Chapter 6
"I like you"
 

The vibrations of Yijeong’s phone slowly wakes him up. “16 missed calls, 25 unread messages, 9 voicemails” is visible on the screen as he unlocks his phone. The younger yawns and scratches the back of his neck, not completely paying enough attention to all the notifications on the digital device in his hand. Anxiously reading what’s on the screen more closely, he finally grasps the gravity of the situation... They had fallen asleep. Yijeong immediately checks the time on his phone, “8:47PM” is displayed. He turns to his side, finding their leader’s arm placed tightly around his waist. “He looks so peaceful when he sleeps”, the younger thinks to himself as his eyes wander to their leader’s blushed and red cheeks. “Does he have a fever again?”, Yijeong mumbles as he leans in closer to Kyungil’s face, moving his hand up to his forehead. Suddenly, his hand is stopped by the other’s hand, grabbing onto his wrist. “What are you doing?”, Kyungil asks in a soft and sleepy voice. The voice that makes the younger melt. “Oh, you’re awake? I..- I was just checking if your fever was back..your cheeks.. -- I’m sorry if I woke you up..”, the younger responds with a shaky voice as he tries to retreat his hand from the other’s face. “No, no it’s ok. I’ve been awake for awhile actually... what about my cheeks?” .. “...oh nothing, it’s nothing... they just looked a bit red and glowy” .. The leader grabs his hands and guides them up to his face again, cupping his own cheeks with the younger’s hands. “Are they warm?”, the leader ask while his eyes are focused on the other, attempting to make eye contact. Yijeong feels the leader’s eyes on him and tries to avoid glancing at up at him by turning away his head.

**  a few hours earlier, at the amusement park **

On their way back to the van, the leader suddenly stops, glancing over at the younger while nudging his tummy. “What is it, hyung? Why did you stop?”, Yijeong asks in a soft and confused voice while glancing back at the other. “Come on, follow me”, Kyungil says with a smile, holding the younger’s hand tighter before starting to run. “Wait, hyung. Where are we going? The van is the other way..”, Yijeong asks, as he’s trying to catch his breath while running after Kyungil, hand in hand. “Forget about them, just follow me”, the leader responds. The younger is feeling confused but decides to keep following their leader.

After running for a while, Kyungil finally stops in front of a big building. Exhausted from running and trying to catch his breath, the younger asks “A hotel? What are we doing here?” … “Hyung?”. Turning around to face the other, Kyungil just says “Come on, let’s go in”, grabbing Yijeong’s hand again, leading him in through the entrance. “One room, please”, Kyungil kindly asks the receptionist, while getting out his wallet. “With one or two beds, sir?” “One.” “And how long will you be staying, sir?”, “Just one night, thank you.”

“What if anyone sees us here...together?”, the younger asks while nudging Kyungil’s shoulder, as he's quietly walking behind him. “No one will see us, trust me” .. “How can you be so sure?..This place isn’t exactly private..” .. “Oh, so you want to go somewhere more private huh?”, the leader says with a flirtatious smile on his lips. “No no, that’s not what I meant, hyung..” … “Since when did he get so flirty, I thought I was the teasing one..”, Yijeong softly mumbles to himself in confusion.

“Here we are, this is our room”, Kyungil says while opening the door, grabbing Yijeong’s hand to lead him in. Before they can even get inside, Yijeong stops. “What’s wrong?”, the leader asks in worry. “Why are we here, really? What about the others? We just left without saying anything..” …. “Hyung..answer me, please..” … “I will, Yijeong-iie...I will tell you everything but can you please just come in..”

Kyungil leads him to the bed...“Y-You want to talk here.. o-on the bed?”, Yijeong asks, feeling embarrassed. ... “Aiish, why am I feeling nervous? I’ve been teasing him before..not the other way around...What’s wrong with me?”, Yijeong quietly mumbles to himself, while softly slapping his own cheeks in frustration. “I don’t want to talk..yet.” .. “ I just want to be with you right now…Can I?”...

**    now   **

“Are they?”, Kyungil repeats while turning the younger’s face towards himself again. “Huh?”, Yijeong nervously responds in slight shock. “My cheeks, dummy” .. “Are they warm?”, Kyungil explains while cutely pinching his cheeks. “Oh… yeah a bit”, the younger quietly mumbles. “Really? Are you sure?”, their leader slowly leans in closer to Yijeong’s face so their foreheads touch. As Kyungil leans in closer, Yijeong can feel his heart beginning to flutter and his cheeks getting warmer. He closes his eyes to avoid eye contact. Even with his eyes closed he can sense the leader’s heavy gaze. With their foreheads still pressed against each other, Kyungil softly whispers in the younger’s ear “Can I tell you something?”, making his whole body shiver. The sudden cold breeze of air coming from their leader’s lips surprised the younger, numbing him as he gave a light, unsure nod in response. “I’ll take that as a yes”, utters Kyungil with a flirtatious smile on his lips while leaning in even closer to the younger with his hands cupping his soft, blushed cheeks. His lips are seconds away from touching Yijeong’s…

