He held a white rose bud in his right hand, slowly he crushed it until the petals were torn up. He let the petals fall from his hand. “Tsch, disgusting.” The girl in front of him gaped at his actions. Tears gathered in her eyes. She’d felt her heart break into to a thousand of pieces. After weeks of trying to muster up her courage, she never thought that he’d be so cruel in his rejection.

He looked at her tear stained face and huffed. “If you’re gonna cry, do it somewhere else and don’t bother me again.”

“You’re so cruel!” She cried. He laughed in disbelief.

“Ha! You think I’m cruel? You should look at yourself first. I’m tired of people like you throwing your feelings at me. It’s bothersome.”

Unable to take it anymore, the girl ran away.

Once he was alone, he sighed. Tomorrow would be another bothersome day. No doubt everyone would hear about this incident. Crouching down, he picked up the fallen petals. Once he had every petal in the palm of his hand, he closed his hand and felt the familiar warmth spread through his fingers, after a moment he opened his palm, a fully bloomed white rose rested on his hand. Bringing the flower up to his nose, he breather in deeply taking in the sweet scent of the flower. Ruefully, he laughed. Once again, the never ending flood of nasty comments would be thrown his way.

‘Kim Heechul, the jerk.’

‘Kim Heechul, the bastard heart breaker.’

He was used to it. Never getting along with anyone and always seen as the bad guy. They just didn’t think the way he did. He always saw people as people who were only fuelled by their selfish motives. Like the girl from before, she was one of those girls who thought that he was just some misunderstood guy that was theirs for the taking. It was laughable. The way they got the weird notion of people like him needing to be understood by girls like them. He didn’t want to be understood. He was perfectly fine the way he was. Being understood meant that he’d have to bend to the will of other people.

He wasn’t like that and he would never be like that.

Heechul made his way out of the schools courtyard and headed home. The flower still clutched in his hand. He passed by an empty park, there he placed the flower down on to the dirt and watched as the flower glowed slightly and began to take root. Once the glowing stopped, a small rose bush took the flower’s place. Dusting himself off, he went on his way.

He never really knew how he’d gotten his ability, it was always just there. At first he’d thought that it was normal but there was an incident in his childhood that made him realize how different he was from other children. He was five years old at that time, happy go lucky and carefree, he thought that he could show his friends his ability of manipulate plants. Once he did though, the other children became afraid of him, ostracizing him and calling him names like ‘witch boy’ or ‘demon’. It got to the point that they’d even thrown rocks at him and then when his mother was pulled into the fray he’d gotten so angry that he’d lashed out at them. Leaves became as sharp as knives, injuring the children. He and his mother were forced to move away, as far as they could go, so here he was 14 years later. Living with his older sister and mother in Seoul. Keeping his abilities a secret.

He opened the door to their house, the delicious scent of food being cooked made his mouth water a bit. Continuing to their kitchen, he saw his mom standing by the stove stirring the food on the pot.

“Umma, I’m home.”

“Ah, Heechul you’re just in time for dinner.”

“Mhmm, it smells delicious. Where’s noona?”

“Oh, Heejin, she’s not here. She’s staying over at her friend’s house since they have to finish a report for tomorrow.”

“Alright. I’ll just go and change my clothes. I’ll help you out okay.”

His mother giggled, “Such a helpful boy, Umma is really lucky.”

He smiled at his mom. She was always just so optimistic. No matter what problems, they faced their mom was the strongest person he knew. Facing all of the problems head on, never backing down. She was always the person who defends him without questions. Despite him having this frightening ability, she’d never once turned away from him, instead she encouraged him. Cheering him on and teaching him what he needed to know.

Quickly changing his clothes, he went back to their kitchen, where he proceeded to the cupboards and took out the dishes so he could set the table. Once he was done, he helped his mom serve the food. When they were done, both of them sat infront of their dining table facing eachother. Dinner was spent in an easy manner, telling each other how their day went about. He’d left out the part about the annoying girl who’d confessed to him since he didn’t want his mom to worry about it. After they were done, he’d volunteered to wash the dishes so his mom could take her rest. She refused to let him do it alone but since he’d insisted, she had no choice but to let him have his way. His mom then proceeded to her room to rest. As he was washing the dishes, Heechul noticed the withering flowers on the ledge of their window. Using his abilities, he restored the flowers to the peak of its beauty. After that Heechul finished his task and then went to bed.

The following day had gone just as he’d expected. Word about yesterday’s incident had spread like wild fire. He’d become the target of the collective ire of the student body, but even though they’d begun to vandalize his property he’d ignored all of their childish antics choosing to focus his energy in his work. The fact that the students still acted like a bunch of petty high-schoolers instead of being mature college students was something he’d found quite amusing.

During his break he’d decided to talk a walk around the campus, trying to find a quiet place to clear his head. He found a good spot under a tree near the soccer field. He watched the freshmen playing so lively with some of the seniors. Just as he’d decided that it was boring to watch other people play, he found himself drawn to one of the players. The scholarship freshman, Lee Donghae, well-liked by many of the students.

He couldn’t explain it. There was just something that seemed familiar with Donghae, as if he were someone important, like a comrade of sorts. Quickly dismissing the thought he went back to relaxing. But it seemed that the wheels of fate were already turning. One of the players kicked the ball a little bit too hard in his direction that the ball collided with his right side. Startled, he was just about to go over to the careless soccer players in order to tell them off when Donghae approached.

“Sorry about that. Are you ok?” The genuine concern in his voice surprised Heechul.

