Donghae couldn't stop looking at that little box in Kangin's hand.

Everything was so unreal.

It didn't feel right.

Not then.

Not there.

Not after such a good afternoon with Hyukjae.

But Kangin was waiting for an answer.

- K-Kangin… – Donghae shook his head – I can't do this to you, much less to me.

Kangin arched an eyebrow.

- What are you talking about?

- I can't marry you and honestly I don't even know where you got the idea that we could get married.

- We don't need to get married here. We can get married somewhere else and...

- No. You did not understand. – the brown-haired man sighed – My answer is no.

Kangin frowned and asked a little annoyed:

- Why?

- For starters, how do you think my life will be if I move out of here? I don't know if you remember, but I have a pastry shop and people who work for me. My business has been going really well and I already have a name here and if I just decided to go to another country, how would I start? My whole life is here, Kangin.

- But what's the problem with starting over somewhere else?

- The whole “problem” remains the answer I gave: my life is here, not in any other country. And do I still need to remind you that I have a three-year-old who will take a huge toll if I take him out of the life he knows? Arrow basically just had a conversation with Jangmi about what Yunseo said and now you come here and you want me to take my son out of his routine?

- Donghae...

- You're not listening to me. – Donghae was firm – What do you think Hyukjae would do if I said I'm taking Arrow away from him? Hyukjae would fight to the end for Arrow to stay.

Kangin narrowed his eyes.

- So that's it... It's all about Hyukjae.

Donghae was confused.

- What is Hyukjae all about?

Kangin stood up and said:

- Do you think I didn't realize how things have been after Hyukjae and Yunseo's relationship came to an end? You got further away.

- It has nothing to do. You need to remember and accept the size of role Hyukjae has in my life. He is the father of my child. He'll never stop being Arrow's father and he'll never let up if I take our son away.

- You can stop using Arrow as an excuse. Deep down deep down you just needed a chance to run after Hyukjae again to get your boyfriend back and that ty life and then just cry like an idiot because nothing went right the way you wanted. And I bet if Hyukjae showed up here now proposing, you wouldn't even hesitate to say yes. And all this because you just needed someone to comfort you.

And so it was too late.

Kangin said this in the heat of the moment, but regretted it bitterly when he saw Donghae crying while shivering.

- You... Of all people, I didn't expect to hear this from you. I expected to hear from anyone, but never from you. – still shaking, Donghae went to the door and opened it – Go away.

- Donghae, I...

- I won't ask again. Go away and tomorrow get your stuff that is here.

- Are you breaking up with me?

Biting the corner of his mouth, Donghae glared at Kangin. He had so much to say, but his throat felt tight. The pain of being offended was too bad.

- Yeah. That was why I said we needed to talk.

Kangin tried to say something, but Donghae pointed outside and so he had no choice. He couldn't even look the brown-haired man in the eye, as he knew very well that he had said the wrong words that wouldn't have been fixed at that moment. Also, even if Kangin had tried to explain himself, Donghae wouldn't listen. He simply closed and locked the door of his house and sat on the couch, sniffling and trying to find his phone.

Meanwhile, across town, Ryeowook was ready to spend the rest of the day with Yesung, Shindong and Hyukjae. They had chosen a few movies to watch and were already drinking and eating like this was a big weekend.

- I'm so happy to have my days off again. – Shindong said and took a sip of beer – I didn't want to mention his name in front of you, Hyukjae, but it's really nice not having to work with Yunseo anymore.

Hyukjae shrugged.

- Do not worry about me. You've known him longer than I have.

- But not that "I'm the beast that doesn't like children scribbling walls" side. – Yesung said and sat down beside Ryeowook, putting his arm over his shoulders – It was quite surprising.

And so the blond rolled his eyes and asked sarcastically:

- What do you mean by quite surprising? Did you forget I told you he mistreated me the day we met? It's obvious that little snake would mistreat Arrow too.

- Well... I didn't imagine that Yunseo would mistreat Arrow too.

- Yeah, but he did and now I need to fix things before it's too late. – Hyukjae sighed – Anyway, I'm glad Yunseo is no longer in my life.

Shindong nodded and said:

- I heard that he lost good sponsors and his channel lost several subscribers.

