-Hakyeon’s POV-

It’s cold. Way too cold. Did Taekwoon have some sort of hot flash last night and turn the air conditioning down to some insane temperature? What time is it? I could feel the rays of sun coming through the window against my eyes but it can’t be any later than 9AM.

I groaned out a complaint about it feeling like I was sleeping inside an igloo as I moved to pull the covers up over my shoulders. Only there were no covers, my hands instead meeting with a freezing wet substance.

I opened my eyes and sat up quickly to take in my surroundings. It was morning, that much I had been right about. The early morning sunrays unforgiving against my eyes making me wish I’d brought sunglasses. The wet substance, I now realize, is snow and there’s gigantic pine trees that go on for miles and miles that weren’t there only seconds ago. My breath came out in visible white puffs, their intricate patterns in front of my face momentarily distracting me from the cold. I was still dressed in the same sweats and t-shirt I’d gone to bed in the night before, but miraculously dry despite lying in the snow for God knows how long now.

I attempted to stand up slowly but found it hard to find my footing, the ground constantly slipping out from under me. I struggled for what couldn’t have been more than a minute before finally being able to stand upright without falling, but in that small amount time it had grown dark outside. The moon now the only source of light, but it was enough, the trees from before seeming to vanish into thin air as I looked at them. The snow began to melt away, briefly pooling around my ankles before being swallowed up by an invisible drain in the ground. A transparent sheet of ice was all that separated me from the murky waters beneath it.

I blinked once and instantly regretted it, choking on a gasp at the sight before me. There was now a figure on the other side of the ice -a boy- with ghostly pale skin and full lips that were tinged with blue.

It’s Sanghyuk.

He seemed to begin to sink the moment my mind registered who he was.

“NO! Sanghyuk!” My voice sounded distant with the way my heart was pounding in my ears. Tears began to blur my vision with the realization of just how helpless I was in this situation. There was no way for me to save him, no way for me to see his beautiful eyes smiling back at me again.

I took a step forward, cringing at the way the ice groaned under me and prayed that it was thick enough to support my weight. Another step and a sickening cracking noise later I realized that I probably wasn’t going to be so lucky. The noises continued, an array of jagged cracks spreading across the ice around my feet. I gulped and began to take deep breaths knowing that I wasn’t going to be able to get out of this without falling into the water first. The least I could do was try and mentally prepare myself to swim through the gelid lake.

I seemed to have forgotten one tiny detail as the ice began to break apart around my toes. A detail that actually made all the difference in such a situation. It wasn’t until I felt the support of the ice begin to give way from under me that I remembered that deciding factor between life and death.

I can’t swim.

The water was indescribably cold. I thought I could prepare myself for how cold it was going to be, but I couldn’t have been more wrong, the initial shock of the temperature almost painful. I tried to remain calm, but started panicking once I began to feel the lower half of my body going numb, the prickling sensation began in my toes and climbed its way upward. I clawed at the ice in attempt to keep my head above the water, but the pieces only kept breaking away as soon as my hands touched them and soon enough there was nothing to keep me afloat. Struggling only seemed to make it worse, my lungs screaming at me with each desperate breath I took as I sunk deeper and deeper, forgetting to take one last breath before I was completely submerged.

“Hakyeon-ah wake up!” I forced my eyes open at the voice and found myself in a tangled mess of sheets and sweat, my heartbeat pulsing loud and fast in my ears. It took several moments for me to calm my racing heart and remember that I wasn’t back in the same forest from all those years ago. I was at school, safe in my dorm room with my worried best friend hovering over me.

Taekwoon pulled me into a sitting position once he realized I was awake and I was vaguely aware of his thumbs wiping away tears as they silently fell down my cheeks. I must have been crying in my sleep. I wonder if I yelled out in my sleep as well.  “It’s okay, you’re okay, I promise. It was just a dream.” He mumbled softly into my hair, his hand rubbing circles into my back.

Just a dream? No, it was more like a cross between a nightmare and a flashback, but it felt so real. Except for…

“Sanghyuk!” I gasped out his name, the images of his frozen body beneath the ice flashing through my mind once more.

“What? What about him?” Taekwoon pulled away to study my face as fresh tears began to cloud my vision. If it was all just a dream then why the hell was it having such an affect on my emotions?

“Is he okay? I mean, in the dream he… I’m just worried.” I trailed off. Dreams are weird but they can be so scary and sometimes even accurate as to what might actually happen in real life.

“I’m sure he’s fine, I was just with him last night. He seemed a bit distracted while we were talking but nothing for you to be worried about. Do you want to talk about your dream? Was it the same as last time?” I looked away and slowly shook my head, not bothering to specify which question I was answering. Taekwoon knew me well enough to know it meant that I didn’t want to talk about the dream but yes, it was the same as the last time, and all the times before for that matter. It’s been over ten years since the incident, but I still had the occasional nightmare over it. There was no doubt in my mind that falling into the pool was the trigger for this one.

“Wait, you were with Sanghyuk? Why?” I doubted that Sanghyuk would bring up everything that happened after the lesson yesterday, but I was still curious as to why they were together and what they talked about.

