Soonyoung sighed for the nth time that day. He was never good with anything like saying no against Jihoon’s yes. He loved Jihoon but as he knew, he just wanted that boy to be happy, preferably with and because of him. It seemed to be impossible lately. Jihoon wasn’t happy. Soonyoung knew that much. He wasn’t going to be the reason for Jihoon’s despair, that was the last thing that he would ever want.

Those times he spent chasing after Jihoon, looking after him, loving him, those moments were the ones that he treasured the most. But lately, just loving him didn’t seem to be enough. He wanted to be the one that Jihoon ran to when he had problem. But he didn’t even have much time to spend with Jihoon anymore. He waited and waited but Jihoon never called. He never needed Soonyoung’s help. Soonyoung missed him so much. But he thought maybe Jihoon needed time alone. That was what Soonyoung gonna give him then, time alone, okay. 

The first day was like hell and Soonyoung had gone through that with only calling and texting Jihoon without running to his studio. Now, a week had passed and nothing seemed to get better. Jihoon still sounded so tired and replied with very very short answers. Soonyoung loved him though, that was what he would always do. Soonyoung was tired too, but he loved Jihoon, he would hold on. People also knew how much Soonyoung had always loved Jihoon.

“It was a miracle that you get him to date you.” Soonyoung remembered Mingyu joked. It was a joke that Soonyoung was actually proud of at that time. Now, as he thought about it, he had kind of forced Jihoon to date him.

Soonyoung had always showed Jihoon that he was into him but never really confessed. Soonyoung finally confessed when he got drunk. Jihoon had looked stunned but Soonyoung was too drunk to realize. “You’re drunk.”

Soonyoung shook his head.

“Would you be my boyfriend, Lee Jihoon?”

“I’ll take him home.”

Jihoon brought Soonyoung out. The others were actually wondering why and what would happen to those two.

“Wait! Wait, Jihoon-ahh…”

Soonyoung smiled drunkenly to Jihoon.

“I’ll walk you home. I will. I’m not drunk. If I can walk you home, please date me, okay?”

“Let’s go!” Soonyoung pulled Jihoon with him, to the wrong direction. They were walking hand in hand with Soonyoung’s occasional giggles. Suddenly, Sonyoung stopped and almost fell back. Jihoon caught his back.

“This doesn’t seem right. I think we got the wrong direction.” Soonyoung pointed out and Jihoon led him to sit at the bench.

“Why are we sitting? We should get you home, Jihoon-ahh. I have to. I have to date you.”

“Why?” Finally Jihoon spoke and that brought Soonyoung to smile at him lovingly.

“Because I love you.”

“Really do. I do. I love you, Jihoon-ahh.”

“I know.”

“You do? I-“

“But then why dating? Isn’t it enough that you-“

Soonyoung had covered Jihoon’s mouth with his cold hand.

“Because they would take you away from me if we don’t date. And also, I would know that you love me too if you date me. I would be able to love you even more if you date me. I could protect you. I don’t like to see others getting too close to you. I don’t like them taking you away from me. I want to be special to you. I want to be different from them. I want you to only be with me.”

Soonyoung’s babbles had taken Jihoon aback with their honesty.

“You’re special, Soonyoung.”

“Right? I know. I know, Jihoon-ahh. But I need something more than you merely saying it. I need to have something that I can use to protect you. I want to be your boyfriend. I can just scold them off because I’m the boyfriend. If I'm not, I have no right to do so when I hate it a lot, when you’re with-“

This time Soonyoung got silenced by Jihoon’s