1.

Edited on 21/01/2017 at 9:02pm

(A/N: italics = flashbacks)

Chapter 1

Donghae had just finished sending all the subscribed newspapers around the neighbourhood. As he soon as he arrived home, he parked the bicycle at its place and went in, coming out a few seconds after retrieving his car’s remote. With a long coat that ended just above his knees snuggly fit on him instead of his blue hoodie, he got in his Bentley. As Donghae drove, a ghost of a smile lingered on his face at every moment. The sun had risen up quite high while he was driving, and Donghae embraced the warmth given by it in the cold weather. He had turned the radio on and his fingers tapped against the steering wheel to the beat of soft ballad music.

He parked his car at the side of the road, a bit further from the place he was heading to. He got off, and with hands in his coat pockets, he strolled into the coffee shop and sat at his favourite table by the door. A middle-aged man, the owner of the shop, had already anticipated his arrival, knowing the young man would come around the hour, and was by his side the moment Donghae made himself comfortable.

“Is it the usual, Donghae?” the man smiled at him, wrinkled and slightly trembling hands holding a pen and a notepad.

Grinning, Donghae said, “Yes, Mr Dawson.”

“Alright then, one caramel macchiato and one hot chocolate coming right up,” Donghae gave the man a thumbs-up and a genuine smile before the man left him with his orders. Very soon, as if it had already been prepared before he stepped into the humble, cosy shop, his drinks arrived and were placed on the table. He thanked Mr Dawson and took a sip of the caramel macchiato, carefully sliding the hot chocolate closer to the opposite chair. For a moment he sat there, staring at the mug, before he moved his gaze upward and his smile widened.

Eunhyuk took a sip, “Ah… the hot chocolate here has never failed me.”

“You know, you’ve been saying that every day, when we come here. Are you implying mind have?” Donghae crossed his arms, a brow quirked up, and glared at his boyfriend.

“That’s not what I meant, but, you can put it that way if you want,” Eunhyuk shrugged before he turned away from the other, hiding his grin behind his drink. Donghae stared at him, his mouth slightly ajar, eyes opened in slits; He did not have to say the word, Eunhyuk could read the ‘how dare you?’ that might have well been written on Donghae’s face. Chuckling, Eunhyuk looked at him, “What? I said if you want to. If you don’t, then no,”

“Say it!”

“What?”

“I make the best hot choc for you.”

“Yes, Hae, you make the best hot chocolate for me. Your delicate way of making it makes me fall in love with you every time I take a sip from our couple mugs,” Eunhyuk gave him his trademark gummy smile, and that wavered the annoyed look Donghae had on his face.

Donghae started smiling, but still tried to keep his façade up, “You made it sound fake, you realize that?”

“Then, let me change my statement. Hae,” Eunhyuk cleared his throat and grabbed Donghae’s hand on the table, and he caressed it with his thumb, his eyes staring into the other’s with full of fondness, “You make the best and the sweetest part of my life. You are my sweet confection. There is nothing sweeter or better than you. How does that sound?”

Cheeks tinged with pink, Donghae placed his other hand on top of the clasped hands, holding them tighter, “Better. Much better,” he finally served the other his full smile, chuckling slightly.

“What are you looking at, dear?” Mr Dawson asked his wife, who had been staring at Donghae for the last 10 minutes from behind the counter.

“Him,” she admitted, nodding her head towards the lone young man. She was checking and wiping the counter when she suddenly heard Donghae talking, as if he was answering someone. When she turned to look who was the young man talking to, she saw no one, but noticed that Donghae was looking direct to the spot in front of him, glaring. Then, he started talking again, a smile apparent on his face. She watched with a frown as the young man placed each hand on top of the other, gripping both of them tightly. “I’m concerned, dear.”

Mr. Dawson lightly gripped his wife’s shoulder, “There is nothing to be worried about, or at least nothing we can help with. You know he has been like that for about a month now. We know he is not crazy, dear. He is just…” Mr Dawson saw Donghae approaching the counter with a brilliant smile “Lonely.”

“Hey, Mr. and Mrs. Dawson. I’m ready to pay,” Donghae took his wallet out and opened it. But, before he was able to take a single bill out, Mrs. Dawson’s hands clasped his, not letting him and closing his wallet. Donghae watched her with a tilted head.

