Final

It had been a nice day.

Today, the sun shined bright. Too bright to be winter. Today, there hadn't been a single cloud in the sky. Today, groups of teenage girls crowded around two or three idols that had been spotted on the streets. Today, although it was still cold, many couples toured the street shops with their hands firmly locked together.

Today, just like every other day, Luhan was sad.

Today felt different, though. He was tired. Not just physically, but mentally as well. He was tired of living in a black and white world, tired of himself, tired of trying, of society, of no one caring about him. Today, Luhan looked down upon the highest bridge in Seoul, Korea; with his elbows resting on the railing and a chilly winter wind running through his hair, causing it to fall over his eyes. He decided that today was the day.

7:46 p.m.

It was dark out; however, the streets of Seoul were still bustling with cars and people. Street lamps slowly flickered to life. People harshly shoved past Luhan, eager to get home and usually grumbling about how slow he was walking. At one point, he was even shoved to the ground and stepped on by accident. The person who did it, a slim guy about Luhan's height with pale skin and dyed blonde hair, looked down at him with an intimidating icy stare. He didn't help him up, only asked him a question in a language that Luhan didn't understand. After seeing Luhan pathetically shoved around some more by pedestrians walking by, the guy just rolled his eyes at the fragile boy, grumbling something in that unknown language, and left him still laying in the middle of the sidewalk.

Luhan quickly willed himself with the small amount of energy he had left to stand and get back on his feet before he was trampled again. He had scraped his knees and cheek from the fall, but that didn't matter to him. He wiped his hands on his short sleeved shirt and headed towards the direction of the bridge he had been to earlier. A blast of cold wind whipped around him, ruffling his clothing and hair. Luhan shivered and wrapped his thin arms around himself.

As he continued walking, he was surprised to find that his mind wasn't all jumbled and scattered. It was actually the opposite. He was feeling more relaxed than he had in years. He laughed dryly to himself as he realized the irony of it all. His laugh disappeared as quickly as it bubbled up though, replaced with a dull, blank mask.

8:04 p.m.

It started to snow. Luhan paused, doe-eyes looking up at the large white flakes steadily drifting to the ground. Some passed through the dull light of a street lamp, flashing a pale yellow color before twinkling and turning crystal white again. One flake softly landed on the bridge of his nose, nearly blending in with the pale boy's skin. For a brief moment, his lifeless demeanor melted away, replaced with a soft expression, as he reached up to touch the snowflake with steady fingertips.

His cell phone buzzed multiple times. Startled, he furiously wiped the snowflake on his nose before reaching into his pants pocket. He didn't bother checking the caller ID. "Hello?"

"Luhan," a familiar voice breathed out in a relieved sigh, "thank god you picked up. Where are you?"

Luhan didn't answer. He felt his usual blank expression instantly appear again. "Why are you calling me Yixing? Shouldn't you be at work right now?"

"I'm on break, but I just realized you're not here." The male on the other line huffed, which Luhan knew was a sign that he was irritated. "Nor were you here yesterday, or the day before that, or the day before that. Where are you, Lu?" Luhan remained silent. "I'm really worried," Yixing whispered the last part.

Luhan remembered; the bridge. He was exhausted. So exhausted and cold, but forced himself to carry forward. He adjusted his hold on his phone, continuing to walk towards his destination. "Don't be. I'm fine. I'll be home tomorrow, okay?" he lied easily through his teeth. He knew it would hurt Yixing when tomorrow came and there wouldn't be a Luhan standing outside his door. But sometimes, it was better to lie and cover up the horrible truth. It was less painful.

Luhan's lanky frame seemed to shimmer through each section of the sidewalk that was lit by street lights. He heard Yixing sigh in relief once again. "Good. Even Wufan is worried about you." Luhan scowled, practically hearing the dimpled smile creep onto Yixing's face. How could anyone miss him? What lies.

"Yeah."

Now arriving at the bridge, he felt a corner of his lips twitch in one last attempt to smile.

"Could you at least tell me where you're at?" asked Yixing. He rested a hand on the railing.

While looking down at the magnificent drop into the water below, he answered, "I'm in Korea."

"Oh okay just come back -- wait! -- what? Korea??!" Yixing suddenly exploded into the phone. Luhan thought he heard Wufan telling him to shut up in the background, but he was probably just imagining things.

"Yeah," he said plainly. He blinked when a blast of freezing air danced past him, sending goosebumps rushing up his arms. Yixing was frantically spewing out rushed questions like when-did-you-leave and why-didn't-you-tell-us and are-you-okay.

It was now or never.

8:11 p.m.

His mind started to focus in and out from the overwhelming amount of adrenaline now pumping through him. "Bye, Yixing. There's no tomorrow for me." Luhan interrupted his friend in the middle of a question.

Yixing hissed a sharp "What?" into the phone. "Luhan-

He ended the call.

Luhan stood under a light, peering at his hand on the railing and noticing how his skin was powdered in a light layer of white. The snow didn't hide the red gashes on his wrist though. The snow didn't hide the healing pink lines on his wrist. The snow didn't hide his bar-coded arm.

