Chapter 5

Hyukjae yawned again for the umpteenth time that morning. Waking up this early was never a routine of him. Don’t get him wrong. He was known for being a really hardworking and responsible boss to his staff. But, he was just not a morning person. But, as he had agreed on helping this man, he was stuck on the uncomfortable seat of the bicycle, gripping Donghae’s shirt with his right hand – his left arm was still not quite well.

“You should hold tighter, Hyukkie. I don’t want to lose you half way through the job,” Donghae said suddenly as he grabbed the still-sleepy Hyukjae’s hand, pulling it and wrapping the entire arm around his waist, grinning all the while.

The unsuspecting Hyukjae, he was really not expecting it, could just sigh and laid his head on Donghae’s back, closing his eyes. Unknown to him, Donghae almost jump when he felt Hyukjae’s body pressed against him. But, he calmed his heart rate and just started cycling slower than usual, enjoying every single moment of it. When they reached Mr Jackson shop, Hyukjae was sagging down Donghae’s back as he had fallen asleep.

Mr Jackson came, carrying a few bundles of rolled newspapers to be dumped into the bike’s basket, “Hey, Donghae. Who’s that?”

Donghae found the question weird, “Who, Mr Jackson?”

“That man sleeping on your back.”

“Sleeping?” Donghae tried turning his head to see Hyukjae, but he couldn’t fully turn and only saw a mob of hair on his back, “Hyukkie? Hyukkie get up!”

Mr Jackson stared at the half-hidden face, “Hyukkie?”

“Yes, Mr Jackson. It’s Eunhyuk. He must have slept late last night,” Donghae told Mr Jackson before he started patting Hyukjae’s arm that was still around his waist and called his name.

To say Mr Jackson was shocked would be an understatement. Bewildered might be a suitable word, perplexed could be too. He had been told months ago about the dreadful incident that caused the death of Eunhyuk. He was told every detail of what had Donghae went through after it – which was why he was treating the young man well and just like before the catastrophe happened. Right now, Mr Jackson was so befuddled; he thought he was going crazy. When Hyukjae woke up after being yelled by Donghae, Mr Jackson was at a loss of words when he finally saw the man he was referring to a few moments ago. This man was so much alike with Eunhyuk, until it frightened him.

“Hyukkie, say sorry to Mr Jackson. Because of you, people might scold him because they did not receive their papers in time,” Donghae had gotten off the bicycle, now facing Hyukjae with his arms crossed on his chest while the other looked really sleepy with his droopy eyes.

But, though he was not fully conscious of what he was doing, Hyukjae did what he was told to do and bowed his head towards Mr Jackson, “Sorry, Mr Jackson.”

Hyukjae’s head stayed bowed, his chin on his chest, and Donghae knew he was going to dreamland again. “Lee Eunhyuk! You better stay up!” and the poor Hyukjae’s head immediately went straight up, eyes wider this time.

“We’ll send the papers now, Mr Jackson. I’m really sorry for his behaviour,” Donghae bowed as he smiled to their employer before he went back onto the bike and cycled away, leaving the dumbfounded Mr Jackson at his shop, still bewildered by everything.

As they went around the neighbourhood, Donghae threw the newspapers by himself, pitying his boyfriend who had a strained arm. Another reason was he liked feeling his Hyukkie’s arm – which had naturally encircled his waist this time – around him, “Why are you so sleepy, Hyukkie? We went to bed early, didn’t we?”

“I don’t know. Just tired, I guess,” Hyukjae said with lazed words.

“We’re almost done with this. We’ll go to the café after this, okay? And you can get your hot chocolate.”

“I don’t want hot chocolate. I want a strong black coffee, with less sugar,” came the reply from Hyukjae, as if he was ordering the drink right then. It came spontaneously as they were what he said when his assistant asked what he wanted to drink.

That didn’t settle well with Donghae, as he knew that, “You don’t like bitter taste drinks.”

