Chapter Eighteen

Seung Hyun’s ears twitched at the sound of the door downstairs being unlatched.

It was still too early in the morning, and although around the beginning of dawn he started dozing in and out of deep sleep, it bugged him that someone was entering his home. It would have bothered him even more if it was a stranger, but at least he didn’t have to be alerted to this. Turning on the bed, he wrapped his arm around Ji Yong’s waist, and pulled him closer to himself. Ji Yong instantly began to purr, as he too started to rouse from sleep. Of course, it came to a halt when a loud thud sounded from down stairs, and he burrowed himself closer to Seung Hyun. “Hyunie.” He softly said.

“I know, he’s here,” Seung Hyun said, dragging the covers over himself and Ji Yong. He could feel Ji Yong throw one of his legs over his waist. The feel of his soft thighs made him nearly moan and he had to keep himself from pushing his into him.

“Who is?” Ji Yong asked, trying hard to focus on the fact that someone had just entered their home, and the fact that he was so close to seducing Seung Hyun into some morning activities. He could feel Seung Hyun’s , no matter how much he tried not to push it against him. It was such a turn on.  

Before Seung Hyun could answer though, the door of the room was thrown open, “Seung Hyun, get up kiddo, are you not going to welcome your father?” the man called. Nam Hyun Yoon and otherwise known as father to Seung Hyun stood at the doorway, with arms wide open, waiting for his son to come and greet him with a hug, much like he would have when Seung Hyun had been a young child.

“Dad, get out,” Seung Hyun hissed. He made to move out of the bed, leaving the covers on Ji Yong whom was practically wearing nothing but his boxers and was going to kick his dad out, but Ji Yong’s arms shot out, wrapping around his neck and pulling him back down under the covers- and fully locking him into a kiss.

Hyun Yoon watched with slight confusion at what happened and continued to watch the movements of the bed sheets until comprehension dawned on him. “Seung Hyun, I can see you have company in bed right now, so I’ll wait for you down stairs,” he said as he closed the door and went down stairs to make himself comfortable and wait for his son. Now he had a lot of questions to ask him.

He was a little surprised when the door opened and softly closed, allowing a young man to enter into the house. Said young man took one look at him before screaming bloody murder, cursing him, and grabbing any near object to hit the strange man that was in the house of his brothers.

Ji Yong and Seung Hyun got out of bed when the scream sounded. There was no point staying in bed anymore. Both dressed as they got out of bed and headed down stairs to find Seungri literally beating Seung Hyun’s dad with a couch pillow.

“I told you Seungri would solve the problem; now let’s get back to bed,” Ji Yong said in a cute, and tempting way. Seung Hyun shook his head and pecked him on the lips.

“You know there’s no chance with other people here,”

“Seung Hyun, get your body guard to stop beating me!” his father cried.

Seung Hyun sighed, “It’s okay Seungri, that’s my dad that you are hitting.” He said and Seungri paused.

“Are you sure? He looks fishy.”

“I’m sure,”

Seungri scoffed, and gave the man a glare, “Know your place,” he said, although he was only acting tough to hide the fact that he was slightly embarrassed. He then rushed to Ji Yong, and hugged his brother. Ji Yong patted his head and smiled down at his brother.

“What’s going on here?” Hyun Yoon asked, as he looked around him. The two new boys in Seung Hyun’s home really had him wondering even more what was going on.

“Dad, this is my mate, Ji Yong” he said, wrapping an arm around the blond haired black kitty eared male. “And that’s his brother, Seungri,”

“Hello.” Ji Yong waved a hand at the man’s direction.

Hyun Yoon opened and closed his mouth, not really believing what he had heard. Mate? Did Seung Hyun just say that the cute blond was his MATE? He was resigned to it though when both Seung Hyun and Ji Yong started to fidget against each other, and looked like they wanted to rip the other’s clothes off and eat him. “Okay,” he finally said, “Why don’t we all go out for breakfast to get to know each other, my treat?”

