Donghae was speechless after hearing Hyukjae's confession. His mood made a quick 180 degree turn as his heart soared through the sky and probably the stars. Hyukjae could clearly see the impact his words had on Donghae and was feeling quite flustered. He grabbed his drink from the table and looked down while lightly sipping on it, trying his hardest to look at anything but Donghae. He wasn't quite sure how to face the latter now that they've both placed their cards on the table for both to deal with. 

Out of nowhere, the room was suddenly filled by the sounded of acoustic guitar being strummed. Hyukjae looked around the room trying to find the source of the music and so did Donghae. 

"What is that?" Hyukjae asked. 

"I'm not sure," Donghae answered still peering around to find the culprit of the sudden change in atmosphere. 

He looked around for the staff to see who was playing it but all he saw were two women in the corner trying to hide their giggle while another crew member, who he recalls to be the one to call him onboard, was giving him an all knowing grin. He got up out of his seat to walk over to where the music was playing when the strumming of guitar was replaced by a very familiar voice. 

Donghae's eyes widened immmediately as he realized exactly what song was playing and hurried over to the boat's sound system.

~ Someone like you doesn't know me
~ A guy like me doesn't know how to say goodbye
~ It's not easy liking someone like you
~ The person I was looking for is you
~ The person you're looking for is me
~ I'm just thinking all about you
~ The person I wanna be with is yo-

Right before the song could finish properly, Donghae had managed to pull the plug off the speaker they were using to play it on with a heavy breathe. Hyukjae was a little stunned when he heard Donghae's voice but also a little disappointed to hear so little of it. He started to look around for the room for the latter but Donghae was too busy glaring at thhe innocent worker who slightly backed away from his intimidating gaze. 

"I-I was just following orders," he stuttered. 

Donghae narrowed his eyes and too a step closer, causing the other to take another step back. "From who?"

"He-Heechul-ssi..." Donghae groaned out loud because he should have known. "H-He told us to play it to create a romantic mood for you and your date."

Donghae pursed his lips together and tried to think. Knowing his brother, there's bound to be more surprises down the road. 

"What else did he have you prepare?"

"S-Sir?"

"What else?" Donghae repeated, his patience thin as he was not particularly fond of the second-hand embarrassment his brother was causing him. 

"Um...w-well, all I know is that w-we're supposed to slow down when we get close to Hangang bridge." The man stuttered, still nervous to upset Donghae further. "Heechul-ssi had a string quartet ready to play as we pass by it."

Donghae furrowed his eyebrows together because even he could tell that was a bit much. "What?"

"Heechul-ssi said to make sure to keep the romantic atmosphere between you two."

"Anything else?"

"A-All I know is that there's also a scheduled helicopter ride towards the end of the cruise that's set to bring you over the rooftop of Lee Hotel. I-I don't know anything after that. I swear!"

Donghae sighed and knew his brother had always loved to play cupid. It was one of the few things he picked up from their Aunt Jihee. He finally let the cowering crew member go and walked back to his table with Hyukjae where the latter was waiting for him with a confused look. 

"Is everything okay?"

Donghae took a deep breathe and tried to act normal. "Hm? Oh - yeah. Yeah, everything's good." He said, still not quite able to look Hyukjae in the eye after everything that has transpired. "I-I just think we might need to change our plans a little."

Hyukjae chuckled seeing Donghae's bashful look. "What's going on, Donghae?"

Donghae contemplated not telling Hyukjae the truth. However, there wasn't really any plausible reasons he could come up with to cover the bizarre things that's been happening between them so he sighed and reluctantly told him the truth. "M-My brother."

"Your brother?" Hyukjae repeated, not quite sure what Donghae meant. "What about your brother?"

"Well...he's-he's been sort-of playing a prank of me."

"A prank."

"He likes to play cupid." Donghae pointed out directly. "He's been setting up all these weird things to um...try and help me..." 

Donghae was almost too embarrassed to admit it out loud but knew there was no better way to explain it. The stunned look on Hyukjae's face didn't help him feel better either. 

Hyukjae, on the other hand, wasn't quite sure how to process what Donghae was talking about until he remembered the incident with the roses earlier. Donghae said that he would rather he received flowers that came from him, so that must mean...,"Did your brother arrange for the roses?"

Donghae scrunched his face, too mortified to admit it out loud so he just slowly nodded his head. 

"And the music? That was him too?"

Donghae kept his gaze down and gave another single nod. "Y-Yeah."

"Oh." Hyukjae said and Donghae thought he almost sounded disappointed. "I thought it was you singing."

"It was," Donghae admitted. Then, he cleared his throat and sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck to explain himself. "I-I used to compose songs in college. I-I didn't even know he still had a copy of it."

Hyukjae looked genuinely surprised at Donghae's words. "You wrote that song?"

Hearing the surprised admiration in Hyukjae's voice, Donghae finally dared to look at him. "Y-Yeah," he said. When he saw Hyukjae smile widely at him and the twinkled look in his eyes, he couldn't help but wish that he had met the latter sooner so that he could have helped him finish the song and dedicate to the other. 

"It sounds really nice. I wish I could hear more of it."

Donghae did a side grin and continued to soak in Hyukjae's awed expression in front of him. "That was all of it."

Hyukjae looked confused again. "What do you mean?"

"Well, I wrote that song for a contest in college," Donghae explained. "But I never really got properly inspired to figure out the rest so I never finished it."

Hyukjae's lower lip jutted out as he nodded his head in understanding. Donghae laughed silently to himself as he tried his best to not lean over and steal a kiss from him. 

"That's a shame. It sounded really good."

Donghae grinned and without thinking too much about it he said, "Well, you could always help me finish it?"

"Me?" Hyukjae laughed not quite picking up the meaning of Donghae's words. "I don't think so. I at writing."

"You don't have to write," Donghae smiled that charming prince-like smile of his and said, "You just have to stay by my side. The words will come to me naturally after that."

Then, just like that, Hyukjae was back to choking on his own spit trying to keep his heart from jumping out of his chest. Donghae chuckled lightly completely delighted with Hyukjae's reaction to his flirting. He got up from his seat and went over to his side to caringly pat his back and asked if he was okay. All he got for an answer was a glare from Hyukjae which he found more adorable than intimidating. 

"What?" He asked innocently. 

"Don't 'what' me. You know what you're doing." Hyukjae accused. 

Donghae retreated his hand from him and raised it in the air in mock surrender. The silly smile on his face still present as he continued to feign innocence. "I'm not doing anything."

"I mean it, Lee Donghae. I don't know what you're trying to do but the cheesy lines ends here." Hyukjae stood firm and put his foot down. 

Donghae pouted a little and tried to use his puppy-dog eyes on Hyukjae. "It's not like I was doing it on purpose." Donghae argued. As soon as those words left his mouth, a very cheeky idea came to mind as his eyes once again landed on Hyukjae's pouty lips. Seriously, how often can a man look that cute pouting al