The pounding inside his head was what woke Jiyong up the next morning. When he started to sit up, he immediately fell back down clutching his head, trying to ease the intense pain. He didn’t know the last time he had a hangover like this, but it was a reminder of why he didn’t really like drinking in the first place.

He rolled over on his stomach and suddenly regretted that decision, for the pressure on his stomach almost made his dinner from the previous night come back up. He rolled over on to his back again and laid there, staring at the ceiling, trying to remember exactly what took place after he and Youngbae ate dinner.

He knew something had happened, he could feel in the back of his mind alongside the continuous pounding. But no matter how much he dwelled on it, he couldn’t remember. After about 20 minutes of just laying in bed, he finally thought it would be best to get some food in his system. 

When he stood up, he looked down at what he was wearing and noticed that he had on a set of unfamiliar pajama’s, he shrugged it off knowing it was useless trying to remember when he put them on, stretched his stiff muscles and made his way out into the apartment. As he opened his door, he was greeted with the delicious smell of whatever Youngbae was cooking in the kitchen.

“Good afternoon sunshine.” Youngbae said as he heard Jiyong open the fridge and grab a bottle of water. He shut the door and looked at what the older man was cooking in the skillet.

“Mmm smells good whatever it is, and did you just say afternoon? What time is it?”

“Its 2 in the afternoon and I just threw some leftovers from the other night together.”

Youngbae, who had been preoccupied with cooking finally looked up at Jiyong and busted out laughing as soon as he saw him.

“Dude you look like hell warmed over. I didn’t even know your hair could do that.”

Jiyong combed his fingers through his hair as he ran to the bathroom to see what he was laughing at. As he looked at his reflections he saw that his friends words were true, he looked like hell. His hair was going every which way and not only were there dark circles under his eyes but his eyes were also puffy and swollen. He tried to fix himself up as much as he could before he went back to the kitchen.

“Bae you know I’m a lightweight when it comes to drinking, what even happened last night? Why are my eyes like this?”

“Umm well… I don’t even really know what happened either. After we finished talking we came back here… You were drunk off your and couldn’t get your jacket off, so we went into your room and then your boyfriend called while I helped you change for bed. And I think he must have hung up on you for some reason cause next thing I know, you start crying because he won’t talk to you… and then you fell asleep.”

“Damn it.” Jiyong whispered to himself.

He rubbed his head as the pounding still made its presence known. He tried to think back to the phone call he supposedly had with Seunghyun, but he just couldn’t remember. The one thing that kept playing over and over in his head was why did Seunghyun hang up on him? He’s never the kind of person to do that.

He walked back to his room and grabbed his phone to see if Seunghyun had texted him. His heart fell a little when he saw that he had no new messages. It had been a few days since he got to New York and he was so used to talking with his boyfriend every day, that this sudden silence was starting to unravel him.

Checking the time again he thought best not to call Seunghyun, but send a text instead. Not really knowing what to say he just sent:

Saw that you called me last night. I know you’re asleep right now and I have a show to photograph later tonight, but would you please call me back whenever you can.

I miss you.

He hit send, and walked back out the kitchen, this time taking his phone with the hope that Seunghyun would reply right away, but knowing he would have to wait hours to hear his voice again.

After he and Youngbae ate, they started getting ready for Youngbae’s show that was starting at 7. Grabbing his camera and a few lenses, Youngbae and him walked out of the apartment. Jiyong checked his phone for the thousandth time, but still no reply from Seunghyun.

One thing he loved about fashion week was the intense energy that filled up the entire place. People were constantly running around getting last minute details set; models with hair and makeup, crew with staging and lighting, designers with touch ups on their clothes. And Jiyong was there to capture all the chaos through his lens.

Walking around taking everything in, he tried staying out of the way taking behind the scenes shots. As he passed by a quieter part of the room he almost dropped his camera when he heard the small beep of his cell phone. He scrambled to pull the strap over his shoulder as he reached for his phone in his pocket. Seeing that it really was a message from Seunghyun, Jiyong’s heart leapt.  He ran over to Youngbae to tell him that he was going out for a minute but he would be back in time for the start of the show and then made his way outside to read the message.

You sounded pretty drunk last night and I take it you don’t remember what happened, which hurts even more. I don’t know how to talk to you after what I heard. My mind keeps thinking of the worst things possible and I don’t know if I want you to explain just yet. I need some time. Maybe I’ll call you in a couple days.

Jiyong’s legs almost gave out on him as he reread the message over and over. What the hell happened last night? What did Seunghyun hear? So many things were running through his head. He looked at his phone again and before he knew it, he was calling Seunghyun.

