and on the fourth day god created friendship - ❥ 𝐭𝐱𝐭 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐨𝐦

⋆˚ఎ 𝟑𝟓 ໒˚⋆

Using cold words and a blunt expression to hide all his insecurities, Taehyun finds himself at times believing he's indestructible. An illusion his brain creates to repress all the pain that has ever swum inside his veins. He feels powerful, like an ancient king covered in purple rich clothes, nothing can bring him down because nothing else matters. He's happy, he's unbothered, he's living freely. But that beautiful trick only lasts for a short time, as Taehyun always remembers he's not the strong person everyone thinks he is.

He was born with a great memory that traced the path to becoming almost academically perfect. He graduated from every school he attended with the best grades, won multiple academic awards, received lots of praise from teachers, and made both his parents and older sister proud. But there was one area he was lacking terribly: he couldn't make friends.

Living in a small town, everyone in his school was divided into groups and got along pretty well. But when he tried to approach them, there seemed to be a brick wall between them blocking the communication. He understood that his shy yet bubbly personality wasn't much interesting to other people, but he never fully comprehended why it was a barrier to befriend someone. It was like every person he tried to get close to was made out of sand and every time he grabbed their hands, they would quickly slip through his fingers and disappear in the wind.

Certainly, naive Taehyun never acknowledged that it wasn't his personality that was failing, but the people in his school. Most of the students were envious of him, ones because of his looks, the others because of his grades, and that ultimately made everything turn upside down for him. They would take the opportunity of being in a small school to spread rumors about the inoffensive boy, so being alone was inevitable for him. He would walk to school alone, have lunch all by himself, spend his breaks inside the classroom and no one would dare to talk to him...

Until one day, a transferred boy appeared.

His seat was right in front of Taehyun's and he always refused to play with the others, sticking with a random book inside the classroom during breaks. Taehyun never had someone to make him company inside that lonely classroom so he quickly got curious about the new boy. The blonde would often stare at the back of his head for a long time, wondering what kind of book he was reading and what kind of voice he used inside his mind while assimilating the sentences. Days passed and Taehyun would always spend his break time staring at him, sometimes counting the moles on his neck and connecting them with his eyes, forming non-existent constellations.

However, after two weeks, the new boy suddenly turned around for the first time.

Hi, Taehyun still recalls his beautiful teeth while he smiled at him. Hi, he replied, feeling his heartbeat louder than ever. And starting on that day a new friendship was born. They would always stay inside the classroom during breaks, so no one really knew about their secret friendship, and consequently, no one could judge or spread any negative word about them. The boy whose name was Sunghoon would always visit Taehyun's house after school and they would chat in his room for hours about the most trivial things.

In Sunghoon's presence, Taehyun could be himself, so he would rant about the tv shows and bands he liked so much and Sunghoon would always listen, genuinely entertained by Taehyun's exciting and bright personality. The younger also felt safe around Taehyun so he always mentioned his love for ice skating and how he desired to become a professional in the future. And Taehyun would always smile and look at his friend with big shiny eyes, imagining the younger boy performing on national tv while Taehyun watched him from the crowd.

But sometimes a dark future emerges from happiness and Taehyun could not escape it when suddenly one day Sunghoon started to ignore him. He tried to ask him what was wrong so many times, if something had happened to him or if he just wasn't feeling well, but all he received was a painful silence. And soon Sunghoon stopped staying inside the classroom during breaks and Taehyun's room became so empty without their laughs floating in the air.