The smell of freshly cooked bacon woke you up. You were back at home. You looked around. There was no one but you.

You stood up, wondering who was cooking. You knew for a fact that Kyuhyun doesn’t know how to cook at all. Maybe he was trying? To surprise you? You smiled to yourself and headed to the bathroom to freshen up.

You were excited to see him in an apron and all cute figuring out stuff with cooking. You wouldn’t even mind if he messed up the food. What mattered was the effort he made to cook them.

You went to the kitchen, ready to surprise him. But when you got there, it was a different man standing in the middle of the kitchen. This man had straight dark hair, muscular arms and was a little shorter than Kyuhyun.

“Donghae?”

“Oh, hey,” he smiled widely at you. “You’re up! Go sit at the dining table. I’m almost done.”

“What are you doing here? I thought you’re gone for work? You’re not to be back by Wednesday. Did you guys finish early?” you asked.

“No,” he shook his head. “I just missed you…” he said with a bittersweet smile. “Go ahead and sit.”

You sat at the dining table and then Donghae placed the two plates of bacon and pancakes. He sat down beside you and tucked a lock of hair behind your ear.

“Thanks,” you muttered. “This looks delicious.”

He then poured maple syrup on the pancakes. “How are you Kye?” he asked. “I heard you and Kyuhyun went on a little trip this weekend.” You froze. You looked at him, surprised. “Kyuhyun told me,” he responded with a bitter smile.

“Oh… yeah… we went to his associates’ wedding,” you replied, popping a piece of pancake in your mouth.

“Is that so? Did you have fun?” he asked.

“Yeah,” you nodded. And then, there was a minute of silence. It was awkward. You knew he was angry. “Sorry for not telling you. I didn’t think it would be a big deal.”

“Even though he’s my best friend, he’s still a guy, Kye,” he whispered.

“Is that why you went back here?” you asked. “Now you have to go back and stay away longer than you should.”

Donghae sighed. He looked at you and brushed your hair. “No… I just wanted to see you,” he said.

“When do you need to go back?” you asked.

“Tomorrow,” Donghae replied with a pout.

You nodded. “Oh… How did you get in by the way?”

“I stayed through the night,” he said.

“You were here last night?” you asked.

“Yeah, I waited for you to get back from your trip,” he answered with a bittersweet smile. “You were asleep when you came. We didn’t bother waking you up. You were pretty tired.”

So that means he and Kyuhyun saw each other, right? Did they talk? Did he confront him? Did he fight with him?

“Kyesin…” Donghae suddenly interrupted your train of thought. “Will you go on a date with me? It’s been a while since we last went out together… You know, just the two of us.”

You looked at him, shocked by his sudden question. “Uh… uhm… okay,” you nodded.

Donghae smiled wide and he stood up. “I’ll run back home to clean up. I’ll pick you up at 11, okay?”

You nodded. “Okay, see you.”

You cleaned up the plates as soon as you were done eating. Still, a thousand questions linger in your mind. You know how Donghae feels about you and Kyuhyun together, and you know how he’s trying hard to understand your situation, but how long are you going to let him suffer?

You sighed and went to your room to take a shower. You check your phone. One voice mail from