While Vick was out of town over the next few days, Jiyong kept replaying the conversation over and over in his head. For the first day or two after he found out, he kept on smiling at random times and Seungri would always look at him with a ‘what-the-hell-are-you-thinking-about’ face. He would just tell him mind his own business and then continue to let his mind wander.

As the week went on and he thought about it more, he came to the conclusion that he would wait for Vick to tell him face to face. He knew, after hearing what the older man had said, that he was nervous and scared. What Jiyong needed to figure out was how to make Vick see that he would support him no matter what, without giving it away that he knows who Vick really is.

But the one phrase that he just could not stop thinking about was ‘And how I feel about you’. He truly hoped that it meant what he thought it meant. But what kept him thinking otherwise was his experience with every other crush he had had in the past. He would always think one thing but the person would turn around and do something else. And honestly he didn’t know if he could just stand there and take the pain this time around.

With this in mind he made the decision that he would try and guard himself around Vick and if anything were to happen, Vick would have to be the one to make the first move. And knowing his own personality, the key word was ‘try’. Because as soon as he see’s Vick again, he knows everything will go out the window.

After about five days Jiyong finally got the call he had been waiting for, Vick was back in town. They decided to meet and have dinner later that night since Jiyong had a meeting that afternoon. It was a small restaurant that Jiyong had beenwanting to take Vick to for a while now, and when 7 o’clock came around, both were sitting and catching up while they waited for their food.

When Vick first showed up all Jiyong could think was “he’s Seunghyun, he’s Seunghyun”, to the point that he almost blurted it out as Vick sat down. But he quickly recovered and tried to calm his mind so he wouldn’t slip up later.

Vick talked about the fan meeting and some of the crazy fans and Jiyong realized how comfortable they really were with each other. They could talk about anything and everything, they could joke around with each other, or sometimes they could sit and read and be perfectly content because they know the other is right there by their side.

After dinner they walked outside and as soon as they were out the door Vick asked, “So, what do you want to do now?”

“Oh umm… I thought you would want to go home and sleep since you’ve been gone for a few days.”

Vick laughed and said, “That’s all I did really was sleep this entire trip when I wasn’t meeting anyone. So I just want to do something, anything really.”

“O-ok, well my place, the studio is like 5 minutes away. Wanna stop by and have a drink?”

“Sure, sounds great.”

As they made their way over to Jiyongs place, all Vick could think was, I haven’t seen you in 5 days. Do you think just having dinner with you was enough time together for me?

Vick shut the door behind him and followed Jiyong into his apartment. He had just made it into the living room when several things happened very fast. First he heard a bang, then a mumble of curse words coming from the younger man, and then Jiyong collided with him as he hopped back from whatever had happened.

It was a good thing Vick had fast reflexes because as soon as he saw Jiyong coming towards him, he held out his arms to catch the falling man. What he did not account for as how close Jiyong actually was. Vick looked down to see that he had grabbed onto Jiyongs hips to steady him, and when he looked up, he was face to face with the younger man.

Time stood still as he felt Jiyongs breath brush across his face. Vick gripped Jiyongs hips a little tighter due to shock while the younger man started biting his lip in embarrassment.

Vick stopped breathing in that moment. He didn’t know what to do. Jiyong, the person who has been on his mind nonstop for the past couple months, was just millimeters away. Vick could see the varying shades in the younger mans eyes, the barely-there stubble on his chin, and he could smell Jiyongs intoxicating  cologne. But what was about to be his breaking point was the redness that was slowly making its way up Jiyongs cheeks as he bit his lip harder.

It took all of Vicks will power to not lean in closer and take the younger mans lip, tasting it himself. Instead he took a small breath and whispered, “Are you ok?”

Jiyong nodded slightly. Vick looked into his eyes for any clue as to what was going through his mind, but when he couldn’t find an answer he whispered again, “What happened?”

It took a second for Jiyong to find his voice and when he did he softly replied, “I umm…I uhh… stubbed my toe on the coffee table.”   

“Can you stand on it?”

“What?”

“Your toe, or rather you foot…. can you stand on it?”

“Yeah… why?”

“Because I’m going to let go of you now.”

“Oh o-ok,” replied Jiyong as he bit his lip once more.

Breathlessly Vick pleaded, “Would you please stop doing that?” And when Jiyong scrunched his eyebrows together, Vick realized he had actually said it out loud. He quickly separated from Jiyong, not wanting to do anything he would regret later, and tried to act like nothing had just happened. He cleared his throat and tried to look anywhere but Jiyongs eyes.

Jiyongs stomach dropped when Vick reacted like that. He was hurt that the older man wouldn’t look at him and so, to avoid further heartache, he went into the kitchen mumbling, “I’ll go get us something to drink.”

Vick slumped onto the couch with his head in his hands, frustrated at himself with what just happened. He was so by Jiyong biting his lip that he wanted to, and almost did, kiss him. He sat up and leaned his head back over the top of the couch as he ran his hands over his face, replaying the scene in his head.

He stopped when he remembered that his hands had grabbed Jiyongs hips just moments ago and lifted them up to look at them. He cupped his hands imitating how he held onto him as he remembered the slight warmth that emanated from beneath Jiyongs shirt.

“I don’t know how much longer I can take this,” he said to himself.  

Jiyong eventually came back into the living room carrying two beers, handing one to Vick as he sat on the opposite side of the couch. Both of them could feel the tension in air and so they sat there silently waiting for the other to speak first.

Jiyong finally spoke up and asked, “So… do you have any other big schedules coming up?”

“No not really. I wanted to have some down time since I’ve been busy almost nonstop for the year.”

“Oh… ok. That sounds like a good idea.”

Jiyong was getting really frustrated at how awkward they were being with each other. They tried to make more small talk for another few minutes until they were interrupted by Vicks phone. It always seemed to be a phone that interrupted their time together, but for once he was thankful for it.

“What do you want Daesung?”

“Where are you?”

“Right now? I’m at Jiyongs place.”

“Ok good I’m actually close to there. I’ll be there in a second.”  

“What! Why?”

“I’ll tell you when I get there.”

Daesung hung up leaving Vick staring at his phone, wondering what just happened.

“Is everything ok?” Jiyong asked.

“I uhh… I have no idea. He said that he was coming over and just hung up.”

“Huh…”

A few minutes of more awkward silence passed by while they waited for Daesung to arrive. Vick kept on thinking about what could have possibly happened that would make Daesung come over here, but he came up with no explanation. He told Jiyong that he need to use the bathroom and escaped down the hallway knowing his manager would arrive any minute now.

Jiyong heard a knock at the door and answered it knowing it was Daesung. When he saw the man standing at the door he knew something was wrong. He stepped to the side and let him come in from the cold and asked, “Is everything ok?”

“Where’s Vick?”

“He just went to use the bathroom.”

They were walking into the living room when Vick entered as well.

“Vick come on, we need to go somewhere.” Daesung said as he moved toward Vick.

“What the hell man. I told you I would be out all night. What’s going on?”

Daesung sighed and looked from Vick to Jiyong and back to Vick.

“Look whatever it is, you can say it in front of Jiyong.”

Jiyong looked on at the two of them as Daesung moved closer to Vick and put both hands on his shoulders.

“Your father just called me.” Vicks eyes widened as he looked at him to explain further.

“He told me that your mother is in the hospital.”

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Just wanted to say I had a great time reading everyones comments about the last chapter. I'm so glad you all enjoyed it!