7. The girl next door

After the dance Hyukjae managed to push aside his feelings, even if he himself was not fully aware that was exactly what he did. Their life spinned on as usual in the city. The friends hung out as usual; Hyukjae, Donghae, Taeyeon, Tiffany, Onew, Ken and Luna. Sometimes even Sungmin joined the gang. Although he was a year older, he and Hyukjae had bounded quite well after their first meeting. At first they had only nodded at each other when they met in the school halls, but it was quickly replaced with short conversations that with time become longer and longer. Sungmin was doing martial arts, and was furthermore really good at it. That meant that the teenage boy was  popular among the other students at the school. Hyukjae felt a bit proud over the fact that he had managed to befriend him (this he obviously didn't say to Sungmin, the guy did'nt like people who courted him).

During the autumn, when Hyukjae turned 14 he got himself a girlfriend. Her name was Jeongyeon. It was during a workout on the dance school (Dance Illusion) the teacher introduced the girl. She was as old as Hyukjae but went to another school in the city. Jeongyeon had belonged to another dance studio. She had switched to Illusion Dance since it was considered the best studio the city could offer. Hyukjae had immediately taken a liking for the girl. She was very cute with her short brown hair and her slightly nervous look. The clothes she wore were hip-hop inspired and overall she appeared to be a tomboy. When their eyes met Hyukjae had given her a broad smile, not caring about the fact that it was otherwise a very unattractive smile. Well according to him that is, Donghae used to say it was the best part of him. Not that he cared about what his best friend, who was a guy, thought about his smile. It turned out that the girl was a really good dancer when the lesson began. The teacher noticed this as well and was quick to pair her with Hyukjae (who was the best dancer in the class). They were so into the music and dance that they hardly noticed each other. It was not until after the lesson they both had the chance to properly introduce themselves.

"Sooo .. I'm Hyukjae!"

Once again he dazzled the girl with his smile and he noticed, to his delight, that she blushed. She nodded:

"Jeongyeon"

That was the first sentences between them and it was merely weeks before they got together. The relationship lasted eight months. They broke up on a park bench at the river at a late evening in May. Jeongyeon thought Hyukjae was absent, that he rather spent his time with his friends than with her, that they always was his first priority. Hyukjae nodded, unsure what to say. Unsure of what he felt. He had noticed that there was something wrong in the last month, as if there was something that troubled his girlfriend. Young and inexperienced as he was, he had never asked her what the problem was, just assumed that it was how girls were in their teens. Now he didn't know what to say. If there even was anything he could do to make everything all right again. She had given him one last sullen look before she walked away.

Hyukjae sat alone and looked out over the river. He sent a text message to the only person he could think of at that moment. It was not more than fifteen minutes before he felt a pair of familiar arms embrace him in a warm hug.

"I'm sorry" Donghae whispered so close to his ear that he could feel his lips. A shudder ran through his whole body.

Hyukjae shook his head.

"I actually thought it would feel worse. I have felt worse!"

Donghae looked skeptical at him for a moment to determine if he was telling the truth or not. A big smile broke out at the brown-haired boy's face and he puffed out.

"And here I thought that I would have to comfort you while you cried rivers and beeing forced to hear stories about how amazing this Jeongyeon was and how she was the woman you would marry and the mother of your children, and so on."

Hyukjae pulled off his shoe and threw it on his friend.

"Hey! I'll never get myselfe a wife, don't you know how expensive they are? And if I one day determines that I want a wife, it would certainly not be Jeongyeon. Shure I liked her and she was cool and all, but she was waaaaay too moody and jealous! She didn't like neither you or Taeyeon considerably much."

"Whaaaat !? How is it even possible to not like us?" Donghae said with a playful voice as he made an attempt to show of his best aeygo.

While the other boy practiced handstanding in the warm spring grass, Hyukjae was wondering exactly  the same thing. How was it even possible not to like this person?

He came to the conclusion that any breakup would feel okay, as long as he had his friends by his side. As long as  Donghae was there.

The summer before they began high school a new girl and her family moved into the house opposite Hyukjae. The girl was a year older than them and came from Seoul. Everyone was excited about the news. It wasn't any family that had moved to the city after all. The girl's mother was a news anchor on one of the country's biggest news channels, while her father was a famous sportswriter. Apparently the Kim family had decided to move to the little town in the hops to get a quieter living and a secure schooling for their daughter. Since Hyukjae lived in the nicest area in the city, it wasn't a surpris that the family moved into this particular area. So when he movingtrucks began to arrive, he called all his friends to tell them that they were on the way.