*ring* *ring* *ring* *ring*


The sudden loud melody of Yijeong’s phone ringing distracts them both, causing Kyungil’s lips to land on the younger’s cheek instead as he turns away his head to look at his phone. The younger didn’t seem to notice the swift peck on his cheek given by their leader..“Aiish, it’s Sihyoung again. They must be worried to death…”, Yijeong anxiously mumbles. “Why don’t you answer?” … “What should I say? … We just left and didn’t tell them and then we fell asleep..in a hotel...together…”, the younger expresses in distress. “Just tell them that we took a walk and I started to feel really ill so you took me to the hospital…They will understand.”, Kyungil reassures the younger as he puts his arm around him and pats his head like a puppy.

With the phone in his hand, Yijeong dials Sihyoung’s number. Afraid of what the other will say, he anxiously waits for the ringtone to fade. Just as he was about to cancel the call, Sihyoung answered with a tense voice “Yaah, Yijeong!” .. “Where did you go?! Are you with Kyungil??”...
 

Yijeong told them exactly what Kyungil advised him to say and to his surprise, Sihyoung and the others seemed to believe him, hopefully…Their plan was working fine until he could hear Jaeho in the background “Should we go pick them up at the hospital?”, the younger’s eyes widen in shock as he hears those words. “What’s wrong? What are they saying??”, a worried Kyungil whispers. “They want to come and pick us up...at the hospital...What should I say???”, Yijeong whispers back as he’s covering the phone’s mic with his hand ... “It’s ok, we’ve already called a taxi”, Kyungil grabs the phone from the younger’s hand. “Oh, Kyungil hyung! You’re there? How are you feeling?”, Jaeho yells through the phone. “I’m fine now, thanks to Yijeong-iiee…The taxi is almost here, i’m hanging up, see you soon!”, their leader utters before abruptly ending the call…

“Hyung!, why did you just hang up like that?”, utters a shocked Yijeong.

“Don’t worry, Yijeong-iiee”

“Don’t worry?, how can I not be worried? They’ll probably be more mad now…”, the younger mumbles with a cute pout.

“Aigoo, my little Yijeong-iiee. You’re so cute”, whispers Kyungil while gently pinching Yijeong’s cheeks.

“I’m not cute…”

“Yes, you are”

“No...I don’t think so”
“Well I think so… so shut up now, dummy. The taxi’s here, let’s go”, their leader utters as he takes the younger’s hand in his and leads him out of their room.

“Who are you calling dummy?...dummy, pfft”, the younger quietly mumbles to himself, while closely following Kyungil, holding his hand tightly.

** back at the dorm **

“Shh...be quiet. It’s late, they’re probably sleeping”, Yijeong nudges Kyungil’s arm as they open the door to their dorm.

“You know, it’s pretty hard to open a door quietly…”, Kyungil teases the younger with a proud smile on his lips.

“You know... you should stop teasing me..”, the younger nervously responds while playfully poking Kyungil’s tummy, causing him to almost trip and fall down. Fortunately, thanks to Yijeong’s quick reflexes, he managed to catch him just in time before he hit the floor.

“Heol...are you ok, hyung?”, Yijeong worringly asks while still holding their leader by his arm, regretting what he just did.

“You told me to be quiet...but now look at you, almost making me fall over, haha” ...

“I’m fine, don’t worry. Thanks for catching me”, Kyungil quietly comforts Yijeong.

“Yah!!, who’s fussing around at this hour?! We’re trying to sleep here”, a tired Dokyun asks, as he’s searching for the light switch.

“Oh, you’re back! Finally!” …

…

…

“What’s going on…?”, a confused Dokyun’s eyes are focused on the younger’s hand tighly around Kyungil’s arm…

Kyungil and Yijeong looks at each other in confusion, not paying attention to Yijeong’s hand placement and the situation.

“Are you guys fighting?”, Dokyun utters while pointing at Kyungil’s arm.

“Oh, no no we’re not fighting...I was just...I-”, a shy Yijeong tries to explain.

“It’s nothing, don’t worry about it. Go back to sleep.”, their leader jumps in, before the younger could finish his sentence.

“O...Oh ok, it sure looked like you were fighting..”

“Well, we weren’t. We’ll talk about everything in the morning, you can go back to sleep now”, Kyungil utters with a stern voice.

