FRËON.

vii

third person's point of view

Another day is ending. Dokyeom sat peacefully on his seat near the window with a cup of milk tea he has made for himself. Every night has always been like this for Dokyeom. He would make himself some drinks, then proceed to his favourite place near the window. The view outside is breathtaking as it always have been, and ever since Dokyeom moved into this place, nothing had ever change in its beauty.

It was the second day of his third year as a college student, yet nothing significant had happened to him yet. He was not expecting anything, but wouldn't it be exciting if his life somehow turn a full 360° and surprise the hell out of him? Looking at the other students he's been with, he's starting to realise how much he's missing out in everything.

All the fun and wildness he was supposed to experience in his teenage years, were replaced by this boring life he's now living at. But who is he to complain? Dokyeom was the one who chose what happens to him. He had a choice, whether to follow his grandmother or his brother, Jihoon, but he chose the former. And he had to admit that he is envious of what Jihoon has reached now, and how happy the older looked when he was with Jeonghan, the person who once was his happiness too.

All these decisions which he is starting to regret. But he should just go with the flow, finish what he had started. Frankly speaking, Dokyeom has almost everything he needs and he's living the dream of every student in the university. Everyone adores him and praises him. That should compensate for the life he wanted yet he wasn't able to live with.

"Dokyeom hyung! You wouldn't believe what just happened!" Seungkwan came running to him, grabbed a chair from somewhere and sat down in front of him with Hoshi following him. "There was this guy this morning--"

"I know. I was there," Dokyeom raised his hand to stop the younger from telling him the story.

But Seungkwan did not stop. "You were there but you plugged your headphones and did not finish the whole scene!"

"Why would I? You roasted the guy perfectly, I bet he hasn't gotten over with the burns he received," he rolled his eyes and took a sip in his milk tea.

Hoshi grinned. "Watashi wa feeling hountoni great."

"What?"

"He said he's feeling really great," Seungkwan translated Hoshi's alien language for him. "And I am, too! You should've finished watching, or listening. Because those guys were my friends! I knew them from a long time ago!"

"Good for you," Dokyeom stood and washed the cup he used.

Seungkwan followed him. "One of them was my coworker. The two were my neighbourhood friends and the one who bullied me was my childhood friend. Wow, can you believe how small the world is? I never thought I'd meet those pieces of shit in here!"

Dokyeom turned to Seungkwan with furrowed brows. "Pieces of shit?"

Seungkwan jumped on his bed before rolling to face Dokyeom. "Oh, yes. Don't worry, I've got nothing against them. Minhyuk hyung is a very good person, he's a funny one too! Wonwoo hyung and Seungcheol hyung are great people. Mingyu too! He's my childhood friend and I know how much of an asshole that person is."

"Isn't Choi Seungcheol our senpai?" Hoshi asked from his seat near the window, which was previously occupied by Dokyeom. "What was he doing in our room? Senpais don't go with us, hoobaes."

"Could you please, stop mixing Japanese and Korean? Thank you," Dokyeom started cooking for dinner. "Seungcheol hyung is the vice president of this school, and that Wonwoo is the secretary. Weird to see a male as a secretary. Maybe they were just running errands from the president."

Hoshi snickered. "Hai, I heard some news about transfer students. Maybe they were taking care of them, and maybe those students are transferring in our room!"

Seungkwan gasped, dramatically. "There were two, right?"

"Yes," Hoshi smiled, which was unusual since all he knew was to grin annoyingly. "I have a bad feeling about them."

"What? Why?" Seungkwan asked gesturing for the older male to come forward, which Hoshi did.

"I heard their names, and one was oddly very familiar, and I kind of confirmed it when Chan described what he looked like," Hoshi answered, with an unusual quiet tone. That made Dokyeom curious as to why the older sounded anxious and sad, or maybe he just found it unusual which made him think of that.

Dokyeom smirked to himself. "Ex girlfriend?" he asked, not sparing a glance at the older.

"No," Hoshi sounded so disgusted. "Neither my ex boyfriend. Let's just say that he was my best friend."

"Cool," Dokyeom silently commented and went back to cooking. Hearing what the older said, Dokyeom concluded that Hoshi is either gay or bisexual. That's not surprising though. Dokyeom himself is a bisexual, so he got nothing against people like Hoshi.

"Tell us about this guy, hyung," Seungkwan sounded so curious, and Dokyeom's not gonna stop him. He's kind of curious too.

Hoshi lied beside Seungkwan. "Where do I start?" he stopped for a second before continuing. "Nah, I'll just sum it up. So he was basically my best friend, but he left me to pursue his dream. I'm not gonna resent him, tho. I know how important his dreams were, and I know how much he had suffer in the hands of his family just to be independent."

"So, he's in the same year as us?" Seungkwan asked.

"I think so," Hoshi shrugged. "We both had our gap year, that's why instead of being a year ahead of you, we became your batch mates. Ah, I don't know what'll I do in case I meet him face to face."

"Duh, you should smile at him!" Seungkwan's sassy voice came back, similar to the voice he used to the bullies. "Show him that he isn't a loss. Make him feel unwanted, just like what he did to you. Show him that you are the loss, and that a person like you shouldn't be left behind for a dream. That he should have just held your hand and both of you could fly towards your dreams, together. Make him regret his decisions, that surely were wrong."

Hoshi chuckled. "Isn't that a bit harsh?"

"What? No," Dokyeom could feel Seungkwan rolling his eyes. "What he did was harsher, and is definitely more painful. Those who left could never make things go right, again."

Dokyeom agreed to Seungkwan silently. Honestly, he's amazed at how Seungkwan could easily say those things like he was an expert, a person who has experienced every hardships. Maybe, his judgment was wrong. There really is something more to what our eyes see, and it's up to us if we will open our eyes wider to widen our perspective.

In this case, Dokyeom chose to widen his perspective.

"But I do hope he's happy," Hoshi's voice sounded so lonely that Dokyeom could feel the pain the older is feeling. "I did not let him go for nothing. I wanted him to be free. I wanted Jihoon to be happy."