They sat there now on the stone wall at Hyukjaes house; Hyukjae, Donghae, Onew and Ken, each with an ice-cream in their hands while they curiously looked at the trucks that were being unloaded at the house across the street. Taeyeon and the other two girls had "other" things to do. At least that was what they had said when Hyukjae had asked if they wanted to come by and see when the new girl moved in. Actually, he suspected that they just were a bit jealous.

"I have heard that she is very beautiful." Ken said as he dreamily his ice cream.

Donghae and Hyukjae chuckled a bit while they looked at the other two boys. Even Onew who normally pined after Luna was excited at the thought that the girl would live next door to Hyukjae.

"I wonder if she likes chicken?"

"What? What does that even mean" both Hyukjae and Donghae burst out simultaneously.

"SMURF!" Once again the boys said the same thing at the same time. They fought briefly over whom of them that  would buy the other a soda. Eventually, they agreed to buy a soft drink each downtown at the cozy hamburger restaurant. When they came back to the present after their little discussion they raised their eyebrows. Onew had forgotten his ice cream and instead it was melting away in the hot summer sun. Vanilla ice cream ran along his arm, but the boy didn't seem to notice. He and Ken continued to stare at the house on the other side of the street as if it was floating on pink clouds.

"I think we might start getting worried" Donghae whispered to Hyukjae.

The boy shrugged. Just then a nice BMW drove around the corner of the street. The car slowed down and parked onto the driveway to the house they sat and watched. Ken and Onew bounced to their feets to get a better view of the events unfolding on the opposite side. The two boys didn't do this especially discreet and Hyukjae felt a small panic began to grow within him. He didn't want the new girl to think that he was a desperate little boy who invited his friends to see when the new celebrity couple moved in (which in fact was exactly what he had done).

"Can you please try to be a little more discreet. They will notice that we stand here and stare as some....."

He stopped when he saw the new girl. She was tall and, despite her young age of only 15, very elegant. She tossed her hair over her shoulder which caused all four boys to drop their jaws. Unfortunately, they got caught with their mouths wide open, so when the girl saw them across the street she forced a bothered smile, seemingly unimpressed with her new neighbor. Hyukjae noticed this and looked at his friends. He slapped his forehead when he realized how they must look; four boys staring with wide-open mouths where probably a glimse of drool was visible in the sun as well. He slapped Donghae hard in the back of his head in order to wake him up from daydreaming.

"OUCH! What would that be good for? It hurt!"

Donghae massaged his head while he sullenly looked at his friend. Hyukjae rolled his eyes, he hadn't hit him that hard... dramaqueen! He repeated the same thing on the other two, who reacted similarly as Donghae.

"So mean" Ken muttered.

Across the street, the girl seemed to have a discussion with her parents. She sullenly crossed her arms while her father happily shoved her in the direction of Hyukjaes house. As she stepped forward with an annoyed expression, her parents waved happily to the boys in the backround. Onew hysterically waved back while a strange laugh with a very high sheer tonne poured out of him. Ken blocked his ears with his hands while Onew laughed his unnatural and loud laughter.

"Jesus, what pills have he been taking?" Ken muttered again, more to himself than to the others.

The girl approached and when she reached them, she turned around to give her parents one last murderous look before she put on a fake smile and greeted the boys.

"Hello! My name is Dasom and I'm your new neighbor... because you live here, I guess?"

Hyukjae did not really know what he thought of the girl. She was beautiful, really beautiful, but she seemed to have a superior attitude, which was among the worst he knew. His friends didn’t seem to be able to say anything so he took it upon himself to introduce them. He extended his hand to greet.

"Hyukjae. Yes, I live here. These are my friends. Ken, Onew and Donghae." He gestured toward his friends and Dasom nodded.

"Interesting" her words dripped with sarcasm and her smile was as sour as lemon.

Donghae also seemed to pick up on the girl's bad attitude and he crossed his arms to indicate that he wasn't as easily charmed as it might have looked like at first. She raised an eyebrow when she noticed the gesture from the boy, and in response Donghae raised an eyebrow himself as a challenge. Ken and Onew on the other hand seemed to be equally spellbound and sighed dreamly while they looked at her. She looked at them in disgust before she turned to Donghae and Hyukjae. She seemed to like the unspoken challenge that had been created between them. She then smiled and nodded at her house.

