Dark. That was all Hakyeon got called since his childhood. Classmates, friends and even teachers were joking about his tanned skin. Hakyeon pretended he didn’t care and he even made fun of himself just so he could show the others it doesn’t affect him. However it did hurt his feelings. Even when he jokes along with a big smile on his face while saying “Joke all you want, it doesn’t affect me”. It broke him more and more on the inside. Those jokes pushed him so far that he believes he isn’t beautiful at all, that he will never be beautiful because of his skin.
 

Every morning he would wake up early just to put foundation on his face and other skin parts that wasn’t covered by clothing. He did this to make his skin look whiter. When he goes outside he would always carry an umbrella with him just in case it will start raining and his foundation will disappear because of the rain. He never went to a swimming pool or a place with water in general. He was just so scared his real skin tone would become visible and people will joke about it or laugh at him.
 

Sometimes his friends asked him over for a manly night and ask him to stay over, but Hakyeon always had an excuse prepared so he didn’t had to go. His friends would always say that it’s a shame he couldn’t join them and didn’t beg him to change his mind. However, it was way harder to convince his boyfriend with all the excuses he uses for his friends.
 

His boyfriend, Lee Jaehwan, is a caring and loving boyfriend. He doesn’t have a limed when it comes to showering Hakyeon with complements and love. Hakyeon always got shy by all the love he got, but at the back of his mind a voice would always say that Jaehwan only loved him because he doesn’t know how tanned Hakyeon really is. Hakyeon knew it was silly to believe that voice, but to hear it every time Jaehwan was near him makes him to believe it. That voice made him even more alert when it came to checking if all the foundation covers his skin perfectly and always had his make-up with him so he could retouch his make-up whenever he could. But right now he wished he never carried five tubes of liquid foundation, two cases of powder foundation and a foundation brush.
 

“Why do you have so many foundations with you?” Jaehwan asked Hakyeon who stared at his feet
 

Hakyeon accidently let his bag fall on the ground causing his make-up to fall out of it, due to the fact that he had forgotten to close the zipper. He hated himself for being so carelessly; he never wanted Jaehwan to find out.
 

“Can you please answer me?” Jaehwan asked when Hakyeon still hasn’t answered. “It’s okay if you wear some make-up, I don’t mind that, but do you really need to carry so much around? One tube or one case of powder foundation is enough to retouch your face.”
“I…” Hakyeon began, but closed his mouth again. He just didn’t know what to say.
“You know you are beautiful the way you are. There is no need to cover your body with that stuff. Seriously it’s not even healthy to do that, your skin need to be able to breathe too.”
“How… how did you know?”
“You left foundation prints on my couch, chairs and bed.” Jaehwan answered
“Oh...” Hakyeon said and paused for a while. “How long do you know this?”
“Since our fourth date, remember the first time you came over to have a movie night. The whole couch and blankets got foundation prints everywhere. Back then I wasn’t sure if it was you, but seeing this amount of foundation… now I know where those prints come from.”
 

Hakyeon bit down on his bottom lip, he felt the fresh tears form in his eyes. He felt like his windpipe clenched as he wasn’t able to breath.
 

“Are you going to break up with me?” He asked fast and quietly
“What? Break up? Why would I do that?” Jaehwan asked confused, not knowing why Hakyeon would think something like that out of the blue
“Because… because, I don’t really have a light skin tone like you.” He said with a creak in his voice before his tears began to roll down his cheeks.
“Hyung… I would never break up because you are tanned. I love you too much.” Jaehwan said and wrapped his arms around his boyfriend. “I love you for who you are, the way you care for me and how you always make me feel so happy whenever I’m thinking of you. I love you for the way you make me feel happy when I’m having a bad day, I love you for the way you smile and get excited about the smallest things. I don’t care if you’re tanned. I love you for who you are, not for what you look like.”
“You’re too sweet. I don’t deserve you.” Hakyeon said softly
“Don’t you dare to say that ever again.” Jaehwan said as he held Hakyeon’s chin, forcing Hakyeon to look into his eyes. “You deserve so much and you are worth so much, so please don’t ever say that again.”

Hakyeon nodded before a soft “Okay” left his lips. Jaehwan smiled at him and placed his right hand on Hakyeon’s cheek, before he leaned in and pressed his lips on Hakyeon’s.