DEAR DREAM | nct dream ✓

donghyuck's story

after graduation, hyuck immediately moved to america with the savings he had done all up until then, trying to escape the history that kept following him.

donghyuck was an interesting person and carried traits you wouldn't see in others. he was quite manipulative in his own way, always getting whatever he wanted with a twirl of his hand and a few sweetened words. maybe that was how he had convinced some bad people that he would work for them loyally and then disappear from seoul rich without a trace.

when donghyuck was born, his mother wasn't in great conditions to be a mother. she was underage-ed and addicted to substances and pills that threatened her health and mental state. sometimes when she has men over, random men she might not even know, they'll do things to hyuck without her knowledge.

they would come over and even when his mother told him to go stay in the cupboard until she told him to come out. she wasn't abusive and never laid a hand on hyuck but it was what she didn't know that haunted him almost every night.

he wouldn't say anything, though. it's not like his mother would stop anything because she's always asleep or tired or unconscious. even hyuck would have to take care of his mother because without her, he would be even hungrier than he already was.

hyuck was born without a father to a druggie who wasn't even legal and living in unstable conditions. so it would only make sense why kids bullied him as he grew up because he wasn't privileged like other children.

then on the first day of september, hyuck met mark. mark was walking home from school when hyuck saw a apple roll out of mark's bag and when the boy hurried up to the fruit, mark turned around and saw a boy his age with scratches on his legs and holes in his tee shirt.

the boy had intended on stealing the apple and running away but mark didn't look angry when he picked it up and take a subtle bite out of it. mark only smiled and told him, "it looks like you're hungry. we can go to my house and i'll wash it for you."

when the pair got to mark's house, it was nice and welcoming but none of his parents were home that day. mark washed the apple and give it to hyuck who was still afraid to mutter a single word. then mark climbed up his stairs and told him to follow and immediately went to his drawers, picking out an outfit that didn't fit him anymore because hyuck was skinny, really skinny.

from that day on, hyuck returns to the tree house everyday to play with mark, jisung, and chenle. every day after school, mark would sit with him in the tree house and mark would teach him, letters of the alphabet, how to read and write, teach him numbers and their patterns, and along with other things.

when his mother was murdered, hyuck was on his own and didn't seem to care so much about her death, he cared about himself. he was immediately put in foster care and later got adopted by a single father who had lost his wife and kids prior.

he was a decent father but hyuck could never relate to him or with him. when hyuck graduated high school and moved to the states, his father killed himself. and since he wasn't usually one to show much emotion, hyuck continued to live peacefully in the states.

these days when he's there, even when he's working at a law firm, he can't stop thinking how many years had already surpassed in the time of his life so far. hyuck couldn't stop thinking of how kind and well mark treated him, as if hyuck was mark's younger brother because he was an only child.

to others, hyuck was an intimidating person, all work and order, always wanting everything done the right way and simple. he's lived a complicated life, it only makes sense that he lives simply with no regrets. hyuck was a lawyer now with an education and never dares to return to the life of a criminal and thievery, not that he was ever caught.

and even then when he returned every first day of september to seoul, the tree house, he can't help but miss mark and wished that he knew where his family had run off to. everything was the same as it always had been, just a little empty because he was alone every single time. then the boy just feels sorry, for everything, even the things he hasn't done, hadn't done, will not do, he's just so terribly sorry and guilty.

he stays for a bit, writes a letter into the wooden bookcase, reads a book, and maybe eat a apple or three until he thinks it's time for him to leave. but each and every time hyuck climbed down the ladder leading to the tree house, he says one thing and one thing only, "i'll be back".