CHAPTER THREE

Donghae felt comfortable and in extreme cuddling mood as he buried his face deeper in the soft pillow he was hugging, the pillow was radiating perfect warmth for the current weather. Donghae sighed in pure bliss… he had finally woken up from his peaceful sleep… but the feeling of content didn’t rush him in opening his eyes but as soon as his senses started to develop, he became aware of a wild beat just under his hand and the hard thing his bent leg was rubbing against.

Donghae’s eyes flew opened and he stilled his movement as his eyes fell on a deep red colored neck, the very neck in which crook Donghae had been nuzzling himself. Donghae’s sharpened mind comprehended whose neck that was in mere seconds but last time he checked, the neck was pale white so why was it red now? Tilting his head enough to glance up at the face of the neck owner Donghae was surprised to see similar red paint on the cheeks as well… but the thing that had his whole attention was the swollen parted plump lips- which looked like they had been abused with continuous biting- of the other. Donghae unconsciously moved his knee, rubbing it against the hard thing again, and could only stare as a soft whimper roused up from the depth of the redden neck and escape the parted lips… making Donghae in a sharp breath.

Donghae looked how the other turned his head slightly toward him- he might have noticed that Donghae has woken up- and with glazed eyes and blushing cheeks, he whispered, “D-d-dong-ngh-hae… can y-you p-please let m-me go?”

With his eyes fixed on the plump lips, it took Donghae a few seconds to understand what those lips have utter but as soon as the meaning behind those words settled in, Donghae quickly let go and scooted away from his brother-in-law like he had been burned.

Donghae turned around and saw- much to his relief- that Amber was already out of the bed… but that relief was turned into horror as he realized that Amber must have already seen Donghae cuddled up with her husband- but then again, it’s not like Amber would care- so the most important point here was… Donghae was alone with Hyukjae, which means the elder would soon demand an apology or explanation at Donghae’s weird behavior… that thought alone made Donghae stumble out of the bed and make a run for his life.

Once outside, he leaned against the wall of the hallway and tried to calm his wildly beating heart. Finally, his mind coming up with excuses… the cuddle was innocent, anyone could do that while sleeping, right?

“Of course,” Donghae breathe out the answer.

Hyukjae is a man… morning woods are natural, they could not have been caused by your knee, right? The inner voice in his head echoed.

“Y-yeah, that was not because of me.” Donghae tried to convince himself.

It was just an accident.

“Yeah… just an accident,” Donghae repeated while nodding in space.

“Hae, is that you?” A voice floated down the hall making Donghae snap his neck toward the living room area. He slowly walked toward it but didn’t find anyone there or in the kitchen, where he checked next.

“Llama?” Donghae inquired in a slightly loud voice.

“Out on the balcony.”

Donghae quickly moved toward to the said place and saw his sister leaning toward the railing. Donghae closed the glass door behind him just in case their voices are heard by the third party.

“So how was the wedding night?” Donghae asked in a teasing manner.

Amber turned to look at him and chuckled at his wriggling eyebrows, “It was blissful,” Amber sighed in an exaggerated manner before guffawing at her own reply. “Thanks for saving me… if you weren’t there God only knows what would have happened.”

“Hey what are brothers for? It’s my job to protect your…umm… honor.” Donghae replied with mock seriousness making Amber crack up once again.

“That acting thing is getting to your head,” Amber commented as she took a sip of her warm coffee. “But I admit your idea last night was amazing.”

“Does that mean you are ready for step two?” Donghae asked with an elevated brow and a smirk across his lips.

“I guess…,” Amber seemed reluctant since she knew sometimes her brother goes over the board with his ideas.

“Amber, shouldn’t you cook breakfast for your dear husband?” Donghae inquired with that mock seriousness back on his face but his eyes danced mischievously.

Amber furrowed her eyebrows at Donghae’s question. “I thought I needed to repulse him of me not attract him with my deeming qualities?”

“Sometimes, you just need to sit back and take credit for others hard work,” Donghae said as he gestured his sister to follow him back inside, and a confused Amber compiled readily.

O-o-o-o-O

Hyukjae knew that standing under the cold shower was not the solution of his… umm… morning trouble, but what with his wedding night being crashed by his brother-in-law this was the only thing left for him. Hyukjae tried convincing himself that his morning wood had nothing to do with the cuddling bear he had slept with last night… that it was only natural for him to be hard in the morning but the truth was, Hyukjae rarely has to go through this kind of ordeal in the morning. Doesn’t mean he would ever admit that this could be caused by Donghae!

Hyukjae turned off the shower and wrapping his waist with a white fluffy towel he found his way toward the shrill ring tone of his mobile phone.

“Hello?” Hyukjae said in the device that had been ringing continuously for the last couple of minutes and apparently the other party had no idea what ‘other bring busy’ means.

“I read your message and under no condition are you allowed to go to your company today.” Came an order- rather than the greeting Hyukjae was expecting- from the other side of call-line.

“Yeah, I am doing great. What about you?” Hyukjae inquired sarcastically.

“Lee Hyukjae, I am being serious over here.” Kyuhyun hissed in warning.

“I know but Amber wants to spend her day with her brother right now… apparently, he would be leaving for America in a month time or so.”

“That doesn’t mean you can’t spend time with your wife… let her spend some time with her brother but then you can take her out on dinner or something?”

Hyukjae sighed softly as he slowly walked toward his cupboard, leaving a trail of water in his wake, to get his office attire out. “Yeah I could do that but that still means I have to give the twin’s some time alone to catch up and stuff so I might as well go to the company for a bit and be back in the evening, right?”

