a/n  oh wow sorry for the SUPER late update orz i said it was going to be an angsty chapter, didn't i? nope, it's not angsty at all. not yet \o/

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It’s something that Wooyoung notices so easily.

After that night, something in their relationship changed. Nichkhun turned noticeably kinder, gentler and sweeter— and Wooyoung allows himself to bask in Nichkhun’s full attention, allows himself to be spoiled by all of Nichkhun’s love and care. It’s not that Wooyoung never knew what happiness is before, but by having Nichkhun in his life he’s starting to learn how to be happy, starting to feel how it is like to be alive, to love and most importantly to be loved by someone back in return. Wooyoung thinks he can’t recall ever being this happy before, thinks that his relationship with Nichkhun is probably the closest thing to perfection he’s ever owned. He’s very grateful to be given this chance, and thanks the Heavens above for giving Nichkhun into his life.

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Nichkhun is always there with Wooyoung, always so helpful and patient in completing the list with him. At this point, Wooyoung doesn’t think the contents of the list mattered as much anymore. He’s just happy he gets to do anything as long as he’s doing it with Nichkhun and spending more and more time with him.

It was a Wednesday when Minjun approached Wooyoung and told him about the road trip to Busan that he and Fei had been planning. Wooyoung jumped onto Minjun excitedly, asking him if he was taking Wooyoung along with him. Minjun only smiled at him and said “Of course. I still remember it was the first thing on your list. Now I want to make it happen for you.” Wooyoung got really ecstatic at this, especially when Minjun added “You can bring Nichkhun along if you want.”

Of course he wasn’t going to leave without Nichkhun.







Unfortunately, the twins can’t tag along with them because they have an important exam coming up next week and have to attend cram classes even on weekends. They reluctantly send them off with a pout, but looking a lot better when Wooyoung promises to bring home some fresh squids and dried fishes for them.

“Maybe we can take them along with us next time,” Wooyoung says, waving his hand at his brothers as Minjun’s car moves out from the driveway.

“Yeah, it’ll be fun,” Nichkhun agrees as he naturally puts his arm around Wooyoung’s shoulders. But then Minjun’s looking at them with narrowed eyes from the rearview mirror, clearing his throat loudly and startling Nichkhun. Fei stifles her laughter from the passenger seat.

“Not in my car, Nichkhun,” Minjun says.

“Oh come on, Minjun. Don’t be such a— what do kids called it these days? er?” Fei intervenes, the same time Nichkhun removes his arm away and mumbles an apology to Minjun. “Yeah. Don’t them!”

Minjun gasps in disbelief. “That is not a nice word for girls to say.”

Wooyoung shifts his amused gaze alternately between Fei and Minjun as they get into their usual playful bickering again. Even at their current age, they still do bicker childishly with each other like they used to when they were a lot, lot younger. Wooyoung smiles when he notices the loving twinkle in their eyes still, and thinks that this is just probably one of their ways of staying close and connected with each other. His smile fades a little when he feels Nichkhun scooting away from him.

“Where are you going?” Wooyoung immediately encircles his arms around Nichkhun’s neck. They just happen to arrive at a red light and seeing how close Wooyoung and Nichkhun are with each other from his rearview mirror, Minjun lets out an involuntary squeak. Fei bursts out laughing.

“Yah!”

“What?” Wooyoung asks innocently, sticking his tongue out at Minjun to taunt him more. Nichkhun laughs nervously, torn between indulging himself in the warmth of Wooyoung’s embrace or breaking away from him as to not get Minjun angry. Wooyoung notices this and only tightens his arms even more so Nichkhun can’t move away from him.

“You two…!”

“Hey, hey it’s green,” Fei pats Minjun’s arm urgently, her laughter still lingering. Her action immediately stops Minjun from protesting more as he has no other choice but to put his concentration back on the road.

“Yeah harabeoji, drive carefully and safely like you’re supposed to,” Wooyoung teases. Minjun exhales deeply in annoyance but doesn’t say anything back at Wooyoung. Fei smiles and rubs the side of Minjun’s arm comfortingly. She turns on the radio and turns the volume up. Wooyoung silently thanked her for doing so because this means that Minjun can’t eavesdrop on his hushed conversation with Nichkhun.

“Is this okay?” Nichkhun asks worriedly, still a little uncomfortable with being thrown daggers by Minjun with his eyes. “I thought you said he was okay with us.”