"I just came by to greet. But you actually seems to be alright. "

"Too bad we can't say the ..."

Hyukjae stopped Donghaes words by elbowing him in the stomach. Although he wasn't particularly fond of the girl, she was when everything came around his new neighbor. In addition, she would probably be very popular in school and to become enemy with her would probably be a big mistake.

"Heheh, he's funny my little friend. Always messing around and making jokes" Hyukjae threw an arm over Donghaes shoulders. "If you'll excuse us, we are about to head down to the town now."

Dasom looked slightly amused. She began to slowly go back to her house before she turned around to shout to them:

"Nice to meet you! We'll certainly see each other alot around here!"

Ken and Onew almost looked like they were about to start crying. Hyukjae was not sure whether it was because the fact that she walked away from them or if it was because she said it was nice to meet them. On reflection, he concluded that it probably was the former. He was fairly certain that they hadn't heard a word of what had been said. With much effort Donghae and Hyukjae managed to drag along the other two boys down to the city's hamburger restaurant. The girls met them there and they all ordered hamburgers. As they had agreed Donghae and Hyukjae bought a soda to eachother. The hottest topic during the meal was of course the gossip about the new girl. Ken and Onew showered her with compliments while Donghae and Hyukjae said that she was quite snobby. Luna seemed slightly annoyed over Onews fascination with the girl. When the burgers were eaten and the conversations began to die down Donghae and Hyukjae took company home. Instead of going straight home, they went down to the river and took a site on their favorite bench. Hyukjae took a deep breath to feel all the wonderful smells. Donghae did the same. Without thinking to much of his actions Hyukjae took Donghaes hand in his and slid closer. It was something that came naturally to them. When no others were around, they often were quite intimate. It wasn't something Hyukjae had thought about before, but there and then, when they were sitting there by the water, he wondered why it was like that. Donghae leaned on his shoulder.

"It's so beautiful down here."

Hyukjae didn't give much to an answer. A simple "hmm" felt enough. Donghae sighed deeply. Hyukjae had noticed that his friend lately often preferred to postpone to go home as long as he could. He ran his free hand through the boy's hair and brought his nose closer. A fresh scent of citrus reached his nostrils, and he took another deep breath to feel more of the scent. Donghae giggled.

"You know it's pretty weird to smell other's hair, huh?"

"I don't smell other people's hair. I just smell yours, it smells heavenly good! I have tried your shampoo but it doesn't smell the same on me."

"Sure weirdo!"

"Hey!! Who did you call weirdo??"

Hyukjae began to wiggle his fingers in front of Donghae and the boy looked more or less terrified. Donghae was extremely ticklish, which Hyukjae had realized was the best weapon against him.

"Just kidding! You are wonderfully normal! Don't even dare tickle me!"

Hyukjae pretended to consider the matter, but then smiled quickly. Donghae puffed out and continued to look out over the water. Hyukjae looked at him before he fixed his eyes on the water as well. It was a long time since he'd been alone with Donghae. The boy had been avoiding questions about his home.

It was only with Hyukjae and Taeyeon he could be completely honest to when it came to his home situation. Hyukjae was well aware that it was now he had to take the discussion.

"Sooo, how's your father?"

It was as if Hyukjae had pulled a string. His friend shook as tears streamed down his cheeks.

"It's bad now, really bad! I think he is about to lose his job. I don't know how we will get by if he does it! "

"You know that we always can help you out!"

"And you know that my father never would accept it." He sighed, "I guess it's just to hold out and hope for the best."

Hyukjae didn't really know what to say. He suspected that Donghae was equally happy with it, for even though they were best friends, they came from two completely different worlds. Hyukjae had never had to worry much about neither accommodation, food or clothes. For Donghae on the other hand, it was a completely different reality.

They parted an hour later and Hyukjae thought he almost could see the heavy weights that weighed down Donghaes shoulders when he quietly stood and watched his friend's back. When the figure disappeared behind a corner Hyukjae went into his big, warm home where a hot meal was waiting on him.

