Chapter Text
1
Thunder rumbled, making Kun look up at the gloomy sky before he hurried towards the nearest bus stop to avoid the rain that immediately followed. He quietly cursed himself as he realized he didn’t have his umbrella with him, despite knowing that it would rain throughout the day. Feeling a sudden vibration in his jacket pocket, Kun fished out his phone and gasped as he saw the time while his boss’ name flashed on its screen.
Hastily answering the call, Kun pressed his phone to his ear. “I am so so—”
But before he could complete his sentence or hear the rest of whatever his boss was about to shout to him, Kun felt a body bump hard against him, knocking his phone out of his grip. A small gasp escaped him as he caught his breath, his eyes following his phone fly in a weirdly beautiful arc and landed onto the rain-drenched street.
“Oh my God,” the stranger, who bumped into him, said. “I am so sorry!”
Kun didn’t even bother to reply. Raising his suitcase to protect himself from the pelting rain, he jogged to where his phone was, his eyes never leaving the small device swimming in the puddle. But before he could even step out onto the curb, he felt himself being pulled back with such a force he toppled back, a speeding car missing him by a fraction of a second.
“Are you insane?!”
Kun didn’t actually know what the hell just happened. There he was, his backside still on the wet pavement, when a guy suddenly knelt beside him looking all scared.
“I…” he whispered, his mind still processing what happened in the last few seconds. “I almost died, didn’t I?”
“Yes,” the stranger answered harshly, his eyes still wide with shock. “And for what? A goddamn phone?”
That’s when it hit him. Taking a deep breath, Kun clutched his head with both hands. “Oh my God, I almost died!”
He tried to breathe, but the more he thought about what just happened, the more he couldn’t control his breathing. He felt his hands turn cold, and all of a sudden, his world started to go out of focus.
“Hey, hey,” the other guy urgently told him as he took his hand. “Look at me.”
Kun obliged and looked at the stranger holding his hand.
“Breathe with me.”
He did what he was told, and Kun breathed with the stranger. They inhaled and exhaled for what seemed like forever until Kun had calmed down and learned to breathe properly again.
“Thank you,” Kun said after he exhaled for the last time. “I’m… I’m okay now.”
The other guy eyed him, still worried. “Are you sure? I can take you to the hospital.”
Kun nodded in response. “Yeah, I’m fine… Yes. No need for the hospital.”
The stranger muttered a small okay as he helped Kun to his feet, still looking not convinced, but thankfully, he did not press the matter. “I know it’s my fault your phone got all the way out there, and I’m sorry…”
“Hey, no, it’s okay—” Kun started to say but the smaller of the two sighed loudly, cutting him off.
“But you’re so… reckless.”
It wasn’t what the guy said that caught Kun’s attention, but how he said it. The guy had his brows furrowed, looking away from him, almost as if he was angry at him.
“Isn’t it common knowledge to check first if there are cars coming your way before you even step into the street?”
Kun could perfectly understand if the guy got scared or was worried, but angry? He couldn’t comprehend why this total stranger would feel such a thing towards him.
But instead of voicing out his thoughts, Kun kept his mouth shut, resorting to just hanging his head low as he trained his eyes on the ground.
Silence blanketed them for a few more minutes before the bus that Kun had to take arrived.
Throwing an awkward look towards his savior and muttering a quiet thank you, he got on the bus and took the seat by the doors. Kun saw how the stranger threw a weird look at him before letting out a sigh and hopped onto the bus himself.
“Just wanna make sure you don’t do anything stupid again,” the guy muttered as he took the seat beside Kun.
❊
“You almost what?”
Kun immediately shushed Sicheng, as most people in the cafeteria turned their eyes on them. He even noticed Yangyang from Accounting perk up towards their direction, clearly sensing some tea brewing in their general area. He already had an earful from their boss regarding safety, Kun definitely didn’t need another one from his best friend, or from anyone, if he can help it.
“Don’t you shush me,” Sicheng told him. “You almost got yourself ki—"
Kun groaned. “But I didn’t, yeah? Let’s not talk about it…”
“You brought it up.”
“I only told you because you’re my best friend.”
Sicheng paused, an eyebrow raised. “And if I wasn’t?”
Kun shrugged at him before he put a spoonful of rice into his mouth.
“Unbelievable,” Sicheng muttered under his breath as he shook his head, rolling his sleeves up to his elbow. “But did you at least go to the hospital to get yourself checked or something?”
“I didn’t,” Kun replied. Sicheng was about to say something but he beat him to it. “I’m fine, really. The guy who saved me even accompanied me till I was in the lobby.”
Seeing how Sicheng’s eyebrows shot up at this tiny bit of information, Kun then recounted the events that transpired.
“I mean, sure, I understand if he’s scared,” Kun was saying. “It was a pretty terrifying experience. But for him to be angry at me? I mean, I almost died, and you’re angry at me?”
