Chapter X

Do You Hate Me?

January 10, 2007

Cho Kyuhyun was happily reading his favorite book, A Brave New World by Aldous Huxley when his Motorola RAZR buzzed. He picked it up from his nightstand and flipped it open. It was a message from Eunhyuk asking him if they could meet. When he asked him why, he told him that he can’t tell him over the phone. Kyuhyun ended up agreeing to meet up with his best friend.

So, yeah it was blistering cold outside and Kyuhyun was heavily dressed in a thick coat and his uggs boots waiting for Eunhyuk inside a café near their school. He looked around before sipping the hot chocolate he ordered a while ago. He noticed that for someone who’s in a rush to meet with him, Eunhyuk is running pretty late. He decided to give him a call. When no one answered he sighed.

Fifteen more minutes passed and Eunhyuk suddenly appeared. Kyuhyun was surprised because of his friends disheveled appearance. “What happened to you?” he asked him. The older boy took a seat in front of Kyuhyun and frowned.

“I didn’t sleep a wink last night.” He said, playing with the cubed sugar that was in the middle of the table. Kyuhyun knitted his brows together because he found this weird. Of all the times that Eunhyuk slept over at his house, he always falls asleep pretty fast.

“Why?”

Eunhyuk looked at Kyuhyun with sad puppy dog eyes. “A few weeks ago, I saw that Lee Donghae was kissing Eun Hye…” he said glumly.

Kyuhyun’s eyes went wide in surprise. “What?” Eunhyuk nodded.

“I’m guessing their going out now.” He balled his hands into fists and gritted his teeth. “I tried to tell Eun Hye how I feel…I asked her to meet me in the tree house so I can confess to her but Henry ended up tagging along because she had to baby sit him.”

“Well…I don’t really know what to say…” Kyuhyun paused, trying to collect his thoughts. “I didn’t know that Lee Donghae like Eun Hye because he always seemed so mean towards her. This is really surprising.”

Eunhyuk nodded. “What should I do? Should I just let him win Eun Hye over?”

That seems like a stupid idea considering that you liked Eun Hye ever since you met her. Kyuhyun thought to himself. “Well, I think that you should weigh down your options first.” He cleared his throat before continuing. “I mean, if you let Eun Hye go, won’t you regret it?”

The little voices in Eunhyuk’s head are telling him to just give up but his heart is telling him to just tell Eun Hye how he feels. “I don’t know. I feel like I’m in a push and pull situation and no one is winning at all.”

“Before you decide on anything, just think things through, okay. Because I really don’t want you to get hurt because you didn’t tell Eun Hye how you feel.” Kyuhyun said before sipping his hot chocolate again.

Choi Household

Eun Hye was painstakingly clearing out the dishes in from the table after eating lunch. She began to wipe the table with a wash cloth as Henry seemed to enthralled with the dish washing liquid. Eun Hye can’t help but notice that Henry acts a little childishly for a fourteen year old boy. As she placed the dishes on the sink so she can wash them she heard a little chime from the chime from the dining area. She looked at a chair and saw her twin brother’s phone. There was a message for him. She decided to take a look at it and felt go dry when she read what was inside.

It was message from her best friend, Kyuhyun. The message was enough to shock her as cold sweat filmed her back.

Hey, can we talk tonight. I’ll bring those chocolate chip cookies that you love. I miss you. –Kyu

Eun Hye couldn’t bring herself to speak. Did Kyuhyun just tell Siwon that he misses him?

 A small whimper came out of . When she heard Siwon’s voice telling his mom that he’ll just get his phone from the dining table. Fumbling Siwon’s phone in her hands, she immediately marked the message us unread so that Siwon won’t suspect anything.

She placed back to where she found it and just wiped the table helplessly. When Siwon reached her she couldn’t quite look at him. He just took his phone and went out the door. The young woman sighed.

Are Siwon and Kyuhyun in that kind of relationship? She thought to herself. What would their parents say about this? She knew that she must get to the bottom of this, pronto but with her current situation with Donghae everything seemed tangled in her already jam packed mind. Her hands trembled at the thought of her brother getting ostracized by other people for being in a man to man relationship with her best friend. She’s scared that Kyuhyun and Siwon might get hurt in the process.

She personally wanted to hear everything from Kyuhyun because, what if that message was just a friendly one? She felt constrict because the thought of his brother and her best friend being a relationship terrified her because what if their parents are not accepting? What if they judged Siwon and Kyuhyun’s choices? It’s clear to her that she needs to protect both of them because she deeply cares for their well being.

“Hey Eun Hye…”

She looked back and saw Henry playing with the dish washing soap. She went towards him and wiped the soapy water off his face. “Thank God you’re here…you’re like my little baby…”

Henry flashed her genuine smile.

Suddenly Donghae appeared from the back door. He was holding a brown paper bag. “Hey.” Eun Hye looked at him and a blush appeared on her face. Ever since they kissed a few weeks ago she’d been constantly avoiding him because everything was awkward.

Donghae’s dark brown eyes scanned her. He still felt weird because of the whole deal with Yesung but he can’t back out now. He needs the money more than ever now that he severed his ties with his mother. “Um, I bought roasted chicken burgers.” He paused as he grabbed three plates from the cupboard—he’s got everything down already considering it been weeks since he moved here—and put three burgers on the platter. “Have some.” He offered.