With that, Ji Yong and Seung Hyun returned up stairs to shower and change into new clothes, Seung Hyun in his work clothes. They then headed out to eat, where Seungri out of revenge ordered the most expensive things in the menu. They had enjoyed themselves talking about how Seung Hyun and Ji Yong mated, to the delight of Ji Yong to learn about Seung Hyun when he was young. Soon Ji Yong and Seungri had to leave, and Seung Hyun was left with his father alone as he himself walked to work.

“You know, I couldn’t help but to notice how you and your mate kept looking at each other,” Hyun Yoon said, trying not to make this more uncomfortable then it already was. “Are you two…?”

“Ah dad, let’s not talk about that”

“I’m sorry, but I thought I always told you to always satisfy your mate once you mated,” his father chastised.

“It was his idea, since we mated before courting. We’re kind of holding an oath of celibacy for right now, and his brother comes in at random times to make sure we’re keeping to ourselves and not…” Seung Hyun shrugged his shoulders.

Hyun Yoon looked exasperated, “I can only imagine how hard that is with you two being newly mated, it must be torture.”

“It is,” Seung Hyun said, “he torments me all the time. He never makes it easy on me,”

Hyun Yoon loudly laughed.

Seung Hyun shook his head. “I don’t want to talk about it anymore.”

“But it’s so funny,” Hyun Yoon persisted.

Seung Hyun glared at his father. “How long are you staying?” he decided to ask.

“I was planning to stay for three days, but now I’m rethinking to see if maybe me being in the house with you and your mate will be enough torture for you two to not do it” he laughed even more. Seung Hyun glared at his father. “I can already picture your horrified faces.”

Seung Hyun wanted to yell that if he wanted to, he and Ji Yong could have in any hard surface that they could find, despite of who was there to watch them. But this was his father, and saying something like that was just ridiculous and a whole bit of weird. “I’ll see you later dad,” he hissed as he sped up and walked away to get to work.

His father’s laughter followed after him.

When Seung Hyun got to work, he found himself being crowded by the curious faces and questions of his co-workers. “How come you never told us that you were dating THE Kwon Ji Yong?”

“What are you talking about; he’s not dating him he’s MATED to him!”

“ dude, you’re so lucky”

“How is he in bed?”

“Enough, I’m not answering any of your questions,” Seung Hyun said, as he pushed passed the crowd and walked away. Everyone else got to whispering and giggling about how cool it was to work with the person that was mated to Kwon Ji Yong. There was just four people that didn’t feel the same. That included Ga In who grabbed him around the arm and dragged him to the desk where Jo Mi Hae was sitting on the seat looking extremely mean, beside her stood, Kim Hyo Jin and Park Hyo Jin, both giving him powerful stares as well.

“Hello Seung Hyun” Jo Mi Hae greeted, with an icy edge to her tone.

Seung Hyun looked at her oddly. He never had a problem with this woman; neither did he ever talk to her, so it was odd for her to suddenly talk to him. “Hello Mi Hae ssi.”

A cruel smile pulled at the edge of her lips, “Please call me Noona, and sit”

Ga In pushed Seung Hyun down to sit. “What’s wrong?” he asked as soon as he was seated, and the other two girls moved to stand on either side of him.

“Well, for one there is the problem that you are mated to Mi Hae’s future mate” Park Hyo Jin said. “Well, at least we had predicted that Kwon Ji Yong was going to be her future mate, and now here we are. You are mated to him”

Kim Hyo Jin leaned over him, “So we’re just curious how you ended up with him instead,”  

Seung Hyun looked at them oddly.

“Please indulge us,” Ga In added in.

Seung Hyun frowned. “We met during mating time, and I guess it just happened.” He decided to say, not wanting to give the whole story. “We felt an instant connection and couldn’t help but mate,” The looks of rapt attention the girls had as they clung to every one of his words had Seung Hyun feeling like he was being deeply analyzed.

