always ↬ leading me on || l.dh • h.rj • z.cl

·four·

The bell by the door chimed as they walked in, a gust of warmth hit the brunet's face; redness in his nose slowly dissipating as he made his way inside and stood behind his mother in front of the counter. He gripped her hand tightly as she spoke to the barista, after she was done she crouched down and whispered in his ear, telling him to 'go talk to some of the other kids'.

He looked up at her with his big round eyes, before taking a moment to look around. It was then he realised that the place was packed full of people with their children. Why did she bring him here?

To be completely honest, he was scared.

What made his mother think that the children here would want to talk to him, when the children at school hated him? What made her think the ones here were any different?

His eyes surveyed the area warily, luckily no one he knew was around. He figured that he'd just be able to find an empty table to sit at while waiting for his mother. He turned back to her for a second to see that she had engaged herself in a conversation with another woman around her age. He slowly let go of her hand and started to walk away as she saw him from the corner of her eye and sent him an encouraging smile.

He'd spotted a small table near the corner of the café and slowly made his way towards it, but all of a sudden he bumped into what felt like a brick wall and in seconds his white button-up was stained with dark brown.

And for a moment Donghyuck became brave. Like he had been in the past, the version of himself that was never afraid of anything, no fall, no ghost and no human. The Donghyuck that had once lived fearlessly, recklessly — the one that always used to crack jokes and laugh no matter how weird people used to think he was.

The one that was able to live freely because he wasn't afraid of being judged.

That Donghyuck came back only for a short while, to send a glare towards the boy (read: wall) he had just walked into. Then, all the courage disappeared again as he tried to quickly run away.

He was stopped by a hand on his wrist and he nearly burst into tears right then and there. Scared that he'd be hurt again. He stilled, knowing by now that he should accept his fate and so he turned around to look the boy in the eyes.

"Hey, are you okay?"

Donghyuck would have thought that the pinkette was mocking him if it weren't for the purely concerned look on his face as he looked down at the coffee-stained shirt.

"I-I'm fine, it's okay, I'll g-go now-" but he was once again stopped before he could go by the grip on his wrist becoming tighter. The other boy pulled him closer and told him not to go anywhere; that he'll come back.

Maybe he could see the fear in the brunet's eyes, or maybe he just didn't trust him to stay — but his gaze softened and he dragged the boy through the crowd of people while whispering to him, "it's okay, I won't hurt you."

He led Donghyuck towards another boy, one with beautiful white hair, and stopped in front of him, telling him something in hushed whispers. All the brown-haired boy could make out were the words, 'spilled', 'burnt' and 'hurt' — he didn't really know what was going to happen as of now, but the anticipation was killing him slowly. If they weren't going to hurt him, couldn't they just let him go now?

He was startled when the snow-haired boy turned to him and let out a loud cough. The poor boy almost jumped out of his skin as his eyes locked with the other's.

"Hi, I'm Jeno," he smiled, eyes turning to crescents and suddenly Donghyuck wasn't as scared anymore. While the other boy had held such a strong and dominating aura; it all melted away when he smiled and you could see it in his eyes that he was the type of person who was secretly scared of spiders.

"So Nana spilled his death drink on you?" He said, pointing towards the half empty coffee cup that the pink-haired boy was holding. Not knowing how to reply, he nodded slowly and Jeno continued speaking, "that must've burnt you then, come with us so we can make sure you're okay?"

He wanted to say no, he really did. Yet, he couldn't bring himself to say it so he just nodded once again and followed them as they walked through a door near the counter. He never saw it on his way in, but he never really payed that much attention to his surroundings anyway.

‣‣

He thought of what his mother would do now if she saw him like this and now that he thought about it, his skin was stinging. It was an absent type of pain, bubbling up from the inside. He pressed his forearm lightly where some of the coffee had spilled and winced. It felt like an old bruise, his muscles strained and he quickly retracted his hand.

The two boys had led him towards yet another person. He assumed that it was one of their mothers due to the way she smiled brightly at them when they walked in. She had a book in her hand, but immediately put it down when they came to her.

The boy who Jeno called Nana before, started to tell her what happened and as he finally looked upon them properly, he started to feel insecure all of a sudden. Jeno looked like a prince, his silver locks falling in front of his face as he smiled the brightest smile. He was tall and looked strong — he reminded Donghyuck of winter. Harsh and everlasting yet still somehow serene. Jeno was like the snow. Cold but still loved, still enjoyed and looked forward to.

Then Donghyuck's eyes scanned the other boy's frame, he was lean; face practically glowing as he smiled and the young boy swore he never realised that the simple upturn of one's lips could be so mesmerising 'til then. His hair was vividly coloured, reminding him of the cherry blossoms that bloomed in spring and his whole demeanour seemed happy and energetic.

They were winter and spring. They were whole seasons while Donghyuck was just Donghyuck. There was nothing special about him, he was average.

Mediocre.

Unimportant.

Worthless.

Before he could go any further with his thoughts, the rose-haired boy interrupted them, "Jeno's mum said she'll have to see how bad it is first, are you okay with that?" he asked with a raised brow. "Oh and by the way, my name's Jaemin," he spoke through a charming grin, "Na Jaemin or just Nana."

That was the moment in which their friendship blossomed and from that day, they started to grow a beautiful flower together.

-To Be Continued-