Lee Jaehwan.

What is he doing here? Why is he in my room? How did he find me?

“Taekwoon…” the male said quietly.

So many questions were spinning in Taekwoon’s head; both good and bad but the moment he heard his name, it all disappeared. His mind went totally blank. He calmed himself down by sitting on the floor; one of the few places where he felt safe.

Jaehwan on the other hand, didn’t move an inch. He didn’t know what to do, to be honest. Should he sit? But where? …on the bed? On the floor next to Taekwoon? Would that be okay for him? If yes, then what's he to do next? Maybe talk…but of what? What if whatever he said was wrong at the moment…? Is Taekwoon mad?

His hands weren’t his hands anymore; he didn’t know where to put them. They felt awkward just hanging by his side.

“You haven’t changed a bit, have you, Taekwoon?” he finally said, breaking the silence.

Quietly, Taekwoon waited.

Changed? Of course, he's changed. But not for the better, he thought to himself.

“You still like to write. Even more now…from the way I see it. But... don’t you draw anymore? Like you used to do with me?” Jaehwan asked timidly.

Listening, Taekwoon went numb.

‘…with me.’

Those 2 words seemed more familiar than his own breath at the moment. He used to say them a lot, Jaehwanie, Taekwoon thought.

“Want to join us play football today? If you’re shy, you can come with me…”

“Taek! Come and have lunch with me! Aren’t you bored eating by yourself?”

“Hey! I’m bored…wanna go to the comic café with me today?”

“Guys, this is Taekwoon, my new friend. Be nice to him, okay? He’s with me.”

Slowly, a little smile crept up Taekwoon’s face.

Jaehwan saw it. It was intriguing. He tried to muster up all the courage he had and took a deep, deep breath. Here goes nothing, he sighed.

“You know…I’m really sorry about what happened to us… I know I may be the last person you want to see right now, let alone listen to what I have to say…but I really am sorry. I’m sorry if whatever I did back then hurt you. I didn’t mean it to be like that. I just thought that you were better off left as you were,” Jaehwan tried explaining as gently as he could.

Silence.

“Taekwoon?”

Silently, Taekwoon grabbed the nearest marker he could find and started writing on the floor as if Jaehwan hadn’t said anything at all. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to reply, but it was because he didn’t know what to say. What he wrote was nothing related to what was happening; it was just another poem he remembers in his head. He wrote and wrote until it reached the last line.

He saw Jaehwan sitting on the floor a few feet away from him, also holding a marker in his hand. He didn’t turn to the other; not even an inch but he kept his eye on him.

He was writing something. He was writing, but not at his spot. Instead, he wrote in the gap that was in between him and Taekwoon. He wrote so timidly, it was almost a little pitiful to Taekwoon. Almost but not enough, apparently.

‘I’m sorry,’ he wrote in small letters.

Waiting for a few breaths, Taekwoon decided to reply; writing under what Jaehwan had written.

‘I’m sorry too.’

‘You are…? For what?’

‘For thinking badly of you back then when all you did was for my own good.’

Blinking a little too much, Jaehwan tried to understand what he just read. So Taekwoon knew his intentions when he tried to distance himself back then was only so that Taekwoon won’t get teased by the kids. Even when in the end, he did get teased.

‘It wasn’t your fault. I knew you were only trying to help.’ Taekwoon wrote.

Tears brimmed at the edge of Jaehwan’s eyes.

‘Thank you…’ Taekwoon continued.

‘…for what?’ Jaehwan replied, a little shocked.

‘For being there, even when you knew I was hard to approach…’

He smiled. You weren’t really that hard to approach though, Jaehwan thought to himself. You just needed some time.

So they talked.

Not talk as in write on the floor but actually talk. Taekwoon had taken the initiative first so it was easy for Jaehwan to follow along.

They talked about everything from where they had left off. After school, graduation…college. Jaehwan was enrolled in a college overseas but he was currently on summer vacation so he came back to Korea for a month to finish some assignments and get some rest with his family.

“They call me Ken there. But I prefer Jaehwan when I’m here,” he had said.

It was mostly him doing the talking, but that was how Taekwoon would've liked it. There wasn’t much that he could say in return, to be honest, since all he’s been doing is trying to recover in this palace of solitude. Noticing, Jaehwan pat his friend’s shoulder; as lightly as he could.

“What about you? What’s your story?”

Story? Taekwoon wondered.

His story…all revolved around one person. Unintentionally, he looked to his right; across the glass wall where the blinds were down…to the room across the hall. To Hongbin. He smiled.

“My old story started after school when my flesh and blood thought I was losing my mind as I stayed in my room all day long doing nothing but write. Then it ended when I got sent here. My new story…my new story started with a brunette from the room right across from mine.”

Wondering, Jaehwan peeked over Taekwoon’s shoulder to the other room.

“Ever since I met him, I started to feel things again. I started to feel... everything. Fear, worry, anger, even passion, adoration, a sense of responsibility. Ever since I started to take note of him in my mind, I had the intention to actually get better and leave this place.”

