Chapter IX

I Like You

Siwon looked at Kyuhyun and smiled at him awkwardly. “Sorry…” he said, biting his bottom lip. Kyuhyun blushed as he looked down to the ground. “If that was your first kiss, I didn’t mean to ruin it for you…”

This time, it was Kyuhyun’s turn to smile, remembering the little accidental kiss they shared when Siwon was sleeping from a several weeks ago. “That was not my first kiss.” He admitted. Siwon’s eyes went wide.

So I wasn’t his first kiss. Siwon thought to himself a little bitterly. “Oh…that’s great.” The older boy said, a little disheartened; he picked up a small stone from the ground and threw it as far away as possible.

The younger boy chuckled. “Yeah. It was.” He said, trying to make Siwon squirm.

“What was it like?” He asked, a tinge of jealousy can be heard from his voice.

“It was very sweet and tender…” he paused, looking at Siwon. “Just like the second kiss we shared earlier.”

Siwon looked at Kyuhyun, shocked. “The second kiss we shared?” He asked. Kyuhyun nodded, a lilting little smile formed on his lips, showing his braces in the process. “What do you mean by that?”

“Well,” Kyuhyun paused, collecting his thoughts. “I’m pretty sure you still remember the first tutoring session we had.” He spoke a little happily, reminiscing on his first kiss with Siwon. “You were asleep like a zombie, I was trying to put you to bed when you toppled over me…and…well…you know what happened next…”

Siwon chuckled a little. “So I was you first kiss, huh?” He suddenly felt happy.

Kyuhyun nodded. “Well…about all of this…” He paused, looking serious right now. “What does this mean?”

Siwon sighed heavily, clearly confused as well. “I honestly don’t know. I’m still very confused..but I know one thing though…” He looked at Kyuhyun and held his hand in his.

“And what is that?” The younger boy asked Siwon.

Siwon looked at Kyuhyun smiled. “I like you.” He confessed.

“What?” Kyuhyun was dumbfounded.

“I don’t know why but I just do.” He paused looking at Kyuhyu straight in the eyes. “Do you like me too?” He asked.

Kyuhyun looked away. He felt Siwon give his hand a little squeeze. He gazed up at him and nodded. “Yes. I like you too…a lot…but…”

“But what?” Siwon muttered “That’s all that matters right? We like each other.”

Kyuhyun shook his head. “But what about our parents? What would they think of their children who are both boys being in a relationship that’s more than friends?” He asked him. “I mean, will they accept it? And what will I tell Eun Hye?” He paused, these thoughts just know coming to mind.

He’s right. People will talk and I don’t want that to happen. Siwon thought to himself. “I guess you’re right…maybe we should…we should…” He couldn’t really think of anything more to say.

“Just remain friends?” The younger boy suggested even though it hurt a lot just to say those words.

“Do you want that?” Siwon asked as he scratched the back of his head. “To just remain friends?”

Kyuhyun shook his head.

“Then, maybe we can secretly see each other?” Siwon said. Kyuhyun nodded.

“We can do that, I guess…” He paused, still quite unsure. “But for how long?”

Siwon shrugged. “For as long as we can. And once we’re ready to tell everyone, we can do so in our own terms…how about it?” He asked.

Kyuhyun smiled and agreed to what Siwon said. This may be tricky and risky but it’s worth the try, right?

At the Music Store

Eun Hye decided to buy some albums as a gift for herself. She’d always love being in a Musci store because she gets to discover different kinds of artists. Last year she bought an album by Spice Girls and she loved it. As Christmas carols played in the background, she found herself getting lost in looking at different albums. Her reverie was cut off short because Lee Donghae decided to show up.

“Hey.” He greeted her with a smile. Something that he rarely did—okay he never did. “Merry Christmas.” He said

Eun Hye looked at him. “Are you on crack?” She asked. “This is the first time that you bothered talking to me in a non Neanderthal way.” The girl pointed out.

