Chapter 19: Portrait.

Youngjae opened his eyes with effort, he had a killing headache, foggy memories and his mouth tasted like vomit and alcohol. He sat up on the couch carefully and looked around, the place was familiar, it was the living room of his apartment. It seems he spent the night there although the only thing he remembered was hanging out at a bar, drinking with his colleagues. He couldn’t remember when or how he came back to his flat.

    Confused, he took another look and found himself covered with a blanket, his shoes off and a trash can with vomit next to him... It was odd... Whenever he got home, drunk, he always threw up everywhere before falling unconscious on the floor. It was the first time that he woke up in the comfort of a soft couch instead of the freezing floor.

    Someone brought me here, suddenly Youngjae heard noises from the kitchen, that someone’s still here.

    “You’re awake!!!!!!!!!!!” Himchan said loudly as he left the kitchen with his hands on his hips.

    “Please, don’t raise your voice” Youngjae begged, holding his head in his hands.

    “I won’t!!!!!!!!” Himchan loved to make him suffer.

    “Thanks for bringing me home and taking care of me” Youngjae said and threw a pillow at Himchan.

    “You came home by yourself” the stylist said “I just showed up a few minutes ago”

    “So, who the hell brought me here and took off my shoes and wrapped me up?” Youngjae asked and Daehyun walked out of the kitchen with a glass at that very moment.

    “Daehyun’s the one who stayed with you all night”

    “I see” Youngjae ran his hand over his messy hair, making it messier “Thank you” Youngjae looked at Daehyun.

    “Now that you’re fine, I’m leaving” Daehyun avoided looking at Youngjae and gave him the glass “It’s ginger tea for the hangover” Daehyun said low and left.

    Youngjae followed Daehyun with his eyes until he saw him fade in the hallway, then he heard the door open with a click and close with another click.

    “Is it me, or was he a little weird?” Youngjae asked Himchan.

    “What do you mean?” Himchan sat next to his friend and started fixing his hair with his fingers, he couldn’t help it, after all, it was his job to make people look perfect and right now, Youngjae was anything but perfect.

    “He’s always loud and talkative, but he didn’t say much and just left”

    “Maybe he’s tired” Himchan said “He spent the night watching over you”

    Youngjae didn’t reply, he just took a sip from the ginger tea, it was ugly, he made a face, but kept drinking.

    “Or maybe he’s sad because he had to stay instead of going on his date”

    “What date?” Youngjae got curious.

    “Jongup invited him to…”

    “Jongup?”

    “Hyoseong’s assistant”

    “I know” Youngjae cut him off rudely “I can’t believe that guy” the editor hissed, annoyed “He goes after Dasom and does the same with Daehyun. I really don’t like him”

    “Why?”

    “My gut tells me that he isn’t good”

    “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you’re jealous of Jongup for hanging out with Dasom… or Daehyun” Himchan thought that his friend liked Dasom on a whim. Youngjae wasn’t interested in ugly Dasom until that Himchan turned her into the most beautiful girl ever. Then Youngjae met the real Dasom, Daehyun, and Himchan wondered if Youngjae liked Daehyun.

    That would be very messed up.

    “Where was Jongup taking him?”

    “To an exhibition of photographs. You know how much Daehyunnie likes those things”

    “I know” Youngjae said “That’s why he’s sad, isn’t? Not because he didn’t go out with that guy (Jongup), but because he didn’t get to go to the exhibition”

When Daehyun went back to his apartment, he went straight to bed and fell asleep quick. He slept throughout the day and only woke up when someone rang the doorbell and knocked on his door several times noisily.

    Daehyun reached for his phone and checked the time. 7:00 p.m. He slept for more than ten hours and yet he felt tired. He decided to ignore the person knocking on his door and tried to go back to sleep, however, the person didn’t seem to go away, quite the opposite, he rang the doorbell harder and knocked with more force.

    “Daehyun???!!! It’s me!!! Youngjae!!! Open the door!!! Why don’t you open the door???!!! The gossip of your neighbor said you’re in there!!!”

    Daehyun’s heart skipped a beat before Youngjae’s voice, even raising his voice, Youngjae sounded soft and melodious.

    Just leave, Daehyun thought and then he didn’t hear Youngjae anymore. In the end, the younger left, or so he thought. Few minutes later, someone broke into his room.

    Daehyun almost had a heart attack as Youngjae approached the bed.

    “You’re awake!!! Why didn’t you open the door???!!!” Youngjae pressed his face against Daehyun’s.

    “I didn’t want to” Daehyun put his hand on Youngjae's face and pushed him away “How did you even get here?”

