CHAPTER 41: FOREVER WITH YOU

words in purple => flashback

Jongup was drying his wet hair when his phone gave off a sound of an incoming message. He carefully sat on the bed and grabbed the phone that was charging on the night stand. It was from Daehyun and he could not help but smile when he saw the picture that was sent together with a few words. Daehyun was lying on his stomach with his half-sleepy morning face.

Good Morning, Love. Had a good sleep? <3

TEDDY

They were only separated by a thick wall, each of them having a suite all to themselves. Daehyun never told him which part of Japan they were going to until they were called to board the flight yesterday. It was Okinawa, and Jongup swore, Daehyun had chosen the most breathtaking place that he had ever been for his entire life. Their room was enormous and Jongup was sure his boyfriend had spent a good amount of money for this.

When he asked the older, Daehyun just brushed him off and even threatened him that he would kiss the boy right in front of everyone if he ever questioned that again. Regardless, he was a happy mommy to-be and could not wait to start their activity today. They only had a dinner in Jongup’s room last night; Daehyun reasoned out that he wanted his pregnant boyfriend to have a lot of rest after flying for almost two and a half hour.

Exchanging a couple of words to each other’s message and Daehyun went to take his shower. Half an hour later, sound of bell ringing resonated across Jongup’s suite and after making sure he had his wallet and other important things with him, the pregnant boy padded to the door. Once the door was wide opened, he was greeted by a blinding flash and a faint sound of shutter being clicked on. As a reflex, Jongup raised his arm only to cover his eyes in surprise.

“Morning, Angel.” Daehyun wished as he checked the candid photo of his beautiful Jongup on the DSLR screen. The first picture of the day and it was magnificent! He reached for his boyfriend’s arm and pulled it away from covering his face. Before Jongup could utter a reply, a warm pair of lips made contact with his forehead and right cheek. A pink tint adorned the cheeks in record time. Though it was an everyday routine, Jongup could never get used to it.

“And morning to you too, Gukkie.” Jongup just watched as Daehyun bent down to give another kiss to his protruding stomach. The Moon boy gave his warm smile to his boyfriend when they made eye contact.

“Let’s go eat breakfast.”

“Okay.” Jongup replied shortly as he let Daehyun lead him to the elevator, hands holding each other tightly.

“Did Chan hyung lend you his camera?” Jongup casually initiated a conversation while they were riding the elevator. As far as he lived together with Daehyun, he never saw this camera in the apartment and came to a conclusion that the young Jung probably borrowed it from Himchan, knowing his brother’s occupation.

“Nope. I bought it.” Daehyun replied, purposely popping the ‘p’. Jongup raised his brow at the answer. The older quickly changed the subject when he felt the other wanted to press more on it. Jongup did not need to know his purpose of buying the camera was for this vacation.

“Baby?” The young Jung called softly in the middle of having their breakfast. Jongup looked up from his plate and turned to Daehyun, mouth slowly chewing on a piece of pancake. Daehyun chuckled upon seeing the cute sight before his eyes. He stretched his hand out and wiped a small droplet of honey that was tainting Jongup’s chin.

“Oh. Thank you.” The younger avoided Daehyun’s eyes almost instantly when he could catch a glimpse of the older’s teasing smile.

“Angel.”

“Hmm…?” Jongup replied, but trained his eyes on his plate.

“Baby?”

“Yes, Teddy?” Jongup pretended to be busy cutting the pancake into smaller pieces. Daehyun grinned happily with the short response. A few times of name calling and Jongup finally put down his fork. He looked up only to glare at the older. Daehyun’s smile widened before reaching for his boyfriend’s smaller hand on the table. A little resistant from the younger before he willingly let Daehyun do whatever he liked.

“There-There’s something I’d like to tell you.” Daehyun stopped before taking a deep breath in.

“I assumed you didn’t know about it since you didn’t ask anything.” Jongup could feel panic was slowly building up in him. What was this about? Why was he feeling nervous only with Daehyun’s statement?

“Teddy…w-what are you talking about?”

“Jimin…he was admitted to hospital last night.” Jongup was taken aback by the unexpected news. He gasped as he unconsciously placed his other hand on Daehyun’s.

“Why? What happened to him?” the boy looked into his boyfriend’s eyes, asking for an explanation. Just like what Daehyun expected, Jongup did not know about this news. The latter did not go online since he reached Okinawa as he was enjoying his vacation and would only open Kakaotalk to text Daehyun.

“Well…according to the articles on the Internet, he sort of save Tae from a falling stage lamp and unfortunately, he was the one who got hit by it.” Daehyun briefly explained as he played with Jongup’s hand. He smiled when Jongup also did the same thing to his hand. Their gaze was on their tangled hands but they still focused on the current topic.

“Was he badly injured? How’s he doing now?”

“Hmm…I have no idea but the doctors needed to perform surgery on him. The agency claimed that he’s fine this morning. He came around but has to be refrained from their activities for one or two weeks, depending on how fast he’s recovering.”

“We just saw him two days ago.” Jongup stated. His eyebrows knitted together in disbelief.

“Hey, everything happens for a reason, doesn’t it?” Daehyun reassured as he stretched out his hand only to press his finger gently between the younger’s eyebrows. Jongup averted his gaze and made eye contact with the older. A dazzling smile grazed on Daehyun’s lips, causing his boyfriend to return it with his angelic one.

“Do you want some cereal?” Daehyun asked when he saw Jongup’s almost empty plate.

“No, but I want a toast.” Jongup replied before puffing his cheeks out cutely.

“I’ll go get it for you. Ah, and one more thing…” Daehyun stopped for a brief second before continuing his words.

“If you wanted to message Tae about Jimin, expect no reply from him. Not for these few days.” Daehyun hinted before getting up from his seat.