Feeling obliged to do so, Eun Hye shrugged and sat on the red plush stool on the counter.

Henry poked his head on all three plates. “Didn’t we just have lunch?” The boy wondered. He none the less grabbed the burger and took a bite. Donghae smiled at him and ruffled his hair. In the last two weeks, Henry endeared himself to the older boy.

“This is really good.” Henry’s face was filled with morsels of food.

“Henry, eat slowly, you don’t want to get indigestion, okay?” Eun Hye stopped Henry for a moment and wiped the dirt from his face. Then, she pinched the tip of his nose.

“You know, we’re parents now.” Donghae took a bite from his burger.

Eun Hye looked down. What is he saying? He’s making me feel very uncomfortable. She took a piece of her dark hair and placed it on the back of her ear. “Don’t say things like that.”

Donghae shrugged. He took another bite from his chicken roast burger as dead silence hit them. The only thing that can be heard was Henry’s constant loud chewing.

Still bothered about the text message she saw, she looked up at Donghae who was by now finished with his food.

“Eat it.” Donghae urged.

Eun Hye shook head. “Maybe later.” She paused, trying to think of the best way to ask Donghae about this. “Hey can I ask you a question?”

Donghae smiled at her. “You just did.” He winked

She rolled her eyes at him. She really doesn’t need his sarcasm right now. “I’m serious.” She eyed Donghae making sure that he understands that she means business.

Donghae raised both his hands in defeat. “Okay. Go ahead. Just don’t shoot laser beams at me.”

She breather heavily trying and failing to hide her nervousness, but she nonetheless needs to have some sort of answer. “Is my borther acting strange around you lately?”

Donghae shrugged. “More than the usual?” He interjected as he placed his plate on the sink not even bothering to wash it.

“You’re no help at all.” She decidedly put a clean film on her roasted burger and placed it inside the refrigerator whereas Henry, who seemed to be full already just gave his unfinished burger to Donghae who gladly ate it.

“Sheesh, why so grumpy.” Donghae’s voice was slightly muffled by the food in his mouth. “Why is there something wrong?”

“No. I was just thinking out loud.” Eun Hye lied.

As soon as the clock to three in the afternoon, Eun Hye decided to go to Kyuhyun’s house. She saw her brother pedaling out of the house and onto the street. I can’t second guess myself. I need to know the truth because if this comes out and my parents would know about it, then it would hurt Siwon the most and I don’t want that to happen.

Taking yoga fire breaths, she painfully rang the doorbell and as the gates opened for her, Kyuhyun greeted her with a big smile on his face. “Hey! This is a nice surprise!” He  hugged her and stepped aside so she can come in.

“I need to talk to you.” She couldn’t properly look at her best friend in the eyes like she always did because she’d fear that she will just have a full on break down.

The young boy seemed to have noticed the expression on her face. Eunhyuk must’ve confessed to her. He thought to himself. “Okay, um..let’s go to my room and talk about it.”

As they entered Kyuhyun’s room. Eun Hye felt her heart beat go faster. She clearly doesn’t know how to navigate this kind of situation. “So what’d you want to talk about?” He sat on his beanie couch and Eun Hye joined him there, linking their arms together.

“You know I love you right?” She pushed Kyuhyun’s bangs away from his face. The boy nodded and smiled at her.

“Of course you do. I mean, I’m one of your first friends. If that isn’t love, I don’t know what is.” He chuckled.

Eun Hye looked at Kyuhyun and she knew what she had to ask him. “Kyu,” She paused, holding his hand and squeezing it. “Can you be honest with me?”

Kyuhyun straightened up a bit and nodded. As soon as he heard what her speak, he felt his throat go dry.

“Are you gay?”

He was so surprised by Eun Hye’s question. “No…No..what—what makes you say that?” He was fumbling with his words and he hated it.

She squeeze his hands again. “I saw you message to my brother.” She quietly looked at Kyuhyun and smiled. “Are you two in love?”

Kyuhyun felt like crying, he really didn’t know how this could happen but he knew he had to tell her thr truth. “We are...” he looked down feeling ashamed. “I know it’s wrong to feel this way for your brother….I guess having feeling for him makes me gay…” He looked at Eun Hye as  hot tears streamed down his face. “Do you hate me?”

Eun Hye’s eyes were tearing up as well as she wiped her best friend’s tears away. “I could never ever hate you. You’ve been my rock when I had problems. You always had my back and I know that you love equally as your friend.”

“I should’ve told you but I was afraid of what you’d think of me being…like this…” His words were garbled by his sobbing. Eun Hye reassuringly caressed the small of Kyuhyun’s back.

“There nothing wrong with loving someone, regardless of their gender.” She made Kyuhyun look up at him with his red rimmed eyes. “Nothing will change,” She paused kissing Kyuhyun’s forehead as if he were her baby. “You’ll always be my eldest baby no matter what…” In light of this complicated situation, Eun Hye managed to joke which made Kyuhyun chuckle a little.

“I love you, big sis…” Kyuhyun embraced Eun Hye.

“I love you too…you’re forever my BFF-slash-baby…okay?”

Kyuhyun smiled at her feeling happy and reassured that Eun Hye will always be by his side no matter what.

End of Chapter

I hope you enjoyed reading this!