“Okay, felt instant sparks, what happened next?”

“We mated?”

“No!” Mi Hae said, shaking her head, “That’s not how it all went down is it, you guys didn’t just decide to mate like that did you?”

Seung Hyun thought about it. There was a lot of thinking on their part that went into the thought of mating, but he couldn’t really tell them what Ji Yong was thinking. He didn’t know what Ji Yong had been thinking before they had mated. He had practically been coaxed to go into instinct and claim Ji Yong. Then he thought about the times that they got attacked and how his own feelings always overrode to protect Ji Yong, but at the same time he felt he had enough confidence to know that Ji Yong could also protect himself, and fight beside him. It was a good feeling. Although it would probably shock and even make other dominants feel like they were dirt if they couldn’t fully protect their mate, Seung Hyun found that he didn’t have that problem with Ji Yong… so…”yeah, it was kind of in the spur of the moment.”

“Let’s be honest then,” Mi Hae said as she shifted in her seat, “You don’t know anything about Ji Yong?”

Seung Hyun got another thoughtful look on his face. What did he know about Ji Yong? Well, his mate was playful, liked sleeping practically next to him, hated Seung Hyun’s job, and enjoyed being a model. Ji Yong had a grace about him in everything he did, and always did his best to be perfect at what he did. Ji Yong had a habit of always making sure everything was perfect-even with whom he was and Seung Hyun as well. There were many things about Ji Yong that he had learned about living with him- Some of them being habits Ji Yong had. But maybe in what Ji Yong thought he still had some learning to do. Yeah, he still had a lot of learning to do on Ji Yong, “Sort off, I guess.” He said.

“You know nothing then,” Mi Hae smirked. “I bet since you didn’t even know that he was in YG magazine, that you have ever even seen his pictures,” she snapped her fingers and Park Hyo Jin and Kim Hyo Jin moved to bring out stacks of magazines and posters. Seung Hyun looked at the posters curiously, his tail swirling a bit when he saw a picture of Ji Yong hugging a teddy bear. There was also one of Ji Yong posing with a very y look on his eyes and a heart tattoo on his face. He had never seen those images before-in fact; he really couldn’t say he had looked any of them up. “See, this is Ji Yong’s work, all of it, and I own it. I’ve read everything he has written, seen all his pictures, poses, and stayed up to date with everything that he has done in TV shows, and any interview he has been in. I’ve been to every one of his fashion shows! I know everything and anything that there is to know about him” she looked overly pleased with herself, “so go ahead, ask me something about him,” she dared him.

“Um…what should I ask you?” Seung Hyun asked, feeling perplexed- Wow, she sounded overly obsessed with his mate. He couldn’t help but feel bothered with it though. This was his mate after all. And she was imposing on what is his.

“Ask me something like when his birthday is,” she smirked, ready for anything Seung Hyun would ask. The challenging look in her eyes stirred a sort of protectiveness inside of Seung Hyun.

Seung Hyun nodded his head, “When’s Ji Yong’s birthday?” he asked.

“August eighteen,” she quickly answered.

“Okay,” Seung Hyun said, he had not known that. He got to thinking then, “when was his first picture ever released for YG?” he asked, glancing at the stacks of magazines.

“HA! Trick question, he started with SM, and release an image of himself for a musical products at the age of eight, but then he went to YG when he dropped out of SM.”

“The age of eight” Seung Hyun looked perplexed for a second before remembering how weird it was that she knew all of this about his mate. For all he knew she could be lying and making things up.

“It looks like you didn’t even know that,” Ga In muttered, sounding slightly smug about it. “Ji Yong was young and according to things, his parents thought he was being exposed to the fame world to quickly and they just wanted him to have a normal life. So Ji Yong held off and waited until he knew where his beliefs stood so he would never lose sight of his goals.”

“Go ahead asks us more,” Mi Hae pressured.

