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Jeongin's teeth were beginning to chatter from the cold. He tried to curl up in his sweatshirt, putting his hands in his pocket, but the fabric was still too thin to keep him warm enough.
"What a stupid thing to do..." he muttered to himself, watching as a white cloud emanated from his mouth, and inwardly cursed his friends for convincing him to do such a crazy thing, especially Seungmin.
Being the youngest of his group, he wanted to prove to everyone that he was no longer a little boy, that he was just as brave and independent as they were, so when they had insisted on proving the veracity of that ancient legend, the little boy had not hesitated to volunteer.
Soon the forest opened up into a small clearing, one that he did not really know. Bang Chan had told him that he would have come to the right place when he found Rowan trees instead of fir trees, so the boy immediately jumped up to reach the leaf of one of the trees and examined it carefully with a magnifying glass under the light of his mobile phone's torch. Sure enough, it was not a cupressaceae leaf, so he assumed he had come to the right place.
He squinted to try to focus on the horizon in the distance. The clearing was large, and that, coupled with the darkness of the new moon night, plus the slight visual impairment of the small teenager who refused to wear glasses, made his already difficult task even worse.
With Minho's words in mind he walked towards the frozen lake and carefully placed a foot on the thin layer of ice.
"It's in the middle of the lake, you have to walk through the water to get to it."
Hell, if it was just water it would be a lot easier, but it was ice, pure, clear ice that with every step he took allowed him to see the goldfish swim scared away from him.
Jeongin gasped, wearily, as a white marble statue stood before him, surrounded by Rowan fruit and vines. The expression on the face was too serene and lifelike to be a mere lump of stone: thick lips, half-open, a flat nose, some hair falling across the forehead as if it were real hair... It looked so soft. He wanted to touch it and see for himself that it was not made of flesh. But his hyungs had already warned him: he could not touch the statue under any circumstances. He had to recite those words in classical Greek, which he had already memorised, and wait for the beautiful woman, according to legend locked inside the marble, to wake up. There was only one small problem... Jeongin may not have had his glasses on, as usual, but he was more than sure that it was the face of a man, an extremely beautiful one.
Sceptical about the veracity of the story his friends had told him, beginning to think that they had only done it to make fun of him for a while, he started to pronounce those words in an unknown language, doubting even if they really meant something or if they were just Felix's invention. Well, yeah, this guy was Australian and exotic, but could he really speak classical Greek? It all sounded too stupid, he began to feel more and more sure that it was a joke.
"Since I'm here, what the hell, I might as well seize the moment," he muttered with a small smile.
He had finished reciting, and as expected, nothing had happened. So he took another step forward to reach out and touch the statue. It was smooth, much softer than he would have imagined from a piece of stone. And it was frozen, very much so.
His hand was on the statue boy's cheek, brushing it with his fingertips, as if afraid to break it into pieces. His face was suddenly very close to the sculpture and he felt his hair stand on end as he gazed into the sculpted eyes of the other's face. It seemed too full of life, so much so that it was almost alive. Unsure of his actions, he craned his neck so that he could reach the statue's cool, soft lips. And he closed his eyes at that moment, surprising himself with such an impulse he had had. His heart was beating a little louder than before and he thought he should break away now and end the madness.
But at that moment the ice crunched under his feet. Frightened, he tried to jump, to avoid falling into the freezing water, but before he could do so, he slipped and sank.
He tried to float up, kicking like a frightened child with his head completely submerged, but in doing so he hit a still solid patch of ice and started to feel dizzy.
Between the ripples made by the frozen water, and the goldfish swimming around him, he thought he saw a figure moving on the ice sheet, treading water. He was starting to run out of oxygen, but he was too frozen to move. He thought it would be the end of him, he had already accepted it. He closed his eyes and simply waited.
Then something pulled him upwards. He felt his body being dragged across the ice, hands running down his chest and squeezing his cheeks tightly. And finally, lips on his. Damn, they were cold, as cold as marble.
Jeongin opened his eyes and spat out water simultaneously. He was shivering, probably on the verge of fainting, and yet his heart began to pound.
"It's you," he muttered awkwardly. Before him, he saw that marble-skinned face, with those full lips now red, and his black hair falling dowm his forehead. The boy looked at him with parted lips, his eyes moving up and down nervously.
"You're alive," he said, in a strangely monotone voice but with a hint of enthusiasm.
"Y-you too," Jeongin remarked, "Thank you..."
"Hyunjin," he finished for him. "I am called Hyunjin. "
"Thank you for saving me, Hyunjin. "The little boy repeated then, "You... You are real, how?"
"I will return to my marble prison with the first rays of sunlight, until the next new moon when a curious young man, such as yourself, decides to wake me up," he explained briefly. His tone was completely neutral, as were most of his facial expressions, and yet he sounded so sweet, and it was so beautiful.
"Can I see you again?"
"Don't, please, you might freeze to death."
Jeongin gasped at the harshness and coldness of the boy's words. He was indeed beautiful, but for some reason he seemed tremendously tormented. The little boy could imagine why: Hyunjin was a mere spectator, life was going on around him and he was unable to do anything about it.
"I'll get Coke, pizza and a warm blanket," the little boy decided with a broad smile.
"Coke? Pizza?"Without changing his hieratic expression, Hyunjin tilted his head slightly, completely endearing Jeongin, who grabbed his hand excitedly and squeezed it with all his might to make sure it wasn't an illusion that would vanish like a cloud of dust.
[...]
"Jeongin-ah, what's the matter with you? You've been very quiet this morning. " His hyung Minho tried to get his attention, but all he succeeded in doing was to make the boy start coughing.
"Oh, my poor boy! Are you feeling sick?" exclaimed Bang Chan in panic. The little boy just pulled a handkerchief out of his heavy jacket and nodded.
"It's your fault, if I hadn't gone out at night to wake up the woman in the statue, I wouldn't have got sick," Jeongin scolded them in a thin voice.
"What, what, what, what?!" Felix cackled, running to catch up with the little boy. ChangBin gave him a gentle slap and was able to get to his side as well.
"Did you really do it?" asked Jisung curiously.
"Yes," replied Jeongin."But it all was a lie, no statue of a woman came to life last night," he clarified.
And at that moment all his friends began to crowd around him and push each other to be the first to question the little boy. Jeongin just smiled, he was too happy after his first encounter with Hyunjin, he still remembered all the strong feelings and emotions he had felt the night before and he was looking forward to the next new moon to return to the clearing. He had set a goal for himself: to get the curse of the legend broken, and to free Hyunjin from his marble prison.