on monday morning, it seemed like everything had gone back to normal.

it was the end of holiday time, and the beginning of school time.

they could all forget about having fun, getting drunk and living their lives, because it was becoming going to class, doing homework and hating their life...

well... maybe not the last part.

at least for jungwoo.

as soon as the boy stepped on school grounds, he was greeted by a hug – quite unusual since none of his friends were the type of persons to come and hug you like that, mostly when they all had seen each other at the club a bit more than 24hours ago.

jungwoo's brows furrowed as he inhaled the scent coming from the mysterious hugger. it smelt like ginger, spicy but sweet, a charming combination that almost made jungwoo close his eyes and slip into dreamland – almost, because he badly wanted to know the identity of the stranger that had come to him first thing in the morning to give him a serotonin boost. 

finally, the taller figure pulled away from the hug, looking at jungwoo from head to toe.

"you look so beautiful..."

jungwoo couldn't help but let out a gasp as he identified this mysterious guy as lucas, the boy he had had a crush on for quite some time, and also the man he had had sex with a few nights ago, when both of them had been too drunk to think properly before acting.

"h-h-huh..." jungwoo stared at the younger with his mouth agape, his neurons refusing to cope with him.

"jungwoo?" lucas asked, waving his hand in front of the boy's eyes. "are you okay?"

"y-yes, yes!" jungwoo woke up from his daydream, blinking a few times to make sure he wasn't hallucinating. "i'm okay, i'm- lucas?!" he gasped again when his eyes fell on the boy of his dreams. so, he wasn't hallucinating...

"yes, that's me." the taller boy smiled charmingly.

"w-why... i mean... you know me??" jungwoo asked with red cheeks.

"do i know you?" lucas repeated perplexed. "of course, i do! don't you remember who i am?"

jungwoo got even redder as he recalled the night he had lost his virginity to lucas, not more than four days ago.

"n-no, no. i know who you are!" jungwoo was quick to answer.

"oh, good." lucas sighed. "i was scared you didn't remember anything about what we had talked about the other night. you were pretty drunk. i mean, i was too, but i usually have no blackouts after drinking, so i remember everything. but i wasn't sure it was your case, so... yeah..."

jungwoo frowned once again.

what we had talked about

had they talked about anything? not as far as jungwoo could remember.

he recalled arriving to the party and starting to drink after catching a glimpse of lucas kissing a girl. and then, he had drunk more and more, and at some point, he had stumbled and fallen into lucas' arms.

and the next thing he knew, his was kissing lucas – drunk jungwoo was confident jungwoo – and lucas was kissing back.

then, they had found a room, without detaching their lips for a second, and once that was done, they started undressing and then the next thing jungwoo remembered was waking up on the living room couch with a sore butt.

but now lucas was saying that they were supposed to have had a talk?

"what part of the talk are you talking about...?" jungwoo asked with a brow raised. there was no way he told lucas he had no clue what he was talking about. not when their talk had resulted in him being greeted by a hug from lucas this morning. "i mean, we talked a lot, so... yeah, which part?"

"the part in which you confessed." lucas explained.

"sORRY?!" jungwoo yelped, causing the whole corridor to turn around to look at both of them.

junwoo lowered his head in shyness as he apologised.

he had confessed his feelings to lucas? when he was drunk?

oh god... why did he have to be a confident drunk...?

"you didn't remember?" lucas asked with a laugh.

"no! i did! i did!" jungwoo denied. "it's just that... the way you phrased it... i mean... was that really a confession, haha...?"

lucas chuckled, placing an arm around jungwoo's shoulders. "well, in my vocabulary, having someone saying 'lucas, i am so in love with you, and i just want to jump on you to kiss the hell out of you every single time we cross paths at school' is a confession."

jungwoo cringed at lucas' words, wanting to die right on the spot.

how the hell could he have said that?

was he on drugs more than drunk?

"r-right..." he answered through gritted teeth, trying to hide his blushing cheeks.

"come on... don't be shy like that!" lucas used his pointer finger to lift jungwoo's head. "i told you i liked you too, isn't that what's important?"

