Donghae and Hyukjae Through The Years

Lee Donghae was 15 when his parents introduced him to Lee Sora. Sora was 8 at the time.

Their grandfather served in the Korean War together and had saved each other’s life countless of time. They made a promise to married off their children. But both had only sons, so they promised to married off their grandchildren instead.

Since Donghae and Sora were too young to be officially engaged, they were just being introduced to each other.

Donghae loved his Halbae so very much, he went through the introduction/pre-engagement without much fuss. Sora was too smitten with Donghae’s handsome face too raise any objection.

So at 15, Donghae got himself a future bride.

Donghae was almost 18 when he first saw Hyukjae, Sora’s baby brother. The day after Hyukjae was born, Donghae’s family went to visit at the hospital. Sora was holding Hyukjae with a huge smile on her face.

“Isn’t he Cute, Donghae oppa? When we’re married, we’re going to have a baby as cute as him.” She had said to which he only nodded and smiled.

Inside, he thought that Hyukjae looked more like a monkey and he hoped that his son would look better than him.

Donghae was 19 when Halbae passed away. Before he died, Halbae had petted his hair lovingly.

“I’m sorry for leaving all of you behind. It’s okay to cry for me today. But tomorrow, wipe your tears and smile again. Live your life to the fullest, be happy and most of all, be true to yourself. I love you Donghae-ya.”

 Donghae had cried in his mother’s arms while his father wept silently.

Donghae was 22 when his parents died in a car accident. They were coming home from a dinner party when the front tire blew making the car swerved off the road and wrapped itself around a tree. Both died on the way to hospital.

At the funeral, Sora stood by his side, holding his hand and cried in his place. Donghae was too numb he didn’t shed a single tear. At the memorial service, Hyukjae came up to him and gave him a hug.

“Noona said you’re sad, that’s why you can’t play with me. It’s okay to be sad today Hyungie, but tomorrow you have to be happy again, neh?”

Donghae looked down at the little boy hugging his waist. Hyukjae’s words, so similar to Halbae’s, broke through his numbness. Before he knew it, he was on his knees, crying his heart out while hugging a very confused Hyukjae.

Donghae was 23 when Sora came to visit him at his house, eyes puffy and red. She tumbled into his arms and cried. Donghae held her and didn’t say anything. Almost an hour later, Sora stopped crying and with hitched breath told him that she couldn’t marry him, that she fell in love with someone else.

She had tried not to, but her heart just won’t be denied. Donghae only sighed and petted her hair.

“I’m sorry Oppa. I know I’m being selfish and heartless. Asking you to let me go. But I can’t help it Oppa. I love him so much.”

“It’s okay, I’ll take care of it. Just give me some time.” He assured her. He drove her home and gave her a light kiss on the top of her head just before she went inside.

“Goodbye, my bride.” He whispered to her back.

Donghae was 24 when he went to Sora’s house and asked to break the yet-to-happened-engagement. Sora’s parents were shocked to say the least. When asked for the reason, Donghae bowed his head.

“I can’t marry Sora because I’m more inclined to men. I hide it all this time for my parent’s sake. But now they are gone, and I want to live my life to the fullest, just like what Halbae wanted. If I go through with this marriage, I will only make Sora and myself miserable. She deserved to be loved as a woman and I can’t give that to her. I do love her, but only as a sister. So please, allow me to be a selfish man and end this before anyone gets hurt.”

Sora’s parents were speechless. The atmosphere was heavy, the tension was thick. Then Hyukjae’s clear voice broke through the silence.

“If Hyungie wants a man bride, I’ll be Hyungie’s bride then.”

Donghae was 25 when Hyukjae started to visit him on third Saturday of every month. He had forced his parents to take him to see Donghae, something his parents were very unwilling to do. They hadn’t really gotten over their disappointment over the breakup. More than once,  Hyukjae had sneaked out of the house before being escorted back by a patrol officer.

Hyukjae was very adamant about being ‘Hyungie’s man bride’. His parents had tried to explain that Hyukjae couldn’t be Hyungie’s bride, whether he was a man or not. Unfortunately, any sort of talk about Hyukjae not being Hyungie’s man bride always ended up with a massive temper tantrum and Hyukjae’s tantrum was a force to be reckoned with.

After one of Hyukjae’s biggest tantrum yet, his parents finally caved in. They visited Donghae and begged the man to play along. Seeing Hyukjae’s parents’ desperation, Donghae reluctantly agreed to let Hyukjae visit him.

During Hyukjae’s visits, Donghae always made sure that they were never alone, mainly to soothe Hyukjae’s parents worry. His personal assistant, a man named Park Jungsoo, was always present. He also never let Hyukjae stayed for too long, making it a point to drive the boy home before 4 in the afternoon.