“Whoa, calm your nerves, it’s Christmas after all.” Donghae said, not really liking any of this. He’s sure that if Siwon would know about his plan of hurting Eun Hye for Yesung that his best friend would kick him out of their house and would stay mad at him for the rest of his life. “I just…” he trailed, wracking his brain for something to say.

“You just what?” Eun Hye asked him, clearly not amused.

“I just want to apologize for you know…being a jerk last night and ruining your annual nerdy theater play thing…”

Even though Donghae described watching The Nut Cracker as nerdy, it surprised Eun Hye that this boy here knows how to say sorry. She nodded. Donghae picked up an S.E.S. album. The girl found it quite funny that Donghae liked S.E.S. like she did. Without a word, Donghae paid for the album with the last of his money—he really didn’t want to use the five hundred dollars he received from Yesung the other day—and returned to Eun Hye. “Here.” He said, giving the girl the packaged album.

“Why are you giving this to me?” She asked, a little shocked.

Donghae smiled at her. “It’s my Christmas present to you.” He winked. After looking around some more, they decided to take the long walk back home. It was eerily quiet and awkward. Donghae was thinking about what would happen if anyone found out about his plan while Eun Hye was thinking of how she viewed Donghae wrongly.

“So…” the both said in unison. They looked at each other and laughed awkwardly. “You go first since you seem to have something important to say.” The boy said. Eun Hye nodded.

“Well, I just want to thank you for giving me this CD. I really appreciate it.” She said, clutching the CD in her hand.

Donghae nodded. “It’s nothing.” Eun Hye suddenly looked through her purse and grabbed a small wrapped gift. She looked at Donghae and smiled.

“I was debating on whether or not to give this to you because of what happened last night, but since you apologized, here.” She handed him the gift.

“Wow, thanks.” Donghae said. He opened the little box and it revealed a black leatherette cuff with little spikes on it. “This is really great!” He said.

“It’s not much but I hope you like it.” Eun Hye said.

“Like it? I love it!” he said engulfing Eun Hye in a tight hug much to her surprise. When Donghae pulled away slightly he looked at the girl in front of hims straight in the eyes. Before they both knew it, Donghae was leaning in to kiss Eun Hye.

The girls eyes went wide in surprise but she slowly closed them when Donghae’s face was starting to get near her face. Soon, little butterflies flew in both their stomachs as their kissed tenderly. It felt right in so many levels yet so wrong because of Donghae’s selfish reasons but he knew that if he was going to do this, he won’t do it half heartedly, his only problem is if he falls for Eun Hye.

They pulled away and walked quietly not really talking about what just happened a few seconds ago. A small smile played in Eun Hye’s lips as it tingled because of Donghae’s kiss.

That same moment Eunhyuk was getting ready to see Eun Hye and give her his gift

Dressed in his favorite Batman sweater from a shop that specializes in comic book characters, Lee Eunhyuk was giddy because he is going to give Eun Hye the gift he’d picked out over a month ago. It’s a dress that he’d specifically saved money for. As he was happily walking towards Eun Hye’s house, he felt suddenly felt his heart pound rapidly. Eun Hye and Donghae were walking together and laughing Donghae clutched what seemed to be a gift from the young girl and smiled as he opened it.

“What is he doing with her?”

Suddenly, he saw Donghae hugging Eun Hye. Eunhyuk felt his heart drop to his stomach. Then, to make matters worse, he kissed her. Eunhyuk felt like he was about to burst. He turned away and ran out before they even see him.

I was supposed to be with her. Am I wrong to plan my confession of love for Eun Hye at my graduation? The boy ran and ran without even caring about the people staring at him. He just wanted to get away. Tears were streaming down his face as he remembered every details of what he just saw and it hurt so much.

When he felt like his lungs were on fire because of running so fast. He stopped, falling down to the ground as his breath caught up with him. When he was feeling much better already, he stood up and brushed himself. He looked around, people were walking around in their winter boots, some children are singing Christmas carols for the benefit of the Salvation Army.