Seung Hyun shook his head. He was tired of this game, and if he wanted to know something it would be better to just ask Ji Yong. “I don’t want to ask you anything more. I get it, you know everything there is to know about him,” he decided. “But he is still my mate and I’d prefer it if all of you just stayed as far away from him as possible-that is if you want to keep your eyes and tongues,” Seung Hyun growled, his eyes going dangerous.

But he was completely ignored.

“Yes! I know a lot about him, it’s like we are one. I know him so well! And that is why he should have been my mate!” she hissed.

Seung Hyun looked at her strangely, and then asked, “What role do you think Ji Yong takes in a relationship?” he wondered.

“Dominant of course,” Mi Hae responded, clearly sure of her answer. Park Hyo Jin and Kim Hyo Jin both nodded in agreement. Ga In on the other hand looked a bit hesitant about that answer now that she had seen how Ji Yong and Seung Hyun were like together. It had been a brief encounter that one time in YG but she was actually left confused, and couldn’t help but feel that Seung Hyun was the only one that knew the real answer to that question. 

Seung Hyun stared at Mi Hae for a long time as he thought of that answer himself. He decided that she was half-right. “Probably,” he said as he stood up, and skillfully moved out of the way from Ga In whom tried to push him back to his seat. “It was nice chatting with you ladies,” he called as he went to his desk where Ji Ho was curiously wondering what had just happened.

“What did they want?” he asked as soon as Seung Hyun sat down.

“Huh,”

“Mi Hae and her group, they still look angry that you left.” He motioned over his shoulder to where the girls were sitting, “What did she tell you!?”

“Uh, well…” Seung Hyun shrugged, “that she believed that Ji Yong was meant to be her future mate.”

 “What…” Ji Ho looked slightly put off by that.

“She says that she knows everything that there is to know about him. Sounds a little obsessive, but she does seem to know a lot,”

Ji Ho scoffed, “You mean just about as much as the media lets you believe that you know?” he asked as he could remember how the media could easily be altered. How in front of the camera you could be this person whom reaches out to people, while off of it you could be completely a whole other person. It was all rehearsed, with hours of filming, and scripts/plans of everything that was going to be said for the audience.

It was called TV magic.

“I kind of figure she could not know a few things about him, more personal, but she still does know a few things,”

“Only as much as Ji Yong as let her know,” Ji Ho said, trying to appease the angry looking neko.

“It’s been quiet lately hasn’t it?” Seung Hyun asked, looking for a change of topic as he glanced over to Mi Hae whom was fiercely glaring at him, and he shot her a deadly glare of his own.

“It has, and I’m starting to wonder if this is the calm before the storm. Something tells me soon something huge will happen.”

“I feel the same, and I think it’ll be at the Contest Battles. It seems to be the biggest attraction right now and everyone is talking about it.”

“We’ll have to stay in high alert then,” Ji Ho nodded his head before looking back at Seung Hyun to find him glaring at Mi Hae. It was as if both of them were not going to relent as they glared at each other with such intensity.  “What do you plan to do if she steals him?”

“She’s not going to, but if she dares lay a hand on him or come near him at all…” Seung Hyun bared his fangs a little, “I’ll make sure she can never see, hear, or talk ever again,”

Ji Ho was sure that threat was meant for anyone trying to take Ji Yong away, but he didn’t say anything more as he stood up and went to his desk.

Ji Yong was happy today that as he did his work, he did it with such a good mood that he scared everyone that worked for him. The reason being that they were so used to him being stricter with them, that they thought that he could snap at any second now. But it never happened, and they had to wonder where his good mood was coming from. A few of them were whispering that maybe it had to do with the fact that he was now mated. Maybe it had calmed him down.

Other whispered that maybe his mate was pleasing him in bed so good.

Of course, it was all speculation.

Still, they were all glad that the die had ended.

Especially Ji Yong whom the real reason he had been happy all day was because today was going to be his and Seung Hyun’s sixth date. He rushed around his office as he packed up and looked over any final work that he needed.

