Tick tock tick tock…

It’s almost noon, but the drapes are still covering the windows of a certain room, preventing the sunlight from coming in. It made the room dark, though you can still see a lone figure sitting on the bed, staring at nothing in particular.

Tick tock tick tock…

The lone figure blinked once, then twice. His eyes wandered around the room, trying to look for something to do. 

I’m bored. What should I do today?

Pink, plump lips unconsciously form into a pout. Today was supposed to be a happy day for him, but the recent accident he was involved in dampened his mood. “Should I go out?” He looked at his right arm that has a brace and an arm sling supporting it.

Nah… I have nowhere to go. And it’s not like I can do anything with this hand.

Shaking the thoughts from his mind, he decided to lie on his good side. The movement produced a rustling sound as he tried to get comfortable under his soft blanket. He was about to close his eyes when he heard the doorbell ring. He tried to ignore the sound, but it won’t stop. He got annoyed. He was not expecting anyone today. He didn’t make any plans at all.

Grumbling in annoyance, he moved to the side of the bed to sit. He dragged his feet outside while still being careful not to lose his balance.

Out of all days, I just have to be injured on my birthday. Great!

He made his way to the front door. He slowly reached out to the knob using his good hand. He was still hesitant to open it. But just as the lock unlatched, he was startled as a hand gripped the side of the door and pulled it open. A big, dimpled smile greeted him.

“Hyukjae, my friend! Happy Birthday!”

The said man made a face. He was really not in the mood for this. He tried to close the door, but a foot stopped him from closing it. His frown deepened.

“What’s with the face, Hyuk-ah? It’s your birthday. You should be happy and celebrating.” Siwon, his friend, squeezed himself through the door opening to make his way inside. He’s careful not to drop the bags he was holding in both hands. Hyukae rolled his eyes but didn’t make any move to stop him anymore.

He knows he’s being an towards Siwon right now. He has always been good to him ever since they met in university. But he was not in the mood to be celebrating anything when he has an injured hand. You might think he’s over-reacting, and he might be, but he doesn’t care. He is in pain and couldn’t work for days. He can’t do the very thing that makes him happy. He has all the right to be grumpy, more so, on his birthday.

Sighing in defeat, he followed Siwon inside. He threw himself on the sofa and slouched into the cushions. “So, what are you doing here?”

Siwon placed the bags on the table before turning to face Hyukjae. He has this big smile that means he’s planning something. It doesn’t sit well with the latter because he isn’t in the mood for anything. He only wants to wallow in misery.

“I know you’re feeling down these past days because of the accident in the office. That’s why I thought of something great to make you happy especially now that it’s your birthday.” He beams like a child. Somehow, it looks like he’s really proud of himself for preparing whatever he planned for today.

“Uh, you know we have a different definition of ‘great’, right?” Hyukjae raised an eyebrow to point out that fact to Siwon to which the latter managed to mimic. Siwon has unusual preferences. While Hyukjae thinks ‘great’ is eating his home-cooked ramen when there’s no work, shopping for new clothes as his stress-reliever, drawing his favorite person, or even listening to his favorite person’s music; Siwon thinks that ‘great’ is dining in a high-end restaurant which makes Hyuk uncomfortable as he doesn’t even know which utensils to use for each meal, attending parties and socializing with other businessmen which bore him to death, or doing charity works with different organizations. Don’t get him wrong. Doing charity is good. He just thinks that he prefers to donate than to do the actual work. He doesn’t really like spending too much time out in the sun, hence his pale complexion.

He threw his head back and groaned. Just thinking about the thing Siwon planned stressed him out. He let his head roll to the side. He blinked. He does a quick look at the table as he saw familiar packaging. He tried to blink a few more times and tried to focus his vision.

“What are these?” His eyes are scanning the bags.

Siwon gestured towards the bags, “These… are all for you, my lovely friend! I got you your favorites”

Hyukjae’s eyes caught one particular packaging, “Is that…?” He looks at Siwon.

Siwon nods as he looks at him with a knowing smile, “You got that right. I know it’s your favorite among all edible things.” He chuckles.

Hyukjae’s eyes sparkle as he heard the confirmation. He pulled himself up and reached out to that specific bag. He can’t help but exclaim, “Strawberry cake!” He’s quick to discard the bag and carefully opened the box containing the cake, “Can you get me a plate and fork, please?”

“Uh-uh. You can’t eat the dessert yet. You have to eat proper food first.” Hearing that made Hyukjae’s shoulders slump in an instant. He looks at Siwon with pleading eyes.

“But I want to eat it now. It’s calling me to eat it.” Unfortunately for him, Siwon didn’t budge. Hyukjae stomped his feet like a child throwing tantrums, which he is now.

“No, Hyuk. You can eat the cake later. Besides, someone is coming over. It’s not nice to eat before the guest arrives.”

Hyukjae stopped, tilted his head in confusion. “A guest? Who? I did not invite anyone.”

“You’ll know soon when he arrives.” Siwon only smiled at him.

“He??” This time, Hyukjae feels a little nervous. His eyes shift focus, and this didn’t go unnoticed by Siwon.

It is not a secret among his family and close friends that he is not comfortable around guys due to an incident that happened when he was in High School.

