Chapter 40: Paradise.

She is a boy

Chapter 40: Paradise.

The beach Daehyun used to go with his parents it was still beautiful like in his memories. Nothing had changed. The sun imposed among the clouds in the light blue sky, the seagulls flew over the dark blue sea, the sand was warm, and the kids built sandcastles, the couples snuggled under the umbrellas, families made BBQs, some boys surfed, some girls played volleyball, everybody had fun... except Youngjae. The young editor in chief followed Daehyun everywhere and Daehyun didn't pay him any attention, he was very focused on taking pictures.

    “Are you done?” Youngjae asked for the thousandth time “Can we go back to the hotel and eat and watch movies? Because watching you take pics is the most boring thing ever”

    “I didn't ask you to come” Daehyun didn't even look at him “You should have stayed with your girlfriend” Daehyun couldn't stop being bitter, he couldn't stop thinking about Youngjae and Lizzy. They were too friendly in his opinion, but they grew up overseas and overseas people were too friendly compared to Korean. Zelo always kissed Dasom's cheek because he liked her, so when he saw Youngjae kissing Lizzy's cheek it was clear that he liked her.

    “She's just a friend” Youngjae said “But I feel you complain like I cheated on you, we aren't dating, you know”

    “I know”

    “Then stop behaving like a jealous boyfriend, we have nothing and we'll never have”

    Why did Youngjae say that? It was like he knew about Daehyun’s feelings and he was rejecting him.

    “Can we go now?”

    “I've only taken two pics”

    “Are you kidding me? We've been here for hours! Two pics? How's that possible?”

    “I'm not stopping you, you can leave, I'll go back to the hotel by bus”

    “How much longer are you going to be here?”

    “When there's no shot left in the roll”

    “How many shots are in the roll?”

    “36, sometimes it's 38, but some pictures come out bad, that’s why I don’t take photos randomly, so sorry for being boring” Daehyun thought about Jongup, the trip would have been way cooler with Jongup, the photographer understood his passion for photography.

    “Can we at least take a break and go to grab a bite? I'm hungry and thirsty”

    “Yeah” Daehyun put the camera in the backpack, he wanted to send Youngjae away, his complaining didn't help him to focus, liking him and not being liked back didn't help either. Sometimes he asked himself why things went so wrong, passing as Dasom was supposed to be easy, there were three steps in his plan: model, cash out and leave. Falling in love with another man wasn’t part of his plan. This man was Youngjae and 50% of the time he drove him crazy…

    While Daehyun questioned about his life choices, Youngjae looked around, there were many restaurants on the beach, and then a girl shouted “Be careful!!!” Youngjae turned around and saw a ball like a bullet in his direction, he jumped aside, however, it was too late, the ball hit his head and he lost his balance and fell in the water.

    “Youngjae!” Daehyun rushed to him ASAP “Are you ok?”

    “Do I look ok?!” Youngjae yelled from the water “There's water in my shoes and sand and mud everywhere!!! It’s not good for the stitches in my forehead!!!” Youngjae threw his hands in the air like crazy “Every... Aaaah!!!” he startled “A crab pinched me, a crab pinched me!!!”

    “There's no crabs here”

    “How do you know?!” Youngjae yelled louder “You're right, I should have stayed with my girlfriend!!! I hate beaches!!! It's so dirty and there's so many people!!!”

    “You're overreacting” Daehyun said “Since when you're OCD? A little dirt and water aren't going to kill you”

    “Just help me to get up!!!” Youngjae stretched out his hand. Daehyun sighed and took his hand, Youngjae seized his hand with all his might and pulled him towards him making him fall in the water too.

    “Why did you do that?!” Daehyun popped his head up.

    “Why are you yelling? It’s just a little dirt and water”

    “That’s real mature” Daehyun splashed water on him.

    Youngjae swam ashore and was about to stand up when Daehyun went after him and tackled him down.

    “Say you're sorry!” Daehyun had Youngjae pinned face down, sitting on his back.

