The following morning, Hyukjae was awoken by the sweet aroma of fresh brewed coffee. Scrunching up his nose at the smell, he stretched his arms and legs as far out as he could before slowly rising up into a sitting position. With one eye closed and one eye open, it took Hyukjae a minute to remember where he was. Once everything finally dawned back on him, he muffled a groan of irritation before reluctantly getting out of the blanket that he was so warmly wrapped around in. 

Hyukjae followed the foreign but appealing scent of coffee and found himself in the kitchen only to stop by the doorway in slight surprise as he took in the sight of a half- Donghae. 

"Oh, you're up?" Donghae greeted nonchalantly as he finished mixing his morning cup. "Good morning."

Hyukjae blinked once, then twice, then three more times before he was able to snap out of his initial shock and put his mind back together to greet Donghae back. 

"What the hell? Do you always walk around your house half- like that?" 

Well...in a manner of speaking. 

Donghae chuckled as he took a sip of his coffee. "Does it bother you?"

Hyukjae furrowed his eye brows and grabbed a piece of toast that was in the middle of the table and shoved a bite into his mouth. "Doesn't bother me," he said with his mouthful of bread. "You could walk around for all I care."

Donghae smirked and put his cup down. "If you play your cards right, I just might."

Hyukjae scoffed at Donghae's weird joke (that sounds a lot like flirting) and just grabbed another piece of toast to eat. He looked around the table and tried to hide his excitement at the wide array of food in front of him. There were sliced oranges and eggs prepared on the table along with an orange juice pitcher and water pitcher that glistened from how cold it was. He's never had such a big breakfast before. Most days, he's had to skip eating breakfast altogether in favor of sleep. Donghae hid his grin behind his cup as he sipped on his coffee while his eyes observed Hyukjae. 

Hyukjae grabbed a small plate then placed a piece of egg along with several slices of fruit. He poured himself a glass of juice and drank the whole glass as though he's been parched for days. His eyes caught sight of Donghae's amused look as he was placing the drink down and suddenly felt self-conscious. Slowing down a little, he cleared his throat and tried to look as dignified as he can around his presence. Donghae chuckled seeing the change in his demeanor. 

"We, uhh..We should talk about our arrangement," Hyukjae said and ignored the way Donghae's brows were raised. 

"What about our arrangement?"

Hyukjae frowned and placed the bread he was eating down. "Donghae, you can't just move my life around as you please."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Donghae replied as he placed his mug down on the sink. "I haven't done anything that wasn't on our contract."

Hyukjae couldn't believe what he was hearing right now and tried to take a closer observation to see whether or not he was faking ignorance. Donghae turned around to face him with a complete poker face. Hyukjae didn't like that he couldn't get a read on him. 

"Really?" He finally asked still in disbelief. "You don't see anything wrong with packing my bags behind my back and bringing me to live here?"

"No," Donghae answered truthfully. "I don't see what the problem is. You were gonna move in eventually and I thought us staying with your parents' place was the perfect opportunity to do it. You didn't have to deal with the stress of moving and I didn't have to deal with the stress of you moving in. It's a win-win."

Hyukjae refrained himself from groaning out loud and grabbing Donghae's hair out of his head. Instead, he rubbed the bridge of his nose in order to mitigate the incoming headache he felt that came with talking to Donghae. 

"Look," Hyukjae started hoping that this time Donghae would see things from his point-of-view. "All I'm saying is, next time, you need to tell me things before doing them. I can't just be following you around like a puppet."

Donghae was confused and didn't understand why Hyukjae would say something like that. "Of course not. It was just more practical to do it this way."

Hyukjae sighed and just urged Donghae to agree. "Donghae, please. Just-...Don't do something like this again. Practical or not - I still want to have some control of my life."

Donghae sighed as he could tell that this was something that really upsets Hyukjae. Even though he still didn't completely understand what he did wrong, he conceded to Hyukjae's wish and apologized. "Alright, I'm sorry. I'll run it by you next time."

"Thank you," Hyukjae said, satisfied with Donghae's promise.

Nothing much was said between them after that but before things could take an awkward turn, Donghae's house phone rang. Quickly going towards the phone attached to the wall, Donghae simply pressed the speaker button and his mom's voice filled the kitchen. 

"Donghae-ah. how are you doing, son?"

Donghae sighed hearing his mother's voice so early in the morning and went back to sit next to Hyukjae who had resumed eating his breakfast. 

"I'm okay, Umma. Still alive." Donghae answered sarcastically and gave Hyukjae a quizzical look when the latter elbowed his side. "What?"

"Donghae? Who are you talking to?"

"To Hyukjae-OW! What?!" Donghae complained at the latter who just slapped his . They heard Sehyun squeal over the phone that had both men looking at the device on the wall. 

"Omo! Hyukjae, sweetie, hi! I didn't know you were gonna be there." There was a pause in between her words while she giggled. "Oh, what am I talking about. Of course, you're going to be there."

"Ah...n-neh," Hyukjae responded to her awkwardly. "An-Annyeonghaseyo, Eommonim."

"Oh, Hyukjae dear, Umma is just fine. Stop being so formal."

Donghae rolled his eyes at his mother's weird affectionate ways. "Why are you calling so early, Umma?"

"Oh! I'm sorry. Was I interrupting something?"

Donghae furrowed his brows confused as to what his mother could possibly be referring to. "What?"

"Should I call back again? Maybe in 10 minutes?" Hyukjae and Donghae both looked at each other in confusion still not quite following what she was hinting at. The prolonged silence however made her think of something else completely. "Omo! Am I interrupting something now? I guess I could call back later. Make sure you're using protection okay, son? You two aren't married yet."

Hearing the magic word, Donghae's eyes widened while Hyukjae's entire face heated up at what she was insinuating. 

"Umma!" Donghae yelled and quickly jumped off his seat to grab the phone and take his mother off the speaker. "Why are you always doing embarrassing things?!"

"Oh, come on, Donghae. isn't something to be ashamed of. You're nearly 35 years old. I have no delusions that you're still a ."

Hearing his mother talk about had Donghae face palming in frustration and wishing that a tsumani would just come and wash him away so he didn't have to deal with this torture.  

"Umma, please, I'm begging you. Just tell me the reason for your call and in the name of all things holy, do not ever talk about my life again."

Donghae heard his mother chuckle over the phone and only groaned when he heard her next words. "I didn't know you were such a prude. I don't know if I should be happy as a mother or disappointed on behalf of Hyukjae."

"Umma!"

"Okay, okay. I was just calling to tell you that I've received everybody's RSVP for my birthday party so you can make your announcement this weekend!"

"We really don't need to make a big deal out of this." Donghae tried to say as he could already hear