That one statement had woken Hyukjae fully up, his eyes now bright, as he realized his mistake, “Y-yeah! I don’t like it. Of course! What was I thinking?” he chuckled, trying to cover it up.

Fortunately for him, Donghae had thought he said that unconsciously since he was so sleepy and giggled with him, “You’re so ridiculously cute when your mind is not in the right state.” Hyukjae continued his fake laugh, once again relieved and felt safe. The newspapers were all delivered then, with both of them being silence. But, Donghae was content enough and was smiling all the way with the hold Hyukjae had on him that he didn’t mind the lack of conversation this time. As long as his Hyukkie was close, being in a dark, eerie room won’t even be a problem.

Since Donghae’s car was still being fixed, he had decided to just cycle to Mr and Mrs Dawson’s café that morning, which was 3 blocks away from their neighbourhood. He parked the bike by the building and got off, instantly had his arm hooked with Hyukjae when the other started walking next to him. They entered the little café together and Donghae dragged the other to his usual spot.

Mr Dawson came to take the order and greet Donghae, with a smile like always, “Good morning, Donghae. Is it the norm?”

“You know us, Mr Dawson. Yes, it is the normal order, hot chocolate and caramel macchiato.”

“I want French toast to go with the drink, please.”

Only when he had heard the voice when Mr Dawson finally noticed someone was accompanying Donghae this time. Oh, the middle-aged man was ready with a genuine smile to give to the other young man. But, when he looked at the source of voice, he couldn’t smile. His lips turned dry, his eyes went wide and he could just gape at the other’s present. Who was this? Who was this young man who looked identical with the person he had not seen since 3 years back? Who?

“Mr Dawson?”

The colours return to the man’s face after Donghae called him, “Yes?”

“Are you okay?”

The man nodded, his gaze never leaving Hyukjae’s face until he turned around and took the order to the kitchen. When his wife saw the horrified face of her husband, she was deeply concerned and followed him to the back, “Dear, what’s wrong?”

Mr Dawson didn’t say a word at first. He didn’t have anything to say, he didn’t have a way of explaining what he just saw. So, he remained quiet and made the drinks and toast; it was obvious that he was under a shock. His wife was patient with him, staying there and looked at him while he worked. It was worth it as he finally said something to her after he had placed the cups and plate on the tray, “I see Eunhyuk, sitting with Donghae.”

“Eunhyuk? You mean Donghae’s – “

“Yes, I meant that boy who we last saw 3 years ago. That boy who we know was gone. He’s in front there, sitting at where he used to sit 3 years ago.”

“That doesn’t make sense, dear. Maybe you weren’t seeing properly,” Mrs Dawson tried reasoning with him.

Mr Dawson shook his head, still wasn’t sure what was happening right now. He lifted the tray and walked out of the kitchen, sending the orders to the table. His hand was shaky when he placed the drinks on the table, and he left.

“That’s weird,” Donghae said as his eyes followed the middle-age man until he went back into the kitchen.

“What’s weird?”

“Mr Dawson.”

Hyukjae was surprised, “You mean the man just now? He knows you and - . I mean, he knows us?”

“Yes, Hyukkie. He knows us. It’s quite impossible for him and his wife to not know us; we’ve been coming here almost every day for breakfast since we moved here. They were always friendly and nice. But today, he seems a bit off after taking our order.”

That was a problem, Hyukjae realized and he gulped. No wonder that man looked scared when he looked at him. Heechul had told him about all the people that knew about Eunhyuk’s death and Donghae’s abnormal act. He had forgotten about them. Heechul told him who he would have to meet this people, tell them who he really was, so they won’t be confused and could help him.

“Drink the hot choc, Hyukkie.”

Hyukjae nodded and took a sip of the drink. He thought about what he should say to this Mr Dawson while he ate his toast. At that time, he remembered Mr Jackson and he felt like giving himself a slap for not focusing just now, but refrained, knowing Donghae would find that odd.