- Why? Did anyone tell you what that little viper did?

- Someone overheard the conversation between them and spread that Yunseo is not very patient with children. Then things got so big that he had to leave the channel after a “sorry” video.

- And they didn't involve Arrow's name, did they?

And so Yesung replied:

- No, because Shindong and I managed to get Arrow to stay away from all this. In fact, you and Donghae as well. We had to say that parents wouldn’t be happy if someone mentioned the child on gossip sites.

- And also the mention of a lawsuit helped a lot in this case.

Hyukjae shook his head. There were certain things he definitely didn't understand why they happened.

- Well, I can't say I'm sad for Yunseo. Consequences always come when bad people only produce evil. – Ryeowook shrugged and picked up his phone as it started to ring, then he answered smiling and saying a simple word that made Hyukjae look at him – Hae! – but then the smile quickly diminished and so the blonde stood up, walking to the kitchen – Calm down. I really didn't understand anything.

And so Hyukjae was worried, as he couldn't hear any of the conversation at all.

- Donghae is in trouble.

- And how do you know that?

Hyukjae took a deep breath and replied:

- For the simple fact that Ryeowook left here like that.

Yesung then stood up and whispered:

- I'll see what's going on. – and so he went to the kitchen, hugging Ryeowook from behind and waiting for his boyfriend to finish the conversation with Donghae. And when it happened, he asked – Is it serious?

- No. It's just that Donghae is at home in tears and asked me to go there. And as much as I wanted to stay here and watch the movies, I'm staying with him. And don't say anything to Hyukjae.

- Alright. And I understand Donghae is important to you. Send news, okay?

Ryeowook nodded and went back into the room to say goodbye to the other two, but obviously Hyukjae needed to know if Donghae was okay – Donghae and Arrow.

- Is everything okay there, Wook? Did something happen to Donghae or Arrow?

- No. It’s everything alright. You see... We had the day off today because Hae hired a cleaning crew to work in the pastry shop. He had a problem with that. And if there was a problem with Arrow, I'm sure Donghae would call you. – he sighed – But movie night for me is for later. See you guys.

With that, he waved and left the apartment after kissing Yesung. Shindong looked at Hyukjae, who was frowning, and asked:

- Okay, guy?

And Hyukjae replied:

- I don’t know. I think Donghae is really going through something. I left him at home and Kangin was there, so...

- What do you mean you left him at home? – Yesung asked as he sat on the couch – And why do we just now know this?

Hyukjae rolled his eyes. He sure knew the night was just going to be a talk about feelings, so he thought it best to say it all at once.

- Today I went to talk to Boram and, as I was leaving her office, Donghae called me and I asked him if he wanted to have coffee with me.

Yesung and Shindong looked like two teenagers excited by the conversation.

- And what did you talk about?

- About cool moments in our life. – and so Hyukjae smiled genuinely – It was like we never had a fight before. We laughed and smiled and talked for a long time until Donghae remembered something, so I took him home and it was the best time we've had in years. – and with that he realized that his friends were one step away from doing “aww” – Why are you so excited?

- Because you truly smiled. I've never seen you smiling like that before. I mean, it's a different smile when you're the parent of a three year old.

- That's true. You are not just smiling like a father, but now like a man who loves another man.

- And what does it mean?

- That you still love Donghae as much as you once did.

Hyukjae chuckled.

- I didn't know that our movie night would turn into a night to talk about Hyukjae and Donghae.

- Well... Leeteuk and Heechul need to be here for all of us to talk about it.

And so they laughed, but Hyukjae had to admit that it was really nice and important to have the support of his friends.

***

Ryeowook arrived at Donghae's house and hoped his best friend was okay. As confusing as the quick phone conversation was, the blond felt the need to be with the brown-haired man because things could always take another turn. Ryeowook knew Donghae needed to talk.

So, as soon as he stopped the car, Ryeowook got out and headed towards Donghae's door. He knocked and was greeted by the brown-haired man who took a deep breath and let him into the house. After the door was locked, Ryeowook sat with Donghae on the couch and held his friend's hands.

- Are you calmer now?

- Yes. It's just that... – Donghae sighed – I didn't want to cry. I'm sure I made the right decision,