    “Never!” In reply Daehyun reached one arm around his neck.

    “Ok, you win!!! Let me go, please, please!!!”

    Satisfied by Youngjae’s begging, Daehyun let him go, and then he was attacked by surprise; Youngjae’s thighs were on either side of Daehyun's hips, pressing him down into the warm sand. Daehyun had to resist the urge to grind into him, Youngjae leaned over him, wrapping his hands around his wrists, Daehyun felt his heart hammering in his chest, loudly thudding in his ears. What was going on? They weren't playing anymore, Youngjae crushed his body on top of his, they looked into each other's eyes, Daehyun was dumbfounded by how stunning the younger man was. Youngjae's cheeks were red, his mouth hung open and his chest rose and fell with each heavy breath.

    “I saw a restaurant near some clothing stores, it seems nice” Youngjae said, pulling away.

    Daehyun sat up and watched him stand up.

    “We can eat there, but of course, first we’ll go to one of those stores to get new clothes”

    “Uh-huh” Daehyun said, disappointed, if it had been a dream, Youngjae would have kissed him or touched him, but in real life, Youngjae was only playing, he went on top of him with no ulterior motive.

   

At the clothing store, Daehyun got a black tank top and black sweatpants and black sneakers (very emo) while Youngjae went for black tank top, dark yellowish-green shorts and purple sneakers, and then they headed to the nice restaurant. The restaurant got a very beachy style, palm trees and coconuts everywhere. The atmosphere was very festive. There was even a stage in the center and people did karaoke.

    “A table for two?” A waitress asked.

    “Yes” Youngjae said as Daehyun looked around, the place seemed familiar. The woman smiled and led them to a table next to the stage.

    “Oh my gosh, I used to come here with my parents” Daehyun said “This restaurant was smaller, but I'm sure this is the place. My father used to go on the stage and sing 80s ballads and always ended up dragging my mom, she was always so embarrassed, but not more than me, I mean, having one of your parents singing off key is embarrassing, but two singing off key... Anyway, I miss them so much now...”

    “The owner's grandson made the restaurant bigger years ago” The waitress explained “Right now we're running a karaoke contest, you want to participate?”

    “No” Daehyun blushed hard, he loved to sing... in the shower, not in front of strangers and less in front of his crush. Youngjae didn't seem to care, he was studying the menu like it was the CSAT “What are you going to order?”

    “I don't know, everything is seafood. I eat a lot of seafood back at home, but I guess Seoul seafood is different from Busan... What do you recommend?”

    “I don't know, I used to eat a lot of seafood when I lived here and I ended up hating it, and then it's so expensive to get seafood in Seoul I miss it everyday... You got a thing for spicy food, how about ordering glass noodles with red pepper?”

    “I'll take that” Youngjae said to the waitress.

    “And you?” she asked Daehyun.

    “BBQ” She took the order and left.

    “She forgot the drinks” Youngjae went after her and came back in a few minutes with a big bottle of cola.

    “Cola? I want beer”

    “So do I, but I can't because you won't let me drive drunk, so if I don't have beer, neither do you”

 

“This isn't spicy at all” Youngjae twirled the noodles with the fork into a spoon and brought it to Daehyun’s mouth.

    “Stop doing that, we aren't boyfriends”

    “Friends can feed friends”

    “What kind of friends?”

    “I didn't know you had such a problem”

    I didn't have a problem... until I fell in love with you and now everything we do is a problem, because to you we're just friends and to me it means a lot more.

    “Sometimes I think you don't want me here”

    “Well, we're two guys on a trip, it's kinda weird, it'd be more normal with other guys. I mean, you know, a group of guys traveling together is what friends do and two guys is like... lovers...”

    “You were going to come here with Himchan and nobody else, you're telling me you're two are lovers?”

    “We're just friends”

    “So what the hell are you talking about? We're just friends too”

    If you say so. I love Himchan as a friend, but you, I love you, love you. How did things get so complicated?