Dasom got just as thought very popular when school started. Already the first day of school she received a large group of admirers consisting of both girls and boys. Hyukjae was however quick to notice that the girl seemed to be a rebel. He had seen her smoke behind some bushes in the garden when her parents weren't home. He had wondered if she secretly wanted to be seen based on the not so well-chosen hiding place. She soon got herself a boyfriend who was a senior in high school. The rule was that if you dated a senior you automaticly got status level: queen (if it even was possible for Dasom to become more popular was a completely different matter). The boyfriend was none other than Shownu, a very handsome but rowdy young man. He had been forced to repeat a year in school, which meant that he was 19 years old. He was both well-built and had already managed to got himself a few tattoos. Hyukjae had raised an eyebrow one day after school when he had seen the two making out on Dasoms driveway. The girl had noticed this and winked at him while she still was busy shoving her tounge down the throat on the boy. Hyukjae had shaken his head and  quickly slipped into his house to avoid the awkward scene.

It wasn't long before Dasom started doing all sorts of weird business. At first, she began to sell cigarettes to the curious and rebellious teenagers at school. She got hold of packages  from Showun and then sold them on to the dubble price. Hyukjae had to admit that the girl had a talent for business. Cigarette sales didn't last long though since one of the teachers was close to caught her in the act. Instead, she devoted herself to sell fake bags. The business didn't go as well as she  expected, and the very next week she devoted herself to a new product. Hyukjae had to his great dismay woken up one morning to a loud murmur outside his window. When he looked out, he saw a long line of people drizzle from the corner of the block right up to Dasoms garden. It consisted of young people, mostly girls but it was possible to discern some boys here and there in the crowd. Appalled, he quickly threw some clothes on before he ran down the stairs to find someone who possibly could explain the madness outside the house. Thankfully, he found his mother sitting in the kitchen sipping on a coffee while she happily looked out of the window. When she noticed her son she stood up and gave him a hug and a light kiss on the forehead.

"Have you seen such a wonderful thing? The entire neighborhood is full of youths!"

She sat down at the kitchen table again to return the dreamy gaze on the lively street outside.

"Oh, I remember when I was at that age..."

Hyukjae looked confused between his mother and out of the window.

"Wonderful? This is madness!! Would you be so kind and fill me in on this?"

"Oh, you see little Dasom is sooo good! She is so energetic, she sells self-made juices! You should start spend som time with her so you can draw some lessons from her. You will after all be a businessman yourself a beautiful day."

Hyukjae snorted irritated and his heel. There seemed to be no point in getting information from his mother. Most likely it was Hyukjae, Donghae, Taeyeon and Luna who was the only that not had become spellbound by his new annoying neighbor.

He angrily snatched up the frontdoor and marched out into the street. Behind some girls Hyukjae knew where seniors, he could glimpse a big sign. With large, squiggly black letters against a pink background, he could read "Love Potion - only 13,000 won."

"Self-made juice? Pff, if she only knew"

He pushed past a few spotty boys who shouted mean things at him, he didn't care about the words and instead just continued on to the house's front door. Dasom had set up a long table on the balcony with an estimated of a hundreds small bottles. Another sign was set up at the table;

Tired of your crush never noticing you? Here is the solution!

One drop will be enough to make him/her fall in love!

Love potion – ONLY 13 000 won!!

Dasom waved happily when she saw him. Hyukjae didn't return the gesture.

"What the hell are you doing ?!" he hissed with as low voice as he could. He did not did not want ot make a scene.

Instead of giving the boy an answer Dasom laughed and excitedly pulled him in against her. She threw an arm over his shoulder and smiled big at the two girls who had managed to get first in the queue.

"Can I tempt you with a bottle of love potion? Here beside me you see my helper. It's my favorite neighbor numero uno; Lee Hyukjae. Well, he probably needs no further introduction, I guess you already know him."

The girls giggled in embarrassment while they fished some bills out of their pockets. They held them out against Dasom and received a bottle each in return. The bottles were filled with a dark pink liquid. Hyukjae wriggled out of Dasoms grip and grabbed her arm, possibly slightly too hard but the girl didn't say anything. Instead, she turned to the crowd and said to some disappointed girls;

"Me and my helper are just gonna talk for a little bit. I'll be back shortly. And don't dare take anything! I still see if you touch anything. "

With these words she let Hyukjae pull her to the nearest bush, still keen on keeping the supervision of the table and its bottles.

"Can you now please explain what the hell you are up to?"

Hyukjae sullenly crossed his arms, which didn't get him the reaction he had wanted at all. Dasom pinched his cheek and moaned with delight.

