Chapter 37: Candy.

“We have over fifty flavors of ice cream” The waitress said as Daehyun gawked at the menu with his eyes wide open and mouth drooling. He had never seen so many flavors of ice cream, there were flavors he didn’t even know existed.

    “Noona, what's your favorite flavor?” Zelo stared at Dasom instead of the menu.

    “All”

    Zelo chuckled and looked in the waitress’s direction.

    “Can you brings us a bowl with all the flavors?”

    “You’re serious?” she giggled like he was joking.   

    “Yes” he said without a shred of doubt.

    “No customer has ordered all the flavors, but sure, we can serve a bowl with all the flavors”

    “There’s a first time for everything” Zelo playfully winked at her and she blushed hard before going for the ice cream.

    “All the flavors, isn’t too much?” Daehyun knitted his brow.

    “You said you like all the flavors and I want to make you happy, noona”

    “Thank you” Daehyun blushed slightly.

    “On my way to your apartment, I saw a couple of billboards with lips and eyes” Zelo said “I didn't have to see the whole face to know it's you, noona, your lips are so plump, and the beauty mark under your left eye is so beautiful”

    “Thank you” Daehyun said, red like a tomato.

    “You're so beautiful”

    “Thank you” Daehyun said for the thousandth time, redder than a tomato.

    “Let's take a picture” Zelo moved next to Daehyun and took the pic and posted it on Instagram and then he stayed by his side instead of returning to his seat “Noona, you're soooooooooo beautiful” the model leaned over, almost brushing his lips against his.

    “You don't have to call me noona” Daehyun pulled his face away.

    “If I call you Dasom, you call me Junhong, it’s my real name”

    “Your name is Junhong? That’s a pretty name”

    “So is Dasom” Zelo tried to kiss her again and this time Daehyun pulled away for good and sat on another chair. Zelo was hot and everything, but the only guy Daehyun wanted to kiss it was Youngjae.

    The waitress showed up with a giant bowl with 51 scoops of ice cream and placed it on the table.

    “Are you sure that you can eat all this?” she asked with a raised eyebrow.

    “Yes” Zelo said with a big smile.

    “If you say so” she bowed and left.

    “I like strawberry ice cream” Zelo said and looked at Daehyun “What’s yours?”

    “If I have to choose now, I'd say vanilla”

    Zelo took one spoonful of vanilla ice cream and brought it to Dasom’s lips. Daehyun opened his mouth and let him feed him.

    “Do you like it?”

    “It’s good… and very cold!!!” Daehyun gasped as he covered his mouth, the brain freeze wasn’t a myth! Zelo burst in laugh as he took a pic.

    “Don’t do that!”

    “It's too late, it’s already on my IG”

    Daehyun pouted and threw a scoop of ice cream at him. “Wow!” Zelo reacted with surprise and grinned like the devil before throwing a scoop back at his date, and then they started a food fight while the other customers watched the scene, baffled.

“Sorry for the mess” Zelo said to the owner as he paid at the cashier.

    “You’re sure you don’t want us to clean up?” Daehyun asked, apologetic and embarrassed.

    “Don’t worry, some people recorded your food fight, and since you guys are famous, this place will also be famous” the owner said.

    “I didn’t know I’m famous” Daehyun said as he headed to the door with Zelo.

    “You’re kidding? Your profile is close to reach 100 million views”

    “That sounds a lot”

    “And you don’t care, but most girls go all over themselves when they reach 1 million views or even less”

    “It’s just views”

    “I like how down-to-earth you are” Zelo smiled and took Daehyun’s hand “What do you want to do now?”

    “I chose this, so it's your turn”

    “How about we go skating? There’s an ice rink not too far from here”

    “You love skating, don't you?” Daehyun said “I remember our first photo shoot at Lotte World. You told me how much you love skating while we got ready for a shoot in the ice rink”

    “You remember?” Zelo said, full of surprise.

    “Of course”

    “Most girls don’t listen, they just look at me like I’m a piece of meat”

    “To me you’re more than a piece of meat, you're my friend” Daehyun said “Although I understand those girls, you're good-looking, Youngjae”

    “Young...? I'm Junhong” the blond boy corrected, upset.

    “I know you’re Junhong!” Daehyun screamed “But he’s Youngjae!!!” he pointed at the black-haired man outside the shop “Tell me you’re seeing him too! Have I finally gone crazy? Am I seeing him everywhere?”

    Zelo turned around and got a look at the man behind the glass door.

    “No, you aren’t crazy” he squinted to see better “I’m seeing him too”

    Youngjae wasn’t sure if he was in the right place, but then he saw Zelo and Dasom through the glass door. Dasom looked at him in panic while Zelo looked at him, annoyed, he couldn’t believe his date with Dasom was being ruined AGAIN by the chief editor.