    “Don't be awkward, I'd never make a move on you”

    “I know, you like women, I still can see your stupid smiley face from when you talked to Lizzy...”

    “She's just a friend”

    “Do you like her more than you like Dasom?”

    “I don’t want to talk about Dasom with you”

    “Why not?”

    “It's your sister”

    “So? We always talk about you”

    “Really?”

    “Don't get excited, we talk about your kdrama syndrome”

    “What's that?”

    “Rich guy that pretends to be dumb and rude, but deep down he's just dumb and nice”

    “And she likes me? I mean, Dasom likes me?” Youngjae asked with sparkle in his eyes.

    “I don't know”

    “You said you always talk”

    “What do you even feel for her?”

    “I like her”

    “Since when?” Daehyun didn't know whether or not feel bad for that confession. He was Dasom, so technically, Youngjae liked him.

    “Since I saw her first photo shoot at Lotte World” Youngjae shrugged “Himchan sent me a pic of her with makeup. I thought she was the ugliest woman on earth, but then she was so beautiful... She is so beautiful”

    “So you like her because of her looks” Daehyun didn’t know why he fell for someone so shallow.

    “At first, but I got to know her, it's really something” Youngjae chuckled “Most women overact in a feminine and delicate way, but she's so blunt and never cares about her appearance and doesn’t go on fanatical diets. Going out with Nahyun I could never eat, actually, I can’t eat in front of other women, I feel they judge me, if I eat it means I’m fat and I’m not supporting her… I guess I like Dasom because she's down to earth and let me eat”

    “You like her because she let you eat?”

    “The way to a man's heart is through his stomach” Youngjae took a look at Daehyun who thoughtfully chewed on his lower lip “You always bite your lower lip like her”

    Daehyun felt frustrated and his lips into his mouth. “She does that too when she’s reppressing something” he raised one eyebrow “You got something you want to tell me?”

    “No, I just didn’t know you paid this much attention to her and her gestures” 

    “I do, sometimes she slightly parts her lips when people talk to her, she tends to stare at her hands when she's thinking, she pouts a lot when she wants something and puffs out her cheeks when she doesn’t get her way”

    “I don’t do that, I mean, she doesn’t do that!”

    “You’re doing it right now” Daehyun was going to reply, but the man from the stage interrupted him.

    “It's number 24's turn” He said “Number 24, Jung Daehyun”

    Everybody started cheering and applauding while Jung Daehyun frowned, puzzled by hearing his name.

    “You're Jung Daehyun? Thank you for participating in our 3rd karaoke contest, what song are you going to sing?” The MC said.

    “What?” Daehyun’s mouth hung open “I didn't sign for that”

    “You did” Youngjae burst into laughter.

    “What did you do?” Daehyun looked at Youngjae in shock.

    “When I went for the drinks, I stopped by the stage and wrote your name down on the list”

    “Why did you do such a thing?!”

    “You were nostalgic and sad, so I thought singing on the stage like your parents used to would make you happy”

    “Do I look happy?”

    “No, but I do” Youngjae couldn’t stop laughing.

    “I’m not singing, it's embarrassing”

    “It's more embarrassing if you don’t sing” Youngjae was really enjoying his suffering.

    “You know what? I'll sing” Daehyun grinned like Cheshire Cat as he got up from his seat and climbed on the stage. The MC greeted him with a smile and handed him the mike “As everybody already knows, my name is Jung Daehyun and I'm going to sing Paradise from Boys Over Flowers with my one and only friend Yoo Youngjae” Daehyun practically screamed and pointed at Youngjae.

    “What the?” A waitress grabbed Youngjae’s arm and took him to the stage.

    “A duet, that’s a wonderful surprise” The MC gave a mike to Youngjae.

    “Why did you do that?”

    “If you make me do embarrassing things, I’ll make you do them, too”

    “I don't know the lyrics” Youngjae bit his fingernails as he looked at the exit and planned on running off.

    “Everybody knows Boys Over Flowers” Daehyun linked his arm with Youngjae’s to keep him from running away.

