~*~

  Kyuhyun pouted like a dog that couldn’t stick its face out of the car window. He could’ve spent his last night in Korea with Sungmin, but his parents insisted that he spend it with family, since family mattered more.

  Family never mattered more to Kyuhyun. He’s always put Sungmin first.

  “Mom, dad,” Kyuhyun broke the icy silence inside the car. “Did you get me this scholarship for me, or are you just getting me away from Sungmin.”

  Kyuhyun did not take their silence very kindly. Though if he had known the next thing that would come out of his mother’s mouth, he would’ve preferred that they kept their mouths shut.

  “We just want you to be happy.” Kyuhyun knew what that meant, and that was not good.

  “I’m happy with Sungmin.” He argued. How many times have they had their conversation? How many more times will it take until the message gets through their thick heads?

  “You’re just confused.” His father said.

  “Oh my God.” Kyuhyun felt like he had just gotten the wind blown out of him.

  What should he do with this information now? If he had known about this earlier, would he have turned it down? Would he really give up an incredibly rare scholarship for love?

  Maybe Sungmin had some answers.

  He sent him a few texts, none of which Sungmin replied to. He tried calling once they got out of the car, but he was ignored once again.

  Sungmin always answered his messages. The only times he didn’t was when he was asleep, passing through a tunnel, or was just really, really mad. Kyuhyun could make a good guess which one it was.

~*~

  “Well, tomorrow’s the big day.” Eunhyuk mused, plopping next to his mopey best friend on the couch. “I’m excited. Are you excited, Minnie?”

  “No.” Sungmin answered curtly, pressing something on his phone before shoving it back in his pocket. “I’m pissed because Kyuhyun promised he and I would spend the day before graduation together, but of course his parents would whisk him away at the last minute. Do you have any idea how infuriating that is?”

  “Someone’s using his big words.” He remarked, tilting his head back to take a sip from his beer can (technically it belonged to Heechul since it came from his refrigerator). The amber-hued drink nearly spilled on him when Sungmin abruptly snatched it away.

  “I need this more than you do.” He said before chugging down the whole can. Sungmin wasn’t sure if he was feeling lonely or just nostalgic with everything happening so fast, but when he turned to look at the younger boy next to him, he knew the alcohol was starting to kick in. “Hyukkie…”

  Eunhyuk’s eyebrows rose at the playful tone in the other’s voice. Was it him or was Sungmin using his bedroom eyes on him?

  “Remember when we used to make out?” Sungmin giggled, his fingers having made their way on Eunhyuk’s collar.

  “Uh, yeah.” He and Sungmin were no strangers to intimacy, but right now Eunhyuk was becoming a bit uncomfortable.

  “And we used to touch each other in places.” He added, his lips brushing against his neck.

  Eunhyuk himself was starting to smile at the memory. It all seemed so long ago. Everything was so different now. “Yeah. What made you think of that?”

  “I don’t know.” Sungmin nestled his head in Eunhyuk’s shoulder. “Being trapped under Heechul’s desk for almost two hours gave me a lot of time to think. I kind of miss us. And besides, after being cramped with Heechul for so long, I could use a little time away from him.”

  “You do realize I’m still here, right?” Heechul spoke up, glaring at the pair as he hugged a bowl of Doritos. The two only glanced at him briefly before going back to whatever the hell it was they were doing. “What is happening right now?”

  “Maybe after Kyuhyun leaves we can—” Eunhyuk didn’t get to complete his sentence, as he was met with a hard blow to the back of his head. Given the loud and whiny “ow!” that came from Sungmin, he figured he suffered the same impairment.

  He looked up behind him and gulped seeing his boyfriend practically blow fire out of his nostrils. Donghae was quick to squeeze himself right in between Eunhyuk and Sungmin, sending them both the dirtiest looks he had.

  Heechul chortled. “I can’t believe someone actually hit Sungmin and got away with it.”

  Sungmin felt himself shrink under Donghae’s icy glare. “He’s actually scaring me right now.”

  “, you’re just lucky Kyuhyun wasn’t here to see that.” Donghae hissed. He then turned to his boyfriend. “And as for you, you do something like that again and I swear I really will castrate you.”

  “I hate Kyuhyun for teaching you that word.” Eunhyuk griped.