He chuckled, empty and humorlessly. "No tomorrow for me." he muttered, a breeze sweeping by to pick up his words and carry them out to the open water. He felt a single tear slip out of his eye, but the breeze quickly carried that away, too.

8:13 p.m.

He used every last ounce of energy he had left to hoist himself up onto the rail. He successfully did, sitting down comfortably with his back leaning against a street lamp and his tiny legs dangling without a care in the world. His heart beat in rapid ba-dum-ba-dum's as he allowed his eyes drift downwards to the icy water hundreds of feet below him. For minutes, he continued staring down at the water that seemed to be quite eager to finally have someone to devour into their hungry stomachs. The dark waves sloshed around noisily, seeming to climb halfway up every time they collided with the base of the poles supporting the bridge, only to fall back down. His eyes widened. He realized then that he was afraid. No, not afraid by the fact that he was going to jump off and take his own life,; instead, afraid someone would stop him.

8:21 p.m.

And someone did stop him.

Someone crept up behind him, s their arms around his bony waist, and yanked him backwards with a harsh tug. Luhan gasped when his tailbone made contact with the cement. He was surprised at first, his mouth hanging open and his eyes wide. He was afraid to meet the eyes of this person, shame suddenly flooding him. He snapped his jaw shut and inhaled and exhaled in shaky breaths. He would not cry. All he had to do was get back up onto his feet and throw himself over that stupid railing. He could do it, he could do it. To his surprise, this person crouched down to his eye level and put both his hands on Luhan's shoulders.

Luhan felt his eyes widening along with a blush that was surely spreading across his cheeks, as he saw how....... attractive........ this guy was. Straight black hair so dark it looked almost blue. His sideburns were extremely long, falling past his chin, but the hairstyle itself was still fairly short. Those gleaming round eyes that pierced into Luhan's own pair, so round and colored a rich dark brown. The guy tilted his head just slightly, Luhan taking notice how slim this guy's face was, but his cheeks were round and full. He didn't understand how that could be.

Luhan blinked rapidly, realizing how stupid he must have looked at the moment. He tried to squirm out of the other male's hold, but it was pointless. He had no energy and was malnourished. The male in front of him asked him a question in the same language that the guy who had pushed Luhan down earlier used. When he got no reply, he frowned slightly and repeated his question. Luhan remained clueless.

He shook his head quickly at the guy, trying to say that he didn't understand what he was trying to say. The frown on the guy's face deepened. He asked Luhan a different question, this time saying it slower than the first one. Still, Luhan couldn't understand a single word he was saying! He shook his head again. By the annoyed tone in his voice, Luhan figured the guy would walk away and he could finally fling himself over the bridge, just as he wanted to.

But, no.

The guy sat down in front of him. He pointed to Luhan, then rubbed the sides of his arms as he brought them close to his body. Luhan froze.

Was he. . . . . . . .

He did this again, except this time, he scooped up some of the snow on the ground and rubbed it on his jacket sleeve, pretending to shiver.

Cold?

Luhan nodded hesitantly. Wordlessly, the guy ped his large jacket with one hand while removing his thick blue scarf as well. He beckoned Luhan to come closer with a finger. Luhan shook his head. He pointed to his stomach and rubbed it. The lack of food for at least five days now had weakened him to the point that he could barely manage to walk. The male seemed to understand this because he was the one scooting closer to Luhan. His warm hand took hold of Luhan's wrist, fingers lingering too long on the knob of the bone protruding the flesh. His eyes didn't miss the red and pink marks on his arms. He locked gazes with Luhan for a brief second. During that moment, Luhan saw the flash of agonizing understanding in his round eyes. But the other male looked away as he gently assisted Luhan into slipping the jacket on and zipped it all the way up to his chin afterwards. Luhan saw a flash of blue and before he knew it, a wool scarf was delicately wrapped around his neck.

He swallowed thickly at the sincere act. It was so simple, yet so caring.

The other male pointed to himself, "Meen-see-ock," he said, slowly sounding out each syllable for Luhan. Was that his name? "Meen-see-ock," he repeated once again. Luhan his dry lips before uttering the one name that would soon become everything he would lived for.

8:37 p.m.

"Minseok."

A charming smile appeared on this Minseok's face, causing a cotton candy pink to stain Luhan's cheeks. Minseok seemed to notice this, chuckling a bit as he pointed to Luhan.

Luhan pointed at himself, questioning if he should say his own name. Minseok nodded. "Loo-hahn," he whispered timidly while pulling the scarf up to cover his mouth.

Minseok stood, offering his hand out for Luhan to take. Luhan stared at it, stared at Minseok's handsome face, then back at the hand in front of him. He reached out and grasped it with all his strength. Minseok smiled warmly at the fragile boy whom was now standing with his hand still in the Korean's. He decided that he liked how it felt to hold the foreign boy's hand.

"Luhan," he murmured cheerfully to himself because what a beautiful name that was. Beautiful people deserved beautiful names.