A/N: I know I was late … but at least finally I can update this!!! ^_^ Sorry for making you wait so long but I’d be really glad if  you enjoy my update … Love you all! <3

The first thing he noticed was the darkness around him and the slight pain around his neck. Actually he did not have any desire to move or wake

up but the pain got worse second by second and even the heavy-like-stone eyelids of his could not win over the pain.

Then, opening his eyes slowly and trying to lift his head from its position on the table with a groan, he found himself in front of his laptop which

was now in sleep mode like he was. His surrounding was pitch black since there was no electricity being in the room. No wonder about

this since he surely had fallen asleep while working on his laptop around at late afternoon with all lights still being turned off and now it was

already nighttime. Seriously how many hours had he fallen asleep?

Letting out another quite painful groan caused by the stiff neck and shoulders after falling asleep on the hard surface like his working table, he

stretched his whole body with a few more moans and groans before standing up to switch on the light and glancing up to the clock on the wall of

his living room.

8.45?

Wow. He had really slept a lot since he could recall that it was around 3 or 4 in the afternoon when his body and mind had gone shut down after

pulling all those continuous all-nighters for his new design. It was not that the deadline was near but just that he had got too immersed in his

work as usual and one more thing was he did not want his mind to be occupied with “that”.

To be exact, that person called Hyesung …

It became a scary state even for himself to realize finally how much that person was occupying his mind and thoughts in the last few days.

Although he had avoided going out of his apartment and made himself drown into his latest design project after that incident, it was like his

thoughts had already been tied down to that owner of the room on the one floor below.

In the next morning after knowing the shocking past of Hyesung, he had got a message from his Nuna delivering the news of Hyesung gaining his

consciousness back and being in a shocked state but not to the serious extent. And in that evening, Minyoung Nuna had dropped in at his

apartment to say goodbye and tell him to take care of Hyesung now and then. Despite of his Nuna’s words, he still could not bring himself to see

Hyesung since in his mind, he was almost 100% sure that the other would definitely get into a panicked state again if he saw him through the

intercom screen.

But it did not mean he was not worried about him at all. After all, it can be said Hyesung was still unstable in both physical and mental states and

he could not know what he was doing while locking himself alone in that apartment.

However, he hated to see that panicked expression on Hyesung’s face and to be mistaken as a person who had done something miserable to him

although he knew it was because Hyesung had been in a complete shock.

He still hated to see those begging eyes of Hyesung telling him not to hurt him.

That was the reason why he was drowning himself into making the new design which was actually still too far away from the deadline. He just

needed something to make him busy and not to go out from his apartment for a while.

Then he heard a growling sound coming from his own stomach and realized that was also one of the reasons why he had woken up from his deep

slumber. Dragging himself to the kitchen to find something decent to eat, it took only a few more seconds for him to realize that his rations had

already run out and that cup ramen he had had this afternoon as lunch was the final piece of his groceries in the cupboard.

He groaned with a huge disappointment. The first thing that came into his mind was to call Chinese Restaurant and order something. But on the

second thought, then, he would have still nothing to eat for the next few days. Anyway, he had to stock up his groceries again since he wanted

to hibernate in his apartment for a few more days.

So, finally, the decision to give a quick visit to the convenience store was made. After splashing water on his a bit bloated face and touching his

messy hair here and there to fix it, he picked up his jacket and wallet and exited his apartment.

As soon as he opened the door, he felt the atmosphere that was completely different with the stuffy air inside his apartment. Maybe that was

why people say staying inside a room for a long time and not going out is not good for your health.

Heading to the lift, he raised his hand to push the button but in the moment, a thought suddenly hit him.

To go down on foot using the stairs because he needed some exercise for his body since he had been sitting a lot in front of his laptop all this

time.

Ok. He was lying.

He just wanted to take a glance at Hyesung’s apartment for a few seconds. He knew he was not going to ring the bell and make the other

shocked with his presence again. But he just wanted to look at the door of his apartment at least. Even he could not explain his weird self but in

his head, a small voice was telling him to take a glance at the closed door of Hyesung’s apartment would make him relieved somehow.