  “I’m gonna go take a walk.” Sungmin stood up and grabbed his coat. “I want to be alone right now, and I mean it, so I don’t want any of you following me.”

  After he left the house, the remaining three exchanged concerned looks.

  “Whose turn is it to come after him this time?” Donghae asked.

  “I forget,” Eunhyuk said. “Let’s just decide by playing rock-paper-scissors.”

  “Never mind; I’ll go.” Heechul let out an old man grunt as he stood up, causing Eunhyuk and Donghae to snicker. “My house better still be in one piece by the time I get back, and that means no ing on any of the furniture. You got it, you two horndogs?”

  “We can only keep that promise if you’re back within ten minutes.” Eunhyuk stated. “Otherwise we will not be held responsible for any explicit content you witness.”

  Donghae responded to the strange look Heechul was giving them. “We take our very seriously.”

  Eunhyuk nodded. Heechul hauled .

~*~

  Sungmin felt a little frightened sitting in the middle of an empty playground at such an ungodly hour. Was this what life was going to be like after Kyuhyun leaves? Sad and empty and…scary?

  “For a walking stick, you can move pretty fast.” A drawl came from behind him. Sungmin sighed, annoyed.

  “I specifically asked not to be followed.” He said, not even turning to look at Heechul when he sat in the empty swing beside him. “And what did you just call me?”

  “A walking stick.” He answered. “You can’t tell me that you actually take offense to that. Girl, have you even looked in the mirror recently? You’re nothing but skin and bones and not in a good way.”

  “I promised Kyuhyun I’d start eating again.” He admitted, his voice low and guilty. “I’m really trying nowadays. But apparently gaining all that weight is just as hard as losing it.”

  “My ty metabolism tells you to go yourself.” He quickly tried to retract his statement when he realized that he and Sungmin were touching a rather sensitive topic right now. “I mean, it’s good that you’re trying. You’ll get your old body back in no time.”

  Sungmin didn’t answer. Heechul found it very unsettling how vulnerable Sungmin was letting himself be lately. But with everything going on, he didn’t blame him.

  “Hey,” he nudged him with his foot. “You okay?”

  Sungmin loudly exhaled through his nose. “No.”

  He tried again. “Are you going to be okay?”

  “No.” He said once more.

  “Is there anything I can do or—”

  “Kyuhyun’s been leaving me messages all night.” It finally came out. “I’ve been ignoring every single one of them.”

  That was a first. Heechul has never known Sungmin to ignore Kyuhyun. He thought that was next to impossible. “Why?”

  “Because…because I’m afraid he’s gonna want to say goodbye.” He admitted, his voice cracking. Heechul’s heart hurt a little. “He’s leaving tomorrow, Heechul. He’s gonna want us to exchange goodbyes, but I don’t want to. I don’t want to say goodbye to him. I can’t.”

  Heechul took a minute to gather his thoughts and come up with something remotely useful. “I don’t know what to tell you, Sungmin. I know this all hurts, I know this all , but this is Kyuhyun’s last night. Your avoiding him doesn’t make this any easier for either of you. Besides, he’s probably just calling to tell you he misses you or something. Or maybe he wants phone .”

  And of course, right on cue, Sungmin’s pocket vibrated. He took his phone out and saw Kyuhyun’s name on the screen. He looked at Heechul for last minute guidance. Heechul gave him the nod.

  Heechul almost gagged upon realizing how soft he has become ever since he became in charge of dealing with the group’s problems.

  “Hello? Hey, Kyu…sorry, honey, I’ve just been caught up in some things…yeah, I miss you too…oh, it’s nothing, Heechul’s just making me cry again…”

  Heechul emitted a squeak of offense before standing up and pushing Sungmin off the swing. Sungmin’s knees were probably scraped, but he had become too preoccupied with his growing conversation with Kyuhyun to notice.

  Heechul took a moment to appreciate the result of the wise advice he had dispensed, until he remembered that he had left two hormonal teenagers in his house. He ran like the wind as fast as he could, hoping for dear life that Eunhyuk and Donghae were able to keep it in their pants.

~*~

  Heechul got up extra early the next morning to finish packing up his office. Normally, he would have tricked some schmuck to do the work for him, but for once, Heechul wanted to take care of things himself.

