8 January 2014

Henry wiped the sweat from his neck and face, disgusted with his state of being. Things had returned to relative normalcy after Christmas. It was probably because neither of them dared to broach the topic again. Henry knew where he stood professionally, but personally…it was hard. As such, whenever there was too much of a lull in activities, he would leave the apartment to practice dancing or singing or violin—sometimes piano as well. Anything was fine if didn’t have to spend extra time in Jiyoung’s presence. Henry knew very well that he wasn’t in a stable enough mental state to handle a heartbreak.

Staying in limbo was currently a much better option. Besides, maybe the feelings would just fade as his trainee regime slowly grew more challenging. He had been shown the gradual increase of dancing, singing, and variety practice sessions. By summer, he would be living and breathing the practice rooms. His bed would be a late night, long sought-after love.

On this particular morning though, he had been unable to avoid Jiyoung. The man stated that he had a meeting with Ryeowook at 10am and would come to the studio earlier. Finding that uncharacteristic, Henry had asked why, and received a small, quiet smile in return along with the words, “I want to monitor your practice session. You’ve been coming in a lot after hours. Let me see what you’ve been working on.”

Which was what had led to the past three-hour dance session that consisted of Jiyoung silently watching Henry work himself through the same choreography just like a broken record. After several run throughs, the boy would pause and rewind the music, adding variety to a part here, or removing an extra step there. Sometimes, he would stop to stretch or switch out a soaked t-shirt for a dry one.

At first, Jiyoung had insisted on attending to bully Henry. Ever since their spat on Christmas, there had been distance between them. He wondered if all the extra training Henry did was merely for show—a convenient excuse to get away from the apartment. However, watching the boy now, he almost felt guilty for silently accusing him of being a passive-aggressive child. Clearly, even if he was avoiding Jiyoung, he also wasn’t slacking on his work.

That’s what was supposed to matter right? So why couldn’t he shake this feeling of irritation? When he first took Henry on, he had little interest in creating a personal bond. Now though, after only a couple weeks of having a purely professional relationship, Jiyoung couldn’t help but be displeased. Was this how things would be? Had he actually developed affection, platonic or otherwise, for this boy?

“Jiyoung-hyung.”

He snapped back to attention, blinking and looking up at where Henry had paused in changing shirts. “Yes?”

“Uh, it’s 9:58am. Don’t you have a meeting with Ryeowook-hyung soon?”

Jiyoung mentally kicked himself. He had lost track of time after all. Standing up smoothly, he headed to the door. “Yes. Thanks for reminding me. I must be…tired.”

Henry just nodded, concern written all over his face.

Pursing his lips softly, Jiyoung paused at the door. “You’re doing well, Henry. Keep it up.”

“Thank you,” he responded softly, still appearing uneasy with Jiyoung’s behavior. “If…If you’re tired, you should rest for a bit after this meeting.” Henry looked down, busying himself with straightening out his shirt and checking the music player.

“Then come rest with me.”

Henry dropped the remote to the music player. He scrambled to pick it up, face bright red. “W-What?”

“You’ve been working yourself too hard as well. After this meeting, I’ll take you to lunch. And then we’ll spend the rest of the day resting. Okay?” Jiyoung had no idea what he was saying. His secretary would definitely throw a fit when he told her of these sudden changes in his plans. She would manage it though. She had yet to fail him. He just couldn’t stop now. Not now when his heart was beating just a bit faster, and Henry was flustered over him, and…and what was he doing?

“Don’t you have tons of other things to do today? I’ve seen your schedule,” Henry narrowed his eyes skeptically. “You really shouldn’t put that pressure on your secretary just because you have whims.”

“She’ll handle it,” Jiyoung smiled.

Henry grimaced. “That’s an abuse of power.”

“Didn’t you just tell me to rest? This is exactly what I’m doing.” He had let go of the door by then, taking steps back toward his ward. Jiyoung had forgotten the fun of teasing him.

“Then do that. I have more training sessions this afternoon. I don’t need the rest.” Henry backed up without thinking.

“I’ll have them rescheduled,” Jiyoung answered simply, smile turning sharp and cool. “Is that enough?”

