Chapter 2: 2

Daehyun hardly slept, he spent the entire night trying to convince himself Youngjae wasn’t cheating. No matter how distant the younger seemed sometimes, it was part of his nature, the elder knew pretty well the black-haired man loved him..., however it was hard to believe since Youngjae didn’t return to the apartment they shared. Youngjae always stayed late at the office, but he always, always came back to sleep, except this time.

    Daehyun sent him thousands of messages. Two years back then, when they started dating, they always sent messages, especially at night, Daehyun sometimes had insomnia and texted Youngjae, he didn’t expect him to reply, but he always did, and then they ended up calling each other and talking till dawn. It was like they woke up together even if they weren’t even in the same place. But now, no matter how many messages Daehyun sent to Youngjae, he didn’t answer at all.

    Suddenly the bedroom’s door opened, Daehyun looked in that direction and Youngjae showed up, carrying a backpack and wearing a t-shirt that was too big for him and pants that were also too big. They shared a closet, Daehyun knew those clothes weren’t Youngjae’s. The younger was wearing someone else’s clothes. The brown-haired man wanted to say something, but there was a lump in his throat. Youngjae thought Daehyun was sleeping, so when he saw him sitting up in bed and looking at him back, he just froze and said:

    “You’re awa-awake”

    “I couldn’t sleep without knowing your whereabouts”

    “Didn’t you get my message?”

    “I did, you said you had work, you didn’t say you weren’t going back”

    “Yeah, it was a lot of work”

    “You’re telling you spent the night at your office?”

    “Of course, where else?”

    Daehyun snorted and tried to smile, but he was so frustrated and let it out “What are the clothes you’re wearing? They aren’t yours”

    “They are mine”

    “They’re too big, besides, you left in a suit and you didn’t return home, so where did you get ‘your’ clothes?”

    “I keep some at work... Old clothes... These are big ‘cause I used to be fat and you know it”

    “You were fat when you were a teenager, now you’re in your twenties, you’re telling me you keep clothes from your teenage days?”

    “Why not? They aren’t ripped or anything”

    “I’m not stupid” Daehyun jumped off the bed. He wore a white t-shirt and black sweatpants, Youngjae thought the elder was going to kill him right there, but he just passed him by, ignoring him like he (Youngjae) always ignored him and headed to the closet “I’ll go to work, maybe you’ll be honest when I get back, maybe you’ll be here or not, maybe I won’t be here either”

    “Are you going to spend the night out?” Youngjae knew Daehyun was mad, but didn’t know why, he didn’t feel he did anything wrong.

    “Why not? If you can I can”

    “I was working... Wait, are you going to work? You said you were free for Valentine’s Day and today is Va…”

    “I thought taking the day off because I wanted to do something special with my boyfriend, but he said we didn’t have to, so it’s a waste of time being here, doing nothing” Daehyun cut him off, more irritated “You can go back to your…” he wanted to say lover, but changed his mind and said: “office”

    “Why are you mad at me?” Youngjae said, confused, he could be very dense “Don’t go… I have something for you…” he said hesitantly, the timing wasn’t fine. He took a cardboard box from his backpack and offered it to Daehyun. 

    The brown-haired man grabbed the box, annoyed, he opened it rudely and found a heart-shaped box made of chocolate. The lid had dozens of hearts painted on in many colors with edible ink. Daehyun retired the lid and found several bite-sized chocolates with different shapes, but instead of feeling happy he felt worry and fear.

    Youngjae made it clear he wanted nothing to do with Valentine’s Day, but out of the blue, he gave him a box of chocolates; it was a sign that he cheated on him.

    Youngjae was so guilty, he bought a box of chocolates on his way to the apartment from his lover’s house.  

    “I hope… You know… You’ll see…” the younger wasn’t good at expressing himself, but what he was saying made no sense. Anyway, Daehyun wasn’t paying him attention, his anger had turned into worry and fear of being dumped with a box of chocolates on Valentine’s Day.

    Finally when Daehyun came back to his mind, Youngjae was gone, not so far though, he was in the bathroom, taking a shower. Daehyun snorted, tired, and dropped on the bed. He loved chocolates, he loved to eat, but the little chocolates in his hands were proof that Youngjae was a cheating boyfriend. He felt disgusted at the chocolates, but he was hungry as well. Last night, he didn’t eat, the extra pounds made him conscious and anxious, but now that he knew Youngjae was cheating, no matter whether he was fat or not, so he decided to eat the chocolates, he ate everything in one go, including the heart-shaped box made of chocolate.

Youngjae came out of the bathroom, wearing clothes that suit him; red flannel shirt, white t-shirt, jeans and black shoes. Though the most beautiful thing he wore was his smile. He was smiling big and excited, he approached Daehyun and said:

    “So?”

    “So?” Daehyun replied, upset, the cheater seemed so happy he wanted to punch him.