Seung Hyun had texted him that he would pick him up around seven pm today. There were still ten minutes before seven, but he wanted to be ready to go as soon as Seung Hyun got there.

Ji Yong had just finished putting everything away when there was a knock on his door. The door was open, so if it was Dong Wook with needing anything else he would have just entered. Ji Yong stood up from the drawer he was locking and looked at the doorway to see Hyun Sung standing there, with a shy look on his face. Ji Yong was confused to see him there, “Did you need something?” he asked.

Hyun Sung nodded his head. “Yah, I wanted to tell you something.” He practically mumbled.

Ji Yong didn’t want to have any more work to do. He wanted to go on his date with Seung Hyun. Glancing at the clock in the room, he noted that he still had nine minutes and nodded his head. “What is it?”

“I…I” Hyun Sung stuttered and Ji Yong gave him an apprehensive look.

“Yeah…”

Hyun Sung swallowed hard. “I have admired all your work that you’ve done, ever since you were small. You were always my inspiration and I wished I could be like you but of course, I don’t have your looks or charisma…and I found that what I really wanted to do was capture every frame.” Hyun Sung gripped the camera that was in his hands. “I wanted to be the one that took the images of you, to use my camera to capture the loveliness that I saw and, I landed a job here. It was like a dream come true.”

Ji Yong watched him, blinking, and not knowing what to say. “Thanks I guess,” he said, “But really you should thank Hyun Suk for giving you this job…”

“Please, let me finish all I have to say…”

Ji Yong glanced at the time. Eight minutes…was that damn clock right or just moving slow?
 

“Since I started to work here and watched how you work. The passion that you put in everything that you do, I have been left breathless more than once. I have been filled by awe, just to watch what you do and always make sure that the ones you work with also aspire for greatness and perfection,” Hyun Sung smiled. “You are perfect…”

“I already knew that…” Ji Yong muttered to himself.

“And every day that I kept working with you I worked on improving myself to reach that same level of perfection but I never felt like I was up to par with you…” Hyun Sung looked down at his feet, “It always felt like you were millions of miles away from my reach…but even yet I could not stop my feelings. These feelings I always hope someday they would reach you…” Hyun Sung looked up with determination.

Ji Yong was blotting up his cheeks and looking at the clock on the wall.

Hyun Sung hesitated… “Um, Ji Yong?” he called. Ji Yong shifted his weight from one foot to the other. “Ji Yong!” Hyun Sung called out even louder.

The blond turned to him, and pouted, “Do you think these clocks are going slow? There’s still six minutes left to seven…”

Hyun Sung glared at him, feeling dejected. “Did you even hear a word that I just said!” he ended up snapping. His patience was tested.

Ji Yong hummed as he looked at his phone with that same pout on his face, “He hasn’t even texted me either.” He worried his lower lip between his lips as he looked at his phone, as expecting it to talk to him.

“JI-YONG!”

Sighing, Ji Yong looked at Hyun Sung, “Of course I’ve been listening to you.” he coldly said, “But what do feelings have to do with you wanting to tell me anything? About half the people I meet and know tell me the same things. How they think I’m a perfect model, how my work is superb, well they should know because I worked hard to make it so! But it’s so instant, here and then gone. I have to keep working and pushing-keeping up a professional image-a persona for the television and work.” Ji Yong continued, “So I get it, you love everything I have done and the person I created for fans, but that’s just it. I’m thankful you do, but shouldn’t you concentrate in your own work? On your own persona?”

Hyun Sung felt the words that he had been about to say die in his throat. Instead a short “What” left his lips.

“This clock is slow,” Ji Yong said as he kept looking at it impatiently.

“Ji Yong?” he asked.

Ji Yong looked at him, “Yeah?”

“I think you’re wrong…”

“Huh.”

“You’ve worked so hard that you placed a large part of yourself in your work. So I know that I know you.” Hyun Sung said. “And I would also like to say that…that I…” Hyun Sung was so nervous.

