[CONTENTID1]Chapter 16[/CONTENTID1]

[CONTENTID2] Soundtrack: "You don't see me" - Safetysuit

[/CONTENTID2] [CONTENTID3]

"You don't even see me

No, you don't see me that way"

Nam Soon didn't know what to think. What did they want with him? And why did they come to talk to him all of a sudden?

Trying to act as casual as possible after that, Nam Soon nodded at him, just now realizing that his drink was finished. Perhaps this was a sign that it was time to go home.

"So... Can we do anything for you? Are you okay?" Yoon Jae asked him, looking genuinely concerned, even though Nam Soon had no idea why, because he didn't even know him.

"No, I'm fine," Nam Soon mumbled, pulling his wallet from his pocket, intending to stand up and leave.

However, as he watched the two boys standing up, something inside him made him change his mind. Something made him call them back. It was a feeling that maybe, just maybe, these two would probably be able to understand him better than himself.

Maybe these two younger guys would change his life in a surprising way. Or maybe he was wrong and they would have a brief conversation today and he would never hear about them again. Nam Soon didn't know the answer to that, but in the end they were back to his side and the waitress was already bringing a new bucket of beers.

"Now I'd like to tell you

And I'd like to say

How I, I feel right now"

Heung Soo had just parked his car in front of Jin Ah and Moo Yul's building. She was briefly asleep so Moo Yul helped him to get her up to her apartment. Heung Soo said she was fine, but Moo Yul insisted on helping him until she was properly lying over her bed.

"She's my friend, before she's your girlfriend," Moo Yul reminded him as he covered her up with some blankets.

"Yeah, fine," Heung Soo just mumbled, not really that interested. "Now you can rest assured," he said as he took off his coat. Moo Yul nodded in his direction and let out a soft sigh.

"She has always been weak for drinks," Moo Yul grumbled and Heung Soo just let out a small sigh.

"Well, she's fine now," he assured him, and Moo Yul turned around saying a brief goodbye as he walked out the door, not forgetting to ask him to call if anything happened. Heung Soo guaranteed he would and locked the door behind him as soon as he left.

He went ahead to bed after that - he was exhausted. He knew he shouldn't have drunk so much because he totally forgot about the fact that he would have to work the next day.

Before falling asleep though, he checked his cell phone too see if there was any message from Nam Soon. He didn't want to leave him like that, but it was not like he could do anything about it right now.

However, there was no lost message or call on his cell phone. He considered calling him for a few seconds, but Nam Soon would probably kill him if he woke him up. Heung Soo sighed as he looked at the blank screen of his phone - he would call early in the morning to make sure everything was fine.

"And I'd like to follow

You down the hall

And see where it goes from there

But you, you don't care"

"Heung Soo..." Nam Soon mumbled, drinking what should be the fifth bottle of beer since Yoon Jae and Joon Hee joined him, "he doesn't pay attention to me anymore," he continued with his dilemma, not really sure anymore of what he was really saying. Joon Hee had already stopped with the beer since some time ago and stuck to water, as he and Yoon Jae just listened to Nam Soon's mumbles. He'd been talking about Heung Soo for over an hour now. "It's just his girlfriend now. He used to spend the whole weekend with me, but now he always has to leave to meet her."

"So... Do you like him?" Yoon Jae asked, certain that the answer was yes, but he felt he should give his opinion on the matter.

"If I like him?" Nam Soon burst out laughing, "No, I don't, I'm a man!" He exclaimed, totally forgetting the fact that this might sound like an insult to the other two.

"I'm a man. Can't I like Joon Hee?" Yoon Jae said, ignoring the fact that the other boy just made signs for him to forget about this detail. However, Nam Soon wasn't really listening. "That bastard, now that he has a girlfriend that looks like me, he doesn't need me anymore," Nam Soon murmured, taking the last sip of his beer. He had already lost count of how much he drank tonight- not that he was really thinking in this drunken state. "I bet he's been making ramen for her, too. He only did it for me before. And his bad taste for movies, I'm sure he got it from her. When he only had me, his taste used to be the best," he complained and Joon Hee couldn't control his laughter this time.

