Lee Donghae: "My love story starts with my beloved girl, Bada..."

“Donghae-ah, are you home?” came the gruff voice of his best friend of four years.

“Ne, wait a sec!” the reply was muffled and high pitched, as if he was slightly disoriented.

A few thumps were heard inside the apartment before the owner of the apartment finally made his appearance. “Come in, hyung.” The man with short brown hair said, opening his apartment door wider. “Sorry that you had to stand outside back there, I was a bit... preoccupied.” The younger added with a sheepish smile pulling at his thin lips.

Yunho pulled him into a one arm hug and waved the apology away. “Nah, it’s okay. Through, what were you doing when I rang the doorbell?”

Donghae stayed silent and instead lead him to the slightly messy living room. And in the middle of it was the reason Donghae was late to open the door for the taller, dark haired male.

“Meet Bada, she’s a Maltese terrier.” The brunette said with a hint of pride in his voice. As if responding to its owner’s voice, the puppy barked a few times and wagged its tail excitedly before darting to its owner.

Having known Donghae since they were still in high school, Yunho had thought that nothing the younger brunette do would ever surprise him anymore, but it seemed that he was wrong. Just when he thought that Donghae is turning into a playboy of sort with the constant change of girlfriends, his friend brought a pet home instead of a female!

Gazing at the tender way Donghae was handling the white furry puppy, Yunho decided to greet the puppy first, “Uhh, hello Bada. Donghae-ah, why did you buy a puppy this time?”

“Hmm? Can’t I?” the younger one asked, not really getting the implication behind the question asked by the elder.

Yunho scratched his head before gesturing for both of them to sit. “How do I say this... The past few weeks, you were going through girls like people go through clothes, then today, I come to see you with a puppy instead of a girl, what gives?”

Donghae stared at him, his mind mulling over the most appropriate answer for the question that had been asked of him, through his hand never cease to caress the white furball in his hands. “Don’t laugh at me please, but I... I was looking for something when I dated those girls. As cliché as it sounds, I was looking for someone to love me for me, instead of my face or the way people think of me.”

“And Bada, was it, love you for you?” the question was incredulous, and funny if Donghae wasn’t being serious at that moment.

“No, but Bada brought me closer to someone who does love me for me, for being Lee Donghae, the awkward adult with childish personality.” The brunette finished his explanation patiently, his gaze never straying from Yunho’s face.

Yunho was silent for a moment, letting the explanation sank in. He had always been aware of Donghae’s inability to be alone and had guessed that that inability was the reason he was always seen with one girl after another. Yet, he had never really guessed that Donghae is the find-someone-suitable-and-settle-down type.

He was always going through one phrase after another and never seemed like wanting to settle down with just one thing for a long period of time, so for him to go to such length for someone was quite shocking for the elder male.

“You... must really like that girl a lot, huh?” he asked, gazing fondly at the younger brunette whom is like a brother to him.

Blushing faintly, Donghae stopped patting Bada and looked up to match his gaze with Yunho’s. His fidgeting caused Yunho’s eyebrow to raise a notch, anticipating something big, and he wasn’t disappointed by Donghae’s confession. “That’s... uh, that someone that I’m chasing after, that someone is a guy, not a girl.”

Yunho’s mind blanked at the unexpected confession and a moment passed in silence, aside from Bada’s cheerful barking. Finally, his face broke into a smile as he took hold of Donghae’s shoulders. “That’s good to hear.” the dark haired man said, his voice sincere.

Donghae whipped his head around to stare at his best friend. “You’re not disgusted with me? For liking another guy?” the younger one asked, his voice tentative and hopeful.

Yunho shook his head, his smile unwavering. “Nope. I’m just glad that you’ve found someone. I don’t care whether that someone is a guy or a girl. Through, it does explain why you weren’t really interested in girls when all along you swing the other way...” he trailed off with a contemplating expression.

Donghae smiled, but shook his head in disagreement. “That’s not it. Just like how you don’t really care whether the one I love is a girl or a guy, my heart also ignores the gender of the person I’m in love with.”

