The next morning, over breakfast Donghae hears about how the family had planned a picnic at a nearby serene spot. Donghae tries to politely excuse himself saying he should really take his leave now but Mr.Lee is persistent.

“Not happening son! And we are practically family now, I’m your daddy!  Call me Appa!” he speaks with zest which has Donghae almost choking on his coffee as he manages an incoherent “Yes, Appa.” His eyes, on their own will, dart to check Hyukjae’s reaction: Hyukjae looks thoroughly amused and Donghae tears him eyes away, hating how sometime his eyes seemed to have a mind of their own.

One thing leads to another and somehow, this time, Donghae is the one feeling throughly amused as Hyukjae’s grandmother chides and teases Hyukjae about past incidents and memories. Hyukjae, much to Donghae’s entertainment, turns into a bashful mess as he pleads “Nanny, please stop! “ Nanny, no not that one!” his protests are unheard over all that laughter and soon family pictures and albums are coming out and Donghae is being shown from one humiliating picture to the next. Soon Donghae’s cracking up over pictures and the backstories they follow, suddenly it feels like family, Donghae losing it as Hyukjae’s Granny continues to narrate one embarrassing story followed up by more and Hyukjae’s face is so red he looks like he could explode due to mortification which sends Donghae into heavier fits of laughter. From pictures of baby Hyukjae clinging onto an open diaper with his mouth hung open, to baby Hyukjae having his hair being pulled by a girl, donghae finds it all hilarious. His watery eyes turn to Hyukjae to mock him, but that look on Hyukjae’s face, that weird smile that is yet again directed at him has Donghae pausing and shooting him a little frown before he turns back to Hyukjae’s enthusiastic grandmother, she seemed to have a huge storage of every single embarrassing thing that had happened to Hyukjae, but the way she spoke of his grandson, Donghae could tell: she loved and adored him to bits.

It seemed like Hyukjae felt the same way for his Grandmother because soon everyone was getting ready to leave that’s when Donghae saw Hyukjae helping the elderly woman down the stairs, abruptly Hyukjae picked her up bridal style and laughed at her protests ‘silly boy put me down!’

Donghae had to admit, he was beginning to think he had judge Hyukjae too fast, this side of Hyukjae he was getting to see was somewhat of an eye opener. He grinned openly, though it fell a little when a scantily clad girl approached Hyukjae and clung onto his arm. She had appeared out of nowhere after Hyukjae had helped his Nanny in the van. Donghae didn’t hear what she said but Hyukjae flashed her a charming grin and the girl looked ready to wrap herself around him.

“Oh, don’t worry about those two.”

Donghae once again jumped but this time he knew pretty well who it was before he even turned around

“Kyuhyun, is creeping up on people your specialty?”

Kyuhyun laughs heartily and nods and Donghae gapes at him in disbelief, with the air of playfulness.

“Both of them are available actually” Kyuhyun chuckles as he nods to Hyukjae and the still-clinging-onto-him-like-a-koala lady “So no need to get worked up, you want the guy or the girl?”

Donghae let out a sarcastic guffaw “HA! Like I would ever want Hyukjae”  he shakes his head with a grin” and I’m not getting worked up at all.”

Kyuhyun scrunches his face in disagreement “Actually I took a picture while you were too busy glaring at them, here take a look”

Donghae scowled lightly as he glanced at the phone’s scree and sure enough, Donghae looked like he was burning holes into his targets.

“Woah” he muttered and Kyuhyun snorted.

--

Once they reached the picnic spot, Donghae’s mood instantly lifted way more, he had minimum contact with Hyukjae during the journey and now that they were here, in vast lush green landscape and a cool, soothing breeze, Donghae felt his mood improve way more. The smile never went from his lips and he purposefully stuck around more with Kyuhyun. The place was not too crowded so that helped the atmosphere.

Soon however Hyukjae showed up by Kyuhyun’s side and Donghae grumbled internally. Then again he was not that putt off by Hyukjae’s presence as much as he used to get, mostly because of the new side of Hyukjae, it was as if he had met a new Hyukjae and yeah the new Hyukjae was not bad at all.

“So what did Jen want now?” Kyuhyun was chattering away, walking in them idle  of the two and Donghae raised a brow as he heard Hyukjae snort “She wanted to ‘spend some time together’ “- Kyuhyun sniggered at Hyukjae’s mimicking and Donghae could not help but grin, hey it was funny-“ and obviously I know what she really meant, so I straight away told her no amount of curves could turn this twisted guy straight!” Kyuhyun laughed boisterously and Donghae yet again got to learn another thing about Hyukjae.

