Ok first off, I am so sorry about the dely of the chapter. Alot was happening at work and I just didn't have the time write. But finally I was able to sit down and finish. Second there's gonna be an inconsistency right off the bat because like I said before, I'm wrting this as I go and since it snowed the other day here in Korea I got a spark of inspiration and so yeah here's the new chapter, ignore the last line of chapter 5 hehe.

Enjoy!

And with that Jiyong got up, leaving Seunghyun in stunned silence.

That was the last time he saw the boy until the next summer.

At least that's what he thought.

It was the 22nd of December and Seunghyun was working a shift at the hardware store when he felt his phone vibrate. Looking out to the vacant parking lot he saw the wind blow the barren tree branches and he knew that it wouldn't blow in more customers. Pulling out his phone he saw a message from Liam.

Where have you been? It's been like a good 2 weeks since I saw you.

He sighed into the empty store and exited out of the message, leaving it to join the other dozens of messages left by his friends over the last couple months. He'll admit it. He's been avoiding them. He's been avoiding everyone really. But ever since the summer, he just doesn't know what to feel anymore. It feels as though a huge gaping hole is in the middle of his chest and no matter what he tries to put into it, it never seems to be enough. And after a certain point he gave up trying to fill the void and instead let it overcome him, and he drifted into this nothingness.

Nothing seems to interest him. Nothing makes him happy, nothing makes him sad. Nothing makes him excited. He's just nothing.

He just continues going through the motions of life on autopilot. School. Study. Eat. Work. Sleep. And then repeat.

After the night Jiyong left him, he felt like his world had frozen. He was in a state of shock and nothing made sense. He was confused, pissed off, but most of all he was heart broken. It had taken him so long to finally come to the conclusion that he had feelings for the younger boy and when he had reached for the boy, he left him grasping at air. He had laid himself out there, his emotions for the boy to see but when he walked away from him, he was left cold, alone and in pain.

The weeks right after it happened, he stayed home and only went to school. He didn't talk to anyone except for the basic necessity and would lock himself in his room for the rest of the time. His parents thought he was sick and tried to force him to go to the doctor several times, and just to get them to off his back, Seunghyun decided he would try and start working at the hardware store again instead of it just being a summer job.

It was a nice distraction... for a while, but he soon realized that being at the store gave him plenty of time to let his mind dwell on thoughts that he had been avoiding. If he had been at home, he could have drowned himself in homework or books, really anything to take his mind off of Jiyong. But at the store, business was going at a snail’s pace and there were only so many ways you could rearrange the displays by the registers. So as he played with a small wooden bear keychain he let his mind drift to the only thing that it seems to think about; Jiyong.

The first month after the boy had left, Seunghyun was heartbroken. The second month he was confused and contemplated about whether or not he really was attracted to the boy. The third month he was starting to become angry and spiteful towards the boy, thinking that he had just been playing with his emotions. But now as it’s the middle of the fourth month, Seunghyun's accepted that he likes Jiyong as more than a friend and there's no use in trying to deny it or to change his feelings.

He thinks that maybe if he lets his heart and mind settle, the feeling will just blend into the back of his mind, becoming white noise that never goes away. Maybe it will become louder as it gets closer to summer, but he has a good 5 months before that happens.

5:30 rolls around and Mr. Thompson comes up from the back office, letting out a yawn. "Hey Seunghyun... you can go home early if you want. It's been dead for a good hour or so."

Seunghyun perks up. "Really? Are you sure?"

"Yeah go ahead. I'll count the drawer and close up."

"O-okay... goodnight sir," Seunghyun said as put the keychain back and took off his uniform vest, tucking it under the counter.

He was halfway down the road he felt his phone vibrate again. Thinking it was Liam yelling at him for not replying he decided to ignore it, but it kept on vibrating and so he fished it out of his pocket and saw that his mom was calling.

"Hello?"

"Oh good, you picked up. Are you off work yet?"

"Yeah Mr. Thompson let me go early, why?"

"Well Mrs. Lee just called asking what we were bringing over for dinner tonight and I completely forgot to buy more seasoning for the vegetables that I promised I'd bring. Could you stop by the store and pick some up? You know which kind, right?"

Seunghyun was a little confused and he voiced it. "Umm mom... what are you even talking about? Why are we eating over at the Lee's?"

"Seunghyun! I told you at least half a dozen times this past week! The rest of the Lee's family are coming into town for Christmas and they invited us over as sort of a big welcome party."

It was a good thing that he lived in a small town because as soon as the words of his mother registered in his head, he slammed on the brakes and stopped in the middle of the road knowing that no cars were in his vicinity for a good couple miles.

"Wait what? The entire family is coming together? Even Jiyong and his family?"

"Yes Seunghyun, I told you the other day and you even nodded in response. I swear, what is going through you head lately?"

His mind was on overload and it was a wonder that he didn't drop the phone from his hands.

Jiyong was coming into town. Jiyong was in town. He's here and I will see him tonight.

His breathing started to come out heavily, his heart was racing and he shut his eyes trying to calm himself down.

"Seunghyun are you there?" His mother's voice called him out of his oncoming panic attack.