Ji Yong looked at him, fighting to not glance at the clock again. But when he did and saw that there were four minutes left, he jumped up. “Let’s go down stairs, we can finish talking there” he said and walked over to where Hyun Sung was by the door. He turned off the lights and closed his office and then he rushed to the elevator. Hyun Sung followed him all the way.

“Why are you in such a hurry?” Hyun Sung asked.

“Because I’m going on a date with my mate,” Ji Yong smiled, and stepped into the elevator as soon as the silver doors opened. Hyun Sung felt his heart sink as he stepped into the elevator with Ji Yong, reminded of a few weeks earlier when they had done the same.

Ji Yong seemed liked jumpy then to. –or maybe jumpy was the wrong word- excited seemed to fit the description well. “I see, so you guys are going on strong?” he asked.

Ji Yong nodded his head. “Hyunie and I have been working hard together to join the contest battles, and we’ve also been dating and doing good on making sure our relationship will last. I don’t think we’ve ever really gotten into an argument together yet, or anything else. I guess we’re both pretty new to everything and we still have a lot to learn from each other as well…” Ji Yong smiled happily. “I don’t know but I look forward to experiencing everything with him.”

“So you’re in love with him now?”

Ji Yong shrugged, “I don’t know, but my mom said that me and him are attached…”

Hyun Sung looked confused now, “Huh…what do you mean attached?”

“Sort of like we’ve become close, and very emotionally involved with each other, I was a little confused about it, but I guess you can say that I’m fond of my mate…”

Fondness…

When the elevator stopped and the doors opened, Ji Yong stepped out and turned to look at Hyun Sung whom followed him. “I see…well I still feel that I have to tell you this. About what’s in my own heart, about what I feel. I just need you to know!” Hyun Sung said, “Someone told me it was better to take a risk than to be left wondering what if…so here is my confession,”

Ji Yong’s eyes widened slightly.

Hyun Sung took a deep breath and shut his eyes. “Kwon Ji Yong, I’m in love with you!” His confession was loud, and echoed through the walls, “I LOVE YOU!”

Ji Yong was frozen at the sudden confession.

Hyun Sung willed himself to open his eyes and turned to look at Ji Yong. Ji Yong blinked, and then smiled widely. Hyun Sung felt his heart swell-but it was only for a second as Ji Yong rushed forward, going to him-then he ran past him.

“Hyunie!” he childishly purred and Ji Yong hugged his mate.

Hyun Sung froze as his heart dropped to the floor and dread that Ji Yong’s mate had heard him confess filled him.

Seung Hyun kissed Ji Yong’s cheek briefly before looking up at him with cold eyes. Ji Yong noted this and recalled that he had yet to respond to the sudden confession. It wasn't as if he had not had multiple people confess to him before, so he was pretty used to this. It was all the same and he was going to deal with it the same way that he alwayas did.  “Um…Hyun Sung, I’m sorry. But I don’t feel the same about you and I would never intentionally hurt you…but I also never really thought that I would have given you a reason to fall in love with me. If you ever felt that I did, I’m sorry.” Ji Yong said. He really never meant to hurt no one.

Hyun Sung nodded his head, although he wanted to scream. He didn’t need Ji Yong to give him a reason to fall in love-he had fallen and there was nothing else to it.

Seung Hyun possessively wrapped his arm around Ji Yong’s waist as both of them left, softly talking with each other.

Hyun Sung felt tears well up on his cheeks. He had done it! He had confessed and he had been rejected-but at the same time he felt like he didn’t want to give up.

He was not going to give up!

Ji Yong had said it himself, he felt fondness for his mate. That still meant that he was not in love with him and there was still a chance that he could make a move and make Ji Yong look more at him. He still had that deal with Hyun A, they would enter together in the battle contest. He would defeat Ji Yong’s mate when the time came and he would show that he was more impressive than him.

There was potential in him-and he wanted to make sure that he was not overlooked for even a second.

He would show everyone that he was great.

Date next Chapter XD