part one of double update

Donghae sat on the stairs, shoulders hunched and eyes red with tears. Fresh tears came out without a pause. The worst had already passed but still, he felt like crying. He had sobbed alone thinking about what he saw.

The person he loved was making love to someone else.

Whenever he thought about it, his heart squeezed painfully. Why did Hyukjae do that with her? Were they in a relationship or was it only a one-night thing? It would be better if it was only a one-night thing.

God! He has become so pathetic.

“Donghae!” A voice called out his name. Donghae was glad it wasn’t Hyukjae. He had no idea how he would explain to Hyukjae why he was in this state.

The crying boy didn’t lift his head. He let Kyuhyun come to him and hug him as he cried in his chest. Kyuhyun rubbed his back to provide comfort.

When Donghae had called him, Kyuhyun had rushed there immediately on hearing the boy crying so hard that he could hardly speak. While driving his car, he had thought of a hundred reasons why Donghae could have acted that way. Hyukjae was the culprit in every theory.

He wondered if Donghae confessed and got rejected. He shouldn’t blame Hyukjae for rejecting Donghae. But he was really angry. After all, he was the one who persuaded Donghae to go after Hyukjae. If Hyukjae really broke Donghae’s heart then he was going to punch the boy on his face.

The two sat together, away from the bright lights and loud music and Donghae started telling him what had happened. Kyuhyun felt his eyes tearing up at the pain of his hyung. When Donghae finished, he was a crying mess.

Kyuhyun comforted him and rubbed circles on his back. Neither of them heard nor felt another figure approaching them.

“Donghae?” The voice called and both the boys immediately knew it was Hyukjae. They tensed up. Kyuhyun was the only one who looked at him, more like glared, while Donghae hid in Kyuhyun’s arms.

“What?” Kyuhyun tried to keep his voice lower. Hyukjae was standing above the stairs, looked a bit disheveled as he slightly panted and warily watched the two of them.

“Kyuhyun? What are you doing here?” He asked, confused at the younger’s presence.

“I came here for Donghae hyung.” The youngest answered. “Hyung, let’s go.” He said to the shortest of them. Donghae only followed Kyuhyun as he helped him stand.

Hyukjae seemed to wake from a daze as the two started to walk away.

“Wait!” He climbed down the stairs and stopped them in actions. “Where are you going?”

“Home,” Kyuhyun answered as he glared at him again.

“Why are you taking him home?” Hyukjae narrowed his eyes. “He is my date. I must bring him home.”

“If he is your date then treat him like one and stop spending your time with random girls.”

“I’m not spending my time with random girls,” Hyukjae argued. His voice was calm but the storm in his eyes was visible.

“Not random?” Kyuhyun scoffed. “Then it must be your girlfriend.” Kyuhyun taunted.

Both Hyukjae and Donghae froze on hearing that. Donghae wondered if his heart could be broken even more. It was already shattered in pieces. He could have inquired more if he didn’t want to hide his red, swollen face from that boy.

“She is not my girlfriend.” Hyukjae gritted. “We broke up and you know that.”

“Then what were you doing with her tonight,” Kyuhyun asked. He didn’t know whether it was really her but Hyukjae’s expressions said that his hunch was right.

“That’s none of your business.”

“Yeah. But Donghae is my business. How dare you leave him here? I’m leaving with him now. You go back to your girlfriend.” Kyuhyun tried to walk away again. He was holding Donghae protectively.

“She is no longer my girlfriend!” Eunhyuk gritted out.

“Whatever,” the younger scoffed and pulled Donghae away from there.

 Hyukjae fisted and tried to control his anger. Watching the two leave together, his blood boiled. Unable to hold back his emotions, he slammed his fist against the hard wall, relishing on the pain it caused. Tears of anger and frustration stung in his eyes but he blinked them away. He didn’t know why he let Kyuhyun leave with Donghae. But when he saw the shorter man hiding from him and holding on Kyuhyun, he couldn’t move.

“Hyukjae?” He heard the familiar voice. He took a deep breath.

“What?” He faced the girl who was standing above the stairs, the same spot where he was a few minutes ago.

“I’m sorry.” She apologized.

“It’s alright, Somin.” His reply was calm as he looked at his ex-girlfriend.

Somin had tried to reconcile with him, chosen prom as the best opportunity, brought him to a secluded corner and confessed. They almost entered a room where a couple already having which had made things awkward. They had settled for the adjacent room to that and talked. She apologized for not understanding him. He forgave her but he couldn’t go back to where they once were. She had gotten angry, really angry and shouted at him. He had tried to calm her down but she had lost it. He remembered why he broke up with her. She was a nice girl but when angry, she would go crazy. They couldn’t connect well in the end. He didn’t like showing his anger and was always repelled by someone’s anger.

He had left her there, shouting and screaming. He didn’t care anymore, left her and informed her friend, Mina, about her. He had received a murderous glare from her before going to fetch her friend.

Somin was standing in front of him once again. He knew she had cooled down like she always did. Her eyes said so.

“But we are not going to get back together again.” He told her.

“I-I understand.” She murmured, looking down.

Hyukjae climbed up the steps slowly. His footsteps echoed in her ears. Her eyes were on him again, watching and anticipating, even though she knew it was over. He came to stand in front of her. In his beautiful eyes, she could no longer see the love and passion he had for her. Even though it wasn’t enormous as she would have liked, there was something in his eyes for her. But it was completely gone now. Her gaze lowered once again, no longer wanting to see those loveless but friendly eyes.

“Hey!” He tapped the crown of her head with his index finger taking her attention back. “You will find someone better than me. You definitely will.”

“I hope so.” She willed her voice to remain steady.

“I know I’m one of those exes. You can curse me all you want.” Then he remembered that she actually did in her angry fit before but didn’t mention that. “Somin, you’re the best. I’m sorry for not taking care of you.”

“No!” She shook her head. “You were amazing in the beginning.”

Hyukjae didn’t know if she was joking. Nevertheless, it made him feel very bad. The angry Somin didn’t make him feel this bad. He was sorry. But he really couldn’t get back together with her. It won’t be fair for her of him.

“So,” there was awkwardness in the air that Hyukjae could feel very well. “We should be… friends?”

“I don’t think so.” Somin denied.

“Yeah, yeah,” he stepped back. “We shouldn’t.” He sighed. “Goodbye, Somin.”

** **

Donghae had calmed down. Kyuhyun brought Donghae to his own house rather than the crying boy’s. Donghae’s mother would have been worried about seeing her son like that. He offered Donghae to stay over for the night after inform