It was Christmas Eve today. It was supposed to be an enjoyable day, but not for Eunhyuk. He had been sitting in the kitchen for almost an hour, staring into the empty space like a living corpse. Ever since he received the ‘mysterious’ red roses, he couldn’t sleep a wink last night.

Why did this have to happen now? Why now, of all time?

He didn’t want to worry Donghae anymore. The latter had suffered enough because of him, he didn’t want to add any more burden on his shoulders.

“Is there anything else you want me to buy at the market?”

Eunhyuk looked up, forcing himself to smile at Donghae, who was leaning his shoulder against the wall. The latter had been in crappy mood ever since what happened yesterday, and he had to refrain himself from saying anything unnecessary.

“I think that’s enough for now.”

“So am I allowed to have my cuddling time with my baby now?”

It took Eunhyuk quite a while to fully understand what Donghae was trying to say, and then a smile slowly crept across his face. Donghae was obviously sulking, probably because he had been so immersed in his own thoughts ever since this morning.

“Sorry,” Eunhyuk approached the latter and cupped his cheeks, his smile widened seeing his pouty face. It was such a rare sight, Donghae would never allow other people to see him like this. “Have you had your lunch? I made some egg tarts, do you want some?”

“Are you bribing me with food to shut me up?”

Eunhyuk laughed. “I am not. Didn’t you say you love egg tarts?”

“I do, but I love you more.”

“I know, Hae, so take this,” Eunhyuk handed the latter a plate of tasty looking egg tarts he had just baked this morning, “And let’s have some rest. We’re practically done with all the work anyway.”

“Should we just go upstairs and-“

“Don’t even think about it,” Eunhyuk dragged the latter to the living room, paying no attention to his childish wining as they both sat down on the couch.

It wasn’t like he didn’t know what Donghae meant. Screw his erted mind, he thought. Turning on the TV, he began scrolling through channels, searching for a good show to watch in this cold day.

“How long is your break?’ Eunhyuk asked, instinctively scooting closer to Donghae as the latter wrapped his arm around his shoulder.

“Only for three days,” Donghae groaned, “Dad is so stingy when it comes to things like this.”

“Just be thankful that he’s being generous enough to give you three days off.”

“But three days are not enough! And now that Siwon is-“ Donghae stopped, realizing that he had just said something that shouldn’t be said at all. He had been trying to avoid talking about it, but it was still haunting his mind.

“Sorry,” Eunhyuk ruffled the latter’s messy brown hair, guilt was written all over his face, “I’m sorry that it has come to this. I shouldn’t-“

“Hyuk,” Donghae took the blonde’s hand, holding it so tight like it was going to break if he were to let go,  “This time, I’m going to face him myself. I won’t let him hurt you.”

“But Hae-“

“Don’t stop me. I’m going to put an end to this.”

Donghae was serious, and Hyukjae knew there was no use stopping him. He was afraid to be honest, he wasn’t ready for another war that could put Donghae’s life in danger. His head hurt just by thinking about it.

“Have you forgotten, Hyukkie?’ Donghae pressed his forehead gently against the blonde’s and pulled him close. “I’m your hero. I’ll protect you with all I have.”

Eunhyuk nodded and smiled. “Thank you, my hero.”

Their sweet moment however didn’t manage to last long, when they both were startled by the sound of someone knocking on the door so loud that they felt like the whole house was going to fall apart. Not enough of that, the doorbell then rang so annoyingly loud, and Donghae wanted to punch whoever was outside.

Though, he could somehow make a shrewd guess of the bastard who dared to interrupt his private time.

“Who’s that?” Eunhyuk asked, silently hoping it wasn’t Siwon.

“Who else would it be?” Donghae lazily walked to the front door and opened it, revealing the grinning Heechul outside, holding quite a lot of paper bags with different famous brand names printed on them.

“Merry Christmas kids!”

“Heechul-hyung!” Eunhyuk practically jumped off the couch and flung himself at the older, who just laughed at him in return.

“Alright, alright, it’s really cold out here so let me in first.”

“I should’ve just let you freeze to death outside,” Donghae mocked.

“ you.”

“ you too. Were you planning to tell the whole neighborhood that you’re here or something? Don’t bang on my door, hyung. It’s annoying.”

“Well, I thought you guys might be in the middle of a hot steamy session and you might not be able to hear me,” Heechul said so casually as he dropped the paper bags on the floor, before plopping down on the couch.

Eunhyuk’s face slowly reddened, while Donghae daringly showed his middle finger to the older. Though of course, the almighty Kim Heechul would never be offended at all.

“Now, where’s my coffee Lee Donghae?”

“In your ,” Donghae said and quickly stormed out of the house before Heechul could kick him in his face.

____________________________

“Donghae.”

Donghae glanced up, nodding his head at Heechul who was already sitting down across him. It was getting really cold, but he preferred to have a talk with the older outside, just between the two of them. “Where’s he?”

“In the kitchen,” Heechul said, throwing a brief glance at Eunhyuk who was still busy preparing the dishes for tomorrow. “So, what do you want to talk about?”

“About…” Donghae inhaled deeply, before adding, “Life and death?”

“What the hell was that?”

“Siwon is back.”

“Siwon, as in…Choi Siwon?” Heechul knew exactly he heard it right, though he was hoping for it to be a mistake.

“He sent Eunhyuk flowers last night.”

“Wow, that’s creepy.”

“I don’t even know where he is right now, but I’m pretty sure it’s him.”

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