Chapter 15: Moments.

Can you feel me?

Daesung was so happy he got to tell his ideas to Jiyong and get a salary increase, he took everybody to the best nightclub to party and celebrate, of course, he invited his best friend Seunghyun and Jiyong and Youngbae. 
All the coworkers and friends, even neighbors were present drinking and shaking their bodies on the dancefloor. Everybody had fun excluding Jiyong and Seunghyun, they were still uncomfortable to each other and the drinks only reminded them of the kiss. Youngbae was sitting between them and felt the tension.

“Cough, cough” Youngbae mumbled “Seunghyun, can you go for more drinks?”

“Uh… Yes…” he said and left quickly.

“Jiyong, relax, Seunghyun isn’t going to eat you up” Youngbae said once he stayed alone with his friend.

“I can’t be by his side without feeling anxious like a stupid teenage girl”

“So cute!” Youngbae laughed loudly.

“I hate you” the designer gave a murderous glare to his friend.

Seunghyun went to the bar and called for the bartender. A young man approached to him and showed him the list of cocktails and snacks.

“Just beer” he said to the bartender after giving back the list.

“Please, wait while I go to the cellar for the beer” the bartender said.

Seunghyun remained silent and checked around; he didn’t feel like partying though he already drank three beers. There was a young woman with very beautiful face sitting by his side, she had a glass with pink liquid and she was lonely and looked as if she was talking to herself.

“This champagne is delicious” she said after taking a sip from her glass.

“Actually it’s white zinfandel, a blush wine” Seunghyun corrected.

She lifted her eyebrow and stared at him, it was Seunghyun, the hot friend of Daesung, she became nervous and her cheeks turned red.

“I… I didn’t know… You… you seem to know wines very well”

“Just a little bit” 

“Ha, ha, this white zinfandel tastes good and I like its color too, pink is my favorite”

“Pink is my favorite color too!!!”

“You’re kidding”

“Yes”

“I think a man that says his favorite color is pink, something that supposes to be girly, it’s very manly”

“I’m Choi Seunghyun” he smiled and reached his hand to her “I think I’ve seen you before, you’re Daesung’s coworker, am I right?

“Yes” she smiled back cheerful of being noticed by the hot guy “I’m Bae Suzy”

“I’m glad I finally get your name”

“What are you saying?”

“I’ve seen you so many times at Daesung’s work, but I was kind of shy to approach to you”

“You’re kidding! Why would you be shy?”

“Because I’m shy”

“Ha, ha, ha, shy men are hot and you got sense of humor, it’s so hot” Suzy wasn’t so bold in her every day, but she drank so much she felt confident and easygoing “Aside the pink color, let’s see how many things we have in common” she smiled big “I love books, I like reading, I don’t like vegetables so much, I love stuffed animals, City Hunter, ballad songs… Your turn”

“I like going to museums, I like art, I like wine as you know, I love ice cream, donuts. I like swimming, I love books too and writing”

“Writing… Are you some kind of writer?”

“I try” 

“What do you write?”

“Poems, novels, everything I guess”

“I’d love to read your poems”

“I don’t know, I’m not good enough”

“Just show me your poems someday and let me decide” 

One waitress advanced to the bar where they were talking and offered a plate of canapés to them. Suzy didn’t eat anything since lunch, so she took a canapé and tried eating it with difficulty, her hair was excessively long and it annoyed her.

“I hate my hair” she replied. 

“I think you’re beautiful like this” Seunghyun took her black locks carefully and placed them behind her ear making her to blush badly.

Jiyong went to the bar to look for Seunghyun as he didn’t come back with drinks, but he froze when he witnessed Seunghyun flirting with that black haired girl. At first he thought making a scene, but he meditated and returned to the table.

“Did you find him?” Youngbae asked.

“No” Jiyong lied.

“Ji, I know you, tell me the truth”

“I found him talking to a girl, they were laughing, you know, flirting”

“Oh, man, sorry” Youngbae said.

“Aigoooo, it’s ok” Jiyong shrugged his shoulders “I’ve started to remember memories I’ve held locked… Seunghyun is reminding me of Dongwook… and I already went through that. I’m not going to make the same mistakes with Seunghyun, so he can make what he pleases; I don’t care if he’s with that girl or whatever”

“I know” Youngbae said, he didn’t hear Dongwook’s name since years and he felt sad and angry, that guy hurt Jiyong so much Youngbae wanted to send him to the hospital. 

Nevertheless no matter how the designer said he didn’t care about Seunghyun anymore, Youngbae could see sadness in his friend’s eyes

“I’ll drive you home; you’re tired and already tipsy. Tomorrow, there’s a lot of work to do”

“Ok” Jiyong finished his drink and got up from the chair. 