"Since when have you known each other?" Joon Hee questioned and Nam Soon stared at him with a resentful expression - a little bit of a funny one if you added it to his drunkenness.

"Don't know," he mumbled, unable to really count the time that he and Heung Soo had known each other. He searched for another can, but all of their drinks were over, and Yoon Jae prevented him from ordering a new one from the waitress.

"I think you've had enough," he said, holding Nam Soon's arms when he threatened to call the waiter that was passing by.

"Why? I'm not drunk," he defended himself, but was unable to ignore the sick feeling in his stomach which felt like he was just about to throw up.

"Yah, Yah, YAH!" Yoon Jae exclaimed, noticing that he just made that face. "Not here, It's time to go," he said, looking at Joon Hee and gesturing for them to help Nam Soon stand up.

And he indeed was drunk. He couldn't even walk straight, as the whole bar started to spin around him.

"I need to sit down..." Nam Soon murmured, feeling like he was indeed about to vomit.

"I'll take him out, just go and pay, we will settle the bills later," Yoon Jae said, putting Nam Soon's arm over his shoulders and heading toward the parking lot. It was tricky to carry him, not because he was fat - quite the opposite - but because he was so much taller than Yoon Jae. He had not noticed this height difference before.

When they went outside, Yoon Jae helped him sit on the curb. Nam Soon took a deep breath and closed his eyes, staring down at his feet. It didn't help that much, but the fresh air soothed him a bit.

Joon Hee came out from the bar a few minutes later, and Yoon Jae helped Nam Soon stand up again so they could leave. Nam Soon put his hand inside his pocket and took out his car keys.

"Yah, you're not driving," Joon Hee alerted him. He knew they'd just met, but there was no way that they would let him leave like that. He could not only kill himself, but someone with him.

"But.." Nam Soon mumbled, closing his eyes again as he tried to adjust to the scenery that kept spinning around him.

"I'll drive," Yoon Jae said, taking the keys from his hand. "Joon Hee-yah, I'll see you at home." Joon Hee just shook his head and moved on to where he had parked his car.

It took some time for them to finally find Nam Soon's car - it was much harder since Nam Soon couldn't even walk by himself.

"Open the window," Yoon Jae exclaimed as they were finally inside the vehicle. "And don't you dare to throw up on me,"

"I won't..." Nam Soon assured him, closing his eyes and adjusting his head closer to the cold wind coming from the open window.

They arrived at Yoon Jae's building a few minutes later, and Joon Hee was already waiting in the parking garage. He imagined he would need to help Yoon Jae take Nam Soon up to their apartment.

They rushed to the bathroom as soon as they entered and were relieved they did, because the first thing Nam Soon did was run to the toilet bowl to puke everything that he had been holding down since the bar.

"Oh God," Yoon Jae rolled his eyes, getting out of the room and leaving all the dirty work in Joon Hee's hands.

"I wish that I could tell you

Every single thought I ever had about you and me

But you don't see me that way"

It was already ten minutes to the time Heung Soo usually left for work, but Nam Soon wasn't picking up his phone - in fact, it was turned off since he woke up.

The ing bastard. He was about to give him a ride, but suddenly he didn't feel like it anymore.

"Are you okay?" Jin Ah asked as she came out of the bathroom, ready to leave.

"Sure, can we go?" He assured her. To be quite honestly, he didn't want to tell her about Nam Soon again, or else she might get a little bit mad that he was worried about Nam Soon again - she was not really happy the other day, because she had to eat alone and the food was already cold when he got back home.

He ended up giving Moo Yul a ride instead - since they work in the same company anyway. However, as soon as he realized that Nam Soon hadn't arrived yet, he could not help getting a little worried.

They went up to the office while Heung Soo insistently tried to call him but only got voicemail. If Nam Soon was just sleeping, Heung Soo might as well just kill him for real.

Since he couldn't keep calling every minute during work hours, he tried his hardest to concentrate on his job - however his mind kept creating the most different explanations for what might have happened, and none of them ended in good way - even those that Nam Soon was actually asleep, but Heung Soo ended up killing him after finding out.

