Truth
Walk Next To Me
Love is ………………………. shedding tears just for you.
Heechul grabbed Donghae’s shoulders and shook him. “Donghae, tell me exactly what happened yesterday.”
Donghae quivered and bit his lip, trying to explain to Heechul. “He.…he left my place when I told him I was going out.”
Heechul stared at Donghae suspiciuously, “That’s all? Just going out?”
“Errrr….it was Siwon. He wanted to drag me out to his double date thingy….”
“And Hyukjae found out?!” Heechul yelled.
Donghae nodded guiltily.
“Aish! What the hell! You know he likes you right?”
“Well……..technically, he never said it himself………….” Donghae muttered.
“And he just left? He did not throw a fit or got angry?”
“No. He said he understood and he left….”
“Oh dear…he must have been so broken hearted..…”
“You stupid fish!” Heechul yelled and hit the back of Donghae’s head.
“What’s wrong hyung? What is he going to do?!” Donghae yelled, he could not stop his anxiety from rising.
“Aish…this kid. He is a good kid but he will do stupid things! Give me 5 minutes, we shall go out to Han River and look for him.” Heechul announced before walking into the room.
‘Something stupid? Oh God, please, I do not want to see Hyukjae hurt.’ Donghae prayed in his heart.
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The 20 minute cab ride was the most nerve wrecking ride Donghae had ever taken in his life. As soon as they were out of the building, Heechul quickly flagged a cab and theyhurriedly got in.
“Listen carefully Donghae, if you see him, don’t say anything. Don’t advise him and most definitely do NOT scold him. Just bring him home safely.” Heechul instructed firmly. His expression was serious and his eyes reflected his worries. This was the first time Donghae saw Heechul like this.
Donghae was still unsure of why Heechul was all uptight but he was scared to ask. ‘But I need to know! I am so worried about him too!’ Donghae’s thoughts were screaming inside his head.
“Hyung, did something happen in the past? Please, I think I need to know.” Donghae finally asked.
Heechul turned his head to look at the panic stricken Donghae. He sighed. “The last time he was heart broken he tried to do something stupid.”
“Something stupid like what?”
“Aish you moron. Why do you think we are going to Han River for? Cycling?!” Heechul snarled sarcastically.
“Oh my God? He wanted to drown himself?!” Donghae cried. “But why?!!!”
“I told you, he has a very fragile heart. The whole drama with Ji Eun was traumatizing for him. He was blamed for everything and he was almost fired too. It was a really down time in his life.”
Heechul paused and sighed. “Thankfully, I found him just in time. He was in a daze, in fact he could not even remember how he got there, all he could think about was how to end his life as soon as possible.”
Donghae felt his heart ache. He was in pain hearing all this, it hurt him too just listening about this. He cannot believe that he was the cause of Hyukjae’s heart break now.
“Oh…I didn’t know. I didn’t mean to hurt him this time.” Donghae mumbled.
Heechul placed his arms around Donghae and patted his shoulder. “Its ok, let’s hope we can find him.”
Donghae nodded, while wiping his tear away.
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‘Oh my God, Hyukjae where on Earth are you?’ Donghae wondered. He was bending down on his knees trying to catch his breath. He had been running frantically scanning the entire area for the past 30 minutes. Heechul agreed that they should spread out so that they can do a more thorough search. The place was huge, but Heechul was confident that they will be able to find Hyukjae there. According to Heechul, Hyukjae oftens stop by here whenever he was feeling down.
“Oh! What’s happening there?” Donghae thought aloud. About 100 metres from where he was standing, a group of people were gathering. There were commotion and Donghae could see 2 policemen standing amongst the crowd.
Feeling curious, and slightly worried, Donghae jogged slowly to the crowd. He was glad that his ankle had fully recovered and he was able to run in times of emergency such as these. He recalled how Hyukjae insisted that Donghae walk next to him when he was still injured and limping.
