Jiyong rested his head in his left hand while his right was preoccupied with using his fork to push around his remaining scrambled eggs on the plate. Seunghyun had been watching him play with his food for the past five minutes and finally he had had enough.

“Are you still mad about my comment to Seungri?” His stomach started churning as he waited for Jiyong’s answer, he really didn’t want to fight with his boyfriend the morning after they just had .

“No… it’s not that…” Jiyong left his comment hanging in the air while he stabbed the rubbery piece of egg for the hundredth time.

Carefully Seunghyun leaned over and stilled Jiyong’s hand, making him set the fork down, and took the younger man’s hand in his.

“Please tell me what’s on your mind. You’re starting to worry me.”

“It’s just…” Jiyong looked up at Seunghyun. “The whole thing with Seungri got me thinking…”

“About?”

“Us… Our relationship… Our private relationship.”

Seunghyun’s heart stopped. Did Jiyong want to make their relationship public? He knew his boyfriend didn’t hide the fact that he was gay to everyone else, but no one knew that he was, and he wanted to keep it that way, at least for a while longer. All their “public” dates, if any one really noticed them and who they were, would’ve thought that two friends or business partners were out eating together. Jiyong knew going into this relationship that it was supposed to be hush hush and although they never really had a “talk” about it, it was always an unspoken thing between them.

“A-Are you wanting to make it less private?”

Jiyong could see the sudden panic in Seunghyun’s face and tried to quickly reassure him. “No no no, that’s not what I meant. Actually the opposite. I know and understand that we can’t make our relationship public, not just cause your celebrity status-“

“Hey you’re famous too…” Seunghyun interjected.

“Yes but most people outside the industry don’t know me or what I look like. You on the other hand are in the public eye more than me, people will recognize you. Anyway, what I’m trying to get at is… maybe we should be extra careful from now on. Keep the physical contact down to a minimum in public, be careful about what we say… you know stuff like that.”

 Seunghyun nodded as he took in what his boyfriend was saying. With his other relationships, or flings more like it, he didn’t have to worry about this stuff because he wasn’t in love with any of those guys so he would never meet them in public. But Jiyong… he loved him and it physically hurt to know that he wouldn’t be able to hold hands or give him a peck on the cheek whenever he wanted to.

Seeing Seunghyun’s dejected face, Jiyong wanted to quickly change the mood. He shook their joined hands to get his attention, “Hey, just because we have to tone it down out there…“ He nodded towards the window. “Doesn’t mean we have to tone it down-“ Jiyong brought Seunghyun’s hand across the table and placed it over his heart. “In here.”

Seunghyun felt the fast beating beneath the shirt and smiled as he looked up at Jiyong.

 “Just always remember that no matter how far apart we’ll seem outside, by the end of the day we will always come back to each other.”

Without saying anything, Seunghyun got up and walked around the table to Jiyong. He took the younger man’s face in his hands as he leaned down and brought their lips together. The soft pressure made Jiyong’s toes curl and lean into the kiss more. He could feel every ounce of love, longing, and utter sincerity in just one kiss from Seunghyun. He felt Seunghyun’s tongue play with the seam of his mouth and all he could do was part his lips welcoming the intrusion. He heard the passion they had for each other in every miniscule sound that escaped them while their lips and tongues passed over one another.

It was this kind of act that would always make Jiyong speechless in front of Seunghyun. The older man had this gentleness tucked away deep inside him, and all the air would leave his lungs whenever he would bring it out, because he would only do so for him and him alone. Only he knew this tender, loving, adoring side of Seunghyun and all he could hope for was that Seunghyun knew just how much he loved him in return.

Seunghyun pulled back and kneeled down in front of Jiyong, his chest rising and falling to catch his breath. He grabbed a hold of Jiyong’s hand again and kept his eyes focused on it as he spoke.

“For every minute of every day that we have to be in the public eye together, please always remember this moment… that kiss… because for every second I’m with you, I want to do it again and again. And know, that no matter what happens in the future, remember that I will always love you. You have always been a special part of my life, even when we were kids, and I want you to continue to be a special part of my life. I won’t let you disappear from my side ever again.”

He finally looked up to Jiyong and saw a faint streak of wetness running down his cheek. He brought his thumb up, wiping it dry, and smiled at Jiyong’s water filled eyes.

“Are you ok?” Seunghyun asked.

Jiyong sniffled and brought his hands up to clear his eyes as he nodded. “Yeah… I’m ok. I just…” He pressed the heels of his palms in his eyes, trying to make himself stop crying and took a deep ragged breath. “I sometimes get so overwhelmed with how much love you give me and I just hope that you know I love more than anything. Although I might verbalize it as much as you-“ His voice cracked with emotion. He sniffled again and took another shaky breath as he tried to find his voice to continue.

