Lee House

“Where is he??”

Woohyun ran to the Lee house after getting a call from Mr Lee; it looks like Sunggyu got into a fight and was badly bruised. It was a deal between Mr Lee and Woohyun to let Sunggyu stay over his house until he felt better, but Mr Lee knows better not to hide such a thing from Sunggyu’s family; that’s why he called Woohyun.

“Calm down, Woohyun Seonsaeng-nim; he is fine.” Mr Lee tried to calm the teacher; it would freak out his student.

“What happened??”

Hoya looked at his father before he answered his teacher, “it wasn’t Sunggyu’s fault; these boys are jealous of him.”

“Is he hurt?” Hoya nodded, “Mr Lee, can you call down my husband?”

“Of course, but can we talk first?” Woohyun had no choice but to nod; he doesn’t want to look immature in front of his student, “Howon son, stay next to Sunggyu, uh?”

“Yes, Appa”, Howon bowed for his teacher before he left upstairs to join his friend.

“Sit down, Seonsaeng-nim.”

“Look, I’m not here to chat; I want to take my husband and go home; I’m worried about him.”

Mr Lee smiled, “if only Sunggyu could see how worried you are.”

“I’m sure he knows.”

“No, he doesn’t; that boy upstairs is terrified of you.”

“W-What!”

Mr Lee guided Woohyun to sit on the couch, “don’t worry, I made sure to tell him that there is nothing to worry about and that you’d side by him no matter what.”

Shocking, but Woohyun was thankful “thank you, it means a lot.”

“I can see that you love him and care about him.”

Woohyun sighed, “glad you can see that because no one can see it, especially Sunggyu.”

Mr Lee patted Woohyun’s shoulder, “I know it’s not easy; even though you love him, your life changed in a blink of an eye, but I can see you’re trying hard.”

Woohyun was impressed; he was curious to know what happened to Mr Lee that made him think rationally; out of a sudden, that man in front of him was willing to ship his son away to get a man.

“I’ve always worked hard to make everyone around me happy, and now that I got to do what I want, I messed things; the one person I love the most is scared of me and ran away from home.”

“It’s not too late to fix things.”

“How?”

“Sorry?”

“How did you do it?”

“You mean earned my son’s trust back?” Woohyun nodded; he could clearly see how close Hoya got to his father; two days ago, his student was crying his heart out complaining about his father, “I listened for him for once.”

“You mean dating his teacher?”

“Not only that, Howon happiness is all that matter to me, whether it was to finish high school with his friends; by my side or date his teacher, I was too selfish to understand my own son.”

“You’re a good father; I misread you; I apologize.”

“You’re a good man too, Woohyun Seonsaeng-nim, and I’m sure Sunggyu knows that too.”

Hoya’s room

Woohyun knocked on the already opened the door to get the boys attention before walking in; Hoya excused himself to let the two talk, and there was Sunggyu sitting on Hoya’s bed, pressing an ice pack on his bruised lips and eye. Woohyun joined him on the bed without a word and took the ice pack from the younger to do it himself.

“Awch.”

“Sorry.”

“It’s okay; it’s not your fault I got these bruises anyway.”

“Are they the same boys you got in trouble with before?”

“Hmm.”

“Do you want to tell me what happened?”

That’s a first, Woohyun doesn’t usually ask such a question! “They think I have connections at school to get me out of trouble.”

“By connections, you mean-?”

“You.”

“I see, so it’s my fault.”

“Hmm.”

“Yah, you little-” Woohyun smiled when Sunggyu smiled, “fine, it’s my fault I’m sorry.”

Sunggyu stopped his husband from pressing the ice pack on his lips, “I don’t hate you, Hyung; I didn’t mean when I said that.”

“Does that mean you love me?”

“Hmm”, Sunggyu then surprised the elder with a hug, laying his head on his chest, “I left home not because of you; you and Nicky are the only reason I’m staying at that house.”

Woohyun pushed Sunggyu a little cupped his cheeks, and asked him, looking into his eyes, “Mr Lee said you were terrified of me, is that true?”

“You wish!!!” Sunggyu laid his head again on Woohyun’s chest, “I didn’t want to make you worry; I know you’d be worried if you saw me like this.”

“Hmm, I was worried when I heard about the fight, you know!”

“I know, and it felt nice.”

“So, making me worry gives you joy!!”

“Absolutely.”

“Brat!! Then why don’t you let me take care of you??? I can’t make you eat, sleep or even study.”

“Because I don’t know how to react to this. I’m not used to being loved.”

Cute. Does that mean Sunggyu was shy all along, and pushing Woohyun away was his mechanism to deal with his shyness?? Woohyun always thought that Sunggyu didn’t accept his feelings; that’s why he pushed him away, but it turns out it’s because he loves him a lot.

“Well, I love you, kiddo; you better get used to it.”

“Don’t.”

“Huh?”

“Don’t say that you love me; I don’t want to lose you too.”

“Hey~”, Woohyun held Sunggyu tight, “I’m not going anywhere, you got that!”

It’s the little squeeze on his shirt that made Woohyun realize how wrong he’s been dealing with all of this; Sunggyu always sounded sassy and defence when in fact, he was only protecting his feelings from getting hurt again.