“He is! I think he’s just freaking out to see us this close. And, of course it‘s okay,” Wooyoung assures. But just to make Nichkhun more comfortable, he lets go of Nichkhun’s neck and joins their hands together instead. “This should be better.”

“Don’t get me wrong. It’s not that I didn’t like it,” Nichkhun explains. “But I can’t risk getting kicked out of the car for being too close to you, can I?” he squeezes Wooyoung’s hand. Wooyoung laughs. He slumps deeper into the seat and rests his head on Nichkhun’s shoulder.

“If he kicked you out, I’ll go with you. Then we can walk back home together.”

“That will be too tiring. I feel like you will make me take you on a piggyback ride all the way home.”

“If I make you do it, will you?”

“You know I will,” Nichkhun answers. He rests his head against Wooyoung’s and entwines their fingers together. They fall into a comfortable silence for a few moment, watching the city passed by through the window of the car. The scenery gets a little dull when they entered the main highway so Nichkhun attempts another conversation with Wooyoung. “I’ve never been to Busan before.”

“Really?” Wooyoung asks to make sure.

“Mmm. What is it like over there?”

“No difference than Seoul,” Wooyoung shrugs. “It’s just closer to the sea I guess. And I think you will have a hard time communicating with the people there. We have heavy accents.”

“The only solution is to not talk to them at all then. Just talk to you and only you.”

“Oh Nichkhun, why are you so wise?” Wooyoung says in a playful tone.

Nichkhun squeezes Wooyoung’s hand again and whispers “You’re lucky we’re in your brother’s car, or else…”

“Or else what? You were going to retort back with your tickle attack?” Wooyoung snorts.

“You know me so well.”

“I don’t like your tickle attacks. They make me so tired. You know that.”

“I know. But I can’t help it. I just love how you’re always into cuddle session mood right after every time I tickle you. It’s fascinating to feel and listen to your heartbeat slowly synchronizing with mine.”

“Nichkhun,” Wooyoung lifts his head up and rests his chin on Nichkhun’s shoulder. “You’re so bad. You tickle me because you want a cuddle? Tch.”

Nichkhun grins. “Seems like it,” he admits shamelessly.

“You could have asked for it instead.”

“You wouldn’t have agreed to it so easily.”

“So you pick the cheapest and sneakiest way to get it?” Another grin from Nichkhun. “So sneaky! But I still love you. You see, maybe my heart is in a bad condition from loving you too much.”

“Does that make me a bad guy?”

“Mmm,” Wooyoung hums in agreement. “Really bad guy.”

“That’s bad…You shouldn’t love me.”

“Is that what you really want? Be careful what you wish for, Nichkhun Horvejkul,” Wooyoung narrows his eyes with mock seriousness.

“Of course not.” Wooyoung can feel Nichkhun’s thumb rubbing softly against his skin. “You know, even if you didn’t feel the same I would still be happy loving you secretly.”

“So cowardly,” Wooyoung teases. “So un-Nichkhun like. If I hadn’t said anything, would you really have stayed quiet about it?”

“I would, actually. The idea of losing you was actually so much scarier than having to hold back and suffer on my own.”

Wooyoung becomes silent at this. “Were you in pain having to hide your feelings away from me?”

Nichkhun shrugs and smiles to assure Wooyoung. “It wasn’t that bad. But, even if I tried not to show it, I always ended up slipping it in front of you, didn’t I? Sometimes I want to punch myself for making it so obvious.”

“I’m glad you didn’t punch that handsome face of yours.”

“You still think I’m handsome? Even at this proximity where you can see these pimples on my face?”

Wooyoung laughs. “Pimples are just pimples. It doesn’t change the way you look at all. I have pimples too, does that mean you think I’m ugly? Hmm?” he pokes his finger on Nichkhun’s side.

“Not at all…”

“I thought so. I will still look good to you no matter in what state I’m in. Right? Right?” Wooyoung presses, seeking for approval to his statement.

“Yes, yes. You will always be the most good-looking man in this world to me,” Nichkhun says. He brings their connected hands up and presses a kiss on Wooyoung’s hand. Wooyoung immediately feels warm on the inside.

“You’re so nice to me,” he tells Nichkhun. Wooyoung pulls his legs up, bends and rests them against Nichkhun’s on his side with his free hand clipped in between the sides of his knees. “Even if you think you made it so obvious, I never caught on anything at all. I feel really stupid now.”

