Donghae walked inside his office with a silly grin plastered on his face. Heechul had dropped him off to work on his way to the mall with Hyukjae and Siwon, and the latter had refused to let him out of the car until Hyukjae had given him a proper goodbye kiss. 

"What?! No!" Hyukjae rejected the notion with his eyes wide and the base of his neck and cheeks heating up from embarrassment at the mere idea of it. Then, when he saw Heechul raise a questioning brow at him he looked at Donghae for help but the latter was just as stunned from his Hyung's sudden request/demand to do or say anything. Hyukjae gulped and stuttered out an explanation. "I-I mean...it's n-not necessary. We-We'll see him again later. Besides, Donghae hates it when we get too affectionate around other people."

Siwon snickered at that statement while Heechul just let out a very loud disbelieving "Ha!"

Donghae just mentally face palmed himself because it wasn't Hyukjae's fault that he didn't know he had just said one of the worse and biggest fib of the century. In his attempt to salvage their cover, Donghae had swiftly wrapped his arms around Hyukjae's waist and pulled him closer to him, making the other yelp in surprise, and naturally placed his chin on his shoulder while looking at Heechul. 

"You're gonna scare him off before the wedding, Hyung." Donghae whined at Heechul, his breath unconsciously ghosting over Hyukjae's neck. He was too focused in making his act believable that he ignored it when he felt Hyukjae shudder in his arms. "I told you he's shy so just wait until we say 'I do' then you can record us kissing if you want."

Heechul laughed out loud at Donghae's suggestion but wasn't quite ready to give up. "You really have changed, haven't you." 

Siwon chuckled as well at Donghae's words. He sent Hyukjae a fond smile and said, "I don't think I've ever seen Donghae so careful around somebody before. You definitely have him whipped." He followed it by sending a playful wink while Heechul made a whiplash sound effect right after him. 

Hyukjae blushed at their words and simply lowered his head with his fingers suddenly playing around Donghae's hand that was on his waist. He looked to his side and felt his breath hitch a little seeing how close Donghae was to him. His mind quickly conjuring up flashbacks of their interrupted moment earlier. Breathing suddenly became very hard and he ended up squeezing Donghae's hand causing the latter's hold on him to loosen. 

"Y-You should go." Hyukjae tried to say without stuttering but failed miserably. He bashfully looked back at Heechul and Siwon who was watching the two of them closely and carefully pushed Donghae out. "Y-You might be late." 

Donghae furrowed his brows a little hearing the shakiness in his voice. "Are you okay?"

"Y-Yeah." Hyukjae cleared his throat and nudged Donghae to go out the door. "I'll see you later."

Donghae was still unsure about leaving Hyukaje alone with Heechul but did open the door and stepped out of the car. Hyukjae visibly breathed a sigh of relief and immediately moved himself to Donghae's previous spot to lean against the door. Donghae, who was halfway to the building's entrance, stopped and patted his pockets when he realized that he had left his phone in the car. Cursing his forgetfulness he rushed back to them before they could drive off the driveway. 

Hyukjae had completely let his guard down now that Donghae was gone so when he felt someone suddenly opening his side of the door, he merely adjusted himself away, just enough so he wouldn't fall out, and looked up to see who it was. Donghae, not expecting anyone to be in his seat, hastily ducked his head inside to look for his phone intending to pat around his previous seat. However, by doing so, his lips crashed right into Hyukjae's unsuspecting ones. 

The kiss happened by total accident, and only lasted for a split second, but to the spectators inside the vehicle, it looked a lot like Donghae had ran back to the car to give Hyukjae a quick peck on the lips. 

"Aha!" Heechul yelled with a wide knowing grin. "I knew you couldn't resist."

Donghae pulled away as soon as it happened, his eyes wide while he fumbled his right hand around the side of the door looking for his phone. His eyes on Hyukjae not once wavering. After several attempts, he finally felt the familiar thin outline of the device on his fingertips. He cleared his throat and gave his friends another awkward goodbye before carefully closing the door after he's made his exit. His reflection on the tinted windows immediately showing the flushed look he sported. Now he wished he'd paid more attention to Hyukjae so he could remember his reaction as well. 

The car drove off but Donghae remained in his spot, still not moving an inch. His heart beating rapidly while his lips tingled from the contact asking for more. He probably would have stood in that spot all day stuck in a time loop if it wasn't for Sungmin's car pulling up just then with Kyuhyun and him coming out of the back passenger side.

The two of them shared a confused look when they saw Donghae standing there as a statue.

"What is he doing?" Kyuhyun asked Sungmin since he's the one who deals with him the most. Probably the only one who understands why Donghae does half the things that he does.

Sungmin shook his head at a complete loss himself. "I don't know." 

