Ryeowook

“Donghae.”

It’s Donghae. It’s really him standing right in front of me, broad shoulders and his usual messy y hair, sharp jaw-line and intense dark orbs staring right back at me. It’s really Donghae standing right in front of me in front of Kyuhyun’s apartment.

“Ryeowook?” Donghae murmured. “Wh-What are you doing here?”

Before I can even think of any excuse, any damn reason for my existence here in another man’s apartment, I hear a familiar voice in the hallway and I look back at Donghae who turns to the direction of the voice too. When Henry and Kyuhyun comes into view, both of them stop midway.

“Hae, I’m sorry I couldn’t pick you at the airport.” Kyuhyun says, looking from Donghae and then to me.

When his eyes land on mine, Kyuhyun struts over to me, smiling gently before he traces my cheeks and pressing his lips against mine. And that’s when all hell break loose. In a blink of an eye, Kyuhyun is being shoved furiously away from me. Kyuhyun stumbles backwards and trips over Henry’s feet, falling down onto the floor.

“Donghae!” I yell, running over to stop Donghae from beating Kyuhyun up.

“What the , Ryeowook?” Donghae yells, grabbing my arms violently. “What are you doing here?!”

“Ryeowook, you … you know Donghae?” Kyuhyun asks, his head turning from me and then to Donghae.

Henry squats down next to Kyuhyun and loops his arm around Kyuhyun’s waist, helping Kyuhyun stand up. Henry stares at Donghae seriously and his face suddenly lights up, eyes widening before he points at Donghae.

“Hyung! The letter I gave you. He was the one who gave me the letter!” Henry admits to Kyuhyun.

“Letter?” I repeat breathlessly, “What letter, Henry?”

Donghae’s eye glances between me and Henry then and then he glares at Henry. “You didn’t pass it to him?!”

Henry quickly raises his hands, pointing to Kyuhyun. “I gave it to him! He deserves to know, you’re screwing with a married man!”

“You were the reason they fought too! Leave my brother alone, he’s happily married, can’t you see!?”

“Married?” Donghae repeated, chuckling bitterly. “He’s my boyfriend!”

“Ryeowook, you married my cousin?”

Oh god.

Oh my god.

I don’t even dare to look at anyone except Henry. I know that Kyuhyun is staring at me, I know that Donghae is staring at me but I refuse to look at any of them. I don’t know what to say or where to even start explaining myself. Henry looks between all three of us, confused but he has back straight as he stands next to Kyuhyun, glaring at Donghae.

It’s frightening how small the world can really be. I could have fallen in love with anyone I wanted to, I could have met anyone I wanted to but amongst these millions of people, how did I end up falling for these two men that were related? Oh god, it hit upon me then that was why I always found Kyuhyun so similar to Donghae. That was why I kept seeing traces of Donghae in Kyuhyun, hearing bits of Donghae in my daily conversations with Kyuhyun, feeling close to Donghae even though he wasn’t even with me. Because Kyuhyun is related to Donghae! They are cousins! This must be karma. What else can it be? This must be karma for all the bad things I’ve done in my life. This isn’t fair. How.. What am I supposed to do or say? Donghae is Kyuhyun’s cousin!

 “Look, Hae, I can explain.” I put up a brave front, feeling the need to save this relationship though I’m not sure which relationship I’m trying to save but when my eyes land on Donghae’s, the tears start to fall. He looks so hurt, so disappointed in me that I want to run and hide, I want to hate myself. “I… I had to.”

“I proposed to you twice, Ryeowook.” Donghae held up two fingers, shaking with anger. “I proposed to you twice and you said you couldn’t. And now you’re ing married to my cousin?”

Donghae runs a frustrated hand through his hair. “Were… Were you cheating on me all this time?”

“No! I would never, Hae!”

“Then what is going on!?”

“I…I…” I turn to Henry and the words die from my lips. I can’t tell Donghae the real reason I married Kyuhyun. Not when Henry is here, right in front of me. What would he think of me?

“Go on, Wook.” Kyuhyun speaks, daring me. “Tell him why you married me.”

There’s something in Kyuhyun’s eyes and the way he’s talking to me. It’s different, different than his usual voice and I suddenly feel like I’m alone in this. Kyuhyun must be mad, betrayed even finding out about all of this. When I shake my head, my eyes pleading his to please help me, understand me, Kyuhyun looks away, pressing his lips in a thin line.

“He married me for money.” Kyuhyun announces to Donghae. “To bail his brother from getting jailed.”

No, no, no, no. I don’t want this, I don’t want Henry to ever find out about the truth. When I turn around to look at him, Henry’s large eyes are glued to mine, searching mine to confirm the truth and when he does, Henry’s eyes drops and he looks away guiltily.

“I’m sorry, Henry.”

“You… You married him for me?” Henry asks quietly and then glances at Kyuhyun, narrowing his eyes at him. “You… You’ve been using my brother and I all this time?”

Kyuhyun presses the bridge of his nose, “Henry, it’s not like that, I-”

“You kissed him! You kept kissing and touching him, you ing touched him.” Henry yells, “You’re a creep!”

Henry shoves Kyuhyun against the wall and storms off all of a sudden. Kyuhyun calls after him but Henry ignores him and he curses looking at me and Donghae. His eyes find mine and I catch a glimpse of hurt in his eyes before he puts the expressionless mask back on.

“I’ll talk to him.” Kyuhyun says to me before leaving.

Once I am completely alone with Donghae, I can’t bear to look at him. I slide down against the wall and quietly start sobbing into my hands. I never could imagine something like this happening. Everything was so perfect, everything was starting to go smooth and now the truth is out, and life hates me again.

“Ryeowook,” Donghae quietly calls my name. “Why didn’t you tell me about your brother? Why… I could have helped, Wookie.”

When I didn’t answer or look up at him, Donghae begs again, “Ryeowookie, please tell me…”

“Because I didn’t want you know what a mess my life truly was.” I cried finally letting it all out, hugging myself tight. “I was so in love with you and I was so afraid of losing you.”

“While we were dating overseas, we barely fought and there never was any thing that got in our way. And that scared me because I realized that you’ve never seen the worst of me, that you don’t know anything about my background or my past. You only knew me as Ryeowook, the one who shared an apartment with his best friend, the one that worked part-time at starbucks, the one that did well in school, the one who smiles warmly when he talks about his brother.”

“But you didn’t know that I shared an apartment with Sungmin because I couldn’t afford it, I worked part-time at starbucks because I had no money, that I went to school in the states because I was offered a scholarship and that I smiled every time I talked about my brother because we come from a ty family and he’s the only love of my life other than you.”

“I was afraid if you knew what a mess my life was in Korea, then you’d stop loving me the way you did.”

Donghae takes a deep breath before releasing it, chuckling bitterly as he slides himself down next to me. The complete silence between us is killing me and I want to know what Donghae is thinking or if he’s mad at me or if he just hates me right now.

“Hae, I’m so sorry.” I apologize.

Donghae sighs before finally looking at me and my breath hitches. Now that I’m right next to Donghae and that I finally have a better view of him, I’m shocked. Donghae looks… Sick. His lips are cracked and pale, the dark circles under his eyes looks really unhealthy and he looks like he’s lost a lot of weight. My heart sinks wh