“Now, sweetheart, there’s no need to pay. It’s our treat today,” said the kind woman, a sincere smile adorning her face and tears glistening in her eyes, the same look reflected on Donghae’s face.

“Mrs. Dawson-”

“No, you must accept this. And, you can come here any time you like, even if you just want to sit. You can also come here if you want to talk, I’m a little lonely sometimes even with this old man here with me,” the woman chuckled when his husband made a furious face.

Donghae smiled at their antics and thanked both of them. He made a promise he would come when he needed a friend, “But, it won’t be frequent. I do have someone that I have to accompany at home,” he turned slightly, looking back at the table he had sat.

The sweet lady patted his hands, “Yes, sweetheart. Just do come sometimes.”

Mr. Dawson had gone to Donghae’s table to clear it up while his wife talked to the young man. Just like every other time, he would have to pick one empty cup of caramel macchiato and a full cup of hot chocolate. He had wondered why when he first found them, but when he remembered who usually drink the hot choc, he did not dare asking. And since then, he could just smile sadly every time he had to clean Donghae’s table.

“I will. Good day, Mr Dawson, Mrs Dawson,” Donghae took his leave and the couple watched as he walked out, noting his hand that seemed to be holding something that they, and anyone else, could see.

It was not just the middle-aged couple that saw moments such as this. People had seen Donghae acting what they labelled weird, or, more often, crazy. Those who knew why only smiled and looked at him with sympathy in their eyes, and those who did not, never went close enough to find out. It did not make a difference. No matter they knew or not, they left him alone. They did whisper about him, and Donghae sometimes heard them, but he ignored it all, like they ignored him. And so, Donghae’s life went on like that.

Donghae walked around the block for a while, just wandering aimlessly. He had started to enjoy strolling as he had done it frequently nowadays, much like Eunhyuk. For some reasons, his Hyukkie had always enjoyed walking, saying there was something nice about it. Slowly, letting his feet took him wherever they might, letting fate play by itself.

“We did met because we were on a walk, didn’t we, Hae?”

Donghae rolled his eyes as they walked side to side, though he was remembering the memory with fondness, “Yes, the cliché my-car-broke-down-and-I-hated-walking-but-then-I-met-the-love-of-my-life-who-helped-me-when-I-was-finding-some-help meeting.”

Eunhyuk chuckled, “Yes, that. Cliché, yet still have our own sentimental value to it that made it ours and ours only.”

Waving his hand nonchalantly, Donghae said, “Yeah, yeah. You have always been big on sentimental things.” Suddenly, Eunhyuk grabbed his hand, halting them both. Donghae found himself staring into eyes filled with emotions, with reminiscence, a kind of adoration only for him to see.

“I just love memories, especially the ones with you. Cause, whatever happens, we will have memories with us, right?”

Donghae could not stop the smile tugging his lips, nor his arms from wrapping themselves around his Hyukkie. He pursed his lips into a pout, though, as he said, “Memories not enough for me, I’ll be needing your presence no matter what or else the memories are empty. Just promise me you will always be there to have this memory-sentimental walk with me?”

Hyukjae pulled Donghae’s arms off him – Donghae did not mind, though, knowing how uncomfortable his Hyukkie could get with public display of affection – and went back to holding one of it in his, tugging Donghae into falling in steps next to him again, “Then, let’s share this walk then, shall we?”

“We shall.”

A lady was walking opposite to him, a fair distance ahead. She tilted her head down before running her fingers in her hair, flipping her long, black locks back. She looked up with an undeniably dazzling smile to Donghae, but, she was met by a raised brow and a scowl. She stumbled but managed to stop herself from falling, but even if her face did met the ground, Donghae thought he would not care as he walked away and toward his car.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk. What did she do to deserve that?”

Donghae did not even have to look to know who was talking to him, “She was being a ! Trying to flirt with every man she sees.”

“Don’t you think she’s just a civilized person? People smile all the time,” the man approached him as Donghae leaned back against his Bentley, arms crossed.

He sneered, “Yeah, all those es have to smile at my Hyukkie.”