    “I asked the building superintendent for the key” Youngjae walked towards Daehyun’s closet “I thought you were dead” he said, taking clothes out “Get dressed”

    Daehyun opened his mouth to ask why, but Youngjae shut him up by throwing the clothes at him.

    “I won’t do anything” Daehyun said, irritated “I don’t even know what’s going on”

    “I can’t tell you, it’s a surprise”

    “I don’t like surprises”

    “Are you going to make me dress you?” Youngjae grabbed Daehyun’s ankle in order to get him out of bed.

    “I can dress myself” Daehyun kicked him with his free foot.

    “Then do it”

    Daehyun sighed wearily and said:

    “I won’t change in front of you”

    “I’ll wait in the living” Youngjae said and left him alone.

    Daehyun stared at the clothes that Youngjae randomly chose; jeans and a black and white sweater. The black-haired man sighed heavily and started dressing.

This time, Youngjae’s car was a white Mercedes Benz and took Daehyun to an art gallery. The same art gallery where Jeeyoung Lee made her presentation.

    “Himchan told me you missed this Jeeyoung exhibition, but now you’re here”

    “Last night was her one and only exhibition” Daehyun said, pouting.

    “True” Youngjae said “But Jooe made some calls and gave money here and there and in the end the director decided to empty the gallery for a few hours for just the two of us”

    “You bribed him”

    “It’s called donation” Youngjae said “Jeeyoung-sshi’s work is still displayed for you, so get your out”

    Daehyun hated Youngjae’s attitude, but he wanted to see Jeeyoung’s work badly, so he ignored Youngjae’s personality and got out of the car.

    Daehyun made his way to the door, it was open, he was about to enter when he realized that Youngjae didn’t follow him. He looked back to see the younger inside the car.

    “Aren’t you going in?”

    “I’m not interested”

    “Fine” Daehyun didn’t insist and entered the gallery, alone.

There’s something very wrong with Daehyun, Youngjae thought, the normal Daehyun would have forced him to accompany him into the gallery and watch the boring pictures. Maybe he wants Jongup, after all, they supposed to go together. No way, I’m better company than that Jongup, I’ll show him.

    Youngjae stormed out of the car and ran inside the building, he didn’t rest until he found Daehyun. The elder was standing in front of a photography of a woman with short hair, wearing something like a red t-shirt or dress and sitting among clouds while holding a match.

Daehyun had seen that picture before on internet, but watching it live and in person was shocking. The photograph reminded him of The Little Match Girl. A girl that was too scared to go home and chose to stay in a corner on the streets in the freezing cold and dreamed away until she died.

    He read that fairytale at school, it was a very sad tale, he didn’t know why the teachers let the students read such a sad thing. However, he could identify. After his parents died, his uncle sold the house in Busan and took him to the city and for the past years he lived with his uncle, aunt and cousin.

    It supposed to be a family, but he didn’t feel part of that, in fact he was both sad and relief when his aunt made him leave.

    It’s the first time that I think about this, Daehyun thought, I could've wound up as The Little Match Girl, living on the streets. I was lucky that Youngjae offered me the modeling job, even so I feel like I'm in a dream and I’ll have to wake up by the month’s end. I can’t be Dasom forever and it’s ok, I don’t like to be someone I’m not. And the best thing is I’ll have enough money to rent a decent place to live and I’ll stay friends with Himchan and Jongup and…

    Suddenly, Daehyun realized that Youngjae didn’t know his secret, so he couldn’t stay friends with him, and for some weird reason, that saddened him.

    “You must really like this photography” Youngjae said, snapping Daehyun out of his thoughts.

    Daehyun gasped in shock and turned to see Youngjae by his side. How long has he been there? He’s been looking at me during all that time?

    “I thought you'd rather stay in your car than being here”

    “I was getting cold”

    “You’re wearing like a thousand sweaters and a coat”

    “You want me to say I missed you? Because I didn’t” Youngjae said and frowned at the photography that Daehyun watched so speechlessly “I really don’t understand”

    “We can leave now” Daehyun said.

    “So soon?”

    The elder ignored him and walked quickly towards the exit.

    “We can eat something” Youngjae said, following him.

    Daehyun was getting in the car, but Youngjae stopped him by grabbing his wrist with his hand.

    “There’s a fried chicken restaurant across the street”

    “I’m not hungry”

    “I've never been to a fried chicken restaurant, but I survived the food stall, so let's go”

    “I’m not hungry” Daehyun said, shaking off Youngjae’s hand.

    Youngjae didn’t mind what Daehyun wanted and instead he held his hand this time and dragged him to the restaurant.