“Jiyong, you never have to say it out loud for me to know.” Seunghyun interjected in the younger man’s pause. “I feel it every time you look at me… every time you touch me… like last night. That was the best night of my life… because I spent it with you and you showed me how much you loved me. Not with words but with your body, and that’s all I could ever ask for. I’m always getting words of praise and adoration from people, so it means so much more to me when I can actually feel your love instead of hearing it.”

A small awkward chuckle escaped Jiyongs lips as he calmed down some more. “So you never want to hear me say that I love you?” He asked, giving Seunghyun a slight smile.

“I didn’t say that I never want to hear it…” He pouted.

Jiyong’s smile spread across his face as he slid out of his chair and tackled Seunghyun to the floor, wrapping his arms around his neck. Both of them erupted into laughter as Jiyong scattered kisses all over Seunghyun’s face, saying “I love you” in between each one. After about 100 I love you’s, Jiyong placed his lips firmly against Seunghyun’s and let them linger there for a few moments, then grazed his lips down his jaw, and snuggled into his neck.

Seunghyun smiled and rolled them onto their sides, arms still wrapped tightly around one another. “If you do that at least once a week, I think I’ll be ok for the rest of the time.” He felt the vibrations of Jiyong’s laugh against his chest, and then he pulled away to look at him once more.

“Deal.” Jiyong said and pecked Seunghyun on the lips one last time before he untangled himself from him and stood. He looked down and offered his hand to his boyfriend to help him up as well. “Come on, we have a long day ahead of us, so let’s get moving.”

“Are you sure you’re gonna be able to walk on your foot all day?” Jiyong asked Seunghyun as they rode down in the elevator together.

“Yeah I’ll be fine, it’s really not as bad as it seemed yesterday.”

Jiyong shrugged. “Well if it starts hurting just let me know and we can head back here to the hotel.”

Seunghyun wiggled his eyebrows. “If that’s all it takes-“ The elevator binged and the doors opened up to the lobby. They both stepped out after five steps Seunghyun called out to Jiyong.

“Ji, owe my foot.”

Jiyong looked over to him and just rolled his eye as he shook his head on the way towards the front door.

Seunghyun ran and caught up to him. “What? You can’t blame a guy for trying.”

“You’re ridiculous.”

They caught a shuttle bus that took travelers from the hotel to Jeju city bus line that then took them to the Hallasan National Park. When they got off at their trail stop, Jiyong bounced up and down on the balls of his feet as he looked in every direction, snapping pictures. Seunghyun stood off to the side and thought how much he looked like a kid in a candy store and how he found it completely adorable.

Jiyong paused his picture taking so he could pull out a map from his camera bag. He studied it for a moment and then turned to his boyfriend, “Seunghyun come on, the trail leads this way.”

Seunghyun saw Jiyong’s smiling, excited face and could not resist following the younger man, as they made their way down the path and taking in all the sights.

The park was simply beautiful, Seunghyun thought. Huge wide open fields full of wild flowers that lead to large mountains in the distance. The colors were vibrant and captivating, but the best part about the whole thing was that he was spending time with Jiyong.  When they first arrived, they got off the bus with a few other travelers, but since Jiyong likes to take his time taking pictures, everyone seemed to have gone on ahead and left them by themselves.

Seunghyun wasn’t complaining though, it just meant that he could kiss Jiyong and hold hands with him as they walked along the trail more. Every now and then Jiyong would insist on doing mini photo shoots with him as the model, claiming that they were for his personal collection.

“Well if you want a personal collection, I can give you a very personal collection.” Seunghyun mused as he started playing with the hem of his shirt, keeping a watching eye on Jiyong for his reaction.

“Seunghyun!” Jiyong whispered loud enough for the older man to hear as a bright blush covered his face, “What are you thinking? What if someone saw you.”

“Ji, there’s no one around except us. And plus I wasn’t really going to take my shirt off, I just wanted to see you flustered,” he said as he walked over and wrapped the photographer in his arms. “I love seeing you blush.” He leaned down and captured Jiyong’s mouth in a quick kiss and then pulled apart from him as he asked, “Ok, where do you want me to pose.”

Jiyong told Seunghyun to just act as if he was on a walk, enjoying the scenery. He took many photo’s of the older man mostly because he looked so relaxed and carefree today that he couldn’t pass up the opportunity.

Seunghyun also asked to take a few photo’s together on his cellphone, saying that he needed a new background. So of course they took the cheesiest and most typical couple photos you can imagine. After taking one of Jiyong kissing Seunghyun’s cheek while he wore a surprised look on his face, the younger man requested they reverse the pose so Seunghyun was kissing him on the cheek. Jiyong pulled out his phone to take that one and then quickly stole Seughyun’s phone  and starting pressing things on each screen.