"Oh, you're so cute when you're grumpy"

Hyukjae waved away her hand even more irritated now and raised both eyebrows to evoke a response.

"Yes Yes! God, Mr. Grumpy! Relax! You can get a one for free. Who knows, maybe Donghae let you get into his pants."

"Huh? I don't want anything from you! Wait ... what the hell do you mean by that? Iueh, I don't want to get inside Donghae's pants!"

Hyukjae felt his face burning with a bright red color now, both out of anger and embarrassment.

"Oh, come on! You know what I mean. You practically undress the guy with your eyes. I found a recipe for love potions online the other day, it come from some old witchbook. So I fixed all the ingredients I needed and brewed the drink last night. And voila; here is the result! I'm very happy with the results if I may say it myself!"

Hyukjae barely heard what she said. He was far too busy to analyze her first sentences.

"That was the stupidest thing I've heard! I don't undress Donghae with my eyes. Iuuh, he's a guy, for God's sake! Why do you say such things?"

Dasom gave him a skeptical look. She shrugged.

"Whatever you say! If you'll excuse me, I have business to attend to... sure you don't want a bottle? Just because it's you, you get one for free"

She winked at him before she turned her back and starteted to walk back to her stand. Hyukjae did'nt feel happy at all about the conversation and jogged after her.

"You have to stop this, you are ruining them! It's oblivious that this isn't working!"

"Whatever you say! If you'll excuse me, I have business to attend to... sure you don't want a bottle? Just because it's you, you get one for free"

She winked at him before she turned her back and starteted to walk back to her stand. Hyukjae did'nt feel happy at all about the conversation and jogged after her.

"You have to stop this, you are ruining them! It's obvious that this won't work!"

Dasom stopped, gave him one last smile and a few short words before she returned to her excited young customers;

"Sure it does it; it is called black magic you know! Have some faith in me! You know where to find me if you would change your mind!"

Hyukjae was standing on the lawn while he saw unsuspecting teenagers happily throw away their money. He shook his head and started walking back to his house. To his horror, he caught a glimps of Ken and Onew crouching down behind some girls in the queue, presumably to try to avoid being seen by their friend. Hyukjae stopped and considered whether he should reveal them or pretend that he hadn't seen them. He decided to pretend like nothing. If they were so stupid that they bought Dasoms tricks they had themselves to blame. In all honesty he wasn't in the mood to have one more meaningless conversation, he just wanted to go back home and sleep again.

He didn't get to sleep for long, though. The door to his bedroom flew open and it was Donghae who stood in the doorway.

"Hey! Your mom let me in." He said as a short explanation as to why he suddenly found himself in his friend's room. "This is the insaaaaane! I had to see it with my own eyes. Taeyeon texted, she said that half of the city's kids are here... I have to admit that the girl is a genius! She will be rich as a troll"

He stood at the window to get a perfect overview of the situation.

"Sure, fun for you. Less fun for me who lives next door to this madness! " He stressed the part with "living next door" especially clear in an attempt to get the other's pity.

Donghae grinned, however, and grabbed hold of a shirt Hyukjae carelessly had placed on the floor, and threw it in his face.

"Hey, Sleeping Beauty! You may need something to wake you up from your eternal sleep! Seriously, it's one o'clock"

Hyukjae grunted and reluctantly pulled away the blanket and sat up. Donghae quickly turned his gaze away towards the window again, not continuing pestering Hyukjae with his mocking words. Hyukjae, still a bit sleepy, was amazed by the sudden mood shift in Donghae before he realized that he practically was sitting . In addition to his underpants he wore no other clothing on his body. He hurried to put on a sweater and a pair of sweatpants before he went to Donghae at the window. Donghae buffed him with an elbow and giggled.

"And that mister is the reason why I don't sleep here anymore."

They sat in front of the window almost the whole day. They had gotten a  respective seat when their legs had felt numb as a result of standing for to long. Hyukjae had asked one of the kitchen servants for strawberry pie, cookies and chips. Since it was Saturday and Hyukjae had practiced on his charm, he had managed to get all three things up to the room. They had happily chewed on the sweets while they gossiped about the teenagers they saw buy potions, some people they recognized, others were completely alien to them. When the gossip felt tiresome, they had tried to guess which people the drinks were intended for instead. This had triggered an x ​​number of laughters.

"While people are concerned about love and crushes, we are working on becoming fat and happy. Good enough for me! "Donghae said happily as he rubbed his tummy.