And before his sanity took a control back, his legs had already carried him towards the stairs and in the next second, he found himself going

down step by step. At the next moment he noticed, he was standing on the short passage leading to the corridor and a few meters in front of

him was a closed metal door that he wanted to look at.

Leaning onto the wall, he could not take away his stare from that cold metal door. Despite of no glances of Hyesung, as that small voice in his

head had said, just looking at the door made his heart calm somehow. Like a warm blanket at cold winter night, the warm feeling overwhelmed

his heart and without himself knowing, a smile crept onto his face.

*Clack*

He got startled with the sudden sound from the door and even before he could initiate an action, the door started to open and at the next

second, a familiar figure got out from the behind of the door.

A familiar figure in an all-black outfit …

He had to admit he was stunned at that moment he saw Hyesung because he was not expecting it at all. Hyesung was in a loose T-shirt and long

pants, being different with most of the time. Maybe he was wearing like this because he was inside his apartment but to him, it was so

refreshing and relieving to see Hyesung like that. Not being trapped in clothes.

Then he noticed a large plastic bag in his hand and realized Hyesung came out to put his garbage outside of the room. Subconsciously he moved

backwards into the faint darkness, being worried if the other would see him and got shocked. And at the moment, his breath hitched.

Because Hyesung just turned his head towards his direction after putting the plastic bag leaning onto the wall beside the door and their eyes

locked.

One … Two … Three …

It must be just a few seconds but for him, it felt like forever drowning in those big orbs. And he noticed that it was not only him who got

frozen. Hyesung was still standing with his lips being slightly apart and his eyes without blinking at all. There was no wonder since they had not

met after that incident and he had to admit he was like a creepy stalker standing outside the door of Hyesung’s apartment at this kind of late

hour.

Then, his eyes caught Hyesung’s hand trying to close the door again and at that time, he did not know what possessed him suddenly to call

Hyesung’s name out loud.

“Hyesung-shi …”

Then, everything went frozen again. Thankfully, Hyesung stopped his action to close the door but he did not look at him at all. He fixed his eyes

at the floor in front of him while grasping the handle of the door tightly.  

Actually, he did not know what he was doing. He had even decided not to disturb Hyesung again with his presence. All he had wanted to do was

to glance at Hyesung’s apartment. But once he saw Hyesung, a feeling of wanting to say all out of his heart was filling up his inside and he could

not hold it back anymore. He just wanted Hyesung to know what he actually had in his mind.

 "Hyesung-shi.... I’ll stay here and I won’t come close to you … so can you just listen to what I’m gonna say for a minute?”

Taking the silence as “Yes” from Hyesung, he took in a deep breath before spilling his heart.

“I know you don't want me to be around you ... and sorry for being so clingy to you and making you feel uncomfortable all this time ... I'll leave

you alone from now on ... but one thing I just wanna say is ... it'd be really good to see you smiling and living happily without any dark shadows

around you ... I know I'm being strange ... but even though u can't trust me ... please just take my words that I really want you to be happy ...

although I’m not the one who makes u happy ... Anyway I really want u to live ur life fully with smiles ... not masks ... I just want only this from

you ... Nothing else matters ... As u told me once... we're strangers .... so I don’t know … maybe I’m asking too much without knowing my place

… but I'd be really happy if I'd see your smile … even though you’re too far away from me... Just … take care yourself Hyesung-shi ... Good night

…"

After throwing out all from his chest, he sent a weak smile to the one standing behind the door although he did not know his smile could be

seen or not. Taking a backward step, he headed back to the direction of the stairs to go down and then, one faint word made all of his actions

halt.

“Why?”

Abruptly turning his body, he saw the full figure of Hyesung standing near the door. And this time, he was no longer staring at the floor. His eyes

showed nervousness but they were looking directly at his eyes, like he was trying to look at his inner soul.

“Why would you be happy if I smile?”

Hyesung attacked him with another question and he found out that he had no answer to give back. Just staring back at Hyesung for the next

few seconds, he could not utter a single word.

And after the final question from Hyesung before he closed the door quietly, he found himself being left with the echo of Hyesung’s soft voice.

“Why are you making me feel like … I’m cared about and … loved?”