    “Yes or No?”

    “Yes or No what?”

    As reply, Youngjae lowered his head and looked at Daehyun’s left hand “Didn’t you read the letter?”

    “What letter?”

    “The one in the cardboard box”

    Daehyun hadn’t paid attention to the cardboard box, after all it wasn’t edible. The box lied by his side, he took it, halfhearted, there was a piece of paper at the bottom. This little piece of… He’s so coward he’s breaking up with me through a letter?! Daehyun thought as he grabbed the letter and read it out loud:

    “We’ve been together for two years, I want two more years with you. Actually I want the rest of my life with you, would you marry me, please? If Yes wear the ring I hid in one of the chocolates. Ps: Hint, the ring is inside the butterfly-shaped chocolate”

    “Why aren’t you wearing the ring? It’s a No?”

    “What ring?” Daehyun said in confusion, a few minutes ago he thought Youngjae was dumping him for his secretary, now the younger talked about some ring hidden in a chocolate.

    “The ring… I hid it… Did you eat all the chocolates?” Youngjae asked as he tried looking for some chocolates left.

    “Yes, you know I eat a lot when I’m stressed out”

    “Did the proposal stress you out?” the black-haired man, brokenhearted, thought that Daehyun rejected him, but then he remembered the elder didn’t even know about the letter, so he didn’t know about the proposal “Why are you stressed?”

    “Why am I stressed? Well, you’re sleeping with your secretary, that Junhong, I know. I mean, you always stay late at the office, you don’t want to celebrate Valentine’s Day, you didn’t come back home, I sent you a zillion of messages, you didn’t even reply one, you returned with clothes that aren’t yours…”

    “‘Uh… I understand why you think I’m sleeping with Junhong…, but I have an explanation for all that” Youngjae said and sat down next to his boyfriend “Sorry for worrying you. I swear I’m not sleeping with Junhong or anybody else…”

    “Then why? Did I push you to move together? I almost never see you, are you hiding at work or somewhere else?”

    “It’s not that” suddenly Youngjae hated himself for the misunderstanding “My intention was to make you happy, not to make you feel like I’m hiding from you or cheating”

    “I don’t understand”

    “Well, I’ll try to explain from the beginning, the thing is…” Youngjae started talking “Remember when we moved together? I asked myself why we didn’t do that sooner, I didn’t know how I could’ve spent so many days without you, that’s when it dawned on me I want to be with you forever, spend the rest of my life with you, so the best next step was to marry you”

    “Do you want to marry me?” Daehyun cut him off, startled, for a while he forgot the younger’s odd behavior.

    “Yes” Youngjae replied with no doubt “You’re the one who’s always doing meaningful things in our relationship. I know why you distrust me, but I love you. This time I wanted to do something meaningful for you. So, after deciding I wanted to marry you, I started searching for the perfect ring, none expressed how I felt for you, then I hired a jewelry designer, it was very pricey, but I wanted a ring only for you, that’s why I had to stay late at work, not because I was running from you, I needed extra money”

    Daehyun just nodded, intrigued, as the other went on “The designer gave me the ring a week ago, but I didn’t know how to propose you yet and I couldn’t keep the ring here for you find it, so I told Junhong to keep the ring at his house, I told him not to lose it, I told him to sleep with the ring like his life depended on it, and then finally I had an idea”

    “I said Valentine’s Day was for lonely people, I didn’t mean it, I wanted to mislead you and surprise you. I wanted to give you the ring on Valentine's, but didn’t want to give it to you in a traditional way. I know how you’re always doing special things for me, making my every day special, so I wanted to make you feel special too” Youngjae said a little embarrassed.

    “Last night I wasn’t in the office, I was at Junhong’s house, making the chocolates on my own, he helped, but I did the most. I made nearly one hundred chocolates with different shapes, I chose the ones that looked decent and put the ring inside one with form of butterfly”   

    “I didn’t reply to your messages ‘cause I took off my jacket to make the chocolates” he shook his head and exhaled “I got dirty anyway and ended up borrowing Junhong’s clothes”

    “So aren’t you breaking up with me?”

    “No, I’m marrying you if you want to” Youngjae said as he stared at the elder’s left hand.

    “I really didn’t see any ring” Daehyun frowned.

    “You sure? I hid the ring in a butterfly-shaped chocolate, it was a pale violet butterfly”

    “I ate all without paying attention”

    “Didn’t you feel the ring when you chewed?”

    “I was really mad and sad and scared, I might have swallowed some chocolates in one go”

    “Oh my God, you ate the ring!!!” Youngjae exclaimed in shock “We need to go to the hospital!!!”

I wanted to write a christmas fic, but that never came out, then last week was valentine's, so I made this.

youngjae said daehyun sent him messages at night or something like that on his instagram live with jongup, I thought it was cute ♡( ◡‿◡ )