CHAPTER 07

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Taeyong gets Hansol’s call when he’s having a meal with his parents. Ever since the last night’s text, he hadn’t replied to Taeyong’s message. He had read it, but hadn’t written anything back. He didn’t reply to anyone else either, and it was getting a little worrisome.

He wipes his mouth before excusing himself from the table, telling his parents it was important before going out of the room and into the kitchen.

“Hello?”

“Yeah, hey, it’s me Hansol.” Hansol says; voice shaky with nervousness. It just makes Taeyong more worried as he sits at the table, furrowing his eyebrows.

“What’s up?”

“About yesterday…” Hansol starts, “I wanted to talk about something.”

“I’m listening, go on.”

“I – I know this might sound very weird, but I’m just going to tell you off the bat, think I might have feelings for Yuta…” Hansol’s words are barely audible when he says them, and Taeyong literally puts him on speaker but remembers his parents are sitting just a few feet away from him.

“It’s not weird, Hansol. And I’ve been noticing that you act different when you are with him.” Taeyong confesses, and smiles when he hears Hansol gasp at the other end.

“What? Was I that obvious? Did Yuta notice?” He rushes his questions, and Taeyong chuckles.

“I don’t think so. I think everyone there picked up on it, but not Yuta. He was acting like he usually does, you know, like, not caring about anything.

“Oh, thank god.” Hansol heaves a breath, “I nearly got a heart attack.”

“Is that what you were worried about?” Taeyong asks.

“No… Well, kind of. But I wanted to talk about something else, too. You remember when we were playing truth or dare, and Yuta said spent time after school with Kun?”

“Yes, I do remember that…”

“I feel really antsy about my feelings towards Yuta, you know,” Hansol’s shaky voice is back, and it hurts Taeyong’s heart.

He has never heard, or seen Hansol get so emotional about something before, and all of this is very surprising. He doesn’t know how to handle it. He’s probably the first person Hansol has told this to, even when everyone else knows how he feels about Yuta now, they haven’t talked to Hansol about it, only Taeyong has. It feels good to know Hansol trusts him enough to expose such a vulnerable side of him, but its nerve wracking, nonetheless.

“He probably likes Kun, and I’m here catching feelings for him like an idiot.” He mutters the last words, and Taeyong visibly shakes his head.

“No, Hansol. Don’t say that. He did say he spent time with him, and I did suggest him to ask Kun out, but he never said anything about it after that day. We never heard him talk about asking Kun out, or talking about Kun in general. Maybe they fooled around and that was it.” Taeyong suggests helpfully, trying to make his friend feel better. He’s trying the best he can to not make Hansol regret venting out to him.

The line is silent for a bit, a sign that Hansol is really thinking about what Taeyong said, and Taeyong lets out the breath he didn’t know he was holding. A few minutes pass and Taeyong has to pull his phone away from his ear to check if Hansol is still on the line and he is. He brings his phone back just in time to hear him sigh again.

“You’re… you’re right, Taeyong. Maybe they’re just friends…”

“Yeah, but you need to talk to him about this, though. You know you’ll never get the right answer out unless you tell him about this. I’m not telling you to confess, of course. Just… talk to him about Kun and ask him if he likes someone. I’m sure that guy is single as a pringle.”

“Okay, ew. First of all, no one says ‘single as a pringle’ anymore. But I’ll think about what you just told me, Taeyong.” His voice goes soft, and he sounds genuine, which makes Taeyong feel relaxed.

“You’re a kind friend. I’m glad I talked to you about this.” Taeyong smiles at this, feeling a little shy at the compliment.

“No worries. You know we’re all here for you when you need us, Headlights.” Taeyong brings back Hansol’s nickname back from high school, and Hansol gasps out loud again, making Taeyong laugh harder than he was.

Hansol spews out a string of curse words, threatening to kill him before hanging up. He’s smiling from ear to ear as he continues to sit at the table. He continues to lull over why Hansol chose to call him out of all their friends. He could’ve called Doyoung and have probably gotten a better advice than Taeyong, but he still called Taeyong and told him what he was feeling without hesitation. There were no secrets between them, but Hansol talking about his feelings was a first. Hansol was always the quiet kid who never really said anything about how he was feeling. He was pretty closed out, and all of their six year friendship resulted in very few instances when he actually opened up to them about his feelings.

The few moments when he did speak to them, were of course very difficult times for Hansol. One included his grandmother, which he was very close to, passing away suddenly. Taeyong had never seen Hansol look so sad and miserable, and it bought tears to his eyes seeing his friend cry as he told them how he never thought this would happen to him. He was closer to his grandmother than he was to his parents, and losing someone so precious to you can be heartbreaking.

Taeyong sighs at the bittersweet memories and is about to get up but his phone starts wringing again. He sits back down and looks at the caller ID.

Honey Baby calling…

Taeyong gulps, his heart picking up pace as he answers the call.

“Hello?” Taeyong says, praying his mother doesn’t walk in the kitchen and hear him talking to his boyfriend.

