Youngjae tapped his chin with his pen that he had been holding for about half an hour as he looking around, searching for his only student in the crowded train station who had not arrived yet. The others were talking to their friend, not really caring about their classmate who hadn’t arrived yet because their train would come in about 5 minutes.

As the train arrived, Youngjae told his students to get in first because he wanted to wait for his only student. The train only stopped there for 1 minute only so Youngjae couldn’t help but feel anxious. He sighed in relief when he saw the browned hair student of his ran through the crowd and waved at him frantically. The girl panted slightly and apologized for being late so Youngjae just smiled and nodded, telling her to get into the train. He got in as well, walking to where his class was seated to find his own seat.

They were on a trip to Busan after their exam had finished. Youngjae, was a student teacher at the all-girls school and being the only young handsome teacher in the school, of course he had a lot of fangirls around him.

He took out his phone from his pocket, swiped his finger on the screen to unlock it and started to scrolling through the important things that he needed to do. The hotel rooms had been booked by him a month before when they were planning to go on this trip. He chose the hotel that was really close to the beach because he knew his students would like it as well as him.

After being in the train for long hours, they finally arrived at their destination. Youngjae stood up and cleared his throat before speaking, “Alright girls, make sure you don’t forget any of your things in here. We’ll be getting into the bus to go to the hotel.” The students nodded and walked out of the train carefully. They gathered at the entrance of the station and waited for their teacher to check on them one by one, not wanting to leave behind anyone. As the bus arrived, they got in after being told and once again, Youngjae counted the number of his students to make sure it was enough before getting to their hotel.

The students gathered in the lobby as their teacher went to check-in. It wasn’t a long wait because there were not many people around so they could check-in their room faster.

“Okay girls, here are the cards for your rooms. Four person per room alright? One more, do not going out without telling me.” he handed them the card for their room respectively. After his students had gotten into the elevator while cheering happily, Youngjae stood in the lobby for a while, looking around the place. When he was about to turn around and go to the elevator, he bumped into a guy wearing a cap and sunglasses.

“Ouch—“

“S-sorry. That was my fault.” Youngjae apologized quickly, feeling bad for the guy.

The guy looked up at him, his mouth gaping slightly as he muttered, “Youngjae…”

“hm? How do you know me?” Youngjaeasked him with a slightly curious face.

“N-no.I said, it’s okay. It was my fault too.” That guy smiled, showing his pearly white teeth and Youngjae thought it was a really beautiful sight but he mentally smacked his head for thinking like that.

“Ah..my name is Youngjae. You?” he stretched out his hand for the other to take.

“I’m..Daehyun.” The guy with sunglasses shook his hand and Youngjae apologized repeatedly, before excusing himself to go to his room.

Why do I feel like I know him?

It was afternoon when Youngjae walked to the beach, smiling when he saw his students were already there, playing volleyball and building sandcastles. Some were eyeing a few hot guys in their trunks. He went to sit on the sand, not so far from his students who were building sandcastles.

“Youngjae ssaem!! Come here and build sandcastles with us!!” one of the girls shouted at him. He turned his head to look at the girl and chuckled, shaking his head.

“It’s okay. I just want to relax here.” He smiled softly before turning his gaze back to the sea, a warm feeling washed over him.

“Hey~” he looked up to see the man from yesterday that he bumped at the lobby. Daehyun was just wearing his trunks and sunglasses, his body was slightly toned and his skin is tanned. Youngjae shook his head when he felt himself staring.

“H-hey..” he managed to say after a few seconds. “Do you come here for vacation too?”

Daehyun sat down beside him, taking in a few deep breath before he answered, “Nope. I work here.”

“Ah.. What do you work as?”

“I could be everything.” He smiled widely at Youngjae and the teacher found that it was one of the beautiful smiles that he had ever seen. “What about you?”

“I’m… a teacher. I come here for a field trip.”

The tanned guy nodded, “ I see. So I bet the girls who are watching us now, your students?”

Youngjae tilted his head a bit to see if what Daehyun said was true. To his surprise, his students were all there, covering their mouth as they giggled at him. They cooed at him and Youngjae widened his eyes, waving his hand dismissively.

“I’m sorry…” Youngjae scratched his head sheepishly, bowing his head a bit.

“Nothing to be sorry about.”Daehyun smiled and ruffled his hair. “I have to go now. So, bye?”

The young teacher nodded, muttering good bye to him as the guy left him there.

Why do I feel close to him?

