Chapter 3:

Hyesung packed his bags, deciding to leave before any of the parents came and started talking to him and preventing him from going home. Though, Chilhyun was not going to be there, waiting with freshly made food, Hyesung still wanted to go home and lie in the sofa while watching dumb “dramas”.

“Oh, you’re leaving?” Hyesung set his tired eyes at the obnoxiously happy ones and growled an answer. “Wow, lucky. I need to be here once the kids wake up and prepare food.” Eric explained smiling.

“Cool…” Hyesung mumbled nonchalantly.

It was not cool at all; actually, it was not even interesting, but he couldn’t say that to Eric. He hated those handsome features – especially when Eric was smiling – and wanted to brush of that happy look. The way Eric made butterflies of anger fly inside Hyesung’s stomach, made the slender man very annoyed. The older man always interfered when Hyesung needed it the least.

“Did Yebin’s mother talk to you?” Eric asked.

“No.”

“She said she had some problems with her at home and –“

Hyesung exhaled sharply and lifted his arm up, “Listen, Eric, I am very tired right now. And I would love to talk about parents and their rascals, but my shift is over and I would really love to go home to eat more of my husband’s sticky pasta.”

Eric looked at him silently.

“Yeah, sure. I’m sorry,” again the older man just smiled, as he stepped out of the way and let Hyesung walk away from the room.

Once the elf-featured man was outside, he almost bumped onto someone and apologised, not focusing on the figure at all and just marched away so no one would prevent him from leaving. The small man watched the thin man stride away and then breathed out and entered the building.

“Minwoo ya?”

“I thought what you said, Eric…” the short man murmured. “I want to start over again.”

                ***

The plastic box was abandoned to the cabinet, and a fork shortly accompanied the lonely box. The lazy guy – who almost seemed like a single man as we spoke – opened cupboards and tried to find something else to put in his mouth. The damn dogs were running by his feet, barking just a bit – possibly wanting food, since Chilhyun always just fed them with human food – even though the owner told them to shut up.

Hyesung poked the sticky and cold pasta with the fork and wrinkled his nose, imagining what the inside would taste like if he happened to eat it. For the last couple of weeks Chilhyun had studied pasta recipes and honestly Hyesung was so tired of pasta that he ended up feeding it to the dogs – who were as tired of it as the other owner.

The man chuckled.

“He will never know,” he talked to the dogs and poured the leftover pasta to the dumpster. “I’ll order a pizza.”

Hyesung grabbed his phone and slumped down to the couch, browsing through his Netflix page – it was secret and full of – with the free hand, while the other one held the phone on the ear. The familiar voice responded to the phone and Hyesung cleared his throat.

“Dongwan ah, yeah, the usual…no, no, oregano, but sesame seeds. What? Beer? Sure. Is it free? What? Why the do you suggest it then!? . You know my address why ask? Yeah, yeah…okay, see you soon. Bye.” He muttered, pushing the dogs down whenever they tried to jump to the sofa. “I’m not Chilhyun,” he stated.

                ***

The doorbell rang and Hyesung strode to it, the stomach crumbling as the smell of pizza lingered inside the apartment. Dongwan was always punctual, which sometimes irritated Hyesung since he would have wanted his damn pizza for free at least once.

“Hi!” The 20-year-old guy grinned.

How the could he have so many ing wrinkles on his face?!

“Here is your pizza, hyung,” Dongwan passed the carton box to the other guy. “And I need my money,” he then cupped the hands and waited. “And tips.”

Hyesung scoffed at the guy, digging his wallet and mumbled vulgarities while taking out money. He really liked this young guy though. Dongwan was a son of their neighbour and they always invited Hyesung and Chilhyun to their parties whenever they held one. The son wanted to become a photographer – and bunch of other things – but to get to that, he wanted to earn his own money (honestly, his dad forbade him for wanting to be a photographer but he didn’t care).

“Here is your damn money,” Hyesung hissed.

