Love is ………………………… doing acts of service for you.

Donghae jolted out of bed immediately when that thought hits him.

‘I cannot let him see me like this. My ‘just wake up’ face is disgusting! Plus, I have not brush my teeth, my hair is all messed up and I smell horrible! I need to go shower now!’

Ding dong.

‘Argh! Too late! He is already here! I have to open the door!’

Donghae grabbed his towel and wrapped it around his head, partially covering his face. He does not want Hyukjae to see his face like that.

Ding dong. Ding dong. The doorbell rang again.

‘He sure is impatient!’ Donghae thought as he rushed out of his bedroom and ran to the door of his apartment.

Donghae slowly opened the door to his apartment, and peeked out. Standing right before his eyes and flashing the brightest gummy smile was Hyukjae, with his hands full of paper bags.

“Good morning Fish!” he exclaimed excitedly.

Donghae starred at his over-excited friend and scaned him suspiciously from head to toe.

“Aren’t you going to invite me in?” Hyukjae asked with his puppy eyes.

“Sure.” Donghae answered. He slowly opened the door with one hand, whereas his other hand was still covering the bottom half of his face with a towel. Hyukjae walked in and headed to the kitchen to put down the paper bags onto the dining table. He seemed familiar with the place and did not hesitate make himself comfortable.

“Why are you covering your handsome face?” Hyukjae asked as he exited the kitchen and approached Donghae who was rooted to the living room floor starring at him.

“I just woke up.” Donghae whispered, clearing his throat.

“Awww…poor baby, sorry if I woke you up.” He brought himself nearer to Donghae until they were face to face. “Still, why are you covering your face? Let me see your sleepy face!” Hyukjae started tugging at the towel and Donghae resisted it.

“No!”

“Come on, how bad can it be?”

“No!” Donghae yelled, still holding on to the towel on his head.

Hyukjae was strong; he successfully pulled the towel off Donghae’s head and face revealing a pouty looking Donghae.

Hyukjae chuckled, cupped Donghae’s cheeks with both his hands and started pinching both his cheeks. “Look at you so cute.”

“Ouch! Stop it!” Donghae resisted and pulled his face away from Hyukjae’s pinch.

“Go shower now baby. I will cook us both lunch! I bought the groceries just now on my way here!” Hyukjae exclaimed.

“I thought you can’t cook?” 

“Well, I printed out some recipes from the internet and they come with a whole set of instructions, should not be too difficult following them.” Hyukjae reassured.

“Oh, ok then…”

“You have nothing on today right? Go shower and and leave the kitchen to me.” He smiled sweetly.

“Ok, don’t burn down my kitchen….”

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Donghae spent his time in the showers wondering what is going in his kitchen. A part him was worried Hyukjae may destroy his entire kitchen but another part of him was excited to see the product of Hyukjae’s cooking.

He showered as quickly as possible and got dressed.

“What is this smell?” Donghae asked as he sauntered into his kitchen.

Hyukjae was at the stove stirring a pot of soup. “You mean this?”

Donghae stepped closer to Hyukjae and saw a pot of soup with vegetables. He eyed Hyukjae suspiciously.

“What is that?”

“Its vegetable soup…I think. The rice is cooked and the rest of the dishes are on the table. I only made 3 dishes by the way, are you ok with that?”

“Yes, thanks.”

Neatly arranged on the table were two bowl of rice, small plate of kimchi, gimbap (Korean sushi) and on a big plate was a steamed fish with onions and garnish. It was nicely decorated too and the whole table gave out an appetizing aroma. It was impressive. Donghae stomach was starting to rumble.

“I am almost done with this soup. Can you get the drinks?” Hyukjae asked politely.

Donghae obediently followed Hyukjae instructions. He placed two empty glasses and a bottle of cold plain water on the table.

“Take a seat baby! Just wait, I will be ready in one minute.”

Donghae nodded. “You did all these while I was in the shower? That was really fast! Is the fish fully cooked?”

Hyukjae transferred the pot of soup onto a bowl. He carried the bowl to the table with a wet towel since it was hot. “Of course its cooked! You took a long time to shower you know! Except for the gimbap, the rest of the dishes were pretty easy and quick to make.”

“You bought the gimbap?” Donghae asked curiously.

“No, I made it at home. Heechul hyung helped me but since its our first time doing this, the gimbap do seem a bit fat because we do not really know how to wrap it properly. But I promise it taste good.”

“Oh, so nice of him.”

“Let’s dig in while its hot!” Hyukjae announced excitedly. Donghae cannot help but laughed at Hyukjae’s antics. He was like an excited kid playing and arranging all the dishes neatly on the table.

“Thank you.” Donghae expressed his heartfelt thanks. He truly felt touched by Hyukjae’s actions especially knowing that he went to research and learn how to cook just for him.

They spent the next 1 hour eating and chatting about random stuff. Their favourite movies, food, the people at work, favourite students, not so favourite students, the boss, their friends antics, it was like a reunion of two friends. Donghae was surprised that Hyukjae was a great listener. He asked Donghae a lot of questions and he was quiet and attentive when Donghae was speaking. It was rare for Donghae to meet such a good listener. People often tend to talk about themselves more than what they want to hear from others but Hyukjae was different.