He just was not into girls.

Not like Donghae had anything against it, heck he wasn’t into ladies either; well not as much as he used to be.

“Oh hey, Kyu, let’s go check out that place again, Donghae have you ever been here before?” Hyukjae cocked his head to peer over at Donghae who was slightly surprised at being addressed by Hyukjae in a rather friendly manner, Donghae realized he would have to get used to Hyukjae’s fluctuating flirtatious modes.

“No I have not, it’s beautiful though.”

“Then let us show you where several Romeos and Juliets live” Kyuhyun smirked and Donghae nodded, intrigued as well as curious.

Soon the trio were walking up as small slope of dry, grassless ground, two steps up and they approached a structured made of bricks, two pillars in between a black gate stood open and people freely went in and out. Donghae’s eyes instantly noted the area was not closed off; it had no roof, hence giving the structure a unique quality. Next he noticed how several benches were placed inside and several young men and women sat there busy scribbling away. Donghae’s brows furrowed as he noted how, while some of them looks extremely upset, the rest looked hopeful.

“They are writing to secretaries of Romeo and Juliet.” Hyukjae answered his unasked question, and Donghae tilted his head curiously.

Hyukjae pressed his lips in a thin loop-sided smile as they walked further in, Kyuhyun silently taking pictures as the trio progressed to sit on one of the empty benches “You see, all these people here come from all over the world with problems related to love”

“Love is a problem in itself” Kyuhyun remarked and Hyukjae swatted him for interrupting him, donghae let out a soft chuckle as Hyukjae continued “ Initially this was a very local thing, people came, wrote letters or notes and stuck them onto that wall over there” Hyukjae gestured to a mud wall and Donghae saw several, colorful pieces of paper, he let out a soft ‘oh’ –“So daily, those letters were taken by a certain group of people and that group of people called themselves ‘Secretaries of Romeo and Juliet’, they would write back to each and every person who had come to them seeking help for their love life. This is their job, it’s what they do and soon, by word of mouth people all over the world got to know of this place and now look, it’s become some sort of holy place for lovers all around the world.”

The trio remained silent for a while, each in his own thoughts, Donghae was mostly just studying the place and people, foreigners and locals, faces with non-stop tears trailing down to faces who hardly held a hint of any emotion.

He pursed his lips, taking a deep breath, memories flashing in and out, of lost love and the love he never got.  The vibration of a phone caused him to snap out of his thoughts. Kyuhyun held up his phone “It’s mine, Aunt Lee wants me back for something, you two stay put I’ll be back soon!”

Well…

Awkward.

That’s the word that fit the atmosphere between Donghae and Hyukjae as soon as Kyuhyun was out of sight, well mostly for Donghae, he had no idea whether Hyukjae would slip into his  I’m-so-hot-I-know-you-want-me mode. He knew he needed to walk away the instant that happened! If it did. Both of them had been apparently watching Kyuhyun’s back as he left and when they did turn to look at the other, their gazes met for a while before they forced a small smile at each other. Donghae was the first to look away, catching from the corner of his eyes how Hyukjae’s hands gripped onto the edge of the seat and he slowly swayed himself back and forth.

Donghae found that kind of cute.

Kind of.

The silence between them was thick and Donghae could actually hear himself breathing uncomfortably so he decided to slice through the thick silence.

“I-I’ve never ever heard of such a thing before” he shrugged a bit and cast a quick glance at Hyukjae who was attentively looking at him and that got him thinking, why was he even trying to make conversation with Hyukjae? “Like wow, hah, ‘secretaries’ of Romeo and Juliet eh?” Hyukjae grinned shortly and nodded “It’s strange but really special in a way.”

“Oh it is!” Donghae exclaimed a bit too loud and instantly grunted as he ducked his head, Hyukjae chuckled, eyes constantly on Donghae.

“Do they really write back to each and every one?” Donghae glanced at Hyukjae through his chocolate fringes and Hyukjae nodded “Yeah, those who write the letters are required to write their address and all they have to do is wait…in fact sometime people receive their replies bit too late, but the reply does come.”

Donghae tilted his head at Hyukjae, a curious smile on his face” You look like you want to try writing to them, Hyukjae.”

Hyukjae blinked at him, holding back a chortle “Wow, that’s uh the first time you called me by my name and uh no I don’t think I’ll ever write to them, I’m not in love so I have no love issues to write to them about” He grinned brightly but somehow Donghae noticed it didn’t reach his eyes.

“Good for you then” Donghae nodded and glanced about.

