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The next day, Donghae woke up, alone. It was a cloudy morning, threatening to rain sometime in the afternoon. Donghae couldn’t help feeling that the gloomy scenery outside his bedroom window described his current feelings exactly. He stared sadly at the greying skies from his bed, sitting up and curling his hands under his knees to hug them. He dropped his head onto his knees and sobbed away quietly, the full impact of the outcome of the bet finally weighing him down tremendously. He had never felt so alone before in the twenty two years of his life. His best friend betrayed him, his father took on Eunhyuk’s side; Donghae felt like dying. He cried softly into his knees, his hands the bedsheets tightly. He didn’t want to leave his bed, his comfort zone, when he felt like everyone else was out there to get him and make his life even more miserable than it already was.

Ryeowook had gone back to his own place to sleep after their little fight yesterday. Donghae heard about Yesung nearly strangling the life out of his dongsaeng when he found out Donghae lost the stupid bet because Ryeowook had simply given in to Eunhyuk’s flirting, but he didn’t care anymore. He was disappointed in Ryeowook and himself, but sometimes he wondered if this was karma; after all he often treated his assistant like a servant, and he’d only gotten away with it because Ryeowook admired him so much and never seemed to mind submitting to him. Now that Ryeowook stood up for what he wanted and actually went for the makeover, it showed clearly to Donghae that his assistant was also capable of making decisions for himself and he shouldn’t just take him for granted. After all, he was also human, and it was only fair that he had the right to do whatever he wanted with himself. Donghae couldn’t control him like he used to anymore.

He remembered when they were five and six respectively, he would make the younger do all his bidding and he would so often use his puppy dog eyes on Ryeowook to convince the younger. It had always been like that even until adulthood, except that Ryeowook was so used to living under his shadow already, Donghae never needed to used his guilt-tripping expression anymore. But now, it was different. It was like, Ryeowook had finally realized it and had grown up a little.

“Hae dear, breakfast is ready! You should come out and eat now while it’s still hot.”

Donghae wanted to ignore his dad’s voice but he knew that if he didn’t show up in half an hour, his dad would personally come in to his room and drag him out for breakfast. It happened once or twice last time, and he didn’t want it to repeat again.

“Ten minutes,” he yelled half-heartedly. When he didn’t hear anything in reply, he slumped back against the bed and threw an arm over his eyes, sighing loudly. He didn’t think he somehow deserved to be punished so severely for treating his assistant so bad in the past.

The doorknob jiggled and turned. Hangeng popped his head in through the crack and looked at his son sprawled all over the bed.

“Son?”

Earning only a grunt in reply, Hangeng opened the door fully and stepped inside. Donghae peeked out from under his arm. “I said I’ll be there in ten minutes,” he mumbled, turning over so that his back was to Hangeng.

“I heard you the first time. I was just checking on you. I hope you’re feeling alright.”

Donghae drew in a deep breath before sitting up and facing his father with a slight frown. “I’m feeling perfectly fine for someone who just got double-crossed by two of the most important people in my life in the span of 24 hours, thank you very much. Do you mind?”

A sad look came upon his father’s face but he didn’t say anything. Instead he forced a sad smile before exiting the room. Donghae regretted for talking so harshly to his dad but he didn’t take it back. He felt really hurt and he wasn’t in the mood to apologize anyway. Grumbling to himself, he rolled off the bed and went about with his daily routine.

He was finally seated at the breakfast table exactly twenty minutes later. His father was already tending to a few early customers in the living room so Donghae ate by himself. It was probably better like that because he thought he needed time to think. He thought that perhaps he should take another look at the salon; maybe it wouldn’t be too bad after all.

He gathered up his breakfast things, grabbed his coat and hastily walked out of the shop before he could change his mind.

* * *

Eunhyuk was in the salon, along with Kyuhyun and Kangin. They were discussing something about an upcoming artist’s project that they had been all hired for in the waiting room. Papers were scattered across the expensive mahogany table, some with round coffee stains on them. The three of them had just come to a desicion when Eunhyuk looked up, and that was when he saw Donghae peeking in through the tinted glass windows.

The director raised an eyebrow at the spy and Kyuhyun, seeing the cocked brow, turned around to see what he was looking at. A smile spread across his face when he recognized the boy at the window. Donghae had red, rosy cheeks which showed against his perfectly pale complexion and Kyuhyun couldn’t help wishing that he could pinch them. He shook his head to clear himself of the mental images. What was he doing here so early in the morning anyway?

Before he knew it, Eunhyuk had already stridden over to the entrance, meaning to take Donghae by surprise. Kyuhyun narrowed his eyes and frowned at the director, however Eunhyuk told him to keep quiet. The younger just rolled his eyes and went back to discussing things with Kangin, who had also seen the boy but chose to remain oblivious to everything.

Donghae was still peering through the glass, trying to get a look at the inside. He didn’t hear Eunhyuk sneaking up behind him and nearly jumped out of his skin when the director suddenly appeared beside him, a haughty expression on his face.

“What are you doing, spying here again? Can’t wait to start your work here eh?”

Eunhyuk took a step closer towards Donghae and watched how the later took a step back, as if he was afraid of him. “You’re not afraid of me, are you?” he sniggered.

“No, I’m not afraid of you.” Donghae was trying to convince himself more than the other. He hated the man, so why should he be afraid of him?

The director chuckled darkly and then took another step forward. Donghae was soon pressed against the glass with nowhere to run. Eunh