Chapter Two

 The dinner went on smoothly with most of the people ignoring Hyukjae’s presence and Kyuhyun on the contrary being undeniably attracted by him to the point of stealing glances from the black haired man between his every chewing. There was something just too intriguing on that person and Kyuhyun couldn’t deny his fascination towards his newly known cousin – or even pry his eyes away from the said one.

 Of course that blunt staring didn’t pass unnoticed, the brunet sometimes being caught distractedly studying his cousin by the latter and feeling embarrassed while averting his gaze in all of them. Hyukjae wouldn’t say a word, though. The most of a reaction he expressed whenever he surprised Kyuhyun staring at him was a soft furrow of brow and then he would come back to his meal as if nothing had happened. That evasive and almost uninterested behavior was kind of intriguing, too. Kyuhyun found it real amusing.

 When the dinner was over, everyone left their seats and went to the living room to casually chat again as Mrs. Cho and some of her sisters went to wash the dishes. Kyuhyun discretely saw how Hyukjae walked outside the house and closed the main door after going out, his dark eyes traveling back to his girlfriend when the latter called his name to say something about a family picture that was above the fireplace.

 There were only children on that particular photo and Kyuhyun named each one of them to a very attentive Halla when she had asked him to. It was a picture of himself with some of his cousins during a camp they did when they were seven years old. His girlfriend commented something funny about the way Kyuhyun’s cheeks were chubby back then and how he was cute in his polka-dotted dungaree, but Kyuhyun was way too busy noticing how Hyukjae was the only one who wasn’t in that picture with them to really pay attention to it.

 Some short minutes passed by until Mrs. Cho came back from the kitchen and walked to where Kyuhyun and his girlfriend were standing and still talking about that family picture and how the brunet enjoyed those times he had gone camping. “May I have her?,” she asked to his son while signaling to Halla, who blinked a few times. Kyuhyun frowned slightly and his mother quickly explained the reason behind her request. “Your aunts and I are all gathered in the kitchen talking about the men gathered in here, so it’s completely understandable that we want her to join us so we can talk about you too, with the privilege of new information.”

 Kyuhyun stared at his mother during some seconds before chuckling in disbelief. Mrs. Cho has always had this way of being rather sincere and straightforward about everything and even when Kyuhyun thought about it as a flaw, he would also admiringly think about it as a great quality of hers. “Of course,” came the joyful reply, the male instantly earning a discreet pinch on his sides from his girlfriend and making his best not to flinch or laugh.

 Mrs. Cho smiled widely and quickly grabbed Halla’s hand to drag her to the kitchen where all the other women were waiting. With one last glance to Kyuhyun, Halla let herself being led to the kitchen and disappeared around a corner, just like when they first arrived there for dinner. Kyuhyun snorted silently at the Déjàvu and then looked around to observe all his relatives chatting about nothing in particular across the room with mild to none interest.

 His dark eyes eventually traveled across the window and he suddenly felt anxious when remembered who was still standing outside the house. If his brain was working right at that moment he would have left that matter alone and sneaked his way to the kitchen, so he could hear what the women were talking about him in there and maybe even trespass some sort of strength to his girlfriend through an encouraging look from a corner of the doorway. However, since he seemingly wasn’t on his proper state of mind and before he could even stop himself from moving, Kyuhyun soon found his legs leading him to the front door in large steps. His eager hand then opened the wooden door with a low creak and swiftly closed it again when he reached the porch for the second time that night.

 A soft breeze ruffled his brown strands of hair as he inhaled the fresh air of the night deeply, the moonlight covering everything with its amusingly gray cape. The weather was as cold as it has been when he first arrived in there yet it felt somewhat cooling now that he had spent so much time inside the house which seemed suffocating warm under that sea of people. He still pulled the sleeves of his cashmere sweater over his hands to shelter his fingers from the wind, anyway. Looking at his surroundings as though searching for something, Kyuhyun didn’t take long to notice a slim figure leaned over a low wall, a cigarette trapped between his long fingers and a vague look adorning his eyes.

 Hyukjae wasn’t exactly pretty, in Kyuhyun’s opinion. His hair was of a dark-brown, almost black color and it had half of its lateral shaved into a tilted pyramid design, the further strands of his hair being of a slight longer extent to the point of holding a short fringe stylized in a downwards arrow in front of his forehead. His hairstyle was eccentric but it was also quite classy and strangely fitting. He was overly thin and his features kind of ordinary, however, there was something in him that seemed to shine and captivate the attention of whoever dared to spare a glance at him. Hyukjae had some kind of magnetism that attracted everyone even though they didn’t want to be attracted by him. He was like a rough diamond only waiting to be properly refined, the whole combination of unusual charms making of him way too beautiful.

