Blaze

Be a Friend

~_____~

"Ice cream?" Tao asked when Donghae handed him a cone.

"Ice cream," Donghae replied turning him with a firm smile.

Turning around he walked out of the shop with Tao narrowing his eyes after him.

"Exactly what are we doing," Tao wondered following him.

Donghae didn't turn toward Tao, but instead waited for him to catch up. As they neared the red light Donghae glanced across the street to see the people on the other side doing the same.

"Look around Tao," Donghae urged. "What do you see?"

Tao gave him a strange look before doing as told. Donghae watched his eyes scan the crowd outside, across the buildings, and over the dense invisible air hovering above them all.

"I don't know," Tao shrugged, "people?"

"And?"

Tao turned to look around again, "Cars."

"Is that all?" Donghae questioned after waiting a second to see if he had anything more to add.

"What are you doing?" Tao turned to him, becoming impatient.

Remaining patient Donghae smiled, "The sun is out, can you see it?"

He watched Tao tilt his head up to look at it.

"There are stores here, even restaurants with tables out front for customers to enjoy the view. There are cracks in the streets, there are windows in the buildings, there are friends in the crowds," Donghae went on. "Someone you see here will run into someone who needs help and he or she will aid him or her."

"How would you know that?"

"Everyone will need a helping hand," Donghae finished.

"So...what's your point?" Tao questioned.

The crowd swam away from them when the lights turned green.

"I want to show you," Donghae explained, "that there's much more out here in the world than just one other person alone. Do you get what I'm saying?"

Tao silently stared back at him attentively.

"I'm happy to see that you want to be a good person, whether it's because of Namjoo or not," Donghae went on, "I really am, but you're going to suffocate her if you revolve your world around her. There's much more for you to see, to discover than a thing like love."

He watched Tao's eyes flicker softly and smiled gently. Tao still needed a lot of guiding, but he was making progress which Donghae was extremely proud of. He really wanted to show Tao that.

"You asked me how I would know if someone likes me," Donghae continued, "I don't know. I believe though, that when the time comes, you'll know."

~_____~

The fork in the road just ended.

Donghae was a clean person with a pitiful background.

Victoria was stumped.

She felt awful and low for coming with the intention to dig up Donghae's dirty secrets to use against him, but had ended up with this.

How in the world was a person to use something like this against a man whose father died when he was a kid and had refused to bury him?

Groaning, she lightly thumped her forehead aginst the steering wheel. Now locked up in her car she couldn't bring herself to drive back to Seoul. If back in the city she'd have to face Donghae and she didn't she could look at him after such malicious intentions.