He suddenly realized something. He shouldn’t be afraid of Donghae, what he needs to do is to prove himself to Eun Hye. He now knew what he had to do.

I wanted to do so much for Eun Hye. I wanted her to see me not just as a friend but as a guy who can be there for her through thick and thin. If Lee Donghae wants to take Eun Hye away from me, then he would have to kill me first because I will never let go of Eun Hye

The next day, Eunhyuk asked Eun Hye to meet with him in their old tree house. As he was waiting for her, he was practicing the things that he was going to say. He felt like his heart was about to burst because of his nerves. Suddenly, someone was starting to climb up the tree. Eunhyuk straightened himself up. His mouth dropped open when he saw Henry emerging from the little push up door. As the younger boy squeezed himself in, he flashed Eunhyuk a smile, and then when Henry was already situated, Eun Hye entered the tree house.

Eunhyuk frowned at Eun Hye.

“Sorry…” She mouthed. She then pulled her phone out of her pocket and typed a message. Eunhyuk felt his phone buzz and he too it out. Eun Hye sent him a message.

Sorry…I had to baby sit Henry for the time being since my parents are went to Seoul to meet with my aunt. Besides, Henry also wanted to see this old tree house.

“So what did you want to talk about?” Eun Hye asked.

Eunhyuk was so distracted since Henry is there as well. “Um, well…uh…here…” He just handed her his Christmas gift. “Sorry if it is late.”

“No worries, did you like my gift for you as well?” She asked.

“Yeah, I started reading it and I’m almost at the end.” Eunhyuk said. Maybe now’s not the right time to tell her…I guess…maybe when we’re alone…

Choi Household

“Make yourself at home, Kyu.” Siwon said as he popped a microwavable popcorn inside the microwave. After setting the timer, he walked towards their DVD collection and pulled out a couple of movies. He turned to Kyuhyun and smiled. “So, do you want to watch Spiderman or Superman?” He asked.

Kyuhyun bit his bottom lip. “Well, I kind of brought my own DVD. I’d been meaning to watch this again…” He paused, pulling out a DVD case in his Jansport bag. He flashed it in front of Siwon.

The older boy chuckled as he grabbed the movie from Kyuhyun. He looked at it a little astounded. “Are you serious about this? Rugrats in Paris: The Movie?

Kyuhyun nodded. “I like the Rugrats. Don’t you?” Siwon made a face he really didn’t like the said movie because he felt that it was too absurd. He looked at Kyuhyun.

“I was always a Hey! Arnold kind of boy.” Siwon admitted.

Kyuhyun chuckled. “Well, at least it’s still from Nickelodeon.” Siwon nodded in agreement. So, without any protests, he opened the case and placed the DVD in the player. Just in time the microwave went off and Siwon took out the popcorn and poured the contents in a bowl. The smell of butter and salt wafted all over the living room. Since they were alone Siwon sat very close to Kyuhyun and put an arm around him as the opening credits started/

The boy next to him stiffened a little but relaxed as soon as the movie started. Siwon leaned in Kyuhyun ear to whisper. “Do you know what people  our age do inside the movie theater?”

Kyuhyun looked at Siwon. “Uh…focus on the movie?” Kyuhyun asked. Siwon shook his head and smiled at him playfully.

“This.” He leaned in and kissed Kyuhyun on the lips. The younger boy shot up.

“What are you doing? You parents can walk in any minute now!” He exclaimed.

“Relax, my mom and dad are going to be in Seoul for two whole weeks.”

“You know, I have to set certain boundaries.” Kyuhyun said firmly. Siwon pouted as Kyuhyun sat down on the couch.

“Okay…okay…I’ll be a good boy.” Siwon promised.

“Good.” Kyuhyun said as they started to watch the movie again.

End of Chapter

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