“Because someone said they didn’t feel well enough to go eat dinner with me, and I happened to run into him on my way to the dining hall. Though,” Taekwoon paused to let out a huff of laughter, a small smile playing at his lips that didn’t fade even as he kept talking. “I think we probably spent a lot more time talking than actually doing any eating. Sanghyuk… he’s a good kid, very passionate. And I think he’ll be just fine after a bit of adjusting, it’ll just take some time is all.”

“Did… did he say anything about me?” Yikes, that sounded totally conceited. I could tell that Taekwoon was thinking the same thing by how the warm smile instantly fell away with a sigh. If he only knew the reason I was asking- no. I could never tell him why, not when he seemed to like the kid so much already.

It wasn’t easy for Taekwoon to like just anyone, even I had to basically force myself into his life since he didn’t seem too keen on being friends with anyone at the time. Though, I couldn’t blame him. I was the weird overly-excited new kid that talked a lot and tried to make friends with everyone as fast as I could, only to find out that it was going to be a challenge when it came to the shy kid who never spoke other than when he was picked to read aloud in class. I was drawn to him then, only being about six years old at the time, I didn’t understand how a person so strikingly different from myself could actually exist. His reluctance to accept my friendship only made me work harder for it and eventually, when he did finally warm up to me, we became nearly inseparable. It’s been this way for nearly fourteen years now and I’m still not entirely used to how different our personalities are but we balance each other out nicely, and I think that’s why our friendship worked out so well in the end.

“He said you forgot to give him an excuse slip after the lesson and so now he hates your guts and never wants to see you again.” Taekwoon deadpanned with the most solemn look on his face I’d ever seen. “Oh my God, Hakyeon I’m joking! By the look on your face you would have thought that I just told you that they canceled America’s Next Top Model.”

“Yah! Don’t even joke about something like that!” I shouted as best I could and hit him on the arm with a pillow, noting how hoarse my voice had gone from crying. “Oh , the excuse slip. I’m such an idiot… Was that all he said?”

“Well, I actually offered to write up a slip for him but he wanted to go to you personally. Said he had a question to ask you or something. I told him I would convey all of this to you, so I guess mission accomplished on my part.” A question? What could he possibly want to ask me- wait. I did say I would let him ask me any question of his choosing if he agreed to be my dancing partner. Maybe he was indirectly hinting at that?

I felt my excitement fade as I remembered the words I wasn’t supposed to hear replayed in my head. I mean, maybe he wants to explain or try to apologize. I just don’t know if I’m ready to listen to it, honestly.

°°°

The walk from the dorms to the admissions office normally shouldn’t take more than five minutes, but I was determined to take as long as possible getting there. I purposefully took the stairs down from the third floor of the dorms rather than the elevator. I wanted to be more than sure that there was no way I could run into Sanghyuk on my way to turn in the excuse slip.

"Ah, Hakyeon-ssi! It's been a while, what brings you to the office today?" I was greeted warmly by Ms. Lee, a middle-aged woman whom I'd known to work the main desk in the admissions office since I began coming to the academy.

“I, uh.. I came by to drop off the slip I forgot to give to Han Sanghyuk yesterday. I tried to find him earlier but he must be off campus for the day.” I lied. “I saw that I had a missed call from one of the school numbers yesterday as well, but I was in class at the time.” I lied again. The call had come while I was laying in bed and trying to ignore all of Taekwoon’s prying questions. He backed off when I mentioned not feeling well-

“Ah, yes. Thanks for bringing it in then, Hakyeon. Poor guy looked so distressed when I mentioned it yesterday.” I was going to turn and leave after handing her the slip, but she began to ask a question before I could leave. “By the way, was that your parents I saw you with at the end of the showcase last year? Are they…?”

“Yes, they came when they found out I had solos and had helped choreograph a few of the dances. I was surprised, but in a good way, of course. They hadn’t mentioned they were coming after I sent the invitation...” I trailed off trying to find the right words. “I think they understand my heart better these days and realize that this is something I’m rather passionate about.” I finished with a small smile.

“That’s great! I’m happy for you, Hakyeon.” Ms. Lee beamed. Having dealt with me a lot over the past couple of years I could tell she’d grown to care and worry a lot for me. It felt nice being able to ease some of her worry now.

“You know, we have another student who is currently facing the same kind of situation you went through.” Her smile stayed in place but her eyes looked sad, making me wonder which student she was referring to. I knew better than to ask though. There were countless rules when it came to a student’s confidentiality and so even vaguely mentioning another student at all in my presence was pushing it. “I hope their parents will become more accepting of their choices, like yours... In due time.”

I hummed in agreement and said my goodbye shortly after that and set out for the dining hall. My stomach had growled loudly whilst I was in the admissions office, reminding me that I had yet to eat anything today and it was nearing 1PM.

A/N: Quick update because I really wanted to update on my birthday but the chapter wasn't completely finished! BUT this is the first half of it so I'm gifting it to you guys ^^ More about Hakyeon's past will come to surface soon along with the other boys later on(: I hope you're enjoying the story thus far. Thanks for the upvotes and sweet comments!