    “Fine, you go first” Youngjae said as the MC motioned the guy in charge of the karaoke to play the song Daehyun chose.

    “Almost paradise, brighter than the morning, your love for me, I feel like I have everything in the world” Daehyun sang and to Youngjae’s (and everybody’s) surprise, his voice was beautiful and perfect like his looks.

    “In my life, like a dream in my tired life, you came to me, if only I could love you forever” Youngjae sang while he looked Daehyun in the eyes “I hold your hand, shouting out to the world with all my might, I swear, walking on the skies, you'll be my only love forever”

    And then it was Daehyun’s part again, but he was speechless as he wished those words to be true, he wanted Youngjae to tell him how much he loved him forever…

 

“Your voice is really amazing” Youngjae said as they went back to the hotel and walked down the hallway to their room.

    “Your voice is amazing too”

    “I know, we could've won if you hadn’t messed up the lyrics”

    “Yeah, I just forgot…” Daehyun lied, he knew that song by heart after singing it many times in the shower, but it was hard to continue with Youngjae saying you'll be my only love forever (Youngjae wasn’t confessing, but Daehyun just spaced out)

    “Whatever, I just want to shower and sleep” Youngjae took the keycard out of his pocket and opened the door.

    “You don't have to tell me everything you do” Daehyun complained, he really didn't want to think about Youngjae in the shower. He once, as Dasom, saw Youngjae with only a towel wrapped around his waist, he wasn't muscular like Jongup or Zelo, but he could tell he kept fit.

    Youngjae ignored him and went to his room, Daehyun thought about going to his too, but then someone knocked and he went to open. A woman in uniform stood by a serving cart with plates of food, although he couldn't say what kind of food was because of the covers.

    “We didn't ordered room service”

    “It's a treat from Park Soo Ah-ssi”

    “Who is Park Soo Ah?”

    The maid gave him a note Ayo, Youngjae!!! *Wink* *Wink* Lizzy.

    “Ok, she's Lizzy... But what does this note mean?”

    “I don't know, sir”

    “Thank you” Daehyun took the serving cart and slammed the door in her face (what he really wanted it was hit Lizzy with the door) “Yoo Youngjae, you come here!”

    “Everytime you say my full name feels like you're mad at me” Youngjae came out his room to see a serving cart in the living room. He didn’t have anything covering his upper body, his shorts were kind of low and his underwear kind of showed above his waistband… And yeah, he was thin, not the muscular type, but he did work out from time to time, he even got those V-Lines that lay above the hip bones and between the torso running downwards diagonally to the… It was the first time, Daehyun was so interested in male anatomy, he had never gawked at another man’s body, not even his own. If he had any doubts about his feelings for Youngjae before, now he had none, he wanted kissing and , he wanted everything.

    “This is from Lizzy?” Youngjae frowned at the serving cart and took the note from Daehyun.

    ... And he could never have anything, Daehyun thought as he stared at Youngjae who removed the covers and checked the food. The elder thought it was fancy food like $500 steak and $7.000 wine, but it was a bowl with gummy bears and $10 red wine.

    “I can't believe she remembers” Youngjae said in surprise “On thanksgiving I wanted to go to Paris, but my father froze my credit cards, and then Lizzy took me to Las Vegas and we spent the night watching the Eiffel Tower of the hotel while eating gummy bears and having cheap wine”

    “I didn't ask you” Daehyun said as the hole in his chest grew bigger, why wasn't he born rich? Why wasn't he born woman? He didn’t want to be a woman or rich, but Youngjae's world was all about money and beautiful women, and he didn’t belong in his world “I'll go for a walk”

 

With his mood, he thought hitting the bar and drink his feelings away, but there were too many people at the bar, and he wanted to be alone, so he went to the pool, took off the shoes and sat on the edge and stuck his feet in the water.

    “Two days? Three days? I just have to hold out for a few days, get the money and leave and forget this ever happened” Daehyun said to himself “I got over Natalie after all these years, so I can get over him” he sighed deeply and put his shoes on and headed to the hotel.

