The Narrow Miss #5

A year ago…

            Ryeowook couldn’t believe Donghae would drag him out in the middle of allergy season.  He wasn’t even able to breathe and couldn’t even guarantee that his sniffling and sneezing wasn’t somewhat contagious.  It seemed a little too out of hand to just be allergies, so he wore a mask to Donghae’s apartment, in an effort not to spread the germs to anyone else.  But the damn thing nearly got knocked off the moment that the door opened because Donghae practically tackled him.

            “He proposed!” Donghae shouted, jumping up and down.

            “Eunhyuk?” Ryeowook questioned.  In retrospect, that was a dumb question, but in his own defense he had taken a lot of cold medications and wasn’t himself.  He was loopy, tired, couldn’t breathe properly, and his head was throbbing. 

            “Yes, stupid,” Donghae said, smacking him in the back of the head.  “Who else?”

            Ryeowook shook his head, which just made the dizziness worse.  “I don’t know.”

            Donghae wrapped his arm around Ryeowook and pulled him into the apartment.  “I’m just teasing you.  I know you’re not feeling well, but I wanted to tell you in person.  I have something to ask you about the wedding.”

            “What’s that?”

            Donghae grasped Ryeowook’s shoulders and looked into his eyes.  “Will you be my best man?”

            “Of course!” Ryeowook said, hugging him tight.

            Donghae hugged him back.  “I have to warn you about something before I make you swear to it.”

            “What’s that?”

            “Hyuk has asked Kyuhyun to be his best man.”

            Ryeowook felt his heart drop.  Kyuhyun would be at the wedding.  Of course he would.  Why hadn’t he thought of that?  “It doesn’t matter.  You know that your wedding will be about you, not about some date that never happened between me and some guy I once had a crush on.”

            Donghae laughed.  “Once had a crush on?”

            “You think I still do?  It’s been a year!” Ryeowook reminded him.

            “I have it under good authority that you and he still talk on almost a daily basis,” he informed his friend.

            It had started out slow at first, the texting back and forth.  Once or twice a month.  Then once a week.  Ryeowook wasn’t sure how long it had been going on for now, but they now texted each other just about every day.  Once in a while, one of them even called the other.  It was a slippery slope because Ryeowook felt almost certain that if Kyuhyun asked him out again now, he’d say yes in an instant.  But he hadn’t and it was starting to make Ryeowook wonder if he would ever have a chance with the alpha again.  But he was the one who’d said no