“Happy Birthday, Siwonnie!” Kyuhyun grinned as he brought over a giant-sized beef pepperoni and mushroom pizza with extra topping of creamy mozzarella and bell-peppers. They were having dinner in Siwon’s favorite Pizzeria, celebrating Siwon’s 23rd birthday. A minute ago, Kyuhyun excused himself to the restroom, while Siwon was having an animated talk with Donghae, Changmin, HyukJae, Kibum, Qian, and Amber.

Siwon was very surprised and touched when all of a sudden Kyuhyun came out of the kitchen with a pan of Pizza decorated with small lit candles in his hands. He blew the candles out and smiled till his face hurt.

“Thank you, Kyu... Thank you guys...” he muttered with a grin.

After a few congratulations and a few hugs and lots of pats on the shoulder, they finally got to enjoy the Pizza Kyuhyun had specifically ordered. They were eating enthusiastically. They haven’t hung out together like that since they started getting jobs. Siwon was to happy to see the gang, especially on such an occasion like this. He had been kind of stressed out with the work in his father’s company lately, it felt so refreshing to be able to talk and joke with old friends like nothing else mattered. He owed Kyuhyun for this wonderful time, he can’t help but to hug and kiss his lover’s chubby cheek, not minding everyone else in the restaurant.

“Oppa...” suddenly a voice interrupted the good friends. A young lady, not more than 20 years old, they assumed, came up and called.

“Oh, Sooyoung-ah... What are you doing here?” Siwon let go of Kyuhyun, but his arm lingered on Kyuhyun’s waist.

“I was just having dinner with my friends.” She answered, pointing to a bunch of pretty girls three tables away from where Siwon was sitting, “Who is this?” she asked as she stared curiously at Kyuhyun.

“Huh? Oh... This is, umm, this is Kyuhyun. He’s a, umm, he’s –“

“Hi, I’m Kyuhyun, Siwon’s friend from college.” Kyuhyun cut in, noticing the awkward tone and disturbed look on his face.

“Oh. Nice to meet you, Kyuhyun-ssi.” Sooyoung smiled, “By the way, Siwon-oppa, why haven’t you ever called me? I met your dad at Hyundai Gala yesterday, and he asked about us. He seemed to like seeing us together, you know.”

Siwon lost his ability to talk that instant. He glanced at Kyuhyun with a hint of guilt in his eyes. Kyuhyun knew that look very well. He just sighed and forced a smile when Siwon told Sooyoung that he will call her when he has free time.

Siwon didn’t know, he didn’t notice, he was already fast asleep when Kyuhyun shed some tears that night. He might not seem to mind, but somewhere deep in his heart, he felt so much hurt and helpless not being able to tell the whole world that Siwon was his, only his.

~*~

I like you more than I like pizza. And I really like pizza...

Siwon remembered he told Kyuhyun that exact line when he took Kyuhyun to his favorite pizza place for what seemed like the 50th time. He smiled unconsciously. Kyuhyun thought about him again. Siwon was sure that Kyuhyun went to Italy because he told him that he loved pizza so much. Kyuhyun was reliving the details in their conversations. Thus, Siwon knew Kyuhyun still thought of him  somehow.

Now, where to start looking for Kyuhyun in Rome?

He took out his phone again, trying to explore the historical city through the map in his sophisticated gadget. That’s when he realized that there was a message from Kibum, sent hours ago, but he didn’t notice it. Kibum gave an address, and Siwon cursed to himself as soon as he read the message, because he made a wrong guess.

Kyuhyun was in Napoli, not in Rome.

Why did he go to Napoli? What was he doing in Napoli?

Siwon took the airport shuttle from Fiumicino Airport to Napoli. He browsed the internet for the address Kibum, gave him, trying to figure out what kind of place was Kyuhyun at when he posted the blog update, hoping it was a hotel so he can catch Kyuhyun wherever he stayed.

It turned out to be a restaurant, a pizzeria to be exact, apparently the most famous pizza place in Napoli, if not in the whole wide world. The pizzeria was well known for its super-delicious pizza and home-made wine. Siwon had to chuckle at Kyuhyun’s choice of place.

“Our favorites, eh Kyu?!” he thought to himself, and a smile crept up on his tired face, waking up the dimples on either side of his cheeks.

~*~

“So is that her?” Kyuhyun finally dropped the question when they were cuddling on their bed, that night after Siwon’s birthday dinner.

“Hm? What did you say, babe?” Siwon asked back.

“Is that her? Sooyoung. Is she the girl your parents wanted you to marry?” Kyuhyun asked again weakly, both his eyes were closed.

“Date, Kyu... We didn’t talk about getting married. I didn’t even agree to date her. I just met her twice, and that’s all.” Siwon defended.

“Well, she seems nice, and smart, and very beautiful.” Kyuhyun argued sleepily, Siwon wasn’t even sure if Kyuhyun actually meant what he said. Could he be talking in his sleep?

“You are even nicer, smarter, and way more beautiful than her.” Siwon convinced the guy in his arms.

Kyuhyun smiled sadly, still with his eyes tightly shut.

“But I’m not a girl, Won... I’m not a girl...” He said as he snuggled close to Siwon’s chest and started snoring softly.

Siwon froze. He felt a stab in his heart. So he held Kyuhyun tighter in his arms and whispered softly in his ear.

“For me it’s you, Kyu... It has always been you, and it will only be you. I don’t care if you’re a guy, or a cat, or even an alien, I’ll still love you.”

~*~

Siwon’s search for Kyuhyun in Napoli was even harder than what he went through in the previous cities. One of the reasons was because not many people in Napoli speaks English, and the few that do spoke quite little English, although their English was far much better than Siwon’s Italian. A much as he liked Pizza and Espresso, the only Italian he knew was “Ciao” and “Grazie”. That made it a bit difficult for him to ask around for Kyuhyun’s whereabouts.

The other reason was because Kyuhyun left no trace at all. The pizza quote was the only thing Kyuhyun posted in his blog in the last eight days. And even if Napoli was not a very big city like New York, still Siwon found less evidence of Kyuhyun’s visit there than he did in the American Metropolis. It almost seemed like Kyuhyun was never there.

But maybe he had some language issues like me, maybe that’s why he didn’t talk to the people in Napoli and that’s why no one noticed him, Siwon thought.

It was around the break of dawn of Siwon’s ninth day in Napoli did another blog post come up. And as if mocking Siwon’s continuous failed attempt in finding Kyuhyun, the post only consisted of these sentences exactly:

“The best quality of a gamer is the ability to predict your opponent’s next step while maintaining several steps ahead. See the pattern. Can you see mine?”

=20=