    “I don't want to see him” Daehyun said, but it was too late, Youngjae came in the store.

    “So this is your period” Youngjae said with an accusatory glare at Dasom as he pointed at Zelo.

    “How did you find us?” Daehyun said.

    “I saw pics of you together sharing ice cream on your Instagram”

    “I don’t have Instagram”

    “Your fan club does”

    “Hyung, what are you doing here? Where’s Snow White?” Zelo asked Youngjae.

    “I don’t get it” Youngjae said in confusion, if he were a manhwa character, there would be many question marks around him.

    “He called you dwarf” Daehyun said.

    “That’s real mature” Youngjae scoffed at the taller guy “A talking giraffe escaped the circus, it’s you, isn’t?”

    “A talking giraffe is cooler than a dwarf, you aren’t even Snow White’s favorite”

    “This is the stupidest dis ever” Daehyun facepalmed.

    “Dasom and I are on a date” Zelo put his arm around Daehyun’s shoulder “So we’re leaving”    

    “Dasom?” Youngjae said “What happened with noona?”

    “Dasom let me call her by her name, because we’re this CLOSE” Zelo said and rested his chin on her head and then kissed her forehead.

    “You stood me up for him?!” Youngjae barked at Dasom like a mad dog “You didn’t even have the guts to tell me you don’t want to go out with me because of him!”

    “I didn’t plan on going out with him, I just didn’t want to go out with you”

    “Why?!” There was hurt all over Youngjae's face “I thought we had a good time together”

    “Hyung, have a little dignity and leave us alone, Dasom chose ME” Zelo held Dasom’s hand tightly “Come on, let’s go out of here”

Daehyun was back at the apartment by midnight. He wanted to drop dead on his bed and sleep for hours, he thought as he opened the door and walked in to find Yongguk in the living room, watching some foreign movie with subtitles.

    “I thought your shift ended at 9:00 p.m.”

    “How was your date?”

    “Great until Youngjae showed up”

    “Did you get any information about Zelo and his brother?”

    “Didn’t you hear me? Youngjae showed up” Daehyun said “He followed us to the ice rink. He doesn’t know how to skate, but he entered the ice rink anyway, he strode like a blind penguin and crashed into a handrail and his forehead split open, and then Junhong and I took him to the emergency room”

    “Junhong?”

    “It’s Zelo’s real name. Don’t tell me you didn’t know”

    “Of Course I did know” Yongguk said “Go on, what happened next?”

    “The nurse said we had to wait hours for a doctor to stich up Youngjae’s forehead, so I sent Junhong home. He didn’t have to wait”

    “And you had to?”

    “You know I like him, so unfortunately, I had to. I couldn’t leave him alone with his split forehead spilling blood all over the place”

    “I feel trapped in a drama” Yongguk said, tired.

    “Sorry, I’ll ask Junhong about his brother next time I see him, ok?”

    “Ok” Yongguk got off the couch and stretched his arms and legs “I didn’t know if you’d eat outside, so I made you some mango sticky rice”

    “Thank you, daddy” Daehyun said and the elder raised an eyebrow “Sorry, that sounded weird” he lowered his head and tried hard to hide his blush “You remind me of my father that used to cook for me often”

    “Don't worry, my child, sleep tight” Yongguk awkwardly patted him on the head and headed to the door.

    “Bye, hyung” Daehyun chuckled as he reached his bedroom and sat down on the bed and struggled with the high heel boots. He didn’t know why he wore those feet killers instead of a pair of nice and comfortable sneakers. Suddenly, his phone rang, he didn’t want to take the call, but then he saw it was Jongup. Talking with Jongup always made him happy for all the things they had in common, so he smiled and answered cheerfully.

    “Jongup!!!”

    “Did I interrupt your date with Zelo?”

    “No, Youngjae beat you to it”

    “So… you’re with Youngjae now?”

    “No, he’s high on painkillers at his apartment” Daehyun said as he changed into sweatpants and t-shirt “But how do you know I was out with Junhong?”

    “Junhong?

    “It’s Zelo’s name”

    “I thought his name is Zelo”

    “So did I”

    “To answer your question, I saw pics of you two on IG” Jongup said “I was kind of jealous”

    “Kind of jealous?”

    “Actually, very jealous”

    “Very jealous?” Daehyun was clueless about Jongup’s feelings for him.

    “Never mind” Jongup forced a smile “There’s an exhibition of current camera models, debuts, concept cameras and out-of-production classics in town, you want to go?”

    “I’ve been waiting that exhibition since last year!!! I completely forgot it with everything that’s going on” Daehyun went to the kitchen and smiled as he saw the mango sticky rice on the counter.

    “Then it’s settled, let’s meet tomorrow!”

    “I’m looking forward!”

it's hard not to look at zelo like the most delicious piece of meat