Chapter 3: 3

Once at the hospital, the doctor said Daehyun might need a gastric suction. But to be sure, he sent him to do an ultrasound to see whether the ring was indeed in his stomach. The ultrasound was quick, but the result took ages, and while Daehyun and Youngjae waited in the waiting area, the younger was going crazy from worry, he wanted to give the elder the best Valentine’s Day ever and ended up sending Daehyun to the hospital. Daehyun noticed Youngjae’s uneasiness, took his hand and held it tightly in his to calm him down.

    “Everything will be fine” Daehyun said.

    “I’m the one who should say that” Youngjae replied, worried.

    “Jung Daehyun” the doctor called as he came out of his office.

    “Yes?!” Youngjae exclaimed, rushing to him.

    “You aren’t Jung Daehyun” the doctor said, startled.

    “Is he ok?” the black-haired man asked and the doctor frowned.

    “I’m Jung Daehyun” the brown haired-man stepped in as the doctor looked him up and down. The younger wore a black tee, yellow hoodie, jeans and black and white sneakers.

    “Here is the result of your ultrasound” the man handed him a beige folder “No ring was found in your stomach”

    “What does that mean?” Youngjae interrupted.

    “There’s nothing foreign or that can be considered dangerous in Mr. Jung’s stomach, so there’s no need of a gastric lavage”

    “But he ate a ring!!! Are you sure the ultrasound is fine?!!! Are you sure you are a doctor?!!!” Youngjae yelled his lungs out. Embarrassed, Daehyun gave him a threatening look, and then he softened his expression as he faced the doctor:

    “Like he said… I ate a ring… Well, I swallowed it, that’s the same, isn’t? Maybe I should do another ultrasound”

    “If you want to, but there’s no ring in this ultrasound, I’m sure a new ultrasound won’t be any different” the doctor said, kind of annoyed because two brats didn’t want to take his word for granted, after all, he was the doctor “Look, you can do the gastric lavage…”

    “Yes, do it!!!” Youngjae cut him off for the zillion time.

    “It’s not recommended” the doctor finished his sentence.

    “So what are we supposed to do?” Daehyun asked, confused.

    “Go home and search thoroughly the ring, it must be in somewhere, but not in your stomach” the doctor said and bowed before leaving.

    Once the boyfriends were left alone, Youngjae raised an eyebrow and stared at Daehyun “Are you sure you ate all the chocolates?”

    “Yes” Daehyun said “Are you sure you put the ring in the chocolate?”

    “Yes!!!” Youngjae said “I put the ring in the chocolate that looked like a butterfly!!! And Zelo put the chocolates in the box made of chocolate while I went to change clothes!!!” suddenly Youngjae shut up and exchanged a look with the elder “There were many butterfly-shaped chocolates... Maybe Zelo put the one without the ring in the box…”

    “And now you tell me” Daehyun said in shock “I could’ve have gotten a very unnecessary gastric suction!!!”

    “I forgot... It’s my first time trying to make a grand romantic gesture...” Youngjae pulled out his phone from the jean pocket and texted Zelo, asking about the chocolates that didn’t make into the box.

    Zelo texted back, saying the chocolates were in the kitchen, Youngjae told him to check on every one with butterfly shape in search of the ring. The blond took a few minutes and replied with a pic of the ring covered in chocolate.

    “It seems Zelo put the wrong chocolate in the box... The ring’s with him... Safe...” Youngjae said nervously as he didn’t dare to look at Daehyun, the brown-haired man glanced at him like he wanted to murder him.

    “I almost got a gastric suction thanks to you!!!”

    “Yeah, you’re right... Almost..., but you didn’t... It’s not so bad...”

    “Not so bad? We waited hours for the ultrasound result, we waited hours for the doctor... I haven’t eaten since the morning because of the ultrasound, I didn’t eat because I thought I was going to have a gastric...”

    “Don’t worry, I have a reservation at the best restaurant in Seoul, I planned to propose you there, we’re booked in for dinner at seven”

    “It’s nine”

    “There’s many other restaurants”

    “It’s valentine, there’s no way you can get a free table”

    “We can stop at a convenience store on our way home... We’ll get groceries... I’ll cook”

    “You don’t know how to cook” Daehyun said in defeat, he didn’t want to keep arguing with his dumb boyfriend, so he started going to the exit. Youngjae followed him, the sky was pretty dark, there weren’t stars, the weather was cold, it was late winter, the snow fell during the day and had ceased not long ago.

