Chapter 22

It was a while later when Jongdae actually decided to speak. They were walking around an alleyway near where Yixing’s place was, since it was quieter and less crowded than the actual main streets. The air was crisp, but not exactly cold; it was only April, after all. Zitao had been humming some random Chinese song that had been stuck in his head when he heard it on the main streets when Jongdae stopped abruptly.

Zitao looked over. “Hyung? What’s wrong? Is my humming annoying you?”

Jongdae shook his head and looked up. “Minseok-hyung confessed to me.”

Zitao looked at Jongdae confusedly. “W-what…?”

“When he talked to me.” Jongdae explained. “He told me he liked me. He’d liked me since I knew him in school.”

Zitao blinked. “And…what did you say in response…?”

“I didn’t say anything.” Jongdae responded. “I couldn’t… So I left as fast as I could without physically seeing where I was going.”

Zitao stared at Jongdae. “Well…what would you have said?”

Jongdae thought for a while. “I would have apologized. Because I have you.”

A smile formed on Zitao’s lips. “And…if you weren’t dating me?”

“I’d still say no.” Jongdae said. “Because even if I weren’t dating you…I don’t even think of him that way. And, I’d still have a crush on you… And don’t even bother asking what I’d say if I didn’t know you. Because I don’t know where I’d be right now if I didn’t know you.”

Zitao grinned and messed up Jongdae’s hair. “Don’t say such things. It’ll make me want to kiss you and never let you go.”

“Do it then.” Jongdae commented with a smile. “No one’s going to stop you.”

Zitao grinned even wider and cupped Jongdae’s face before quickly planting a kiss on his lips. Jongdae immediately reacted, wrapping his arms around Zitao’s neck and pulling him closer and deepening the kiss slightly. Zitao’s hands moved around Jongdae’s neck to deepen the kiss even more, relishing the taste of his boyfriend’s mouth. He wished he could stay like that forever, but unfortunately, Zitao ran out of breath and had to pull away.

He smiled down at Jongdae, his hands moving back to cup his cheeks and caress his cheeks. “I hope you’re happy now.”

“Of course I am.” Jongdae replied with a wide grin. “How can I not be happy when I have the best boyfriend ever?”

Zitao beamed and hugged Jongdae tightly. “I love you, hyung.”

Jongdae hugged back, nuzzling up against Zitao’s chest. “I love you more.”

Zitao laughed and ran his hand through Jongdae’s hair. “Don’t start this conversation.”

Jongdae smiled and hugged Zitao tighter. “Can we just stay like this forever?”

“I really want to…” Zitao said, almost whining. “I wish we could just stand here and hold each other for eternity. But you still need to get your vision. And if we don’t go back now, the others will get worried.”

“That’s true.” Jongdae agreed.

Zitao pulled away, but kissed Jongdae on the lips once more. Then he took Jongdae’s hand again. “Let’s go, then.”

Jongdae nodded and followed Zitao back to Yixing’s studio/house. They returned several minutes later to see everyone gathered around the table, talking about something. Zitao walked towards the table with Jongdae in tow, wondering what was going on. Jongdae stayed silent, probably sensing Minseok’s presence.

“What’s going on?” Zitao asked in both Korean and Mandarin.

Yixing looked up. “Oh, we were just discussing current events and such. And each other.”

Zitao nodded. “Ah. Well, there’s not much to say about me. So if you need me, I’ll be in my room talking to my friend from Korea. His birthday is coming up, and I haven’t been talking to him since I met Jongdae-hyung, so I need to make up for it.”

Jongdae’s eyes lit up. “Sehun-ah? I want to see—er, hear—Sehun-ah too!”

Zitao laughed. “You’re still acting immature. But…just wait until you get your vision. You’ll see how I really am. But of course you can. I’m sure Sehun will be happy to see you.”

Jongdae tilted his head, but dismissed Zitao’s first comment and grinned. Zitao patted Jongdae’s head and bowed respectfully to the other males. With that, he took Jongdae’s hand and took him into their temporary bedroom so he could grab his laptop and video call Sehun. Obviously, Jongdae wouldn’t be able to see Sehun just yet, but maybe Sehun would like to see Jongdae.

