Lilac

Lilac (purple) – first emotions of love

Suwoong sipped on his drink as he scrolled through the online news of the town. When a certain headline caught his attention, he clicked it for the details before saying it out loud to Jongup.

“A man had been robbed again last night,” he uttered.

Jongup, who was sitting across him, lifted his head from the bowl of noodles he was eating for lunch. “Seriously? Is he okay?”

“Yeah, and only his money was taken.”

“Those cases are getting more frequent these days,” he commented while shaking his head.

Suwoong put down his phone and looked at his friend with wide eyes. “Well, of course, since they were done by the same people.”

Jongup’s brow crinkled in confusion. “What do you mean?”

Suwoong took his already empty bowl in front of him and put it aside before slightly leaning forward, causing Jongup to give him full attention. “The thugs who attacked you and Daehyun hyung the other day, they don’t live in this town but they’re the ones who cause the chaos here.”

“Are you trying to tell me that those thugs and the robbers are the same people?” Jongup asked in mild surprise and Suwoong just nodded his head. “If they don’t live here, then where do they come from?”

“Um…” Suwoong looked around, reminding himself not to blurt out anything related to weredragons. “They went from place to place. I don’t know where they actually come from. But I do know that other than robbing, they also kidnap people to fulfill their ual desires,” he said the last parts in a whisper. “Everyone in this town knows about them. That’s why the streets are always empty during the night.”

“What?” Jongup sent and incredulous look to Suwoong. “Why didn’t you tell me anything before? If I had known, I would’ve accept Yongguk hyung’s offer for a ride home that night.”

“I didn’t know that they were coming here,” Suwoong quickly defended himself. “It was the first time they appeared in this town after three years. No one could predict when they were coming here again,” he explained, hiding the fact that the clan had actually known about it beforehand. The Massifs always announced their ‘visit’ to the clan that owned the territory, just to provoke them and pick a fight.

Jongup nodded, approving everything he had been told. He put down his chopsticks, the little remainder of the noodles were long forgotten, and took his drink. “What happened to the kidnapped people?”

Suwoong took a look around before fixing his stare on the other man. “They’ll never bring those people with them when they leave a certain place. So, they’ll either kill them or sell them,” he whispered.

Jongup almost choked on his drink if he didn’t quickly swallow it down his throat. He was just hit by the realization that he had actually encountered all-around criminals. Those thugs were literally a bunch of robbers, kidnappers, rapists and murderers. How lucky was he and his brother to have a chance of getting away from them?

“Seriously? Why aren’t they caught by the police yet?” he asked.

“They’re really good at hiding themselves,” Suwoong sighed. If only the police could take care of them, his clan wouldn’t have to make rounds every night.

“So, they’ll go to find their victims somewhere else after leaving this town?”

Suwoong nodded. “That’s their life purpose.”

“How long are they gonna stay here?”

“I don’t know.” Suwoong shrugged. “Until they are satisfied, I guess?”

That moment, Jongup finally understood why Yongguk was so concerned about his brother. Maybe he should stop having doubts on that guy already. Yongguk’s family was great. Even one of Yongguk’s cousins was actually his close friend. He just needed to focus on preventing the thugs from finding his brother again from now on.

Daehyun finished his lessons for the day. After putting away his stuff, he maneuvered himself towards the door by swinging his walking stick in front of him. Once he stepped out of the room, he closed the door and proceeded to find the stairs. There was someone climbing up when he reached there, so he waited for that person to pass through first.

“Oh, hi Daehyun hyung.” That person turned out to be Suwoong, who greeted him happily as he ascended the stairs.

Daehyun could confirm it after the boy reached his side based on his cologne. “Hi Suwoong. Have a jam session today?”

“Yeah. Are you leaving already?”

“Yeah, just finished the last class.”

“Oh, thank god I caught you on time,” Suwoong exhaled in relief. “Jongup told me to give this cheesecake for you. He managed to buy it before the shop ran out of them,” he said as he ped his backpack to bring out a small container.

“Really?!” Daehyun’s face lit up. The cheesecake sold by the bakery near Jongup’s university had always been his favorite ever since his brother first bought it for him. It was extremely delicious, so no wonder all of them were quickly sold out.

Suwoong was about to grab Daehyun’s hand to give the cake, but he was suddenly reminded that Daehyun was actually the young alpha’s mate. It sent chills throughout his body.