"wHAT?!" jungwoo yelled once again, his eyes as wide as saucers at the words that had just left lucas' mouth.

"yes, woo." lucas nodded. "now come on, we need to go and meet my friends before the beginning of classes. i told them i would introduce them to my boyfriend."

"BOYFRIEND?!"

"yeah, and that's you. so, let's go." lucas pulled jungwoo by the hand.

"i-i'm y-your... b-boyfriend...?" jungwoo stuttered, his heart doing bungee jumping inside his body.

"i'm starting to think you don't remember what happened the other night..." lucas chuckled.

"no, i do." jungwoo lied again. "it's just that i'm sober now, so... yeah... it's a new wave of shock, you know?"

lucas stared at him in adoration. "sure, woo." he told before bending and pecking the boy's lips quickly.

what the hell had just happened?!

🎀

one full day of classes had passed.

it had been horrible.

and mostly for mark.

the poor boy had puffy red eyes because of crying, and he hadn't eaten anything since donghyuck had disappeared. he looked like he could get a role in the walking dead, with his neglected clothing and his pale skin.

and the pouring rain didn't help making him look better as he stood under with without an umbrella to protect himself.

"where have you been?" doyoung asked when he saw jungwoo approaching them. he hadn't been with them all day.

"with lucas." he replied with flushed cheeks.

"lucas?!" yuta gasped.

"yeah. apparently, he's my boyfriend." jungwoo explained.

"apparently...? what? when did this happen?" johnny snorted.

"well... during that party, when we had sex. but i don't remember anything... he told me this morning. and his friends seemed to know about it too." jungwoo explained.

"incredible..." doyoung chuckled.

"right?" jungwoo laughed with him. "where's taeyong?" he asked after a while, noticing that he was nowhere to be seen.

jungwoo gave a quick glance to jaehyun, only to find him looking at his feet silently, letting the rain fall on him similarly to mark.

"he didn't feel so well this morning, so he stayed home." ten replied quickly, diverting the attention to him.

"oh, okay."

"he should be back tomorrow." he added.

suddenly, mark stood straight, mumbling a small "bye." before walking away from the group of boys.

"mark! don't you want to come with us to the arcade?" johnny asked.

"i promised donghyuck i would meet him." mark replied simply, his own words hurting him like hell.

"oh, right. enjoy your time together then!"

mark nodded before walking away.

he hadn't told his friends about donghyuck disappearing.

why would he anyway?

this would just make everything more complicated that it should.

what would he even tell them?

donghyuck left because he didn't want him and i to talk about him being a doll.

yeah, not happening.

so, mark was alone again, under the pouring rain, more desperate than ever.

he was wondering if he was going to meet donghyuck again.

the boy could be anywhere around the world by now.

he could go the furthest away from mark.

he could leave him... he could abandon him...

mark was completely devastated.

did all of this mean nothing to donghyuck?

mark knew the doll might not return his feelings, but was it necessary to break his heart like that?

what mark lived felt worse than a breakup.

now, he had absolutely no idea where donghyuck was... he had no clue how he was doing... and he would never see him again.

yeah, it's not as if he would coincidentally find someone playing with a doll that happened to be donghyuck.

that would be too good to be true.

that would be impossible actually.

"fucking hell!" mark yelled, hitting a garbage can that was fixed on a lamppost and spraining his ankle once again.

everything felt awfully familiar...

donghyuck had hurt him... he had hurt himself... but now, donghyuck wasn't magically going to appear and heal his boo-boos.

of course not... it was not a fairy-tale.

so, mark limped back towards his house, his ankle hurting more with every step he took.

but what could he do?

the pain was minimal compared to how his heart hurt anyway.

the annoying yell of a child made him lift his head up.

a small blond boy was standing in front of him, holding a yellow umbrella to protect himself from the rain, and looking at mark curiously, disgust and fear evident on his babyish features.

"move." mark barked, making the kid jump in fear, his grip tightening on the umbrella, and letting go the thing he had in his other hand.

mark looked down at the plastic object that had fallen on the concrete, his heart stopping inside his chest when his eyes identified it.

"where the hell did you find that doll?!"