  He was almost finished cleaning out his drawers when he stumbled upon the diamond ring (which he still couldn’t believe was real) that Siwon bought him. It didn’t feel right keeping it—yet at the same time he really didn’t want to let it go. Not because of the sentiment involved, but because for god’s sakes it was a real freaking diamond.

  “Heechul!” Sungmin burst in (Heechul could’ve sworn he locked that door) frantically. “Heechul, we need to talk!”

  “Sungmin, what are you doing in school so early? You’re not supposed to be here until later and oh my God, are you wearing make-up and girls’ clothes to your graduation? Jesus Christ, Sungmin, even I wasn’t crazy enough to pull that stunt at my graduation.”

  Sungmin blinked once, twice. “Are you done?”

  Heechul managed to hide the piece of jewelry in his pocket before Sungmin could spot it. “Are you here for more advice? God, you know, I should start charging you guys for this. You think it’s easy being the only sane person in this group?”

  “That’s exactly what I wanted to talk to you about.” Sungmin grabbed Heechul’s shoulders and made him sit against the edge of his empty desk. “Last night, as I lay in bed wondering how the hell I was going to make it through today, something dawned on me. For some reason, you’re always the one helping us with our , and never the other way around. It occurred to me that you have problems too, and that you need help too—”

  “I don’t need help, Sungmin. I am fine.” He insisted. Sungmin wouldn’t have any of it.

  “No, you are not. You’re in denial. You’re still in love with Siwon, and you’re trying to hide it by sleeping around and quitting your job to ‘find yourself’.” Sungmin said, poking Heechul’s chest every time he wanted to emphasize something. “I don’t know why I didn’t figure it out sooner. I mean, it’s so obvious.”

  Heechul shook his head, smirking. “You officially as a detective, Sungmin, because none of those are true. When I say I’m fine, I mean it. I really am getting over Siwon, I really do want to go find myself and FYI, I don’t care if you judge me, I enjoy sleeping around.”

  Sungmin studied him for a quick minute—he took note of his expression, his body language, the unwavering frown across his lips, everything. “Oh my God, you’re serious.”

  “Damn right I am.” He said as he dumped the rest of the contents of his drawers in a box. “I know that I was really depressed after Siwon and I split, but I’ve come to realize some things. I never actually loved him—I just loved the idea of him. Oh, and I also loved all the expensive stuff he bought me. But anyway, whatever, that Tiffany can have my leftovers. Damned if I care.”

  “For someone who just made a speech about being over his ex, you sure do sound a little bitter.” Sungmin noticed. “I know this is gonna sound very sappy, but you can’t go through the rest of your life without loving someone. You’ve got to settle down sometime.”

  “But I do love someone. I love myself.” He revealed proudly, making Sungmin frown. “And that’s why I can never settle down with anyone, because I can never love anyone else as much as I love myself.”

  Sungmin gave him the side-eye, along with a tiny smirk. Heechul was creeped out to the biggest extent.

  “What?” he asked snippily.

  “You gotta admit, you love me a little bit more than you love yourself.” Sungmin’s smirk grew.

  Heechul’s face became flushed. “Oh shut up.”

  “That’s okay, honey, everybody loves me.” Sungmin said as he wrapped his arms around the other’s neck, pulling him in a heartwarming hug. Heechul had no choice but to reciprocate.

  After maybe a whole minute of just holding each other, Heechul declared, “This is really gay, even for us.”

  Sungmin agreed and they pulled away. But then they shared a look, and then a smile, and then they were in each other’s embrace again.

  “I’m gonna miss you.” Sungmin said against Heechul’s shoulder.

  “You bipolar ,” Heechul let out a chuckle, which then turned into a sigh. “I’m gonna miss you too.”

~*~

  “Congratulations.” Heechul, for once, was the first to approach his ex-boyfriend. It wasn’t difficult to spot him, considering his height and the fact that people were lining up to take pictures with the ‘recently-graduated god of a man’.

  He waited until the crowd dispersed before making a move. Heechul squeezed the ring he was holding in his pocket.

  “You’re…talking to me?” Siwon asked, pleasantly surprised.