It was night when they were having a small party at the restaurant near the beach. That was when Youngjae met him again, sitting alone at the corner of the restaurant, gazing at the beach. Since it was night, he couldn’t really enjoy the scene so just by hearing the sound of the waves calmed him down.

“Hey~” Youngjae greeted him.

“Oh? Hey~” he smiled widely, dragging out the seat next to him for Youngjae to sit and the latter gladly sat on it.

“What are you doing here? Alone?”

He smiled again, “Yeah. Just want to calm down myself here, alone.”

“What if you join us? We are having a small party there.” He pointed at their table but froze in his spot when he saw his students giggling again. He sighed. “I think they like you.”

“Hm? Are you sure?” Daehyun chuckled but he turned in his seat to wave at Youngjae’s students. And of course, the girls were covering their mouth to hold back their screams.

“See.. I told you..”

“Ah alright alright~ I’ll join you guys.” They stood up and walked to the small group of students, sitting at the table and having a conversation with the girls. It was nice. Really. Daehyun admitted that he liked being around them because they were asking him a lot of questions like “Do you have a girlfriend?”, “Why are you so handsome?”, “Can I be your girlfriend?” and all.

But a question that made him wanted to choke on his own saliva was, “Do you and Youngjae ssaem have a feeling towards each other?” Youngjae also almost spat out his drink and the other girls also were staring at them with curiosity. But he straightened himself up, clearing his throat and said, “maybe?”

They all cooed and Youngjae couldn’t help but feel his face heated up so he cleared his throat and told his students to go back to the hotel because it was late already. They sighed as they scrambled out of their seat and walked in group, going back to their hotel rooms. As they were out of his sight, Youngjae turned to look at Daehyun and he caught Daehyun staring at him back so he turned his head awkwardly, fiddling with his glass.

“S-sorry about before..”Youngjae muttered, his voice was low.

“It’s okay. They are cool though.”

“They just like being busybody” he chuckled nervously and glanced at Daehyun. As he wanted to turn his body, he knocked the glass down and the water spilt on the table and into Daehyun’s lap. He gasped. Mentally smacking himself for being careless and stupid, he quickly grabbed the napkin and dabbed on Daehyun’s thighs. Youngjae’s cheeks were slightly tinted with pink when Daehyun spread his legs a bit because the water got onto his crotch too and he quickly dabbed it before turning away, face as red as tomatoes.

Daehyun blinked, “I..was going to do that by myself..” and Youngjae felt his face almost burned from the embarrassment.

“I-I’m sorry..”

Daehyun smiled as he ruffled the young teacher’s hair. He stood up and held out his hand for Youngjae to take, “Let me keep you company to head back to the hotel. It’s late now.” Youngjae looked up at the hand and Daehyun before nodding, taking the hand and standing up as well.

The next morning, Youngjae heard his door was knocked early in the morning, but fortunately he had already woken up so he went to open it. To his surprise, Daehyun stood there with a trolley, smiling widely at him. “Good morning, sir. I’m here for room service. A breakfast for you.” He took the food and gave it to Youngjae who was blinking, not knowing what just happening.

“But I didn’t ask for one though?”

“Ah.. It’s because you’re our lucky customer. I’ll be going now. If you need anything, just call for room service okay. Thank you.” He bowed before going down the hallway.

“…weird.” The teacher shrugged but felt slightly happy because he didn’t need to go down to eat breakfast.

In the afternoon, Youngjae was walking at the beach in his plain white t-shirt and a pair of shorts and he met Daehyun there, playing volleyball with a group of girls, wait—that was his students. So he waddled towards them and stood there smiling.

“Oh Youngjae ssaem!! Do you want to play with us?” one of the girls said, smiling widely at him. Daehyun turned his body and walked towards him. Youngjae gulped. Daehyun was shirtless again. His eyes raked down the slightly toned body in front of him but quickly snapped out of his thoughts when Daehyun greeted him.

“Hi Jae.” There he was again, his dazzling smile that could make people melt right away. And the nickname that he just called made Youngjae smiled shyly, his cheeks were a slight dust of pink.

“H-Hi..”

“Do you want to play with us?”

“Ahhh..n-no. I don’t know how to play it.”

“I can teach you. Come on.”

“but—“ before he could utter any word, Daehyun already dragged him in, telling him the rules and how to play it. The girls cooed silently as they watched how close their teacher with that Daehyun guy.