“I never thought you would feel the same way about me. When you started showing these little signs of possibly returning my feelings, I pushed the thoughts away because I didn’t want to hope too much. I thought I might just be imagining it.”

“Silly Khunnie,” Wooyoung says into Nichkhun’s shoulder. “If anything, I’m the one who’s not supposed to even dream of being loved by someone. Someone like you, even…”

“Don’t say that. Of all the people I have met and will have to meet in the future, I am glad it’s you.”

“Thanks for choosing me.”

“Thanks for accepting me.”

“So mushy, this conversation.”

“You brought it up,” Nichkhun chuckles. He reaches for something inside his backpack and takes out his ipod. “Do you want to listen to some music?” Nichkhun asks, fingers untangling the earphones.

“Hmm yeah sure.” Nichkhun passes him the left piece but instead of taking it, Wooyoung presses his face deeper into the crook of Nichkhun’s neck so he can show him his ear for him to put the earpiece in.

“You are so spoiled,” Nichkhun comments in amusement with a smile in his voice, but he plugs the earphone in to Wooyoung’s ear anyway. Wooyoung decides to ignore the comment.

“What songs do you have?” he asks instead.

“Plenty,” Nichkhun scrolls down the list.

“Wait, wait,” Wooyoung stops Nichkhun from scrolling when he sees a familiar title. He grabs the ipod and brings it closer to his face so he can peer clearly at it. “You listen to 2PM?”

Nichkhun shrugs. “Yeah. One of the members is Thai so they’re pretty huge in Thailand. I caught the wave~ But anyway what’s there not to like. They have nice songs.”

Wooyoung smiles and lets Nichkhun has the ipod back. “I love 2PM.”

“You do?”

Wooyoung nods. “Do you have Legend of 2PM?”

“I do, actually.”

“I think it’s track number…” Wooyoung tries to recall the song he listened to at the music store before. “Hmm, ten? Can we listen to that?”

“Of course.” Shortly after, Wooyoung hears familiar melody and soothing voices coming out from the earpiece. He closes his eyes and sighs quietly.

“It’s a nice song,” Wooyoung says.

“It’s a sad song,” Nichkhun tells him.

“Hmm? Really? What is it about?” he asks curiously.

“Separation. The girl wants to pursue her dream but in order to do so, she has to break off her relationship with him. He doesn’t want to hold her back and even though they still care and love each other, they both agreed to let each other go and say goodbye in a good way.”

When Wooyoung flutters his eyelids open again, the first thing he sees is the backside view of Fei from the front passenger seat. She’s chatting quietly with Minjun, a hint of smile on her lips. Wooyoung thinks over what Nichkhun just said about the song and realizes it fits Fei’s and Minjun’s situation perfectly. But after pursuing and achieving her dream, Fei came back and is back with Minjun again. The song and situation do not have to be sad after all.

“If…” Wooyoung starts, exhaling quietly as he considers what he’s about to say next. “If you leave one day, will you come back?”

He’s met with silence and a tightening hold of Nichkhun’s hand on his. Wooyoung waits patiently and nervously for Nichkhun’s answer, but doesn’t dare to look at him while doing so. Wooyoung closes his eyes again, deciding to listen to the song instead. Nichkhun’s voice is equally quiet when he says “I don’t want to leave…”

Wooyoung swallows thickly. “But you still have to when the time comes?” The nod of Nichkhun’s head as conformation comes late, but eventual. Wooyoung tries to smile. “Will you come back?”

“I— will.”

Wooyoung’s chuckles that come after are sincerely relieved, but shaky. Neither of them pick on it. “Good. If you don’t come back then that really makes you a bad guy.”

“I’m sorry…” Wooyoung’s not sure what Nichkhun’s apologizing for, neither does he know why, but he doesn’t think he wants to anyway. He feels like comforting Nichkhun though, so he says “It’s okay” back to him. He lets Nichkhun slip his hand into his bag to take out his journal. “What’s this?” Nichkhun asks, finger tracing at the edges of the hardcover. Wooyoung presses his hand on it.

“My journal. You can’t see what’s inside,” Wooyoung sticks his tongue out.

“Why not?”

“Just because.” Wooyoung chuckles when Nichkhun pouts at him. “But if you’re nice, maybe I’ll show it to you someday.”