“Hold out your hand, hyung,” he asked.

“Huh?” Daehyun was confused for a moment before realizing the latter’s intention. “Oh, yeah, right.” He stuck out his palm and felt the familiar plastic container being placed on it. Somehow, it was awkward for him, knowing that Suwoong would usually take his hand on his own to pass him anything.

“Thanks,” Daehyun said with a huge grin as he felt the lid with the other hand.

Suwoong nodded, but not forgetting to voice out his gesture. “Sure.” He zipped up his bag and shouldered it again. “Are you walking home?”

“No, umm… Yongguk hyung’s gonna pick me up,” Daehyun answered shyly since it was Suwoong’s cousin he was talking about.

“Really?!”

Daehyun was slightly baffled at the lad’s surprised tone. “Yeah…”

“I see. Then I’ll get going now hyung. See ya!” Suwoong babbled and walked away in a rush.

Daehyun just listened to Suwoong’s fast footsteps growing faint towards the end of the hallway. He sighed and commented to himself, “I thought Jongup has finally made a normal friend this time.”

“What’s that in your hand?” Yongguk asked after both he and Daehyun got into the car.

“Cheesecake. Jongup bought it for me and relayed it through Suwoong.” Daehyun placed the cake on his lap as he put on the seatbelt. Yongguk just hummed in acknowledgement and began driving.

“You know, Suwoong was acting really weird,” Daehyun pondered.

“Weird? How?”

“I mean, he used to be so clingy. He’d at least hug me every time we met before. But today, I don’t know why he seemed like he was keeping his distance from me.”

Yongguk’s eye twitched when he imagined how Suwoong had wrapped his arms around his mate before and pressed their bodies against each other. Still, he couldn’t lose his cool in front of Daehyun.

“Maybe he’s being aware of his body odour,” he guessed nonchalantly.

Daehyun gasped and managed to backhand Yongguk right on his arm. “He doesn’t have any body odour! What are you even talking about?”

Yongguk laughed, flinching from surprise instead of pain. “I’m kidding!” He grabbed Daehyun’s hand and put it back down on the man’s lap.

“Maybe he just needed to go to the toilet or something. I don’t know. But I do know that he’s not the type of person to keep everything to himself if he got a problem with someone,” Yongguk assured, though he actually knew why Suwoong was acting like that.

The boy really listened to him after all. He was not that serious when he warned Suwoong the other day, but if Suwoong took it seriously, then he had nothing against it too. It was so funny for him that he couldn’t help the grin from spreading all over his face and tried to not let it show in his voice.

“Alright,” Daehyun could finally brush off the matter.

“You didn’t have lunch yet, did you?” Yongguk asked.

“Nope.”

“Good, because I bring all the things to cook at your house,” Yongguk said before shrugging his shoulders. “That’s if you let me to.”

Daehyun’s brows furrowed. “You don’t have to bother yourself by doing that, hyung.”

“I’m doing this on my own accord. Besides, I’m eating too and you’re helping me cook. And I use your kitchen, so it’s a win-win situation,” Yongguk finished his argument by sending a smile in Daehyun’s way even though the latter couldn’t see it.

“Fine,” Daehyun sighed. “But can I have the dessert first?” He lifted the cheesecake and fully turned his face to Yongguk to make sure the older man see his pleading smile.

Yongguk chuckled. “Of course. I know your bottomless pit stomach won’t be full with that.”

Daehyun clicked his tongue in annoyance. He pulled the lid open, took the small spoon under it and started to dig in. The first taste made him squealed happily.

Yongguk glanced at his mate, whose adorable expression caused him to let out a soft laugh. It’s a shame that Daehyun’s eye smile was hidden behind the sunglasses. “My mom makes delicious cheesecake too, you know.”

Daehyun nodded. “As expected from your mother’s top chef’s skill.”

“I can ask her to make some when you’re coming this weekend,” Yongukk suggested.

“No no no. That’d be so much trouble for her,” Daehyun waved the small spoon in Yongguk’s direction.

“She has more than enough people to help,” Yongguk reminded Daehyun about the amount of residents living there. “But it’s confirmed, right? That you’re coming to my place this weekend?”

