What’s better than sharing a meal with your friends? Talking about random stuff, laughing about it, insulting each other and laughing more. There are things you can do with your friends only.

Donghae sure enjoyed it the most. With Kyuhyun, Ryeowook, Sungmin and Yesung, he was eating out in their favorite sushi restaurant. It had been a long time since they had gathered together for dinner. Donghae had decided to stuff himself to the brink of bursting. The meal itself was going to put a small dent on his savings account.

They were talking about office and country and world and stuff when Yesung steered the conversation in another direction.

“Where were you yesterday?” Yesung pointed a finger at Ryeowook. “I saw you getting all chummy with the new employee.”

Ryeowook frowned. “Kyungsoo?”

“Yeah. Are you infatuated by him or something?”

“Hyung, you’re annoying.” The younger made a face.

“Why? I’m just being a caring hyung to you.”

“Caring?” Ryeowook scoffed. “That’s being nosey.”

Yesung’s jaw dropped. “Nosy? Did you call me nosey?”

“Yes,” it was Kyuhyun who answered. Donghae rolled his eyes and concentrated on eating.

“Are you agreeing with him?” Yesung gave the youngest a flabbergasted look.

“Yes,” Kyuhyun repeated.

“How rude of you!” Yesung puffed his cheeks. “You guys are horrible.”

Sungmin chuckled. “Hyung, you should smack these two to knock some manners into them.”

“Yes hyung, hit me.” Ryeowook batted his eyelashes at Yesung and neared his face. “My is ready for you.”

“Shut up, you .” Yesung pushed his face away. “You’re such a ert.”

“Says the one staring at Chanhee’s s.” Kyuhyun piped in once again.

“What’s wrong with you?” Yesung pointed his chopsticks at the youngest. “I haven’t even said a word about you. Even though I saw you and Siwon kissing the other day.”

“WHAT?!” Donghae, Sungmin and Ryeowook exclaimed while Kyuhyun turned red. He glared at Yesung.

“I knew there was something!” Sungmin was the first to come out of the shock. “But it has already reached this stage? Already?”

“The CEO, huh?” Ryeowook looked at Kyuhyun. “You sure don’t go for smaller fishes.”

“Don’t pretend as if you’ve never dated anyone.”

“Not a CEO. Never.” Ryeowook retorted.

“You didn’t tell me.” Donghae joined too.

“He didn’t tell any of us.” Sungmin cut in. “So he’s your boyfriend now? What happened?”

Kyuhyun pouted. He didn’t want to tell anything but they won’t stop bothering. He found it easier to spill the details rather than stalling now that the cat was already out of the bag.

“Yesterday, I went to his office. He was planning on a Jeju trip with Eunhyuk.” Donghae’s ears perked up at the mention of Eunhyuk’s name. “After Eunhyuk left, Siwon was alone. He had his tie loosened and his hair was a mess. He looked hot. We were talking about work and I had this urge to kiss him.” Kyuhyun pursed his lips, embarrassed, but continued. “So I did. I did think that I was going to get fired but he kissed me back. We couldn’t talk because Eunhyuk returned. Siwon called me and said that he’d like to bring me on a date after his business trip.”

They listened in silence and congratulated Kyuhyun who blushed.

“I knew he had hots for you.” Ryeowook smirked.

“He’s going to Jeju.” Yesung quipped. “What if he finds a genie there?”

“Jeju is a famous place for genies.” Sungmin said. “But most of them have already been found.”

Four pair of eyes flickered to Donghae who was busy eating.

“Anyways,” Kyuhyun decided to change the flow of the conversation. “I’m not the only one who kissed someone.”

Donghae’s eyes snapped at Kyuhyun. The intense reaction brought attention.

“Guess who?” The youngest sang.

“Donghae,” the rest three answered in unison.

“Wh-wh-no-wha-what?” Donghae’s cheeks flushed. He glared at Kyuhyun who smirked and mimicked his flustered stuttering.

“I knew it!” Yesung exclaimed loudly. “There were love bites on your neck. I’ve seen them.”

