Chapter twelve – “How am I supposed to get your heart now?”

[2115 words – 12.10.16]

“Howon, seriously, why didn’t you just let me stay at the hotel?” Sunggyu said for the nth time today, pouting faintly as Howon dragged him to another shop. He had never thought that Howon would really like to shop around like this, even worse than Myungsoo, most likely, since Myungsoo had never dragged him to shop before; and yet, now, he had to accompany Howon, choosing his iphone case.

“Stop whining, hyung, though you actually looked so cute like that,” Howon grinned, picking up a purple iphone case with some drawing on the back of it. “Is this one good, hyung?” he asked, showing the iphone case to Sunggyu who just nodded uninterestedly.

“I will buy it for you then,” Howon said, picking up another one (a white one) before he went to the cashier, followed by the puzzled Sunggyu.

“Why would you buy it for me?” Sunggyu asked after Howon purchased the iphone case, taking one that Howon had shoved into his grip. “And it’s actually a same style as yours…ew.”

“It’s not a problem, right? Couple’s iphone cases,” Howon hummed, taking Sunggyu’s hand in his to pull him out from the shop. Sunggyu was actually feeling something warm that made him smile, something that making him wanted to ruffle Howon’s hair. It’s almost like what he was feeling to Myungsoo.

“I saw your dirty leopard printed iphone bag yesterday, it’s ugly. I have to buy you this.”

 Sunggyu’s smile dropped at instant as he saw Howon’s playful grin. Right, Howon and Myungsoo were different; both special in their ways. Sunggyu shouldn’t have thought about the similarities.

He actually felt better like this, when Howon was not being warm and sweet, but just being Howon. “My leopard printed pattern is better than your purple one,” he said as he casually slung his arm around Howon’s neck, punishing the dancer with a playful headlock.

“Ow, hyung!” Howon exclaimed, patting Sunggyu’s arm. “Go away or I will bite you!” he said with a threatening voice, which making Sunggyu withdrawed his hand immediately, keeping it to himself.

“I hate your ‘fangs’,” he mumbled, ignoring the playful look Howon gave him.

“Anyway, hyung, let’s buy pizza before we go home?” Howon said, pointing to the pizzeria that was just some meters away from the iphone’s shop, and sunggyu’s smile made its way back to his face again, before he nodded eagerly.

“I want extra cheese!”

They came back to the hotel with two boxes of pizza on their hands, walking out from the elevator while laughing over Howon’s cold jokes. It was a relief for Sunggyu since he could actually act like nothing had happened the day before with Howon. The dancer didn’t even mention about it even a slightest bit.

He didn’t know about Woohyun though, since he did cry a lot last night in front of Woohyun, not that he had never done it before. But it was embarrassing and a bit bothering him even until they reached Sunggyu’s hotel room, since they had somehow agreed to invite the others in.

“Call the others, I will…” Sunggyu stopped as Howon suddenly pulled a familiar card from his pocket, swiping it to the panel to open the door, and Sunggyu was obviously confused, since he didn’t remember sharing a room with Howon. “How did you get it?”

Howon mysteriously put his finger over his lips before he walked into the dark room, switching on the light of the room.

“Surprise!”

Sunggyu almost lost his grip on the pizza box as the room was suddenly filled with people’s loud voice, and the confetti was popped from every direction. Just like what they had shouted, he was surprised, of course; until he just stood up there with confetti papers on his hair.

“What…” that was the first word he said, looking around to find someone else whose birthday was on January, but all eyes were fixed on him, which making him even more confused. “But it’s not even my birthday…”

“Do we have to wait until your birthday to celebrate it, Gyu ji ji?” Dongwoo said as the first person who got up and gave a hug to the still-stunned Sunggyu.

“That’s right!” Sungyeol followed him, showering Sunggyu with more confetti papers. “It’s a leader appreciation party!” he shouted, spreading his arms proudly before he grabbed on Sunggyu’s arm and pushed him to sit on the sofa, among the balloons that were actually useless.

Sunggyu smiled brightly, all of it made sense now. He put down the pizza box and looked around, just to find that there were only five of them there. “Where’s Myungsoo and Woohyun?” he asked, searching around the room only to find no trace of them.

“Actually, Howon hyung brought you home too soon! He was supposed to distract you until noon!” Sungjong said, pouting as he glared to Howon who just smiled innocently there, playing with the balloons, but soon his face brightened again as he heard the whistle from outside