“You and I are one of the unfortunates.”

 – Yongguk –

Present time

                Daehyun stirred in his sleep. He could feel soft sheets underneath his palms and the warmth covering his body. Slowly, his eyes fluttered open to the familiar surroundings. He couldn’t remember how did he end up in Yongguk’s room but he did remember the exhaustion from crying too much that made him to fell asleep on the couch.

                He turned his head to the side but Yongguk was not there beside him. Daehyun sat up on the bed to have a look around the large bedroom. Still, Yongguk was nowhere to be seen. Maybe he could find the older man downstairs. When he was about to get off the bed, he saw a note stuck on clock on the nightstand. His hand reached out to take it and he began to read the message left by Yongguk.

My sunshine,

I know you’ll look for me when you wake up

But I just have to do this

                Daehyun brought his feet down to the floor as he sat on the edge of the bed. His heart started to beat faster than before at the first few words.

I can’t just sit here and do nothing

I need to go out there

                Daehyun clasped his mouth. Tears were welling up in his eyes as his mind started to think about the possibilities of Yongguk going to find Seunghyun. He never wanted that to happen. Looking back at the note, Daehyun noticed the lower part of the paper had been doubled over to the back. So he unfolded it and found more words written there.

And buy us some food

It’s past lunchtime and I’m hungry

Daehyun was slack jawed. His brain had stopped functioning for a moment because it was registering the real thing that Yongguk wanted to tell him. He scoffed, not believing how Yongguk had tricked him.

p.s : wait for me and delicious food!

p.s.s : you look so cute when you sleep

XOXOXOXOXO

                Daehyun knew he couldn’t get mad at Yongguk for long. His lips curled into a smile after reading the footnotes. He shook his head in delight. Yongguk really knew how to lighten up his mood. From the corner of his eyes, he saw on the nightstand, the chest which Yongguk used to keep all the notes directed to him. So he opened it up to put the latest note in there.

                That’s when the door of Yongguk’s bedroom was suddenly being opened. Daehyun’s head jerked up to the door, expecting his lover had finally coming back but his eyes widened at the sight of a middle aged lady. He was starting to feel agitated since he might have an idea on who she really was.

                The woman wore the same shocked expression as Daehyun. “Who are you?” She asked.

                Daehyun scrambled to stand on his feet. “I-I’m the housekeeper…” He stammered nervously, looking at his toes instead of the woman.

                “So what are you doing in here?” Her voice raised a pitch higher.

                Daehyun timidly looked up at the woman. “I was…” He was fidgeting in his spot, trying to think of a rational excuse.

                The woman stepped forward to Daehyun.“Shouldn’t you be doing your job as a housekeeper in this house?” She started to sound resentful by the second.

                “Y-Yes. I was just-”

                “You just woke up didn’t you?” She asked, standing right before Daehyun. “Why are you sleeping in here?”

               Daehyun diverted his gaze down since the woman’s stare was too menacing to look at. But what reason should he tell her? That he came to find Yongguk at dawn and cried so much until he fell asleep so Yongguk had to carry him to the room? Of course he couldn’t say that. He’s just a housekeeper and a housekeeper wouldn’t do all those stuffs.

                “You…” The woman narrowed her eyes at Daehyun, making him leaned away from her. “…slept with my son??” She suddenly yelled.

                Daehyun cringed at the shrill voice before looking at her again. So this woman was really Yongguk’s mother like he thought. “No! It’s not like what you think!” He denied earnestly.

                Her eyes enlarged before printing her palm on Daehyun’s cheek in a hard slap. “How dare you?!”

                Daehyun brought a hand over his painful cheek. “Please, listen to me! I can explain!” He was already in tears while trying to convince Yongguk’s mother.

                “How can I listen to you when you’re on his bed instead of the kitchen?!”

                “I- Ah!” Daehyun yelped when his arm was harshly tugged by the woman. She was hauling him out of the room to downstairs. “Just please, let me explain!” He cried out.