    “On our way here, I saw a night market with a bunch of food stalls” Youngjae said, biting his nails “We can go there, it’s near here”

    “Yes”

    “Yes? Aren’t you going to argue?”

    “I’m tired and hungry” Daehyun said and started walking in the direction of the night market. Youngjae strolled after him, for a moment he reached out his hand to take Daehyun’s, but retreated as he thought the elder was mad at him. The night market was more far of what they remembered, but kept walking, in silence without looking at each other.

It was Valentine’s Day, the night market was fuller than usual, the streets were full of lovers and entire families. Vendors sold heart-shaped jewelry, heart-shaped balloons, heart-shaped roses, heart-shaped lightsticks, heart-shaped food, etc. The vibe was 100% romantic, but Youngjae was too restless to feel it and thought Daehyun didn’t feel it either, he almost got a very invasive treatment thanks Youngjae’s stupidity. The black-haired man could blame Zelo, but he knew it was his own fault, he was never good at expressing his feelings or doing special things for Daehyun, the ring fiasco was proof that he was the worst boyfriend ever.

    Daehyun stopped before a big ramyeon stall, Youngjae bumped into his back and stopped too.

    “I’ll buy ramyeon, you get a table” Daehyun said without looking at the younger and headed to the counter. Youngjae obeyed, though it was a hard task, most tables were occupied, but in the end he found a table with two chairs near the sewer... It wasn’t very romantic, he thought as he dropped on one of the chairs, Daehyun showed up later..., empty hands.

    “Thought you went for ramyeon”

    “The waiter said he’d bring the dishes when they’re ready”

    “Dishes? How many did you order?”

    “Spicy ramyeon and spicy soup with beef for you”

    Suddenly Youngjae was happy, his boyfriend still thought about him even if he was mad at him, that’s why he loved Daehyun, the elder was kindhearted, always cared for others “kimchi ramyeon and grilled pork for me”

    Suddenly a young man showed up with a plate of stir-fried rice cakes and placed it on the table before leaving with a bow “I ordered tteokbokki too, since they already had it, we could eat while waiting for the other dishes” Daehyun said and sat in front of the younger.

    “You said you don’t like it, actually, you aren’t very fond of spicy food”

    “Well, you are fond of it and I’m fond of you, so I’m fond of spicy food” Daehyun shrugged before taking a set of chopsticks.

    Youngjae felt warm in the midst of the winter night, Daehyun always knew what to say to make him feel better and special, Youngjae wished he were that good with words, but he wasn’t. Suddenly his phone beeped, it was Zelo, the young blond man washed the ring and sent him a pic.

    “What is it?” Daehyun asked.

    “Zelo cleaned the ring and sent me a pic...” Youngjae said.

    “Can I see it?” in response Youngjae handed the phone to Daehyun and this one stared at the ring. It was a diamond ring with a light purple heart with a butterfly of the same color on each side.

    “I know it’s kind of girly..., but Naver says butterfly means undying love, that’s what I feel for you, and purple color means devotion, that’s what I feel for you...”

    “You really gave the proposal thing a lot of thought” Daehyun said, surprised.

    “Like I said, I want to spend the rest of my life with you, but all the rings I saw didn’t express what I felt for you, so I researched a lot to make the perfect ring..., but you’re right, I thought too much, I ruined Valentine’s Day, we spent most of this beautiful day at the hospital”

    Daehyun sighed, he wanted to be mad at Youngjae, but it was impossible when the younger tried so hard to impress him. “It’s been an ugly Valentine’s Day, but you’ve been with me all the time, and therefore it’s a wonderful Valentine’s Day”

    “You keep saying how much you wanted to do a special thing for me to make me feel special, but I already feel special just because you are with me. Because of you my every day is the best” Daehyun smiled wholeheartedly “That’s why I say YES, let’s marry, I want to spend the rest of my life with you too” the elder said and leaned in to kiss his boyfriend, they kissed so deep there was nobody in the world except for them and it lasted for what seemed forever.

    “And if there’s such a thing like next life I want to spend it with you too”

thanks for reading, it’s just a dumb corny story (´｡• ᵕ •｡`) ♡