Chapter 1

Jun felt his eyes start stinging along with the throb in his forehead. He brought up a hand to rub on it, willing the throbbing to go away. It helped, a little. Pushing his slightly slipping glasses back up his nose, he blinked a few times to clear his vision. He was a little worried his eyes would start getting teary – they always did whenever he had a fever or a headache. Or both, like right now.

It was fortunate that he had ordered his ticket online, he thought as he eyed the insane amount of people waiting in line. If he had to join those people and stand for god knows how long, Jun was sure he’d collapse or do something equally embarrassing. Since he already got his ticket, he immediately made a beeline to the security check, successfully maintaining his upright position for the one minute the officer on duty spent to check his ticket and ID.

“K3-1, car number one,” the officer said as he handed Jun’s ticket and ID back, pointing to the direction of the passenger car.

“Thank you,” said Jun not really looking at the officer. His head had started throbbing again and he was busy taking out his wallet to put his ID back so he could use a hand to massage his forehead again while walking toward the platform.

By the time he managed to find his seat on the train Jun was almost out of breath. He knew this was a bad idea. He should have stayed in bed and get some sleep since he had barely had a wink of sleep these past few weeks. But his mother had sounded so hopeful when she called him two days ago asking if he would spend his midterm break at home. He hadn’t come home since the term started, so he had told his mother he would head home the day after his midterm ended, which was today. He hadn’t planned on getting sick right after he finished his last exam, but apparently all that studying and all nighters had eventually taken a toll on him.  The fact that he had barely eaten anything for weeks may play a part in that too.

He had been on the train for a few minutes when he started feeling really cold. Jun rubbed on his bare upper arms and looked around, seeing other passengers passing by his row and getting settled in their seats, and only then realized that the train was air-conditioned and he had forgotten to bring his jacket.  He was only wearing a thin oversized short-sleeved t-shirt and a pair of jeans since it was so warm outside, and had forgotten altogether that on the train it would be a lot cooler.

Jun let out a defeated sigh and just gave in to the situation. He supposed he could endure the three hours train ride by sleeping it off.

Only it turned out that trying to sleep while being cold was something beyond Jun’s capacity, especially with the massive headache he was currently sporting. The train had taken off, and he had begun to tremble a little when the person sitting next to him lowered the book he had his face buried in since Jun got on. The man turned around and Jun got a good view of his face. And boy, this man was so good looking it was ridiculous. His light brown bangs were almost covering his eyes but Jun could still see how sharp they were behind those glasses he was wearing, as well as the equally sharp pair of eyebrows.

The man started unbuttoning his retro wool cardigan and then he took it off. Jun looked at him in confusion. Here he was shivering from the cold, and the man was instead taking off his cardigan. Wasn’t he feeling cold? Jun wondered. But then the man dropped the piece of clothing onto Jun’s lap before speaking, “You look like you need it more than I do.”

Jun looked down to his lap and then looked back up at the man, who raised his eyebrows at him as if silently saying ‘go ahead, you almost transformed into a human icicle’.

“Um. Thank you,” he said before immediately putting on the cardigan.

It felt warm, and Jun couldn’t help the content sigh as his body stopped shivering. Next to him the man had gotten his face buried back in his book.

His head was still throbbing, but it was at least a little more bearable now. Jun turned his gaze toward the window, watching the land, buildings, and trees seemed to move to the opposite direction as the train passed. He mentally patted himself at the back for choosing to take the train instead of the bus. He would arrive faster if he took the bus, but Jun was sure if he did then he would be spending the whole trip throwing up his guts. Besides, he had always liked travelling by train better. It did something to his insides, making him feel a little lighter, calmer, and just relaxed. It might take longer, but Jun was never in a rush anyway.

Jun let out another happy sigh and closed his eyes. He fell asleep not a minute later.

*

Taeyong almost dropped his book when he felt something heavy drop onto his side. Almost. Since he didn’t actually drop the book, he slowly lowered the thing after closing it, carefully setting his bookmark on the page he was on, and turned his head. Only to find that the boy sitting next to him had apparently fallen asleep and seen it fit to rest his head on Taeyong’s shoulder.

Taeyong shifted a little in his seat but the guy seemed unbothered in his sleep. Taeyong could feel the heat coming from his seatmate. He must be having a fever, Taeyong thought. The boy had looked so pitiful earlier, his nose red and his body shivering from the cold. Taeyong didn’t think it was that cold inside the car, but the fever explained that, a lot.

The boy looked adorable in his colorful cardigan.

Taeyong shook his head. He wasn’t supposed to think about boys looking adorable. He looked at the other passengers in the car. Most of them were either sleeping, talking, reading, or gazing out of the window while listening to music. Taeyong wished he hadn’t kept his earphones in his backpack, which he had put in the overhead compartment. He could use some music right now. But Taeyong didn’t want to wake the boy up, which he most probably would if Taeyong stood up to get his backpack.

Taeyong eyed the book in his lap longingly. He wanted to pick it up and continue reading but he had started getting a light headache from reading on a moving train. He was in a particularly interesting part where the young main character with eight other kids and their parents were waiting for the arrival of the tenth new student. The school was so poor and understaffed that the local government had decided that if they didn’t get ten new students that academic year then the school would be closed for good. Taeyong had actually finished reading the book, a few times. It was a translated version since the original story wasn’t written in English, but it was one of the most inspirational stories Taeyong had ever read. Reading it always made him look back and think about the reasons why he was doing what he was doing instead of what his father wanted Taeyong to do.

Though sometimes it proved to be a lot harder in reality and Taeyong would end up wondering if he was really doing the right thing. Sometimes he wondered if this was indeed a waste of time like his father had said. He always said Taeyong was made to be great, to do great things and not just waste away all his talents teaching in some high school.

Taeyong didn’t think himself all that great, to be honest, but he knew his ability and did realize he could do a lot more than just being a teacher. But Taeyong wanted to be a teacher – had wanted to at least. And he had never been interested in business or anything his father dealt with at his company. So he had defied his father and taken an education major instead. Now he was struggling to finish his thesis while his friends had already graduated because he had been in a one year exchange program overseas and the credits he had taken were non-transferrable (damn the university). It was kind of difficult to not think he was left behind every time he went to see his advisor in the university and failed to catch any familiar faces at the department.

Taeyong was not in the best time of his life.

The boy murmured something unintelligible to Taeyong’ shoulder. Taeyong eyed the sleeping boy warily and hoped he wasn’t drooling on his shirt – it was one of his favorites. Checking the time on his wristwatch, Taeyong decided he could use some sleep as well. Jisoo had said the trip would take three hours.

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