                “I’ve got no time to listen to your crap!”

                “Please, hear me out!”

                They stopped at the main door. Yongguk’s mother opened it before throwing Daehyun out of the house. “Get out of here!”

                Daehyun stumbled out and inadvertently tripped over his own feet, sending his body crashing to the hard ground.

                “You’re fired!”

                Daehyun quickly got on all fours, crawling back to the woman. “No! Please!” He begged but Yongguk’s mother just slammed the door shut.

                Plopping his bottom on the floor, Daehyun quietly sat there and continued to cry. “Please…”

###

                Yongguk got home later than he expected. Since he wanted to buy the best meal for Daehyun, he spent quite an amount of time driving around the town to earn it. And if the restaurant served the best food, there would certainly be a lot of people in the line. That caused him another half an hour to get the food.

                He parked his car in the driveway and brought out the packaged lunch with him. He planned on setting the food in plates before waking Daehyun up. That was if the younger man wasn’t awaked yet. He leisurely walked into his house to go to the kitchen, only to be extremely surprised to see his mother in the living room.

                “Mother…” Yongguk breathed out as his mother turned to look at him. “What are you doing here?”

                “I come to check on you because you didn’t show up at work today,” She said, sitting cozily on the sofa. “You want to tell me why?”

                Yongguk bit his lips as he was caught at last. Scratching the back of his head, he moved closer towards his mother. “It’s just… something came up,” He shrugged. “But mother, this is like the first time in years that I didn’t go to work. Can’t I have a day off for myself?”

                “And do what? Playing around with your housekeeper?” She glowered at her son. Her words had left Yongguk stunned.

                Yongguk gulped before vigorously shaking his head. “What are you talking about?”

                His mother sighed. “A housekeeper doesn’t sleep in the master’s bedroom as he pleases.”

                “What have you done?!” He snarled. “Where’s Daehyun??”

                “I fired him of course!” She stood up from her seat. “There’s no point keeping him when he didn’t do his work and having your money just by sleeping with you!”

                Yongguk turned away to take a breath. He pinched the bridge of his nose, totally unbelieving what was happening now. Taking a deep breath, he turned to his mother again. “Mother, Daehyun’s not just a housekeeper,” He began and the woman raised her eyebrows. “I… love him.”

                “You what?!” She shrieked in great surprise.

                “He’s the one that I’ve been waiting for. I love him then and I love him now. He’s the person I want to be with for the rest of my life,” Yongguk explained fervently.

                “You can’t have a relationship with a housekeeper! He’s not our standard!” She snapped back.

                “What standard?! I’m just a poor teenage orphan boy when you adopted me, remember? You’re the one with standard!”

                “That’s different! Your father and I needed an heir for our company so bad. And when we’re going to adopt a child, we didn’t want to take a risk raising a baby or a kid. We’re afraid if they’d grow up to a hopeless person. So we took you, a grown up teenager with a good attitude and good results in school. But having a relationship with a housekeeper? What good he’ll do to you?”

                Her words echoed throughout the house one by one. When she’s finished, Yongguk didn’t counter her straightaway. He just kept staring blankly at her for a moment. It made the woman to be uneasy under his gaze.

                “So you just wanted to adopt an heir? Not a child?” Yongguk spoke up. His hand clenched to the handle of the lunch package. “You just wanted your company to run steadily rather than being a parent? Why are you so different from father?” He was repeatedly pressing his lips together to hold his tears from falling.

                “All this while I’ve been doing what you want me to do and all I want is only a mother’s love that I always craved for but you never give it to me. And now you don’t want to approve my relationship with Daehyun?” Yongguk kept his stare at his mother until she had to avert her eyes away.

                “No way I’d let that happen,” He stated and decided to leave the house.

###

                After 10 minutes of speeding his car on the road, Yongguk arrived at Daehyun’s apartment. He needed to see Daehyun after knowing that he latter had met his mother just now. Daehyun was recovering from his latest meeting with Seunghyun and he definitely didn’t want the younger man to be hurt again.