"Yeah mom I'm here. I'll stop and pick up what you need. When does this dinner start again?"

"At 7 dear. Mrs. Lee said that one of their sons families were caught in traffic outside of Nashville so their holding off until they get here."

An hour and a half... an hour and a half until he comes face to face with the boy that he has been thinking about nonstop for 4 months now. He was not ready for this.

"O-oh... ok. I'll be home soon."

"Ok then. Have a safe drive, the weather seems to be getting colder. We might even get some flurries tonight."

"Ok mom, I will. See you soon."

He hung up the phone and threw his head back to lean up against the headrest.

"..." he sighed.

He thought he would have months to prepare for this moment, not less than 2 hours. He wasn't ready. And nor did he think he ever will be.

Not wanting to face the wrath of his mother he rubbed his hands over his face trying to clear his mind enough to start driving again.

He made it home by 6:05 and his mother gave his a peculiar look as he handed her the newly bought seasoning.

"Honey are you feeling alright?" she asked as she lifted her hand up to feel his forehead.

If it was any other day he would have batted it away and said he was fine but his mind was still reeling from the bomb of information she had dropped earlier.

"Yeah... I just had to move a lot today at work so I'm a little tired," he lied.

"Okay, well why don't you go take a nice warm shower and cleanup for dinner. I'll add the seasoning and then the vegetable should be done in 45 minutes." She patted his cheek and for a second he leaned into the comforting feeling but then nodded and went upstairs to do as his mother suggested.

The shower helped. At least as much as it could, but the constant battle waging in Seunghyun's mind did little to assist in his “calming down”. Eventually he got out and got dressed, throwing on a pair of black jeans and a white and grey sweater. Only when he had the sweater on, did he realize that it was slightly too tight but he was too lazy and fed up with himself to change.

His mother called about 10 minutes later and the family walked out into the cold December air to the Lee’s house. His father grabbed the side door and pulled it opened after he knocked and some yelled from inside to come in. Seunghyun carried the tray of freshly roasted potatoes, carrots and onions that his mom made and the smell was making his stomach grumble. Apparently he was so focused on Jiyong that he didn’t realize how hungry he was.

One of Mrs. Lee’s daughters came up and took the tray out of his hand as she greeted him and his family. Seunghyun had never seen the kitchen so full before. There were at least 3 different pots on the stove cooking, probably something in the oven, a few dishes on the table and about 6 people moving about trying to finish everything off. Well 9 people now including his family and him.

Hearing a squeal of a small girl from somewhere in the house followed by a bunch giggles, Seunghyun turned to see a girl that looked to be about 5 years old running into the kitchen and throwing herself up against one of the other women.

“Mommy! Hide me, a big scary dragon is gonna eat me!”

“Rrrraaaaawwwww!”

Seunghyun watched as Jiyong walked into the kitchen with his arms up and hands made to look like claws and stomped his way over to where the girl was hiding. The girls’ mother smiled at Jiyong and said, “Jiyong thank you for playing with her while we cook, but could you take it out to the living room it’s too crowded. Oh and say hello to our guests.”

It hurt. It really hurt to watch as Jiyong looked up and took notice of him for the first time only to see the smile fade from his face as he saw who it was. Seunghyun froze and all of a sudden he didn’t feel like eating anymore. His stomach twisted as he watched Jiyong lower his hands and shove them in his pockets.

“Your aunt told you to say hello. Now don’t be rude!” Mrs. Lee yelled at the teen who very quickly he greeted Seunghyun’s mom and dad, but avoided eye contact with him altogether. He then grabbed the little girls arm and rushed out of the kitchen, leaving everyone else to stand around awkwardly.

Mrs. Lee turned to him after a few seconds and asked, “What’s the matter with him?”

Before Seunghyun could process what had just happened, Jiyong’s mother spoke up, “Oh don’t mind him. He’s just going through some weird phase. Even on the drive up he was acting strange.” She then turned to Seunghyun and his family and said, “Why don’t you all go join everyone else in the living room. Dinner should be done here in a minute.”

Seunghyun’s father pushed him to move forward and said, “Thank you, we’ll get out of your hair and let you finish.” They all shuffled into the living room and saw they rest of the Lee family. When his family walked in one of Jiyong’s uncles looked up and smiled as he welcomed them. Seunghyun recognized many of the faces, some of the aunts and uncles of Jiyong, as well as his cousins because his family and the Lee’s family have been friends since before he was adopted and seeing the familiar faces made this feel like a family reunion for both his and Jiyong’s family. Jiyong’s uncle motioned for them to sit on the couch; Seunghyun took the end seat so he could avoid conversation as much as possible. Also because it was close to where Jiyong and his little cousin were playing on the floor by the fire place.

Like always everyone made small talk for a few minutes, catching up on each other’s lives, but Seunghyun let the chatter become background noise as he watched Jiyong. They paid no attention to him, either because he was avoiding him (most likely) or because he was too enamored with his younger cousin (she was really adorable). But whatever the reason, Seunghyun was just glad to see his friend again no matter what, especially when he would smile as he played with the little one. He watched as Jiyong stole something from the girl, who at first didn’t notice, and hid whatever it was behind his back. When the girl noticed, she stood up; her height matching Jiyongs' while he sat and she proceed to yell at him. He feigned innocence but the girl wouldn’t buy it and she threw herself on to him, knocking them to the floor.

