Just Before The Dawn [DaeJae]

Eight

As he watched the cars rushing by, he felt how something inside him tried to tell him to change his mind, to stay alive and believe in the stranger's words, but he didn't want to listen. 

'It's not like anyone would notice me being gone anyways... If anything, they'll be happy about it...'  He thought, trying to fight that inner voice, but instead disappearing, it only got more intense. 

Suddenly, he was pulled out of his thoughts by the feeling of being watched. 

It was a weird, uncomfortable feeling, but it surprised him because it was the first time feeling that someone watched him while he stood here. 

Before he could even think of how to react to that, he heard steps and someone stood beside him. 

"That's dangerous, you know." 

Youngjae jumped slightly at the sound of that voice, then he carefully looked at the other guy. Daehyun stood just as close to the street as he did. 

"Step back then." he mumbled and looked back at the cars. 

"Nope. Only when you step back." 

"I won't." 

"Fine." 

There were a few moments of silence. Youngjae glanced over to the other again. Daehyun was looking at the traffic light, hands in his pockets as if it was the most normal thing on earth to stand this close to the street. Youngjae started feeling worried that the other would get hit by a car, he really didn't want to be responsible for Daehyun getting hurt, so he eventually gave in. 

"Okay okay." he sighed and took two steps back from the edge of the pavement. 

Daehyun smiled and stepped back himself. "Good. Now we can talk. What's your name?" 

The younger looked at him in surprise. He had no idea there were still people in the neighbor class that didn't know his name. 

"I- I'm Youngjae..." 

A short expression of something that looked like a mixture of surprise and worry could be seen in Daehyun's face, but it was gone before Youngjae even was sure it had been there. 

"Nice to meet you. I'm Daehyun. Are you going home?" 

Youngjae just nodded. Why was this guy talking to him? And, the even more important question, why was Youngjae answering? 

"How are you going to spend the rest of your day?" 

"I don't know." 

"Oh come on, there has to be something you usually do after school." 

The traffic light finally turned green and Youngjae started walking, but Daehyun wouldn't leave him alone. "Tell me~" 

"Drawing." The younger eventually said. 

"Oh, cool! I wish I could draw... Can you show me something?" 

"No. I'm not good." 

"Hmm, okay. But if you change your mind, don't hesitate to show me some of your drawings. I'd really like to see them." 

"Why?" 

"What?" 

"Why do you want to see them so badly? You know me since a few minutes." 

"Well, I just felt like talking to you and I'm interested in what you're doing. I mean, we've been in the same building every day with the same stupid teachers for a few years now and the rest of your class seem like complete jerks so I wanted to talk to someone sensible, you know." 

Youngjae got more and more confused. Why was Jung Daehyun, the most loved person at school, talking to him, the probably most hated person at school? There was no way he didn't know how everyone thought about Youngjae and still, he was talking to him like it was the most normal thing on earth, like he was just a normal student with a normal life? Something had to be wrong with this... Still, he wouldn't say anything. He wanted to see where this was leading. 

"So you consider me sensible?" 

"Sure. At least I've never seen you pee into the sink in the bathroom or throw dog poop at the teacher's cars, which was the case with most of your classmates." 

"Right. They do some weird things sometimes..." 

"See now why I consider you sensible?" Daehyun smiled and stopped walking as they reached a house painted in light pink. "Sorry but you'll have the rest of your way alone, I live here. But if you want you can text me on facebook, I'm not hard to find." 

"Okay. Bye then." Youngjae mumbled. 

"Bye Youngjae, have a nice day."