                As soon as the door was pulled opened, Yongguk wasted no time to throw his arms around Daehyun’s slim figure. “I’m sorry…”

                Daehyun was taken aback by that. He didn’t expect for Yongguk to come here. He thought Yongguk’s mother would restrict them from seeing each other again. He thought they would never see each other again. And because of that, he was now sobbing against Yongguk’s chest, hands climbed up to Yongguk’s back in a tight grasp.

                “Daehyun, I’m sorry…” Yongguk repeated while drawing circles on Daehyun’s back. “I’m so sorry…”

                Daehyun shook his head. “Stop saying sorry,” He pulled away to look at Yongguk. “It’s not your fault.”

                Cupping Daehyun’s face in his hands, Yongguk erased the tears streaming down Daehyun’s cheeks, which were now bruised on one side and swollen red on another. “Did she hit you?”

                Daehyun quickly shook his head. “N-No… She didn’t…”

                “You know you can’t lie to me, Daehyun,” Yongguk sternly reminded the other, his hands dropping on Daehyun’s upper arm before sliding down to hold Daehyun’s hands.

                “Ah!” Daehyun promptly winced when Yongguk ran his palm over his elbow.

                “What’s wrong?” Yongguk asked concernedly. He held Daehyun’s forearm to slowly pull up the sleeve of Daehyun’s shirt. There’s not so small cut on Daehyun’s elbow. Daehyun had surely washed it but he didn’t put a plaster on.

                “What has she actually done to you?”

                “Nothing! This is not because of your mother. I just tripped over something on my way home,” Daehyun clarified while rolling down his sleeve back before rubbing his teary eyes and runny nose with the back of his hands.

                “I know it’s her,” Yongguk said, gazing into Daehyun’s liquid eyes. “And I’m really sorry for what she’d done to you,” His hand gently caressed Daehyun’s cheek where his mother had landed her slap on.

                Daehyun pursed his lips and placed his own hand over Yongguk’s. Both of them were too immersed in their own world that they didn’t realized there was a pair of eyes watching them all along. Junhong had just finished ascending the stairs when he saw his mother was hugging another man. He kept looking at them until Yongguk laid his hands on Daehyun’s face. That’s when he took a step back and ran away from there.

                Oblivious to Junhong’s short presence, Yongguk continued to stand in front of Daehyun’s apartment door. He picked up the package which he had put down before and handed it out to the younger man. “It’s our lunch.”

                “But it’s almost dinnertime,” Daehyun said as he took the package from Yongguk.

                “Just heat them up for dinner then,” Yongguk simply suggested.

                Daehyun really did as what Yongguk told him to do. He initially wanted to cook some more since Junhong too would be having dinner once he got home but Donghae suddenly called, saying that Junhong would have dinner at his place.

               Daehyun found it strange at first. But then when he thought back, his son had done that for a number of times before. Its’ just this time, Junhong didn’t tell him earlier. So now there were only Yongguk and him at the dining table, eating their reheated lunch meals.

                “Am I really fired from being your housekeeper?” Daehyun asked in the middle of the dinner.

                “It doesn’t matter now since you’re my lover,” Yongguk retorted without looking at the latter.

                “But still, I need money to feed Junhong.”

                “I can support both of you.”

                When he didn’t receive any response from Daehyun, Yongguk glanced at him, only to see Daehyun giving him the side-eye.

                “I told my mother we love each other,” He changed the topic.

                Daehyun’s eyes widened. “Really?”

                Yongguk nodded.

                “What did she say?” Daehyun asked anxiously.

                “For sure, she doesn’t approve.”

                Daehyun’s expression fell at Yongguk’s words. But of course she wouldn’t approve her son’s relationship with a housekeeper.

                “I’m currently having a fight with her and I’m not planning to go home for the time being. I know she must be waiting there for me.”

                Daehyun frowned. “Where are you going to stay?”