 

Someone in school found out that he was gay and broadcasted the news to the whole school. He was on his way to the locker room after soccer practice when eight guys he didn’t know cornered him. They thought it was a good idea to play with him. so they started pushing him around and pulling his clothes. Hyukjae could fight. He might be slim, but heck! He could probably put down two or three of them at the same time. But he was no match against eight guys who were taller and bigger than him. He surely wouldn’t be able to fight all of them at once. He thought they will leave him alone if he didn’t fight back, but it just got worse. Two men held both of his arms and pulled him inside the locker. Someone had locked the door and stood there as a guard. They said lots of humiliating and nasty remarks to him that really wounded his heart. They decided to do that to him because they found out about his uality, not because of other reasons. Not only did they hurt him verbally, but they also dragged him to the shower area, stripped him out of his torn clothes, and hosed him down. They were all laughing, clearly enjoying making fun of him. He thought they’ll leave him after this. But he panicked when someone suggested checking if he was still a or had been himself. He, after all, likes in his  was what they said. Two pairs of hands held him down. Then they made him bend over. He started crying then. He did not know what to do anymore. He hated them all. Hated everything they were doing to him but he could not do anything because there were too many of them. He could not move from how they held him down. His shorts were torn and pulled down. He was panicking. He heard one of the boys getting something. One of them slapped his cheeks then he can feel a hard object poking his entrance. By this time, he was panicking and crying so hard he could not exactly distinguish what was happening around him anymore. The next thing he knew, he heard loud sounds like a door being forced open, screams, and things thrown around. He curled himself in a corner before he passed out. When he opened his eyes, he was already in his room. His family did not try to ask him about it. He did not want to talk about it as well, so he just tried to move on. He was thankful that it was already his last year in High School. He transferred to another school when he entered college. 

 

“Relax, Hyuk. I’m sure you’ll love this one.” Siwon pats him on the shoulder to reassure him. It brought Hyukjae back to his senses. He shoots him a questioning look. He is not convinced.

“What are you talking about?” his eyebrows furrow suspiciously.

“You’ll know later,” Siwon assured him. “How about you go get ready and change for now? We don’t want the guest to see you in your pajamas, don’t we?” He paused, “Although you look cute in it.”

Hyukjae scowled, his lower lip jutting out, “Don’t call me cute. I’m not cute!”

“Yeah, right. Not cute, you say?” Siwon smiles and can only shake his head. How can he believe his words when his expressions are the exact opposite? He doesn’t realize just how his expressions were the epitome of cuteness. If Siwon isn’t straight, he might already make a move on him.

They were in the midst of bickering about whether Hyukjae is cute or not when the doorbell rings. Hyukjae jumped a little in surprise. His head turns towards the door.

Could that be the guest?

“Ah! He’s here.” Siwon smiles excitedly and gently pressed on Hyukjae’s shoulder, his silent way of saying it’ll be okay, “I’ll go get the door.”

Hyukjae stays rooted in his place, nervous. He hears the door being unlocked. His body trembles a bit in nervousness, but he was also curious. He wants to see who the guest is.

Slowly, he makes his way towards the door. He makes it just in time to see Siwon pushing the door open. He stills in place, eyes going as wide as saucers. He can’t believe what or who he’s seeing.

Angel. He must be an angel. Oh god! Am I dead?

He can hear Siwon’s voice greeting the ‘guest,’ but the words do not get processed in his brain. His eyes are glued on the angel outside, all gorgeous and perfect.

Their eyes meet, and the angel smiles at him. If Hyukjae already thinks he is dead, then he just died again. How could a human be that perfect? He really must be an angel.

He doesn’t know how it happened, but suddenly, the door was closed. Siwon and the angel are in front of him.

God is still good to me. He sent this beautiful angel to come and get me. I will happily go if it’s with him.

“Hyuk-ah…”

“Hyuk…” A hand is waving in front of him.

Slowly, he can hear a voice calling him.

No! I don’t want to go back. Let me go with him!

“Earth to Hyukjae!” Siwon raised his voice which thankfully got Hyukjae to look at him.

“huh?” He absentmindedly asked.

He looks at Siwon, but then he hears a beautiful melody beside him. It sounds like a laugh - a very melodious laugh.

Ah! What a beautiful sound. Is this how angels sound like? Gosh, they’re lovely.

Siwon shakes him. That made him snap out of his thoughts. But he can still hear the beautiful sound. He looks beside Siwon, and he sees a gorgeous man trying to mask his laugh.

Slowly, things were coming back to him. His eyes widen as he looks back and forth between the gorgeous man and Siwon.

He looks really familiar.

He knows this man.

Lee…

Lee Donghae???

He blinks once, then twice. He looks at the man again. He’s still laughing. And also, still looking at him. It makes Hyukjae panic. Suddenly, he realizes where he is, what he’s wearing, and what he looks like. He came straight out from his room, which means he is still in his pajamas. He hasn’t washed his face nor look at the mirror to see his hair and face. He most probably looks hella awful.

Oh My God!!

With hands both on his cheeks, he screams. Siwon and Donghae jump in surprise.

He looks around frantically.

I must get out of here! Fast!

Without even thinking, he storms off to hide behind the kitchen counter. He quickly sits down and covers his head with his uninjured hand.

Donghae looks at Siwon questioningly. He is clearly confused about what just happened, but he can’t help but chuckle in amusement. “What was that?”

Siwon laughs as well. After realizing what Hyukjae did, “Sorry, he must’ve panicked after realizing that it was YOU. Hold on. I’ll go and get him. You can sit and make yourself comfortable.”

After leading him to the living area, Siwon followed Hyukjae.

“Hyukjae, where are you?” Siwon walks towards the counter and found a figure crouching down behind it. He chuckles.

“Aigoo… Why are you so cute, Hyuk-ah?” Siwon taps his arm. “You can show yourself. It’s just me here.”

Upon hearing this, Hyukjae lowers his hand and peeks through his knees. When he sees Siwon, he abruptly stood up to scream at him but lost his balance. Thankfully, Siwon caught him before he fell.

“YOU!!” He points accusingly at Siwon.

“Why didn’t you tell me HE was coming? HE just saw me looking like this! I look