For most of the visits, Jungsoo-ssi would chauffeur Donghae and Hyukjae to public places like the museum, the theme park, the mall-for ice cream, not shopping- and Hyukjae’s favorite, the zoo. Personally, Donghae liked the aquarium, but he kept it to himself.

Hyukjae always called their outing as ‘date’ and he refused to let go of Donghae’s hand, much to Donghae’s discomfort. Fortunately, he still called Donghae ‘Hyungie’ so to everyone else they looked just like siblings or relatives, having fun together.

Hyukjae was 11 when he first had a sleepover at Donghae’s house. Hyukjae’s parents won a supermarket lottery and the prize was a two week cruise to the Mediterranean. Sora was already on her last year of college and was busy preparing for her finals. They have no other relatives, so with great reluctance, Hyukjae’s parents let him stay with Donghae during the duration of their trip.

Donghae let Hyukjae used the guest bedroom and told him to lock his door before he went to bed. Hyukjae had tilted his head in confusion at the request but obeyed nonetheless when Donghae explained that it was to ease his parents’ minds.

But on the first night of his sleepover, Hyukjae had dragged his monkey plushie and knocked on Donghae’s door. Donghae opened the door and saw an almost crying Hyukjae twiddling with the monkey’s tail.

“I can’t sleep Hyungie.” He said forlornly.

Donghae sighed and opened his door, allowing Hyukjae to enter. The boy beamed at him and ran to the bed. He burrowed under the blanket and almost fell asleep instantly. Donghae left the door open and slept on the floor.

Donghae woke up in the middle of the night to find Hyukjae curled up beside him. He gently lifted the boy, put him back on the bed and returned to his spot on the floor. The next morning he woke up to find that Hyukjae had curled up beside him again.

The following two evenings, Hyukjae again knocked on his door and repeat the pattern from the first night.

On the fourth night, instead of sleeping on the floor, Donghae climbed on the bed. He made sure Hyukjae was tucked in securely before he slept on top of the blanket, and that was how they slept for the remainder of Hyukjae’s sleepover.

Hyukjae was 12 when he first received a gift from Donghae. Donghae had come to pick Hyukjae up for their monthly outing. When he arrived, Hyukjae was in the middle of a temper tantrum. All of his friends at school had a GameBoy so he asked for one. Usually his parents would give him anything he wanted because he was the baby in the family. But it was almost December so his parents told him that he would get one on Christmast. Hyukjae didn’t want to wait until Christmast hence the hissy fit.

Donghae took one look at Hyukjae and called his name in a stern voice he never used before.

“Lee Hyukjae! If you want to have something, you either asked for it nicely or you work hard for it. Your father worked hard to provide for you and your mother worked hard to raise you. Show some respect and gratitude. Now apologize.”

Hyukjae immediately ceased his tantrum and looked sadly at Donghae.

“Hyungie.” He whined.

“Apologize.” Donghae said again.

Hyukjae pouted but quickly went to hug his parents and apologize.

On their way to the zoo, Donghae ruffled Hyukjae’s hair.

“If you can get 100 on three of your tests, I’ll give you a GameBoy.”

Hyukjae squealed happily and promised that he’d get 100 on every test.

Few weeks later Hyukjae showed up at Donghae’s house with a wide grin. He held out seven answer sheets, all had 100 written on them. When he came home, Hyukjae carried a small bag with his new GameBoy Color and game cartridges inside.

Hyukjae was 14 when he first had a crush on a girl. Her name was Eunji and she was his classmates. She was shorter than him and he thought she was very pretty. He asked Donghae if he could invite Eunji on one of their date/outing. Donghae agreed and told Hyukjae to pick a good place.

Their outing didn’t go as planned. Eunji was scared of height and had motion sickness so theme park was off the list. Eunji didn’t like boring places so museum was off too. Eunji didn’t like the zoo because it smells and Eunji didn’t like the aquarium just because. In the end, they only went to the mall where Eunji window shopped while dragging Hyukjae along. They managed to eat lunch and some ice cream, but by then Hyukjae had already lost interest in her.

After they delivered Eunji to her house, Hyukjae promised Donghae that he would never invite another girl ever again. That marked the end of Hyukjae’s first and last crush.

When Hyukjae was 15, he became the ring bearer on Sora’s wedding. She was marrying her high school sweetheart. Donghae was there too. Sora gave him a teary smile as she walked by him on the aisle.

During the wedding reception, Donghae asked Sora for a dance. During their dance, Sora thanked him again and again for letting her go. Donghae smiled and wished her all the happiness in the world.

Donghae left after the dance. Hyukjae followed him all the way to the car.

“Hyungie, wait for me. I’ll grow up soon and be your man bride.”

Donghae smiled and ruffled Hyukjae’s hair.

Hyukjae was 16 when his parents finally allowed him to go to Donghae’s house whenever he wanted. 

