Oneshot
All grown up
“Hey Fatso,” Donghae and his friends laughed their hearts out at an overweight child in the neighborhood, the biggest kid with saggy body. They could tell very well that the boy was upset through his pout and the forming tears in his eyes but being the insensitive children they were, they continued to make him a laughing stock for being different than other people in the village.
“Heyyy there, are you deaf? We’re calling your name, Fatso. Why didn’t you respond to us?” His friends laughed harder as Donghae said that, ringing the bell on their respective bicycle, making a huge fuss on a supposedly peaceful summer evening.
The obese boy named Hyukjae started sobbing, making Donghae and his gang cheered joyfully for being able to provoke Hyukjae after 2 weeks of pestering him every time they saw him. Never in his 7 years of living had Hyukjae received such treatment from such obnoxious and annoying kids. The elders had always told him that he was the cutest boy in the whole country, and that everyone loved him the way he is. Whenever he walked home from school, he’d always hear the singing of crows, crickets and different livestock.
Now… he could no longer listen to any of them anymore… for Donghae’s mocking laughs had always accompanied him every day.
It was only recently Donghae moved into his hometown. Hyukjae had never seen him before. Despite that, he knew Donghae’s entire circle of friends, because all of them had been living in the same village as his ever since they were in their mother’s womb. Donghae was different. Hyukjae didn’t know where Donghae came from; all he knew was that Donghae was a heartless, rude boy for making fun of his body.
“Hey hey, you’re really fat, do you know that?” Donghae asked again, laughing as usual with his friends, and just like any other time, Hyukjae ignored him. The words ‘really fat’ were somewhat harsh enough for Hyukjae to shed tears, but Hyukjae managed to wipe them before Donghae could even see them.
Growing up in the village with other people of good manners, Hyukjae was taught to be tolerant towards anyone who treated him wrongly. Donghae had always insulted him every day, and so far, Hyukjae didn’t lose his temper just yet. Even though he felt utterly hurt, he would simply look down, pretend to hear nothing and walk forward, acting as if Donghae was not there.
Sometimes Donghae would be flustered and angry at Hyukjae’s lack of response, but he never gave up, because he loved pulling a prank on Hyukjae. Hyukjae was overweight, the fattest person he’d ever met; and as a kid, it was normal for Donghae to be naughty and bullied Hyukjae. He did the same thing to other kids he found ‘weird’ as well.
Hyukjae yelped in shock when Donghae pushed him out of the blue, hard enough to make him fall in the street by the river, knees grazing with the rough surface. Brownish–orange patches of soil stained his school uniform. Instead of helping him off the ground, Donghae and his friends filled the village with their unpleasant laughter as they rode their bicycles home. Hyukjae on the other hand, remained on the ground, sobbing. The small pointy pebbles there made his knee bled, but the pain wasn’t bad enough if he were to compare with the one in his heart.
Hyukjae bawled his eyes out as soon as he saw his mother at home, complaining about Donghae for the nth time. Surprisingly, she didn’t even get angry at Donghae for what he did. She only told Hyukjae that patience is virtue, and that Hyukjae was still the cutest boy on earth. “I’m not saying this to make you feel slightly better, because it’s the truth. Otherwise people here wouldn’t have said the same, right? Besides, you’re a strong boy! Boys shouldn’t cry, right?”
Hyukjae can’t help but to agree with his mother’s words. He decided that no matter what Donghae will say in the future, he won’t be affected anymore.
Well, despite his vow, he still cried nevertheless whenever Donghae pestered him. Words like “hey, you’re so fat;” or “hey, seriously, lose some weight because you’re really ugly. Don’t you want to be handsome like me?” or “you’re the fattest person on earth I’ve ever seen you know, your parents must be embarrassed of you,” were downright annoying and hurtful in Hyukjae’s opinion. After two months of hearing the same things over and over again, every day on top of that, Hyukjae should be supposedly immune to them, but he still cried.
Sometimes Donghae and his friends would go way overboard such as splashing him with a bucket of water until he was completely drenched together with his underwear. There was one time where Donghae even bothered to ditch his ice cream to walk with Hyukjae along the path at the riverbank, just for the sake of calling Hyukjae various names until he broke down in tears.