                Yongguk stopped eating and pretended to have a deep thought about it. His brows were knitted together and his lips we puckered for quite a while before turning to Daehyun.“Can I stay here for the night?”

                “Here?? In my apartment??” Daehyun was pretty surprised by Yongguk’s request. When Yongguk was giving him puppy eyes, Daehyun started to lose his sanity. “S-Sure you can… But… I don’t know if you’ll feel comfortable in this small and cheap apartment…compared to your huge bungalow, this place is like a storage room.”

                Yongguk chuckled at Daehyun’s nonsense. “I don’t care,” He reached out to lightly pinch Daehyun’s chin. “As long as you’re here with me.”

                Daehyun immediately turned red all over his face, blushing madly at Yongguk’s act.

###

                A while after dinner, Junhong still wasn’t home yet. Yongguk had just finished taking a shower when he came into Daehyun’s room. He had to wear back his shirt since none of Daehyun’s or Junhong’s clothes that could fit him. He closed the door and walked towards Daehyun who was fluffing the pillows on the bed.

                “You sleep here tonight,” Daehyun told Yongguk after the older man sat down next to him.

                “With you?”

                “I’ll sleep together with Junhong,” Daehyun didn’t seem to notice Yongguk’s teasing tone but he would surely do that because he didn’t want their son to know that he’s sleeping with Yongguk in the same bed.

                “He’s not home yet,” Yongguk said.

                “Yeah. You can go to sleep first. I’ll wait for him,” Daehyun placed the pillows on the top of his double sized bed.

                “Maybe he wouldn’t be home for another half an hour.”

                Daehyun turned to Yongguk, unable to comprehend what did the other meant by that. But before he could say anything, Yongguk slipped an arm around his waist. Yongguk’s hand went under his shirt, the thumb tenderly rubbing against his skin.

                Yongguk shifted closer to the smaller man. His lips started to leave kisses along the alluring neck, causing Daehyun to let out a gasp.

                Daehyun grabbed Yongguk’s arm, making the elder stopped his act and looked up at him. “Are you serious?” He asked nervously.

                “I am,” Yongguk replied in a flirtatious tone. “Aren’t you?”

                Daehyun’s face heated up. His eyes casted down to avoid Yongguk’s tempting gaze. With Daehyun being silent, Yongguk thought he had achieved a green light. He gladly continued what he was doing before, trailing kisses along Daehyun’s jaw but now Daehyun was responding with lewd whimpers which managed to excite him more.

                Yongguk placed his finger under Daehyun’s chin to lift the younger’s face. Daehyun finally looked up to meet his eyes. But the enticing gaze Daehyun had and those flushed cheeks were making his heart pounded faster than ever. His stare went down to Daehyun’s rosy lips. They were parted because of Daehyun’s short breaths, looking so soft and irresistible in his view.

                Daehyun closed his eyes when Yongguk attached their lips together. The older man was savouring every inch of his mouth, causing him to moan in pleasure at feeling Yongguk’s tongue colliding against his. His body was gradually pushed down onto the mattress as Yongguk placed his knees at either sides of him.

                “We should lock the door,” Daehyun breathed out after they pulled apart, grabbing Yongguk’s arms which were previously roaming his body under the shirt.

                Yongguk smirked. “Done that.”

                Daehyun snorted, narrowing his eyes at the other man. “You planned this, didn’t you?”

###

                It was getting late but Yongguk was still wide awake. It’s because Daehyun said he wanted to wait for Junhong to return home but the lad was sleeping soundly beside him. So Yongguk thought he would wait for Junhong instead.

                Rolling on his side, he propped his head up with his hand. He stared at Daehyun’s beautiful sleeping face before slowly caressing it. A smile appeared on his face as he remembered how spent Daehyun was after having with him.

                It’s not the first time they’d had but it was the first time Daehyun was drained of all energy. Maybe because he had went through turmoil of feelings for the past couple of days. Daehyun did try to strain his eyes open, mumbling incoherent things while cleaning himself up and putting on his clothes back. But he was completely defeated after mere minutes.