“Hyukkie, I want the toast too.” Hyukjae pushed the plate towards Donghae and laid down the fork for him. But Donghae didn’t take it. Instead, he smiled then opened his mouth wide, pointing to it with his finger and Hyukjae got what he meant, reminded by what his brother always did when he wanted to be fed. He cut the toast into smaller piece and grabbed one with his fingers, feeding the other with the way he usually fed his brother before.

Donghae seemed to like it, the way he used his fingers instead of the utensil. With every piece, his lips went closer to those beautiful fingers. On the final piece, he actually took the tips of those two fingers into his mouth for a second, before taking the toast into his mouth and chewed them.

That action left Hyukjae’s mouth hanging, and his cheeks tinted red, “D-Donghae…” The other just smiled at him innocently, finishing his caramel macchiato.  Hyukjae grabbed his cup and turned to look out the window, feeling awkward to look at the other at that moment. A man walked in front of him, blocking his way for a moment. Then, his phone vibrated.

It was a text. A text from Heechul asking him to go to the washroom, “Donghae, I’m going to the washroom for a while, okay?”

“Okay, let’s go to the washroom,” Donghae got up and was ready to follow when Hyukjae stopped him.

“No, Donghae. You don’t have to.”

“But I want to.”

Hyukjae wrecked his brain, searching for a good reason to make the other stayed there and he found one, “I won’t be long. Why don’t you go pay the bill and then we can straight have a walk around the block?” He remembered Heechul telling him that Eunhyuk loved going around here alone and Donghae loved to tag along, but sometimes the former didn’t let him.

A bit disappointed but still happy with the offer that he usually didn’t get, Donghae agreed and Hyukjae quickly went to the washroom. When he entered, he heard the water running and looked at the mirror. It was Heechul, washing his hand. He closed the tap, and turned, leaning on the marble table of sinks, “What are you trying to do, Hyukjae?”

“Do what? Feeding him with my hand? I didn’t mean to try and attract him or anything. He was the one who suddenly started my fingers while I was just feeding like he wanted to. So, don’t blame me if you find that action a bit inappropriate. I was just using the way I used to feed my brother,” Hyukjae immediately defended himself, thinking Heechul was displeased about him feeding Donghae just now.

Heechul laughed, “Not that, stupid. Oh, sorry. It’s a habit of mine, calling people stupid. Anyway, that wasn’t what I was referring to. I was actually asking about you following everything Donghae said. Like when he said ‘you’ don’ t like bitter taste drink, you agreed, when he ordered you hot chocolate but you actually had a black coffee in mind, you didn’t change the order.”

“Oh. Well, if I don’t he’ll get suspicious. And this is just the second day; I don’t want him to doubt me being Eunhyuk. Don’t worry. You have told me what I have to do, and I will follow what you say.”

“Good. Now, don’t forget to tell Mr Jackson and the Dawsons about you. We don’t want people to turn crazy because of this. I gave you their number, right?”

“Oh, yeah. I forgot about that. I’ll tell them soon.”

Heechul nodded and smiled. Then, they both heard Donghae’s voice, coming from outside, “Hyukkie.”

“You better go. He won’t be happy if he sees me talking to you alone like this. He is the jealous type. I told you, right?”

“I know,” he said, heading towards the door. When he went out, he almost bump into Donghae who was heading there, “Hey.”

“What took you so long?” Donghae asked, his arms once again crossed on his chest.

“Sorry. There was some problem with the water. We can go now.”

Donghae’s eyes were like slits, staring at Hyukjae, “Really? No one else is in there, trying to flirt with you, right?”

“No, Donghae. There was only me. You trust me, right?”

At that question, Donghae immediately grabbed Hyukjae’s arm, “I do, I do. I’m sorry.”

“It’s nothing, Donghae. Let’s go,” and there went another lie from Hyukjae, even if it was just a small one.

A small update for all of you, since I'm happy with the story getting more than 100 subs. Thanks a lot. I'll update again soon. By the way, it just past 5am here. Sorry if it's a little boring. I'm going to go and get ready for school now. Bye.