They both approached him slowly with Sungmin carefully reaching a hand out to touch Donghae's shoulder, instantly snapping him out of his daydream. 

"Min!" Donghae acknowledge surprised then glanced at Kyuhyun as well. "When did you two get here?"

"Just now." Kyuhyun answered then sent him a weird look of inquiry as he asked, "What are you doing standing out here like a statue?"

Donghae blinked confused, acting as though he has no idea what Kyuhyun was talking about and Sungmin crossed his brows together in worry. "Donghae, are you okay?"

The latter looked at him and raised his eyebrows trying to look innocent but then his lips kept tingling and he ended up biting the side of his lower lip as a small smile started playing around his lips. "I'm fine, Min." Donghae replied but the playful grin he had on his face made Sungmn question his definition of "fine." 

~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~

"So, how do you two know each other again?" Heechul asked Kibum and Hyukjae but his eyes were only staring directly at Kibum; trying to analyze his expression when he answers him. It didn't help that Kibum hasn't stopped staring at Hyukjae the entire time while the latter kept his head low and continued to fidget around in his seat. 

"Um, we-...we went to college together," Hyukjae mumbled and hoped Kibum wouldn't add any more unnecessary details after that. 

"Oh? So then you must know Donghae as well." Heechul wasn't really asking this time and only wanted to bring up his dongsaeng's name to see how Kibum would react. When he saw him flinch a little at the mention of Donghae's name, his suspicions about the two having a past were confirmed. 

Kibum swallowed down the words he wanted to say to Hyukjae and looked at Heechul with a closed lip smile and eyes lighting up like a cat. "I saw the news of their engagement on TV." Then shifted his gaze back to Hyukjae and said in a much softer voice, "I wanted to come and see if it was true."

Heechul snorted and Siwon already knew his lover's protective instinct was acting up and reached for his hand under the table and squeezed it, a small silent gesture of him holding Heechul back. The latter just glared at him then at Kibum. 

"I never thought Hyukjae was the settling down type." Kibum continuedand took a sip of his tea while Hyukjae chewed the dry skin off his lower lip due to his nerves and the guilt he felt at Kibum's words. "How long have you and Donghae been going out again?"

Hyukjae did a side glance at him to see where he was going with his line of questioning but he was still just a good actor now as he was then. He looked at Changmin who was sitting across him for some help but all he got was an apologetic smile before the latter looked down and avoided his gaze. Hyukjae sighed and mumbled the answer to Kibum's question. "A year."

"Just a year?" Kibum sounded surprised and Heechul raised a brow at his skeptical tone. 

"Is that a problem for you?" 

Kibum sensed Heechul's hostility and replied to it by using his bright smile, teeth and eyes gleaming, while he lightly shrugged his shoulders. "Just feels like a short time is all."

Changmin glanced at Heechul and noticed him basically glowering at Kibum. He then shifted over to Kibum and knew that he could feel the tension in the room as well but probably just didn't care as his focus was solely on Hyukjae. Of course, the person in question remained oblivious as always. Changmin sighed and very loudly cleared his throat to get everyone's attention. 

"Um, we should probaly, uh- go," Changmin held Kibum's arm, but when the other furrowed his eyebrows together in question, Changmin pursed his lips together and squeezed his arm hard. "We're still pretty jet lag and need to rest."

"I'm feeling fine-"

"Now." Changmin insisted while giving Kibum a pointed look. He looked over to Hyukjae and gave him a tired smile. "Eunhyuk hyung let's meet again next time."

Hyukjae looked up at the fammiliar nickname and sent him a confirming smile. "You still got my old number?"

Changmin nodded his head with a grin and Hyukjae mirrored it. Kibum was still reluctant to leave but knew he would only make things awkward for Hyukjae if he forced himself to stay so, he resigned to Changmin's will and got up from his seat. Hyukjae followed his movement and muttered a small, "Bye," to which Kibum replied by placing a gentle hand on his shoulder. Heechul caught it and narrowed his eyes at the gesture. 

"Make sure you give me a call too." Heechul told the two of them but his eyes lingered on Kibum more. "I'm sure we have lots to catch up on."

Kibum's response to him was his famous innocent grin while Changmin chuckled nervously now that he's slowly connecting the dots in his head. He did a quick bow to the three of them before pushing Kibum out of the restaurant to go back to their hotel room. Heechul's eyes still followed until they were no longer within sight. 

Once he saw the tension leave Heechul's shoulders Siwon finally release the hold he had on his hand and looked at Hyukjae who looked equally relieved. It made him curious why. 

"So, Hyukjae," Siwon started and showed him a friendly smile. "You and Kibum?"

Siwon didn't really mean anything by it. He was simply confirming that they were indeed friends from college but the latter