“Look who called.” Sehun said, almost sarcastically as soon as the call started.

“A lot of stuff happened yesterday.” Zitao replied. “I apologize for not calling you right when I got here. I had to…deal with stuff. I brought a friend to talk though.”

Sehun seemed confused. “Friend? What do you—?”

Zitao gently tugged Jongdae into the frame of the camera. “Jongdae-hyung wanted to hear you.”

Sehun smiled slightly. “Jongdae-hyung! How’s it going?”

Jongdae smiled too, hearing Sehun’s voice. “For not being able to see still, I’m pretty good. Had a couple incidents during the past two days…but…it’s cool. How about you? Are you faring well? I heard your birthday is coming up. Sorry for dragging Zitao-ah to China with me.”

Sehun chuckled. “I don’t mind. I hope you get your vision back, hyung. Then you’ll finally get to see what a child Zitao-hyung is.”

“Y-yah!” Zitao interjected. “Don’t tell him that!”

“I can tell him whatever I want.” Sehun said, sticking his tongue out at Zitao. “He’s your boyfriend; he needs to know these things.”

Zitao flushed. “Sehun-ah, sto~p. You’re embarrassing me…”

“Oh, how I wish Jongdae-hyung could see your face!” Sehun laughed. “I’ll stop now.”

“How’s it going with Jongin-ah, by the way?” Zitao asked. “If you know what I mean?” he laughed awkwardly, realizing how stupid that sounded. “Okay, no. Sorry. But seriously. Does Jongin make you lonely or anything?”

Sehun blushed and Zitao gives an amused smiled. Sehun shook away the blush. “There—there’s nothing going on with us! But anyways, no, I’m not lonely. And Candy-ah is fine, by the way. Apparently you care more about a non-existent relationship than your own dog.”

“OH! I forgot you had Candy-ah!” Zitao exclaimed. “Sorry. A lot of stuff going on.”

“If Candy-ah could, she’d probably be crying right now.” Sehun said.

Jongdae laughed slightly. “Poor girl. But Zitao-ah did have to deal with a lot because of me… It’s settled now, though so don’t worry.”

“Don’t ask.” Zitao said. “It’s a long story.”

“I’ve got a while.” Sehun said. “Spill. What’s been happening?”

Zitao sighed and explained all the things happened with Jongdae and Minseok. Sehun listened quietly for the majority of the story. At some parts, Sehun laughed for no apparent reason, but did take most of it seriously. Jongdae seemed embarrassed as Zitao explained it and started clinging to the younger male, his face pretty red (that also caused Sehun to laugh).

“Jongdae-hyung rejected someone he knew from childhood for you?” Sehun laughed. “You must be some catch then.”

Zitao rolled his eyes. “You’re just jealous.”

“Totally.” Sehun responded sarcastically.

“Oh, yeah. You have Jonginnie!” Zitao teased.

Suddenly, Jongin appeared on screen. “What? I heard my name.” He eyed at Jongdae’s figure. “Oh, is this the boyfriend you were talking about?”

Jongdae, hearing a new voice, grinned. “Yes! Hello! I’m Jongdae. Hopefully, I’ll actually get to see you soon.”

“That’s right; you can’t see, can you?” Jongin said. “I’m Kim Jongin. Sehun-ah’s friend.”

“Notoriously known by Zitao-ah as his boyfriend/crush apparently.” Jongdae joked. “I’m kidding by the way. I wouldn’t know though.”

“Not you too, Jongdae-hyung!” Sehun covered his face, emitting a laugh from both Zitao and Jongin.

“You’re gonna have to deal with it.” Zitao said. “I’m going to do it until it actually happens.”

Sehun sighs and the others continue laughing. The conversation also continues with more laughter and teasing. Surprisingly, Zitao wasn’t bothered by the others in the living room. They probably did wonder what the hell was going on in that room, but Zitao didn’t really care. He owed a long conversation with Sehun. Especially since his birthday was soon. And he was his best friend, after all. Zitao felt content; he was with his boyfriend, talking to his best friend, and his boyfriend is here to get his vision back. What more did a man—or at least Zitao—need?