“Aish, hyung,” Dongwan took the papers. “You don’t want Chilhyun hyung to know that you don’t eat his food when he is away, right?”

Damn this kid…

“Fine. This is all I have. Take it!” Hyesung passed the money he had in the wallet to Dongwan and then exclaimed, “Bye bye!”

Dongwan bowed, that -grin all over his young face, and told the older man to eat well. Hyesung kicked the door closed, hurried to the sofa, started the random movie and began to eat his pizza, before Chilhyun would come home and witness the betrayal.

                ***

“Pilkyo ya,”

“What?”

The pretty guy sat down next to the husband, obviously having something to ask – or…suggest – as the eyebrows were positioned like that and the lips were formed into a quizzical circle. Hyesung lowered the newspaper just enough for his eyes to be seen.

“I was thinking…” It was evident that Chilhyun was hesitating. “…there is this meeting with the counselling group this weekend and it would be about abandoned children…” Hyesung smacked his lips. “…and I am supposed to go there, and since you are my husband I figured we can go together and have it as a…a…date…?” so it was a suggestion.

Hyesung glared at the other man.

“Chilhyun ah, I work with kids every single day.” He commented. “You really think I want to spend my weekend with some parentless brats as well? No ing way.” He stood up.

Chilhyun ogled at the younger man quietly, lips squeezing together, eyes glistening, and just smiled.

“It’s fine.” He said. “I’ll just go alone.”

                ***

Since Chilhyun was going to be gone the whole weekend, Hyesung had nothing to do. It was always like this – when Chilhyun had something to do, Hyesung was rotting in the apartment. Aish, Chilhyun never thought about his husband. Everything else was more important than Hyesung.

“Eo, hyung,” Junjin was wiping the tables.

There were barely people in the café, but Andy was busy in the kitchen; the smell was divine, almost opposite from what Hyesung was used to; The scent made him drool.

“What are you doing in here?” Junjin strode behind the counter, nonchalantly throwing the dirty cloth into the dirty water, and leaned to the surface. “Or, what would you like?”

Hyesung looked around, having all the time in the world as there was no one and just concentrated on the menu on the wall. There were a lot of new things in the list, but there were also Hyesung’s old favourites as he pointed at something randomly and Junjin hurried to make it.

“I’m just bored.”

“Tell me about it.” Junjin agreed.

“Chilhyun went to some boring thing and wanted me with him but nah.” Hyesung tapped the counter. “He went alone and left me alone in the ing dog-smelling apartment.” He muttered.

The younger man was brewing the coffee beans, filling the room with the smell of caffeine, talking back to the other guy who had a lot to whine about. Luckily, Junjin knew Hyesung from long ago and he had learned everything about him. He knew how easily Hyesung got annoyed.

“He could have like not gone,” the slender man snapped.

“Yeah,” Junjin nodded.

“Or like, he could have taken the ing dogs with him.”

“Definitely.”

“And he could have taken the pasta skills and showed the kids how not to make food.” Hyesung rambled.

Junjin placed the coffee to the table, and then strode to the shelves full of pastries and chose the one his hyung had chosen randomly. It looked quite feminine and tasted very sweet, but it fitted what Hyesung was feeling right now – he was being bitter.

“Here you go hyung,” Junjin smiled.

“How much?”

“Hey, it is free!” Promoted to a barista said. “Eat.”

Hyesung grabbed a spoon and began to eat the pastry. The pissed look on his face subsided a little, as the subject was changed and he was talking about sports and music and stuff with Junjin. People had still not come to the café.

“YAH!”

Junjin shuddered.

“Get back to work!” Andy slapped the non-existent hard, gritting his teeth, and sent the older man to work. “Oh, hyung, how long have you been in here?”

Hyesung shrugged.

“Anyways, I need a drink…” he stated.

“Hyung, it’s 2PM,” Andy chuckled. “Isn’t it early to be drinking…?”

Hyesung laughed, sipped the coffee, and then fixed his gaze back at Junjin who returned to the counter and glared at Andy. “Jinnie, you wanna come with me?”