After they had played and became tired, Youngjae excused himself to take a stroll there so Daehyun excused himself as well to keep Youngjae company. They got into the souvenir store and Daehyun bought him a necklace with shells on it. The workers there greeted Daehyun formally and the tanned guy just greeted back while showing his breath-taking smile.

As they walked back to the hotel, once again, the workers there greeted Daehyun too and he greeted them back. Youngjae wondered why but then he thought maybe Daehyun was just a respectful guy here because of his behaviour. Youngjae thanked him. For teaching him playing and buying him a necklace. He had fun.

After a few days staying in Busan, he met Daehyun everyday. And they spent a lot of time together. Youngjae got to know that Daehyun loved cheesecake a lot so he made sure to buy him cheesecake if he stopped by the bakery.

As they were eating the cheesecake at the beach, Daehyun turned his head to look at Youngjae but he froze in his spot and couldn’t stop staring because he looked so mesmerizing. The young teacher’s hair swayed softly as the wind blew, his face was glowing under the sunlight and he was smiling softly while watching his students and a few other kids there. Without him noticing, the fork that he used escaped his hand and fell onto the lounge chair that they were sitting on, making a clanking noise. Youngjae turned around and picked up the fork, giving it back to Daehyun.

“Your fork is now dirty. We should get the new one or I can go clean it?” when Daehyun didn’t respond, he waved his hands in front of the tanned guy’s face, “Dae? Dae?Daehyun~~”

Daehyun seemed to snap out of his thoughts as he shook his head, blinking up at Youngjae, “Yeah? What did you say?”

Youngjae bit his bottom lip to hide his laugh, “I said your fork is dirty. Wanna get the new one or I should go clean it?”

“Ahh.. I don’t feel like eating anymore. Just leave it.” Daehyun took out his sunglasses and wore it before leaning comfortable on the back rest of the chair. “Youngjae ah?”

“Hm?”

“Are you free tomorrow?”

“Yeah I am. Why?”

“I wanna take you out.”

“Are you asking me out on a date Daehyun ah?~~” Youngjae said teasingly but his cheeks were slightly pink tinted.

“Yes. I am.”

Youngjae gasped, didn’t expect Daehyun to answer like that with a calm tone and a dead serious look. “E-erm..o-okay. W-what time?”

“10 am. I’ll wait for you at the lobby.”

“O-okay.”Youngjae blushed and bit his bottom lip to hide the wide smile that threatened to form on his face because he could feel his heart beat madly against his ribcage.

Daehyun lay on his back, his hands behind his head, staring up at the ceiling with a smile gracing his handsome face. Finally after years he had been searching for Youngjae, he met him again. Maybe this was what people called ‘fate’. He didn’t want to ask much. He just wanted Youngjae to be by his side again like before. He took the frame on the bedside table, his hand trailing the face in the picture. It was their photo in high school, where they were best friends before being in relationship.

Flashback

“I don’t want you to come and see him again after this.” Youngjae’s half brother, Yongguk, said to Daehyun as the latter stood in front of Youngjae’s room as he got the news that Youngjae was hospitalized.

Youngjae fell down the stairs when he was arguing with his brother about him and Daehyun being in relationship. He was furious to know that his brother did not want him to be close to Daehyun just because the boy was poor while he and his brother lived in a big house. He slipped on the stairs when he wanted to go away, tired of fighting with his brother about his relationship.

The doctor said Youngjae got a slight concussion and broke his neck. Yongguk didn’t tell anybody about that because he didn’t want Daehyun to know but Daehyun just happened to know. That was why Daehyun stood in front of the room, pleading at Yongguk to let him in.

“You are the cause of what happened to Youngjae! I don’t want my brother to be with you forever, living in poverty. What can you give him? What will you feed him? You’re not that excellent in your study as well so how will you find a decent job to give him a better life? How will you make him happy like that?” Yongguk scoffed as he crossed his arms, looking away from the boy in front of him.

Daehyun just looked down to the floor, he knew what Yongguk said was true but he knew that he could make Youngjae happy. He would do whatever it took for Youngjae to be happy. Youngjae was still in coma and not being able to be by his side is the most terrible thing in his life.

“P-please.. let me see him just for a while. A-and I promise I will never bother your life again after this. I won’t see Youngjae again.” Daehyun’s voice was soft as he pleaded, hands clasped together.

“Fine. Five minutes.” Yongguk stepped away from the door and let Daehyun in.

A tear rolled down his cheek and he wiped it quickly as he saw Youngjae’s condition. He took his lover’s hand, pressing his lips against it and holding back his tears.

