In aeternum

Chapter 01

An arrow whizzed through the air as it was aimed at the back of the running male. The male didn't stop to look behind him as his hand cradled a bundle about the size of a baby. He dodged the branches in his way as he dove into the deep darkness ahead of him, only pushing himself to move faster than his pursuers which would have been easier if he wasn't carrying the weight in his arms that felt as if it was his whole world right now. He could only think to get to safety and only ever stopped to catch a few quick breaths before running away.

Seonghwa had no idea for how long or how far he had run that night but when he finally stopped to rest, he fell to his knees and looked down at the bundle. Gently pushing the cloth aside to expose the baby in the bundle, he could only stare at the little one without expression. Why did he do something like this? The baby opened its eyes and stared back at Seonghwa who twitched a little before the baby made a noise and lifted its arms. He held onto its tiny hand and it held back. Seonghwa gritted his teeth and shook his head free of thoughts before he collected all his energy to continue running.

And running.

18 years passed since that day and the baby was now a young adult in his first year of college. His name?

Choi San.

"Appa, I'm going out now," the young adult said to Seonghwa who looked like he hadn't aged a single day. He picked up the lunchbox that was prepared for him and gave his dad a quick hug.

"Take care, San ah. Don't forget to make friends, okay?" Seonghwa said as he returned his son's affection with a pat on his head.

San smiled his little crooked smile and waved to his dad before leaving, feeling a wave of enthusiasm. After months of begging his dad, he was finally allowed to attend college. After all, he had been mostly homeschooled. He didn't have a single friend since they moved a lot and while he wasn't sure how to make one either, he was excited about meeting new people. He grabbed his bicycle and quickly headed off to class.

He was a nervous wreck as he sat alone in the middle of the class, taking glances all around him to see if there was anyone who looked friendly enough to interact with but after so many years of avoiding people, his judgement was a little off. In fact, many thought he was scary looking instead with his slight head down tilt and glaring eyes.

"If you keep doing that, nobody would approach you," a perky voice said and San finally moved his head up to look at the person who spoke to him first. He felt his heart jump as his eyes gave him a fearful look instead. The male with large doe eyes sat down beside him and smiled before holding his hand out. "Wooyoung, that's my name! You better remember it!"

That was how he met his best and only friend on the first day of college. Wooyoung was friendly and almost like a boom box. He was also crazily annoying at times but San has the patience of a Saint. He always played along with Wooyoung's antics, only ever stopping him if he thought it was too dangerous or outrageous to go along with. After all, his dad's warnings to stay out of trouble always gnawed at him. He never really understood why but he had stopped questioning his dad a long time ago. The male was too much of a maze for San to unravel despite only knowing him for 19 years. San knew his dad was filled with all sorts of secrets that he would probably never come to know and he had also come to terms with it since he didn't want to get on his dad's bad side. The male had been nothing but kind to him and San loved him too much to break his heart or hurt his feelings by accident.

For the following months that led to a whole year, San attended college like a regular student. He never knew that making friends was this difficult since he hadn't been able to make another friend after Wooyoung since people avoided him. He didn't know why and maybe he was too afraid to find out either. What if people thought bad of him? He only wanted to be nice to people but he guessed his eyes were one of the problems. Wooyoung had said this to him before, "San ah, stop looking like you want to kill someone."