Chapter 3.

Two hours later the pair found themselves sitting at one of the tables. They had been dancing on the dancefloor for over an hour. The stuffy air finally taking its toll on them, making them short of breath and in the need of a pause.

The duo sat in relative silence. The only sounds coming from the speaker playing music and the chattering of the rest of the guest that had yet to go to bed. Neither of them felt the need to say anything, refilling up their lungs seeming much more important.

A couple of minutes went by until three women sat down around the table. One of the females being Hyukjae’s mother. They all greeted each other, asking what they all had been up too during the evening since dinnertime.

Hyukjae noticed that all three additions to the table had been drinking, their speech a bit slurry and all being overly chatty.

Most of all they didn’t have boundaries when it came to appropriate questions.

“Such handsome men.” One of the ladies sighs dreamily. Reaching her hands over the table, trying to grab ahold of the dancers.

“Indeed.” Hyukjae’s mother agreed. Her face showing nothing but pure pride. She leaned her head against Donghae’s shoulder as he sat the closest. “They’ve all grown up so well.”

The woman sitting closest to Hyukjae looked him over, eyes moving slowly. Her eyes then moved to the other man, doing the same thing to him. “Absolutely.”

Mrs. Lee continued to talk about the pair sitting with them, at time also including other members of Super Junior. Boosting about how much they’ve matured and grown, both as individuals and as a group.

The five of them talked some more, it being more of the women talking and the two men sitting in silence. Exchanging looks and mute questions to each other every now and then.

“Isn’t it time to find someone to get serious with? It’s all fun and games when you’re young. But time’s running out.” The lady next to the blond said, a frown of disapproval on her face. She scrunched up her nose while looking at both Hyukjae and Donghae.

“I agree,” the second lady said. “You don’t want to disappoint your parents and make them ashamed of you, right?”

Before either of the two spoken to had the chance to reply, Hyukjae’s mother jumped in. “There’s nothing to be ashamed of.”

“Oh please. It’s abnormal and not accepted in most countries, Korea not being any different.”

The woman sitting in between the other women at the table nodded, telling the other occupants that the first lady was correct. There’re limits to how far you could go, she said.

Hyukjae had no clue as to what the three of them where talking about. He’d thought that it was about them finding people to date, since they were ‘getting older’. But that didn’t explain what the women brought up now, in what county wasn’t relationships as an adult normal? Why would that bring shame to someone’s family?

Suddenly Mrs. Lee rose from where she sat, a hard look in her eyes. “Never say that to my face or anyone in my family! We aren’t narrowminded, ignorant folks like the two of you. If they love each other then it’s great, no matter who the other person is. As long as both parties are happy, then love is love.” She pushed her chair further back, turning towards her son and his co-worker, “Come on boys, let’s go.”

Without a second look in the direction of where the two stunned women sat, Hyukjae’s mother walked towards the opposite side of the ballroom.

He must have missed something back there. While he was thinking to himself they must have said something more, resulting in his mother snapping. It was a rare thing. He himself could count the times he’d seen his mother like that on one hand over the course of his entire life.

Asking his mother what had happen may be a bad idea seeing how she blew up. He didn’t want to risk being on the receiving end of that, thank you very much. The only other person he could ask was Donghae seeing as the younger had been there as well. That would only work in his favor if the other had any idea of what had transpired just now.

Hyukjae highly doubted that his friend had any clue what-so-ever.

The remining time was a blur on Hyukjae’s side. He couldn’t stop thinking about what had happened around the dinner table. The need to understand eating away at his poor brain.

In the elevator up to the hotel suites the Lee family had managed to stumble upon one another. Sora and her boyfriend were quietly talking to Mr. Lee and Donghae, while Mrs. Lee stayed silent against one of the walls. Frown still on her beautiful face. The son of the Lee family didn’t say anything either, his eyes strained on his mother.

Was it the affect of alcohol and the stress about being around so many people?

That couldn’t be it. Hyukjae had seen his parents drink liquid before and both of them where happy drunks, joking and showering the ones around them with love. Plus his mother enjoyed it when there was a lot happening around her. She’d told him multiple times that the sound of others gave her immense joy and somehow made her calm. Total opposites of how she acted for the time being.

When the lift made a ‘ding’ sound indicating that they’d reached their floor they all stepped out. Sora and Beom Seok bid them goodnight first, heading over to their room closest to where the elevator was placed.

Further down the hall the remaining four stopped outside the duo’s room. Hyukjae’s father mumbled goodnight before dragging his tired body towards his and his wife’s suite.

“Hyuk,” his mother voiced, grabbing a hold of his wrist. Making both her youngest child and Donghae to freeze in their move of opening their hotel room. “We love you no matter what. All we want for both you and Sora are that you find your happiness. Nothing else matters for a parent. Never deny yourself that, no matter what the rest of the world might tell you.”

