I shivered a little, as I walked towards my home. The streets were a little too dark for my liking, the chill spreading from my limbs, sneaking up my spine as I struggled to suppress a shudder.

Only ten days till Halloween.

Walking up the dark stairway, I fumbled for my keys; the metal glowing was the only source of light I had.

Swiftly, I opened the door, just to hear the one right next to me slowly creak open.

I thought Jonghyun went out with Key.

I blinked at the door, then shrugging it off, I tried to stick it into the keyhole.

There was suddenly a bright light. The door opened wide, and a short figure came out, a torch pointed at my door.

“Thanks, Jonghyun! I didn’t expect you to be home. Did Key ditch you?” I snickered, but he didn’t answer, his face lowered and half concealed by the darkness so I could only see his brown hair that seemed to flicker in the darkness.

Finally, my door swung open, and I laughed triumphantly. I was about to turn and thank my friend, when I saw his figure fading down the stairs silently. Getting ditched by Key probably had a bad impact on him. I debated on following him, and taking him for coffee, but I knew he would be fine. And the thought of taking a long and warm bath sounded very tempting.

He can have that time of quiet for himself. I’ll bother him about it later.

So I did what I wanted to, soaking myself in a nice bubble bath, the smell of roses surrounding me. I was glad my mum sent in some of her favorite scented candles , it helped cure my homesickness every time I smelled it.

Drying myself off and pulling on some pants, I only slung a towel around my neck, sighing when I realized that the shirt my brought had, very conveniently, took a dunk into the sink. Apparently the metal rack was too slippery. Go figure.

I let out a deep sigh, but decided it was alright. Who cared if I was half in the house? There was no one around, and even Jonghyun had went out to sulk, probably to drown himself in soju.

Still, without that noisemaker around, one could get pretty bored. I wandered towards  my bedroom and opened the door to my most favorite place in the house. The balcony. It faced the sea, so I could smell salt every time I got there. Yay.

But there something I loved without a doubt. The stars. Yes, the glittering balls of gas that were a trillion billion dunno how many kilometers away.  I knew I was childish, but I liked to reach my arms out, and pretended that I had captured a few of those shiny specks into my palm, then I could make a wish anytime I wanted.

I was doing the exact same thing again today. Both my arms stretched out, a smile on my face as I watched the gold and silver specks disappear into my fists.  I opened and closed my hands, grinning as I had fun over the lame little trick.

Then something fell right into my arms. Literally. I almost retracted my arms, but I stopped myself just in time before I dropped it.

It’s…..it’s…..it’s a boy!

Horrified, I lifted him more securely in my grasp, and pulled him to the safety of the balcony. I noticed his head lolling, and blood trickled down his body and his limbs. The metallic scent was making my head dizzy, and I could feel it flowing down my arms and I trembled a little in fear.

Is he dead?

I put him onto the ground, his back against the marble wall. I leaned in, trying to listen to his breath.

And that was when I realized how stupid I was.

Two hands clamped around my neck, and I cried out, choking as I felt my voice lost so I couldn’t scream. I struggled for air, my hands scrabbling on the ground, desperately fighting from the boy’s steely grip.

I looked up, and I almost screamed, if not for his hands gripping onto my neck. His eyes were blood red, with a circle of glowing amber. It was luminous and was somewhat blank, as if the person didn’t have any thoughts in his head.

“L-let….m……me……g….go…..” I managed to croak. For a moment, the boy continued to fix his blank gaze on me. Then suddenly, his eyes widened and he let me go at once. I immediately gasped for air,  curling into a fetal position as I choked, letting oxygen fill up my lungs once more.

“Why did you do that? I just saved you from falling down a building!” I snapped. And considering the floor of where I lived, it was a long way down. At least……20 stories?

“Did I fall?” His voice came out just as hoarse as mine. I stared, and I noticed his eyes were now dazzling blue. I breathed out a sigh of relief. Red eyes are impossible. I must’ve been hallucinating in panic back there.

The boy suddenly looked up, and curled his lip at empty air. He continued glaring at the empty space above my head a moment longer, before turning back to me.

“Thanks for helping me, Minho. My name is Taemin, Lee Taemin.” He stretched out his hand for a shake. I shivered slightly when our hands touched. His was cold, as if all the warmth had been from him.

“Do you live upstairs?” I asked. He shook his head.

“No. I don’t even know what this place is, thank you very much.”

I could feel my jaw wide open, probably dropping in shock by his words.

“I’ve never been here before. It’s so high up.” He pointed out the view of the balcony, a slight expression of awe on his face.

One would think he had never seen a balcony all his life.

“Well, where do you live?”

Taemin cocked his head to one side, about to answer when his eyebrows furrowed, and his lips twisted into a frown.

“What’s wrong?”

He stared straight into my eyes, his gaze filled with distress as he whispered.

“I-I don’t know.”

“What?!”

He looked close to tears when he brought his trembling hands to either sides of his face, clutching his head.

“I….I don’t remember….. Where…..Wh-where did I…..”

I took his hands from either side of his head. He blinked at me in surprise.

“Just stay here with me. You’ll probably remember in a few days , within a week I think.” He nodded, a smile returning to his lips as he struggled to his feet.

He was no thief, I was sure of that. What kind of thief would fall out of a building, thinking of that tiny of luck that he would be caught by some guy on a balcony like me, and steal everything the guy had? There was no way a thief would do that. That was suicide.

The only explanation I could think of was that he had amnesia. Probably one that went a little bonkers at the hospital, accidentally wandered into some estate and free fell from the 20^th floor. It was the most reasonable and logic reason I could think of for having this giggling boy here.

But still, I wondered why the guard hadn’t stopped him. Or anybody else. How did he even get in a flat anyway?

 I was still deep in thought when the doorbell rang. Taemin sprung to his feet, a little energetically for someone who just bungee jumped down a building, and headed for the door, moving like a silent ninja .

When the door flew open, I saw Jonghyun and Key standing there.

“Hi M-MINHO!” Key’s voice ended up in a shirll scream when he caught sight of a bleeding Taemin waving at him, red liquid still flowing down th ground and puddling at their feet.

“What happened?” Jonghyun gasped, shouldering the door aside and leading Key in, who was still frightfully eyeing the red puddles on the ground.

“He fell from the 20^th floor. Gotta work on him. But anyway, I thought Key ditched you? I saw you moping around like some whiny puppy just now!”

I exclaimed, bandaging and wiping Taemin, as he watched my movements, his icy gaze intent on my every move.

“Moping? When?”

“Uhhh….well it’s 9 pm right now, so I’d say, half an hour ago?”

Jonghyun gave me a questioning stare, and removed the hoodie from his head. Even under the pitch-blackness, I could see his hair. It was platinum blonde, not brown.

“I left at 5 in the evening, Minho.”

At that moment, my blood chilled. Taemin’s icy gaze wasn’t any help either, as if it were turning me into ice.

The short person who helped me earlier was not Jonghyun. It was so silent…..so quiet. It never spoke, and I…….

I couldn’t….see…his face.