  “The silent treatment routine was getting a little tiresome.” Heechul put out his hand for a handshake, and when Siwon took it, he subtly dropped the ring in the latter’s palm. “I didn’t feel right keeping this. Maybe you can give this to your girlfriend or something. I’m sure she’ll like that.”

  “Well, the thing is,” Siwon sighed, and Heechul felt an onset of bad news coming on. “My family really likes Tiffany. And I do too. And they want me to propose to her soon, so we can get married after college. And Fany’s been bugging me about marriage lately, so…I guess my life’s been planned out for me. I wanted you to hear this from me and not from anyone else or…”

  Siwon trailed off. Heechul looked at him suspiciously. “Did you knock her up?”

  “Dear God, I hope not.” Siwon shuddered a little. Heechul held in a giggle. He handed the ring back to Heechul, without even trying to hide it or anything. He could care less if anyone saw him offering an enormous ring to his teacher and raised questions; Heechul thought that was a big improvement on Siwon’s part. “You should keep this. Tiffany’s gonna get my grandmother’s ring anyway, and it’s better that she doesn’t see this or else she’ll want to keep it…or worse, she’ll ask for a bigger one.”

  Heechul didn’t really want to give up the ring anyway, so he took it back immediately. “Great. Maybe I can sell this for crack or something—”

  “Don’t—”

  “I was kidding.”

  Heechul laughed at how uptight he was. Siwon laughed just because he felt like laughing seeing Heechul laugh.

  “Heechul, I really am sorry about how things ended between us—”

  “Don’t.” He interrupted. “I know you’re sorry, Siwon. I know you. You’re a good albeit very confused and self-conscious kid. I don’t want to hear any apologies from you, because I’ve already made my peace with the break-up. I’m fine. I’m moving on. We both are.”

  Siwon purses his lips, nodding. “My father actually wants me to travel with him during the summer, to get me exposed to new environments or something before college. So I’m gonna be gone for some time.”

  “I’m actually leaving too. I don’t really know where or when yet, but it’s happening.” He revealed. “But we probably won’t be seeing each other in a while.”

  “So I guess this is…goodbye?” he asked, looking hopeful that Heechul will say otherwise.

  Heechul chuckled a little. “Goodbye, Siwon.”

  “Goodbye, Heechul.” They exchanged pats on the back, which was kind of sad, since just a few months ago they probably would’ve exchanged something more intimate. “But you know what?”

  “What?”

  “Something tells me this isn’t really the end for us.”

  “You really need to stop saying things like that.” Heechul’s laugh was dry, but not sarcastic.

  “I’m serious though.” He insisted. “I can feel it.”

  Heechul smiled. “I feel it too.”

~*~

  The students have all been informed of what to do after the graduation ceremony. Unfortunately they neglected to mention any instructions about what to do right after.

  Once the adrenaline and excitement of finally getting out of high school faded, Kyuhyun and Eunhyuk decided to pass the time by sitting in the kitchen eating chips and playing cards. Meanwhile, Sungmin and Donghae were upstairs trying out outfits and hairstyles that they couldn’t wear because of the school’s lousy dress code.

  “I’m having a déjà vu.” Eunhyuk folded his cards. “Right before we left for camp, weren’t we sitting around like a couple of poor saps, just like this?”

  “It’s almost disturbing how whipped we are.” Kyuhyun replied monotonously. “Do you remember how I sat you down because I wanted to talk to you about something?”

  “Yeah, I remember.” He bobbed his head. “God, you scared the crap out of me back then. But after seeing you bawl like a baby while we were hiding in the classroom, it kind of changed my perspective of you.”

  “Oh, shut up, it was an emotional and terrifying moment.” He replied defensively. “As I was saying, on our last day of camp, I asked you to take care of Donghae, do you remember? Well, right now, I want to ask you the same thing. Except this time I want you to look after Sungmin.”

  “Sungmin?” Eunhyuk asked.

  Kyuhyun nodded. “I’d ask Heechul, but he’s leaving soon as well, so I thought I’d come to you. I know you love Sungmin almost, almost as much as I do, so I trust you’ll keep him safe and sound for me until I come back.”