Henry’s back bumped the glass mirror. Feeling trapped, he pressed as far back as possible, but couldn’t get far enough away as Jiyoung leaned over him. “I…I don’t need it.”

The older man wasn’t touching him, but the breath of space between their faces was enough to send Henry’s thoughts out the window. He stared blankly, unable to focus on anything other than Jiyoung’s eyes, nose and lips. “I think you do,” he murmured, fingers brushing Henry’s chin, tipping it slightly.

The door creaked open.

A soft gasp caught Henry’s ear and he quickly shoved Jiyoung away before fleeing to the other end of the room. Looking over, he watched Kyuhyun and Ryeowook freeze in the doorway. “H-Hey!” Henry croaked.

Jiyoung glanced over as well. “Oh. Sorry, I lost track of time while chatting with Henry.”

“T…That’s fine,” Kyuhyun answered slowly, expression more than skeptical. “We weren’t sure if we got the room wrong, so we went looking around. Should we give you two…a minute?”

“No!” Henry blurted. “No need. I’m actually just headed out. I’m meeting Kibum-hyung for brunch, so I need to leave and get ready.” At lightning speed, he started tossing used t-shirts into his sports bag, and gathered other miscellaneous items without once looking over at Jiyoung.

“Let’s get going then,” Jiyoung nodded at Kyuhyun and Ryeowook, but his eyes lingered on Henry for a moment too long. Without exchanging anymore words with the boy, he ushered them out of the room, leaving Henry alone.

The moment the door shut, Henry sank to the floor, covering his face and stifling the urge to scream. Whatever game Jiyoung wanted to play now wasn’t going to end well. Neither of them had clearly expressed their intentions and Henry wasn’t interested in anything complicated as he tried to focus on his career. However, if Jiyoung kept pulling stunts like that, he wasn’t sure if he would come out of these trainee days unscathed. 

***

Ryeowook left the meeting in a daze.

Beside him, Kyuhyun watched on with amusement, trying to decide between congratulating him on not fainting or teasing him for being so nervous. Deciding on the latter, he nudged his friend hard, watching Ryeowook stumble. “Pull yourself together,” Kyuhyun chuckled, “It’s over and G-Dragon still wants you.”

“I’m just…trying to process what happened,” Ryeowook mumbled, clutching the contract tightly in one hand. The protective slip cover over the papers was the only thing keeping them from wrinkling. Becoming a trainee under G-Dragon’s mentorship was unfathomable. He could barely register attending college and now he was going to work with one of the largest names in the South Korean music industry. What was life?

Kyuhyun nodded a bit, unable to stop grinning. “You know what his means, don’t you?”

“That I’m going to debut one day?” he responded absently, eyes far away.

“No,” Kyuhyun clicked his tongue, reaching out to turn Ryeowook’s face to his own. “We’re going to attend the same trainee classes starting next week. Get ready to see a whole lot of me.”

Ryeowook’s gaze focused and he laughed. “You make it sound like a threat. You already know how much I love spending time with you.” His smile simultaneously broke and mended Kyuhyun’s heart. Just then, Ryeowook’s phone buzzed loudly. Fumbling for it, he checked the number before holding up a hand to Kyuhyun apologetically and hurrying toward the studio lobby.

Walking at a slower pace, Kyuhyun watched the other man stand near the exit, hand closed over his mouth and the phone receiver. His eyes were scrunched up in giddy excitement as he spoke rapidly to the person on the phone. Kyuhyun hovered a few feet away, pretending to scroll through feeds on his device. The snippets of conversation he did catch clarified why Ryeowook looked over the moon.

Lunch. Hyungsik. Celebrate.

A minute later, the call ended and Ryeowook was coming back over to him. “Hey, I’m heading out to lunch now. I know that you have lessons in the afternoon, but do you want to join Hyungsik and I for lunch? We can invite Eunhyuk and Donghae as well if they’re not too busy.”

Kyuhyun masked his surprise. Was it common to choose a group lunch over a lunch date? “Are you sure? Don’t you want to chat with your boyfriend one-on-one?”

“We can talk privately anytime. I want to tell all of my close friends about this meeting though,” Ryeowook grinned, “it’s more fun with everyone, right?”