“Where?”

“A bar,”

“Now? My shift ends in half an hour if you can wait.” Junjin grinned. “Andy, you wanna come too?”

The owner of the café stared at him.

“Dude, I own a café.”

“And?”

“Fine, count me in.”

                ***

The club was loud when the three guys entered it. Andy’s hand was grabbing on to Junjin’s denim – jacket, not wanting to get lost in the huge place, and the other guy held his arm behind, the forearm curled around Andy’s waist as they walked behind Hyesung.

“Hyung, I’ll go to the bathroom with Andy!” Junjin yelled.

“Mmm, whatever,” Hyesung gestured with his arm and went ahead, trying to find a free spot at the bar.

There were a lot of beautiful and handsome people, and Hyesung kept looking around to find someone to hang out with. Couple of very built handsome men their lips at him, and called him over to them to dance, but Hyesung just flirtatiously laid back and played hard to get. Eventually one of them joined Hyesung and bought him a drink.

“So, what brings you here?” The man asked.

“The same thing as you,” Hyesung smirked, touching the chest. “I’m Hyesung by the way.”

“Seunghun, nice to meet you Hyesung.”

                When Junjin and Andy returned from the bathroom, the younger man was smiling, hand moving awkwardly between their bodies, while Junjin wiped the corner of his moist lips and gazed at Andy. They were talking when they stopped to the bar and Andy frowned.

“Isn’t that hyung?”

Junjin turned his head and saw Hyesung definitely flirting with some random guy, the wedding ring glossing in the ring finger. He scowled too.

“What is he thinking of doing?” Andy interrogated.

“I don’t know, but I’m worried, come.” Junjin grasped his hand around the younger man and pulled him back to the crowded dancefloor.

                Hyesung let Seunghun go to the bathroom after their long conversation. Andy and Junjin had interfered couple of times, being worried that their hyung was going to do something he’d regret later, but other than that the other man had not been uncomfortable at all. They had exchanged numbers, but Hyesung knew he would never call him, ever.

“One beer thanks,” a familiar voice spoke to the bartender. “How much is it?”

Hyesung glanced at the person.

“Here you go,” It was Eric; Ridiculously hot-looking, casually dressed, fantastic smelling Eric. “Thanks.” The thin man kept staring at him from the side, his lips that tasted of the liquid in the glass he had just made out with.

Eric turned, having the beer in his other hand and a one, very feminine looking drink on the other one, when he noticed the co-worker sitting couple seats apart from him. Hyesung took a while to realise that the handsome man had noticed him, as he straightened his back and wiped the wet lips clean with the long sleeve.

“Pilkyo, hi!” Eric smiled widely. “What are you doing in here?”

Hyesung looked at him, eyes half-lidded.

“Drinking,” he responded.

“Wow, what a coincidence!” The older one sat down next to him. “You come here often?”

“No,” Hyesung shook his head.

Eric placed the two drinks in front of him and almost pulled the other man into his arms to squeeze him like they had not seen each other in weeks. Hyesung could now smell Eric’s natural scent up close and it burnt his nose hair – in a good way. He could imagine himself sniffing that skin while being in either one of their beds.

“I’m back, babe,” A short man kissed the thick lips.

“Hi, baby,” Eric grinned. “I bought you a drink.” He passed Minwoo the beer.

The older man cocked his head back and sipped the feminine drink, pecking Minwoo’s lips again. Hyesung felt the butterflies in his stomach leaving his body and the heart leaping to the throat.

“Pilkyo yah, this is my boyfriend; Lee Minwoo. He is 25 years old.”

The said man sat on Eric’s lap.

“Hi, it’s finally nice to meet you. I’ve heard so much about you, Jung Pilkyo-sshi,”

Hyesung glared at them, slammed his hand to the table and the money appeared from the sweaty grip.

“I’m off.” He mumbled.

“But…Pilkyo…” Eric said but the co-worker didn’t listen.