here always

chapter one

The dazzling full moon couldn't do much but watch silently over the partying youngsters, who chased their enjoyment before exams, and waited breathlessly for a misfortune that chilly night.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Heavy drums and bass were blaring through the speakers with college students dancing, all drenched in multi colors by the strobe lights.

Hyunjin's vision was blurred as he tried to force open his drooping eyes to see where he was headed.

"Damn, you are wasted."

Hyunjin immediately recognized the voice. He turned around frantically, looking over the heads of tipsy students, to find the owner of that voice.

"Seungminnie!"

Said boy sighed softly as he helped the older one on his feet. "Hyunjin, how much did you drink?"

Hyunjin made his way towards the black haired one, glad that Seungmin hadn't left him to fend on his own.

"Only a little," hiccuped Hyunjin with a dazed smile.

"Well then sober up we need to go home." Seungmin said as he handed him water.

"I am sober!" whined Hyunjin, opening his eyes wide and standing completely still to prove his point.

Seungmin, long used to his friend's stubbornness, huffed in exasperation, "If you say so."

Hyunjin had extremely low alcohol tolerance and this was in plain sight. It wasn't like Seungmin wanted to come to this party.

Hyunjin was the social butterfly, befriending everyone on the campus with his charms and he had yanked Seungmin along with him to this event.

Given his way, Seungmin would rather be back at his own dorm, either re-watching some of his favorite shows or working on another draft. Or maybe even try to cover some song. That was definitely Seungmin's cup of tea and he was itching to run back to the coziness of his apartment and leave this raging group of youth wilding around him.

But, judging by Hyunjin's lopsided grin, occasional dancing and chatting among his classmates, the dancer was clearly loving this. And Seungmin decided that he can endure through the roaring music and dim lights just for Hyunjin's sake and happiness.

The room was painted in a heavy neon lighting and through the dark violet lights they couldn't see much, but even then Seungmin can clearly see his flirt of a friend throw a flashing smile in his direction.

Seungmin rolled his eyes at this. Oh how annoying yet sweet can this guy get?

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Seungmin figured that Hyunjin really was more sober than what he expected. Which was why they were able to walk side by side back to their dorm, without one having to carry the other.

It was past midnight, but the party was going on, just as wild and powerful with no sign of stopping. Hyunjin wanted to stay back till the early hours of morning but the ever responsible one, Seungmin, had dragged him out.

They walked in a comfortable and sleepy silence, occasionally broken by Seungmin's humming and Hyunjin mumbling song lyrics along with him.

Just as they were heading towards the college dormitories, Seungmin came to an abrupt halt as they approached an old and diminished building. He had a thoughtful look on his face as he looked up at the structure.

Hyunjin, used to his friend's absurd antics, also looked up.

He knew that Seungmin had a lot of weird habits, like waking up before 11am on a Saturday for example. Or revising a chapter that wasn't even taught to them. But his most bizarre one was always stopping by this particular building to glance at it and leave.

He never understood what Seungmin saw in this structure.

Planning to solve this mystery and unable to hold it back, he blurted, "Whatchu lookin at Min?"

Seungmin winced in shock, almost as though he had forgotten Hyunjin was there.

"N-no nothing," he replied with a tight-lipped smile.

Hyunjin frowned. "Then why are you always staring at the building for no reason?"

Chuckling, Seungmin said, "Let's just say that this structure holds more secrets than its worth."

Seungmin shot one last bitter sweet look at the ruin and turned away.

Hyunjin blinked, stupefied, before he decided that this pointless action was ending today and hauled the former towards the withering construction.

The younger hissed in shock and tried resisting Hyunjin's force.

"Hyunjin! Leave me, I don't want to go in there!"

Hyunjin wasn't taking it

"No! I've had enough, you're the one always stopping by so now I want to see it!"

The boy couldn't understand why a silent look of horror swept over Seungmin's face.

The younger one had always gone against his ideologies and so, Hyunjin thought it was okay to drag the both of them inside the place.

Pushing aside the disassembling door with great difficulty, Hyunjin successfully hauled themselves to the interior of the demolished structure

Hyunjin looked with wide eyes and bated breath as he anticipated for something to happen. Anything. Beside him, Seungmin had shut both his eyes tightly.

A few minutes of silence, except for their unsteady breaths, passed and Hyunjin was severely disappointed. He knows that Seungmin's actions always had a reason behind it but this time, there was nothing at all. He scoffed, "See, nothing here is worth the build up you gave"

The black-haired boy opened his eyes as he looked around. Indeed there was not anything out of the ordinary.

Hyunjin smirked, "You were fussing around for no reason. C'mon let's go home."

Both of them tiredly trudged towards the door, when they heard footsteps– coming from behind them. Immediately paralysed with a lurch of fear, they whirled around with wide eyes. Judging by the dark, old and definitely unsanitary surroundings, Hyunjin was too quick to conclude that no one lived down here.

Squinting in the dark, Hyunjin could make out a shadowy figure approaching them. With another wave of fright, Hyunjin realized that the person was in a defensive stance, almost as if to attack. He could feel the adrenaline and blood rush to his head when he realized the door was far too heavy to open quickly. Instinct kicking in, he grabbed his friend's hand and they sprinted upstairs.

Hyunjin knew it was a horrible idea, and that they would be caught in no time. But they didn't even know who or what was down there. Maybe they were kind? But he had no time to pursue his train of thoughts as Seungmin went into full panic mode. Seeing his sturdy friend breakdown, he felt himself crumble.

It was usually him, Hyunjin, panicking. Not the other way around.

They could clearly hear someone coming up the stairs and Hyunjin's heart only drummed harder against his chest.

However, even in this extremely stressful situation, Seungmin tried to form a reasonable way of escaping. Craning around for a better look of the room, he noticed the open terrace– their only hope. Seungmin debated for a while if the jump would result in major injuries, but eventually decided a few cuts and bruises is better than here.

Seizing Hyunjin's hands in his, he dashed towards the exit. Hyunjin, however dense he may be, seemed to understand Seungmin's plan and not-so-gracefully jumped off the railing and landed on the ground with a dull thud.

He fell right in front of the building, but with the short height he resulted with only a few blossoming wounds on his knees. Dusting himself, Hyunjin rejoiced at their escape. He whipped around to ask if Seungmin was alright, but noticed with a jolt that the said boy was nowhere in sight.

"Seungmin?" His voice sounded weak and hoarse as he called out for his friend.

His heart dropped to his stomach when all he was met with was a deafening silence.