Hyukjae admitted that Donghae was handsome and cute. If not for his stupid pranks, Hyukjae might’ve wanted to be Donghae’s close friend instead of feeling like throwing his shoes in Donghae’s fish–like face or turn him into fishcakes.
………
One day, Hyukjae was told by an auntie who sold milks all over the town that Donghae was sent to his granny’s house located in a small town by his father because he had to travel overseas for work. He had to stay there with his mother only for three months, and he will go back when his father finishes his business. From the information, Hyukjae was really glad that Donghae wasn’t sent by his mother to the same school as his, or else, his life would really turn into a living hell.
And so… three months later, Donghae’s father came back from overseas. Donghae finally left the village to go home, which was someplace Hyukjae had no idea where it was. Hyukjae didn’t even know what day or time Donghae left. It was like… Donghae just disappeared into thin air, leaving no traces behind.
One thing he was sure, he would obtain his peaceful life back, and that was the only thing that he cared about.
More than ten years later, both people seemed to forget about each other’s existence as they lived their life they way they should.
Donghae, who majored in computer engineering in college, had secured himself a well–paid job in the industry. Ever since he started working years ago, his parents had been pestering him to get married as soon as possible because he was their only son in the family. But no matter how hard he tried, the relationships he had always had never lasted for half a year. The truth was he had no interest in girls, because they would always whine and complain about every little matter that could be brought up, just to take advantage on him.
Donghae confessed to his parents that he was more into guys. Even though he was being honest, he actually said it to make them stop pushing him to marry anyone he could. To his horror, they accepted his confession with open arms and heart. Worse, the frequency of his parents talking about marriage increased drastically, as if they were too desperate to get a daughter in law… or more like, son in law.
Donghae didn’t know how much pain had his parents inflicted on his ears with their endless whine, saying that he couldn’t bear watching him living as a bachelor for the rest of his life. When he had grown tired of those words, he came to master the art of running away from redundant situations.
………
“Your granny is sick now Hae. Could you take a leave for a while and go with us to her place?” Donghae’s mother asked, sobbing as she clutched her phone to her chest tightly. “Please, I want to carry out my duty as her daughter and take care of her.”
Donghae didn’t have any other choice except to comply with her request. He took three weeks break from the company he was working at and went to his grandmother’s village to see her. Even if his mother didn’t beg him, he would still visit his granny because when he was little, she had always taken care of him every time his father had to go outside of the country for work.
Back then, his mother would always take him to her house once a year. He loved being there as well. The place was silent in a good way, and the atmosphere was never cloudy. He enjoyed playing with his friends, pulling pranks on people, and helped his granny planting vegetables on her farm. He had lots of sweet memories there, but they were quite vague, because it had been more than 10 years ever since he last stayed in the village. Due to his busy schedule once he entered high school and joined various activities, he had gradually stopped following his parents to visit his grandmother.
He didn’t even remember the face or the name of his friends, who was who, or what path they took now that they’d become an adult.
The feeling in his heart was rather melancholic as he reached his granny’s place. He excused himself for a walk around the village alone, and his parents let him off. It was a nice evening, and he still remembered how he used to play around a lot near the river at times like this. Contrary to his real hometown, the village was always bathed in beautiful colors, mostly green and light blue.
It would’ve been great if we all could keep in touch with each other back then, he thought, mind drifting further to his childhood friends. But he knew there was no use mourning over the past. The only thing that he could do now was greet everyone that he might be able to recognize.
He was too busy daydreaming about his friends that he didn’t even notice a herd of cows eating grass only 5 meters ahead of him. He only knew that when his hit the rough ground painfully after he bumped into one of the cows. Grunting as he got up on his feet, he was already prepared to bark in anger at their owner, nevertheless stopped abruptly as he didn’t see anyone there.
“No one should leave these cows here without any observation. Do you want me to turn all of them into a barbeque meat? Huh???” he hissed to nobody as he continued walking forward along the roadside of the river, kicking anything that got in his way this time.
He stopped in his track when he heard a cheerful laugh nearby. It was strange to say this, but he liked that voice. The laugh was soothing to his ears it made him felt so relaxed and tranquil. Taking light and slow steps, he walked towards the direction of the manly voice, swiftly hiding behind a tree when he finally found its owner.
And Donghae fell in love the moment he laid his eyes on that person.