Both of them giggled and it made Seunghyun’s ears tingle at the sound. The girl started tickling Jiyong and his laughter filled the room. Finally the girl got back the figurine that Jiyong had taken hostage and stood back up. The boy took a moment to steady his breathing and opened his eyes only to see that he was being watched.

Any other time Seunghyun probably would have looked away, embarrassed at getting caught, but he wasn’t this time. He was glad to finally have the boys attention. But fate didn’t think it was the right timing because before both of them could say anything, Mrs. Lee came into the living room and announced that dinner was ready.

To say that dinner was awkward... well that was completely true. Seunghyun had taken his seat first, before Jiyong did, at the foldable table that they had added to the end of the dining room table to make more seats available. Before Jiyong could avoid him even more, most of the other family members took the seats at the main part of the table, leaving Jiyong forced to sit at the same table as Seunghyun. Of course he left a seat in between him and the older boy, which Jiyong's older sister took notice and wedged her way in between them.

As she took her napkin off the plate in front of her and spread it across her lap, she leaned towards Seunghyun and whispered, "What's going on with you and Jiyong."

He stiffened because he was almost positive that Dami had spoken loud enough for Jiyong to hear as well. He could feel her stare and his cheeks started to turn pink. Leaning closer and lowering her voice she spoke again. "He's avoiding you like the plague. Usually he's like your freaking shadow he's so attached to you. What happened? What did you do?"

The way she said it wasn't in an accusatory tone, he could tell she was genuinely curious about what had happened. Which was still strange to begin with because they barely ever had conversations with each other, but not wanting to have two Kwons pissed off at him he quietly said, "I honestly don't know. You should be asking him."

And of course, being the not so subtle person that Dami is, she whipped her head in her brothers direction. Seunghyun heard that they didn't say anything but he soon saw Jiyong leaning forward to glare at him as he hissed out, "What did you say to her."

Not really wanting to deal with this situation on an empty stomach he replied, "Hello Jiyong, nice to see you again." And then grabbed his plate and began filling it with whatever food was in front of him. Halfway through dinner, their end of the table was basically in complete silence except when one of the other family members asked him, Jiyong or Dami a question. Seunghyun had finished eating his baked ham and was now pushing his peas and carrots into his mashed potatoes like the 5 year old he felt like at the moment.

"Well this is just awkward..." Dami interjected into the silence.

Seunghyun heard Jiyong's fork that had been scraping across his pate, suddenly stop. The younger boy set down the silver utensil and from the corner of Seunghyun's eye he could see that Jiyong was about to stand up. But he decided that it was his turn to do the leaving. His chairs legs scraped across the hardwood floors and some of the other family members looked up at the sudden movement.

Seunghyun quickly throughout an apology for being loud and gathered his plate, clearing his seat, and walked his dirty dishes into the kitchen. At first he thought he was being rude because he was the only one that had gotten up, but soon after a couple other people followed suit and started bringing in their dirty dishes as well, letting them pile up in the sink.

Everyone eventually retired back to the living room to let the food settle from dinner and enjoy the warmth of the fireplace. But this time he made a point to sit as far away from Jiyong as possible. He didn't feel like playing this... whatever it was, game.

Some of Jiyong's aunts came and sat by him and his family, again with the whole catching up thing. He played his part of the charming Seunghyun but he was getting to the point where he just wanted to go up to the loft and crawl into a ball and ignore the world. Because obviously "it" was ignoring him, or rather “he”.

But after a while Mr. Lee noticed that the fire was dwindling and said that he would run out to the back and get some more firewood. Seunghyun's mother heard him and proceed to elbow her son in the ribs as she said that he should go get the firewood for the older man. Being the southern gentleman that he was, he stood up and offered to do it instead.

He was halfway out the living room when he heard Dami's voice speak up and say rather loudly, "Jiyong, why don't you help him?" She had meant for everyone to hear it but she played it off as if Jiyong was supposed to be the only one who should have heard her.

Seunghyun his heel and watched as Jiyong did and internal debate on whether or not he should really help him, but everyone else in the living room now had their eyes on the younger boy and finally Jiyong lowered his head in defeat. He stood up and slowly made his way in the direction of Seunghyun and passed by saying, "Come on, I'll help you get the firewood."

Seunghyun watched as Jiyong walked passed him with his hands stuffed into his jeans. It seemed like that is becoming his go to pose in order to avoid any form of communication. He was coming up to the last of his patience with the boy, but nevertheless he found himself following Jiyong out the side door. However instead of just walking behind him, he decided to push past the boy which caused their shoulders to knock together as he made his way into the cold December air.

His mother had been right earlier about the chance of flurries tonight. He saw small bundles of ice falling from the sky as they passed through the beam of light being projected from the flood lights on the side of the house. Opening the door to the Lee’s shed; Seunghyun found the firewood piled up in the back corner. A few seconds later he heard the scruff of Jiyong’s boots on the threshold of the shed and instead of talking he grabbed a piece of wood, and rather harshly, handed it to the boy.