Right then, Seunghyun appeared with the drinks.

“Where are you going?” Seunghyun questioned.

“Home, Ji isn’t feeling right”

“Are you fine?” Seunghyun asked to Jiyong in worry.

“Yes, I just have to sleep, you stay and have fun. It’s your friend’s night” Jiyong said without looking at him.

Before Seunghyun could say anything, Youngbae took Jiyong away. They went to Kwon’s mansion. Youngbae made sure his friend went to bed before leaving.

 

Beautiful Hangover

Next day, Daesung and Youngbae were to Namsan tower to talk to the representatives and try to convince them to let GD’s Fashion to make a runway in the tower on San Valentine’s day while Jiyong stayed at his office trying to have ideas for designs.

It was so hard to have one idea he didn’t even try anymore. He tore papers from the notebook and used them like balls and threw them to the basket. He also played Angry Birds and when he got sick of tossing birds against pigs, he played Candy Crush; he even chatted to strangers with a fake profile.

“When I was at college, I had more ideas than now” Jiyong got up from the chair and went to the cafeteria for something to eat.

It was 3:00 p.m., the ajumma cleaned the cafeteria and left, when Jiyong arrived, the place was deserted. He approached to the buffet in search of food, but the plates were empty. Suddenly, he started hearing noises that frightened him.

“Are there ghosts here?” Jiyong said lowly and he got a grunt as answer. Jiyong faced the tables and found a man sitting at the table next to the window “Seunghyun?” he speculated as he walked towards the stranger.

The man didn’t answer; Jiyong raised one eyebrow and shook him by the shoulder.

“Is it you, Choi Seunghyun?”

“Yes, ma'am” 

“You stink of alcohol” Jiyong backed off and stared at him “How much did you drink last night? Did you even sleep? You’re wearing the same clothes from yesterday”

“Me and Daesung drank till morning and passed out at the bar and the owner kicked us out”

“I thought you spent the night with that girl…”

“Uh?” Seunghyun made a noise, he had hangover and couldn’t understand a thing.

“Nothing” Jiyong bit his lower lip, he wasn’t supposed to know about Seunghyun flirting with that woman, it wasn’t his deal anyway “Come on, go to the private bathroom at my office and take a shower”

Seunghyun did what Jiyong ordered without protesting. He took a cold shower to brighten up, when he finished, he felt a little better.

“I know you don’t like people watching you , so I leave the clothes on the ground next the door” Jiyong said behind the door “I’ll wait for you at the cafeteria”

“I get it” Seunghyun waited for Jiyong to leave before getting out of the bathroom and took the clothes quickly.

He stared at the clothes Jiyong gave to him, it was dark skinny jeans and a tee that said “N.Y.C” and, of course, there were chic sneakers. He dressed up fast and went to the cafeteria, the place was lonely and there weren’t traces of the blond haired man.

“Jiyong?”

“I’m in the kitchen!” the younger replied loudly and Seunghyun stepped into the kitchen stealthily, he was hungry, so he moaned at the food’s aroma.

“What are you doing?”

“Cooking” Jiyong wore an apron with two bunnies kissing each other.

“You’re so cute like a wifey” Seunghyun THOUGHT that, but he said it loudly and Jiyong startled and blushed.

“Don’t say things like that!” Jiyong acted as if he was mad, but in reality he was pleased “I guess you haven’t eaten and it’s bad for your hangover. I made chicken noodle soup and salad for you. It’s healthy food to regain strength and feel better” he placed the food on the table and pushed Seunghyun to the chair and made him to sit down before the dishes. 

“Thank you!” Seunghyun grabbed the chopsticks and started eating noodles. 

“Easy! You can choke yourself!” Jiyong replied as Seunghyun ate like Goku from Dragon Ball.

“I can’t! I’m so hungry and your cooking is so good!!!”

Jiyong blushed hard at the comment.

“Wait” Seunghyun stopped and looked at him “Aren’t you hungry?”

“Of course I am, but you’ve eaten my part”

“Eh… Sorry…” Seunghyun observed the plates almost empty. 

“No matter, I’ll get a snack from the vending machine”

“Fine” Seunghyun said and kept eating.

Jiyong bought a sandwich from the machine in the corridor before returning to the kitchen.

“This place looks abandoned, what happened to everybody?” Seunghyun said.