“Hmm… maybe. But why were you asking me to come to your office? You know I don’t like going there because of your stupid manager.”

“Oh, you mean your admirer?” Hyukjae inquired teasingly.

“Hyuk-Jae!” Kyuhyun warned with gritted teeth.

“All right, all right… I just wanna meet you… I need to tell you something.”

“O-oh… I am gonna guess things didn’t go as planned last night…”

“You have no idea,” Hyukjae admitted with a chuckle.

“In that case… see you in the office.”

“Yeah see you… bye.”

“Bye bud!”

Hyukjae looked at his mobile phone for some time and wondered whether he did the right thing… well, he only had one friend thus this did seem like an only way. Kyuhyun would have found out sooner or later anyway.

Then quickly getting in his black suit with a white shirt, Hyukjae walked out of his room. He heard a commotion going around in the kitchen so he directed his steps toward that room. He found the twins laughing merrily at something as he neared the kitchen. A small glance at Donghae made Hyukjae to pause his steps but then he reminded himself that what happened an hour ago was no big deal... Donghae had nothing to do with that. So after getting a grip on himself, he entered the kitchen.

“Oh, you are here,” Amber quickly said as she came toward him, looking shy and cute she gestured toward the table in the middle of the kitchen where a plate of scrambled eggs, sausages, butter, and warm toast sat along with a glass of milk. “I made you breakfast… I really don’t know how to cook but… well… for your sake, I tried my best. I made it with a lot of love.”

Hyukjae flushed hearing those words; he shyly smiled at his wife as he sat on the offered seat… Hyukjae’s mom had already told him that Amber was a great cook, hearing the girl say she hadn’t cooked before was a little confusing but shrugging it off as Amber not having time to cook much, Hyukjae happily slid the plate toward himself.

A quick and closed up survey told him that the scrambled eggs looked burnt, the charcoal toast were giving off a grim feeling and the sausages looked uncooked… but glancing at Amber’s radiating face Hyukjae managed a small smile at her before bringing his attention back on his made-with-love breakfast… gulping slightly, Hyukjae took a bit of the scrambled eggs and choked on them because along with being burnt there was just too much salt in them. Hyukjae quickly grabbed the glass of milk which was yellow compared to the original plain white color of milk… Hyukjae likes his strawberry flavored but this seemed vanilla and having a sweet tooth, this didn’t bother him much… so he took a long gulp to wash away the saltiness. Hyukjae felt like puking suddenly… maybe the milk had turned sour or something…

Coughing wildly Hyukjae turned to look at a worried looking Amber with an equally worried looking Donghae sitting beside her.

“You didn’t like it?” Amber asked with her lower lip trembling slightly.

“Oh no… I really liked it, it’s just a little salty and I wasn’t expecting that. It took me by surprise.” Hyukjae hastily tried to make the guilt wash away from his wife. “But what’s in the milk?”

“Oh that… it’s a raw egg.”

“WHAT?” Now Hyukjae felt like getting sick.

“Raw egg whisked in milk gives you ten times more energy than plain milk,” Amber explained with a smile.

“But I like strawberry milk.” Hyukjae softly mumbled out.

“What? But sweet milk is really bad for your teeth. No, no that won’t do… promise me you won’t drink sweet milk from now on… you should take care of your health.” Amber ordered him quite sternly.

“I… umm… yeah okay… I p-promise.” Hyukjae agreed half-heartedly then looking at the burned toast that seemed to be smirking at him evilly, he suddenly jumps up from the table.

“What happened? Aren’t you gonna eat your breakfast?” Donghae quickly inquired, looking concerned.

“Actually I have to head off to my office… I have important work to do.” Hyukjae quickly made up an excuse but looking at Amber’s fallen expression he said. “I would be back early so how about we go out for a movie then dinner, huh?”

“Movie?? Yeah, that would be awesome… Amber and I were just saying that we should go see a movie together.” Hyukjae turned to look at the beaming Donghae with an equally happy-looking Amber and he found himself mustering up a fake smile.

“So at what time should we be ready?” Amber inquired.

WE!! Hyukjae’s mind shouted. “Around 6?”

“Great!” The twin shouted at unison.

O-o-o-o-O

“Wow, Amber! You are really cruel.” Donghae commented once he was sure his brother-in-law had left for his work. Donghae had seen the pained and fake smiles Hyukjae had directed at them and in all honesty, that was hilarious!! Donghae had a hard time controlling his laughter and with the elder’s eyes fixed on Amber alone so, fortunately, Donghae’s small smiles that had escaped to his lips had gone unnoticed. “If my wife was to order me to not drink chocolate milk ever again… I would have divorced her in the blink of an eye.”

“Well I was aiming for that,” Amber reminded him with a snigger. “Turns out my husband is a considerate person.”

“Some girls would feel lucky at that.” Donghae pointed out while laughing.

“Thanks, God! I am not that ‘some girls’,” Amber rolled her eyes at her brother. “But Hae, I can’t believe you had been living alone for last three years and your cooking skill has gotten worse than good.”

“My roommate is a great cook so I don’t need to worry about those things.” Donghae shrugged off.

“Hyukjae is brave, I would give him that much because seeing the breakfast you made I assure you I wouldn’t have dared to take a single bite out of it.” Amber shuddered at the very thought of putting those scrambled eggs in .

“You are talking about yourself?! Even I wouldn’t have dared,” Donghae admitted while laughing as he remembered Hyukjae’s pained yet cute expressions as he took a bit of his created breakfast.

“So what about tonight?” Amber asked after a few seconds.

“Oh Llama… ruining peoples date is something I had been doing half my life… so don’t worry I have it covered.” Donghae assured his