Lunchtime finally arrived and Heung Soo made his best not to look so desperate to get to the cafe where Nam Soon worked. He didn't talk about it with Moo Yul, but the other noticed that Heung Soo was looking at his cell phone every ten minutes.

Nam Soon wasn't at work though. He didn't come to work this morning and none of his coworkers were able to tell him what happened. Even Nam Soon's manager couldn't get a hold of him.

What if something happened yesterday? He shouldn't have left without being sure that Nam Soon was okay to drive. He should have tried to call him before he went to sleep when he saw that hadn't sent him any messages.

He couldn't work the rest of the day without hearing from him. He had to go to Nam Soon's apartment to make sure that he was okay.

"And I'd like to give you

All that I have

To have you stay with me

But you, you don't see me"

Heung Soo's milky skin was shining with his bright smile under the warm sun of that day. The way his fingers touched his lips, the way he looked at him with his dark, dreamy eyes... It melt his heart like a sweet piece of chocolate.

"Heung Soo-ya..." He whispered, his hands searching for the ones that were caressing his cheeks. "I love you, Heung Soo-ya..." He mumbled, probably too loudly since that made him wake up. The room was too bright and it took quite some time for him to realize that he didn't recognize where he was.

He was sleeping over a gray sofa, in a living room that he didn't remember ever seeing before, but it that should belong to a healthy family since it was almost the same size of his entire apartment. Not that this was too much - his apartment that was too small, not this one too big.

He raised his hands to his eyes, rubbing them as he tried to remember what had happened. It was not so easy, since he had just realized how much his head was hurting.

A few fragments from last night began to appear. The last thing he clearly remembered was sitting with Yoon Jae and Joon Hee. They bought some buckets of beer and he started drinking again. After that, he could remember only a few small fragments.

He heard someone walking into the room and looked up. Apparently Yoon Jae had just arrived home, since he was wearing a nice suit and putting his black briefcase over the couch.

"How are you feeling?" He asked, with an amused smile on his face.

"I don't know... is this your house?" Nam Soon mumbled, somehow feeling quite embarrassed.

"Mine and Joon Hee. Don't you remember?" He laughed as Nam Soon sighed in response.

"I don't know..." He murmured, checking out his phone that was resting on the central table. It had ran out of battery. "What time is it?" He asked, worried. He had the feeling that he had missed work.

"Lunch time... Joon Hee just finished making some bibimbap¹, wanna eat some?"

Nam Soon stood up, trying to ignore the aching in his head.

"Thanks, but I have to get to work," he mumbled, scratching the back of his neck. He would need to come up with a good excuse for missing work this morning.

"Don't worry, Joon Hee can get you a sick note for this morning. It doesn't look like it, but he is a doctor," Yoon Jae explained under Nam Soon's worried gaze.

"Don't abuse it," he heard Joon Hee's voice complaining from the kitchen.

"Don't worry about it, really," Nam Soon mumbled, actually feeling embarrassed of all this.

"Shut up and come," Yoon Jae exclaimed as he loosened the knot of his blue tie.

There was a good scent of cooked food coming from the kitchen, Nam Soon noticed. He indeed was hungry.

"Just sit," Joon Hee said, "I'll get you the sick note later don't worry. Just don't make it a habit, it's just because I saw that you needed to rest after drinking that much," he said as he served the bibimbap on to Nam Soon's plate.

"Thanks..." Nam Soon muttered. "And sorry, did I give too much trouble yesterday?" He asked, not sure if he really wanted to know.

"Well... Aside from puking in our bathroom..." Yoon Jae mumbled

"And talking non stop about Heung Soo," Joon Hee completed.

Nam Soon let out a loud cry in frustration, covering his face up with his hands.

"I'm so sorry," he said, taking his wallet out of his pocket. "I'm guessing you paid for everything too, right? How much was it?"

"Don't worry, we can settle that later. For now, just eat," Joon Hee laughed.

Embarrassingly, Nam Soon put his wallet back in his pocket again.

"But make sure you leave your number before you go," Yoon Jae said. "So I have someone to call when I need a favor," he chuckled, and Nam Soon smiled embarrassingly.

