Youngsaeng studied his lover's expression curiously; the latter seemed quite shocked for some reason and the innocent otter had no idea why. "Wh-what's wrong?" he stammered nervously. "Do you not like it...?"

Hyunjoong looked up at him with wide eyes. "You... How much did this cost?"

The younger boy frowned and knotted his eyebrows as he scratched the back of his head, thinking hard. "Mollayo... I just bought it because I thought you'd like it... You don't like it?"

"Ani! It's just..." Hyunjoong faded off as he stared down at the glamorous present. "I didn't expect something like this... You didn't have to get something like this for me!"

Youngsaeng blushed, staring down at his fiddling hands. "Since you got me this bracelet, I was thinking to maybe get you something to wear on your wrist, too but a bracelet wouldn't fit you... So I decided to buy you a watch..."

"But why did you buy a gold one?"

"It's a pretty color..." the prince murmured.

Hyunjoong held his hand out. Youngsaeng looked up at him in question. "Receipt," the older boy stated. Youngsaeng quickly nodded and hopped up, going to the corner of the living room to grab a bag. He pulled out a thin piece of white paper and handed it over to Hyunjoong. The latter's eyes rounded even more until it seemed as if his eyeballs could simply roll out of his sockets.

"What the-- Otter!" he exclaimed, staring in shock at the receipt and coughed before yelling at his boyfriend again. "Why did you spend so much money on this?"

Youngsaeng looked down at his feet, pouting. His heart was aching and he could feel his legs trembling. "I thought you'd be happy... And I have a lot saved up in my bank account... I really didn't spend much on it."

"Return it."

The otter prince looked up at him with shocked eyes, feeling a sting in his chest. "E-eh?"

"This is too much, Youngsaeng. If it was me buying it for you, it would've been fine. You know my family. But this is way too much. We don't even know if this is real gold or not," explained the older boy and closed the lid to the present as he drank some water before coughing.

Youngsaeng clenched his jaw to keep his teeth from chattering and his tears from falling. I thought he'd like it, I thought he'd wear it immediately. I never thought he'd ask me to return it. What do I do now? He looked up at his lover and forced a cheerful smile. "It's okay. I guess you didn't like it. I'll make sure to get you a better present next time."

He took the present from Hyunjoong's hands and turned. "I'll... go put this in my room for now..." With that, he rushed away and up the stairs. Hyunjoong jolted when he heard a snarl from Hachi, who seemed to be glaring at him. He stared back. "What's wrong with you, Hachi? Are you upset about something?"

He heard the dog huff and watched as he walked away and up the stairs. Hyunjoong furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. Coughing, he lay back down and wrapped the blankets around himself, waiting for Youngsaeng to come down again. A few minutes later, the younger boy appeared around the corner with a grin. "Do you want to eat some more?"

Hyunjoong shook his head and gestured his boyfriend over; the prince approached him but then stopped around a meter away, out of Hyunjoong's reach. The older boy pursed his lips. "Come closer. Let me hug you."

Youngsaeng swallowed and smiled. "Why don't we go to sleep now? It's already late anyway since you slept the evening away."

"Eo..." the older boy said slowly as the latter turned and headed back upstairs, not helping him get up. Hyunjoong stared at Youngsaeng, not understand what was happening. This wasn't how Youngsaeng usually acted. Did I say something wrong?

He coughed hoarsely and brought his glass of water upstairs with him. He entered Youngsaeng's room to see that the latter wasn't there. Shrugging, he thought that Youngsaeng was in the washroom and would come to him soon enough so he lay down on the bed carefully, his eyelids already dropping due to the medicine he had ate before dinner.

He forced himself to stay awake though and gazed at the door, waiting for his lover to come in but the boy never entered. There was no the slightest sound of footsteps. Where is he? Is he also sick now? Hyunjoong got up, ignoring the urge to sleep and walked out of the washroom. Youngsaeng wasn't in the bathroom and all the lights downstairs were now closed. He noticed that the other bedroom's door was slightly open and he was about to knock and peek in when he heard sniffling from inside. He froze.

"... don't know..." the otter's soft, shaking voice murmured came the door. "I thought... I-I thought he-he would re-real-really l-like it. I-It... I-I don-don't know any-anym-anymore..."

Hyunjoong put his hand on the knob and grit his teeth as he poked his head in and saw that Youngsaeng was curled up in the corner, hugging the present tightly as he sobbed into the phone. So that's what was wrong. Is this why Hachi was glaring at me?

The older boy went in and took four long strides towards his lover. Youngsaeng's teary eyes widened when Hyunjoong grabbed him and brought him forward, kissing him harshly. The younger boy's tears dripped faster as his hand clutching onto the phone fell limply onto the bed.

"Youngsaeng hyung?" the male voice called through the phone. "Are you there? Saengie hyung!"

Hyunjoong grabbed the phone from the cute boy's hand and hung up, throwing the phone onto the table before pushing the younger boy down and breaking away, gazing into the eyes of the boy who was still clutching tightly onto the box that contained the present. Youngsaeng quickly looked away and tried to wipe his tears.

The older boy sighed before bending down again, kissing Youngsaeng's swelling lips again, this time gently. "I love you," he whispered sweetly between the short smooches. "Don't cry, arasseo?"

Youngsaeng closed his eyes and didn't move, only responding slightly to the slow kisses from the boy lying on top of him. Hyunjoong dug his arms under the latter's back and hugged him tightly to bring him closer. Sleep was fading away from him; all he wanted now was to be with the cute otter. He tried to pry the box away from the boy but Youngsaeng had a firm grip on it, definitely not letting go.

Hyunjoong broke away from the kiss and saw that the boy was still crying. He chuckled lightly when he saw how miserable Youngsaeng looked; red stains from tears streaked down his face with blood shot, puffy eyes and his red ips pursed into an almost straight line. Combing through the prince's hair, he lay himself down beside the boy and took hold of the box. "Let go of it."

Youngsaeng blinked at him before reluctantly loosening his arms and allowing his boyfriend to put the box aside. Hyunjoong wrapped his arms around the younger boy again and brought him into his broad chest.

"Are you upset that I didn't accept your present?" he questioned, taking a breath through his mouth as his nose suddenly became blocked. He coughed and waited for Youngsaeng's answer. 

"I..." the latter started with hesitation.

"Tell me the truth."

Youngsaeng buried his face into his lover's chest. "Neh... I was... I worked really hard to find you a suitable present. When I finally found that gold watch, I didn't care how expensive it was because I thought that it'd match perfectly with you. I thought you'd be really happy..."

"I was happy but... I don't want you using so much money on me," the older boy murmured as he rested his chin on the latter's chin. "And on that one present... It's not worth it. Even your hugs and kisses are worth way more and what's better is that I get them everyday."

"So you're saying all I have to do for your birthday is hug and kiss you?"

Hyunjoong thought for a bit. "Well... No, that's what you always do. You have to do something special for me."

The latter stared at him, slightly intimidated of what was coming next. Hyunjoong grinned when he thought of his list of things to do. "This weekend... Let's go on a date to the zoo."

Youngsaeng continued to stare at Hyunjoong for a few seconds before finally processing the words in his mind and began to blink owlishly. "So... Just a date to the zoo this weekend and that's it?"

The older boy nodded. "Yeah."

"There's nothing before or after that, right? Only the date to the zoo."

Hyunjoong nodded again. "Definitely. We might go shopping after but we're for sure, going to go to the zoo."