“Youngjae ah, I’m sorry I didn’t come earlier. I didn’t know.. “ he couldn’t hold back his sobs as he burst into tears, clutching Youngjae’s hand to his heart. “I promise.. one day, we will be together again. I will make you happy and we will live happily ever after. Like you always want baby. I’m sorry and I love you.” He kissed Youngjae’s lips one last time before he dashed out of the room, tears streaming down his cheeks.

Youngjae woke up with a smile on his face when he remembered that he had a date with a certain hot guy. He blushed as he made his way to the bathroom to take a shower, his mind couldn’t stop thinking about Daehyun.  When he finished showering, he chose his best outfit to look good and spent about half an hour trying to fuss over his hair.

Why am I so excited for this date? No. I’m not excited. I just want to look good on this date.

Youngjae thought but he shook his head, giving up on his hair and making it like his usual hairstyle. He tried to contact his students to tell them that he wouldn’t be around at the hotel that day but when none of them answered his texts or phone calls, he was anxious.

The clock showed that it was almost 10am so he hurried up to the lobby to wait for Daehyun. Maybe he could ask Daehyun to look after his students later, he thought.

When Daehyun came into view, Youngjae gulped and stared at Daehyun from head to toe. Daehyun chuckled as he saw the look on Youngjae’s face, “Hey, are you going to stare at me forever?”

Youngjae blushed and looked down at his lap, “Y-you look good today.”

“Just today?”

“N-no. I mean, more good today.” Daehyun laughed and Youngjae’s face heated up once again. His laugh was melodious and beautiful.

“Thank you. You look good too. So, shall we go now?” Daehyun offered his hand for Youngjae to take but the latter only stared at it, “hm?”

“I-I tried to contact my students this morning but none of them answered me. I am worried.” Youngjae said as he fiddled with his fingers.

“No need to worry about that. I asked my friends to take them around the islands.”

“Y-your friends?”

“Yeah. Don’t worry. If anything happens to your students, I will take the blame.” Youngjae’s heart beat a bit faster than usual as he looked up to meet Daehyun’s smiley face. They held hand as they walked out to the entrance, Daehyun led his date to the black Audi’s car at the entrance and Youngjae blinked.

“Is this your car?” he asked as soon as both of them settled in and buckled up.

“Nope. My boss’s. Just borrowing for this date you know.” Daehyun wiggled his eyebrows as he grinned widely, showing his pearly white teeth.

Youngjae laughed and shook his head, “You don’t have to. We can just take the public transport.”

They went to a cafe for brunch, ordering their coffees and some pastries as they ate at the table outside the cafe just to get some fresh air. The morning sun shone on Youngjae’s face, making him looked glowing and bright. For that moment, Daehyun stared as he thought Youngjae was some kind of angel, fallen from the heaven and fated to be with him.

After the brunch, Daehyun took Youngjae to the park and they sat on the bench under a tree. Daehyun noticed Youngjae was looking at the ice cream van, not far from them so he got up and told Youngjae to wait for him as he ran to the van.

When he came back with two ice creams in his hands, he handed one to Youngjae which the teacher gladly took.

“Thank you.” Youngjae grinned and he the ice cream, eyes widening when green tea flavour spread on his taste bud. “How do you know I like green tea ice cream?” He asked Daehyun.

“U-uh..?” I know all your favourites. “I just guess?” Daehyun chuckled as he ate his ice cream.

They took a walk around the park before Youngjae dragged Daehyun to go to the largest mall in Busan. Daehyun chuckled as he remembered back to when they were still in high school, Youngjae always dragged him to the mall after school just to look at the cool stuff but never bought because Youngjae said he wouldn’t use it. But sometimes, he would insist to buy Daehyun something even though the latter didn’t want it.

Daehyun always loved to see Youngjae’s reaction when he got inside a teddy’s shop. He would rub his face against the fluffiest teddy in the shop, his face stretched into a wide smile. Daehyun once asked Youngjae why he didn’t buy it and Youngjae said that he loved teddy but he wanted a special one.

Daehyun always wanted to give a teddy to Youngjae as a present but he didn’t have money for that. He did save his money to buy the teddy but when he had enough to buy one, Youngjae was missing. He didn’t know where they moved to.

As they walked into the mall, Youngjae was excited as he pulled Daehyun to find the teddy shop. Daehyun brought him to the shop and secretly took a photo of Youngjae because he knew customers weren’t allowed to take pictures.