                Yongguk Daehyun’s head and kissed him on the forehead. He fixed the sheet covering Daehyun’s body before getting out of the room. He went to the kitchen to have a glass of water. That’s when he noticed there was a windowed door to the balcony. Bringing along the glass with him, he stepped out to breathe in the midnight air.

                On the other side of the apartment, Junhong was quietly unlocking the door and got inside. He returned quite early tonight compared to last night since he was afraid if his father would pay a visit again. The apartment was pretty quiet and the shoes he saw at the door made his brows furrowed. They looked expensive and branded, definitely didn’t belong to his father.

                Junhong padded to Daehyun’s room, peeking in just to make sure his mother was there. When he saw his mother was sleeping, he moved on to find the owner of the lavish loafer shoes. Since the kitchen was the only place with the light on, he went there and found Yongguk leaning against the rail on the balcony while admiring the night scenery.

                Junhong crossed his arms over his chest as he rested his side on the doorframe. “That’s my spot,” He uttered.

                Yongguk spun around at the unexpected company. He chuckled once he knew that it was Junhong. “You’re just like your mother,” He shook his head in amusement, suddenly recollecting about his first actual meeting with Daehyun.

                Junhong cocked his eyebrows, giving Yongguk a weird look. He couldn’t grasp what the old man was really saying.

                “When did you come back?” Yongguk asked because he didn’t hear a single sound coming from the front.

                “Just now,” Junhong replied with a sharp stare. “Why are you still here?”

                Yongguk just kept his gaze on the boy instead of answering him. A thin smile carved on his lips before he turned back to the night view. “I’m jealous of you,” He murmured randomly.

                Junhong had clearly heard that but he was confused since he’s the one that should be jealous of Yongguk. The man was rich. He could have everything he wanted. So why be jealous of a poor illegitimate child like him?

                “Of what?” Junhong asked out of curiousity.

                Yongguk let out a long sigh. “You have a mother who loves you. Me? I have no one,” He began without looking at the boy, the faint smile was still on his lips. “I thought my life would be better after I was adopted. It did, temporarily,” He nodded.

                “But nothing really changed. My foster father was great. My foster mother? Not so much,” Yongguk shrugged his shoulders while jutting out his bottom lip. “Maybe I don’t have any luck with mothers. Even my real mother threw me away. Can you imagine that?” He slightly turned his head to show the side of his face to Junhong. “She threw her own son on the doorstep of an orphanage,” He laughed airily as he shook his head.

                Junhong straightened up his body. He understood what Yongguk was saying now. He could sense the sadness in Yongguk’s voice. He felt like they could relate to each other but he never knew how bad it felt to be like Yongguk because he at least had a mother who loved him, just like what Yongguk said.

                “But when I look at Daehyun,” Yongguk continued. “I just thought that maybe my mother wasn’t strong enough like him. You should be grateful to have a mother like Daehyun.”

                Junhong chewed his lips while contemplating whether he should go along with this man. He shuffled towards Yongguk and stood beside him. “Then, maybe, I don’t have any luck with fathers,” He spoke up.

                Yongguk turned to the boy and they stared into each other’s eyes. “You will if you give me a chance.”

                Junhong huffed, averting his gaze to the front. “Why eomma? He’s poor, he has an illegitimate son. Isn’t it a little bit suspicious if you really love him?”

                Yongguk let out a small laugh. “I’m not just starting to love him. I have loved him long ago, even before you’re born, when we’re still teenagers like you.”

                Junhong was frowning for a moment before whipping his head to Yongguk. He was pretty surprised by that since he didn’t know his mother had met Yongguk before.

                Yongguk looked down, playing with the now empty glass in his hands. “The first time I saw him, I was captivated by his beauty,” He smiled at the past memories. “He saved me from the bullies and be my friend even though he knew I’m a poor and orphaned boy. He’s so pure…so kind…so beautiful… We dated each other, but it only lasted for a year.”

