the sun, the moon, and all the stars | h.rj x l.dh

ochd

september 26 2006

wednesday rolled around and the sun was drowning in his sorrows, filling the empty sea with its tears.

it had been a long time since donghyuck has cried himself to sleep. he was sure his hyungs had noticed, but he also knew they would wait to say something.

when he walked into the kitchen, he grabbed an apple and looked at his family sitting around the kitchen table. their usual uplifting teasing, and domestic arguments gone and replaced with a sorrowful atmosphere. 

"what happened?" donghyuck asked, completely skipping his breakfast plate. 

the table was silent. 

"jieun-noona, got in an accident." jooheon was the one who spoke up, he was the one who let donghyuck grab his bag and run out the door. 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

renjun woke up with a harsh scream, quickly covering his face with a pillow. hands shaking as he was surrounded by nothing but darkness and that image. falling. falling. falling. 

he was falling. 

she was falling. 

"xinyuan! xinyuan!" he screamed, yet unable to move, it was just him and her, and the darkness. 

"no...no, no, no, no! no! no! xinyuan!" he sobbed, unaware of zitao rushing into his room, or justin standing confused in the doorway. 

all he knew is they were both falling, and they weren't going to stop. 

when he came back to what he hoped - oh, god did he hope- was reality. his brothers were on either side of him, shaken up yet comforting. "where is she?" renjun panted, looking at his brothers painfully. 

"she-she's not coming back, jun." justin said lightly, pulling his older brother into a hug. 

"where-where is she, hao?" renjun sobbed, holding his brother tight to his chest. "where's my sister?" 

"she's asleep, didi." zitao said, running a hand through renjun's soft hair, he couldn't break renjun like that at two in the morning. he would remember in the morning, after he gets back to sleep. 

"ge-" justin started before zitao shook his head softly. 

"can i see her?" renjun hiccuped, looking at his brothers. 

"not tonight, gege. she's always been a light sleeper, that jiejie. " justin played along, he knew why zitao had done it. 

"right...will, will you stay with me until i fall asleep?" renjun mumbled, rubbing his eyes. 

"of course, didi and gege will be right here when you wake up." zitao said, laying down into the bed, his younger siblings doing the same. 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

donghyuck was running, and running, and running. how could this happen? why did this happen? was he being punished? had he done something wrong? something to deserve this pain. 

no, was jieun being punished? that couldn't be right, jieun was his noona. she was an amazing sister, friend, girlfriend, god had anyone even told her boyfriend? 

donghyuck didn't know. 

but he knew he was running. 

he reached the school in a daze, sweat dripping down his forehead, white-well now more of a light gray- shirt sticking to his back, hair stuck to his face, and legs sore. it was far too early for the school doors to be open. but he didn't care, he just sat there, by the bike rack, breathing. 

he reached for his lighter and that fucking pack of marbolo red's, placing one between his teeth and lighting the cancer stick. his dad always hated smoking, taeyong had smoked when he was donghyuck's age. their father was livid. 

after that, donghyuck had sworn to himself he would never smoke, anything. but who was he kidding? the sun was on fire, it had to let the fire out on something. 

he flinched as he heard gravel rustle next to him, the presence of a new body, sat their next to him. 

just breathing. 

the two stayed like that for awhile not looking at each other, just donghyuck sitting there with that cursed marbolo red, and the other body breathing. 

"didn't know you were a smoker, lee." renjun said, startling the other male, causing him to cough harshly. 

"i-i don't." donghyuck grumbled, regaining composure. 

"looks like you're smoking to me." renjun smirked, looking the boy up and down. 

"not a smoker. just smoking." donghyuck said, returning the look to the chinese male. 

"whatever helps you sleep at night, donghyuck." renjun shook his head, "i heard about your sister." 

donghyuck tensed, straightening his posture and clenching his open fist. "what about her?" 

"the accident. it was on the radio when zitao-gege dropped me off." renjun said sadly, he wasn't sure how it had changed, why he felt the same as he did that tutor session right now at 6:48 a.m., sitting in the gravel, trying not to choke on cigarette smoke. 

"thought your family didn't speak chinese." donghyuck mumbled, changing the subject subtly, yet still curious. 

"xinyuan did. i guess, i guess i'm ready to use it again." renjun commented. 

"xinyuan sat next to me in english for all of middle school. did you know that?" donghyuck smiled, recalling the memory fondly. "she used to tell me gossip about everyone. and the stars, she always talked about the stars." 

"she was -is- a star. " renjun smiled, looking at the look on donghyuck's face as they sat there. just, talking. 

"what? do i have something on my face?"  donghyuck scoffed after a few minutes. startling renjun out of his stare. 

"no. just-just looking at you." renjun mumbled, feeling a soft heat rush to his cheeks. 

"well, why? you hate me. we're enemies." donghyuck said, watching as the school lights turned on. 

"no reason. just looking." renjun repeated, fiddling with the rings on his fingers. 

"you're acting all nervous and shit, why?" donghyuck questioned again. 

"you're the only person in that entire school who knows what it's like to lose someone like that." renjun said, making eye contact with donghyuck, finally. 

"there's 3,000 kids in that school." donghyuck scoffed, "i doubt i'm the only one." 

"you're the only one i know, and that intrigues me, lee donghyuck." renjun shook his head, typical donghyuck, always the difficult one. 

"hmmm, and what else? what do you want to know?" donghyuck laughed. 

"what it's like to have parents who cared for you." renjun said, "what would you like to know?" 

"what it's like to be born with a silver spoon in your mouth." donghyuck said. "and how you turned out to look so pretty." 

"what?" renjun coughed.

"i said you look pretty" donghyuck said, stone faced. 

"you two ! get in here and go to your classes! it's 7:15! the first bell rang!" a teacher yelled, opening the entrance. 

"you look even prettier." renjun smirked, grabbing his bag and running.