“There!” he said as he shoved both devices into the older mans face. “We now have ‘matching’ backgrounds. Except on mine you’re kissing me and on yours I’m kissing you. Couples phones,” he finished with a smile. Seunghyun stared at their phones and his heart swelled.

“Jiyong, you are too adorable for words,” Seunghyun said as he took his phone out of his hand and placed a small kiss on his lips. Jiyong smiled into the kiss and hummed at the taste of Seunghyun. So much for keeping the contact down to a minimum.

Another half hour of walking they made it to the rest area and stopped to buy a small lunch.

“I was thinking about stopping here and then making our way back to the bus stop because there’s somewhere else I want to go today,” Jiyong informed Seunghyun as they finished up eating.

Seunghyun nodded, “Anywhere is fine. Where are we going?”

“Manjanggul Cave.”

Making their way back to the bus stop they rode back into town and then took a taxi to the cave. On the ride over, Jiyong was flipping through the pictures he took at the park when he felt Seunghyun’s head rest on his shoulder. He looked down and saw that his boyfriend had completely fallen asleep, lips parted and chest rising in a steady rhythm. He let his camera rest in his lap as his hand slid over the top of Seunghyun’s thigh and his head leaning against the top of his head.

Finally arriving at the cave Jiyong jostled Seunghyun awake and they both got out and stretched.

“Have a nice nap?” Jiyong inquired.

“Yeah,” he yawned. “I did too much strenuous activity last night and this morning and then someone decides it’s a good idea to go hiking on top of that.” Seunghyun raised a questioning eyebrow towards Jiyong. “My muscles are all stiff and sore.”

“Hey you said you wanted to come and I told you what we were going to be doing all day.”

“I know, I know. Just tell me that there isn’t as much walking in the cave tour as there was at the park.”

“No, there isn’t, don’t worry.” Jiyong walked over to whisper in Seunghyun’s ear. “If you’re lucky, you might just get a massage back at the hotel to work out those stiff muscles.” Jiyong’s tongue flick his ear as he said those words and a shiver ran down his spine.

“Well lets get this cave thing over with then and spend the rest of the day in the room.” Seunghyun said as he dragged Jiyong towards the entrance.

They joined a small tour group but found themselves constantly in the back because Jiyong was getting too distracted by the formations of rock and the lights that bounced off the walls of the cave. Some of the passages that they had to walk through were really tight, some of them they had to literally walk sideways, which tested Seunghyun’s slight claustrophobia.

Walking into a bigger chamber of the cave, the temperature suddenly dropped and caused Jiyong to start shivering.

“This thin shirt was not a good idea to wear into a cold cave.” He mumbled through chattering teeth.

Seunghyun chuckled, he brought both his hands up and started rubbing them up and down Jiyong’s bare arms trying to warm him up as he walked behind him. Jiyong tried to protest about how the people in the group could see but he just told him to be quiet and to pay attention to the tour guide as he droned on about the history of the cave for the hundredth time.

All of a sudden there was a loud squeaking sound from above them and people started gasping as they looked up to find the source. But what got Jiyong’s attention was not the reaction from the others but from the sudden tight grip Seunghyun currently had on his arms.

“Seunghyun… you’re starting to hurt me.” Jiyong whispered to the man behind him. He didn’t respond and didn’t loosen his grip. “Seunghyun, it’s just a couple of bats. Nothing to worry about.” He could hear the older man’s breathing start to become more pronounced as he took deep breathes. Jiyong used his hand and pried Seunghyun’s hand off his arm as he turned around to look at him.

“Are you ok?” He asked as he brought the same hand up to Seunghyun cheek to get his attention, that was currently on the darkness above them.

Seunghyun looked down and into Jiyong’s concerned eyes and with a shaky breath he finally said, “I just have a fear of bats…”

“Why didn’t you tell me? If I had known then we wouldn’t have come.”

“You wanted to and I wanted you to be happy.”

“Seunghyun…” Jiyong utterd in a worried voice.

“No its ok. I’ll be fine… I think. Just hold my hand until we get out, ok?”

Seeing how terrified he was, Jiyong slid his hand down to lace their fingers together. Another squeaking sounded from above and Jiyong thought Seunghyun was going to break his hand from squeezing so hard.

“Seunghyun, relax. I’m right here. Pay attention to me, never mind what’s up there, ok?” The older man nodded. “Now come on lets go. I think the tour is almost over.”  Seunghyun took a deep breath and let Jiyong pull him forward to catch up with the rest of the group.

He was ready to have that massage now...