“Dude, what is your problem?” Jiyong asked as he rubbed his stomach where the block of wood slammed up against it.

Seunghyun turned around so fast that for a second he thought he gave himself whiplash.

“What is my problem? Really? What the hell is your problem?”

Jiyong looked startled at his sudden outburst and lowered his eyes while he mumbled, “Sorry…”

“Sorry for what? Sorry for treating me like ?  Or sorry for ignoring me all night long?”

“I… I just…”, Jiyong let the piece of wood fall from his fingers as he sunk down and sat on a box head in his hands.

“Just what?”

The boy released a sigh and then finally looked up to Seunghyun.

“I just thought it would be what you wanted. After everything that happened over the summer, I thought that maybe, now that some time has passed, you realized that it was all a mistake. That you were just confused.”

“Well if you had actually spoken to me, I would have told you that none of that’s true. When my mom told me you were in town I was really looking forward to seeing you again. And I don’t know, maybe trying to pick up where we left off. But right now, after the way you treated me, I’m just pissed,” Seunghyun said in a harsher tone than he meant to. He quickly turned back to gathering firewood and was out of the shed before the Jiyong could respond. He was tired, cold, and angry and didn’t feel like talking about this at the moment.

As he walked back to the house he in a deep breath that burned his throat. It was a welcomed feeling, something, anything that would distract the hurt in his heart from what the boy had said because it hurt to think that Jiyong had taken his feelings so lightly. That he would’ve changed his mind so easily.

Hearing a couple pieces of wood fall behind him in the distance, probably from Jiyong trying to carry too many, he decided to make his way back into the house before the boy had a chance to catch up with him.

Walking into the chatter filled living room, Seunghyun padded over to the fire place and deposited the blocks of wood that he had carried. Quickly he grabbed the fire poker and made sure that they settled in the glowing flames which were already scorch marks on the new wood as they hissed and popped from the heat. The heat was a welcome change from previous bitter cold that he had just come in from but even though the warmth seeped into his clothes it wasn't able to make its way through the cold bitterness that was growing fast in his heart from the boy that he had left out in the cold. He just couldn’t understand why Jiyong didn’t try to at least talk to him before he decided what he was feeling. No he had to go and decide his feeling for him.

Almost as if he had summoned him by just thinking of him, Jiyong had finally made his way into the house and kneeled beside Seunghyun, setting down his own batch of firewood to be used for later.

"Seunghyun can we-"

He didn't let the boy finish, instead he turned and walked towards his parents, giving them a half assed excuse about not feeling well and asked if he could go home. Looking a little bewildered, his mother darted her eyes towards the fireplace where he had just come from and saw Jiyong looking in their direction with hurt in his eyes.

"Honey, is everything ok with-"

"Mom," Seunghyun dropped his gaze to his feet and let his shoulders sag. "I just really want to go home right now..."

She reached out and patted him on the thigh as she answered, "Alright hon, just say your thanks to the Lee's and tell them you'll see them later before you leave, okay?"

Nodding in agreement he silently went over to the Lee's and did what his mother asked of him. However the entire time he could feel a certain pair of eyes on him and he dared not look in that direction.  Walking over to his mother one final time, he kissed her on the temple saying goodbye and then made his way back out to the cold.

The next day he was in the middle of getting ready to go into work when his father called him from somewhere down stairs.

"Seunghyun, Mr. Thompson is on the phone."

Tugging the remaining part of his shirt on, he ran downstairs and took the phone out of his father’s hand as he brought up the receiver to his ear. "Hello Mr. Thompson, is something the matter?"

"Oh no son, it’s just that last night there was more snow than we expected and the roads are pretty slick so I decided that we're not gonna open today. Plus I don't want your mother to kill me if something were happen to you while you're drivin to the shop."

"Oh... alright sir. Thank you."

"No problem. Stay safe."

"You too sir."

Setting down the receiver he looked back to his father who had been watching him from the kitchen counter as he poured what was probably his third cup of coffee.

"So what was that about?"

"He was just saying how the roads are iced so he decided not to open the store today."

"Smart man. I'd hate to see what your mother would have done if something happened to you."

Seunghyun let out a small chuckle, "He said the exact same thing."

"I knew there was a reason he and I got along, we're both scared of you mother."

They both erupted into laughter.

"Who’s scared of me?" His mother's voice broke through their cackles, sobering them up rather quickly.

"Everyone," Seunghyun mumbled out and before his mother could smack him he darted out of the kitchen and back up to his room, but before shutting his door he yelled back down to her, "But I still love you."

Once the click of the door knob sounded he let out a small huff of laughter, but then soon came to the realization that he had nothing to do for the rest of the day. It felt weird, it was a first for him in a long while because up until now he was either busy with school or work but now he didn’t have either to distract his mind. Sighing in his room he picked up a forgotten book on his nightstand and fell onto his bed as he tried to find where he had left off in the story.

Next door…

“Jiyong… Jiyooong.”