Hyukjae laughed and poured the last crumbs of chips into his mouth. The sky slowly began to get dark and the buzz on the street had virtually died out. Only a few young people stood outside Dasoms house and waited for their own love potions. Hyukjae sighed sleepily. All junkfood combined with less stimulating activities outside had made him properly sleepy.

"Shall we watch a movie instead? There's nothing more to look at."

Donghae giggled.

"Quite honestly I have mostly been here to see if for any chance Taeyeon, Tiffany and Luna would have appeared. Thankfully, it seems that the girls are the only ones who have a little sense left in this city."

"Oh my God! You can never guess who I saw in the queue before!"

Hyukjae got all excited when he got reminded that he had forgoten to tell Donghae the juicy gossip.

"Please, that's not even difficult. Ken and Onew ofcourse! If Dasom is selling, they are buying. She'd practically be able to sell dog and they'd still happily given her their money!"

Although Hyukjae was a tad disappointed that Donghae had guessed right the first time, he couldn't do anything else than lie folded on the floor with a ringing laughter. He could see it clearly in front of him - how Ken and Onew happily gave her a number of bills only to get a dog splashed into their hands, still looking as happy as ever though.

"Seriously, I really don't understand what's gotten into them. Their obsession with Dasom is beging to get a bit scary. "Donghae continued giggling.

Hyukjae, who once again could breath, hummed in response.

"Come on, lets catch a movie now!"

The two boys layed down in Hyukjaes bed and put on a horror movie. Hyukjae pressed closer to Donghae and when the other complained he only blamed the closeness on that the movie was scary. In fact Hyukjae only thought that it was nice to be close Donghae. He smelled wonderful and he radiated a special warmth. Not even the movienights he had had with Jeongyeon had felt as cozy as the evenings he spent with Donghae. It was something samll that bothered him, however. Dasom's words earlier in the day kept ringing in his head. "Maybe Donghae lets you get into his pants". He snorted, it was not like that at all! Donghae was just a very warm and nice person and he was fairly sure that all people in the world would think that it was just as cozy as he thought to lay close to the boy. When the movie was over and they had eaten a late dinner, they decided to see one more movie. Donghae had actually prefered to play video games instead but since Hyukjae barely had gotten any sleep for the past 24 hours (note: according to Hyukjae) he didn't have the energy to do anything else than lying in bed. In the end they decided to see a romantic movie; The Notebook. Before they started it they shook hands and promised each other to never tell anyone (except for Taeyeon, she always knew when they were lying or not telling the whole truth) that the two teenage boys had seen a romantic movie together.

"That would've been totaly gay" Hyukjae joked and made himself comfortable in the bed.

The film was beautiful. It got Hyukjaes heart to swell a bit and he hoped that one day he would experience such a love. Towards the end of the film Hyukjae once again began to creep closer to Donghae. All the beautiful emotions the movie evoked did that he once again wanted to feel the other's proximity. Donghae sighed a little, but still let him come closer. Hyukjae threw one leg over Donghaes own stretched out legs to find a more comfortable position. Donghae froze however, it took no more than five minutes until he was on his feets and embarrassed looked at the clock.

", I completely forgot the time! I must head home dude!"

"Dude? Since when have you called me dude? It's cool if you want to sleep here otherwise."

The nickname had felt weird and completely wrong from his friend's mouth. Hyukjae swore to himself that he had become so intrusive. They would usally be that way around eachother though, so Hyukjae could not really understand Donghaes reaction.

"Sorry, I really have to go home. I should have went home a long time ago! You know ... with dad and everything." The last thing he said with a sad look.

Hyukjae nodded and stood up.

"Shure. We can just see the end of the movie some other time. I'll follow you out."

Donghae laughed and hit Hyukjaes arm jokingly.

"I know how to find the way out of the  house. But shur if you insist, my knight in shiny armor " Donghae bowed "Let's go then" He winked before he went out the door and walked down the stairs.

Hyukjae stood a few seconds, a little ashamed at having expressed himself so clumsily, Donghae had certainly no need of help to find out of the house. The boy would probably be able to orient himselfe in the house even if the surroundings were pitch black. He decided, however, not to dwell on it and instead ran after his friend. Once out on the balcony, they said a somewhat odd and stiff farewell. Hyukjae looked as long as possible on Donghae retriving back. As Donghae disappeared behind the usual corner he was about to go back in when he noticed that someone was watching him. Dasom stood at her driveway and thanks to the street lights he was able to discern her expression; provocative and somewhat satisfied. As if she was saying, "I told you so". Hyukjae who suddenly felt as if he had something to declare, or defense, quickly jogged across the street to the girl. She raised an eyebrow when he reached her.

