Inside | HENDERY WAYV/NCT

73

Luna walked down the street quickly. It was a very cold morning. Her hands trembled as she opened the door.

"I thought it's getting warmer.... ." She mumbled when her hands shook so much.
"It is. You're the only one trembling," a familiar voice halted her. Luna turned to her right and saw Yangyang standing beside her.

"Heat pack," he handed her a single heat pack. Luna smiled and took the heat pack from him.

"Why do you have them, then?"
"I am sensitive to cold. I need them. Okay, gotta go. Bye," Yangyang walked away leaving Luna puzzled. He appeared from thin air and left without even giving her the chance to process what happened.

**********************

Hendery sighed when he heard Yangyang coughing.
"Dude you need aid?"
"Nah. Fine. Just cold," he hugged himself.

Hendery got off his bed and sat beside Yangyang on the sofa. "If I'm sick and you're sick, who's looking after who?"

"Together like high school," Yangyang snugged up on the sofa.

In high school, Hendery and Xiaojun would both sit with him and kept him warm like a hen with her eggs. That day, Hendery just like high school again, they sat close to each other.

"If the nurse comes in and thinks wrongly of us, I'll blame you," Hendery chuckled as he scooted over to Yangyang.

"Ah body heat. I'll buy myself a huge dog so he can sleep on me when I'm cold."
"Dogs have fur. You and fur. No no."
"You sound like my mom."

The door swung open and Xiaojun walked in with bags of food. "Scoot over, mommy's sitting here."

He squeezed on the other side and sat down. Just like high school again.

***********************

It was an unlucky day for Luna that day. She ran to the convenience store to grab a quick dinner. It was a busy day for her. A bride came for fitting and couldn't fit into her dress, Luna forgetting about her cut and accidentally hit her finger on a table, Yun and her bickered over a silly mistake and  just as she ran to the convenience store, it rained.

She entered the convenience store drenched. Her eyes were fixed on the shelf looking for something to eat. She reached for the single piece of banana bread when another hand reached for it too.

"Have it," she released the bread and proceeded to choose another bread.

"You want to trade?" Yangyang sat in the empty seat beside her. Luna turned to him and shook her head.

"Do you have like a tracking device on me or something? Why are you always around?"
"I live nearby."
"Still doesn't answer why you're always bumping into me."

"Who said we bumped? What if it's intentional?" He winked and ripped open the packet. Luna sighed. Yangyang's annoying but she didn't mind the company.

"Water?" Luna pushed her water bottle to him when he coughed. He refused. "Then better use that thing in your pocket."

"Out of them."
"What colour?"
"Blue. Why?"
"Stay here. I'll be back."

Luna walked away and ran in the rain. She was gone for quite a while.

"I need to invest in an umbrella," she mumbled when she came back. "Here. I'm guessing you don't know the area enough to know that there's a pharmacy 3 blocks away," she pointed to a direction.

'It makes so much sense why. You're a spitting clone of Hendery only a woman. Two morons begging to be loved.'

**********************

"Is he dying? What are we supposed to do??" Xiaojun panicked when Yangyang couldn't stop coughing. Hendery got off his bed and opened Yangyang's drawer.

"All out?"
"Don't have enough money..."
"Blue right? Turn off the fans," Hendery grabbed his hoodie and exited the room.

Hendery came back with his lifesaver. "Next time if you don't have enough money, say it. Nobody wants a dead roommate," he ruffled Yangyang's hair and climbed back on his bed.

He looked down on the floor. "I'll pay when the scholarship comes."

A single comic book hit his head. "Bullshit! Nobody's asking for money. Go to sleep," Hendery pulled his covers and turned away. Xiaojun laughed. He turned off the lights.

*******************

Yangyang laughed when he remembered how Hendery would always remind him to tell them if he needed any help. Thanks to Hendery and Xiaojun, his high school years were smooth sailing. Never once he starved.

He often wondered why Hendery would always try to be the stronger one when he's also frail, yet he wasn't shy to show his soft side. Then, he saw how Hendery was raised. The environment, the family.

Even his girlfriend is a spitting clone of him. Liu Yangyang's impressed.

******************

Luna fiddled with the receipt in her hands. Ventolin. Something she learnt to recognise at a young age.

She who often had to remind her own brother to never forget about it or that she was the one who had to run over everything just for him. In the end, all her efforts in trying to keep him well went down the drain the day that fateful truck crashed into him.

Luna knew why Yangyang irked her so much. He reminds her of Leo. The lion that was supposed to be there for her.

**********************

"You know why I don't want her to be here?"

"She lost a lot of people in life. So you don't want to be another," Yangyang munched on some dumplings. He answered way too quickly.

"You catch on so easily, huh?"
"I lived with you for 4 years. I probably know you more than yourself," Yangyang shoved a piece of dumpling to Hendery. Hendery laughed. Yangyang's right.

The younger knew more about him than himself sometimes. Yangyang would always buy him orange juice when they were younger. Hendery never once said he like them nor he realised he like them. But the younger one was quicker. Yangyang knew his favourite colour way before he did. Yangyang knew he's a moron in love way before him too.

Liu Yangyang the little brother he never asked for.