A beautiful day in summer, the sun shone brightly, lighting the room through its big open windows. It was the day which should have been the happiest in his life, yet Eric sat beside the windowsill, staring blankly at the garden outside. The view wasn’t at fault for it was wonderful—the trees were lusciously green and the flowers were blooming prettily, even the birds were chirping joyfully, yet no happiness could be found from the handsome man’s expression. He was inside the waiting room of a luxurious hotel, where his own wedding would be held in less than an hour. His groomsmen, the boys he went through his adolescence with, the men whom by now he called family were there in the room with him. But unlike their past gatherings, no laughter could be heard. He refused to look at them, especially at the beautiful man sitting the furthest away. He knew that should be happy that day, but truthfully, throughout his whole life, he had never felt any emptier.

His heart was beating so quickly it felt like it was going to jump out of his body anytime. Hyesung had never felt a turmoil in his heart as horrible as this before. It had been getting worse since the wedding announcement a couple months back, but today was the day he had been dreading for. He stole discreet glances at the groom, who didn’t budge from his seat, eyes unmoving from the outside although it was obvious that he wasn’t enjoying the view. Perhaps it was better this way, the fair man chanted in his mind, for he wasn’t sure that his resolve to be happy for his best friend would be intact if those eyes were directed at him instead. He his lips nervously, looking for distraction but found none. Automatically, as it had been a habit for many years, his eyes kept getting back to the object of his affection, looking as perfect as usual in brand new black tuxedo. The sound of clock ticking was getting louder in his ears, as his heart was breaking apart at every movement of the seconds hand.

He badly needed to smoke, but unfortunately the room was a non-smoking one. The tension was too thick and Minwoo was clueless on what he should feel. On one hand, he should be happy that his co-CEO, his leader, his best friend and most importantly, his brother—was getting married. He knew Eric wanted to get married and have his own family; not to mention, the bride was his perfect type. On the other hand, he knew that Eric wasn’t marrying the person he actually truly loved. The said person was sitting on a chair at the opposite side of the room, pretending to be strong but failing miserably in his small eyes. Eric might have called him special stupid, but the lead dancer wasn’t ignorant enough not to realize that Hyesung was slowly breaking down as each second passed. He took a deep breath and observed the other members, each and every one silently drowning deep in thought, without any hints of a smile on their faces. He let out a breath he didn’t realize he had been holding, he wanted to help—but what could he do? What could they do?

For a straightforward person like him, this situation was ridiculous. Two of his best friends knew that they were hurting each other and Dongwan was confused. The room consisted of the six of them together, yet the mood was more like that of a funeral instead of a wedding. It wasn’t that he didn’t know the reason behind the somber atmosphere, as he understood the current situation very well. But it was Eric’s decision, and for all he knew Hyesung had no objection—or at least, he never voiced it. They should have fully known what was coming and the consequences it would bring. Truthfully, sometimes he wanted to scream at the two of them; telling them to just be together, because they were happy together and that was what counted the most. Let others who disagreed be damned. But it was never his place to do so, and thus he held his tongue all this time. Sighing, he sent a weak smile when his eyes met with Minwoo’s. There was nothing that they could do.

Anxious, his eyes darted to every corner of the room. Junjin was worried sick. His mommy bird’s complexion had always been fair, but now he was deathly pale and looking very frail. He knew that Hyesung hyung hadn’t been eating and sleeping well. The slender man had gotten even skinnier; it was fully evident in his thin face. The smiles he gave had also been getting faker and faker. To think about it, he hadn’t seen Eric hyung’s brilliant smiles either lately. The dark circles under his hyung’s eyes had also been getting worse, thick makeup couldn’t even fully conceal it. While most people who didn’t know them well would simply pass it as wedding jitters, Park Choongjae knew better. Honestly, he had always wanted to be the source of laughter for his brothers, he wanted to cheer them up like he did in the past during the tough times they had been through. Today though, he was clueless—wondering how they would be able to go through the day.

Curling up on the sofa with face hidden in his arms, Andy was plainly heartbroken for his hyungs. He had known Eric hyung and Hyesung hyung for longer than the other members, especially the former whom he met when he was only a snotty little kid. Although the eldest was childish, Andy thought of him as his own older brother years before the group was formed. The ever perceptive maknae had been silently observing how his two hyungs’ relationship unfolded from the start, a long time ago when they had been living in the USA. He witnessed how the two of them met, fell in love, fought, made up, got together, separated and reunited, but never even once had he seen them fell out of love—not even today. Seeing his hyungs being so miserable, he found himself missing the carefree days of their youths—ignorant of the society, but truly, genuinely, happy. But now, they had been reduced to merely actors with fake smiles painted on their faces. He wanted to cry—but today, as one of the groomsmen, he had a responsibility to keep up the smiling mask, and Andy was supposed to be the responsible one.

“Kids,” as soon as the word left Eric’s mouth, everyone in the room turned their heads towards him. It was the first time he spoke since the six of them were left alone in the room after getting their makeup done, so he instantly gained the attention from all of his band mates. They were told to enjoy their last time as bachelors before one of them would soon be a married man. Now, only a few minutes was left before Eric left his bachelorhood, too bad ‘enjoy’ wasn’t the proper word to describe how they spent the time given.

“Can you guys please leave me alone?” the words were said perfectly politely, almost formally, the 4D leader didn’t sound like the joker he usually was with them. His eyes were fixed at one person and only one person, Hyesung knew that the request didn’t include him. It was the finale between the two of them, time for some closure, and he had sworn that would bravely face it.

The other four glanced at each other as the leader and main vocalist looked at each other’s eyes in silence, rigidly unmoving and seemingly lost in their own world. It wasn’t the first time they saw the two of them being like this, but they usually rolled their eyes and jabbed at them for being such lovebirds, which they surely couldn’t do under this uncomfortable circumstance. Andy, being the most reliable and understanding as always, stood up first. As he walked past Junjin, he grabbed the hand of the second youngest man; shocking him out of the nervous stare he had been directing at the pair. “Let’s go,” Andy whispered to his other two hyungs as he pulled Jin outside of the room. Dongwan nodded and put his arm around Minwoo’s shoulder, the later sent a weak smile towards the two men left in the room before closing the door shut. But Eric and Hyesung had stopped noticing their surroundings since a while ago, lost in each other’s eyes.

Say something.

Hyesung knew perfectly the meaning behind Eric’s hopeful, pleading eyes. No words were needed.

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