it was late afternoon when minghao made his first appearance downstairs. unlike all the others who stayed in the lake house, he had his own rhythm of life. the boy was also well known for staying up all night at the crackling fireplace, even when he was not allowed to.
junhui seemed mesmerized by the glorious appearance he made, which went unnoticed by the other company in the room. the chinese boy had gotten to know yanan and the two other patients in the lake house over the span of the day. a girl who differed two years in age with him named wheein and a particularly pleasant guy named taemin, who seemed to have both an energetic and calm side.
they had spend the day getting to know each other, and had now gone for a walk together with one of the doctors outside, as junhui and yanan preferred to stay inside the lake house since the weather was still rather gloomy. yanan had gone upstairs a while ago, which left junhui together with a female doctor he barely exchanged any words with, alone in the living room.
the chinese boy was seated on the exact same couch he had met minghao on the day before, being heated by the crackling fire of the fireplace. he had been reading a book which he had taken with him from home. but now minghao's presence filled the room, he could hardly keep his focus on the words on the pages.
for only a bare second minghao locked eyes with him, before he hurried to the other side of the room, a book under his arm. he had no intention of making verbal contact with anyone which clearly showed. yet still, it only fed junhui's interest and curiosity.
so carefully he got up from the couch, abandoning the warm fireplace as he walked over the the other pair of couches where minghao was seated on. he had no clue yet of how he was about to approach him, so he decided to go with his intuition and just wish for the best to happen. if he just spoke to him like his usual self, nothing could go wrong, right?
"hi." junhui announced his presence, on which the raven boy slightly flinched. his eyes had been glued to the yellow pages of his book since he opened it and he visibly wasn't expecting anyone to disturb his peaceful reading session. "is this seat taken?" junhui pointed out the spot on the couch next to minghao, who had his legs pulled up and sat all the way in the corner.
yet to junhui's surprise, the male shook his head, pushing his thin framed specs a little higher up his nose as he carefully followed every movement junhui made. the first step was made, junhui had minghao's allowance to at least sit somewhat close to him. perhaps he would even get him to talk for the slightest.
"so.. how would you like me to introduce myself? or, do you even want me to introduce at all?" minghao's sharp dark eyes, that hid away mostly behind his hair, had never left junhui's. even when he nodded and gave junhui allowance to do so, no expression was visible at all. "my name is junhui. wen junhui, actually, but just call me however you want. you're minghao, i suppose?"
the boy nodded again, looking away this time. "xu minghao." his voice sounded soothing. it was a gentle yet soft sound which junhui hadn't expected to hear this soon. however, he was glad he managed to get him to speak.
"are you chinese by coincidence?" junhui spoke in his mother tongue, getting minghao to peer his head back up on an instant. the family name xu had sounded fairly familiar to junhui, who had the ability to recognize chinese names right away.
"i..i am." minghao returned the same language, which managed to bring a brighter smile upon the boy's face who sat beside him. yet still minghao's expression remained emotionless, the only thing being visible were the traces fear that clouded his eyes, which seemed to lessen in junhui's presence.
just when junhui was about to say the next, the same female doctor that had dragged minghao away the day before appeared from behind the couch. "say minghao, what's going on here?" just like how it had gone the day before, the boy started stammering unrecognizable words. his hands, which he intertwined together, visibly started shaking which only concerned junhui more.
"wait, let him be for a second." junhui warned the doctor, which seemed to lessen minghao's panic for a good moment. his gaze softened and as much as junhui wanted to reach out for him, to rub his shoulder and give him reassurance, junhui restrained from doing that as he knew he could cause a more panicked reaction.
"i prefer to take minghao back to his own room, upstairs." the female doctor mindlessly reached out and grabbed a hold of minghao's shoulder. regardless of the fact that she looked like a friendly mother, she definitely acted otherwise.
"do you even know what's best for him!" junhui was completely unaware of the fact that minghao looked at him with big eyes, way too busy with starting an argument with a doctor. the panic he felt around people had vanished for the first time in junhui's presence, and if the doctor's and junhui himself only knew that, they would be able to leave so many troubles behind.
"of course i know what's best for him. he's been here for a pretty good while and in case you forgot, i am a professional doctor. now if you could excuse me." she pulled minghao up from the couch, who still couldn't keep his eyes off junhui.
once both of them disappeared, junhui slumped back to the couch he had been previously sitting on. he pulled his legs up to his chest as he stared at the warm fire in the fireplace, processing what exactly had just happened.
though he was certain of one thing. he had gotten minghao to talk, voluntarily. and if anything, junhui was going to continue things at a slow pace, just to get this mysteriously interesting boy to get comfortable around him.