                Junhong turned his body to face Yongguk with an elbow resting on the rail. “What happened?”

                Yongguk too turned around, leaning his back against the rail. “Let’s just say it’s fate,” He retorted half-heartedly.

                “No, no. Tell me what really happened. I want to know,” Junhong asked full of interest.

                Yongguk had a thought for a moment. People said the past is the past but it wouldn’t hurt for Junhong to know a little about his mother’s past, right?

                “Actually,” Yongguk hesitated but he decided to tell the boy nonetheless. “I dated your mother when he’s in a relationship with your father.”

                Junhong’s eyes widened. “You know my father too?”

                “Of course I do. The three of us went to the same school.”

                “So eomma was cheating?”

                “No, not really,” Yongguk waved the boy off. “How should I say this?” He tapped his chin, trying to figure out the easy way to explain it to the boy.

                “Daehyun’s relationship with Seunghyun wasn’t based on love. They’re just desperate to be loved by someone because of their wealthy lives,” Yongguk began to reveal although he’s lacking the details. “Your mother wanted to end their relationship but your father refused. In some way, he got your mother pregnant and they ran away when their families didn’t approve their relationship and the baby.

                “Pregnant? With me?” Junhong’s eyes were still as wide as they could be.

                Yongguk pursed his lips and nodded his head.

                “So my parents were actually rich?”

                Yongguk nodded again. He then patted Junhong’s arm when he saw how the boy’s expression changed after receiving too much information at once. “Don’t think too much about it. It’s all in the past,” He smiled genuinely. “You should go to sleep. You have school tomorrow, right?”

                Junhong just feebly nodded but didn’t show any intention in moving his body.

                Yongguk heaved a deep breath, thinking that the boy was having a hard time to believe everything he said. “I don’t just simply love your mother. I need him in my life,” He admitted sincerely. “I want to be a part of your family. And I hope for you to let me in.”

                The pleading look Yongguk had was affecting Junhong in many ways. He knew he had a decision to make but that decision wasn’t as easy as giving an answer right away. He needed some time to think about it. So he broke their gazes before turning his body to look at the dark scenery again.

                Yongguk’s lips thinned at Junhong’s response. But he wouldn’t force anything since good things take time. He decided to just go inside after saying goodnight.

                Junhong was left alone on the balcony. Yongguk’s words made him realized something. All this while he had been questioning why he was so unfortunate unlike the other people. Now, he knew that he himself was the sole reason. He was the one who caused all the chaos in his mother’s life.

                He had asked about his grandparents before and Daehyun just said they couldn’t be with them. And he thought that they’re already dead. If his mother wasn’t pregnant with him, maybe his mother would be living in his luxurious life with his grandparents.

                But there’s one thing that really amazed him. Yongguk was really faithful to his mother. That man still loved his mother even after so many years. Maybe that’s why his mother didn’t push Yongguk away.

                Junhong got in when the air was getting unbearably chilly. He closed the door and turned off the light before walking to his room. As he passed by the living room, he saw Yongguk sleeping on the couch. “So he’s staying here.”

                Junhong suddenly felt irresponsible for treating a guest like that. He approached him and tried to wake him up. He would tell Yongguk to use his room and he could sleep together with his mother. However, Yongguk was dead asleep with loud snores on the couch.

                “Damn, old man sleeps so fast,” Junhong grumbled, putting his hands on his hips. Why should he care so much about Yongguk anyway?

                “Well, whatever,” He left the man to sleep there and went straight to his room.

###

I need you, I need you

Even if a year passes, if ten years pass, I am the same

I’m a person who didn’t forget even for a single day

It needs to be you, you are my love

I can’t go on without you, I need you

I need you, I need you

A hundred times, a thousand times, I will love you

I won’t ever let you go again

I won’t leave you because you are my love

I will promise you that I will love you forever till I die

Song : I Need You by K.Will

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