“Yeah, I told you yesterday, didn’t I?” Daehyun frowned. As far as he remember, he had promised Yongguk right after he received a green light from Jongup yesterday.

“I also told my dad last night that you’re really coming this weekend, but he’s just so excited to show you his garden that he had to ask me again this morning.” Yongguk shook his head, having enough of his father pestering him to bring his mate to the main house again. He regretted telling his old man about Daehyun’s gardening hobby.

“Of course he is.” Daehyun laughed. He totally understood Uncle Dongwan. “I’d be excited too if I have dozens kind of plants in a huge garden.”

“But he’s always so eager to meet people with the same interest that I have to feel embarrassed on his behalf,” Yongguk groaned.

“There, there. He’s your father after all.” Daehyun patted Yongguk’s arm playfully. “Do you want some cheesecake?” He held it out to the other man.

“Sure. Feed me.”

Daehyun snorted. “How am I supposed to do that? Do you want it to end up in your nose?”

“But I’m driving right now,” Yongguk stated the obvious.

“Then, you can’t have it.” Daehyun drew the cheesecake back.

“What? You’re the one who asked me just now,” Yongguk sounded disbelief. “How could you? Because you offered it to me, I suddenly wanted to have a taste of it. You made it seem so good, I just-”

“Okay, okay, fine!” Daehyun cut Yongguk off before spooning out some cheesecake. “If only you can talk this much for anything other than complaining…” he grumbled, slowly moving his hand towards the driver.

An annoyed Daehyun was still as cute as he had ever been. Yongguk was smiling so wide as he grabbed Daehyun’s wrist and guided the cheesecake into his mouth without tearing his eyes from the road. He purposely gave it a large bite that the tip of Daehyun’s thumb had also gone into his mouth.

Daehyun burst out into laughter once he realized it. “What are you doing?! You’re gonna eat up the whole spoon!”

Yongguk casually released Daehyun’s hand, as well as the spoon. Soon, he received a hit on his arm again, making him finally laughed along with his lovely mate.

Both Yongguk and Daehyun got up from their seats at the same time after having their lunch, bringing along their own dirty plates, but of course, the sighted man reached the sink first. Yongguk had started to do the dishes by the time Daehyun arrived at his side.

“Just leave the dishes, hyung.” Daehyun brought up his hand, searching for Yongguk’s arm and gave it a slight tug when he found it. “Shouldn’t you go to the gym already?”

“I’m feeling lazy,” Yongguk said.

“I told you not to cook. It’s tiring,” Daehyun chided.

Yongguk finished washing his plate, so he proceeded to take Daehyun’s from the latter’s hold. Daehyun could feel the plate getting pulled from him and tightened his grip around it. However, Yongguk had a stronger force that made Daehyun lose to him.

“You even insist on doing the dishes right now,” the younger man groused.

“Lazy and tired are two different things,” Yongguk argued.

Daehyun pouted. “Then, you shouldn’t be so lazy going to work if you’re not tired.”

Yongguk turned to his mate and raised his brows. “Do you want to go?”

Daehyun moved his body around so that he could lean his back against the counter. “Whichever is fine for me.”

“That means you don’t really wanna go to the gym.” Yongguk smirked.

Daehyun slightly turned his face towards the older man. “Well, if I say I want to go, will you really bring me there?”

“Um…” Yongguk looked up, pretending to think about it. “No. Not really.”

Daehyun snorted. “Thought so.”

Yongguk chuckled. He had no problem leaving the gym just like that since he already told the members about him being lovesick this afternoon ever since he left for lunch break earlier.

Done with the dishes, he wiped his hands using a towel. “Let’s just chill today,” he said eagerly before taking Daehyun’s hand and pulled the shorter man to the living room.

Daehyun just laughed at Yongguk’s antics. Now that they had gotten so much closer, he found that Yongguk could be so childish sometimes. He thought it was cute and wanted to have more of it. That’s why he didn’t protest or force the man to go to work this time. Not that Yongguk would listen to him anyway.

“If you want to take a nap, you can use my bed,” Daehyun offered.

“Nah, I’m fine.” Yongguk stopped at the couch and let Daehyun have a seat. “Can I turn on the TV?”

“Sure.” Daehyun sighed. “I told you to make yourself at home.”