    “You!!!” A woman shouted across the pool “You're Youngjae's friend!!!”

    “And you're Lizzy” Daehyun averted his eyes and pretended he didn't see her, but she ran after him, reaching him before he could enter the lobby.

    “How are you?”

    “Fine” Daehyun didn’t understand what was going on.

    “I sent gummy bears and wine to Youngjae, do you know if he liked it?”

    He liked it, Daehyun remembered Youngjae's smile, but he didn't say that. He didn't want Lizzy to be happy.

    “What are your intentions with Youngjae?”

    “You're very straightforward” she laughed nervously “Well... I've always liked him, but he had a girlfriend and was very loyal, but I've heard rumors they broke up…”

    “You're going after him”

    “Yes, I'm going after him, is there any problem?”

    No, he seems to like you too, Daehyun forced a smile, he was about to do something very bad, but he didn’t care.

    “Yeah, there's a problem, you see, me and Youngjae are dating, so stop going after my boyfriend”

    “You're lying, he isn't gay, he's had a girlfriend all this time”

    “There's married men with male lovers, you know”

    “You guys are in a suite with two bedrooms”

    “It’s to keep up appearances, but we share bed” Daehyun finally lost it, if he didn’t have Youngjae, nobody was going to have him “We’re very in love. He fell head over heels for me and dumped his girlfriend, that’s how crazy he’s about me. So leave him alone, he’ll never care about you like he cares about me, he only has eyes for me. He’d die for me, he’d kill for me, he’d do anything to make me happy, so stop your feelings for him”

    “Don’t chase him, don’t talk to him, don’t look at him, don’t smile, don’t anything or I’ll make him to make your boss fire you and no one will ever hire you”

 

next chapter daehyun will regret being a jerk, lizzy will tell youngjae everything word for word (she has a very good memory), youngjae will call daehyun out and daehyun will confess his feelings for him… or lie his way out like always.

go and listen to daehyun and youngjae cover of paradise on youtube

 

tumblr_pjwj4unbk51qifokno1_500.gif

 

 

 

 

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lymlix
UPDATE may be in november, december, january IDK
in my story daehyun is a shower, what you see is what you get, and youngjae is a grower? you don't see it, but it's there... I'm talking 'bout ༼ ༎ຶ ෴ ༎ຶ༽ support aight and O,on

Comments

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TOPkat
#1
Chapter 74: I hope you update soon. I really enjoy this story. Hoping yonguk catches the bad guy and everything goes well
purplecupcakes #2
Chapter 74: OMG an update loll, I’m so excited to continue reading! Thank uuu author-nim, and I hope you’re doing well!! <3

Btw I’m sad about Dae enlisting too :( but I hope he comes back safely <3
purplecupcakes #3
Chapter 73: This story’s rly good, I love how it developed slowly, it’s so cute. I can’t wait for the update! (take ur time tho) <3
purplecupcakes #4
Chapter 63: Omg I love Yooa and Dae too, they were so cute in “Idol Battle Likes”. Btw I love how u included so many real people in this.

I feel like DaeJae are meant for each other in this story despite everything that’s going on, DaeJae are sooo cute <3
AllaboutJaz
#5
Chapter 73: Gracias or actualizar. Que tengas un muy feliz inicio de año. Seguiré al en diente, ya quier saber que sigue ?
Alejandro59
#6
Chapter 73: Es lo mejor que he leído, también feliz navidad y año nuevo 2020 espero que la pases bien?
Alejandro59
#7
Chapter 73: Oh por dios actualizaste!!!!! Lo leeré con muchas ansiasss!!! Gracias por actualizar!!
narusshina
#8
Chapter 73: Thanks!!! I was waiting for this!!
narusshina
#9
Chapter 73: Thanks!!! I was waiting for this!!
Alejandro59
#10
Chapter 72: Le extraño mucho a usted y a su historia, por favor vuelva pronto:((((((((