Giving the excuse that it was more relaxing for him this way, Hyukjae ended up lying on his stomach on his bed as he typed lyrics on his phone. Which is true anyway because how can he concentrate with such a beautiful man just inches away from him?

At first, Hyukjae couldn’t write lyrics because he was distracted with thoughts of how Donghae, sweet and friendly Donghae, would avoid him if he finds out about his feelings. Either because Donghae might feel betrayed and think that maybe he just became friendly because he’s interested, or because Donghae might feel bad for him and just stay away to prevent leading him on. Or worse, Donghae might be disgusted, although he does not think Donghae is that type of person.

Hours passed that way, with Donghae eventually moving to sit on the bed beside him as they worked on the lyrics. At this point, Hyukjae has calmed himself down and put his thoughts and feelings on a tight leash. They finished productively as usual with their perfect teamwork in between conversations about random stuff, some mundane and some a bit deeper.

Like yesterday, they decided to watch a movie again. It’s still a bit early anyway, not even midnight yet. This time, they played a drama and sat side by side on Hyukjae’s bed to watch on the TV right in front. 

And so Hyukjae discovered another thing about Donghae. He’s sensitive and a crybaby like him.  As the credits rolled, Hyukjae was patting Donghae’s shoulder and both of them were wiping their faces with tissue.

“Are you okay?” Hyukjae asked with a watery chuckle.

“Yes, I’m sorry. The part with the mother suffering just really hit home,” Donghae said with misty eyes.

“May I ask why?”

“I told you that my mother and I left Korea when I was three, right?”

Hyukjae nodded, encouraging Donghae to continue with his story.

“It’s actually because fate dealt us a very difficult hand. When I was a year old, my father got sick. We lost all our money in the months and years that followed. My mother, and my older brother who was a teenager at the time worked doubly hard while juggling time to take care of my sick father and little me. Eventually, my father succumbed to his sickness and passed away. We weren’t even able to get his insurance because of other issues with his family. We were at rock bottom, and to make sure we’d at least have food on our table, my brother stopped studying to work full time. But we were living in a bad neighborhood and he got dragged into an altercation and died just a few months after our father did. My mom was a wreck and he was on the verge of just ending both of our lives.”

“Oh, Donghae…” Hyukjae was tearing up as he listened to Donghae recount what happened to them. His heart aches at how hard it had been for his family and the thought that he could have not met Donghae.

Donghae looked at Hyukjae and smiled sadly. “Thankfully, we met my mother’s cousin who’s been away from Korea for a long time. She returned to finalize some stuff because she and her husband from the Philippines are emigrating to the States. She offered my mom a job to take care of his husband’s small resort in the Philippines. And so we moved there and got a fresh new start.”

“It’s a good thing that your aunt arrived and offered help to you and your mom.”

“Yes, that’s why we’re very thankful to them. They were the ones who arranged for our visa as well to be an immigrant there. And the community we lived in helped us adjust well in the very different environment and culture. It’s why my mom loves the Philippines because for her, it symbolizes a restart and what helped us to be able to stand up again. She hates the thought of Korea because for her, it reminds her of the years of suffering and the loss of her husband and older son.”

Hyukjae was silent, he did not even know what to say. He just continued Donghae’s shoulder, resisting the urge to hug the man. 

“It’s also the reason why it took me a long time to come here even though I could have done so many years ago when we were already doing very well financially.”

“Your mom doesn’t want you to go?”

“Yes. You see, I was very young back then and have almost no memory of the things that happened. But for my mother, she gets reminded of all the pain she endured so much. Actually, she was disappointed when I mad