“Well, I’d feel both scared and angry at you, to be honest,” Sicheng piped up, cutting him off. “You were pretty stupid, like, really.”
“Wha—”
Sicheng sighed. “You know, for someone so smart, you can be really stupid sometimes.”
“That’s the second time you called me stupid today,” Kun said which earned him an eyeroll from his best friend.
“Because you were really stupid,” Sicheng told him, exasperated. “Why would you risk your life for something as stupid as a phone? Why didn’t you even check for cars before trying to get it? Why are you not even being careful?”
He was about to retort something back, but the words died in his mouth, because he got it. He actually understood why both Sicheng and his savior were both angry at him. Okay, maybe angry was too strong a word.
Another sigh escaped Sicheng as soon as he realized Kun fell silent. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have called you stupid or got annoyed at you...”
“Yeah, no, I understand,” Kun said, a small smile forming on his lips as he nodded along. “You feel that because you’re scared, yeah? That other guy looked pretty shaken too…”
“I bet he was,” his best friend breathed before he turned his attention to his lunch.
Kun watched silently as Sicheng started to dig in. He knew his best friend tries not to say or show anything much, but he could tell that he was genuinely worried.
“I’m sorry for worrying you,” Kun muttered in a small voice. Sicheng, having not heard what he said, tilted his head.
He let out a small chuckle as he shook his head. “Nothing. So, how’re you and Yu—”
Before he could even finish his sentence, Sicheng kicked him hard under the table, his eyes wide. “Yah! You do have a death wish, don’t you?”
❊
The rest of the day went by as normally as he could have hoped for. Kun’s boss, Mr. Suh, told him that he should have just taken the day off and rest to calm his nerves but Kun insisted that he was totally fine. The rest of the office knew something happened but, thankfully, neither Sicheng nor his boss told anyone about what happened; Kun didn’t want any more attention drawn to him.
Sitting back in his chair, Kun closed his eyes for a moment, his hand massaging a sore spot on his neck. Everyone had already gone home a couple of hours ago, but Kun, being the stubborn workaholic that he was, still stayed behind to finish some of the papers he had on his desk. His free hand absent-mindedly reached for his phone, only to realize he never got it back.
Someone probably has it by this time, he thought to himself. Heaving a sigh, Kun turned to look at the clock hanging above the door: 7pm.
His eyes scanned the state of his desk. He was almost done for the day; only a single file was left on what was once a pile of paperwork that he had to do.
Kun hated leaving even the tiniest task unfinished, but he felt really drained and exhausted already. He threw one last look at the file sitting on his desk and thought that maybe, just this once, he could break his streak and leave one paper undone.
After leaving their office, a tired sigh once again escaped Kun’s lips. The rain was pouring as hard as ever and, even if he used his suitcase and jacket to run for the nearest bus stop, he was sure that he’d still be dripping wet.
He was about to go back inside their building when he felt a tap on his shoulder and Kun turned around.
A yellow umbrella was practically shoved into his face that Kun had to take a step back, a look of surprise clearly etched on his features.
“Here,” a somewhat familiar voice said behind the umbrella.
Kun hesitated for a bit before taking the thing to reveal the same man who saved his life earlier that day. “Uhm…”
“And here,” the stranger said as he shoved a box in his free hand, eyes not meeting Kun’s. “For replacement.”
Without waiting for any reply, the other guy immediately took off, his own umbrella in hand.
For the second time that day, Kun had his mind slowly process what the hell happened. He had a bright yellow umbrella in one hand, and a box in another. He tried to call after the stranger but he was already out of sight.
Sticking the umbrella under his arm, Kun curiously opened the box. The guy mentioned it was for replacement but a replacement for what? It wasn’t until he removed the thin paper lining that he found a slick black phone nestled inside.
He was at a loss for words. Sure, he did need a replacement for his phone but he never expected to have someone else— and a complete stranger, for that matter— get it for him. And by the looks of it, it seemed to be one of the newest models too.
A frown was slowly forming in Kun’s face. He was uncomfortable with receiving gifts or whatever, especially something this expensive. But he didn’t know anything about the other guy. He didn’t know what his name was, or where to find him. Kun had no way of contacting him so he could return the shiny device that suddenly lit up with a new message.
At first, he thought he got played and panic steadily rose in his system. Maybe it wasn’t a new phone after all, but a stolen one and that he unwittingly became an accessory to a crime. But when he took a closer look, a wave of relief washed all over him as he read two simple words:
keep it
Kun immediately looked around him. For sure, the strange young man who saved him, not only once but twice today, was still around. Why would he send Kun that kind of message if he didn’t see him hesitating, right?
But with how hard the rain was falling, Kun couldn’t see much. He then took the phone out of its box, and typed in a reply:
I wanted to thank you, but I don’t even know who you are.
As soon as he sent it, the mystery guy was almost immediately typing in his own message, the little chat bubble dancing on the screen.
ten, you can call me ten
❊