She hasn’t stopped talking about Jaehyun, asking Taeyong about him and to tell Jaehyun to stop by their house so she could meet them. His relationship with Jaehyun was at a fast pace, but he knew asking Jaehyun to come over would be a little quicker than they’d both like. They still needed to get know each other, to spend a little more time together before they were both comfortable enough to meet Taeyong’s parents as boyfriends.

“Hey, baby. How are you doing?” Jaehyun’s sultry voice nearly makes him swoon and he places his forehead on the table, trying not to groan as his cheeks feel warm.

“I’m good. Better, now that you called.” He flirts, and hears Jaehyun laugh at the other end. Until now, it has been Jaehyun who had complimented him and said lovely words, and he knew Taeyong was too shy to say them. Taeyong wanted to, but he had never been able to have enough courage to. Jaehyun didn’t complain, though. He never did, and this was one of the reasons why he got so close to Taeyong’s heart in a matter of a couple of months.

“Your words never fail to swoop me right off of my feet, darling.” He teases. Taeyong can hear Jaehyun’s smile when he says it, and buries his head deeper into the table, probably causing himself some brain damage in the way.

“Why did you call at this time?” Taeyong asks. It was rare for Jaehyun to call him until after noon, when Jaehyun wasn’t taking his extra course classes like he had told Taeyong he was. He called right when Taeyong was done with his daily dose of a million naps because he loved sleeping and it was his life, he could do what he wanted. So it was quite a surprise to see him calling so early.

“Were you busy?” Jaehyun asks, sounding worried. Taeyong is quick to respond.

“No, no! You have classes at this time, don’t you?” Taeyong says, trying not to sound like a creep that remembers every single thing his boyfriend had told about himself.

“Oh, they ended yesterday, and I’m free, like a bird!” Jaehyun says, dragging out the word free. He sounds like a kid who just heard that he’s going to Disney land, and Taeyong can’t believe they’re both about the same age.

“Well, bask in your freedom, mister. College is back in a week.” Taeyong laughs when he hears Jaehyun groan, before Jaehyun’s talking again.

“Hey, I almost forgot! I got a surprise for you!” Taeyong’s ears perk up at that. Jaehyun wasn’t standing in front of his house now, was he?

“Surprise…?” Taeyong asks, confused.

“Yeah, you would love it! Although, I’m sure you would’ve loved it if it were something else…” Jaehyun trails off, and it’s like he’s speaking another language because Taeyong doesn’t understand a word he was uttering.

“Jaehyun, what the hell are you saying?”

“You know what? Can you meet me outside the Baskin Robbins near your area?”

“Right now…?” Taeyong says, getting up to check on his parents. They’re still having their meal and conversing, not looking like they can hear Taeyong.

“No, not right now, I mean tonight. It’s alright if you can’t come, of course.”

Taeyong smiles at the last part, leaning back against the kitchen table. “I can make it, don’t worry. I’ll see you then?”

“Okay… Goodbye, I love you.” Jaehyun says, but not before, “And thank your mom for calling me handsome.”

Taeyong presses his palm to his face, his groan muffled by it. “She keeps asking about you. She saw you walking back from our house yesterday.”

“She did?” Jaehyun says, surprised. “Wasn’t it like, super dark out.”

“Yes, she said the same. But she was still able to see you with her you know, mom gaze.” Taeyong jokes.

“Well, I’m flattered. She has a good choice.”

Taeyong groans at that, “Why do I love you?”

“The same reason your mom loves me, because I’m handsome.” Jaehyun says, and Taeyong wishes he could punch him through the phone. Or kiss him, or both.

“I’m hanging up.” He hears Jaehyun laugh before they both hang up, pressing the phone to his face. He takes a few minutes calming his heart beat before walking to the living room. Talking to Jaehyun is so hard sometimes it makes him hungry, so he decides to join his parents again.

He looks at the time to see he has only a few hours before he gets to meet Jaehyun, and he smiles around his spoon, thinking about the kind of surprise awaiting him.

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The nervousness was back when Taeyong informed his mom he was leaving the house to meet a “friend”. Well, he was going to meet a friend, who was also his boyfriend, but his mom didn’t need to know that or she’d and bombard him with questions, which would just add up to his anxiety.

The air was a little stuffy when he gets out of his house, a little warmer than the last time he had been out, but it wasn’t unbearable. He wore a light blue shirt and some shorts, but he was starting to sweat profusely despite the thin clothing. He pushes his bangs away from his eyes halfway through going to the ice cream place, pulling his snapback over so it he didn’t feel so hot.

He got a wisp of cold air cover his body as soon as he pushed the shop’s door, gnawing his lip as his eyes automatically started looking for Jaehyun. The cashier gave him a small smile and told him to close the door, which he did quickly, feeling embarrassed.

The place wasn’t full of people as he thought would be, because of the lingering summer heat, people would be attracted towards ice cream shops more, but it seemed like no one wanted to get out of their house. Taeyong can relate to them. He wasn’t an introvert, he just didn’t like hanging with people as much as his friends did, that’s why they would make plans without Taeyong, knowing he would say no. Taeyong would probably stay inside his house and never get out if it weren’t for his friends.

Even his mother couldn’t convince him to get out and enjoy the