He felt his sister’s breath ghost over the shell of his ear as she antagonized him. She poked his side making him twitch a little and scoot over trying to avoid further distraction. But he didn’t really know what he was focusing on in order to warrant the ceasing of his sisters pesky musings. His head rested in his hands as he stared off into the empty space of the small room noticing the clothing already popping out of Dami’s suitcase in the corner. They hadn’t even been in the house a day and she was already making a mess of things.

“Jiiiiii….” she whined again in his ear.

“What?” he asked, and even to his own ears he sounded fed up.

“I’m bored.”

“Well why don’t you go upstairs and watch TV or something?”

“Because Uncle Anthony is hogging it. And plus if I go upstairs mom will make me sit in the kitchen and listen to grandma drone on about the latest gossip in town.”

“Then go hang out with cousin Jenny.”

“She got a new boyfriend and all she does is talk to him on the phone.”

“Well at least someone in this family is capable of getting a boyfriend,” he mumbled.

“What was that?” Dami asked rather loudly as she pushed him and he rolled onto his side facing her.

“Nothing Dami… just leave me alone,” he grumbled

“No I heard something about a boyfriend. Ji is this why you're so depressed on this trip, because you like someone and you miss them?”

He looked up to his sister and saw a hint of excitement and curiosity in her eyes. He was always close with his sister, they could talk about anything and everything. She was even the first person he told about how he liked guys. He always told her if he liked someone but that was before this summer had happened. When he came home he didn’t tell her about the things that happened between him and Seunghyun but he knew that she knew something had happened. And that was one thing he liked about his sister, she never really truly pushed him to talk about something if he didn’t want to talk about it.

However that seemed to be quickly fading due to her boredom at the moment. And apparently he had taken too long to respond to the question his sister asked because next thing he knew she was beating him up in a playful manner. “Ji! Why didn’t you tell me? Who is he? Does he go to your school? Tell me everything!”

He grabbed the closest pillow and shoved it over his face letting out a loud groan of frustration.

“Nope I’m not letting you get of it this time, Ji. Tell me all about it,” she insisted and she tried to peel the cushion away from his face.

Their eyes met and after a quick internal debate with himself he relented, deciding that he could talk to her about what was going on but would never really tell her that the person he liked was the boy who currently lived next door.

So tiptoeing around the truth as much as possible he told her the story about how he liked a close friend and how he didn’t think that his friend would ever see him like that. But then one day his friend confessed and he was stupid enough to say that maybe it wasn’t for the best. Then he didn’t see that friend in a really long time and recently they ran into each other, but he didn’t really talk to his friend when they saw each other. His friend was pissed at how he was treating him but then he explained how he thought that it was what his friend would want. However, despite all that, his friend confessed that his feelings hadn’t changed.

When he was done with his story he looked up to see Dami’s reaction and the last thing he expected was for her to be smiling from ear to ear.

“What? Why are you looking at me like that?”

She realized that she was smiling and tried her best to compose herself. “I knew it.”

His heart skipped a beat and he sat up to better look at his sister. “Knew what?”

“Oh come on how could I not, Ji it was so obvious.”

He was starting to panic a little and the glint in her eye was really starting to scare him. “Dami what are you talking about?”

“Ji, really… I knew you liked Seunghyun.”

“WHAT? How did you know I was talking about him?”

“Anyone with eyes could tell from the way you looked at him yesterday. And I already had my suspicions from when you came back from the summer, because every time someone asked how your summer was or how Seunghyun was you sorta, I don’t know, you sorta, made a face or tried changing the topic.”

Lowering his eyes, he threaded his fingers through the holes in the crocheted afghan blanket that his grandmother had made.

“Just like that, you always avoid the topic of Seunghyun.”

“Then what am I supposed to do? He hates me right now.”

“You still like him right? And he said that he still likes you too so why don’t you, oh I don’t know, talk to him. I’m sure if you do things will work out.”

“You really think so?”

“I don’t know him that well but while you weren’t making googly eyes at him last night, he sure was making them towards you.”

“Dami!”

“Well it’s true. He kept stealing glances all night long. Just talk to him.” She moved across the bed and began pushing him off the bed.

“Not right now!”

“Why not?”

“ ‘Cause he’s probably at work.”

“Fine then,” she stopped nudging him but then laid back down on her side and said, “well then since we don’t have anything to do then you should tell me all about this summer.”

He threw her a look that he hoped would seem like that was the last thing he wanted to do but then acting like a middle schooler she threatened, “If you don’t then I’m running upstairs and telling everyone that you’re crushing on the boy next door.” And she even made a motion of getting up off the bed. But Jiyong pulled her down. “Alright! Alright… what do you want to know?”

“Just start from the beginning,” she said as she pulled a pillow under her chin and settled in for story time. He chuckled and then fell onto his back. If he was going to do this, he didn’t want to face her; it was already embarrassing enough.

*

It was around 9 p.m. and most of the family was in the living room in the middle of their Christmas movie night when there was a knock at the door. Jiyong’s father was the closest to the door so he proceeded to open it and see who the visitor was.

“Oh James,” Jiyong looked to the front door to see that Seunghyun’s father was standing in the door way. “Is there something I can help you with?”