After a couple rings it went voicemail, he hung up and tried again. 2 rings, went to voicemail. He dialed for the third time but this time it went straight to voicemail, meaning that Seunghyun had turned his phone off.

His hands started shaking and he was becoming light headed.  He heard a voice behind him but couldn’t make out what the other person was saying until he felt a hand on his shoulder, turning him around.

“Jiyong, the shows about to start. Go grab your seat in the photographers section.” Youngbae only noticed his friend’s expression after he finished speaking.

“Jiyong are you alright?” He said, turning the younger man towards him more so he could get a better look at him.

“Bae, please." Jiyong pleaded. "Can you think of anything… anything, that Seunghyun could have heard last night while I was talking to him, that he could’ve mistaken for something else?”

Jiyong watched as Youngbae thought back to last night.

“Umm like I said before, you were drunk… you couldn’t get you jacket off so I helped yo-“

His eyes widened as he cut himself off remembering something.

“You know actually at one point you were moving around so much that when I almost had the jacket off you, our arms got twisted and we fell onto the bed together, and you said something like ‘Get off me, this isn’t your bed.’ Maybe that was it…”

Jiyong groaned and rubbed the side of his head trying to recall last night, hoping that Youngbae’s words would trigger something. He and Seunghyun had just started this relationship and he had already ed it up somehow. All he wanted to do was come to the city, help his friends out for a while and then go back home to him and spend a weekend in Jeju with his boyfriend.

He racked his brain, thinking about everything that had happened since he left for New York, for any possibly reason that could have led Seunghyun to believe… whatever it was he thought he believed.

“!”

“What? What is it?” Youngbae asked.

“I just realized… I never actually told him that I was going to be staying with you while I’m here.”

“What?”

“Seunghyun. He must have thought I’d be staying in a hotel or something. And when he called last night and heard you… and you were trying to take my jacket off… and we fell onto the bed… and… ! Damn it!”

Jiyong started cursing himself as the pieces started falling into place. Seunghyun must have heard Youngbae and thought he was cheating on him.

Youngbae looked down at his watch and said, “Jiyong it’s going to be fine. It’s just a misunderstanding. Don’t worry about it too much. Let’s go, finish the show, and then we can figure out how to fix this, ok?”

Jiyong internally scoffed at his friends words, ‘It’s going to be fine.’ How could it be fine when your boyfriend thinks you’re cheating on him and he probably won’t answer his phone for the next couple days. No, everything was not going to be fine.

He rubbed his hand down his face trying to compose himself and put on a fake smile for Youngbae.

“Yeah come on. This is your night so let’s make the most of it.”

Youngbae smiled back at him, knowing that his smile wasn’t genuine, but played along anyways as they both made their way back inside.

The show was perfection. Youngbae’s collection was colorful but not over the top, and everything blended together to tell a story. Jiyong was there to capture every second of it, trying to put his own personal problems aside and be there for his friend.

After the show they went to a small after party with designers, models, socialites, and other VIPs. Jiyong tried to act like he was having fun but ever since the end of the show, he went right back to worrying about Seunghyun.

He could only stomach staying at the party for only an hour until he found Youngbae and told him that he was going to go back to the apartment.  Youngbae nodded, seeing the distress on his friends face and handed him his keys.

Once he made it to the apartment, he sat on the couch, pulled out his phone and tried calling Seunghyun again.

Still no answer.

Jiyong fell onto his side staring at the screen. His heart clenched and his eyes stung, as he tried to fight back tears. He just wanted to hear Seunghyun’s voice and tell him it was all a big misunderstanding.

He laid on the couch feeling completely numb as he thought of ways to try and get in touch with him, when all of a sudden he got an idea. Looking through his phone he found the number he wanted and hit call.

“Hello? Jiyong?”

“Hey Seungri, I was wondering… Do you have umm… Vick’s managers phone number?” Jiyong bit his tongue as he almost said Seunghyun. Despite relying on his assistant for almost everything, he really didn’t share his relationship with him.

“You mean Daesung? Yeah I have his number. We were just hanging out actually.”

“What?! I didn’t know you were friends with him.”

“Yeah that day you had the one session with Vick a couple months back, we went to grab lunch and found out we had something’s in common, so we’ve been hanging out off and on since.”

“Really? Huh…” Jiyong was stunned into silence for a minute. “Does he talk about Vick at all?”

“Yes and no. He complains to me how much of a pain Vick is to handle, lately though he seems to be in a better mood though.”

Jiyong started getting a little nervous, he was curious as to whether or not Daesung had told Seungri anything about their relationship.

“Yeah and why is that?”

“Oh umm… I didn’t really ask but I think he mentioned something about Vick starting a relationship with someone, so he’s not being as much of an to Daesung lately.”