Does Hyungsik agree? Kyuhyun relented. “Okay. Let’s go. I don’t have to be back until 4pm, so we can take out time. I’ll call Eunhyuk.”

Kyuhyun’s first thought as they strolled into the restaurant some twenty minutes later was that he should’ve known it would end up like this. Sitting at a large round table was Hyungsik alone. Ryeowook hurried up to him, exchanging greetings and hugs. Their fingers brushed against one another as they stepped apart, continuing to linger as they sat down. What did I do to deserve being a third wheel?

Ryeowook looked over to where Kyuhyun had settled himself into the seat across the table. “Have you two formally met before?”

“I think we’ve come across one another before,” Kyuhyun offered. “I don’t really recall exactly when.”

“Ah, then I’ll introduce you. This is Cho Kyuhyun,” he explained, looking at Hyungsik, who in turn, seemed to have no one but Ryeowook in his line of sight. “And Kyuhyun, this is my boyfriend, Park Hyungsik.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” Hyungsik smiled a bit. It was hardly a secret how much Ryeowook raved about the man across the table. In fact, it sometimes worried him how much his lover adored another man. It was doubly concerning when said man looked and sounded like Kyuhyun. Although Hyungsik had rarely felt insecure about his appearance, this was one such case where he wasn’t sure anymore.

Kyuhyun just smiled back, but the chilly atmosphere around him hardly encouraged Hyungsik to be friendlier. “Same.”

Alright. Pressing his lips together awkwardly, Hyungsik rattled his brain for something to talk about. “Uh…so you’re one of G-Dragon’s mentees, right? That’s amazing. You must sing very well.”

“I do.” Kyuhyun poured himself a cup of water from the table’s pitcher. “And you? Are you also interested in entertainment?”

Hyungsik nodded quickly. “I am. My friends and I actually have our first audition next week. We’re trying to debut as a group.”

Surprise passed over Kyuhyun’s features, and Hyungsik allowed himself a small feeling of satisfaction. The emotion faded quickly from Kyuhyun’s face though. “I see. Good luck then. I’m sure Ryeowook will be telling me all about it during our practice sessions.” He smiled, but it was so far from being pleasant that Hyungsik felt more threatened than anything else.

Ryeowook was already flipping through the paper menu, unaware or willingly ignorant of the awkward air. “Have you eaten here before, Kyuhyun?” he asked lightly, having clearly tuned out their conversation.

“Only once.”

“Hmm, then do you want me to recommend something? This is one of my favorite places, so I know the menu pretty well,” Ryeowook offered, grinning happily.

Kyuhyun chuckled. “Sure. I trust you.”

Hyungsik abruptly recalled Eunhyuk’s rather astute observation as he watched his lover and Kyuhyun bantering. They were in their own little world. Sneaking glances and blatant eye contact. Teasing words and sweet ones. Affectionate smiles and coy smirks. In a matter of minutes, Hyungsik had already grasped the basics of what Ryeowook and Kyuhyun must be like when they’re together. Were they this openly interested in one another all the time? Or was it worse when they spent time alone? On one hand, Hyungsik felt a desire to call Ryeowook out on the behavior. On the other, he wondered if it was a conscious affinity for one another.

From Kyuhyun’s position, it was clearer where he stood. From Ryeowook’s though, Hyungsik couldn’t tell. His interest and affections hadn’t waned, so it was too soon to accuse him of being unfaithful. Furthermore, Ryeowook just didn’t seem the type to knowingly hurt someone in that way. When he and Ryeowook were alone together, it was still both comfortable and exciting. So…was this a one-sided crush?

Oh…so even people like Cho Kyuhyun have such problems… Hyungsik tried not to let the realization show on his face.

Ryeowook stood up, waving the menu. “I’m going to put in our orders for now and Eunhyuk and Donghae can do theirs when they arrive.” He left the table, and consequently the two of them together alone.

“How long have you and Ryeowook been dating?” Kyuhyun asked, voice casual.

Hyungsik picked up the water pitcher, pouring himself a glass. “Since late November, but we’ve known each other since almost the beginning of college.”

“Hmm, not too long then.”

“Long enough.”

Kyuhyun smirked. “We’ll see.”