"So, how's the boyfriend?"

"Huh ?! It's a friend, you know, people actually have those... God, you really lack a grasp on reality!

Dasom rolled her eyes.

"Is it I who have no sense of reality? Yeah, sure, I also tend to stare yearning after my friends." She raised one eyebrow challenging.

"I don't stare yearning! Your imagination doesn't seem to have an end!"

They stared sullenly at each other, both with arms crossed, before Dasom sighed.

"Prove it! Follow me inside!"

"Huh!? I have absolutely nothing to prove!"

Dasom didn't listen, instead she just took hold of his wrist and pulled him in. Hyukjae could fight back, but he allowed himself to be dragged into the house. The interior looked as if had been taken stright out of an interior design magazine: Stylish, designer furniture, minimalist and completely impersonal. For the first time Hyukjae actually felt a bit sorry for Dasom. As usual, her parents wasn't at home. They had an overnight apartment in Seoul that they often slept in, which meant that Dasom very often had the house all to herself.

"Fancy" was the only thing Hyukjae could think of to say.

Dasom snorted and continued pulling him further into the hall until they reached a door with a big red sign on with the text "GET OUT!"

"Wow, typical teenage rebel huh?" He .

Dasom didn't respond to it, but instead opened the door to her room. White desk, white bed, white, white, white, white. Just like the rest of the house, the room had stylish furniture that probably was ridiculously expensive.

"I wanted to decorate it myself, but mom and dad thought it was better to keep the same theme throughout the whole house. I hate it! It feels like a hospital room!"

Hyukjae whistled in agreement.Dasom had put out a little bit of color here and there. The pillows on the bed was pink while the cloth on the desk was purple.

"Do you want something to eat?"

The question came suddenly and Hyukjae felt somewhat taken aback by the friendly tone. He, however, shook his head.

"Thanks, but I already ate more than I should. Could probably fast in a week after this... Sooo, why did you drag me in here? "

Dasom smiled slyly.

"Sit on the bed"

Confused Hyukjae sat down on the white bed and looked at Dasom who sat opposite.

"Have you ever been with a girl before?"

"What do you mean? Of course I have! You do know that I have had girlfriends, right?"

Without saying anything or warn him she pulled off her shirt, ed the bra and let it fall onto the floor. Hyukjae stared with a gaping mouth before he realized that he actually was staring at a girls . In panic, he looked everywhere else in the room except for the girl who sat in front of him.

"I guess you haven't seen s IRL then."

She laughed a little.

"Relax, I'm doing this for your sake. I think you need some new insights."

Hyukjae could not answer her stupid statement before she took hold of his hand and brought it to her chest. Again he stared at the girl's chest, this time with his hand on one of her s too. Gently he squeezed a little. When he hade been together with Jeongyeon he sometimes had been allowed to squeeze a little on her s, but she had always had both a bra and sweater on. This was completely different. His thoughts went back to the romantic movie he had seen before, and the closeness to Donghae. Suddenly, he felt everything happening in his body at the same time. The blood which had colored his face in a bright red color began to leave it and instead was pumped south in his body. Dasom looked triumphantly at him.

"See there, you might be bi, then?"

Hyukjae pulled his hand back. He looked confused at her. They burst out laughing at the same time when it hit them what they actually did.

"Kido, I actually like you. You are all right."

Dasom said this, still without a shirt but with the world's largest self-confidence. Hyukjae was about to answer when they heard the front door open and slamed shut again.

", I had completely forgotten that Showun was on the way! Quickly out with you!"

Hyukjae just managed to crawl out of the window before Showun entered the room. Quiet, he sat propped up against the wall for a while to ensure that he wouldn't be seen. He crawled a few meters before he dared to stand up. Once standing on his feet again, he ran as fast as he could home. If it was someone he didn't want to antagonize it was Showun. A skinny little teenage boy would not have a chance against the almost full-grown young man.

That evening Hyukjae decided that he liked Dasom bit after all... but just a little.

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Authors note: 

Sooo, late chapter is late :P 

Soundtrack of the chapter: Little mix - Black magic