 He was wearing trendy clothes; tight black jeans and a white shirt where the words ‘Live Killa’ glimmered in colorful patterns, its sleeves ripped off in a fashionable way. There was an elegant bracelet hugging his wrist and the silver color of it matched the pair of sneakers that sheltered his feet. It was actually a quite simple outfit but somehow it looked like brand new fashion when Hyukjae wore it. It adhered to his lean muscles in an elegant way as though he were a model and that was the most stylish outfit in the whole event, impression that Kyuhyun suspected being caused by the natural glamour that small guy had.

 Hyukjae really wasn’t that much of a pretty person, Kyuhyun would still stick to that line of thought, but there was no heck of doubt about Hyukjae being effortlessly charming.

 When Kyuhyun came back from his daze he noticed how Hyukjae was now looking back directly at him rather curiously, his winged eyes slight narrowed as he blew a cloud of smoke into the air. That feeling of being caught doing something he shouldn’t hit the brunet right in the senses and he automatically straightened his back with a start, blinking a few times from nervousness and doing his best not to break the eye contact the other man had initiated. Kyuhyun felt like a child ready to be scolded at and the dull look his cousin was silently throwing at him from under long eyelashes didn’t help easing his feelings at all.

 Hyukjae spent a few more moments maintaining their eye lock and then huffed in a mocking way while redirecting his attention back to the vast garden of Kyuhyun’s parents’ house in front of him, another blow of smoke leaving his plush lips a second later. Kyuhyun felt uncomfortable with that act of the other but it would be a lie if he said that he didn’t find it interesting. Hyukjae himself is interesting, Kyuhyun thought as giving small steps in the direction where the other was standing.

 As soon as he showed signs of approaching the other man he could feel how the latter glanced at him through the corner of his outlined eyes, a glint of something threatening quietly warning Kyuhyun to stay away from him. For a split second the brunet indeed wondered about what he was doing and if it would be really worth it of him to keep on trying to get close to that singular person whose most of relatives loved to bad-mouth whenever they had a chance. Maybe the things they said about Hyukjae were right and he was actually a despicable person despite Kyuhyun’s parents saying otherwise; there was no way he could be completely sure about the other’s character with the less he knew about him until then.

 Well, but shouldn’t it be a fair reason for him to approach his cousin and try to know him better only for the sake of discovering which part of his family was right and which wasn’t? Kyuhyun thought so.

 That’s why despite of the clear signals to back off Hyukjae kept sending his way, Kyuhyun still finished his walk towards that direction and placed himself beside the black haired in an almost hesitant way. The wind was getting wilder outside the sheltering porch and before doing any move on the silently smoking male by his side, Kyuhyun simply stared off into the darkness of the night as listening to those gelid gusts of wind rocking the branches of a nearby tree.

 Uncountable minutes passed by just like that and for some reason Kyuhyun started enjoying that silence and the very presence of the other man. It was somewhat comfortable doing nothing beside Hyukjae, watching him dragging on his cigarette and shifting his weight from one foot to another every once in a while. No, Hyukjae couldn’t be as bad as their relatives said. Kyuhyun didn’t think it was possible judging the comfortable feeling the other subtly managed to cause on him without much (likely any) effort. Maybe Hyukjae was just… misconceived? That seemed quite fitting.

“What are you doing here?,” the question came in a rather casual tone when Kyuhyun couldn’t hold his necessity of talking to the other any longer, his eyes glancing down at Hyukjae to discreetly scan the rough beauty of the other’s profile.

 Hyukjae didn’t seem fazed by the interruption of the dense silence previously settled in that porch, but he didn’t seem pleased by it as well. It was more like he already awaited it though didn’t quite want it to happen anytime soon. He rested his weight on his right foot in a fluid movement and then dragged on his cigarette as though thinking about the question he was asked, his naturally reddened mouth slowly exhaling the smoke a few moments later. “Here is too vague. Be more specific.”

 Kyuhyun frowned a little, unsure of both what that was supposed to mean and what kind of reaction he should have towards it. Opting for the simplest answer he could give back, the brunet moistened his lips and frowned a little before allowing the words to slip past his throat. “Here outside.”

“Oh, that,” Hyukjae dragged from his cigarette once more, his shoulders going up and down in a dull way. “I wanted some fresh air.”