Taking a deep breath, he continued, “I went out with girls as it is the norm, but when I fell for him, I didn’t care about his gender. The only thing that I took into account was his personality, and also the ‘me’ when I’m with him. If he was a girl, I would still have fallen for her and vice versa.”

The elder male nodded his head slowly, taking in the explanation given by his used to be immature dongsaeng. Before long, a teasing smile took over his face. “Donghae-ah, I’m really interested in meeting this guy. Are you ever going to introduce him to me?”

Blinking a few times to clear his head of thoughts concerning the one he had fallen in love with, Donghae nodded his head vigorously. “Of course, hyung! I meet up with him every evening in the park, you can come with me when I go there.”

“Park? Ahh.” Putting all the pieces together, it dawned onto Yunho just how Bada functioned in the equation of bringing Donghae and the one he love closer.

“So the guy you like owned a pet as well?” Yunho’s voice took on a teasing edge once he latched onto something that he can use for teasing material. “How sly of you. I never took you for that kind of guy, Donghae.” 

Donghae’s face erupted in flames, “No! I- Bada is- I never-that’s not it! I never think about using Bada like that! It was- that day was just a coincidence!”

Yunho laughed at the younger’s attempt at explaining, only after he has had his share of laughter that he pacified the shuttering and blushing male. “Calm down, calm down. I know you’re not that kind of guy. We’ve known each other since high school, what do you took me for? Anyway, why don’t you tell me from the start?”

The younger male punched him lightly in the arm before making himself comfortable on the couch. “I was accompanying my girlfriend shopping that day and we walked by a pet store, it was in there that I saw Bada. She was so cute and fluffy and white and furry and cute and snow white and-”

“I get the gist of it, Bada is a cute little furball. Then?”

“Then, I bought her and took her home. As you know, dogs need to be walked daily, so the next evening, I took her on a walk at the park. And that was when I met Hyukjae, he was walking his own dog, a brown Pomeranian named Choco.”

“I got the chance to get to know him and uhm, well, fell in love with him. Fortunately, both of us were unattached, because I broke up with my girlfriend that morning, and him well, he’s a bit insecure about his appearance, because any female that he confessed to refused him, so I was thinking about doing something subtle.”

“Wait! How sure are you that he shared the same feelings as you do?” the elder asked, nailing the problem right in the head.

“...”

“Why don’t you introduce him to us and we’ll gouge whether or not he has some feelings for you?”

Snapped out of his depression, Donghae raised an eyebrow at the misused of pronoun. “Us? What do you mean, us?”

Yunho grinned and took hold of Donghae’s shoulders, “It’s time like this that we need to call in the back-up! Or better known as the professional!”

“Kibummie?”

“What does that kid know about snatching up a guy?”

“Yoochun-hyung?”

“Nah, that cheeseball would only teach you cheap pick-up lines and tactics. We’re calling up Heechullie!”

Donghae’s eyes widened like saucers as he shook his head vehemently. “NO! Anyone but Heechul-hyung!”

“Ehh, why not? Heechul hooked up with a guy and he can probably give you sound advices on what to do to date this Hyukjae.” Yunho said reasonably, his fingers scrolling through his phonebook, searching for the dramatic princess’s contact number.

“Heechul-hyung hooked up with a guy?” Donghae’s expression was bewildered.

Yunho nodded, at the same time waiting for the phone on the other end to be picked up.

Before Donghae could fully wrap his head around the idea of his hyung dating a guy, Heechul’s voice sounded over the phone. “Yoboseyo? Yunho-ah, what’s up?”

“Chullie, Fishy here needs your help. Can you drop by? I’m already at his house.”

“Arasso, I’ll be there in 20 minutes.” And the call was disconnected.

Around 25 minutes later, the sound of the doorbell was heard.

Dragging his feet to the front door, Donghae mustered up all the cheerfulness that he still has in him to crack a small smile and opened the door. “Hyung, co- ahh! What are you two doing?!”

Upload date: 18th November 2012

A/N: And that's it for the prologue! Thanks for reading! Please comment and subscribe, if you think it's worth reading~! ^^