Hyukjae was 17 when he began his rebellious phase. He often fought with his parents about nothing and everything. His grades were slipping, he often hang out with friends until late at night, skipping school, got into fights, changed his hair color every other week and the amount of piercings he had done was getting alarming. His parents almost gave up on him after one too many fights, so in desperation, they turned to Donghae, the only one Hyukjae still listened to.

The last time Hyukjae got into a fight at school, Donghae had showed up at the principal’s office instead of his parents. Hyukjae had been surprised and cowered when Donghae only glanced coldly at him before promising the Principal that this would be the last time that Hyukjae got into trouble.

The drive to Hyukjae’s house had been filled with suffocating silence. Hyukjae tried to say something but Donghae cut him off.

“Don’t talk to me. I’m really really disappointed in you. I’ll drop you off at your parents’. Don’t bother to come visit me anymore. I don’t think I want to see you ever again.”

“Hyungie! Don’t say that! I’m your man bride, aren’t I?”

“My man bride was Hyukjae. He was smart, polite, never got into trouble and listens to his parents. That boy is not you. I don’t know who you are.”

Hyukjae gaped at Donghae and started crying.

“I’m sorry Hyungie. I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I was wrong, I was bad. I’ll change Hyungie. I’ll change. Please don’t leave me.”

Donghae didn’t answer and kept his silence. Hyukjae cried and apologized all the way home. He didn’t stop even after Donghae dropped him off and his mother took him inside.

It was around 2 in the morning when Hyukjae’s mother finally texted to let him know that Hyukjae had finally stopped crying and had fallen asleep.

Two days later Hyukjae showed up at Donghae’s house in his school uniform, black hair and no piercing. He asked Donghae for a chance to explain himself and his recent behaviors. Donghae let him in.

Apparently Hyukjae had trouble fitting in with his peers. He had thought of himself as ‘Hyungie’s man bride’ for as long as he remembered, he didn’t think it was something weird or strange. It turned out that he got ridiculed and bullied for wanting to be ‘man bride’.

To stop the bullying, Hyukjae stopped talking about being ‘man bride’ and started to copy his friends. Unfortunately, he chose the wrong crowd. He had wanted to stop at some point, but couldn’t because he was afraid he’d lose his so-called-friends and back to being a bullying target again.

Donghae listened quietly all through Hyukjae’s explanation. When he was finished, Donghae looked at him deeply.

“Promise me that you’d never do anything that might hurt yourself and your parents.”

 “I promise Hyungie.”

“No more fighting, no more skipping school, no more bad grades, be home before 9 in the evening. Can you promise me those?”

“Yes, I promise Hyungie.”

“Okay. Let’s go to the zoo next Saturday.”

Donghae had never seen Hyukjae smiled so brightly.

Donghae was 34 when he finally took over his father’s business and became one of Korea’s richest and most eligible bachelors.

Hyukjae was 18 when he finally realized that he had no interest in woman. He also had no interest in man. He only had interest in his Hyungie.

Hyukjae was 20 when he had his first kiss. It was the night of his 20^th birthday. Donghae had reserved a private room in a luxury restaurant to celebrate. Hyukjae’s parents, Sora and his husband were there. Even Jungsoo-ssi was invited. They had wonderful meal and Hyukjae got wonderful gifts from his family.

When the celebration ended and it was time to go home, Hyukjae came up to Donghae and asked if he could drive him home. Donghae complied.

During the ride home, Hyukjae was fidgety. Finally he gathered up his courage.

“Hyungie, can I ask something for my birthday?”

“Okay. What do you have in mind?”

“I want a ring.” As soon as he said that, Hyukjae blushed.

Donghae’s brow furrowed. He stopped the car on the roadside and turned to Hyukjae.

“Hyukjae, you do understand what you’re asking from me, don’t you?”

“I understand Hyungie.”

“It’s a big responsibility, not just for me, but also for you. I don’t think your parents would approve.”

“Do you want to give it to me?”

Donghae sighed and was silent for a moment.

“I do. I do want you to wear my ring. I have wanted you to ever since you were 15 and asked me to wait for you.”

“Then let’s work hard for it Hyungie. Didn’t you say that if you want to have something, you either asked for it nicely or you work hard for it?”

Donghae looked at Hyukjae and smiled.

“Yes, let’s work hard for it.”

Then he leaned over and kissed Hyukjae on the lips, sealing their promise.

Hyukjae was 23 and Donghae was 39 when they flew to New York. Hyukjae was wearing a white tuxedo and Donghae was wearing a black one. Hyukjae was crying when he said ‘I do’. Donghae was smiling when he said ‘I do.’

Hyukjae was 23 when he finally became Hyungie’s man bride.

Donghae was 39 when he finally fulfilled Halbae’s promise with his friend and his dying wishes.

 Hyukjae was 23 and Donghae was 39 when they finally got married.