It’s that time of the year.

Final exams. The final grind before semestral break.

Donghae says goodbye to Hyukjae and his other clubmates after their final weekly club meeting of the semester, and makes his way to Starbucks to meet his boyfriend on a Wednesday afternoon. Unlike him, an average student who just studies what he needs to know in order to pass his exams, his boyfriend is studious, and is currently the top of their class. Kyuhyun studies his lecture notes a week before his exams at the library or at a cafe, and Donghae usually either studies with him, going over their notes together, or beside him, studying independently. 

It's more like Donghae procrastinating and instead staring at Kyuhyun while he's studying but his boyfriend is too concentrated with his studies to notice.

Once at Starbucks, he finds his boyfriend seated at a table by a large window, nose deep in whatever book he's reading. Donghae went to the counter first to order drinks for both of them, grapefruit lemonade for Kyuhyun and iced latte for himself, all while making small talk with their senior who is currently working as a barista. He then went to Kyuhyun's table after getting their drinks, and placed the grapefruit lemonade in front of his boyfriend.

His boyfriend neither looked up to him or hum distractedly to acknowledge his presence, his eyebrows furrowed in concentration on his book as he wrote frantically on his paper. Donghae takes a peak at the book that he's working on, and sees a bunch of mathematical equations that he still has no idea about. Donghae sighs, already used to Kyuhyun's studying habits, sits in front of Kyuhyun, and pulls out his books that he needs to work on as well.

Fifteen minutes have passed, and Donghae's mind starts to wander around anything but the lecture material in front of him. He looks up, and sees Kyuhyun still working on his work book, writing more equations on his paper, forehead wrinkled in concentration. Donghae eyes the drink he bought for Kyuhyun, seeing that the drink was already halfway through. He smiles to himself, knowing that Kyuhyun liked the drink that he ordered for him, and he reluctantly goes back to his study materials.

An hour later, Donghae feels that his eyes are getting strained the longer he rereads the same paragraph, his brain already fried. He looks up from his book to see Kyuhyun with his forehead scrunched up in concentration, rapidly tapping the end of his pencil on his book, seemingly thinking about how he is going to approach the problem in order to solve it. His gaze can't help but travel towards his boyfriend's pouting, cherry red lips, probably stained from the grapefruit lemonade he's been drinking (the cup is empty already).

Donghae almost groans at the sight, mind going haywire at the pleasant distraction. He's really contemplating if he's going to attempt kissing Kyuhyun at this time, and Kyuhyun's rapid tapping of his pencil is almost in sync with his heart the longer he thinks about it. His daydreaming grows into a concern, however, when Donghae sees his boyfriend's other hand clenched hard into a fist.

"Hyun," Donghae calls him worriedly, reaching for his boyfriend's clenched hand and kissing the back of it, "I think it's time to take a break."

Kyuhyun straightens up, leaning back to his chair. “Okay.”

Donghae caresses Kyuhyun’s hand as the latter closes his eyes. It was evident on his boyfriend’s face that he’s really tired– his eyes were halfway closed when he looked at Donghae, his usual happy expression replaced with a scrunched forehead and straight, closed lips.

"Don't stress yourself too much, Kyuhyunie. It's important to get breaks too."

"I know that Hae. I just... I can't help it."

"Let's pack up and walk to the nearby park. What do you say?"

Kyuhyun ponders, and then "That sounds good."

Both of them move to gather their belongings on their table and stuff them in their bags. Donghae was about to zip his bag up when someone tapped him on his shoulder. Donghae turns to address the person who tapped him, his eyes widening in surprise as he realizes who the person was.

"Tiffany?"

The teen in front of them beams, "Hello, Donghae."

The latter stands up and hugs the female, "It's so nice to see you! How have you been?"

"I've been well, Donghae." She breaks their hug and turns to Kyuhyun, who was watching them closely, "care to introduce me to your companion?"

"Of course. This is Kyuhyun, my boyfriend. Hyun, this is Tiffany."

Tiffany smiles sweetly and offers her hand to Kyuhyun for a handshake, Kyuhyun shakes it out of respect. "I'm Donghae's ex."

Kyuhyun smiles at her, strained, and retracts his hand. Donghae sighs, "I could've told him, Tiff."

Tiffany shrugs, dismissive. "He's your boyfriend. He deserves to know. Anyways, how are you, Donghae?"

"I've been better. What brings you here in the city?"

"My parents are planning to move out of our town so we've been scouting homes since this morning." She sighs, "it's really tiring."

Donghae nods in understanding. "Yeah, it gets really tiring since there's a lot to consider. Did you guys have-"

"Sorry to interrupt but I need to go. Mom's looking for me." Kyuhyun announces as he hastily slings his backpack over his shoulder. "You two continue to catch up." 

"No, Hyun. I'll take you home." Donghae also slings his backpack on his shoulder. Kyuhyun slides out of the booth in a hurry and goes straight to the door without looking back. "Hey, Hyun! Wait for me!" Donghae runs to catch up to Kyuhyun, he looks back to his ex-girlfriend who was staring at their retreating figures, "See you around, Tiffany!" He waves at her, then he's out of the door.

 

Once out of the door though, he saw Kyuhyun already getting inside the taxi, and the taxi already sped off when he reached the sidewalk. Donghae grabs his phone in his pocket to call Kyuhyun. His boyfriend did not answer his call though, instead he received a text message.

 

From: Hyun❤️

I'll text you when I get home, Donghae.

 

Donghae? He never called me by my full name since we've been together.

 

To: Hyun❤️

Okay. I'll wait for i