"But you don't see me that way

No, you don't see me that way, no, no, no

No, you don't see me that way"

"It was all my fault," Heung Soo mumbled, cursing himself nonstop for leaving Nam Soon alone at that bar. He should have been sure that he was fine before he left.

He arrived in just a few minutes at Nam Soon's apartment, and was glad that it was close to their work. He parked right in front of it and went straight to the intercom. But, just as he had feared, no one was picking it up.

The doorman was staring at him the whole time and ended up letting him in. He was lucky that he already knew his face, since he had been coming to Nam Soon's apartment often.

As he climbed the stairs toward his apartment, Heung Soo tried to ignore the anxiety that grew with each step. Nam Soon had to be home ... He simply had to be.

But no matter how many times he rang that bell, no one answered.

Nam Soon didn't sleep at home last night? Why? Where was he?

He banged on Nam Soon's door, calling out his name. At this point he didn't care about what the neighbors would think.

"Heung Soo?" He heard a familiar voice approaching him from behind. And there, coming up the stairs, was that bastard looking at him as if nothing had happened.

"Where the hell have you been?" Heung Soo barked at him, without deciding whether he was more angry or relieved that Nam Soon was okay.

Nam Soon bit his lips, thinking about what to say. He couldn't really tell the truth - that he slept somewhere else - because Heung Soo would question who he was with, and how could he tell him that he was in a gay couple's apartment? What if that raised suspicions? There's no way he could let that happen.

"I woke up with an headache and went to the doctor... I didn't see that my phone ran out of battery before I left..." He mumbled as Heung Soo sighed slowly. He couldn't make a scene out of this, since it was his fault for being so worried to the point of coming here.

"Are you better now?" He asked, with a relieved expression finally showing up on his face - Nam Soon was fine, so everything was okay.

Nam Soon smiled at him, feeling a pleasant warmth inside. Heung Soo was worried about him - he came all the way here because of him. He knew it was foolish to feel this way. He knew it, but it was impossible not to feel that way.

"Come, I'll get you to work," Heung Soo came towards him, putting one of his arms around his shoulders.

Nam Soon was still planning to take a shower and change his clothes before leaving, but he was relieved that Heung Soo hadn't realized that he hadn't changed them since last night, so it was better to go to work anyway, just in case.

Trying not to think about his warm hands touching his shoulders lightly - which made him blush instantly - and, above all, to ignore the pounding of his heart, he just followed Heung Soo down the stairs.

"I stare at you across the room

I maybe make a move at you

I don't think you'd take it too well"

Nam Soon had been talking to Yoon Jae and Joon Hee the whole week by Kakao Talk. He didn't really think he would end up being friends with them when he first met them at that bar, but things just turned out that way. They were nice people and he was having a good time with them.

"Want to hang out today?" Yoon Jae wrote him on Friday night, some minutes before the end of his shift.

"We're going to a dance club, ever been to one?" Joon Hee asked soon after.

After Nam Soon had finished changing his uniform to his normal clothes, he wrote them back.

"It's been quite some time since I've been to one," probably, as far as he remembered, he had only been to one once before he enlisted in the army, in one of the work meetings he used to have. "But I can't today. Going to watch a series with Heung Soo tonight."

"The 'bastard' that has a girlfriend that looks like you?" Yoon Jae mocked him, and Nam Soon felt his cheeks flush as soon as he saw Heung Soo waiting for him inside his car, right in front of the cafe. He put his cell phone back into his pocket and left the shop. There were still some coworkers inside so he didn't feel the need to close it today.

His cheeks were still flushed when he entered Heung Soo's car. For Yoon Jae to know about that, he probably had talked too much on that day when he was drunk - really too much.

"I need some pizza," Heung Soo mumbled while he drove back to Nam Soon's apartment, "...and some alcohol."

"What happened?" Nam Soon laughed, putting on his seat belt.

"Work was just too stressful. Why did we complain about school again? I was happy and didn't know it."

"That's because we skipped all classes," Nam Soon mumbled, trying to ignore his cell phone vibrating in his pocket. It was probably Yoon Jae sending him some more mocking messages - which he didn't intend to read any time soon.

They were back at Nam Soon's apartment just a few minutes later, and the first thing that Heung Soo did was call the nearest pizzeria to order an extra large pizza with extra cheese. He decided to change the alcohol for some kind of soda.