Averting his eyes away, Donghae could hear the man sighed, “Donghae, she was smiling at you.”

“So? If I’m not letting Eunhyuk smile at anyone else, I won’t smile at anyone else too. That’s our deal, you know it.”

“That’s why you were scowling at a seemingly very nice woman?”

“Yes,” he exclaimed, as if it was the most righteous thing to do, “What are you doing here, Heechul hyung?” Donghae finally turned to look at the man now leaning with him against the car, hands hidden in his pockets.

Heechul rolled his eyes, “I can’t go around now? Geez!”

“You can. But, there must be a reason why you come as far as London just to ‘go around’. Worried about me?”

Heechul put on a smug face, snorting, “Excuse me? Do you think you’re the centre of my universe? That I have to be concerned about you?” Donghae gave him a bored stare, his eyebrow quirked up for the second time that day, and Heechul relented, “Oh, fine! I came here to see how my favourite non-biological dongsaeng doing. Is that a sin?”

Donghae stood straight again, uncrossing his arms, “I’m… great. You can leave.”

Giving a quick cursory check up and down the younger man, Heechul commented, “You don’t act ‘great’ like you said though.”

Donghae opened his car’s door, pushing Heechul off his car, and went in, starting the engine before closing it back, “Oh yeah? But I feel great though. That’s what matters, right?”

Heechul turned and placed his hands on the open top car, getting into Donghae’s personal space as much as he could, “Probably. But definitely not mostly that matters. You haven’t moved on, have you?”

The younger rolled his eyes and kept his hands on the wheel, gripping them hard, “What should I move on from, hyung?”

Heechul shrugged, “Your past. Wait, no, his past, Donghae. You should move on from his past and proceed with your future.”

“And why should I? Look, hyung. I respect you, but you can’t tell me what to do. This is what I have chosen, the path I have taken. So, back off and move on from my life!” He drove away when Heechul lifted his hands from the car, leaving the older man behind.

Heechul sighed, “Why did you ask me to do this, Eunhyuk? Why did you leave me with this task? Why did you pass that pig-headed boy’s hand to me?”

Donghae drove aimlessly, not caring where the road would take him and just kept his foot on the acceleration. He did not like the idea of having Heechul in the same town. That was the only person he knew that would try to stop him from doing what he needed to do. He would never get what that hyung was here for. He was fine, he was living his life, and he was eating like he should. He was doing all right, living his life the way he wanted to. He had the person he needed with him. What he did not need was anyone to interfere with his life.

Thus, as his mind was occupied elsewhere, Donghae was not thinking straight when it happened. He was not looking ahead. His mind was somewhere else and not on the road. He did not totally regret it though, if he was honest, because, if he was thinking and looking straight, he would not be able to meet him.

When he was deep in his own thoughts, a blaring sound, coming from his right, penetrated his eardrums. That made Donghae looked at the direction, yet, there was nothing he could do, and there was nothing anyone could have done to stop the crash from happening.

A black Mercedes crashed into the side of Donghae’s car, pushing the Bentley with enough force that it skidded to side of the road.

The owner of the Mercedes was holding his arm as he walked out of his car and went to the car he had crashed with. He winced as he continued to approach the seemingly unconscious man.

“Hey?” his voice sounded hesitating as he shook the man’s shoulder.

Donghae was not fully conscious, but he felt his body being carefully pulled back by someone, and he was laid back against his seat. Blood was sipping out of the cut he had received when his head hit the wheel hard. He tried to stay awake, but the temptation to dreamland was so much, it was hard.

“Hey. Are you alright?”

Donghae suddenly heard someone talking to him. He had a hard time trying to lift his eyelids; they felt so heavy at that time. But he managed to open them slightly and had a glimpse of the man who was talking to him.

If Donghae could jump at that moment, he would have.

If Donghae could scream, he would have.

If Donghae could muster enough energy to wrap his arms around the person leaning closely in vision range, he would have.

Yet, all he could do was let out a breathy, almost inaudible ‘Hyukkie…’ and it was his last word before he fully succumbed to unconsciousness.

That's the first chapter. I have finally finished up the guideline/storyline/plot for the story. I have figured out what I'm going to do. I'm not sure if you're going to like it. I hope yes.