Donghae woke up the next morning, head pounding and body completely sore. He moved slightly, ruffling the already ruffled bed sheets and raised himself on his elbows. His eyes widened when he didn’t recognize the place. The room was small and clean and not his. He looked around and tried searching for any living soul but failed to find one.

The situation was so unusual for Donghae who had his second ever drink last night. He had given up on drinking the first time he tasted the bitter liquid that messed up his senses. At that time, Heechul was there to take care of him. But now, he was inside a room completely unfamiliar to him. The situation itself was so unfamiliar to him. He started to panic.

He had heard stories about how helpless drunk people could be taken advantage of in bars and places like that.

That’s when he noticed that he wasn’t wearing the clothes from last night. He was dressed in a t-shirt and boxers that didn’t belong to him at all.

Tears stung in his eyes as he thought about the possibilities of what could have happened last night. He only remembered that there was a bartender who was flirting with him. He was drunk and felt so dizzy that he slammed his head on the table and out. Everything after that was a blur. Maybe he had woken up and vomited once or twice. The memory was so hazy.

He put his hands on his face, crying into them. He felt so weird and so dirty just thinking about someone else’s hands on him without consent. His skin crawled with just the thought of it.

“Are you crying?” A voice cut through the air and Donghae looked up. He let more tears fall and focused on the face of the man, who stood at the doorway, his eyes curious.

It was the bartender from last night.

“You!” Donghae pointed a finger at him, getting furious. “What did you do to me?”

“What do you mean by that? I didn’t do anything to you.” The man crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes at Donghae but softened his gaze on seeing the tear streaked face.

“Where are my clothes? Why am I not wearing my clothes?” Donghae asked, still sitting on the bed, sheets pooling around him.

“Your clothes are hanging outside, drying under the sunlight. You are not wearing them because you vomited on them last night.” The bartender answered.

Donghae blinked. What was this? Clothes drying?

“Um,” Donghae hesitated as he looked at the handsome man who was wearing a blue shirt and black sweatpants. “What happened last night?”

“What do you think?” The stranger teased.

“Just tell me,” Donghae whined.

“,” the dark haired man said and Donghae’s eyes widened, “is not what happened.”

Donghae didn’t realize he had stopped breathing until he took a big gulp of air.

“You seducing me,” The bartender pointed between them and Donghae’s breath stopped again, “didn’t happen either.”

Donghae gritted his teeth as a smirk graced on the stranger’s face. “I’m not asking you what didn’t happen. I’m asking you what happened.”

A chuckle resonated in air and Donghae strangely liked the sound. But he shook his head. It was not the time to think about that.

“Okay, okay. Calm down, tiger. But you’re more like a cute little cat mewling at me.” Donghae growled. “That’s more like it. Anyways, I was saying that, what was I saying?”

“What happened last night?” Donghae asked exasperated.

“Oh that! You got drunk. I was waiting for you to pick on my flirtations but you fell on the table and lost your consciousness. For a moment I thought I killed you with my killer smile. I was going to dispose off your body but realized that you were still alive. I didn’t know what to do. My shift was going to end. Because you looked cute, I brought you to my room. Though it was rude of you to vomit on my clothes the moment you gained consciousness and went back to sleep.” The bartender finally told him everything. Donghae was satisfied with the answer.

“Um,” Donghae was going to say a ‘thank you’ but he opened his mouth once again.

“I like my room clean so I had to take your clothes off. I thought I’d see six packs and all but your stomach was quite interesting. If you don’t start exercising now, you’ll develop a pot belly in no time.”

Donghae turned red, both in anger and embarrassment.

“Not that I’d hate it or anything. You’re very cute. A soft, cute tummy is also nice.”

“Shut up!” Donghae snapped. He got off the bed and glared at him. “Return me my clothes. I want to leave.”

“Your clothes are still drying outside.”

“Fine then,” Donghae huffed. “You keep my clothes and I’ll keep yours.” He headed to the door.

“Are you going outside in boxers? At least wear pants.”

Donghae stopped and looked at him. That was true. He couldn’t go outside in what he was wearing.

“Fine then,” Donghae sighed and the bartender went to a cupboard pushed against the wall. He fished out a pair of jeans and threw them at Donghae who quickly changed into them.

