Mark’s usual routine every evening after a long day’s work at the office involved going to the Chinese takeout store just across the park to get some chow mien, heading to the park to relax and slowly munch on the food on the bench just right in front of the big oak tree near the back entrance before going home to prepare for the next day.

This day however, he had to submit an important proposal due the first thing in the morning and had to end work two hours later than usual just to complete it.

By the time he reached the park, there was already someone lying down at his usual spot. Seeing as there wasn’t any available seats around (the others were all taken by people who were obviously couples and he did not want to intrude on any of them), he sighed and walked towards his seat, hoping the stranger would be kind enough to sit up and allow him some space on the bench.

He realised as he got closer to the bench, the person was probably a high school student, judging by the attire he was wearing, and might be a performing arts student too, from the lightly pastel coloured pink hair covering the student’s head, and he was asleep, bag as a makeshift pillow, mouth wide opened, a pair of arm and leg sprawled out above the back rest of the bench and the other two dangling down at the side. Mark felt really dumb at not realising it sooner as what else would any one be doing lying on a bench like this? He decided then that he should not be disturbing the kid as the kid should have been tired from a whole day of studying and should deserve to rest too. Mark had experienced it personally a few years back when he was still in school. Besides, the kid looked really cute too and he guess he wouldn’t mind sitting on the grass just for once. He was doing a good deed, although his idea of a good deed wasn’t exactly the best but it was still one, so the gods above should have some mercy on him and give him a lighter work load the next day right? 

He finished up his box of chow mien and quickly headed home after that, not before unknowingly taking a photo of the cute sleeping boy on the bench. 

-

Despite having done a good deed the day before, Mark saw a tall stack of papers and folders the moment he rounded the corner and looked straight ahead at his cubicle right at the end of the corridor, due to a co-worker calling in sick, Mark had to help him settle some extra calls and deadlines, and had been cussing at the gods above for being unfair to him the entire day at work. In spite of the unwelcome amount of extra work he had to do, Mark still happily took his takeaway chow mien and went to the park, only to find out his bench has once again been taken up by the same pink haired kid from the previous day. 

The kid, Kim Yugyeom, Mark learnt after finally bothering to look at the name tag attached above the pocket of the boy’s uniform shirt, was hugging his bag really tight with his legs folded in, unlike the day before where the limbs were all over the place. Mark noticed that the boy was shivering slightly, with just a thin piece of uniform covering himself. It was slowly getting really chilly, signalling the start of autumn, it’s no wonder the kid was shivering with