“Ah, yeah.” It was weird, how he didn’t snap at Donghae. The other soccer players noticed them and called out to Donghae.

“Yah! Hurry up and get the ball!”

“Alright, alright, I hear you! Just wait a moment!” He yelled back. Donghae turned back to face Heechul when he noticed that Heechul had already started to walk away. Instead of simply letting him go, Donghae threw the ball back to the other players and followed Heechul.

“Hey! Wait up!” He called out. Heechul didn’t stop walking. Maybe if he’d ignore the guy long enough he’d stop following him. He wasn’t even supposed to follow Heechul. Most people would have found it really rude once someone turns their back and walks away but instead of doing that Donghae still chose to follow him and try to catch his attention.

After a few minutes of walking, Heechul finally stopped. They were deep into the secluded part of the campus, where the trees seemed to block out everything else. Heechul had had enough.
“Why the hell do you keep following me?!”

Donghae laughed nervously and said “Ah, I don’t really know. It’s just something in my gut is telling me that you’re important. Weird, right? Ah! I forgot to introduce myself. My name’s Lee Donghae but you can call me Donghae. What’s your name?”

Heechul stared at him in disbelief. Really? What was wrong with this guy? Simply following someone they didn’t know just because his guts were telling him to do it. Who the hell does that?!

After a few moments Heechul burst out laughing. “I don’t know if you’re an idiot or something, but do you really think that you can fool me?!” Heecul glared angrily at Donghae. The air seemed to shift around them, the blades of grass beneath their feet stood straight up, as if waiting for Heechul’s next step.

“Acting all friendly like that! Ha! You’re just waiting for me to lower my guard right? Did that girl put you up to this?” Donghae stared at Heechul not really knowing what was going on but he’d put his guard up. There was something really weird with this guy.

“Girl? What are you talking about?”
“Don’t play dumb, asshole! You really think you can keep up that stupid act of yours? As if you don’t know anything!”

“Look man, I really don’t know what you’re talking about.” Donghae tried to calm him down but unfortunately he seemed to only get angrier.

“Yeah right! The whole school knows about it and you’re probably one of her stupid lackeys. The bitch probably came crying to you huh?”

“Yah! I don’t know who’re you talking about but that doesn’t mean that you can just call people rude names like that!” Donghae was offended by the way he had no respect for girls by calling them names like that.

“Oh yeah?! What are ya gonna do about it?!” Heechul smirked when Donghae didn’t say anything.

“Ha! Can’t eve-“ He was cut off but the impact of Donghae’s fist hitting his face. He fell down. It was then that his abilities manifested, and a repeat of the incident fourteen years ago was bound to happen, Leaves suddenly surrounded him and then suddenly came charging at Donghae.

Donghae didn’t know just what the hell was going on, but when he saw the leaves going for him the only thing he could do was to try and shield himself, eyes closed he waited for something to happen but after nothing happened he opened his eyes and he could not believe what he saw. A barrier of water stood protecting him from the rush of leaves. He wasn’t the only one who didn’t believe what was going on. For years, Heechul had thought that he was the only one who had these weird abilities but now it seemed as if this Donghae person also had them and from the looks of it, he could control water.

Heechul let the leaves fall to the ground. Donghae was still standing frozen, not really grasping the situation but the barrier of water still standing between them. Heechul just stood there, waiting for him to gather his wits. A few minutes passed before finally the barrier of water dispersed.

“Yah! You’re just gonna stand there gaping like an idiot fish?” Heechul’s voice snapped Donghae out of his stupor.

Donghae stared wide eyed at Heechul.

“What in the world was that?!” Heechul raised a brow at Donghae’s words, it seemed like the guy really had no idea about his abilities. He found it amusing.

“You really have no idea do you?” Heechul laughed and continued.

“Ah! I thought I was the only one who had abilities but it turns out that you also have them.”

“What? What the hell are you talking about?” Donghae was panicking.

“Abilities. You know, what you did there with the water. I have them as well but I can only control plants.” Heechul crossed his arms and looked at Donghae.

“What abilities? You can’t possibly mean powers right?”

“Powers? Ha! As If I’d go as far as to call them powers. We’re not super heroes, idiot.”

“But I don’t understand, that must have been just a fluke right. A trick of the light.”

Heechul laughed at Donghae’s attempt to dismiss what had happened.

“No it wasn’t, idiot. What you did was real, just as real as what I can do.” For a moment, Heechul was quiet, but then the air shifted again the same as if had done before. Donghae could only gape at the sight of floating leaves around Heechul. Heechul raised his right hand and the leaves stilled and with a flick of his wrist, the leaves rushed at the tree beside him.

Donghae watched as the tree was slashed by the leaves and the reality of what could have happened to him finally hit him hard. If it wasn’t for the barrier, he’d probably be lying down on the ground bleeding to death. Suddenly he felt his strength leave him and his knees buckled causing him to fall down.

Heechul watched as Donghae lost the colour on his face and how his knees buckled.

“Yah! Don’t freaking faint on me!” Heechul said.

“But, bu-t…” Donghae was lost on words. His expression was so amusing to Heechul that he couldn’t help but laugh at him. His laughter was probably the most genuine laughter he’d ever had ever since he was a kid. It was strangely uplifting. His laughter was so infectious, that somehow, Donghae joined in too. Forgetting the fact that he could have died merely moments ago. After the laughter died out, he introduced himself to Donghae and that was the start of their weird friendship. The days that followed since that incident actually became lighter because for the first time in his life, Heechul knew that finally he’d found one genuine friend that also possessed strange abilities even though it seemed as if it had just begun to manifest itself.

Notes