………
“Honey, what’s wrong with you?” Donghae’s mother asked him once he stepped his foot into his granny’s house. Even though he was still in a daze, he managed to quirk his brow at his mother’s question. The woman couldn’t help but sigh with the lack of response from her son. “We’ve been in this village for a week already. Ever since we came here, you always disappeared every evening and only came back at night. You barely spent your times with your granny. What were you doing? You didn’t even tell me anything.”
“Why are you asking him so many questions? He probably met his old friends here.” Donghae’s father retorted.
“Dear, you know that it’s not normal for him to act like that. He’d always informed us beforehand if he had some matter to attend to,” she said, narrowing her eyes at her son. “What were you doing huh? Tell me.”
“Uhhh…” Donghae scratched the back of his head, gulping down the imaginary lump he’d had unconsciously contained in his throat when his mother started throwing questions at him. Considering that he was serious about falling in love with that person, he decided to come clean; there was nothing he should hide in the first place anyway.
“YOU WHAT?”
Donghae thought his mother’s eyes would pop out of their sockets as she shrieked in shock after listening to his story about his daily activity.
Ever since the day he saw that guy, who was feeding his cats, Donghae couldn’t stop himself from stalking him every day. The way that guy smiled stirred something in Donghae’s mind.
He could have gone to him and introduced himself straightforward, but there was something in his heart that kept him from doing so. Something called ‘fear’. He didn’t know why. He was confused about that, and no matter how hard he had tried, he always ended up watching the guy at a distance where he could see him without getting caught instead of making the other aware of his presence.
He expected his mother to disagree with his choice, because he thought she might oppose the idea of him dating a guy (a normal guy from a countryside on top of that), even though she already told him anyone is fine, as long as he has someone. Surprisingly, she didn’t. Instead, she asked Donghae who the guy was, and told Donghae that she wanted to see how he looked like.
“Lee what?” Donghae questioned the moment his mother made a comment about his crush, who appeared to have a hobby of feeding cats and chickens every evening; it wasn’t like he wanted to complain though, in fact he was grateful because that was the only time he could see him. At the same place and time where Donghae had stalked him for over a week now, he brought his mother there and pointed at the guy for her to see.
“Hyukjae, Lee Hyukjae. Dear, don’t you remember him?” Donghae’s mother sat on a bench after identifying Donghae’s love interest. Donghae shook his head in reply, causing her to sigh in disbelief. “Do you really like him?” she asked again, and Donghae nodded vigorously. A knowing smile from her made Donghae suspicious of whatever possible idea she had in mind at that moment.
When she told him how Hyukjae looked like in the past, Donghae’s face turned sickly pale before he lost his appetite for a few days.
………
“Lee Donghae! For God’s sake, stop doing this anymore!” the woman groaned at her son, who, after another week staying in the village, had been reduced from a computer engineer to a dejected hopeless stalker.
The said 27–years–old guy was squatting at the exact shady place under the tree, hands constantly grasping and yanking his own hair as he mumbled incoherent sentences, wherein most of them expressed his regrets.
Only a week ago, he was surrounded with rainbows and butterflies whenever he scrutinized his beautiful crush without even knowing his name, but for the following week, his heart was as shady as his environment which was covered with heavy clouds. Dark circles were even formed under his beautiful eyes due to the lack of sleep at night. How could he anyway?
“Mom, what have I done? Oh god, I totally have no chance to be with him. He probably hates me to death during his life. Argghh!” He ruffled his stylish hair. He used to think that he had no regrets in life; now, he really wished he could buy a time machine to go back to the past, and he was serious about it.
“Hey, that’s the past you know. Just like you, he probably had forgotten about you already. Why are you so worried about it?”
“It’s not the same, mom. I might have forgotten about him, but I knew very well whom I loved to disturb the most when I stayed here. You had no idea how bad I’ve treated him back then. Oh god, why?”
“You think too much! Grow some balls!” His mother hit his head with her newspaper. Although there was no pain inflicted, she still wanted to show her frustration towards her son. “Do you want me to help you?”
“W–what?” Donghae finally stopped abusing his hair and averted his eyes from Hyukjae. “And how are you planning to do that? Wait, you are planning something, aren’t you?” His eyes narrowed along with his growing suspicion towards his mother.
“Of course,” she snickered and crossed her arms over her chest, being proud of herself, “but everything is not free. You have to pay for it.”