  Eunhyuk put a reassuring hand on the other’s back. “Don’t worry, Kyuhyun. I’ll be there for him. Whether he needs a shoulder to lean on, or someone to relieve him of his ual frustrations—”

  Kyuhyun clucked his tongue, slapping Eunhyuk on the shoulder. The skinnier teenager laughed. “I’m kidding. But not about the first part—I really will take care of him. And when you come back, I’ll give him back to you as good as new.”

  “Thanks.” Kyuhyun’s gratefulness was genuine. Though it quickly washed away when Eunhyuk caught him off guard at a sensitive moment and locked him in a very tight one-sided hug. “What the—get off me, you monkey!”

  “Trust me, I’m doing you a favor.” Eunhyuk didn’t even budge.

  “One day, while you’re trudging the streets of London, you’ll stop and wished that you had hugged me while you could.”

  “I will do no such thing, now unhand me!”

  “Nah.”

  Soon, Kyuhyun grew tired of fighting back and just let himself be hugged. It felt sort of nice actually. Eunhyuk’s arms were surprisingly warm and comfy.

  “And I thought we were the girls in the relationship.” They heard Sungmin quip.

  “It’s not what it looks like.” Kyuhyun tried to explain. Eunhyuk still wouldn’t let go. His oxygen was starting to feel a little cut off.

  “Oh, it’s exactly what it looks like.” Two extra pairs of arms wrapped themselves around Kyuhyun and Eunhyuk’s entangled figures. It’s a miracle that neither was getting their heads bitten off right now.

  “How is Donghae not shredding Kyuhyun to pieces right now?” Sungmin wondered aloud in the midst of their group hug. “And how are Eunhyuk’s jewels still functional?”

  “He’s drunk.” Eunhyuk explained simply.

  “Not that drunk,” Donghae chimed in. “No for you tonight.”

  “Like anyone would actually believe that.” Kyuhyun scoffed. “Can we stop this now? I think I’m becoming claustrophobic.”

  Everyone let go except Sungmin. Donghae clung to Eunhyuk’s back like a fly. Eunhyuk started making coffee to sober his boyfriend up.

  “We have to leave soon,” Sungmin said against Kyuhyun’s head. “You have to be at the airport an hour before your flight.”

  “I do?” he asked, oblivious.

  “Yes, silly.” Sungmin squeezed him tighter before letting go altogether. “We probably need to get there fast, before your parents get all up on my case for making you late.”

  “Oh, yeah, they’re probably already there with my luggage and everything.” He stood up, stretching his arms and putting one around Sungmin’s waist. “Well, I guess this is it.”

  Saying goodbye to everyone was harder than he thought. Even just through a phone call with Heechul (Sungmin made him).

  “Be careful not to get ed in the streets.” Kyuhyun had told him.

  “I hope you fall off the Eiffel Tower.” Heechul shot back.

  Kyuhyun almost shook his head. “That’s Paris, not London, you idiot.”

  “Oh, right.” And that was the end of that.

  Kyuhyun didn’t want to get too close to Eunhyuk in case the latter would trap him in another embrace, so they settled for a handshake. Donghae, who wasn’t so drunk that he couldn’t speak properly, was still drunk enough to start sobbing in Kyuhyun’s shoulders and tell him how much he was going to miss him. He figured Donghae would’ve still done that even if he wasn’t intoxicated.

  Kyuhyun had already said his goodbye to Siwon—they exchanged nods when they caught each other’s eyes in the middle of the ceremony earlier. That was good enough; they weren’t that close anymore anyway.

  And so he and Sungmin left.

  After Eunhyuk had gotten Donghae to drink a cup of coffee (which he ended up crying about because it burnt his tongue and apparently Eunhyuk made very bad coffee), he began playing with a very serious question in his mind.

  Actually, he didn’t just start playing with it. He first started thinking about it earlier, when he watched Donghae go up on stage and receive his diploma, in full make-up and killer heels, and realized how proud he was of Donghae. Not just in general, but about everything. He was proud of how much he and Donghae had gone through together, he was proud to see him accept his diploma with such a wide grin that his face looked like it could break, he was proud of how much he loved Donghae, he was proud to call Donghae his boyfriend, he was proud that Donghae was his.

  And he wanted to make Donghae his forever. Officially his.

  “Donghae.” He put his hand on top of Donghae’s, his heart beating wildly.