“Hey now, I’m always nice.”

“Yeah. But unfortunately that someday is not today,” Wooyoung teases. Nichkhun squints his eyes at Wooyoung, but then he laughs. He nods his head and lets Wooyoung win this time.

“Okay. Maybe I will show you mine too,” he says.

“Oh? You keep a journal too?”

“Of course. Isn’t it nice to keep a record of what you do daily? In the future, when you look at it again, it will be nice to reminisce all these things.”

“Ohhh,” Wooyoung grins cheekily. “What do you write about? Me?” Nichkhun doesn’t deny it and gives him a secretive smile. Wooyoung widens his eyes. “Do you really? What do you write about in there, huh? Do you say good things about me or bad things? Let me see it now,” Wooyoung reaches for Nichkhun’s backpack. Nichkhun grabs his wrist and stops him.

“I don’t have it with me now.”

“Don’t lie.”

“Really! But I will show it to you when the time comes. I promise.” Wooyoung pulls the end of his mouth to the side in mocked distaste.

“Fine.” He clicks his tongue and rests his head back down on Nichkhun’s shoulder and snuggles closer, holding on to his journal tightly.

The rest of the journey is filled with more hushed conversations and occasional comfortable silences. Four and a half hours and a few pit stops later, Wooyoung finally gives in to his exhaustion and eventually falls asleep on Nichkhun‘s lap. Wooyoung doesn’t know how long he was asleep, but when he wakes up again, they’ve already arrived at Busan province.

“Sleepyhead, you’re awake,” Nichkhun greets. Wooyoung gets up and rubs the lingering sleepiness away from his eyes. Stretching his body, he takes this chance to look outside through the window. They’re currently driving across Gwang-An bridge to Suyeong District and Wooyoung can see the beautiful sea right in front of his eyes. Immediately, he feels peaceful and at home. He also realizes Fei and Minjun had exchanged their seats— his brother is sleeping on the passenger seat now and Fei is the one currently driving the car to their destination. “Did you get a good sleep? How are you feeling?” Nichkhun asks again. Wooyoung feels Nichkhun combing his hair. Wooyoung turns and hugs Nichkhun, yawning into his shoulder feeling still slightly groggy having just woken up from his nap.

“Sleepy. And hungry,” Wooyoung sniffs. “Can we get something to eat later?” Nichkhun nods his head.

Because of the traffic jam, they only arrive at their destination after another twenty-five minutes. The place they’re staying at for the night turns out to be a rented penthouse overlooking the Gwang-An bridge, and now Wooyoung’s looking around the house in excitement and awe, completely awake now.

“This place is so nice,” Wooyoung says. He presses his fingers on the huge windows overlooking the Gwangalli beach. Nichkhun walks to stand beside Wooyoung, his hands in his pockets. Nichkhun looks around searching for Minjun and Fei, and when he’s sure they’re not within hearing limit, Nichkhun leans closer to Wooyoung and whispers “Do you think we’re interrupting them?”

Wooyoung rises his eyebrows in amusement. “Why would we be interrupting them? They brought us here.”

“I don’t know. Seems like a place for,” Nichkhun looks around again as he searches for his next words. “romance. you know, getting all lovey-dovey, having candlelit dinner, cozying up in front of the fireplace, drinking wine and confessing love and leaning for a kiss and—” Wooyoung widens his eyes when he finally gets what Nichkhun was talking about. He quickly covers Nichkhun’s mouth with his hand to shush him.

“Yah!” Wooyoung hisses, scandalized by Nichkhun‘s words. “Don’t think about things like that here,” Wooyoung blushes. “Not when my brother and sister are here.” Wooyoung feels Nichkhun grin against his palm and he instantly knows Nichkhun’s up to no good. He pulls Wooyoung’s hand away from his mouth.

“Then I can think about things like that somewhere else when we’re alone?”

“Yah!” Wooyoung shouts at Nichkhun this time, but the latter one only bursts out laughing back at him.

“What? Oh come on. It’s normal. We’re normal boys with perfectly normal and healthy drives.”

“What drives?! ert. Stop thinking about erted stuff!” Wooyoung stomps his way to the couch and sits down with folded arms on his chest. Nichkhun chuckles and follows him, sitting in front of Wooyoung on the floor and resting his arms on Wooyoung’s lap.