“...he found you, didn’t he?”

“...he found me.”

Taekwoon smiled. But then his chest tightened. It tightened till it ached but he liked the feeling. The aching feeling. But…what is it, this feeling?

“I’ve never seen you like this,” Jaehwan said.

“…I…I’ve never felt like this before, too. So it’s new to me too,” he stated.

Slowly, a little smile appeared on Jaehwan’s face.

“I think... you’re in love.”

Is it love? He wondered.

“Thank you so much for helping us.”

“I could say the same to you. Thank you, I finally found my friend and got to apologize. Really, thank you,” Jaehwan said, smiling.

“Well, it’s a win-win situation then.”

Wonshik was shaking his hand as firm as he could; not finding any other way to express his gratitude. A wide grin was breaking on his face; regardless of him realizing it or not. He was thankful. Finally, this project was becoming solid. He worked on it for months with Hakyeon because none of their colleagues had wanted to handle it; thinking it wasn’t that big of a case. It was big, alright, Wonshik had thought over the past months. Big and peculiarly amazing. 

He turned away from Jaehwan, only to find his sunbae still fretting over the monitors. He sighed.

“Sunbae…”

Hakyeon turned to Wonshik and tried to smile. It was obvious that it was partially forced. But he was still trying, so it had to count for something, Wonshik thought. In efforts to reply to it, he tried to smile back.

“How bout we go out to dinner tonight? All four of us?” Wonshik proposed, trying to lighten the mood.

“Four?” Jaehwan asked, confused.

He looked around the room; eyebrows knitted. There were only 3 of them there.

“Four.”

---

Of course, four.

Wonshik had included Hyuk in his mind by mistake. But it was surely four of them when they got to the chicken joint.

“Oh, both of my hyungs are here!” Hyuk greeted them as soon as they found an empty table.

“Hyuuuukkkkk hyung missed you~” Jaehwan cooed from his seat.

Grinning, Hyuk made a cooing face to Jaehwan as to reply to the greeting. He got out his notepad but then he stopped to smile at Wonshik. He was seeing a lot of the elder lately.

“Both?” Wonshik smiled back.

“You and Jaehwan hyung!” Hyuk beamed.

“Hey, what about me?” Hakyeon fretted.

“We haven’t officially met if I’m not mistaken. I’m Hyuk,” he held out a hand.

“I’m Hakyeon. Supposedly Dr. Cha but I’m not in my white robe. So, Cha Hakyeon,” he shook Hyuk’s hand.

After the little happy greeting they had, they decided to order.

“So what will it be tonight?” Hyuk attended to them.

“The same. Chicken and beer, the usual set,” Wonshik smiled.

“No, wait. Let’s go with soju tonight. Chicken and soju for 3,” Hakyeon changed the order.

“Alright, hyung! Now that’s what I’m talking about!” Wonshik cheered.

“Chicken and soju it is.”

---

Opposite of the cheering and loud crowds in the joint, it was nice and quiet back in both Taekwoon and Hongbin’s rooms. The halls were quiet, the other rooms were quiet and so were the occupants. They liked it that way.

Especially Taekwoon.

He wasn’t sleepy yet but he was bored. Yes, he still likes the quiet environment but he was a bit bored. It was a first for him, being bored in a place where he could quietly enjoy the silence and solitude. After almost half an hour spent on looking at the words he had written everywhere, he gave up; sighing.

“But don’t you draw anymore? Like you used to do with me?” he heard Jaehwan asking him in his mind as he did earlier.

Spontaneously, his head turned to the desk beside his bed. There was a pencil. He picked it up as it was lying alone; standing up. Should I draw something? He wondered. He tried to remember the last time he drew a full picture. He couldn’t. It was a long time ago. So he got the desk chair to a part of a wall where it was still blank and stood on it.

He started sketching.

It's so quiet…Hongbin thought as he fiddled with a book.

Oblivious that he has never felt as he did then, he admitted that he was actually bored of the silence. He used to like it to the extent that he wished it happened often instead of the loud noises that he hears everywhere but now, it was different. He still wants the silence, yes. But it would be better if he had someone to share it with…then maybe it wouldn’t make him feel like he was lonely.

Trying to find some distraction to either make him feel less lonely or to make him sleepy so he could sleep early, he started to browse through his shelves of books. He thought that maybe reading a book would help. He looked through every book he had; both the read and unread sections but none seemed to get his attention.

Except for one book.

It wasn’t a story book, or a biography book or even a poem book. It was a notebook. A plain, white-papered notebook; the pages mostly untouched. Even the used pages were just little scribbles and nothing important. An idea struck the young brunette male’s mind.

He picked up a pen and started scribbling.

A/n: I had more in mind for this chapter but I thought I'd end it here just to clear up some history that Taekwoon's been keeping away.

But I do hope you'll stay for the next one ( -and so on) no matter how late I am in updating because more history will be revealed soon, and I'm not saying its all just Taek's. So tune in, a'ight?

Love you guys <3