“But I’m shy,” Yongguk jokingly claimed, earning a loud scoff from Daehyun. When he took the remote control on the low table, he noticed a thick, large book next to it. The cover only had words written in black which overlapped with raised dots. He quickly assumed it was Daehyun’s braille book.

“Remember when I said that I’d help you find the shops that sell audio movies and braille books?” Yongguk asked while turning on the TV. “Unfortunately, there aren’t any in this town.”

Daehyun let out a frustrated sigh. “As I thought, it’s easier to buy them online.”

“But I found out that they might be in the neighboring town.” Yongguk lowered himself onto the same couch.

“Is it far?”

“Only an hour from here. I’ll take you there someday,” Yongguk spontaneously said as he was still searching for an interesting show to watch.

“No, that’d be a waste of time,” Daehyun quickly declined.

“It’s not a waste of time if I’m with you.” Yongguk sounded more like he was showing courtesy instead of being flirty. Still, when he turned to his mate, he caught a glimpse of his blushing face before it was covered with the small pillow.

“Yeah, right.” Daehyun tried to calmly shrug it off, not aware that he had been seen getting flustered.

Yongguk held himself from laughing and ended up in grinning broadly. He put down the remote after sticking to the history channel, but took the braille book next. “Is this the book you’re currently reading?” he asked while flipping through its pages.

Daehyun heard the rustling sound of paper and tried to recall if he had left any book around there. It was actually his read from this morning before getting walked to work by Jongup. “Yeah. I started it last week.”

Yongguk returned to the cover to take a look at the written title. “The Five People You Meet in Heaven?” he recited. “Is it good?

“Very,” Daehyun guaranteed earnestly.

Yongguk nodded and began to look through the book again. His fingers ran over the dots in which he could barely tell any difference between them. “I wish I can understand what’s written here.”

“You can if you learn how to.” Daehyun beamed, suddenly getting excited with an idea. “Want me to teach you?” he voiced it out to the other man.

Yongguk looked up and saw his favorite pair of round eyes gleaming with delight. How could he ever refuse?

“Sure, why not,” Yongguk agreed with a shrug of his shoulders.

Jongup heaved a deep breath, standing before the gym’s entrance. Until today, he never succeed to start a conversation with Youngjae again. All he ever did was gazing at the man while working out and never had enough courage to talk to him after getting brushed off for a few times before.

Maybe he should just forget about his feelings. What’s the use of liking someone who didn’t even like him in the slightest? He had decided not to use the gym for today. He would just get his brother and go home right away. It would only frustrate him if he would have stayed longer there.

As expected, Youngjae was not happy to see him, but today was different. Usually, Youngjae would just pretend he hadn’t seen him walked in from the door. So, he was taken aback when Youngjae rolled his eyes once he saw him. It was the first time he actually felt really hurt by Youngjae’s act.

Nonetheless, Jongup continued to walk towards the counter. Before he could say anything, Youngjae surprisingly spoke up.

“Don’t you have anything better to do than coming here?”

Youngjae’s irritated tone was ticking him off. “It’s not like I come here just to flirt with you,” Jongup snapped back.

Youngjae shook his head with a scoff. “Daehyun didn’t come today, so if you’re saying that you come here to work out then it’s better for you to go home. Don’t act like I didn’t know that you’ve been staring at me all the time.”

Jongup frowned. “Wait, Daehyun hyung didn’t come here?”

It was weird since he didn’t receive any text from his brother. He wasn’t even told by Daehyun whether he was going to the gym or not, so he just assumed that Daehyun was here because the older man had never been left alone since they were attacked that day. His brother would either be with him or with Yongguk if he wasn’t at the studio.

“Then, where is he?” Jongup asked, anxious by the thought of his brother getting into danger again.

Youngjae furrowed his brows, not saying anything for a second and just stared at Jongup’s worried expression instead. When he realized that the man was not faking it, all the irritation he had for him before was slowly fading out.

“You don’t know? Yongguk hyung took this afternoon off, said that he’s going to hang out with Daehyun at Daehyun’s place.”

Jongup’s face turned blank. He stood unmoving for a moment before suddenly turning around and began heading towards the entrance. But when he was halfway there, he stopped and turned to look at the receptionist.

“I only come here today to pick up my brother, just so you know.” His stare was cold, shot right at Youngjae’s eyes and he finally got out of there.