“Well, it will be quite hard to get fresh air when you keep infecting it with smoke.” Kyuhyun wasn’t sure if his attempt of being funny had worked in the way he wanted and judging by the short, cold guffaw he got from the black haired by his side he hasn’t really succeeded on it at all, but even so Kyuhyun was quite pleased to drain some sort of reaction from his cousin. At least it was a beginning.

“Yeah. It seems like I’m good at infecting things.”

 There was a heavy silence on which Kyuhyun felt the desire of asking further about that subject but didn’t have the guts to do so, causing both of them to just keep looking at the nothingness. There was something more on that single phrase; there was a double meaning lying within those sarcastic words and Kyuhyun knew that. What he didn’t know was what exactly it was that about, the thought of being something related to their relatives hitting the back of his mind softly. Yet he couldn’t bring himself to voice out his suspicions nor extend that subject by bluntly asking what the black haired truly meant by that. He wouldn’t dare himself to.

 Hyukjae stubbed out his cigarette and threw it away somewhere in the garden. The night was becoming colder and a soft fog was starting to cover up the sky, partly hiding the shining stars and the moon with its milky smog. Kyuhyun kept stealing glances from his cousin, absently wondering if the guy wasn’t feeling cold wearing only that sleeveless shirt under this heck of gelid weather.

 Would it be too awkward if he sneaked his way closer, maybe just a little bit, in an attempt of warming him through human warmth? The simple thought already seemed awkward itself. No, that wouldn’t work. He shouldn’t even be worrying about such thing, right? Probably not. Kyuhyun then tried to push those kind of thoughts aside, but soon enough the words were already unhelpfully slipping past his lips in a curious question. “Aren’t you feeling cold?”

 There were no changes on Hyukjae’s face, his expression vague and still as it has been, but he seemed to considerate that question for a few moments before shrugging his shoulders once again. It wasn’t certain whether the man was shrugging that off because he wasn’t feeling cold or because he just didn’t care, Kyuhyun assuming that it was mostly the second option and having his suspicions confirmed by Hyukjae’s next huffed words. “It doesn’t bother me. The cold weather, I mean.”

“But you can fall sick if you don’t take care of your health…”

“What? What does it have to do with you, anyway?”

 Yeah, ing right, bro. Kyuhyun knew that it didn’t have anything to do with him, he was even thinking about that just now, yet he couldn’t help being taken aback by that rude and borderline defensive behavior the other man struck him with. However, he caught himself even more surprised by his own sudden outburst of care towards a person he barely knew. He didn’t know from where that had come yet he couldn’t say he regretted developing such path of emotions, something prickly rattling under his skin at the thought of worrying about Hyukjae, protecting him somehow. Not that any of that made some sense. “Uh, nothing, I just thought that-”

“Then don’t.” Hyukjae barked, not even minding to disguise the bitterness on his voice. “Don’t think.”

 There was a hesitant nod in understanding and then both of them fell into that charged silent they were previously in. The clouds of both Kyuhyun and Hyukjae’s breath would occasionally mingle together as they exhaled even though they were facing the same direction, and the younger man admired it in mild awe as wondering if the fact they were breathing the same air at that moment could be of any help or even reasonable enough as to bring them closer somehow. It took only a fraction of second for Kyuhyun to realize that it obliviously couldn’t.

“It seems like it is Blue Moon tonight.” It was Hyukjae who suddenly broke the silence this time, catching Kyuhyun completely off guard and making him blink a few times in sheer astonishment and awe. The brunet looked up to the sky and stared at the moon, watching how faint tons of blue were mixing with the usual white ones. His dark-brown orbs darted away from the nocturne sky to land flatly on the figure by his side again, a confused expression adorning his features since he didn’t quite catch what the other was talking about – neither why Hyukjae was even attempting a conversation after that rude spat from just now – for the second time in less than ten minutes.

 Hyukjae glanced at his direction before clicking his tongue as though in a scold since the other was being slow on catching what he meant and consequently forcing him to explain his words further. “There’s an old belief that says that people who are with you under the Blue Moon are the ones you will stay with forever.”

“Really?” Another breeze danced around the porch and their skins as Kyuhyun shoved his hands inside the pockets of his pants, sighing loudly in fake frustration. “I should have known about this before so I would kidnap some famous idol and stand under this moon with it tonight. What a pity.”

 A sound which could be assumed as a short snort echoed through the place and Kyuhyun felt proud of himself for making Hyukjae laugh for the first time. Well, it wasn’t exactly a laugh but it was close enough, and for Kyuhyun that was good enough. Hyukjae’s laugh seemed to be prettily sonorous and it was already highly believed to become an addiction if heard many times or quite often. Kyuhyun liked the thought of anticipating how it would feel to hear that new sound someday.