“WHAT!?” Donghae’s hand went to his neck.

“It’s not there now. But I’ve seen it before.”

“You have? Even I didn’t notice it. I guess nothing can escape from Yesung’s X-ray vision.” Ryeowook marveled.

“Nosey,” Kyuhyun coughed and Yesung went under a cursing fit.

“You’re no less.” Donghae reprimanded Kyuhyun, face flushed.

“Hey! At least I kept it a secret for one month while this guy,” Kyuhyun threw Yesung an accusing look, “couldn’t keep it inside for one day.”

“Who are you calling ‘this guy’?” Yesung narrowed his eyes at the youngest.

“What’s your story?” Sungmin leaned forward, eyes wide in curiosity while Yesung and Kyuhyun argued with Ryeowook taking Kyuhyun’s side.

Donghae looked down. His story? More like tragedy. Eunhyuk was playing with him and he was letting himself get played with. It wasn’t anything romantic like Kyuhyun and Siwon. There were kisses but no promises. Date? He couldn’t even begin to think about it. Everything was messed up. He didn’t know what to tell his curious friend.

“Um,” Donghae’s eyes flickered around. He swallowed the lump in his throat. He was so pathetic.

“Donghae?” Sungmin put a hand on his shoulder. “Are you okay?”

Donghae nodded.

“It’s okay if you don’t want to talk about it.” The older tried to calm him down.

“It’s alright,” Donghae answered in a hollow voice. “There’s nothing going on.”

His friend only hummed in understanding and didn’t ask further. Donghae was thankful.

“Hey! Do you know about Taeyeon’s boyfriend?” Ryeowook steered to another topic. It was weird that they were only talking about relationships.

“Which one?”

“She has only one boyfriend. That cute one. I don’t remember his name. Heechul hyung knows him.”

“Byun Baekhyun?” Donghae injected. He remembered Heechul talking about the boy.

“Yes. I heard he found a genie.”

** **

Heechul was talking nonstop about his time in China and his lovely Hangeng. It had been a month since he left, one of the longest trips. On returning, he brought souvenirs for Donghae, which was rare considering how often he teleported abroad.

By the time Donghae had returned home after the dinner. He found Heechul already inside his apartment. At first he thought it was a burglar or even Eunhyuk, yeah Eunhyuk have been coming over frequently, but the loud noise signaled it was his favorite hyung.

Heechul shared the desert he had brought with Donghae. Although full, Donghae ate some and listened to Heechul’s stories and thanked him for the presents.

“So, how are you feeling now?” Heechul asked, leaning against the headboard of Donghae’s bed. It was late at the weekend night.

“I’m fine,” Donghae answered, slightly bewildered and completely forgetting that it had been a month since he first slept with Eunhyuk.

“Is there something you want to tell me?”

Donghae looked at Heechul while lying on the bed. Over the month, he had talked with Heechul on the phone but never once did he mention about his relationship with Eunhyuk. He hadn’t told anybody. This part of his life had been kept a secret from everyone. His colleagues knew only bits and pieces and didn’t pry. But he wanted to tell someone so bad.

“Yes,” Donghae answered.

Heechul nodded as if he had seen it coming. Donghae really couldn’t hide anything from him.

“So, what is it? Who did you sleep with?” Heechul kept his face serious and Donghae protested at the crude language. “What? You didn’t?” He raised an eyebrow at the younger’s pout who only whined.

“I did,” he mumbled.

“I knew.” Heechul spoke flatly. “What happened? Tell me everything in detail.”

So Donghae started. He told Heechul everything. Even though he felt like he was betraying Eunhyuk by opening up to Heechul, he needed to say it. Without any interruption, the older listened with utmost concentration. His put on a poker face for the most part of it but when Donghae finished telling everything, he was boiling with anger.

“That moron!” Heechul gritted out. “I need to punch him on the face.”

“Hyung,” Donghae whined. “Don’t do that.”

“Donghae, he deserves so much on his face. I’m only limiting it to a punch. You won’t even let me do that?”

“Hyung, I think I like him.” Donghae said, not minding his words.

Heechul went qui