Youngjae watched the door closed after the man. His jaw clenched when there was a familiar pain in his chest out of nowhere. Sighing heavily, he leaned back against his chair and tried to make it come to an end.

Daehyun spent a good time explaining the letters to Yongguk. He even told Yongguk to look it up online when Yongguk was struggling to differentiate all the arrangements of the dots. The book was placed on one of their thighs as they sat close to each other, so close that Yongguk could lose his mind if he didn’t have strong self-restraint. The side of their bodies were pressed against each other from the moment Daehyun had start teaching him.

Daehyun’s finger smoothly ran over the lines before stopping at one spot. “Try reading this word,” he asked Yongguk, showing it to him by tapping his finger on the raised dots.

“Hmm…” Yongguk leaned closer to the book for a better look. “L- I- H- E?” he uttered the letter one by one, but got very confused later. “What?”

Daehyun laughed softly. “No, it’s not H.”

“Then…” Yongguk stared at that one letter again. His head tilting from one side to the other, as if the angle was important for the dots to make sense. “F? L- I- F- E. Life!” He was indeed happy once he could recognize all the letters and make out the whole word.

“Good!” Daehyun complimented, sounding like a proud teacher. “Now try something else.”

Yongguk randomly picked out a word from the same page, but this time, he had his eyes closed. As a result, he still couldn’t figure out what he was feeling with his fingertip after a while.

“Wow, this is hard,” he blew out a puff of hair out of frustration.

Daehyun found it weird. “Why? You did it just fine before.”

“I’m closing my eyes,” Yongguk finally told his mate.

Daehyun sighed. No wonder Yongguk was having a hard time. “Why would you do that? If you can see, then just use your eyes.”

Yongguk opened his eyes to look at the other man. “What’s the point of reading braille if I use my eyes? It’s something that should be read by using the sense of touch.”

“That’s if you can’t see it,” Daehyun justified. “Jongup too has always read braille using his eyes as if he was reading written words.”

Yongguk pressed his lips together while giving Daehyun a side-eye. “Can’t I just give it a try?”

Daehyun could only laugh at the older man’s stubbornness. “Suit yourself.”

Yongguk was back to closing his eyes and everything went dark again. He tried to concentrate more on his fingertips. His focus was solely on the raised dots that he could almost see them in his mind. One dot after another appeared in his mind based on what he could imagine from his sense of touch.

“Um… A?” Yongguk’s brows knitted together, causing his eyes to shut even tighter.

“No, E,” he changed the previous answer.

“M,” he guessed again. “No, wait. Is it an F? D? N?” he began sputtering any word that came to his mind, which was getting more and more nonsense.

“Okay, that’s hard,” Yongguk huffed before leaning back against the couch.

“I told you.” Daehyun snickered. “Show me the word.”

Yongguk felt Daehyun grabbed his left hand. He switched their positions, so that he was the one holding Daehyun’s hand and brought it to his reading fingertip, which he let it getting replaced with Daehyun’s. Not even a second later, Daehyun gave his remark.

“None of what you said is correct!”

This time, Daehyun laughed even harder than before. The mellow and lilting voice was ringing in Yongguk’s ears. He turned his face towards it, as if he was under a spell, but he saw nothing. How could it sound so much better when he couldn’t even see the person with that precious laughter? As much as he loved to hear it, he was much more desperate to see Daehyun’s beautiful smile.

Slowly, Yongguk cracked his eyes open. Everything suddenly got so much brighter. Not only his lips, Daehyun’s whole face was smiling. His eyes turned crescent and adorable lines formed on his cheeks. Yongguk loved all of them and he would never get tired to see it for the rest of his life. Just how could someone who lives in the dark emit something so bright and beautiful for others to see?

Yongguk could just open his eyes if he wanted to see, but Daehyun would still be trapped in the darkness even if he opened his eyes. If he could lend his sight to his mate, he would do it as long as possible, so that Daehyun could see all the beautiful things in the world.

“Come on, try again,” Daehyun said, snapping Yongguk out of his reverie.

He looked back at the letter and could easily identify it. It made him realize how much easier it was if he could see. “It’s a C.”

“That’s correct!” Daehyun exclaimed happily.

“I opened my eyes,” Yongguk admitted with a faint laugh.

Daehyun’s smile didn’t falter at that and grew even wider instead. “So you gave up?”

