mask | DODAM

DOYOUNG

all week, doyoung found himself falling asleep at the most random places all around campus, the main place that was the home for his drowsiness being the main campus library. he was really lacking sleep, and the first year university student was aware of that. but what could he do? not being able to fall asleep, waking up way too easily at night, and having constant nightmares wasn't his fault. there was really nothing he could do about it. not to mention that his first classes were too early in the morning for his liking, causing him to get even less sleep.

the only thing that seemed to be powering him all week were the strawberry milk bottles with little notes on them that someone leaves for him every time he fell asleep during his break periods. the first one appeared in front of him when he woke up in the library one day last week, seeing the bottle there with a sticky note attached to it. the little piece of sticky paper had read 'i don't know what you're going through, but i hope you can get through it. fighting!' and that alone was his motivation to get up out of bed every morning to start the next day, even if he didn't feel like dealing with school and anything in general.

doyoung had initially thought that it would've been a one time thing, where someone happened to see him sleeping in the library, extremely exhausted, and wanted to help energize him with a drink. but that wasn't the case at all.

everyday this past week, when doyoung found himself waking up after taking an unplanned nap during break periods or after school in the library while he was studying, he found the bottle of strawberry milk, the exact same brand and bottle type as well, with the same color of sticky note and the same handwriting on the small piece of paper. with this, doyoung was able to establish that it was the same person always giving him the milk with the note that always had some kind of encouraging phrase on it, such as 'when you're feeling down, smile, because it will brighten up your mood' or 'if you ever feel the need to cry, then let it out because holding it in hurts more.'

one thing confused the first year university student, however, and that was how the person knew that he was going through a tough time. though it isn't necessarily right to assume that the anonymous person giving him the drinks knew this, there wasn't any double meaning behind the notes either, meaning that the other either knew what he was going through or was just randomly placing inspiring words and quotes on the sticky notes to try and brighten up his day.

doyoung had decided that it was the latter option because neither him or seunghun had told anyone else about their current situation, even their friends had no idea what caused doyoung restless nights. the only person who knew about the reason behind the first year university student's insomnia was seunghun, mainly because he was doyoung's older brother and knew literally everything about him, but also because he was the very person who tried to assure doyoung and tried to get him to sleep peacefully every night.

"why are you looking at that bottle of strawberry milk?" doyoung's friend, dohwan, asked as he observed his best friend's strange action, something that dohwan had never seen doyoung do, and that was focusing so intensely on something that wasn't based on school.

the male that the question was directed to turned towards his friend who had asked out of curiosity and let out a sigh. the bottle he was currently holding in his hand was the most recent bottle of strawberry milk that he received from the anonymous so-called 'milk giver' during his last break period a little over two hours ago. it wasn't opened, and slightly lukewarm, but still managed to be somewhat cold under doyoung's touch.

"someone keeps leaving me these while i fall asleep during break," the male explained to his best friend, giving the strawberry milk one last look before placing in his backpack and turning his body fully towards his friend. "who could it be?"