“Not really, I was just looking for Seunghyun,” The older man peeked into the room and caught Jiyong’s eye. “Jiyong have you seen Seunghyun around?” Not wanting to disturb the rest of his family members as they watched Scrooge come to the realization that everything was a dream, he quietly walked to the front door to speak with Mr. Cook. They stepped outside into the cold night and the older man continued, “He said he was going out with friends earlier this afternoon around 1 p.m. and said he’d be back in time for dinner, but he still hasn’t showed.”

“Sorry… I haven’t seen him since yesterday at dinner.” Jiyong admitted but noticed that Mr. Cook had a panicked looked on his face. “Is everything alright sir?”

“No, I’m sure it’s nothing. He probably just lost track of time or something.”

“James!” Jiyong and Seunghyun’s father both turned at the sudden shout that came over from the Cooks’ front porch and saw Mrs. Cook holding onto a cordless phone. “I just called Liam’s house and he said that Seunghyun left about 2 hours ago.”

Jiyong heard Seunghyun’s father curse under his breath but he didn’t understand really what this situation was adding up to. “Sir is something going on?”

Mr. Cook ran his hands through his hair. “It’s just that with the snowfall from last night and today the roads are iced.”

Jiyong’s stomach dropped at that information. A thousand things ran through his mind and pictures flashed past his eyes as he put two and two together. Is Seunghyun alright? What if he had an accident? What if he’s in a ditch somewhere and can’t get out? Maybe he’s hurt and in pain. What if he never gets to see him again? Panic quickly over took him and he suddenly felt lightheaded.

“Sorry to bother you and your family, Jiyong. I’m going to go see if I can drive around and find out where he is.”

“Do you need help? I can come with you?”

“No it’s alright.”

Mr. Cook was about to turn away when Jiyong asked, “Did you try his cell phone?”

“Yeah but he’s not picking that up either.” Again Jiyong’s stomach dropped. “But that’s nothing new. He always forgets to charge that stupid thing.”

“Oh…”

“I’m sure he’s ok,” Mr. Cook tried to reassure him. “I’ll let you know when he comes home.”

Jiyong nodded and watched as the older man walked back over to his house and immediately jumped into his truck.

It was past midnight when Jiyong saw headlights light the road from down the street. Ever since Mr. Cook had left to go find Seunghyun he had been in such a constant panic that all he could do was sit on the porch and wait for the man and his friend to return home safely. He didn’t care if it had dropped below freezing temperatures and the fact that he couldn’t feel his fingers. He just knew that he had to know that Seunghyun was safe. He had probably made a trail in the tacky astroturf that covered the floor of his grandparents porch from all his pacing back and forth. But as soon as he saw those light he stopped in his tracks and held his breath. Because it wasn’t just one truck that pulled up into the Cooks’ drive way, it was two. Watching as the flood lights came on he saw Mr. Cook get out of his truck and the seconds later he saw Seunghyun climbing out of his.

Before he knew it, Jiyong had opened the screen door and was running across the yard towards Seunghyun and threw himself up against the older boy.

“Whoa!” Seunghyun exclaimed as he felt slim arms wrap themselves around his waist and squeezed as hard they could. “Jiyong?”

“I am so glad to see you,” he heard the boy mumble against his stomach. He thought his heart was going to stop. He couldn’t believe that Jiyong was in his arms right now, let alone that the boy was the one to initiate the contact.

Seunghyun heard his father chuckle and say, “I guess he was waiting.”

Jiyong, who was still buried in Seunghyun’s chest simply nodded and Seunghyun’s stomach did a flip. Jiyong was waiting for me? Jiyong was worried about me?

Mr. Cook reached up and patted the younger boy on the head as he said, “I’m sorry I made you worry. But Seunghyun’s fine now, as you can see.”

Seunghyun brought his hands up to Jiyong’s shoulders and pulled the boy away from him so he could get a better look. What he wasn’t expecting was red-rimmed eyes as they fought back the tears that were slowly pooling in the corners of his eyes. “Jiyong, it’s ok. I’m fine. I’m here,” he tried to console the boy, but it only made him rest his head back onto his chest. Seunghyun felt Jiyong shudder while he took a shaky breath and grumbled, “I thought… I thought you might have…” He didn’t hear Jiyong finish his sentence; instead he felt the boys’ grip tighten.

“Ji, I can’t breathe.”

“Oh god! I’m sorry!” Jiyong said as he quickly withdrew himself from Seunghyun. He noticed that the boy brought his hands up and quietly wiped the wetness from his eyes with the back of his hand.

“Seunghyun go on in and see your mother real fast, she’s in a panic, and then you can come back out and talk to Jiyong, alright.”

Seunghyun nodded and looked to Jiyong to see if he heard. He did and before he went inside he said, “Give a few minutes and then meet me in the loft.”

“Ok.”

“But put on something warmer, your freezing.” Seunghyun turned to see that his father had already gone inside and ever so quickly, he brought his hand up to cup Jiyong’s face, brushing his thumb across the apple of his pink cheek. He didn’t say anything, they just took each other in and then he pulled himself away from the boy to make his way back inside.