“You’re right. It’s easier for me to read as I normally do,” Yongguk conceded before reading all the letters out loud. “C- O- L- O- R. Color.”

“Good job,” Daehyun praised the man again. His fingertip was still skimming over the word, but later, it moved onto the next chain of dots. “The colour of French vanilla ice cream,” he read before asking, “Is it supposed to be white?”

“Yes, it is.” Yongguk smiled, once again impressed by Daehyun’s ability to identify the correct color.

“I asked Jongup about the color white before and you know what he said?”

“What?”

“White is the color of my teeth and eyeball.” Daehyun was still annoyed by it even though it happened years ago.

It caused Yongguk to crack up. “That’s so him.”

Hearing Yongguk’s laugh make Daehyun pulled a smile. Yongguk’s body felt so warm against his. He couldn’t hold himself from dropping his head onto Yongguk’s shoulder and closed his eyes.

“I asked my dad too,” Daehyun continued. “He said it’s the color of the snow and the clouds during a sunny day. But I imagined those clouds to be something warm, while the snow is cold. They are two different things and it gives me a hard time to pick one to associate with the white color.”

Yongguk’s gaze were fixed at the book. He mindlessly rubbed his palm all over the page full of raised dots, loving the way it felt under his skin. “Well, you can try relate it with your emotion,” he began, not tearing his eyes away from the white page. “Like cleanliness, clarity, purity. All of them suit the white color.”

Daehyun was slowly perking up with whatever Yongguk was trying to deliver. He lifted his head and turned to intently face the latter.

“Even if the color can be described with two different things, it doesn’t mean that they can’t share the same color.” Yongguk stopped moving his hand and finally closed the book.

“Oh, you know that piano also has white keys, right?” he asked and resumed before Daehyun could answer. “They look the same, but each of them produce different tunes. Just like the white color, it can have different shades. There can be darker white, lighter white, cloudy white, snowy white, vanilla white. The melodies produced can also be associated with colors. Calm songs can be blue, happy songs can be yellow, sad songs can be gray. But if you regard every tune with their own color, won’t the music be so colorful?”

Yongguk eagerly waited for Daehyun’s response, but even after a moment, there was none of it. Daehyun wasn’t even opening his eyes, so Yongguk started to think on what he should do about it. He was about to get immersed in his thought when he noticed the tremble of Daehyun’s lips. Soon, there were tears falling down from the closed eyes.

Yongguk immediately panicked and held Daehyun’s arms. “Why are you crying? Did I say something wrong?”

“You know, I’ve been blind since I was three. I could see colors before that, but of course, I can’t remember any of them,” Daehyun said between his sobs.

“The colors are one of the things that I really wish to know what they look like. All my life, no one had ever describe them to me so keenly as what you did.” Daehyun’s lips broke into a smile, although the tears were still rolling down his face.

“You made me think differently. All the colors that I tried so hard to distinguish in my mind were blending with each other and…” Daehyun slowly looked up and lifted his eyelids. “And I finally understand what the word ‘colorful’ means.”

Yongguk breathed out a quiet laugh. Daehyun’s eyes could still be so beautiful when they were filled with tears, but it was also making him feel the need to weep along with his mate.

“You don’t need to cry.” He moved his hands onto Daehyun’s face, wiping the tears away.

Daehyun laughed sheepishly. “I’m just so happy right now. Thank you, hyung.”

That one, being said by Daehyun with the sweetest smile and flushed face, certainly had shot an arrow right though his heart. His precious mate was looking so beautiful, so vulnerable in his eyes right now. The urge to get even closer and seal their lips together was boiling inside him. His body seemed to react faster before his mind could consider about it because his face was already starting to inch closer towards the other.

Daehyun wasn’t sure why Yongguk seemed to completely stop moving. But on second thought, why would Yongguk’s breathing became louder? It warmed his face even more than the tears already had. Even Yongguk’s scent was getting stronger by the second. With Yongguk’s hands still cupping his cheeks, only one thought came to Daehyun’s mind and it made both his face and his heart to be on fire.

Is Yongguk going to kiss him?

Should he say something right now? It was his first time to experience something so awkward like this. But even if he had something to say, he couldn’t really do it where there was a lump forming in his throat.

All of a sudden, his sharp hearing caught the sound of keys dangling from outside and he gasped. “O-Oh, i-is that Jongup?” he stammered.

