Ch. 3

Back in Seoul the two boys were lucky enough to get a photo shooting together, in which they exchanged numbers.
Still, it came as a surprise to Kyuhyun when Ryeowook called him the next day;

“Yoboseyo?”

“Hey, Kyuhyunie? Wanna go out for a cup of coffee? I have the day off..”

They met in Hongdae, because it was Ryeowook’s favorit place and because he apparently lived nearby. Kyuhyun, who had been shopping in Apgujong, arrived at the café with his hands full of shopping bags.

The smaller boy immediately stood up, beaming a bright smile at Kyuhyun. ¨

“Hi!”

Kyuhyun smiled back, more confidently than he felt, and placed his bags on the chair next to the one across Ryeowook’s.

“I’ll go order. What do you want, Ryeowook?”

“Caramel macchiato, please.”

When he returned a few minutes later, Ryeowook handed him the money for his coffee. Kyuhyun stared almost offended at him, refusing to take them.

“I paid, never mind it.” If you listened carefully, you would be able to detect hurt in his voice. Ryeowook’s gesture had ruined the illusion and this obviously wasn’t a date. Not that Kyuhyun minded. He tried not to mind, at least.

“Did you get the Marc Jacobs’ runway next month?” Kyuhyun didn’t detect Ryeowook’s hopeful voice, but just nodded, then laughed;

“We seriously aren’t getting all the same jobs here, are we?”

A shy smile spread on Ryeowook’s lips; “seems like we are.”

“I was worried that you wouldn’t get it.”

“Because I’m not as tall as you, with my mere 173 cm?”

Kyuhyun shrugged. “It’s just five centimeters but…”

“Kate Moss is short too, you know.”

“I didn’t mean to offend you. It’s just.. everyone knows that smaller models are better for photo shots, because catwalks gets difficult.”
Had he had the courage he would have told Ryeowook that he had something. Something that had caught his eyes right away; most likely the same thing that Kate Moss has, whatever that is, something that is much more valuable in a model than height.

Ryeowook cringed. “I’m sorry, Kyu, it’s just… I have a friend who made an evil joke, once.”

The smaller, dark-haired boy began telling a story of his friend, Kibum, who had been a model too once;

“Come on, Ryeowookie! You’re just not tall enough.” The boy had said with a wide grin, not realizing how much he was hurting the other.
“But.. I really want to, Kibum. I really want to be a model.”
“Then what about this?” a drunken laughter before he continued; “You can be a foot, hair or hand model! They won’t even have to measure your height!”

“He’s some kind of director or producer these days… Not even a model, though he must be taller than you now, Kyu. Well.. that’s why I get way too sensitive about my height. Sorry.”

“Who cares how tall you are? Just make sure you don’t fall with those clumsy legs of yours.”

Ryeowook gaped at him. “Cho Kyuhyun who the hell do you think you are?!”

With that, the tension suddenly left, and they began laughing together.

The story had left Kyuhyun with the feeling that this Kibum had been more than a friend, though it hadn’t been said in words.

©

With Marc Jacobs’ runway coming up everyone; models, photographers, make-up artist and producers were getting stressed and plagued with a lack of sleep. None except for the models were on a diet though, which made most of them grumpier, but sometimes even ill.

This was the case with Ryeowook, who had collapsed during a rehearsal just a few days before the walk.

When he woke up again, he was sitting in a cap next to Kyuhyun, who smiled at him teasingly.

“I told you not to trip over your own clumsy feet.”

“Very funny, Kyu. Very funny.”

“We’re headed for the hospital. I have a cold I need to get treated anyway, so I volunteered to go with you.”

©

“Are you dizzy?” Kyuhyun checked out the young doctors’ discreetly.

“Not anymore..” Ryeowook replied.

“Is your world spinning?” isn’t that the same thing? Kyuhyun thought

“No.”

“Do you have tinnitus? A humming sound in your ear?” Kyuhyun looked at Ryeowook, wondering if Ryeowook was quiet right now, because he was trying to detect some kind of inner-ear sound.

“No.”

“Do you feel any pain?”

“I think maybe I’ll get a bruise at my left shoulder..” Kyuhyun immediately checked it; Marc Jacobs’ probably wouldn’t appreciate a model looking like some beat-up white-trash wife.

“Do you have a headache?”

“Yes, but.. I think it’s just because I didn’t drink enough water.”

“Why didn’t you drink?”

“Because I.. was unconscious?”

“hmm… okay then.”

The doctor left them, and then returned not long after, asking Ryeowook to lay down in one bed and Kyuhyun in the one next to it. Ryeowook was given an IV injection and not long after Kyuhyun was given the same by a nurse, who had already checked him for the symptoms of a cold.

They lay on their respective beds for about an hour, having conversations and when they together took the subway back to the studio, Kyuhyun had a smile on his face which was hardly impossible to conceal.