“These are my favorite jeans.” The stranger said after Donghae had finished wearing them. “They are really costly and I want them back. My phone number is in the pocket. Return them to me later.”

“I don’t want to see you again.” Donghae glared at him. He didn’t want to do anything with this man anymore and forget the night as a consequence of horrible judgment due to heartbreak but this man was hell bent on keeping him connected to it.

“But you are wearing my favorite pants. Also, take this.” Eunhyuk fished out a bag from the cupboard. “It has your wallet and phone.”

Donghae took it from him.

“Where are you going?” The dark haired man asked as Donghae started heading outside. “At least tell me your name.”

“Donghae,” he replied as he stepped outside.

“My name is Hyukjae. But you can call me Eunhyuk.”

Donghae left.

“Lee Hyukjae, of course.” Donghae said in realization. “That’s the name on the list of board of directors. I was so stupid. I never thought it could be you.”

Eunhyuk, or Hyukjae, nodded. The three of them were sitting on the dining table. After finishing breakfast, they were having coffee. And Eunhyuk started telling him how they first met. It was exactly the same as his dream.

“What happened after that?”

“You didn’t call me back.” Eunhyuk said. “But you kept my clothes. I had saved my number on your phone. You were mad.” There was a nostalgic smile on Eunhyuk’s face as if he was reliving that moment.

“How the hell do you have my number?” Donghae asked as he heard Eunhyuk’s voice through the phone.

“I saved it in your phone. The password is too easy. ‘Yourpassword’? Really? Are you a kid?”

Donghae’s blood started boiling on hearing those words.

“I’m going to block you.” He threatened.

“Hey, don’t do that. Just return me my clothes and I swear I won’t bother you ever again.”

“Is that a promise?”

“Yes,” Eunhyuk said with conviction.

** **

He went to the bar once again with a bag. It was night and he was running late. He looked around the place but Eunhyuk was nowhere in sight.

“Excuse me,” Donghae said to one of the workers there. “Can I know where Eunhyuk is?”

The man’s eyes raked over his body. He felt uneasy under the scrutinizing gaze. He had recently started to work out and no, it wasn’t because of Eunhyuk.

“I’m sorry. I can’t tell you.” The man said and Donghae went out of the bar dejectedly.

He called Eunhyuk but the man didn’t pick up his call. He was about the leave but then he felt someone push his back. He lost balance and fell on the cold concrete. The bag that contained Eunhyuk’s clothes fell from his hand and the person who had pushed him ran away with it.

“Hey!” he shouted and tried running after the thief. The criminal was fast and Donghae had a hard time catching up to him.

Donghae fell on his knees and took deep breaths. He just lost Eunhyuk’s clothes to that man.

** **

“Why the hell were you not at the bar?! Why the hell did you not pick up the phone?!” Donghae shouted in the phone when Eunhyuk finally picked up the call the next day.

“I’m sorry,” Eunhyuk apologized. “I was going to but a friend needed me and-,”

“So your ing friend needed you! What about me?! Why did you leave me?!” Donghae screamed.

He was inside his apartment, curled up and still shaken up from the last night. He hated it. He hated being so helpless at night. He hated dark. And he hated when he felt so scared and lonely in darkness.

“Donghae, what happened?” Eunhyuk asked in a gentle voice. Maybe it was the way Eunhyuk spoke or maybe it was loneliness but Donghae ended up crying as he retaliated the incident from the last night.

Heechul was in China and his parents were back in the hometown. He didn’t want to worry anyone so he hadn’t told them. But he was scared. He was scared of the kids who bullied him at the school because he was a guy from outside the city. He was scared of the people who attacked in the darkness of night. He was terrified.

“Calm down, Donghae. Tell me where you are.”

Donghae gave him his address, hiccupping through his sobs.

“I’m coming there. You need to calm down, okay. Take deep breaths.” Eunhyuk said into the phone and Donghae nodded.

When Eunhyuk came, Donghae hugged him close and let the man soothe him with his words, with his hands that rubbed circles on his back, with his hug.

Donghae soon calmed down.

Eunhyuk thought that it was time to take his leave. He didn’t want Donghae to feel that his privacy had been invaded by an intruder. But Donghae stopped him.

“I lost your clothes.” Donghae spoke, his eyes on Eunhyuk. “You prom