“Welcome” an ajumma greeted at the door and handed Youngjae a menu “We serve mainly fried chicken, but there’s barbecue dishes, stew, soup, seafood and ramyeon as well”

    “One of each dish, please”

    “Are there more people coming?” she asked in surprise.

    “It’s just us” Youngjae showed her his hand holding Daehyun’s “We’ll sit at that table” Youngjae used his free hand to point to the table by the window.

“I’d better start eating before you eat it all” Youngjae checked all the food on the table while taking the chopsticks. He was very hungry and everything looked delicious, however, he couldn’t eat at all as he noticed that Daehyun was gloomy and silent.

    “Aren’t you going to eat?”

    “I’m not hungry, I told you”

    “Ok” Youngjae smacked the chopsticks against the table.

    His voice was low, but his attitude wasn’t.

    “What’s wrong with you? You’ve been weird during the whole day. Since when you’re this quiet? You’re more talkative and clingy! Since when you aren’t hungry? I’ve seen you eat for hundreds”

    Youngjae hushed and studied Daehyun.

    “You look sad... Why? I took you to that exhibition, didn’t I? You didn’t miss anything, I got the damn place only for you” Youngjae said “And all this food is what you like, isn’t?”

    Out of the blue, Youngjae recalled Himchan saying that Daehyun was going on a date with Jongup, maybe that was it, he thought.

    “You’re sad because of Jongup” Youngjae said bitterly, he couldn’t believe that Daehyun preferred a helper over him “I get it, you’re sad because you missed your date and you want to be with him” Youngjae rolled his eyes to hide his hurt “Give me his address, I’ll bring him here”

    “I’m not sad because of him” Daehyun said and remained in silence for a few seconds to add more drama “I’m sad because of you, Yoo Youngjae”

    “What? Me? Why? What did I do to you? I have been nothing but good to you!!!”

    “So true, thank you very much” Daehyun said and got up, he didn’t feel like arguing with the young man.

    “You’re not going anywhere until you tell me why the hell you’re sad because of me” Youngjae did want to argue, he got up and pushed Daehyun back to the seat.

    “Your car accident reminded me of my parents' accident” Daehyun released the words.

    And then Youngjae felt stupid.

    “It reminded me that I lost the most important persons of my life and made me think I could lose you, too”

    “Uh... you didn’t lose me... “ Youngjae felt stupider and stupider.

    “What if you drunk driving again? You may die…”

    “Come on, nothing bad happened and nothing bad will. Besides, who cares?”

    “I care”

    “I promise you I’ll never drive while being drunk again” Youngjae hissed insincerely. He wanted Daehyun to stop the drama.

    “Don’t do it for me, do it for you, it’s your life”

    “Hell, you’re right! It’s my life, so why do you even care?”

    “Because we’re friends, aren’t we?” Daehyun frowned, Youngjae was a dear friend to him, but maybe Youngjae didn’t feel the same, after all, they were from different worlds.

    Youngjae was rich, spoiled and did whatever he wanted, like drunk driving.

    “Yes, of course, we’re friends” Youngjae said “If I didn’t like you, I wouldn’t be here with you”

    “You’re sure you’re with me because of me and not because I remind you of my sister?”

    “You remind me of her, you’re twins, but I’m with you now” Youngjae said “We’re getting off topic” the conversation sounded as if Youngjae was dating Dasom and Daehyun and Daehyun was asking him to choose, that was strange, he thought before saying:

    “I promise myself and you that I’ll never drive drunk again, so stop being sad because of me”

    Youngjae sounded fake, but he meant every word, he didn’t know how to express himself though, it was the first time that someone other than his parents worried about him so much. Employees did worry, but it was because they were paid. And Himchan worried too, but they were childhood friends, that’s why Youngjae was both thankful and shocked for Daehyun, the photographer wasn’t being paid and neither was a childhood friend, he got no reasons to worry and yet he worried enough to be upset during all day.

    “My appetite’s back” Daehyun said, relieved, after venting his feelings “Start eating before I eat everything”

I have to say I don’t like the first chapters, I started liking this story since Chapter 11: You.

I hope that this Youngjae isn’t ooc >.< Daehyun said in an interview that Youngjae may seem cold but actually is very sensitive and caring :) that’s why I write him moody LOL

whatever, these gifs sum up she is a boy https://bap16.tumblr.com/tagged/daejae

click here these gifs

and one last thing, do you remember Chapter 1: My girl?

Daehyun got lost in a dark alley and found two suspicious men and started taking pics. The younger criminal noticed his presence and chased him down with a gun and thus Daehyun ended up with a wig on, hiding in Youngjae’s party.

don’t forget that young criminal, he’ll appear in chapter 20 or 21