“Fine...but you better not be fighting..”, Dokyun utters, followed by a small laugh while going back to his room.
“We’re not….”, the younger quietly mumbles to himself in frustration.

Their leader wanted to go back to it just being him and Yijeong at the hotel. Talking to him made him feel at ease somehow. He didn’t understand how or why. He haven’t really felt like that with anyone else before, not even with the other members. Yijeong is special. Really special to him. He wants to tell him. He wants to tell him everything. Everything he’s been through...But it’s hard for him. He can’t just talk about this with anybody. When he was younger, his mother wanted him to talk to a specialist...a “psychiatrist”, which resulted in him running away from home. He doesn’t want that to happen again. Talking to a random person, whos pretending to know what you’re feeling and what you’ve been through, it doesn’t feel right. However, Yijeong isn't just "anybody"...

Kyungil thought he just had a meaningless simple crush on this guy, Yijeong. He’s slowly realizing by each minute he spends with him that he’s actually falling for him. He likes him...more than just a friend.

“Goodnight, hyung, I’m going to bed”, Yijeong playfully hits their leader’s arm as he begins walking to his room.

“Wait!”, Kyungil grabs the younger’s wrist.

“Yijeong…”, he quietly mumbles as he’s cheeks begin to blush.

“Hyung, are you ok? Your cheeks…”, the younger reaches out his hand towards Kyungil’s cheeks...

Kyungil grabs his hand before he reaches him, looking at him with glowy and gloomy eyes “Come with me”, he whispers while leading him towards his own room. Yijeong gets lost in their leader’s beautiful gaze and can’t do anything else but to follow him.

“Sleep with me”, Kyungil says while closing the door behind Yijeong.

“...What?”, the younger asks in shock. “What does he mean, ‘sleep with me’??”, he thinks to himself.

“I mean… can you stay with me tonight?”

“I don’t want to be alone…”, their leader utters while shyly sitting down on his bed…anxiously waiting for Yijeong to say ‘yes’...

“Umm…I guess I can..”

“If you want me to...”, the younger scratches his neck, feeling the nervosity taking over him, unsure of what to say next.

“Of course I want you to, dummy” … “Otherwise I wouldn’t have said what I said”

“You can be the dummy… teasing me like this…”

“What? You don’t like it?”, Kyungil teases the younger, playfully caressing his back, making him almost fall over..

Kyungil catches him in his arms as he falls back form the sudden touch. Yijeong wasn’t expecting that.

“I got you”, he comforts Yijeong with a satisfying smile, who’s still laying there in their leader’s embrace.

“Yah! Don’t do that, hyung…”, the younger utters nervously as he hesitantly hits Kyungil’s chest.

“You’re so gullible, my little Yijeong-iie”,

“Who’re you calling ‘little’??", Yijeong teases Kyungil as he’s pinching his blushed cheeks. “Hmm? Look at these cheeks...so cuuuute”

“Y..Yijeong…”, Kyungil stutters, putting his hands on his, which are still softly on his cheeks.

…

“What is it, hyung?” …

“Can I tell you now?”

“Tell me what?” ..

“...The thing...I wanted to tell you when we were at the hotel…”, he quietly mumbles, while gently caressing Yijeong’s soft hands..

“Oh..yeah. Of course, hyung. Tell me”,

…

…

“umm..well, here’s the thing..”

….

“I- I...think I like you..” … “No...I like you”, he stutters as he lets go of Yijeong’s hands and looks away in embarrassment.

“You don’t have to say anything or like me back...I just..I-..I thought it was just a crush...but everytime I’m with you..It feels different. Good different…I just want you to know that you’re special to me. Very special..”, he timidly utters while avoiding eye contact…

Seconds pass by in silence. Yijeong looks quite shocked...yet happy, with a smile slowly forming on his lips. He didn’t say anything, he didn’t know what to say...

“I understand if you want some time to process this…”, their leader explains..still avoiding eye contact, unaware of the younger’s joyful expression…

“I’ll go get us something to drink…”, Kyungil whispers as he’s stands up to head to the kitchen..

Before he could reach the door handle, he suddenly felt that special someone’s arms on his waist, embracing him from behind as his head rests on his back.

Now he could exhale.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Hello !

Yes, I done didely died again >.<' But now I'm back...hopefully. I promised myself that I'll continue on my fanfics more often from now on. I really at this, don't I? xD

I'm not sure when Chapter 7 will be up but imma start writing it asap, I promise you. So...keep a look out! >.>

I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter.

Any thoughts, inputs and/our questions about this chapter (or this story in general), please don't hesitate to drop them in the comments below or throw me a message and I'll asnswer asap. ^ - ^
 

(i miss them so fkn much it hurts) <3