“I thought you would ask me if that meant we’re gonna stay together forever so I could dismiss you with some mocking remark and you’d shut up and leave me alone at last.” The smaller male commented in a fake disappointed tone. “You just ruined it all. Rude.”

 It was Kyuhyun’s time to huff a laugh while eyeing the man beside him with interest. Hyukjae was truly intriguing and the more Kyuhyun talked to him, the more he felt like wanting to know him better. Hyukjae had some kind of charm that made Kyuhyun keep getting attracted to him, just like a magnet and an iron bar, that couldn’t help but being attached together. “My apologies, then.”

 The black haired turned his head to look at Kyuhyun and cocked it to one side when their eyes met. Kyuhyun’s eyes were big and beautiful, glamorously wavering between innocence and mischief, what caused Hyukjae to stare at them a little longer than the necessary before speaking. “You owe me one.”

“One opportunity to get rid of me? You just failed at one, though.”

 Hyukjae pretended to be annoyed as he rolled his eyes but Kyuhyun could swear he saw an almost imperceptive trace of smile lifting the very corner of the black haired guy’s mouth. “One teasing, then.”

 Kyuhyun expressed his gladness towards that new set of behavior by grinning really widely at his smaller cousin, opting for hiding his rows of teeth by settling his mouth into a simple yet warming smile as soon as he noticed how he was probably being awkward by beaming so brightly about such trivial thing. “Alright, yeah. I’ll be glad to give it to you someday.”

 They exchanged nearly playful looks as remaining staring at each other during long seconds without even noticing how they were threatening to drown themselves inside their locking of gazes. Hyukjae opened his mouth to likely say something else but when the sound of the front door opening again echoed through the porch the moment was broken, Kyuhyun then turning to see who was coming and Hyukjae shushing himself as leading his eyes back to the vast garden.

 When Halla peeked through a narrow gap on the door, Kyuhyun felt an uneasy feeling – which reason he didn’t know – and faked a smile at her, who quickly smiled back and started approaching him, not seemingly aware of his boyfriend pretending. “I was looking for you, what are you doing here?” Halla said after greeting Kyuhyun with a peck on his lips.

 Kyuhyun glanced at Hyukjae, until unsure of why he was suddenly feeling uncomfortable with that scene. “Chatting.” Came the evasive answer before he could think of something more elaborated to say.

 Halla looked confused for a second, but then she noticed Hyukjae’s presence there as well and quickly bowed at him even when the man couldn’t really see it since he was looking at the opposite direction, his eyes lost in the night view. “Oh, hello, again.”

 Hyukjae turned his head slightly at the sound and then nodded in acknowledge with a neutral smile adorning his plump lips. “Hello back.”

“Oh, it’s actually a fit time to find you here! Mrs. Cho was looking for you and she said something about a coat on a chair, some baggage and a guestroom.”

“Right, I left my baggage somewhere in the doorway and my coat hung on a chair in the kitchen.” The black haired commented more to himself than to the young lady before coming to address her once again. “Thank you for letting me know… Halla, isn’t it?”

“Yes, and you’re welcome!”

 Hyukjae straightened himself and began to walk back inside the house, sparing no further looks at Kyuhyun when passing by him. Kyuhyun couldn’t help but watch Hyukjae’s retreating figure until the latter crossed the door and closed it right behind him. A strange feeling of lost embraced Kyuhyun’s body when his eyes lost the track of Hyukjae inside the living room but he refused himself to think that it was because he was feeling empty while not on his cousin’s presence anymore.

 It was only when Kyuhyun and his girlfriend found themselves alone in the porch that Halla embraced him and rested her head on his chest, being hugged back rather awkwardly some seconds later. “Did my mom and the others treat you nicely in the kitchen?”

“Yes. They’re funny. They have a lot of nicknames for every men of your family. And the way they mocked you was really funny, too.”

 Kyuhyun parted away until he was looking at Halla’s face, her giggles making tiny wrinkles to appear at the side of her eyes. “So you were mocking me as well, huh? How disloyal.”

 Halla giggled louder and pecked his boyfriend’s lips again, the latter kissing her back this time as the subject of their conversation died just like that. They stayed there hugging each other during some more minutes and then Halla parted away, holding the male’s hand in hers. “Come, let’s enter. It’s cold in here.”

 Both of them walked to the front door again and Kyuhyun spared one last look at the gorgeously shiny moon before entering the house for the second time, a faint smile lifting the corner of his lips without his previous consent for some reason he didn’t really want to think about for the time being.