Youngjae was looking at a white teddy, about half his size and has the fluffiest fur between the others. His expression soft as he traced the teddy’s face with his hands.

“We are getting that.” Daehyun said as he picked the teddy and went to the counter to pay for it.

Youngjae gasped and pulled Daehyun’s arm, “W-wait! N-no you don’t have to!”

“What? I want to buy this for me.”

“O-oh..” Youngjae blushed as he looked down to the floor, embarrassed because he thought Daehyun wanted to buy it for him. He noticed something slipped from Daehyun’s pocket so he picked up the piece of paper, gasping when he saw it was a photograph of him and Daehyun. But they looked so young.

Daehyun turned around to give the teddy to Youngjae but the sight of Youngjae holding the picture made him froze. “Y-Youngjae..”

“What is this Daehyun?” Youngjae looked up, eyes b with tears as he showed the picture, “A-Are you that person that was my friend.. my lover..? If y-you are, please explain..”

“O-Okay.. I will explain to you..”

They sat in a restaurant, at the booth in the corner, far from people. Youngjae hugged the teddy and rested his chin on the top of the teddy’s head. Daehyun thought it was cute but he had something to explain to Youngjae at the moment.

The waitress served their drinks and Daehyun thanked her before she walked away politely. He took a sip and cleared his throat, hands sweating as he looked up at Youngjae who was staring back at him.

“F-First of all, I want to know why you asked me that question?”

“Which question?” Youngjae’s voice was monotone that it sent chills down Daehyun’s spine.

“You asked me if I was your friend.. lover..”

“Oh.. I read my old diary and all I wrote was ‘him’ so I didn’t know whom.”

“I see.. So.. To answer your question, yes. I was your best friend, your lover. We dated in high school.”

“Then why we are not together? Why my hyung never told me about you? Why I have no memories of you?”

“It’s a long story..” Daehyun sighed, “But I’m going to tell you all and I don’t know whether you will believe me or not.”

“Carry on.”

Daehyun told him all from how they became friends and then turning into lovers and what happened when Youngjae was hospitalized. “So.. one day when I passed by your house, I noticed it was empty then I asked your neighbours. They said you moved away and they didn’t know where you moved to. Our ties were cut completely and I was lost when you were gone. That was when I promised myself that I’m going to find you. I’m glad that I have met you and I’m not going to let you go again Youngjae.”

A tear slipped down Youngjae’s cheek and he wiped it quickly. He didn’t know why he trusted what Daehyun had said because Daehyun might be lying just to make his brother seemed bad but his instinct told him that Daehyun did not lie.

Youngjae counted his students in the lobby before they checked out and boarded the bus to make sure that they are enough. When all of his students were there, he went to the counter to check out as well as asking about Daehyun’s whereabouts. He needed to meet Daehyun before he went back to Seoul.

“I’m sorry, sir. Mr.Jung is in a meeting with the board directors from other companies.” The receptionist said politely.

“W-what? Meeting? What’s his position?”

“He’s the owner of this hotel sir.”

Youngjae’s eyes widened as he gaped, stuttering out, “W-what.. when will his meeting end?”

“I’m not so sure sir.”

He thanked the receptionist for the info and told his students to board the bus after he had checked out. His students walked in group towards the bus and Youngjae followed behind them to make sure no one was left behind.

“YOUNGJAE WAIT!!” Everyone turned around to look at the source of the sound as they saw a man in perfectly tailored suit ran towards Youngjae with a bouquet of red roses. The man panted as he stopped in front of Youngjae and handed him the roses. “Are you going back to Seoul?”

Youngjae nodded, not being able to trust his voice at the moment.

“Are you not going to bid goodbye to me?”

“I-I wanted to but y-you were in a meeting.. “ the was a pause before Youngjae continued, “why you didn’t tell me?”

“Tell you what?”

“That you are the owner of this hotel..”

Daehyun smiled as he took Youngjae’s hand in his, “It doesn’t matter. What I want you to know is that I always love you.”

Youngjae blushed and he looked down to the ground, his students were cheering at them, making his face even redder. “I-I don’t know about my feelings to you Daehyun but.. I think I might fall in love with you because I already like you from my first day here.”

“Will you be my boyfriend?”

“Of course.” Youngjae didn’t hesitate and Daehyun pulled him in for a kiss, making the students went crazy at the scene in front of them. They were cheering loudly for their teacher and the guy that always helped them.