“It’s 6:00 p.m.; people ended their work a long time ago”

“But you are here”

“I’m working… I try, but I have designer’s block”

“Mmm, maybe because you’re always here and you need to go out. Why aren’t you in Namsan Tower? Dae told me he would go there today for the runway thing”

“Yeah, he left with Youngbae few hours ago. I didn’t feel like going. Namsan Tower is for couples, there are so many pairings that make me pathetic if I go alone”

“You aren’t alone” Seunghyun said “You’re with me, your boyfriend, let’s go to Namsan now!!!”

“Are you still drunk?!”

“No, I feel better thanks to you” Seunghyun held Jiyong’s hand “Let’s go”

All of a sudden, Seunghyun became spirited and hyper, Jiyong couldn’t complain. The older called a cab and took Jiyong to Namsan Tower. Jiyong never went to the tower previously and the landscape surprised him; it was beautiful and majestic.

They reached the tower in cable car; the stars from the nocturnal sky seemed very close to them. Every star sparkled vibrantly upon them.

Jiyong called Youngbae and the older said the staff was at the observation deck enjoying the view of all Seoul, so Jiyong and Seunghyun walked the road to the lift; they bumped into a thousand of padlocks with heart forms. Young and old couples gathered around the padlocks and placed letters and things like that. 

“I told you, this is for couples” Jiyong saw everybody holding hands and kissing.

“Don’t think about that and enjoy the view” Seunghyun said and they kept walking until they reached the elevator and went to the observation deck.

There were stores and restaurants, Youngbae and Daesung with other employees were next to coin-operated binoculars watching the city. 

“Ji, you’re really here!” Youngbae said in surprise “You always say you don’t go to places like this being alone, because it’s pathetic”

“He isn’t alone” Seunghyun held Jiyong’s hand.

“Now I’m sad, because I’m alone” Daesung said.

“You’ve been with me during hours here” Youngbae said.

“It’s not the same” Daesung replied.

 “Fine, I don’t like you either” Youngbae replied and headed to Jiyong “The boutiques here have good fabrics and clothes, I think you want to take a look”

“Show me” Jiyong said excitedly.

“We have to go now” Daesung said to Youngbae.

“It’s true” Youngbae snorted “You should have come earlier; I have to go to the office now with the staff to make the contract for the runway”

“I’ll stay here with Seunghyun” Jiyong grabbed his boyfriend by the arm.

“Are you sure?” Youngbae asked apprehensively, just last night Seunghyun was flirting with a girl and Jiyong felt like crap.

“Yes” Jiyong replied “You go”

“Fine” Youngbae sighed and grabbed Daesung by the ear making him to cry “Let’s go”

 

Love Dust

Seunghyun and Jiyong checked the boutiques. Shortly, Jiyong started buying things and Seunghyun carried the bags. They stepped into a store that sold cosmetics from every part of world, Jiyong checked the lipsticks and took a bright red one and applied on the lips, that was kind of arousing the writer thought.

Jiyong took a pink nail polish; he smiled mischievously and headed towards Seunghyun.

“Let’s paint your nails!”

“No way, I like pink, not so much” Seunghyun tried running away, but Jiyong pushed him on the couch in the store’s lobby and held his hand tightly.

“Please, let me paint your nails” Jiyong asked making aegyo.

“Fine, but I’ll take it off once you finish”

Jiyong giggled and started painting Seunghyun’s nails in pink.

“So, do you have any inspiration now?” Seunghyun asked as Jiyong started using black nail polish to draw flowers on his nails.

“To be honest, no” Jiyong replied.

“I don’t have ideas for my novel either” Seunghyun confessed.

“It’s the first time I hear you to talk about that” 

“Well, it’s a novel about vampires, it’s not unique I guess, there are so many movies and books about them”

“If you have a catchy idea you can sell it”

“I have no one”

“We’re the perfect couple” Jiyong chuckled “At least you have time, but San Valentine is coming. Grrrr, I hate San Valentine”

“San Valentine is about love, right? Think about what love means to you and voilà! You get inspiration!”

“Well, love to me is beautiful, romantic. Love to me is a man that listens more than speaking. Love to me is a man full of cute actions, a man that always has photos of me in his phone and use them as wallpaper. He has to love Gaho and Jolie and be friend of Youngbae. He has to protect me like a hero and be concerned about conserving the environment, he has to remember all the special occasions, accompany me to lose weight if I eat too much on holidays and go to shopping with me, he has to have sense of style. I want him to be playful, but serious at working, I want him to know how to cook and make dinner, to play sports and have big dreams”

“That’s not love; it’s a list of your perfect man” Seunghyun cut off “I think such an idealized man doesn’t even exist”

“Fine, Mr. Wise guy, tell me how love is supposed to be”

“Have fights and forgive, able to understand everything even if nobody’s talking. If she is sick I take care of her and grow older and still being together. Keep loving her even if she turns bald and loses her teeth and her skin is full of wrinkles”

“The falling teeth part and being bald sound ugly. I can’t imagine my partner being like that, I couldn’t stand him”

“I think love is loving the ugliest parts and defects of your partner. If love is beautiful as you say it’s fake and unreal”

“Really, me and you come from different planets”

“I know” Seunghyun replied, he was different and opposite to Jiyong from the beginning.

