with getting to the core of his problem. Who knew that his friend would be like that? Who knew that he would get stalked like that, scaring him to the core of his body? He is still scared, but the good kind of scared. Not like he had before. There are a few things that had changed in a positive way. But he knew one thing and that is that…

He is a man that walks alone without fear.