Later that day, while Jongdae was in another look-over/check-up by Yixing, Zitao was sitting, talking to Yifan. Minseok had appeared not soon later to talk to Zitao about something Zitao wasn’t quite sure about, but hopefully it had nothing to do with Jongdae and him. Yifan left to let them talk in private, and Minseok sat down next to him.

“What is it?” Zitao asked.

Minseok shrugged. “I just wanted to talk. Yixing-ah doesn’t need me anymore. And I kind of just didn’t want to be around Jongdae-ah right now. I feel bad.”

Zitao tilted his head. “Okay…so why come to me?”

“I dunno.” Minseok admitted. “But…since I’m here, why don’t you tell me about yourself.”

Zitao was confused, but nodded. “Well, what do you want to know?”

“How you met Jongdae-ah?” Minseok offered. “For a start.”

“It was kind of accidental.” Zitao said. “At my uni, I tend to go in early to listen to or watch the students practice. Jongdae-hyung just kinda happened to be singing one morning in one of the practice rooms, and I heard it and got curious. I only actually found him the next morning I heard him singing, though.” Minseok nodded, acknowledging Zitao to continue. Zitao laughed at the thought of a mere…two weeks ago. “I kinda didn’t realize he was blind until he told me. But he didn’t seem to mind; he said it had happened to him before. He was so casual and nonchalant for someone who was blind that I could barely believe it. He was also a complete sweetie.”

Minseok smiled faintly. “Well, it doesn’t surprise me that he appeared at your university if it’s a music one. He’s always liked singing and music.”

Zitao nodded. “Then…I guess we kept meeting after that in the morning. He complained about his parents not respecting him anymore because of his blindness and told me he wanted out for a bit—so I let him stay at my place for a day. And—I guess that’s when…everything started happening.”

“Oh. And you’ve treated him well, even after simply meeting him in a practice room in your university?” Minseok asked.

“Everybody meets somewhere.” Zitao said with a shrug. “And he seemed like he needed the support. He told me he hadn’t had a real friend in a lot of years. Perhaps he was referring to you when he said that. So I decided to be the friend he needed.” Zitao smiled slightly. “And then—this happened. Possibly because I had a dream about dating him; maybe that’s how it started for me. But he had told me he liked me…10 minutes before I had that dream. And I thought he was joking because he was half asleep.”

“So then…how did you end up dating then, if you technically rejected his first confession?” Minseok inquired.

Zitao laughed. “I was just too embarrassed to accept it the first time. And the second time later the same day he confessed the first time. Then I guess we completely forgot about it. Until two or so weeks ago where we had a nice talk about our feelings when we first met and so forth.”

“That sounds nice…” Minseok mumbled. “And…why do you like Jongdae-ah? If…that’s not too personal. I’m just curious.”

Zitao shrugged. “Well, he’s just…I can’t explain it. He’s so kind and handsome and talented. I don’t think anyone could hate him.”

Minseok smiled. “You know…I’ve really liked Jongdae-ah for a while. But…I think…I can let him go. For you. You seem to care a lot for him. As well, he seems happier with you than anyone else.”

Zitao’s eyes widened. “Seriously? Well this is…unexpected. I’m happy you’re letting me have him, not like he’s an object or anything. But…what about you?”

“It’s okay.” Minseok said. “Let’s just…put everything aside and start over.” He smiled and offered his hand for Zitao. “Hi. I’m Kim Minseok. Born and raised in Korea until I was 13. Moved to China on my own when I was 15. Can speak both fluent Korean, obviously, and fluent Mandarin.”

Zitao smiled back and accepted the handshake. “Nice to meet you. Name’s Huang Zitao.”

Word Count: 2086

A/N: Sorry for the delay. I got lazy, distracted, and occationally busy. Here it is finally! It's kind of...everywhere. But...oh well. ;;

Oh yeah, and my contest is actually still going. I've decided there's no longer a deadline until I think I have enough contestants (really need to fix it). So...I'd appreciate it if you at least talked to friends, etc. into looking at it. ^^ I always at making contests...but, still...