To tell the truth, I didn´t trust Donghae at first. Yes, I was very happy that he seemed to believe me but let´s be honest here. Even I sometimes consider myself a freak, how can an outsider think otherwise so easily? I was sceptical towards Donghae for some time but slowly I began understanding. Donghae was different.

“And manager? What kind of monster my manager has?” Donghae asked me excited in a shushed voice. We were in Mouse Rabbit.

“Well, it´s kind of short and fat,” I was trying to remember, “and black of course.”

“Are they always black?” Donghae shot another question before I was able to sip from my coffee on the small round table.

“Almost always, sometimes they have attributes of different colour or something like that but over all they are black,” I answered calmly and once again tried to raise the cup to my lips.

“Can you touch them?” The excited man in front of me was unstoppable. It felt strange to talk about my monsters with somebody, it was unbelievable almost. I began feeling uncomfortable.

“Why do you want to know all that? Do you think I´m making it up?” I asked him quietly.

“No, I believe you!” Donghae began panicking. “Isn´t it normal, though? If you knew somebody that saw UFO, you would also want to know how it looked like, right?”

“UFO?” I raised my eyebrows. “You believe in that stuff?”

“You don´t?” Donghae chuckled. “It´s not like we are the only ones in the space. Aliens live on different planets and sometimes they visit Earth.”

And as I was rolling my eyes, I suddenly understood. If Donghae believes in stuff like UFOs, aliens and ghosts, why wouldn´t he be able to believe in monsters? It´s not about me here, it´s about Donghae who believes in supernatural occurrences. I calmed down greatly when I found out that Donghae was sincere.

“Yeah,” I smiled. Donghae, who was until now passionately talking about aliens, stilled and bashfully looked away.

“Donghae?” He looked back at me. “Thanks.” And then I finally took the cup of coffee and hid my face in the foam. This whole situation was making me feel giddy.

Donghae and I became closer that day to the chagrin of Drop-Face. It was the day when I let go of my worries and for the first time in thirty years was honestly glad for speaking my mind. Slowly I stopped expecting a catch and began enjoying the freedom of acting as myself in someone else´s presence. No more concealing, no fear of being called a psycho. Unknowingly Donghae added to my natural excitement of life and I started playing harder.

“Today we have in our studio an international star, please, introduce yourself,” I chirped.

“Hello, I´m Amber! Long time no see!” The guest introduced herself. I knew the singer well, she was younger but we hang out from time to time, she is a good drinker. Before the radio even began, she was already asking me about my good mood. I didn´t answer, only grinned.

“I see you changed your hairstyle,” I pointed out.

“You noticed?” She shook her head unbelieving. “Actually, people now tell me that I look like a famous person.”

“Is that so? Who?” I laughed because Amber looked flustered.

“Like Lee Donghae, the singer turned actor,” she snorted and I stopped laughing. I´ve never noticed but wow, the do look alike.

“I was supposed to play before the commercial Amber´s song ´Breathe again´ but I changed my mind,” Amber frowned at me, “let´s listen to Orange Caramel ´My copycat´ instead!”

I thought I was being witty but in the next part of the show, Amber took out an episode from one of our drinking parties as a revenge. It was really embarrassing but the PD said that the feedback from listeners was very good so I just shrugged it off. And I was still in good mood as always nowadays. Even the next shift in the club passed way too quickly. Before I realised, it was already six in the morning.

I was hungry so I decided to try and text Donghae. His schedule was really packed and he had such na amount of different appointments and shootings that I tried to contact him anytime I felt like it, the possibility of him being awake was high. I used to chat with him in the commercial break during the radio show or he would text me at dawn when he was returning from work. And so I wasn´t surprised when I received an answer that he was just on his way from having his make-up done and was about to drop somewhere for a meal too. We met nearby the broadcast station.

“I knew you would call me soon,” Donghae told me smugly, pointing his spoon at me. His manager was yawning in the corner, barely managing to eat and the fat short monster seemed bored.

“How come?” I asked absentminded.

“You talked about me in the radio so I was sure you would miss me,” he winked and I rolled my eyes. I wanted to say that I didn´t talk about him but then I remembered that the guest was Amber and that she did mention Lee Donghae.

“You always listen to my show, you´re a pretty free celebrity, aren´t you?” I .

“It´s fun, listening to you,” Donghae only said and pushed a spoonful of the soup into his mouth. I on the other hand had a feeling, that his words had a deeper meaning.

“You´re the only one that listens to me,” I uttered without wanting too. Donghae´s eyes gleamed, he glanced at the dozing off manager and then quickly reached over the table to squeeze my hand discreetly.

“Does he harass you? Drop-Face, I mean,” he whispered while staring into my eyes. The said monster was sitting right next to me and tsk´ing with his face sideways on his forehead. I was surprised by the question.

“Nothing you would need to worry about,” I smiled and Drop-Face frowned. He began harassing me right away of course, his pride was hurt. He suddenly screamed into my ear and I jumped up startled, my hand slipping from Donghae´s hold and gripping my left ear. The chopstick I had in my other hand scattered loudly on the table and woke up the confused manager. Donghae quickly retreated his hand and was looking at me with wide eyes.

“Sorry,” I mumbled but Donghae understood and as if he could see, he looked angrily at empty place on my left. Drop-Face was greatly pleased by the glare he received and stopped making a scene.

It was the first time in my life that somebody stood for me when I was bullied by a monster. I had almost tears in my eyes from delight and gratefulness but Donghae thought I was getting hurt again. The manager was there so I couldn´t tell him but I was happy. I realised that I feel very nice in Donghae´s presence, we became really close. It was different from the closeness with a family member or best friend, it was an intimate relationship. I´ve had lovers and girlfriends before but I´ve never felt this intimate with anyone as I´ve felt with Donghae. It was the secret I uncovered to him and that he accepted. Or so I thought, until I read a message Donghae sent me that afternoon.

I think you should find a good doctor.

Hello! I finally managed to update after submitting a work I had. I´ve decided on the upcoming events of the story and also the ending so things should go faster now. Also I guess I won´t be tagging the story as rated - let me know if you insist on M, tho. :D Btw, Hyukjae often plays various songs to joke around, have you ever looked them up? Just curious. Anyway, thank you for reading the story and have a nice day! - PandaHero