Jongup looked at his boyfriend’s retreating figure and could not help but feel thankful. Daehyun was so understanding and considerate. He even excused himself so that Jongup could text Taehyung without feeling guilty. After all, they were on their vacation that Daehyun himself planned it. He grabbed his phone on the table and started to tap the screen.

Everything happens for a reason.

That phrase kept flashing on Jongup’s head. His mind was wildly spinning for something that was known as reason. Must there be a reason for everything to happen? Somehow, those words were like a pang to him. Perhaps, there was a reason that he met Daehyun. Daehyun loved him with all of his heart and he knew his boyfriend would do anything for Yongguk and him.

What if he did not meet Daehyun and found someone else? Would that person love him the way Daehyun do? Would he be such an understanding and gentleman like Daehyun was? Would he accept him for who he was and would he accept Yongguk’s existence in their life? Jongup started to tremble when those thoughts came across his mind.

To top that all, what was the reason behind his fast beating heart whenever he was close to Daehyun? He honestly loved the attention and love from the man though he found it was exaggerating sometimes. Could it be that he was falling for a man named Jung Daehyun? Jongup instinctively put his palm against his chest and felt his heart thumping hard whenever he thought of Daehyun. As much as he wanted to deny, Jongup could not lie to himself. Deep inside of him, he did not want to lose Daehyun.

His gaze was trained on the young Jung who was a few meters away from him. The older was patient and determine enough to stay with him. If he were to list down every single thing that Daehyun had done for him, one day would not be enough. Jongup-ah, how long are you going to deny your feelings for him? The pregnant boy sent his boyfriend a warm smile when they made eye contact. It’s time to make Daddy happy, right Gukkie?

Daehyun could never be happier than he already was. This babymoon turned out to be the best vacation he ever had in his life. What else could he ask for? He had Jongup and Yongguk with him this time and the most remarkable part was that his Jongup was acting so differently. This drastic change made him nervous and so many thoughts crossed his mind.

He reached for the camera that had been charged on the study table and turned it on. The last photo they captured this morning appeared on the screen. His mouth instinctively curved upwards and eyes sparkled brightly. His thumb gently traced the screen where Jongup was. His eyes then caught the sight of their interlaced fingers. This is like a dream comes true.

“Baby, look over here!” Daehyun called out, startling Jongup who was looking over the crystal clear sea and blue skies from the breathtaking Cape Manza. The younger was surprised to see Daehyun was already a few steps away from him and that he was almost at the edge of the cliff. Panic was written all over Jongup’s face and the first thing he did was marching toward his boyfriend as fast as he could, confusing the older who was getting ready to capture some photo of Jongup.

“Angel, no! You stay there! I’m going to take your photo!” Daehyun exclaimed again, which earned him a firm ‘NO’ from Jongup. The young Jung gasped at the reply and was going to take a step forward when he accidentally slipped from the uneven slippery ground.

“Teddy!” Jongup reached for his boyfriend’s arm before Daehyun could even react. As a reflex, Daehyun wounded his arms around Jongup’s waist as to not let them both fall to the ground, or worst, off the cliff and quickly regained his balance. The young Jung carefully led his boyfriend to a much safer spot and Jongup gave a hard slap to Daehyun’s chest when they already calmed down from the shock, causing the older to wince in pain.

“What did you think you were doing?!” Jongup scolded his boyfriend right away. Daehyun was speechless and could only blink his eyes at this new reaction.

“How could you stand over there like it was nothing and asked me to look over and smile? Do you really want to die?” Jongup continued to release his anger and Daehyun let him as he silently watched in amusement. Jongup was mad at him, for real! He never thought the younger could be this bold enough to scold him, in public. Was this the second outburst after the broken gift incident a few months back?

“It hurts.” Daehyun replied, voice barely heard. He rubbed his chest with a pout.

“Serve you right. Do not ever do that again.” Jongup huffed before remembering something. He gasped and without thinking, he placed his hand on top of Daehyun’s hand that was over his chest.

“Oh God, I’m so sorry! I did hit you hard, didn’t I? Is your chest okay? Wait, what am I saying? Of course, you’re not okay. You’ve just recovered from the broken rib. I should—”

“Hey, hey, baby. It’s okay. I’m not—”

“No, no it’s not okay. I shouldn’t hit your chest. You’re in pain, should we go see the doctor now?” Jongup’s panic heightened and all Daehyun could do was pulled his beloved one into his arms. The younger stiffened as his breath hitched in his throat.

“Shh, it’s nothing, love. Just take a deep breath and relax, okay.” Daehyun Jongup’s hair in attempt to calm his boyfriend down. The younger let out a sigh and nuzzled more into Daehyun’s neck. He naturally encircled his arms around the older’s neck, causing the latter’s heart to skip a beat. Daehyun returned the gesture by pulling his boyfriend as close as he could, without pressuring Jongup’s protruding belly much and was happy when the latter did not protest.

“I’m sorry.” Jongup’s muffled voice was heard. Daehyun smiled before kissing Jongup’s head.

“It’s fine.”

“It’s not. I thought you could fall off the cliff and I was scared. I don’t wanna lose you.”

The sudden confession made Daehyun’s heart swell in happiness.

Daehyun was brought back to reality when his phone went off, indicating a new text received. He grabbed the gadget and saw the notification on the screen. He smiled when he read the text from the one who stayed next door.

Teddy, what are you planning now?

LOVE

Together with the text, Jongup sent a picture of a bouquet of fresh red roses with a card that read ‘I’ll pick you up at 6pm. Dinner date with me tonight. Love, Teddy’. Daehyun quickly tapped on the call button and waited for a while for it to be answered.