He survived that horrible night again... alone.

                It has been more than a month since he attended the ceremony and met the members. Nothing really important happened since then. He visited the night club like his usual routine every week. The place was his favourite – a place where he could met strangers with no expectation and with no obligation to keep in touch. He thrived on human interaction and meeting new people keep him refreshed.

                Unfortunately, he could not offer more than that… because of his fears; the reason he hesitated to allow Minwoo and the others to became part of his life. That man was strangely compelling to him, but his curiosity was battling with his conscious fear. So there he was, waiting for some sign.

                Dongwan strung the last note from his guitar and everyone in the room clapped. He did not bother to look around because he knew the person would find him anyway if he was there. He returned the guitar to the smiling bartender like he always did, when he heard his name was called.

“He’s here again,” the bartender commented with unending smile.

“Yeah.”

“He seemed very nice. Maybe you want to keep him?” the bartender raised his eyebrows teasingly.

                Dongwan glanced slightly to his visitor who sat at his usual table across the room and let the bartender unanswered. He excused himself but the man across the counter grabbed his arm.

“Just give him a chance. Give yourself a chance. You deserve to be happy, Dongwan-ssi.”

“Do I?” The bartender looked pitifully at him. His hand was still on Dongwan’s arm, pressing softly with reassurance.

                “Aishh.. I know how to take care of myself. Don’t worry about me, busybody..” Dongwan said with a grin on his face. They exchanged smiles and Dongwan made his way to meet his regular visitor. The difference was this time his visitor brought other people with him. They exchanged greetings and Dongwan sat down on an empty seat.

                “I didn’t knew Hyesung-ssi and Andy-ssi would be here too. What are you guys doing here?”

Hyesung beat Minwoo in answering Dongwan, “Minwoo was really crazy with your singing. So we wanted to hear you sing too. Man, your voice is good.”

Dongwan chuckled, “Really? Thank you.”

Andy chimed in, “I wonder why before this Minwoo-hyung always come here alone.. without telling us…”

                “Shut up,” Minwoo blushed. Andy continued, “I mean.. I don’t understand why you wanted to hide this in the first place. All of us would like to see Dongwan-ssi too, right Hyesung-hyung?”

 “You know Dongwan-ssi, when we asked to meet, he always said he was busy. Now I know where he went.” Hyesung smiled evilly as he get his revenge on Minwoo’s previous teasing. Minwoo glared at the two persons who were giggling like children, obviously complotting against him.

                It was true. Minwoo came there every Tuesday and just sat at the same table. Dongwan would performed his singing and then Minwoo would invited him to drink together. They would talk about most random things and laughed. Sometimes Minwoo would request him to sing a song but he did not know the lyrics. Minwoo would send him the songs by cellphone and then their connection by message naturally became customary to them. As long as he was not required to be involved outside the club, Dongwan did not care much.

                They enjoyed the small talk. Dongwan learned that the members were preparing an album at the moment and they also planned for a concert soon. Because Minwoo has good taste in music, he involved a big part to prepare the album, meaning he was busy for the time being. Minwoo dedication to spend his time at the bar got to Dongwan’s concern.

                “Minwoo-ssi, if you are busy don’t come here often. Shouldn’t you focus on your work?” advised Dongwan. He did not want to be blamed if something happened and also he could spend less time with the man. His cute-eyes charm was not a good thing.

“Not really. I feel happy when I see you Dongwan-ah~” Minwoo answered blatantly while drinking his glass.

                Dongwan was taken aback with the bold statement. “And why is that?”

“Do I need a reason to like you?” That received embarrassed glare from the other two.

“Gosh.. stop making that face guys. What? I like him like I like you guys! By the way, we already knew each other so drop the formality.”

                “Then, may I call you hyung, Dongwan-hyung?” Andy was shy. Dongwan cannot bear the cuteness and laughed. “Of course, Andy.” How could a 30-something man act that cute…

Hyesung also tried, “That’s right. Dongwan-ah~” his smile and voice made Dongwan’s heart melted with sweetness. Oh my god, these guys were really adorable. Were they even real? He felt a weird tingling in his chest when he talked to them.

                “Good. Because more people come today, let’s drink happily!” Minwoo was excited and waved his hand for a bottle of wine. “Careful, Minwoo. We should not be noisy tonight. It’s not weekend.”

……………….

                Some hour passed. Minwoo was hanging on Dongwan’s waist with his chin dropped comfortably on the other's shoulder. Dongwan did not make any move to push the man away because.. it did not feel wrong either.

“Hyung! Stop bothering Dongwan-hyung.” Andy tried to pull drunk Minwoo away from suffocating the new friend but it was hopeless.

“Let him be, Andy-ah. Come here.” Hyesung put his arm across Andy and the maknae leaned to his hyung with a sigh.

“Minwoo-ssi, are you not afraid the paparazzi would cause problem again?”

“If it’s you.. I’m fine~” Minwoo said in sing-sang voice. They all agreed that this man should go home immediately.

                Andy got up and shook hand with Dongwan before busy lifting the drunk Minwoo. Hyesung went close to him and without any warning, he gave Dongwan a full hug. The hug lasted for long seconds.

“See you again, Dongwan-ah.” Hyesung smiled. He was clearly satisfied he could talk casually with the man who was currently in daze.

                He saw the three of them drove off and leave him alone on the deserted sidewalk. The warm sensation he felt from the last hug lingered on his skin, unerased by the cold of the night. He really liked them. He really wanted to be with them.

I bet you this could not last even four month, the devil behind his mind spoke.

“Shut up.”

p/s: tadadaaa... its 4 am and i should go to sleep. what am i doing when exam is next week haha nice.

how is this chapter? is the pace too slow or too fast?

what do u think the prob with dongwan?? i always worried about him bcoz this kid always get himself into trouble lol.