Within These Walls || YuTaeSol [LOCKED Series; BOOK 1]

1 | Second Encounter

Yuta is waking up slowly as he hears footsteps leaving his bed. Opening his eyes, he takes in the figure as he leaves for the door, his back to the boy under navy-blue sheets. He had snow-white hair and his shoulders were so slumped, and the sight ties a tight knot in him until he can't help but call out to him.

But no words come out.

Instead, he starts to choke, the words he wanted to say caught up in his dry throat. It seems, now that he explores his mouth with his tired tongue, that he hasn't really talked to anyone in a long time. His jaw feels heavy and set, like its been that way for quite a while. Unmoving and inactive.

The white-haired boy (or Jack Frost as Yuta has named him in his head), came rushing back into the room after a few coughs. He moved in a blur, his feet and hands moving quickly in perfect synchronisation to get a cup of warm water ready.

"Yah, yah, yah." He mutters under his breath as he sets the cup aside and props a knee on the bed. With one strong hand on his back, Jack positioned Yuta so that he was sitting comfortably. Now that he stopped his coughing fit, he helped him drink the cup of water, one protective hand under his chin.

Yuta hates it, though. Hates being the guy in need. Hates being weak. Hates having to have a random guy help him drink a mere cup of water. The thing he hates the most, now that he realises this, is the fact that he doesn't even know this guy. Actually he doesn't know anything going on. He feels like he should probably know, but he just can't. It's like meeting someone whose name you already forgot.

"Yuta." A voice, the voice of Jack, interrupted his thoughts. "Look at me."

It's weird, he thought, weird to name him something that's obviously not his name, so he decided to ask for his real name.

"What's your-" Yuta cringed at his own voice, at how infirm it seemed. "What's your name?"

Though Yuta felt slightly proud for getting a full sentence out (his first in a long time), he felt like there was something missing. Something in this dramatic play that has suddenly become his life, something in this scene. Was it a prop? A useless background score? Or maybe a character, a person that has become a big part of his life. He doesn't know.

He has no idea. Absolutely no clue, just like how he has no idea why this white-haired man is staring at him like he's some incompetent idiot.

"Stop staring at me like that." Yuta looks away, feeling smaller as the other's gaze grew stronger. "I don't like it when people look at me that way-"

"Taeyong."

Yuta blinks, confused. "Wha-what?"

"Taeyong." Taeyong said, with more emphasis on the consonants this time. He propped his knee up to sit comfortably. "Lee Taeyong is my name."

For once, Yuta found a reason to smile. It was one of the few things he probably still knew how to do. "Oh! Mr. Taeyong, it's nice to meet you." He extends a pale hand, which Taeyong does't accept. Instead, he kept the glare strong and ice-cold, never leaving Yuta.

"We've met before." He says with a chilly edge to his voice. Yuta withdrew his hand, once very warm and welcoming, and stuffed it under his thigh. He frowns at him, trying to find something in those large eyes that could possible give him a clue.

Yuta shakes his head in confirmation. "No...we haven't met."

"Are you kidding me right now?"

Taeyong laughs, though Yuta finds it hard to believe that there's anything even slightly humorous about it. He doesn't know this guy, he really doesn't. And it's a throaty laugh, one that couldn't be bothered reaching all the way to his mouth. And Yuta finds it extremely weird of himself to overanalyse the laughter of some stranger he's just met.

"Why do you keep thinking that we've never met?" Taeyong asked him, as if reading his mind. He moved closer to Yuta. His face has softened up now, but there's still something very wrong. Sensing the strangely heated atmosphere they were now in, Yuta moves away, until his back hit the headrest. Taeyong, oblivious to the younger's tenseness, goes ahead and places an assuring hand on his shoulders. But as soon as his fingers grazed his clothing, Yuta recoils and smacks his hands away. In any other case, Taeyong would've laughed at him for acting like a girl. Though judging by the younger's enlarged eyes and tightly shut mouth, Taeyong decided to take things further.

"Why are you like this Yuta?" Taeyong's voice dropped an octave lower as he shifted closer, closer than needed. Their thighs weren't brushing against each other anymore, but tightly pressed together. Yuta, on the other hand, was at a loss of words and action. The voice of the elder left him absolutely numb, like some sort of drug. And like any other drug, it was so damn addictive. He felt the bed dipping near his thighs as Taeyong placed a hand near him, and those eyes-

Those eyes. The more he stared at them, the more he wanted to know more. More about this man who's trying to get close to him. The way they bore into his face fired goosebumps to arise all over his body. Those black orbs were so large and its gaze so intense, that Yuta found himself immobile, unable to move a muscle as the older's lips were now only millimetres away.

Yuta closed his eyes, bracing himself. He waited for the contact of lips, only to be disappointed at the sound of sheets ruffling. The warm breath ghosting on his lips disappeared as soon as he opened his eyelids, only to see the back of the white-haired man for the second time. It all went by within a few seconds, where Taeyong got up, walked to the door, turned the knob, and left the room. Even though Yuta was too late to catch a glimpse of that face he's already fallen for, he wasn't so late to hear the constant murmuring before the latter shut the door behind him.

"I can't."

*****

Thought I would never have a decent start to this story but ha I did it. Hope you enjoyed the first chapter!

P.S Y'all have no idea how many times I edited and re-edited this.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LEE TAEYONG!