“I’d do anything as long as I can have him…” Donghae crawled on his knees to hug his mother’s leg. “Please mom!”
“Anything… right?” she asked for conformation, and Donghae nodded immediately, oblivious of the eerie change in his mother’s voice.
“Yes! Anything!”
………
Donghae was thankful that his mother had always kept a good, long–term relationship with the villagers during the past 10 years. She even remembered with whom he always played together and what his childhood friends were doing over time. Since the village was small in terms of its number of residents, his mother knew everyone there. Thus, it was very easy for her to gain information about Hyukjae.
However, there was something his mother had done behind his back that Donghae totally was totally unaware of.
Who would’ve thought that a really fat kid that he used to bully could turn into a really handsome guy? Honestly speaking, Donghae had never remembered how Hyukjae looked like in the past. He was serious when he said he didn’t remember Hyukjae at all. Hell, he didn’t even remember how his close friends looked like, how could he remember Hyukjae?
But one mention of a certain obese kid was enough to bring his memories back. Sadly, those memories of Hyukjae only made him cringe until his face was all crumpled up, because all he had done was to insult Hyukjae and made him cry.
That was all in the past. Despite living in the countryside far away from Korea’s capital city, Hyukjae was nonetheless a successful person. And by successful, it meant growing up into a person with a kind heart, having a stable job at a nursery school, as well as gradually losing fat until none of them could be seen anymore.
It made Donghae confused. Hyukjae was very slim now. Even his waist was smaller than that of Donghae. Hyukjae had a defined jaw line and plump lips, and a really fair skin. Technically, Donghae fell in love at first sight. He knew he was a complete for bullying Hyukjae when they were kids, but that was all in the past, right? Being naughty was typical for any kids; he barely had any idea of his own actions during those times.
He wondered if Hyukjae could forgive him, because there was no way Hyukjae was going to forget those bitter history. At least that was what Donghae thought.
………
“M–marriage?!” Donghae’s heart exploded in a hybrid of extreme shock, joy, as well as disbelief as he registered his mother’s words. “W–what? H–how?” He was completely at lost for words now that he could only blink his eyes and open his mouth and eyes as wide as possible.
“You want Hyukjae, don’t you?” she asked, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively. Donghae nodded in response. “I already met him and his family, and they agreed to entrust his life into your hands, provided that you guys don’t meet each other before the marriage. Good for you huh? You get to enjoy love after marriage.”
Wasn’t it suspicious? Marriage? Was his family kidding him? If they were kidding, by any means, it wasn't even close to funny. How could Hyukjae and his family accept him if they hadn’t even met him yet? They surely couldn’t judge him based on his pictures or a few descriptions about him, right? And in the first place, marriage between two guys sounded outrageous even to his ears despite his gayness for Hyukjae.
Besides, he knew Hyukjae was about the same age as him, which meant that Hyukjae was already 27 years old. At that age, was Hyukjae even single?
How? How? How? was the only question he could think of, but none of his parents entertained him. Hey, isn’t this what people call arranged marriage?!
That night, as his mother was brewing coffee, he came to her and demanded some explanation or anything good enough to satisfy his doubt. “Mom, tell me.”
“You can ask Hyukjae himself after you guys get married soon. Or perhaps you just hate it? Marriage,” she raised a brow at him. “Well, I know it’s too sudden for both of you. If you hate it then I’ll just call it off.” She shrugged at her idea as if it was something trivial.
“Uhh, n–no, of course not. I–it’s just that…I…uhh.”
“See? You’re stuttering. Are you by any chance a Casanova? Is this why you’ve always avoided this topic?”
“No!” Donghae retorted; his quivering voice increased an octave higher. “It’s just that, marrying such beauty sounds too good to be true.”
“Heh, really?” She snickered in a cynical way “to think that you made him cry a lot back then…”
“Mom, please, not that. I’ve repented.” Donghae let his shoulders drop as he sighed dejectedly.
“I can see that. Just look forward to your marriage okay? I’m excited too, because I can have a good son–in–law very soon.” She patted Donghae’s shoulder and left to the living room to serve coffee for her husband.
A sigh escaped Donghae’s lips yet again. How could he look forward to it when he had no chance to talk to his future husband at all?
………
For the marriage, Donghae was told to extend his leave from work and stayed in the village for lending his hands in the preparations. He complained to his mother, saying it was too sudden that he didn’t even have time to prepare mentally for it.