“Okay, okay. I shall only show my pure side to my innocent Wooyoung. Don’t sulk.”

“Who’s innocent? And who’s sulking?!”

“My Wooyoung,” Nichkhun answers to both questions and grins. Wooyoung narrows his eyes begrudgingly and then presses his elbows on Nichkhun’s shoulders.

“Nichkhun Horvejkul, are you not pure anymore?”

“Am I in trouble if I’m not?”

Wooyoung widens his eyes. “Yah!” he says. “Who was it?” he presses his elbows deeper into Nichkhun’s shoulders. Nichkhun yelps in pain, but that only makes Wooyoung locks his legs on both of Nichkhun’s sides to prevent him from moving away.

“I kid, I kid! I’m sorry!”

Wooyoung loosens his legs around Nichkhun. “Really sorry?”

“Yes, yes,” Nichkhun nods.

“What if I said apology is unaccepted?”

“I’ll keep apologizing and make it up to you by buying you ice creams.”

“What? You think I’m that easy?” Silence takes over as they stare into each other’s eyes. Wooyoung sighs in defeat. “Okay, I’m that easy. This isn’t fair, you know ice cream is my weakness!”

“Okay baby, would you forgive me already?”

Wooyoung tries to hold back his smile. “Stop calling me random names too.”

“But you like it, don’t you?” Nichkhun asks, rubbing his hands up and down on Wooyoung’s thighs once. When Wooyoung’s about to retort, Minjun beats him to it. His shout was loud and clear in the living room, throwing a small cushion straight to the back of Nichkhun’s head.

“What are you guys doing?!”

“Hyung!” Wooyoung gapes at Minjun in disbelief, arms immediately found their way around Nichkhun to hold him protectively. “Why did you do that?!”

“It’s okay, I’m okay,” Nichkhun says, half his face buried onto Wooyoung’s chest as he tries to turn around to look at Minjun.

“Yah, get off of my brother!”

Nichkhun scrambles onto his feet and looks at Minjun nervously.

“What is your problem?” Wooyoung frowns and stands up as well.

“Wooyoung-ah, it’s okay,” Nichkhun gently pulls on Wooyoung’s arm. “I was wrong.”

“But you didn’t do anything wrong!” Wooyoung says, incredulous. He flickers his eyes at Minjun and puffs his cheeks out in annoyance. “Stop being so mean to my—my— myboyfriend!”

“What?!”

“Wooyoung-ah…”

“What is going on in here?” Three voices respond all at once. Wooyoung feels his cheeks burning from both anger and embarrassment but he was just feeling so upset and protective over Nichkhun that he can’t help it.

“Minjun, what did you do this time?”

“Pfft me? Me??”

“Yes you! Who else could it be causing this chaos? I was only away for five minutes and you guys are already fighting,” Fei sighs in disappointment. “We didn’t get here to fight, you know.”

“I’m sorry,” Nichkhun bows in apology.

“Stop it, you didn’t do anything wrong!” Wooyoung was beginning to feel frustrated and annoyed. Minjun heaves in suppressed anger. “I’m not a kid anymore!” Wooyoung eventually bursts out again. “And neither is Khun, so you should show him some respect too!”

“Yah, this punk. Are you raising your voice at me? Showing your attitude right now?”

Minjun isn’t usually like this and neither is Wooyoung but when they do really fight, neither of them would back out first. Right now, Wooyoung doesn’t feel like apologizing first because he felt like he and Nichkhun didn’t do anything wrong and that Minjun was the one who exaggerated.

“Wooyoung, calm down,” Fei says. Now Wooyoung feels his heart beating fast in anger and it would be bad if his attack gets to him too. Minjun seems to regain himself back, worry written all over his face realizing Wooyoung’s in danger of an oncoming attack anytime. Wooyoung closes his eyes and leans onto Nichkhun, who readily catches him, and tries to calm down. He still feels upset at Minjun.

“You okay?” He hears Nichkhun asking him. Wooyoung nods his head briefly.

“Khun, take him out to get fresh air and calm himself down,” Fei commands.

“What? He’s not going anywhere!” Minjun protests. Upon hearing Minjun’s words, Wooyoung exhales heavily, and practically drags Nichkhun out of the house with him. “Yah, Choi Wooyoung, you get back here right now!”

They get out of the house after getting their bags and Wooyoung intentionally slams the door hard behind him. Wooyoung angrily presses his finger on the elevator button.