After what seemed like forever, trying to calm done his mother and tell her what had happened, he ran up to his room, quickly changed into something warmer, grabbed a blanket and was out the front door making his way to the barn where Jiyong was waiting. He looked up and saw that the light was on and suddenly Seunghyun felt like his heart was in his throat. He was excited and nervous at seeing the boy again, just like he felt the previous night, but this time he knew for a fact that Jiyong was waiting to see him as well. Taking the steps two at a time, Seunghyun ran up and saw Jiyong sitting on the futon, already wrapped up in a blanket. However as soon as the boy laid eyes on him, he jumped up and ran towards him.

Time seemed to slow down for Seunghyun as he watched the boy make his way towards him because he noticed something different about the boys eyes and once he realized what it was, it was too late. Jiyong had reached up and grabbed Seunghyun’s face, bringing it down to him as he pressed their lips together. Seunghyun felt like his body was going to spontaneously combust. From Jiyong’s fingertips on his face to Jiyong’s lips on his, every point that they were connected felt like fire. And before he could think twice, he brought his hands up to the boy’s waist and pulled him closer as he deepened their kiss.

Jiyong sighed and slowly pulled away, breathing in some much needed oxygen into his lungs as he whispered, “God I’ve wanted to do that for so long.”

Seunghyun chuckled, “I’ve wanted you to do that for so long.”

He watched as Jiyong cheeks went from pink from the cold to red from embarrassment. The boys’ eyes darted a couple different places before finally coming to a rest on the middle of Seunghyun’s chest as he mumbled out, “I am so sorry about everything. I’m stupid. And horrible. But when your father came over today and said that you were missing, all I could think about was what if something happened to you and you never knew how I felt.” Jiyong finished by letting out another sigh as he rested his forehead against Seunghyun’s sternum.

Seunghyun let the boy know he understood by pulling him closer and tighter in his grasp as he said, “I was fine. A little cold but that was about it.”

“What happened?”

“Well I was driving home from Liam’s house and I hit some black ice on the road and my truck skidded off into a ditch.” He heard Jiyong gasp and he moved his hand to smooth down the boys hair as he continued, “It was my back wheels that went into the ditch and it wasn’t really that shallow.”

“But you’re ok, right?”

“My back bumper has a slight dent and I my neck hurts a bit, probably from whiplash, but that’s about it.”

“Then what took so long?” It warmed Seunghyun’s heart to see how worried the boy was for him and this time he decided to show him how much he appreciated it. Leaning down he captured Jiyong lips into another kiss, this one shorter but still full of all the feelings that he had been keeping bottled up since summer. It seemed like now they had officially cross the line of friendship, he couldn’t help himself when the boy was in his arms.

It was Jiyong’s turn to in a breath and Seunghyun smiled at the sound with their lips still pressed against each other’s. When he pulled back he said, “Well I tried walking to the nearest house, but you know how it goes when you’re on a back road; the nearest house could be a mile away. And it turns out that I had chosen the longer direction to start walking because the closest house was like, 2 miles away. But finally I got there and the nice couple let me use their phone. I called my dad who was already out looking for me and I told him where I was. He picked me up and then we spent a great deal of time tryin to get my truck out of the ditch. You know, ‘cause it’s so easy to do that in the dark and the freezing cold.”

Jiyong laughed and Seunghyun could feel the vibrations seeping into his own body. It was such an amazing feeling to finally be able hold the boy in his arms and he thought that Jiyong was thinking the same way because they stood there for who knows how long, just happy to be in each presence.

A shiver went down Jiyong spine and Seunghyun pressed his palm against Jiyong’s cheek again. “Ji, you’re freezing. How long were you waiting outside?”

A nervous chuckle escaped the younger boy as he confessed, “Well your dad left the house around 9, so….”

“You were sitting outside for 3 hours?” Seunghyun exclaimed.

Jiyong pulled back and stuck out his bottom lip in a slight pout. “I wanted to make sure you were ok and that you made it home safe.”

Seeing the protruding lip of the boy, Seunghyun let a loud laughter escape him as he pulled Jiyong in for another rib-crushing hug.

“I so glad you’re here…” Seunghyun confessed after a few minutes of silence.

“Me too,” Jiyong whispered as another chill ran down his spine.

Seunghyun parted from the boy and leaned down to pick up the blanket he had dropped when Jiyong kissed him and proceeded to wrap it around the boys’ shoulders.

“Well it’s getting late. We should go to bed.” Seunghyun said even though his heart wasn’t agreeing with what his mouth was saying.”

“But…” Jiyong said as he clutched the sleeve of Seunghyun sweater.

Seunghyun stared at Jiyong for a minute, thinking about how he too didn’t want to part from the boy. And then he made a quick decision. “Do you wanna come over and spend the night?”

“Really?” Jiyong whipped his head up to look at him and he silently nodded. “Okay…” the boy replied as a smile broke out across his face.

Before he could take the chance that Jiyong would change his mind, Seunghyun grabbed his hand, making sure to thread their fingers together, and pulled him down the stairs.