“Okay mom.” He gave her a tight hug, her words making him close to tears.

When he pulled away he saw his mother’s eyes glitter with unshed tears. Mrs. Lee then turned towards the dark-haired male, took a step forward and circled her arms around the man’s torso. “The same goes for you Hae. Be happy no matter what stands in you way.”

The younger nodded. Smiling at the older woman when the two separated.

With a final caress against both of the dancers cheeks she told them to go to sleep, it would be another busy day the following one. They would need as much rest as possible. Three ‘goodnights’ later they all went into their designated rooms, preparing to head to bed.

After washing up and brushing their teeth in the bathroom, they quickly changed into their respective sleepwear. Not much later the pair laid side by side in the big bed, both staring at the ceiling above them.

The conversation they had was spars, low voices recapping the events of the evening. They were both dead tired. The amount of mental and physical exhaustion rivaling a concert. Thought the adrenaline coming with the Super Shows was nowhere in sight at that time. But they were without a doubt ready to head over to dreamland.

They fell silent. Donghae had probably fallen asleep.

On his own side of the bed Hyukjae went over everything leading up to that moment. His mother had said such sudden things to both Hyukjae and Donghae as well as to the pair of ladies she’d yelled at.

Like a lighting from clear skies realization hit him. With a bolt he sat up in bed, the covers slipping down his upper body, creating a puddle in his lap.

“Oh Gawd!” He gasped.

Rustling close to him indicated that the younger was still awake (or haven woken up due to his raise voice). He felt eyes on him as he stared into the darkness surrounding them. “She thinks that we’re dating… They all think that we’re dating.”

“Huh? What are you talking about?”

“My family and relatives, and probably every single person present for this freaking wedding. They think that the two of us are a couple, like romantically involved.”

The mattress moved around. Until it stilled and Hyukjae could sense that the other was also sitting up now. “What makes you think that?”

“Haven’t you heard the way they ask us questions? It’s always us as one entity and never separately. Plus my mom and her comment about marriage. She thinks that the two of us are talking about doing it with each other. And the fight she had with those ladies.”

Donghae hummed, signalizing the other to continue.

“She said ‘Love is love’. She told them that there was nothing wrong with being gay. That as long as we are happy we should be with each other. We shouldn’t listen to what others around us says as long as we do what makes us happy, being with the ones that makes us happy.”

They both fell silent.

The blue-haired male was the first to break the silence stretching around the room. “Mom is really amazing.”

“She is.” Hyukjae agreed.

“Do you want us to tell her that she’s wrong?”

“I think that’d break her heart. And seeing her fight so much for my sake, our sake—I can’t bare the thought of seeing her so crushed when I tell her that I am as single as I’ve been for the last couple of years.”

“You want us to pretend dating again?” Donghae whispered.

He shrugged his shoulders, seconds later realizing that it was too dark for the other to see. “What do you want to do?”

Donghae cleared his throat. “It’s not my decision to make, Hyukkie.”

“Of course it is! You are just as involved as I am. You have as big a part in this as I do.”

A feathery touch brushed the over side of his hand. “I don’t want to make your mom sad. We can let her think that this is real and then we’ll tell her in a few weeks that it didn’t work out.”

Hyukjae spread his fingers, letting Donghae’s slip in between the spaces. He gripped tightly, intertwining their fingers like they’ve sone so many times before. So many years ago. “Until we go back to Seoul, then.”

The younger dancer squeezed their fingers together. “For as long as we’re here.”

Hyukjae felt his breath get caught in his throat as he felt Donghae lean his head against the elder’s arm, the smell of his hair and cologne entering his nose, filling up the blond’s senses.

This was gonna be a beautiful, tortures weekend. One that Hyukjae suddenly wished to never come to an end. Like all things does with time.

When the sun rose again the pair sleeping on the hotel bed stirred at the sound of someone knocking on their door. They groaned in unison, neither wanting to leave the softness surrounding them.

“You go.” The dark-haired male mumbled into his pillow.

“You’re closer.” Hyukjae retorted. Not wanting to move his body.

“It’s your family.”

The other was right about that. So, with a sigh, he untangled himself and walked over to the source of the knocking.

Before him, on the other side of the door stood Sora and Beom Seok, both with tired smiles on their faces. They had been talking while waiting for someone to open up judging by the way they seemed surprised with Hyukjae’s sudden presence.

He blinked, too tired to make his brain and mouth work just yet. He decided to stare at the couple until one of them remembered the reason as to why they decided to wake him up.

The three of them exchanged eye contact for a few seconds before the oldest male found his voice and said,” We were wondering if you two want to head down for breakfast. Hei Ran-sshi mentioned something about a breakfast buffet