  “Hm?” Donghae hummed, smiling at the warmth of Eunhyuk’s palm.

  Eunhyuk’s eyes never broke away from his. No matter how spontaneous this was, there was no doubt in his mind that this was one thing he was never going to regret. “Marry me.”

  He could see it in his eyes—Donghae had sobered up at the sound of those two words. It should be a crime for those two words to make your heart try to jump out of your chest like that.

  “What?” Donghae said, and very stupidly too, even for Donghae.

  “Marry me.” Eunhyuk said again. Was Eunhyuk blinking? It didn’t look like he was blinking at all.

  On the other hand, Donghae was blinking like crazy. “I—I can’t, it’s not legal here—”

  “Then we’ll find a way,” he insisted. He put Donghae’s hand on his chest so he could feel the abnormally rapid pace of his heartbeat. “Just say it. Say you’ll do it, say you’ll marry me.”

  “A-alright…I’ll marry you.” Donghae has always imagined that if Eunhyuk ever proposed to him, it would be a little more romantic, with a little more pizzazz and maybe some cheesy background music (they shared a love for cheesy love songs)—but the one he actually got was more perfect than he could have ever dreamt of. “I’ll marry the out of you, Lee Hyukjae.”

  Eunhyuk laughed into their kiss. Donghae’s hand tangled itself in the older boy’s hair as he felt Eunhyuk’s tongue slip into his mouth. They’ve kissed a lot before, but something about this one was different.

  They weren’t just kissing as boyfriend and boyfriend anymore. They were fiancé and fiancée now.

  “I love you,” Eunhyuk somehow managed to say against Donghae’s tongue.

  Donghae’s voice muffled as he and Eunhyuk refused to pull away, as if breaking the kiss would break each other. “I wuff ya too.”

  Eunhyuk smiled, understanding every single word.

~*~

   “Make sure to get some sleep on the plane, okay?” Sungmin said as he buttoned the top button on Kyuhyun’s coat. “And you don’t have to call me right away once you land; you can totally wait until you get to the hotel. But don’t wait too long, because I worry—”

  Kyuhyun shut him up the best way he knew how—with a kiss. “I love you,” he smiled. It was cute how Sungmin still blushed around him.

  “Seriously though,” Sungmin rested his wrists on Kyuhyun’s shoulders and clamped his hands together behind Kyuhyun’s head. “Take care of yourself because I won’t be there to take care of you anymore.”

  “You too.” Kyuhyun put his hands on his waist and pulled him closer so their bodies were touching. Their lips met, but only for a second because his parents were watching from afar by the gates. “Thank you for being so supportive about all this.”

  “You’ve always made everything better for me, Kyuhyun.” Sungmin said, his voice low even though he didn’t mean for it to come out that way. “I thought I should repay the favor. I won’t make this any harder for you. I won’t cry. I won’t make a scene…at least not until the gates close.”

  Kyuhyun laughed. Sungmin took a mental picture. God, he was gonna miss that laugh.

  People were already starting to line up to get on the plane. Kyuhyun’s parents were getting impatient. They called their son over, paying no attention to the fact that he was sharing a very difficult moment with his long-time boyfriend. They still hated calling Sungmin that, ‘boyfriend’.

  “I guess that’s my cue.” Kyuhyun picked up his things.

  Sungmin couldn’t let him go just yet. “What, no goodbye?”

  Kyuhyun put his things back down. “I’m not saying goodbye to you, Sungmin, because this isn’t goodbye. We’ll never have a goodbye. This is more of a…see you later.”

  “Yeah,” Sungmin’s voice was nearly gone. “See you in seven years.”

  Kyuhyun tried to smile, to lighten the mood a little. “Hardest see you later ever, huh?”

  Sungmin thought it was a little sad and kind of sweet how the last thing they shared was a wave before Kyuhyun went in. He told himself that he should at least stay to watch Kyuhyun’s plane take off, but the minute the gates closed, Sungmin turned around and went home before he broke down in the middle of the airport and become a YouTube sensation.

~*~

  Sungmin promised he’d come back for Donghae’s graduation party, so that night, he appeared at their doorstep, shaking and in tears.

  “He really left.”

  They had never seen anything so heartbreaking.

~*~