“Mom and dad said the same thing, and they died; then Nuna said she will never let go of my hand.”

“And she never did; she loved you.”

Sunggyu backed from the hug looking down, “until she felt I was a threat and made me stay at uncle’s house.”

“Sunggyu!”

The younger gave his husband a disappointed smile, “I was 15; you thought I believed the new baby room excuse??”

Woohyun was speechless; how could they be so cruel to him, “why didn’t you say anything?”

“And risk losing her for good!”

Woohyun wanted to hug Sunggyu but felt like he had no right; he should’ve stopped Bora and not just agreed with her, “I’m sorry, Sunggyu.”

“Ani”, Sunggyu wiped his tears fast, then looked up and smiled, “I never cared to be honest. I loved Nuna a lot.”

Woohyun caressed Sunggyu hair warmly, “Is that why you left home? Because you didn’t want to lose me?”

“Ani, it wasn’t because of you.”

“Did you leave because of Hyojung?”

“Hmm, I felt bad.”

“You shouldn’t feel bad for anything; it wasn’t your fault.”

“I might not look like him, but I’ll forever remind her of what he did.”

“How do you know how he looked?”

Woohyun gently lifted Sunggyu’s face, “I heard Boohyun Hyung and Nuna talking; they were so proud that their genes won!”

Woohyun chuckled when Sunggyu rolled his eyes, “you’re cute.”

“Shut up!!” Woohyun pinched Sunggyu’s nose, “Hyung~~, that hurt!!”

“Respect your Hyung, kido.”

“Ugh, fine, whatever.”

Woohyun didn’t want to end their conversation here; he really wanted to fix things between Sunggyu and Hyojung, “look, I believe Hyojung finally realized it was never right to put such a burden on you, so why don’t you give her a chance?”

“You think I should?”

“I think you should do what your heart tells you, uh?”

“You mean that, Hyung?”

“Of course, no one is going to force you to do anything you don’t want.”

Sunggyu felt relieved that Woohyun wasn’t going to force him into doing anything he’d not be comfortable with, like talking to Hyojung now isn’t something he’s ready to do, “Araso.”

“Can we go home then? I miss you.”

“Aww~~, so sweet. Araso, but under one condition.”

Woohyun hugged the younger tightly, “anything for my boy.”

“Promise not to yell at me anymore; I don’t like it when you get mad at me!”

“Hmm, I promise.”

“Cool”, Sunggyu gathered his stuff which was all over Hoya’s room, “Hyung, help me!!”

“How did you manage to mess your friend’s room over one night!!”

“That’s not funny, Hyung; Hoya isn’t a neat person, to begin with!”

Woohyun’s eyes widened when he tried to reach for Sunggyu book on the floor at the same time the younger did, “OMG, your fingers.”

“Hyung, calm down.”

“TATTOOS!!!”

“You said you won’t yell at me.”

“That was before I knew you did that!!!!”

“It’s my body. I get to decide what to do with it.”

“When did you do that- who did this- omg, it’s Howon’s father, isn’t it?????”            

“I asked him to do it for me; I was sad because of you!!”

“Yeah, blame it on me!”

“I don’t need your consent to do that!”

“You’re a high school student!!”

“Hoya has tattoos!!”

“Well, Howon has his father’s approval since he is the one who did them on him.”

“I’m 18! I don’t need anyone’s approval!”

“Wah, did he teach you that too??? Stop saying you don’t need anyone’s approval; I’m your husband.”

“So?”

“I’m older!”

“Then act like one.”

“You little-”

“Whatever, I’m going home; I miss Nicky, don’t forget my bag.”

“Y-Yah, hold it right there”, Sunggyu just shrugged and walked away, “YAH, KIM SUNGGYU!!!”

Downstairs

Sunggyu hugged Mr Lee, thankful for giving him somewhere to crash in when he needed, “I can’t believe you’re leaving this soon.”

“Thank you for having me over, uncle.”

Woohyun joined them with Sunggyu backpack, “thank you for having this boy.”

“No problem, Sunggyu can come over anytime he wants.”

“Let’s hope there is no another time, right Sunggyu?”

“Depends!” Woohyun eyes widen, “see!!!! You’re giving me the looks again!!”

“What look!!!”

Mr Lee chuckled, “not home yet and already fighting.”

“Well, it’s your fault this time!” Woohyun wasn’t going to let the tattoo thing slip away.

“What did I do!!”

“You gave him tattoos!!”

Mr Lee checked Sunggyu’s finger admiring his work, “it looks good, though. Do you like it, Sunggyu?”

Sunggyu smiled and nodded, “very, it’s beautiful.”

“Hmm, you have beautiful fingers-”

“Alright, alright”, Mr Lee and Sunggyu chuckled when Woohyun pulled his husband away from Mr Lee; they were teasing him, “enough, these fingers are mine.”

“So, you like it?”

Woohyun held Sunggyu’s hand and nodded, “Hmm, looks nice.”

“I knew you’d love them.”

Hoya then jumped between the couple and hugged his friend, “I’m going to miss you, buddy.”

“Liar”, Hoya chuckled when Sunggyu pushed him away, “you want me out to flirt with Seonsaeng-nim.”

“What!!! Nighttime is for sleep, young boy and not flirt w