He didn’t even know how he kept by his side to this day, then he remembered their relationship was business and he was with Jiyong for the money.

“Ha, ha, I drew a bunny in your thumb nail” Jiyong said changing topic.

“Wow, it’s cute” Seunghyun had to accept it, the blond got talent at nail decoration.

“You can’t take the polish off, you’ll kill the bunny”

“I think I’ll have nails like this for a while” Seunghyun sighed resignedly.

The designer’s cellphone sounded and he answered. Seunghyun raised one eyebrow and stared at Jiyong; even talking on the phone he was eye-catching. Suddenly, Jiyong blushed as if the one that he was talking to said something to make him nervous.

“It was Seungri” the black haired man said once Jiyong hung.

“How did you know?” he replied in surprise.

“You always blush when you talk to him and become nervous”

“If you say so…” Jiyong thought “Yes, it was Seungri, he asked me to take dinner”

“What are you waiting for?” Seunghyun said “Go”

“Do you want me to go?”

“Of course, you’re hungry, because I ate your food, and you like Seungri, it’s my work to bring you together, that’s fake boyfriends are for”

“Ok, you want me to go” Jiyong said annoyed as if Seunghyun wanted to get rid of him. That made him sad, because he thought Seunghyun was having good time with him.

“Are you ok?” Seunghyun questioned as Jiyong became stoic.

“Take the shopping bags to the mansion” he yelled at him like always and went away.

“Your mood is challenging” Seunghyun replied, scared.

 

Maybe You’re Right

Seunghyun went to the mansion and the housekeeper received him while Jiyong called Seungri and asked him to meet at the night market next to Myeongdong.

The maknae had something fancier on his mind like going to a romantic italian restaurant with candles and wine, but he wanted to see Jiyong so much he agreed meeting at the market.

Jiyong recognized Seungri with no trouble, since he was leaning against his expensive car in the middle of the crowd.

“What do you want to eat?” Seungri asked smiling as he saw Jiyong.

“Ice cream”

“What?! It’s night and cold, ice cream?!”

“Yes, is it too weird?” he shrugged his shoulders.

“Kind of” Seungri held his hand and walked between the people towards the kiosk that sold ice creams.

They bought ice cream and walked from side to side the streets as they ate.

“You may be wondering why I asked you to go out” Seungri said.

“Not really” Jiyong said “We’re friends”

“Yes, I’ve missed you” Seungri admitted surprising the older “But I’m here because I know Bom asked you to make a wedding dress”

“Yes, she told me you’ll marry each other on San Valentine’s day” Jiyong replied. I really hate Valentine.

“It’s my fault; she just wants to upset you”

“Why would she do something like that?”

“Because she knows you’re important to me… My engagement with her is fake…”

Oh my God, is Seungri going to confess he loves me?! Jiyong thought. He grabbed the ice cream cone strongly.

“Sorry, I’m talking nonsense” Seungri shook his head and smiled “Let’s enjoy this moment”

Jiyong smiled back and kept walking. No matter how Seungri wouldn’t say “I love you”, the designer was already happy for having him by his side.

They passed by a stand that sold golden fishes and stopped to watch the small aquarium. The old man that owned the place stepped on a chair and threw a net into the aquarium where the fishes swam vigorously.

“This one is beautiful” Jiyong pointed to one fish with rainbow scales.

“I like this one more” Seungri pointed the yellow fish that moved its fins like a butterfly.

In addition the fishes there were two seahorses, one pink and one blue, Jiyong couldn’t help but studying them. Suddenly, the net the old man threw into the water trapped the blue seahorse.

“What are you doing, ahjussi?” Jiyong asked bluntly.

“This seahorse is sick; I’m separating him from the others”

“But this seahorse will stay alone” Jiyong faced the pink seahorse left in the aquarium.

“So?” the man replied in confusion and put the sick one into a small fishbowl.

“The seahorses mate for life, if they’re separated from each other, they’ll die from loneliness and sadness”

“That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard” the man laughed deafeningly.