He was also comfortable talking to him, no arguments, just casual talk and he surprised himself for revealing so much personal information about himself with a person whom he has only known for 2 weeks. He must admit that he really enjoyed spending time with Hyukjae. It simply felt………….right.

“So what do you want to do after this?” Hyukjae asked as he was clearing the table.

“Hmm…….I don’t know. I do have some movies I have yet to watch.”

“Oh yes, the messy stack of cds. You should really arrange them neatly you know. You can purchase a cd organizer so that you can easily find the cd you are looking for next time.”

“Yes Omma, you are so naggy.”

“I am not!” Hyukjae snorted. “Go ahead, I will wash the dishes and join you later.”

“I can’t let you do that, I should wash the dishes since you cooked our meal.”

“Its ok, I started this so I should finish it. If you wanna repay me, you can kiss me on the cheek here.” Hyukjae smiled, his soapy hand pointing to his cheek.

“Crazy!” Donghae yelped and walked out of the kitchen.

For the next 3 hours, Hyukjae and Donghae were glued to the sofa. Donghae had chosen to watch his favourite movie of all time, Titanic. It does not matter how many times he had watched it, it still brings tears to his eyes each time he watches it.

Hyukjae, seeing his friend welled up in tears, started to wipe Donghae’s tears with his bare hands. Donghae resisted it at first, embarrassed for being such a baby, but after a few times, he simply let Hyukjae be. He began to wonder if Hyukjae was really watching the movie or watching him bawl his eyes out.

He never failed to wipe away every tear.

Beep. Donghae’s phone lit up. Donghae picked up his phone to see the incoming text message while blowing his nose.

Siwon:

Donghae! I am too nervous that I am early! I think I will go up to your place and wait! See ya!

‘What?! Wait, what is the time now?’ Donghae glanced at the clock on the wall. It was almost 5 pm.

‘Gosh! I totally forgot about the blind date thingy! What am I going to tell Hyuk here?!’ Donghae’s mind was racing, trying to think of ways on how to ‘chase’ Hyukjae out. He most definitely did not want Hyukjae to bump into Siwon because then, the cat will be out of the bag!

“Hyukjae ah, I think its getting late. You should get going before it turns dark.” Donghae suggested. They were sitting next to each other on the sofa with the tv still playing the Titanic movie.

“Don’t worry about me, I am not scared of the dark.”

“I hope you are not thinking of staying overnight here!”

Hyukjae’s face lit up, “You read my mind!”

“You can’t stay here!”

“Why not? You are alone anyway, I can be your companion.”

“Hyukjae….errr…I am going out in an hour.”

“Oh…”Hyukjae uttered, surprised by Donghae’s words.

“Ok then. Why don’t you go get ready and we can leave together?” Hyukjae suggested.

“I cant-“

Ding dong. Doorbell. The doorbell. The doorbell to Donghae’s apartment. The doorbell to Donghae’s apartment is ringing.

Both of them were startled by the bell. Donghae could not hide his panic face while Hyukjae looked at Donghae’s expression for answers.

“Are you expecting any guests?” Hyukjae asked.

“Not really. Wait here.” Donghae said before rushing to the door.

He slowly opened the door and to peek. It was Siwon.

‘What do I do now? I cannot let Siwon wait at the corridor for me!’

Donghae finally decided to open the door to the smiling Siwon. “Siwon! You are too early!” Donghae whispered.

“I told you I was nervous.” Siwon whispered back.

“You! You should have at least warn me that you were going to be super early!” He was still whispering.

“Why are we whispering? Who is inside?” Siwon asked while forcing his way through the door and into the apartment.

‘Why do these people know where I live?’ Donghae cursed.

“Hyukjae? What are you doing here?” Siwon asked as soon as he saw Hyukjae in the living room.

“Siwon?” Hyukjae as just as surprised to see Siwon. “Just watching movies I guess, what are YOU doing here?”

“Picking Donghae up.”

“Pick him up?”

“Yup we have a double date for dinner later.”

‘Siwon, you big mouth. You just got to tell him everything!’ Donghae cursed to himself. He was too frozen to say or do anything.

Hyukjae stood up from the sofa. His expression evidently shocked, he turned to Donghae who was still standing at the door of the apartment.

“YOU have a date? With a girl?” Hyukjae asked Donghae, looking straight at him.

“Errr….its a long story…I was going to tell you………..” Donghae stopped because he did not know how to explain.

Hyukjae looked down to the floor, looking like he was in a deep thought. He breathed out loudly. “Its ok, then I really better get going then.”

Hyukjae grabbed his bag and started walking to the door. Donghae’s hand was still stuck to the door knob.

“Hyukjae ah…I ….. you see…”

Hyukjae placed his right hand onto Donghae’s left arm and squeezed it lightly.

“Its ok. I understand. See you Monday.” He smiled weakly.

That dissapointed look as he left. Donghae felt his heart sank.

“What have I done?” Donghae muttered to himself.