Chapter Text
‘Come here’
A young man woke up from his slumber feeling the beads of cold sweat running down his forehead. It was past midnight when he was pulled away yet again from his sleep. “That dream again...” the young man mumbled softly as he brought up his left hand to touch the back of his neck. It felt real. As if that place under his dark locks is destined to be touched by that blond man who looks at him with so many emotions. That lingering stare filled with genuine longing and admiration seemed to have had haunt him. Under those layers of emotions under that man’s eyes, it felt like he’s melting.
“Just who are you?” Du Ze asked himself with great curiosity and unfamiliar longing. This is his tenth time of dreaming about that man. His hair resembles the sun of its glory, his body under a layer of armor with that cape freely moving against the wind. But he was more than that.
Their fateful meeting happened a week and a few days ago, Du Ze found himself inside a dark temple. He saw a temple where only small patches of light can be seen through the patches on the walls. As if a sudden impulse came to him but he found himself naming it “The forbidden area of death.”
Inside that dark place is where Du Ze found him wearing that large, shabby, black cloak. The man seemed cold. He is cold. Du Ze was terrified seeing through the black cloak. White thin bones are what he saw, a living skeleton. But other than that cold, unapproachable aura, the man seems sad. He was sitting on that spot just near the rays of light holding his large scythe. He’s alone, fighting the gloomy around.
Du Ze approached the figure but then stopped when the person wearing that black cloak looked over to him. There’s a glim of faint soul light in that person’s dark eyes. The man raised his head, his dead eyes staring intently at the young man in front of him.
Du Ze looked at the skeleton as he finally calmed himself down. He wanted to say that he means no harm to him, that he can’t help but to worry for this man. Just before he asked the person if he’s alright, almost out of instinct, he called out to him, “Meow.”
When he heard himself say that, Du Ze instantly shut his mouth but he could have sworn that that there’s a reaction from the skeleton. It looks surprised. Du Ze felt embarrassed but his face didn’t show any emotions.
The skeleton moved a bit, his eyes still onto the young man. He reached out his thin arm to touch the young man but was fruitless when he evaded. The skeleton slumped on the ground filled with misery but his eyes never left staring at Du Ze.
The said young man found himself taking off his glasses as he slowly neared towards that person. He felt that he mustn’t abandon this person, that this person is a part of him. His dark eyes made direct contact with that person’s eyes filled with dim soul light. Du Ze didn’t realized but he found his lips making contact with the skeleton’s.
The skeleton is lying on the ground wearing a melancholy expression. His eyes never left Du Ze so he saw when the young man that was looking at him started walking towards him. The man squatted down and took off his glasses. A beautiful pair of black eyes was revealed filled with confused determination. Those eyes reflected a white skeleton. That was him. .
He was still bewildered by that man’s eyes that he failed to notice the shortening distance between them. His reflection grew larger and larger as the man went closer leaving barely any gap. That person’s eyelids fluttered and his eyelashes covered the darkness and his reflection. He was still in a trance as he felt his mouth being kissed by the owner of those beautiful black eyes.
This person is kissing him, an undead skeleton. This is their fateful meeting.
Du Ze was snapped out from his daydream when he heard the ringing of his alarm from his phone. Turning it off, he headed downstairs to prepare going to school. “He’s only inside your dreams...” Du Ze reminded himself thinking that he shouldn’t attached himself into things like this. The young man considered taking sleeping pills so he won’t later on dreamed of that person.
Packing his things, he then prepared to head for school. This is Du Ze’s everyday life, same old routine of studying; going to school, so on and so forth. His life is to be considered average. He even admits that his looks are the ones you see every day on the road. Other than being the average student, part of him is also the stereotypical nerd. This is Du Ze. But the young man is perfectly contented with it. One of his unique qualities is being able to read stallion novels. He loved every protagonist of each novel he read.
‘You want me to like the world, right?’
‘Then show me how beautiful this world is.’
Du Ze stumbled on his footing as he felt a strange and warm feeling slowly embedding inside him. He was so deep inside his thoughts that he failed to notice that he arrived on his destination. Shaking his head, he recomposed himself as he went inside the building, “He isn’t real. He shouldn’t be.”
His first class is Algebra, totally not the best way to start his day. His strength comes from reading so he would just usually look at the speaker just for the courtesy but not taking the words to understanding as he could just study his learning materials later on. Why? It’s because he is deaf. Du Ze would usually need hearing aids to communicate with people though it doesn’t happen frequently due to his social barrier. Although he really needed his hearing aids, there’s something inside of him that keep him thinking every night, that his hearing aids is one of the things that made him linked for…..for who?
The day ended with him scribbling on his notebook while being heavily immersed inside his thoughts. It was around afternoon near evening when he was walking around the empty hallway. The insides of the building were layered with radiant orange and golden rays of light from the sun steadily setting on west.
Du Ze turned to a corner when his eyes spotted a very familiar mop of blond hair. The rays of the sun peeking through the hall complimented that man’s hair. In that moment, time seemed to tick on a very slow pace. Before he knew it, his face collided with that man’s chest.
The said man was shocked when he felt something made contact with his chest. It was around 5 pm when he was preparing to go home. Most of the students had long ago left and he thought that he’s the only one here when suddenly a man with black colored hair bumped into him. The shock from both people caught their feet off-guard making them stumbled but not enough to fall.
The man was annoyed by the sudden collision that he glared towards the shorter guy when his eyes made contact with black ones. In that moment he is beyond surprise, he didn’t know what came over him but the feeling of having this man inside his grasp seemed to have had awaken something inside of him.
‘They are not you.’
‘No matter how many people I meet in the future, they are not you’
Something very deep inside his heart suddenly ached but seeing the owner of those mesmerizing black eyes, he can’t help but to look gently at this person.
Du Ze was dumbfounded when he also made contact with the taller man; this person greatly resembles that man he keeps dreaming for days.
‘He’s real?!’