YESUNG'S POV

The music is loud, the room is packed with sweaty bodies dancing sensually, or more like, rubbing against each other to the rhythm. The smell of alcohol and smoke mixes with that of and pheromones creating the distinctive scent of “nightclub” that I hate so much. It’s disgusting, I don't like this kind of atmosphere. Why am I here again? Oh yeah, my girlfriend.

She always insists that I bring her to these places even though she knows I don't like to be here, but I won't let her come alone either. Not when I know how she gets when drunk, seeing the way she goes around flirting in front of me then how much worse would she behave if I weren't keeping an eye on her?

It's always the same, really: We come in together and leave together too, but for the entire time that we spend in the club, or clubs if I’m unlucky, I barely see her, or more like, she barely sees me. I remain in the sidelines, watching over her, because I’m possessive and protective but kind enough to let her have her fun without interfering unless it becomes too much. So she gets drunk on drinks other guys buy her. She dances with both girls and guys alike in a way that should but doesn’t because I’m pissed. She sits with some guys and talks to them, flirts with them. Leaning forward to show off her bust, biting her lip, flicking her hair and the rest of the book. It’s sickening to watch but I hold myself because we’ve had this argument countless times and it always ends with too loud screaming and crying and the sound of a harsh slap resonating in the room.

So I hold myself and watch, but when a hand runs up her tight that’s when I say enough is enough, like always. That’s when I have to rush to the bar and pull the guy off her, like always. If the guy is drunk then we fight and get kicked out; if he’s sober then I explain that she’s my girlfriend and we walk away. The last one doesn’t happen as often as I would want it to. Most of these altercations end violently and I can see she enjoys being fought over.

Because she’s that kind of manipulative , a cheating . But I can’t say that to her face, I happen to lack the balls. And I can’t seem to be able to break up with her because every time I tell her I’m tired of her bull she reminds me of my own flaws and how she’s stuck with me in spite of them. She reminds me of how her father payed my brother's bail when he was arrested. She reminds me how much I relayed on her when I was recovering from my alcoholism, of the few times I’ve actually hit her out of anger, of our child that she had to abort…

No. I can’t break up with her because she didn’t break up with me back then. It’s been 3 years of standing the other because there is no love there, hasn’t been for a while or maybe never. So I just live with it, with her, barely.

There she goes again, coming up to a random guy on the bar. He seems nice, and by nice what I mean to say is that he doesn't look drunk which is a good thing for me because then we can have a rational conversation instead of having to punch his face out of her cleavage.

HYUKJAE'S POV

I'm a playboy at heart if you must know. I don't sleep around with strangers anymore, but on the rare occasion that I go to Shindong’s bar for a couple of drinks, and a drunk lady like this one tries to seduce me, I like to play along. I like to smirk mischievously and look at her cleavage, buy her a drink and run my hand up her leg. Bust up her ego a little. It’s a nice pastime.

Then imagine my surprise when a guy stomps over and grabs my wrist to pull my hand away from her like he owns her.

“ing taken, dude” he growls. Oh! So he does own her, sort of. Actually not at all seeing how she was acting just now. I’m not conceited enough to think she was interested when she wasn’t, the signals were all there. She was clearly trying to get into my pants and this guy is clearly pissed about it.

“By you?” I ask, snatching my arm out of his grasp. He nods putting an arm around her shoulders to which she rolls her eyes “Then you aren’t doing a good job of keeping her in line, she’s the one who came onto me” I explain, choosing to ignore the bit of attitude she was showing.

“Still, hands off” he said angrily “Let’s go home already, Jeon-ah, it’s getting late” he pleads, turning his attention to her.

“No, it’s not” she counters as she shrugs his arm off ”It’s still early and I was having fun, why did you have to come? I told you to leave me be when we go out” she tells him and I am unsure if I should be listening in on their argument “Go over there and let me have my fun, I like this one” she says as she moves a bit closer to me. Me? Really now? I think is about time I confess my sins before they end up fighting over me.

“Mmm, no, actually I… well, how do I put this?” never before have I ever admitted my uality to a girl I have previously flirted with, I don’t know how she’ll react but it’s the right thing to do “I’m gay” there I said it, uff, feels like coming out to my parents all over again... Okay that was a pretty lame joke, nothing can compare to how I felt back then. Now that we are on the topic of my gayness and my parents I believe I have to tell you how that went. Ever wondered why I didn't go to college? It’s because my parents disowned me and I couldn’t afford to.

I used to teach in a dance studio and that somehow escalated to working as a professional choreographer. At first I was an uncertified amateur but eventually the company I was working for payed me a course and I was given the chance to move forward to a bigger entertainment label even with how young I am. Currently I train the rookies in JYP entertainment but I hope to work as a choreographer again when I grow older and more experienced.

But enough about me; back to the bickering couple: She was pissed! He was rather confused. I’m amused at her reaction to be honest but it’s understandable, I would have slapped me too if I were her.

“Wait so… let me get this straight, why the hell were you flirting with her?” he asked, he looks cute when he’s clueless. Actually he looks cute all over, just putting that out there.

“Well, she came onto me so strong I just wanted to play along, nothing personal” I tell him. And only him because she’s long gone, she stomped away to who-knows-where when I revealed myself, probably feeling used and betrayed and whatnot. Her self esteem must have taken a blow but I can’t bring myself to care after I saw how she treated her boyfriend because I’ve been there, with my first girlfriend.

“Then, I guess, sorry for yelling at you” he apologizes “I’m leaving now” he announces awkwardly, moving to step away.

