Kyuhyun

“Why can’t you just leave me alone!?”

The familiar voice of my brother-in-law can already be heard the minute I was about to push open the door. I hear something falling down and shattering into pieces and then there’s complete silence. I take a deep breath, not really ready for whatever that’s going on inside, but knowing that there’s no way I can escape it anyway and finally entered my apartment.

Both the Kim brothers are glaring at each other, trying hard to catch their breaths after screaming at each other. On the floor in between of the brothers, there’s a puddle of water and shatters of broken glass.

“What the is going on?” I demand, feeling annoyed.

“None of your business.” Henry sneers, eyes glaring at his brother.

The kid then steps back and doesn’t even spare me a look before he pushes past me and leaves the house, slamming the door behind. Bastard. I release a frustrated sigh and then look back to Ryeowook. He avoids eye contact with me, face expressionless as he immediately kneels down to pick up the pieces of broken glass.

“Ryeowook,” I call out.

He doesn’t respond and only continues to collect the broken glasses. . What is he doing? Those things look sharp as hell. I quickly made my way to where he’s kneeling and knelt in front of him, holding onto his wrist.

“Stop, it’s dangerous.” I warn him. “We can just sweep it away.”

Ryeowook nods, releasing the glasses from his hands. Instinctively, I hold his hands and turn them around to inspect his palms for any injuries. There’s a small red scar and other than that, he’s not hurt and I made a disapproving noise, shaking my head. Ryeowook is still avoiding eye contact with me but he makes no move of moving away.

“I’m sorry.” Ryeowook quietly apologizes. “I’ll get this cleaned.”

Ryeowook tries to pull away but I hold onto him tightly. He finally looks up at me, confused. The minute our eyes meet, something in my emotions shifted. I had to admit that I was initially mad having a property being damaged and how rude Henry was being but all those feelings vanished the instant my eyes meet Ryeowook’s. I can feel myself softening as my hold on Ryeowook tightens worriedly. His dark eyes are glistering with the deepest shade of sadness I’ve ever seen in anyone I have met.

“What happened?”

Ryeowook successfully pulls away from me, standing up to get the broom and dustpan. “It’s nothing.”

Ryeowook quietly sweeps away the broken pieces of glasses while I straighten myself and look over him. He sweeps away everything and goes back to the kitchen to clean up leaving me staring after him. I don’t know why, I can’t get my eyes off him. Everything about him makes me curious, makes me worried, and makes me anxious. If this were some other person, I would have probably walked away and not bothered to even ask if they were okay. But… Why? Why am I still here staring after him and wondering if he’s okay? And worst, why am I actually bothered that he doesn’t want to talk about it?

room and plop down onto the bed. God. What a day. With everything that happened with Ryeowook’s brother and then to finding a suitable ring, going to shop after shop, with Sungmin, I literally have no energy left in me.

“Why do you want it to be perfect when you don’t even care about him?”

Dammit. Lee Sungmin. That stupid bunny’s word had been echoing through my mind the minute the words left his lips. It’s just a fake marriage so why, why in the world did I ended up dragging Sungmin along to help me find a perfect ring for Ryeowook?

Because you want the media to see that your spouse has the most expensive and exquisite ring and you know that Sungmin has good taste in lame stuffs like this obviously.

Right. Right. It’s just for the media. Although it’s a little weird to just be buying a ring now but still, better late than ever right? Honestly, I never even thought of buying a ring until I notice the old guy, Leeteuk, observing Ryeowook and my hands back at his place. Then it hit me that , of course married couples have to be wearing stupid matching wedding bands.

I hear the door creaking open and Ryeowook pops in his head, looking at me warily before he slips into the room. I sit up on the bed and look at him while he goes around the room, cleaning up a little of his clothes that he’s keeping in my room for the meantime.

“Ryeowook,” I call him.

Ryeowook turns around and I wave him over to the bed. The bed dips as he sits down next to me, face still unreadable. I want to tell him about the ring and before I open my mouth to speak, Ryeowook quickly cuts me.

“Henry’s not always like this!”

I press my lips together and Ryeowook continues, “Please don’t be mad at him. I’ll replace the glass.”

I roll my eyes. “You don’t have to, I have thousands of it.”

“O… Okay. But I’m-”

I press my hands onto his mouth. “I don’t want to hear you apologizing either!”

Ryeowook’s eyes widen when I press my hands onto his mouth but his eyes crinkles and I can feel his lips slowly forming into a smile. Releasing my hand from his mouth, I smile when I see his shy smile on those soft lips. Well… That’s much better. My heart skips a beat and , I realize that Ryeowook’s smile might just kill me one day.

“I’ve got our rings.” I tell him quietly.

I pull out a navy blue velvet coloured box from my pocket and places it in between us. Ryeowook eyes the box and I’m waiting for him to take it but he doesn’t.

“Go on, open it.” I urge him.

I don’t know why but suddenly, this whole room is so warm. The collars of my shirt is suddenly suffocating me and I find myself trying hard to find my breath. The walls of the room feels like they’re closing on me, alone. Ryeowook finally picks up the box and opens it. When his eyes shimmer as he gazes down at the ring, I feel my chest tightening. Am I having a panic attack? Or is this what it feels like proposing to someone in real life?

Ryeowook’s brings it up closer to his face to look at it and when the diamonds on the ring reflects against Ryeowook’s orbs and he finally adverts his gaze from the ring to me. His voice is merely a whisper as he says, “It’s beautiful, Kyuhyun.”

. I know. And I’m not talking about the ring.

Knowing that things are getting out of hand, I nod absentmindedly. My throat is too dry to say anything and the room is getting so warm. Ryeowook looks uncomfortable too as he points at the other bigger ring.

“Is this yours?” Ryeowook asks.

I nod and Ryeowook quietly goes back to admiring the rings. When I finally am able to find my voice, I clear my throat and urge him, “Put it on, Ryeowook.”

I take the box from him and carefully take the smaller ring out. It’s not like I mean to do it. I did it even without realizing it and it all happened in a blink of an eye. Ryeowook’s shyly holding out his hands and I’m slipping the band on his ring finger. As I’m slipping it on, my heart leaps and my feelings are all over the place. The rings fits perfectly and it even looks like it belongs there, like it finally has found its right owner. I look up to Ryeowook and his eyes are shining, his fringe falling into his eyes, complexion beautifully mesmerizing under the moonlight.

For the first time in forever, I’m not staring at someone and thinking I want to bed him, instead, I’m staring at Ryeowook and thinking of how beautiful he is and how much more stunning he is whenever he smiles. And I’m waiting, waiting for that shy gorgeous smile to make his way to his lips and for my heart to leap out of my chest. I’m waiting for him to thank me and tell me that he loves the ring and asks me if it’s okay for him to put on my ring onto my finger.

But he doesn’t.

***

Ryeowook

“That ring should be illegal.”

Sungmin narrows his eyes that are both glued to the silver band around my finger. Unknowingly, I trace the cold metal, touching the heavy expensive gems on it lightly. I’m still baffled by the thought of something as precious and as extravagant as this to be of my responsibility. This ring might possibly cost more than my own apartment.

Sungmin and I are having lunch at his apartment. It’s a Saturday and both of us have no work and plans for the day. I thought of staying home earlier but Kyuhyun left early,