“What about you…you can write one now if you want, I’ll leave you for privacy..” Hyukjae trailed off as he saw Donghae’s shoulders shaking in his laughter, Donghae turned to face him and Hyukjae gazed at those shinning eyes and wide smile, teeth showing “No Hyukjae, I don’t have anyone at all, let alone be in love with someone.”

“Ah, well atleast we have that in common, both of us are single.”

“Oh?” Donghae raised a brow, grinning in a surprised and teasing manner “Ah yeah, when you said you were not in love I thought you at least had someone, I mean with your tendency of flirting left and right, surely you cannot be single!” his tone was partially mocking. Donghae’s smile dropped a little as he witnessed Hyukjae’s rather strained smile

“Donghae…not that I’m looking to start with you but lately I’m having this feeling that you’re being judgmental about me? Correct me if I’m wrong but, you have concluded my entire personality in your mind already, haven’t you?”

Donghae surely was not expecting such a question, accompanied by that serious expression, so he seriously considered his answer. Well sure, donghae had instantly decided what kind of a person Hyukjae would be instantly after their meeting in the Mall’s parking lot and then how Hyukjae beaved throughout the wedding preparations, but that was entirely based on hyukjae’s actions and words…then again, could donghae really judge Hyukjae based on those moments?

Even before donghae could answer Hyukjae spoke up, the sincerity in Hyukjae’s tone was new to Donghae “I once came here…to write.”

Donghae gapes “Really? Got a reply?”

A nod “Yeah and right in time, so I pursued my love but it just did not work...” he trailed off, voice soft as if he had wandered into memory lane. Donghae observed him, yet again, he was seeing a new Hyukjae and Donghae felt as if he was growing to know, to understand this guy. “What about you donghae? If you don’t mind me asking..?”

“No it’s completely fine, um, maybe I never ever gave love a chance? Throughout my upbringing I was told to be rational and practical, love is a reality but so is the fact that it’s not meant for everyone, so I guess just to keep myself from ever getting to feel the burn of a broken-heart and to remain rational or to never get hurt or get my hopes up too high, I never gave it much of a chance…though I do know I happen to have a huge romantic within me, Jungsu-hyung always commented about how one day I will fall real hard. Hah.” He smiles a little and Hyukjae actually smiles back. He appears to contemplate over something before he starts softly, as if not to disturb the people around “Love is pretty much something embodied in our nature, humans are all naturally romantics, some more than others. It’s as natural as a good weather lifting up one’s mood.” Donghae nodded in agreement, because the weather part was totally true about him. And then it hit him.

Woah hold up.

He was having this love related conversation with Lee -you-jae, the person he had claimed he could not stand

I really need to stop using that nickname

So he wondered about how comfortably they were talking, that too about a sensitive and personal topic such as love. Hyukjae’s previous question hammers in his head while all he past memories flood in.

Who he thought Hyukjae was

And who Hyukjae had turned out to be.

All those bad moments of harsh words being said came back to donghae, feeling bad about all that Donghae muttered something but Hyukjae didn’t exactly catch it.

“I said…well I apologize for all my rude, and as you said, judgmental behavior, basically it all was based on how from your uh rather cheap- if I may use the word- act of blowing a kiss- which several people can view as ual harassment- to how your attitude had remained with me, I’ve just got a great intolerance for flirts who seem to enjoy playing with feelings…leading people on to think they truly had a chance, while it’s all just a game..” he shrugs and bit his lip as his eyes darted to catch Hyukjae’s head bowed, sheepishly smiling hyukjae nodded “Now I get it…see, talking it out helped and uh, I owe you a sorry for all that too… especially the ‘ual-harassment’ part, damn I didn’t think of it, you’re right. . ”he nervously rubbed a hand on his nape and his suddenly dry lips. “Besides it was not all entirely your fault…however...”

“I do feel I did overreact though” Donghae mumbled and saw Hyukjae nod with a thoughtful look on his face. Donghae his head wearily at the sudden playful twist in hyukjae tone and expressions “You, sir, will have to be my slave for life to fully payback for all the harsh things you have said- and thought- about me, hah I bet you made up several badnames for me.”

Thank goodness he’s not a mind-reader, Donghae was so glad he managed to keep a perfect smile on because well, he had. Oh well, no one had to know, right!

“Ha ha” he jokingly laughed “Hyukjae who are you kidding?” donghae grinned as he felt a certain ‘friendliness’ rise between them, it felt as if intangible walls were beginning to crack, bringing the two closer. Those crinkled and shinning eyes of Hyukjae suddenly radiated of warmth and Donghae felt it within his soul.