They quietly made it into his house and upstairs to his room; hands still entwined. Seunghyun shut his door and immediately pulled Jiyong into a kiss, this time letting his tongue brush against the boys’ lower lip. He felt him shudder and smile into the kiss but he pulled away before things could go further. Seunghyun let out a small whine that he didn’t even know he could make and he felt heat rising to his face. The things this boy could do to him and they weren’t even officially together.

Speaking of which…

Resting his hands on Jiyong’s hips he looked into his eyes and softly asked, “So what does this,” he wiggled the boy with his hands, “make us? Are we like… going out now?” he saw a few emotions flash across Jiyong’s face and after a few heart stopping seconds the boy spoke up.

“I want us to… if you want to… but….”

“But what?” Seunghyun asked as his stomach fell.

“I really really like you and I know you really really like me too, but I leave the day after Christmas and I won’t be back until summer…”

Seunghyun let the information sink in and looked up to the ceiling, letting out a sigh. “Well honestly I don’t want you to leave… ever. But if you’re up for trying something long distance, I’d be game.” He let his words settle around them as they looked at each other and then he added, “And just think… you’ll be back in a few months and then we can spend every day with each other.”

Jiyong smiled. “That sounds nice.”

“So… is that a yes?”

Jiyong twisted his mouth into a goofy face that he probably thought made him look like he was thinking really hard about it, but after 2 seconds he rested his chin on the older boys chest and looked him in the eyes as he said, “Yes”

Seunghyun picked him up in bear hug and kissed the top of his head. When he set him back down on his feet he pulled him in for another kiss and this time Jiyong let his lips part, letting Seunghyun slip his tongue into the boys mouth. Jiyong gave a quiet moan and Seunghyun felt like his heart was about to burst out of his chest. Pulling away, with the taste of Jiyong lingering on his lips, Seunghyun said, “Ok we really need to go to bed before something else happens.”

“Well someone sure does have dirty mind…”

“Hey I’m a teenage boy.”

“And now I don’t know if this is such a good idea.” Jiyong playfully said as Seunghyun started changing into his pajama pants. “Who knows, you could steal my innocence in my sleep.”

“There’s nothing innocent about you.” Seunghyun shot back.

Jiyong scoffed, “Excuse me but I am the poster boy of innocence.”

“I highly doubt that, but if you don’t trust me you can sleep on the cold floor.” Seunghyun was having too much fun bantering with Jiyong. It felt great to have his best friend back.

“Fine, but hands to yourself,” he said as he walked towards the bed and slipped under the covers next to Seunghyun.

“Well I don’t know about that,” he said and wrapped his arms around Jiyong waist, pulling him up against his body, wanting to share his warmth. Jiyong smacked him halfheartedly. “Alright fine, my hands won’t go anywhere you don’t want…”

“You think you’re sneaky don’t you?” Jiyong whispered.

“I try.”

Jiyong chuckled but relented and let himself be encompassed in the older boys arms, finally defrosting from spending hours in the cold.

The next morning, Jiyong was the first to wake. Slowly he opened his eyes but then quickly clenched them shut. He didn’t want to wake up from this dream and he thought that surely he was in a dream since he woke up to a sleeping Seunghyun next to him. Braving another chance, he cracked one eye opened and stifled a laugh as the older boys face came into focus. Seunghyun had his mouth parted with a little drool leaking onto his pillow.

Such a y face, Jiyong joked to himself. He scooted closer to take the opportunity to look at Seunghyun’s relaxed features. He saw thick eyebrows that outlined his eyes, a cute button nose and even a barely-there dusting of freckles across the bridge of his nose and going across to his cheeks. He never noticed them before but now that he had, he quickly decided that they were his new favorite feature of… his boyfriend.

He sighed at the thought and his stomach was filled with butterflies. He couldn’t believe that they had actually agreed to start this… whatever it was destined to turn into. But Jiyong was happy and he could only hope that Seunghyun was just as happy as he was. They only had a couple days together but he would try to make the best of them.

Eventually Seunghyun woke up and they found themselves sharing a few morning kisses, both boys giddy to be waking up next to one another. But Jiyong soon came to the realization that his family would be freaking out, wondering where he had gone too, so they parted, promising to see each other again later that day.

Jiyong eventually walked into his grandmother’s house and found that the family was eating a late breakfast, which everyone had stopped chewing to look up at him as he entered the dining room.

“Where have you been?” his mother asked, well more like shouted from across the table.

His smile that he didn’t even realize he had until it fell at his mother’s words, faded and he studded, “Umm… I-I was… I spent the night at Seunghyun’s.”

A clatter of a fork dropping came from further down the table and Jiyong, along with a couple other family members, looked to see Dami sitting with hanging open. She quickly composed herself and apologized then picked her fork back up and stuffed her face full of eggs. Jiyong laughed but then his mother spoke again, “Okay honey, but next time, just let us know. We were worried.”

Jiyong and Dami kept their eye on each other and without looking at his mother he quirked his eyebrow slightly and said “Sure thing mom.”

Again Dami almost choked and Jiyong laughed as he pulled a chair up across from her and joined the family for breakfast.

It was officially the best Christmas vacation, he had decided.

Just letting you all know that there is going to be one more flashback chapter where everything goes down and then I'm gonna go back to present time. Hope you guys have enjoy the road so far. ^~^