“Jiyong” Seungri placed the hand on his shoulder “I don’t know what’s going on, but seahorses don’t mate for life and certainly they don’t die if they lose their partner, they just find a new one”

“But… I know…” Jiyong made a face, he couldn’t stop thinking about how sad the seahorses were for being divided as he recalled the story Seunghyun told to him.

“Ahjussi, I want to buy the seahorses” Seungri spoke reluctantly.

“Even the sick one?” the man questioned hesitantly.

“Yes”

“Fine, but if they die, no my problem” he took out the pink seahorse from the aquarium and tossed it into the fishbowl where the sick blue one was “Here’s the food and medicine” he provided two bags to Seungri “Everything is 120.000 wons”

Seungri gave the money and took the bags and the fishbowl with the couple of seahorses and offered them to Jiyong.

“Why did you do that?” Jiyong asked puzzled.

“I don’t think they’re sad for being apart, but you do, so I give these seahorses to you and you’ll make sure they don't be apart”

“Th… thanks…” Jiyong replied with tears in his eyes. It was the cutest and most romantic thing ever.

Magically he understood love’s meaning, watching those seahorses together and they looked so happy that made him happy, a thousand of ideas for his new collection popped in his head.

“Can you do one more crazy thing for me?” Jiyong asked.

“Just name it”

“Take me to the airport”

“It’s odd” Seungri replied “Fine” they went to the parking lot where Seungri’s car was and he drove the blond to the airport.

 

He’s Gone

Seunghyun spent his days at the Kwon’s mansion quietly; however, he was worried about Jiyong. He didn’t have news about him after they left Namsan Tower. It was already one week.

He tried not thinking about that, maybe Jiyong confessed his love for Seungri finally and Seungri loved him back, so they now lived together. It was senseless, but Seunghyun couldn’t think anything better. He was sitting on the couch at the living room and tried writing his novel given that the atmosphere was calm for all the servants that took day off.

Someone opened the door and Seunghyun startled, he ran towards the entrance hoping the stranger was Jiyong, but when he arrived he met Youngbae.

“Hi, I came here to take the dogs to the park”

“Yeah, like every day” Seunghyun replied disappointed.

“I’m glad to see you too”

“Uh…” Seunghyun wanted to ask for Jiyong to Youngbae as days, but he wasn’t able “Do… do you know where Jiyong is?”

“I don’t know, but everytime he goes away like this is because he’s working a new collection, you know, he has so many ideas he hides from everybody to have full concentration”

“I see” Seunghyun still had doubts, but he took Youngbae’s explanation. 

The dogs showed up and ran towards Youngbae while Seunghyun’s phone sounded.

“Hi” Seunghyun answered “Suzy!”

Youngbae frowned annoyed.

“I can’t believe I took a whole week to call, I’m not sure if you remember me… Eh… Daesung gave me your number… Tomorrow I’ll have free day from work, so I thought… Going out together…”

“I already want to meet you!!!” Seunghyun responded animatedly before hanging up.

But he deleted his smile when he met Youngbae with a mad expression.

“I thought you came here to carry them to the park” Seunghyun pointed the dogs.

“I thought you cared about Jiyong and now you’ll have a date”

“I care about Jiyong, he hasn’t come home during days, it doesn’t mean I don’t go out… It’s not your business anyway”

“It’s my business” Youngbae said “I don’t know what you’re doing with Jiyong. The entire fake boyfriend thing is fishy. You kissed each other and stopped talking and became boyfriends again”

“You know everything, don’t you? So you also should know this charade is to make Seungri jealous so Jiyong can be with him”

“Are you even listening to the things you say? It’s nonsense! For your information, Jiyong is very susceptible and I won’t let you hurt him! He already met a guy like you at college and I won’t let him to be hurt again! If you want to try out new things like being with men and have fun, go to a gay bar; don’t try anything on Jiyong if you don’t mean it for real”

 “Just take the dogs to the park” Seunghyun snorted and went away.

why seunghyun is like jiyong's ex boyfriend?

what youngbae is talking about?

next chapter will be flashback eight years ago when jiyong was 17 and he was freshman at design’s academy and he met dongwook (yes, se7en) a junior from music class (✌ﾟ∀ﾟ)☞ 

I didn’t know how to organize the scenes from this chapter, so I made mini chapters ٩(●˙▿˙●)۶…⋆ฺ I’m not sure what I’m talking about, it's messy. I’m not satisfied cos it’s not very funny and I thought it was a good idea bringing a girlfriend for Seunghyun cos he’s straight and he can’t love Jiyong overnight (✿´‿`)

I truly thought seahorses mate for life, I still want to believe that no matter what seungri says (▰︶︹︺▰)