Daehyun didn’t know if he should be thankful or regretful that he would never know what would happen if they were not interrupted. However, his heart was now pounding because of a different reason. He didn’t expect his brother would come home this early, so he panicked.

“Is he back already? What time is it actually?”

Yongguk’s face contorted in pure disappointment at the rare chance he easily missed. He bit his lip as he brought his hand down from Daehyun’s face. Putting the book back onto the table, he looked at the wall clock above the TV.

“It’s almost 4.30,” he said while the door was being unlocked.

Daehyun gasped even louder. “Where did I put my phone?”

“In your bag, I guess? I think it’s in your room. You brought it with you when you changed after we got here.”

“Right.” Daehyun smacked his forehead. When the door was finally opened, he hastily wipe off his tears with his hands.

Jongup stomped into the house. He looked so pissed, moreover when he saw both of them sitting so close to each other. “Hyung!”

“Oh, no. Not again,” Daehyun mumbled.

“Why didn’t you tell me you didn’t go to gym?” Jongup’s tone was calm, yet so cold.

“I forgot! I’m so sorry!” Daehyun knew he did something wrong and felt so guilty towards his brother. He had it in his mind to text Jongup that he didn’t go to the gym, but he eventually forgot about it while spending his time with Yongguk. He really didn’t realized that much time had passed since he was treasuring the moment so much.

Jongup gave as snort of disbelief. “You seem to be doing something so important that you forgot about it.”

Now Daehyun was feeling more annoyed than angry. He could still tolerate Jongup’s anger if the boy didn’t show it in front of Yongguk. “I said I’m sorry!” he retorted. “And don’t you like it that you still got to see Youngjae today?” Daehyun tried to ease the tension between them.

Jongup was rendered speechless. Yongguk, who was keeping his head down before, finally looked up at him. He had this expression on his face that Yongguk had never seen before. It looked almost as if he was hurt.

“It’s not funny, hyung,” Jongup muttered and left silently.

“Did he get to his room?” Daehyun asked Yongguk in a whisper after hearing the sound of a door closing.

“Yeah,” Yongguk said. “I think I better go now.”

“Oh, okay,” Daehyun’s mind was recalling the weird moment they were having earlier and he was turning awkward again. “Um… I’m sorry that you have to see us fighting just now.”

“It’s fine,” Yongguk brushed it off with a smile. “You better make up with him fast,” he said, caressing Daehyun’s cheek at the same time.

Daehyun was too surprised at the sudden contact that he couldn’t even jerk away from it. Yongguk’s touch really could make his body to stop functioning, except for the loud thumping in his chest. The warmth was spreading all over his face again and deep in his heart, he wished he would get to know the ending to their awkward moment.

Flinging his backpack aside, Jongup threw himself onto the bed. It was a way for him to nullify his anger. He couldn’t believe his brother had made him look like a fool in front of Youngjae. He was already mad at Youngjae’s attitude towards him, so Daehyun was only adding fuel to the fire by mentioning his name.

Perhaps he should just give up on Youngjae. What’s the point on liking someone who couldn’t even look at him in the face without feeling disgusted? Youngjae hated it when he talked to him, or even looked at him. So, he wouldn’t do any of those again, if that’s what Youngjae wanted.

His mind began drifting to something else, mostly about trivial things, just to forget about that guy. His anger eventually faded out along that time and after quite a while had passed, Daehyun came knocking on his door.

“Jongup?” He heard Daehyun’s faint voice sounding from outside.

“What?”

“Could you let me in?”

Jongup sighed. There was no point in avoiding the talk. “The door’s not locked.”

Daehyun finally pushed the door opened. “Where you at?”

“The bed,” Jongup replied lazily.

Daehyun pressed his lips, thinking whether he should go into the room or ask Jongup to come out. He always knew how much of a mess Jongup’s room was. There would be a disaster every time he had to go in there. That’s why he rarely visit the chaotic place.

But even if he wanted Jongup to come out, he was too afraid to ask. His brother could still be sulking, and asking him to help him get in there would probably irk Jongup too. Damn, he should’ve brought his cane before coming here.

Carefully, Daehyun took a step forward, a hand on the wall while another was stretched out to the front. There was nothing like a big furniture settled against the wall as far as he remembered, so he started to walk more confidently and that was when it usually happened.