“Is this really okay?” Nichkhun asks worriedly. “Maybe we should go back and apologize.”

Wooyoung turns around and stomps his foot on the ground. “Stop it! Now you’re making me upset too!”

Nichkhun looks at him in shock but quickly pulls Wooyoung into a hug. “Okay, okay. I’m sorry,” he says, rubbing his hand down Wooyoung’s back. “Calm down. Calm down.”

Wooyoung exhales shakily, but lets Nichkhun hug him some more. The elevator dings open and Wooyoung feels Nichkhun walking them both in. The door closes again but neither of them presses the button so they stay like that for another bit until Wooyoung’s calm enough.






After everything’s calmed down, there comes the guilt and lingering bitter taste of a fight.

It wasn’t even a fight to begin with— just a misunderstanding— and now that his mind is all clear and he can think properly again, Wooyoung wonders if this is his fault after all. Maybe he and Nichkhun went a bit too much? Maybe he was the one who exaggerated? Maybe he should have apologized sooner?

“Ughh, I don’t know,” Wooyoung mutters to himself. He picks and touches on the random accessories on display while entertaining his thoughts. They haven’t got that far from the building where the penthouse is; just across the street and few blocks away, stopping by a store that sells graphic tees and a lot of guys’ accessories. Nichkhun is somewhere in there checking on the tees, giving Wooyoung some space alone for him to think. Wooyoung finally gives his attention on the accessories, fingers brushing lightly against bracelets, necklaces, watches and badges— until his gaze falls on the rings.

The rings come in all shapes and sizes but the one that caught Wooyoung’s interest the most is still the one with the simplest style— silver stainless steel ring with a thin line of onyx right in the middle. He turns around, and seeing that Nichkhun is still busy checking the shirts, he tries and slips the ring on. He puts his hand up and stares at the ring around his finger. “Nice,” he smiles.

“Hey,” Nichkhun calls. Startled, Wooyoung quickly takes the ring off and puts it back on its place, absentmindedly humming back to Nichkhun in reply. “I like this song,” Nichkhun says, his voice sounding nearer. Wooyoung takes a look at the ring one last time before shifting his gaze to Nichkhun.

“Hmm? What?”

“I said I like this song. Do you like this song?” Nichkhun grins and unnecessarily bobs his head to the somehow slow music, hands reaching for Wooyoung’s. Wooyoung tries to listen to the song playing in the store.

“Hmm? What song is this? I’ve never heard of it be— huh? Khun, what are you doing??” Wooyoung rises his eyebrows and they disappear under his fringe as Nichkhun takes his hand and turns him around.

“Oh come on, I thought you liked dancing.” The grin on Nichkhun’s face turns impossibly wider. Nichkhun interlocks their fingers together after resting Wooyoung’s hand on his shoulder and his own hand on Wooyoung’s waist. He’s the one doing all the work, dancing and guiding them both around.

“Khunnnnnn…!” Wooyoung protests but doesn’t really stop Nichkhun. “We’re in the middle of a shop!”

“In the middle of an empty shop,” Nichkhun makes a point. Wooyoung looks around and realizes the place is indeed empty right now. Not even the cashier is seen behind the counter anymore.

“But still!” Wooyoung insists, trying to pull away from Nichkhun. “People outside can see us,” he hisses. Nichkhun doesn’t let him go.

“Who cares?” Nichkhun clasps one hand on Wooyoung’s and wraps his arms around him, and even though Wooyoung is embarrassed and finds this all too ridiculous— not only because they’re dancing in a public place but also because the dance doesn’t suit the songat all— he automatically spins himself around as Nichkhun straightens his arm, before spinning his way back to Nichkhun. Wooyoung finally giggles, letting Nichkhun wraps his arms around him from behind and sways them around. “Now you’re smiling again. Isn’t this nice?”

Wooyoung sighs, suddenly feeling a lot, lot better and content with being in Nichkhun’s arms like this. “Aren’t you going to feed me?”

“Hungry?” Nichkhun pats his hand on Wooyoung’s stomach.

“Yes, feed me please~” It is then when Wooyoung caught a pair of eyes watching them from behind the counter, half her head peeking from below. Realizing that she’s just been caught staring, she immediately rises up to her feet, her expression a mix of fear of getting scolded and embarrassed of getting caught. She quickly puts the bag of Cheetos onto the counter and bows.