“Oh he’s in a relationship? Did he say with who?” Jiyong asked trying to pretend like he didn’t know.

“No he didn’t say who… Hey I thought you wanted Daesung’s number? Why are you asking me all these questions? And aren’t you actually friends with Vick? Ask him yourself who he’s dating.”

Jiyong muttered to himself, “If I could actually get in touch with him…”

“What was that?”

“Nothing, just give me Daesung’s number.”

Seungri gave it to him and they said their goodbyes.

He stared at his phone that had the number in it ready to be dialed, but all of a sudden Jiyong started questioning himself. He knew Daesung knew about his and Seunghyun’s relationship, but he still didn’t know how much his boyfriend had told him, and whether or not this phone call would ruin things more.

He shook his head, deciding that nothing could hurt the situation more than what has already happened and called Daesung.

Seoul – 2 days later

Seunghyun woke up in the middle of the afternoon for the second day in a row. Ever since ‘that night’ he was plagued with worries and insecurities about himself and his relationship with Jiyong, making it hard for him to get any sleep.

The first thing he did was check his phone and he saw that Jiyong had tried to call him multiple times throughout the night. His heart tightened, feeling guilty for ignoring him, but he just didn’t know if he could take it, hearing his boyfriend explain how he might’ve slept with someone else, before they had even gotten that far in their relationship.

As he went to place his phone back down on his bedside table, he felt it vibrate. Knowing it was probably Jiyong again, he still checked to make sure. His eyebrows rose a little, surprised that it was actually Daesung who was calling him.

“Daesung? Why are you calling me?”

“Sorry, it’s just that something’s come up and I need to come over. I’ll be there in about half an hour, ok?”

“Yeah fine… I’ll probably be in the shower so just let yourself in. What’s going on anyway?”

“It’s hard to explain over the phone. I’ll just tell you in person.”

“Whatever. See you in a bit.”

He hung up, trying to think what the big emergency was as he made his way into the bathroom.

Pulling the shower curtain back, Seunghyun could barely see the door due to all the steam that had been created from his shower. He grabbed the towel and wrapped it around himself as he walked back into his room. Looking at the clock he realized that he was in the shower longer than he thought and yelled out towards the front of the apartment.

“Daesung, you here?”

He heard a familiar voice call back, “Yeah I’m here.”

“I just got out of the shower, so let me throw something on and I’ll be out.”

He grabbed a pair of sweatpants and was about to put them on when he had a thought, so he yelled back out, “We don’t have to go anywhere do we?”

“No. Just hurry up will you.”

He rolled his eyes and proceeded to put the sweatpants on, as well as a black tank top, grateful that he didn’t have to go out in public, and made his way into the living room. As he walked out his was too preoccupied with drying his hair with a towel to notice that Daesung and him were not the only ones in the apartment. Only when he heard Daesung clear his throat did he look up, freezing in his spot.

“What are you doing here Jiyong?” He asked, glaring at his boyfriend.

Jiyong could tell from Seunghyun’s voice that he was not happy at all to see him, in fact he looked pissed at his sudden appearance. He squirmed under his boyfriends intense stare as he tried to explain.

“I-I umm… well… y-you wouldn’t answer my phone calls or text messages. And after the text you sent, I knew what had happened the other night was a misunderstanding. But you wouldn’t give me the chance to explain…”

“So you drop everything that you had to do in New York and rope Daesung into bringing you here?”

“I was almost done… so it didn’t matter whether or not I left early. What matters is clearing up this whole situation.”

Seunghyun eyed Daesung and then looked back at Jiyong.

“Is this the big emergency? I just woke up and I don’t want to deal with this right now. Just go home.”

He waited for Jiyong to speak up, but it was Daesung’s voice that he heard.

“No Seunghyun, Just listen to what he has to say. Honestly you’re over thinking it.”

“So you know everything, I suppose?”

“Yes. Now just sit on the couch and talk to him.” Daesung moved over toward Seunghyun and pulled him to the couch, forcing him to sit down.

Jiyong hesitantly walked over and sat next to him, but as he did, Seunghyun moved to face away from him. When he saw that, his heart tightened and he looked up at Daesung, silently pleading for some advice on how to talk to him.

Daesung shrugged his shoulders and shook his head, saying he didn’t know what to do either.

“Listen, I’m gonna go now, and let you two talk things through. Seunghyun please, for both your sanity and mine, just let him explain what really happened.”

And with that Daesung walked out of the apartment and the left the two men sitting on the couch in silence.

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Decided to give you guys an extra long chapter for patiently waithing for my irregular updates.

And I don't know if I've ever really said this, but thank you all for reading and commenting. It really makes me happy when I can make others happy, even with this little story. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. ~Dreamertechie