“Wait!” I interject before he turns to leave “You seem off, want to talk about it?” I offer for reasons unknown even to myself “Order something, my treat”.

“I don’t drink” he says firmly but still sits down on the stool his girlfriend used to occupy.

“A shot won’t kill you” pun not at all intended, but he frowned still so I retracted my statement “Then order a ” At the end he did stay and ordered a non-alcoholic BigBang so I took one as well after having tasted his (behind his back of course) “So, tell me, what’s troubling you?” I enquire.

“Life” he answers tiredly “That woman, mostly”.

“Ouch, trouble in paradise?” I ask lightly.

“It was never paradise to begin with” he confesses forlornly “It gets worse everyday but I can’t leave her, we’ve been through too much together. 3 years man!” he exclaims, sounding far from proud.

“Longer than my longest, congrats on that, I guess. But if the relationship isn’t good then those 3 years are more of a waste than an achievement” I say. Since he’s so openly sharing his relationship trouble with an stranger, might as well share my wisdom “No matter how good it was at some point, end it before it is too late. I had to learn that the hard way”.

So we talked for the rest of the night. He told me all those things I shouldn’t have cared to hear, but for some reason I feel a lot of sympathy for this broken man. And I told him my story as well, all of it, even the bits that Sungmin doesn’t know about. We opened our hearts to one another because by tomorrow it wouldn’t mean anything, we wouldn’t see each other again; no judgement, no consequences.

It was the ideal situation until closing time came and only then did we realize his girlfriend had ditched him. He called her and she said she found someone to take her home and that he needn't worry. Girl-code for “I’m getting laid tonight so don’t call again”.

He didn’t tell me his name and I didn’t tell him mine until then. The entire night went by without us exchanging introductions until we were already in my car. His name was Yesung and for the sake of keeping anonymity, mine was Eunhyuk.

He drove the car because I had drank a little. Not enough to be drunk but I don’t take those risks anymore, not after... you'll know about that one in due time. So he drove me to my place but didn’t leave immediately because we weren’t ready to part just yet. There were still many things I felt like telling him, things that he needed to tell me as well.

So we sat on his bed and talked some more, ranting about how unfair life can be, relating to the other's pain, offering ty advice like “Kick his !!”, going so far as to follow even tier advise like “Dump that !!”. So I had to stop him there. Before he hit send on the message that would end his relationship I told him not to, because as much as I believed he should, he would most likely regret it afterwards.

He sent it either way, reminding me that he was completely sober and it was a conscious decision and that it wasn’t made in the spurt of the moment either. He reminded me that he was calm and collected, he wasn’t being rash or irrational, he had always wanted to and he claimed that I had given him the strength.

I don't know what hit me when he said that, but it was strong and out of my control. A possibility.

YESUNG'S POV

I could barely finish my sentient speech before I was being silenced by a warm pair of lips pressing against mine, hands coming to grasp the back of my neck to keep me in place but I wasn’t moving, wasn’t planning to. I don’t know why that is. I don’t know why my own hands came up to cup his cheeks. I don’t know why I shifted in place so that we could move closer, press our torsos together, fall on the bed in a tangle, kiss deepening and hands wandering around.

Too hot, too fast, too hard, too tight. But in a good way. In the best way I’ve ever experienced. But it ended all too soon and then doubt seeped in.

Still, I couldn’t leave, not when he was asleep in my arms, looking tired and satisfied, sleeping so peacefully that I had to stay just to see it, falling asleep with him eventually, waking up eventually, still beside him.

“By the way” he began as he rubbed sleep out of his eyes, yawning exhaustedly “My real name is Lee Hyukjae. Sorry I lied” he confesses and I roar out a loud laugh, startling him.

“Mine is Kim Jongwoon, nice to meet you” I reply with an amused smile and he looks at me weird before bursting in laughter as well.

Why did we both lie? Why did we feel like we couldn't trust the other with our real name but didn't hesitate to pour our hearts out? Maybe we felt like our secrets would be safer if the other person didn't know who we truly were. Maybe we wanted to keep it fake, fictional, surreal. Like it wasn't really us but an alterego, a side of us that wasn't afraid to let go of all the things we had kept bottled up, a side of us who wasn't ashamed to look for the warmth and comfort, understanding, that another could offer. Or maybe we just wanted a safety net in case we were to regret it, so we could disappear with no trace. Him telling me his name and me revealing mine... it meant neither wanted the chance to escape anymore.

We get up and have breakfast together during which we talk about what happened, a little awkward at first but we got over it quickly and talked like adults, coming to the mutual agreement that he’s a great guy, exactly the emotional support I need in my life now that I’m starting a new chapter of it after having broken up with Jiyeon. With that claim came the consensus that we could grow a friendship much more precious than what a love relationship could become, so we stayed friends and that was probably the best decision I’ve made in my whole life.

HYUKJAE'S POV

So now I’ve made a new friend, and because I’m such a troll I wrote about it on my Facebook, going as far as to take a picture of me kissing him on the cheek and hinting at our night together. And because he’s an even bigger troll, he posted a very compromising status and got a bunch of likes and support in the comments.

We were still together when all of this happened, laughing at how many people we fooled that we even considered posting that we were “in a relationship”, but that would have been taking it too far so we just stuck with posting a bunch of corny statuses and tagging the other, also taking pictures together because it was too much fun.

Until the girlfriend came along.

She updated her relationship status, changing it to single from having been in a relationship with Yesunggie without a single word of explanation.

The 69 likes it got made it all even funnier.