"What are we going to watch?" Heung Soo muttered, sitting down on the couch.

"Sherlock," Nam Soon said, turning on his notebook and streaming it on the - not so big - television.

"That old movie?" Heung Soo complained, putting his foot over the coffee table like it were his house.

"Shut up... It's the series, and it's not that old," he hissed, sitting down next to Heung Soo when the first episode started.

They were halfway into the middle of the first episode when Heung Soo's cell phone started ringing, and it took quite some time for him to find it inside his suitcase. When he saw who was calling, he gave a quick look at Nam Soon and went into the bedroom to answer it.

Nam Soon thought there was no need to hide it from him anymore. He knew it would be his girlfriend, so why was he hiding from him now? Or perhaps it was better this way. He didn't really feel like hearing him talk to her tenderly, because that would probably kill him inside. However, just by knowing that he was talking to her ... It was enough to break his heart.

"Cause you don't see me that way

You don't see the way I look at you

When you are not looking at me"

Heung Soo came back from the room a few minutes later, apparently not very happy.

"Something came up?" Nam Soon asked from the couch, already expecting Heung Soo to leave. He had to get used to it - to Heung Soo leaving him to go meet his girlfriend. After all, she was more important.

"I forgot that Jin Ah and I were supposed to go to the movies today," He sighed, sitting down next to Nam Soon.

"Aren't you going?" Nam Soon murmured, watching as Heung Soo put his feet back over the coffee table again.

"We already ordered pizza, there's still time. It's only seven o'clock right now, the movie starts at nine o'clock..." He shrugged and Nam Soon looked back at the television, starting the episode again. He didn't want to think about it. He really didn't.

He glanced discreetly to his side, where Heung Soo watched the episode with all of his attention - Park Heung Soo, he was indeed beautiful. He was perfect. But Nam Soon couldn't have those thoughts - he couldn't, because that would never be possible. Heung Soo would never see him like that.

"I steal another glance or two

I maybe take a chance with you

But you, you don't need me"

The pizza came ten minutes later and Heung Soo almost jumped off of the couch to receive it. He was really hungry and the scent of melted cheese filled up his nose.

They went back to the couch with the pizza box and Nam Soon crossed his legs with a slice of pizza in hands.

"You know what, this series is good," Heung Soo mumbled, serving himself and sitting back down at Nam Soon's side - closer than Nam Soon expected.

"Of course it is, I told you, my taste is flawless," Nam Soon shrugged, smiling with the corner of his lips.

"You had to have at least one good thing," Heung Soo mocked, and Nam Soon stared at him with a look of disgust.

"Shut up, bastard," he grunted irritably. The older man looked at him with a smile on his face - a smile so radiant that it was hard to keep the same angry look - and put his slice of pizza back in the box.

"What's with the serious expression?" He laughed, his hands searching for Nam Soon's belly, in an attempt to make him laugh. Nam Soon, who was drinking a glass of soda at the moment, had to swallow it fast to avoid choking or spilling it all over the pizza.

"Yah!" Nam Soon yelled, unable to control his laugh as Heung Soo's hands pressed at the side of his chest, making his cheeks blush horribly. That ing bastard had no idea of what he was doing - touching him like that, like it was nothing. He had no idea of how that messed him up.

They finished the pizza and sat lazily over the couch, already half into the second episode. They lost count of the hours, because that didn't matter. To be together like this, spending these awesome moments together, the hours just didn't matter.

In the warmth of a home like this, a comfortable place to sleep in, a nice movie to watch, and the best company possible. With all that, Heung Soo couldn't think of anything else.

They didn't know when they fell asleep, Heung Soo's head falling to the side and his arms around Nam Soon's shoulders, while Nam Soon's head rested over Heung Soo's chest - the smell of the soap on his body even stronger due to in the proximity. He did not know what he was doing, or how they ended up in that position.

But they were sleeping so deeply that they didn't even hear Heung Soo's cell phone vibrating loudly over the central table, with continuous calls from Jin Ah.

"Now I'd like to hold you

Here in my arms

And have you never leave"