He really cared. Even when he was being obnoxious.
As Donghae neared the crowd, he got more and more nervous. ‘Why do I have a bad feeling about this?’ he wondered. The crowd gathered around something, or someone, Donghae could not see because his view was blocked. One of the policemen was trying to keep everyone away while the other one was on his mobile phone.
‘What’s going on?’ He pushed his way through some ahjummas and what he saw shocked him out of his system. In the middle of the crowd, was a body, covered in black synthetic cloth. From the way the body was covered, he knew that the man was already dead. His body was covered thoroughly except a part of his hair was exposed.
Donghae stared at the lifeless body.
Red hair.
This dead man had red hair.
Hyukjae.
Feeling his legs weak and feeling his entire body heavier, Donghae fell onto his knees to the ground and started wailing. He suddenly felt his world crashing down and all the memories of being with Hyukjae came gushing back to his head. His head hurt, his heart was in pain and sudden tears flooded his cheeks and streamed to the ground.
He could not breathe.
‘No, Hyukjae, don’t leave me. Not now.’
Donghae felt someone grabbed his arms from both sides and carried him but he could not tell who it was as he was still weeping profusely. He felt someone’s hands patting his back, telling him to calm down and breathe. There were too many voices around him and his mind only had Hyukjae.
He was almost choking on his own mucus and tears.
‘I can’t breathe…….’
‘Oh God please no….’
‘Its all my fault………….’
‘Come back pls….’
“Hyukjae….no….” Donghae whispered, still crying uncontrollably.
“Yes?”
That voice? That familiar voice.
Donghae turned to his right and to his surprise was Hyukjae starring at him with his eyes wide.
“Hyukkie!” Donghae exclaimed in relief and hugged Hyukjae as tight as he could.
“Yah! You are choking me!”
“Sorry…” Donghae released Hyukjae from his arms. He could not help it, he was too excited and relieved to see him.
Donghae cupped Hyukjae’s cheeks, “Your hair!! Its black!!”
“Yes, I went to dye my hair yesterday. What’s wrong? Do you know that guy?” Hyukjae asked while pointing to the lifeless body.
“Oh that….” Donghae looked down. “I thought he was you………”
Hyukjae chuckled. “Is that why you were wailing away just now?”
Donghae nodded. He felt stupid now. He did not even check the identity of the body and simply jumped to conclusions.
“Yah! Where have you been?! We were worried about you!” Donghae changed the subject.
“We?”
“Heechul hyung and me! We spent the entire morning looking for you!”
“Oh, I went back to my Mum’s place last night. I would have texted Heechul hyung but I think I lost my mobile phone.” He explained.
Donghae digged into his pocket and took out Hyukjae’s phone. “Here. You left it at my place.”
“Oh thank God, I just bought it! I must have forgotten to take it with me when I left your place yesterday. How did you know I will be here?”
“Heechul hyung, he said you often come here to ….... think.”
Hyukjae chuckled again. “Damn that man knows me too well. Nothing ever escapes his eyes. Yup I do occasionally come here to jog.”
“Only jog? You were not trying to do anything stupid?” Donghae leaned closer to Hyukjae.
“Stupid? Nope. I came here to jog and clear my mind a bit. And of course, look at the pretty girl joggers here too.”
“You were looking at girls?!” Donghae barked.
Hyukjae laughed aloud. Donghae was too cute getting all flushed and mad. He really enjoyed teasing Donghae.
“Listen….” Donghae’s tone sounded serious. He turned his body to face Hyukjae and they were both standing face to face. “I did not go on that date yesterday. It was Siwon, it was his idea, I did not want to go.”
Awkward silence. Hyukjae was expressionless.
“Why didn’t you go with him?” he suddenly asked.
“Because I realized that I was already in love with someone else.”
Hyukjae cleared his throat and looked away. “This person whom you are in love with, do I know this person?”
“Yes, a little too well.” Donghae smiled.
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