Daehyun stopped abruptly, both his hands were on the wall now to keep himself from tripping down. “Ah, I think I stepped on something,” he stated, feeling something like a soft but rough kind of fabric under his sole.

Jongup sat up on his bed at last. Seeing his backpack laying in Daehyun’s way, he got up to get his brother.

Daehyun heard Jongup approaching before having his arm getting hold. He was gently pulled away from the wall, walked towards the bed and seated on it. He felt how the mattress sunk next to him after that with Jongup breathing out a long sigh.

Daehyun grimaced, afraid if he had made Jongup to be even angrier at him by being such a bother. “Are you still mad at me?” he asked nervously.

Jongup jutted out his bottom lip. “Not as much as before.”

Daehyun knitted his brows, giving his brother a pleading look. “I admit that it’s my fault. I’m really sorry. I seriously forgot to check the time and text you.”

“Yeah, because you’re busy chilling with Yongguk hyung. I guess you’re concerned about him more than you do to me,” Jongup remarked.

“What are you saying right now?” Daehyun snapped. “You did the same thing to me the other day. You were thinking about Youngjae that you made me crash into a pole!”

Jongup’s jaw dropped in a silent gasp. “I wasted my time going to the gym when you were not even there!” he countered.

“I had a huge bruise on my forehead for two whole days! And it freaking hurt!” Daehyun retaliated.

Jongup could feel himself fuming with anger again. He was already breathing heavily though his nose, so he quickly dropped his back onto the bed to calm himself down.

Daehyun slightly bounced on the bed because of Jongup’s sudden movement and he knew exactly what his brother was up to. “I’m just saying the truth you know,” he said while pulling a long face.

Something crossed Jongup’s mind as he tried to swallow everything that had been said by his brother. Sitting up again, he leaned closer to Daehyun. “Do you like Yongguk hyung?”

Daehyun immediately jerked away, surprised by both Jongup’s voice and question. “Wh-What?! No!” He kept his face downcast, afraid if it could give his true feelings away.

Jongup narrowed his eyes at the latter. “For real?”

“For real!”

“Then, who is he to you?”

“He’s becoming a close friend of mine,” Daehyun said, his tone assuring. He himself didn’t know why he couldn’t tell his brother about it. Perhaps, it wasn’t the right time to do so and also because he really needed to seriously figure out his true feelings first.

“Alright!” Jongup exclaimed. “So the score is null between us, right? That’s it! Zero-zero. Fair and square.”

“Yeahh!!” Daehyun threw his hands up, almost hitting his brother in the face.

Before Jongup could voice it up, he was pulled into a tight hug by Daehyun. Chuckling a bit, he hugged Daehyun back even tighter, causing the older man to let out a squeak. That made Daehyun tightened his hug even more. It didn’t effect Jongup in any way.

Jongup contemplated whether he should keep going with it because he would basically crush the petite frame of his brother if he were going to strengthen his hold. He still did it though.

“Ack! Okay, okay, that seriously hurts!” Daehyun scrambled out of Jongup’s deathly hug.

Jongup released his brother with a laugh, but it quickly died down once he saw Daehyun’s eyes since it was the first time Daehyun had properly faced him. “What’s with your eyes? They’re so puffy.”

Daehyun took a moment to think about his answer. If he said anything related to Yongguk right now, Jongup’s mood might get ruined again.

“Oh, I just watched a sad movie earlier,” he said, looking away and began to rub his eyes.

Jongup sneered at Daehyun. “So, you’re busy crying that you forgot about your brother?”

Daehyun gasped before pouting his mouth. “You said that you’re not mad at me anymore!”

“I’m kidding!” Jongup laughed. Maybe he could use more teasing on his brother, maybe for the whole day, just to make Daehyun repay for what he had done today.

A/N:

/sings Daehyun's part in Honeymoon// LIFE IS COOOLORFUL! With my own light, PAINT THE WORLD!!!

Also, I got the idea for the piano thing from Bang Yongguk's quote: “Life is like a piano. The white keys represent happiness and the black keys represent sadness. But as you go through life, remember that the black keys makes music as well.”

SO BEAUTIFUL o(╥﹏╥)o

Thank you to all upvoters, subscribers, readers and commenters! XOXO