“It’s now, or never. Choose,” was what his mother told him. It was barely an option for him. Of course he opted for the latter. He loved Hyukjae although he knew nothing about the other, except that he loved cats.
Like a raging storm, the day of his marriage came faster than he had expected. Not even once had he been given the chance by his mother to have a date with Hyukjae. She brought her doubt about him being a possible Casanova or all over the place. Thus, Donghae was left alone with wishful thinking and cold feet to worry about his future with Hyukjae.
Marriage, it sounded funny to someone who had been avoiding it. On the positive side, Donghae finally had the chance to marry a person he loved. The night before his wedding ceremony, Donghae sat on his granny’s veranda, drinking wine and sighed as he said “Aah, even someone like me could get hitched. Farewell bachelor days. I hope we could make each other happy…”
“You’re funny,” His cousins laughed their hearts out on his supposedly peaceful night.
………
The wedding was held in modesty. Only the villagers, Hyukjae’s and Donghae’s family attended the ceremony. Before everything started, Donghae still had the time to ponder how his parents were able to convince Hyukjae and his family to marry him, but he decided to ask Hyukjae later when they had their so–called private night.
Oh, talking about private… people had no idea how he got by the mere thought of him and Hyukjae alone in their room. Not able to meet or even talk to Hyukjae made Donghae suffered a lot on the inside. Guys had their needs, you know. Despite his anxiety, he was actually grateful that he didn’t have to suffer from ual frustrations anymore.
The chime was rung, and tons of dandelion seeds and white rose petals were blown into the air before Donghae saw Hyukjae walking down the aisle with a white tuxedo, smiling brightly at him. Donghae felt his heart burst in extreme joy during this not–so–long awaited moment. Hyukjae was stunning, handsome but beautiful, and well-groomed.
Donghae paid no attention to the priest’s speech even for a bit as he, for the first time in his life, stared into Hyukjae’s eyes lovingly without tearing his gaze even for a second. Oh yes, I totally look forward to taste him. He couldn’t help but his dry lips in expectation.
Donghae only listened to the last part of the speech where the priest told him and Hyukjae to exchange rings and kisses. Too excited to be embarrassed, Donghae said ‘I love you’ and pulled Hyukjae for their very first kiss, a hot one. In the beginning, the audiences clapped their hands and wooed at Donghae’s passionate action, but when they noticed that Donghae wasn’t planning to part from Hyukjae’s lips anytime soon, Donghae’s mother had to pull Donghae away and gave his head a light smack.
They day felt like forever to Donghae. He had to attend the after–wedding party and learned about Hyukjae’s background and his family there. Weirdly enough, they all had this funny look on their face, as there was something on Donghae’s face. Oh well, he said inwardly. He only looked forward to his life with Hyukjae, he didn’t care about other people’s opinions. But that didn’t mean he wasn’t being thankful to everyone. He knew he owed them big time for the rest of his life. A simple ‘thanks’ was obviously not enough, so he put the plans to repay them on hold first, because he was dying to embrace his wifey slash husband ASAP.
………
Stepping out of the bathroom, covered in hot steams, Donghae was well aware of his y body, especially when he had nothing on his dripping wet body except for a loose towel around his lower part. But that was only before he saw Hyukjae in his red and silky bathrobe though, hair as wet as Donghae’s dreams as he sat comfortably at the edge of their shared king–sized bed.
Donghae lost his mind and confidence at Hyukjae’s tremendous iness while he looked like he was waiting for Donghae to join him in bed, blushing and all.
He was already planning to jump on Hyukjae and let his building ual frustrations out all night long, but a sentence from Hyukjae somewhat wiped off his burning libido for his anticipated event.
“I’m sorry Donghae–sshi; I hope the bed is large enough for both of us.”
Hyukjae’s tone was so soft, sweet and shy. However, the endearing glint in his eyes told Donghae that he will be flustering endlessly that night.
During his 27 years of living, Donghae had never felt this awkward. And he really wished he could rewind back time.
………
Well, I did say it's a harmless oneshot right? >,< I hope you're not disappointed. do leave a comment if you like it, since it's just a oneshot... :) but maybe I'll add a short sequel for this, about Donghae's opinion on love after marriage :P eheh. that's all. xoxo ♥
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