“Sorry!” she says. Wooyoung pulls away from Nichkhun, equally embarrassed while Nichkhun looks amused more than anything. Wooyoung’s not sure what to do, not sure how long had she been watching them. He feels his cheeks turning red at the thought of her watching them all along. Receiving no response, she slowly straightens up and blinks at them. “Sorry, I really— I didn’t mean to— uh. Should I turn the volume up?”

Wooyoung shakes his head a no, bows and then rushes out of the shop. Nichkhun follows after, his laughter filling the air. “It’s not funny!” Wooyoung pulls on Nichkhun’s arm. “We shouldn’t have done that.”

“But Wooyoung, you’re so cute.”

“How is this cute?!” Wooyoung asks incredulously. He glances back at the shop and through the display glass, he sees her typing vigorously on her phone. Wooyoung gasps and drags Nichkhun quickly out of the place. “Now she’s going to tell all her friends!”

Nichkhun laughs even more. “So? Let the whole world know about us.”

Wooyoung pointedly ignores Nichkhun and hopes the cold weather will help to cool down his heating face some how.






Their time there is well spent so far. After much persuasion and a hell lot of aegyo, Nichkhun eventually, though reluctantly, let Wooyoung eat all the street foods. It’s a long street full with all kinds of vendors selling different kinds of foods and snacks, and Wooyoung devoured everything he could until it was impossible to swallow even a small piece of ddukbokki anymore.

Since the Gwangalli beach is only a few minutes walk away, they decided to head there— all the while letting the foods settle in their stomachs and digest properly. It’s very much deserted over there since it’s still cold for people to hang around the beach. Wooyoung enjoys it still, the chilly breeze and salty tang of the ocean. He missed this a lot.

“Thailand has great beaches too, did you know?”

Wooyoung fixes the scarf around his neck, pressing his hand on it to bury his lower face underneath as he turns his head to Nichkhun standing beside him. “Really?”

“Yeah. I’ve been to almost all of the popular ones at least,” Nichkhun smiles. His eyes are looking into a distance, somehow pensive as he seems to reminisce something.

“Which one did you like the most?”

Nichkhun blinks and looks at Wooyoung, the smile still on his face. “Pattaya. It’s almost the same like Gwangalli. Minus the—” he looks straight ahead again, one eye closed and using his finger to trace the outline of the Gwang-An bridge in swiping motion. “—bridge.”

“What about Phuket? Have you been there before? Heard it’s a nice place too,” Wooyoung says. He’s seen some images from the television and internet but never really experience going there himself. Nichkhun’s eyes light up.

“Oh, Phuket! It’s a gorgeous place. Warm, sunny place and a very blue, blue ocean. Ahh, I can almost feel the warm sun on my skin now.” Nichkhun closes his eyes and pulls his chin up, his beautiful smile painted on his face. Wooyoung silently admires the perfection that is his Nichkhun, tracing his eyes from Nichkhun’s eyebrows down to the bridge of his nose and lips to the contours of his face. Nichkhun is really handsome. “Okay, wait,” Nichkhun opens his eyes again and meets his gaze with Wooyoung’s. “I changed my mind. Phuket is my favorite, definitely.”

Wooyoung shakes himself off from his reverie. “Did you say warm and sunny and blue ocean?” Nichkhun affirms with the wiggle of his eyebrows. Wooyoung clings himself onto Nichkhun. “You must take me to Phuket.”

Nichkhun giggles and holds on to Wooyoung. “Yeah let’s go to Phuket. I’ll take you there,” Nichkhun says as he searches for Wooyoung’s eyes. Wooyoung knows that look and he feels his smile slowly fading away, but before the sadness has any chance to build and take over, Wooyoung looks away.

“Ah, if only we can go into the water,” Wooyoung sighs. Soon enough, there’s a thud on the ground and when Wooyoung looks down, it’s the backpack Nichkhun’s dropped. “What are you doing?” he arches his eyebrows up. Nichkhun grins and pulls his sneakers and socks off.

“Going into the water,” he briefly says and jogs towards the sea.

“You’re cra— yah!” Wooyoung shouts after him. But then he thinks, why the hell not? Wooyoung drops his own bag on top of Nichkhun’s, running after him as he pulls off his sneakers and socks as well, hastily folding up the hems of his jeans. “Race you there!” he says when he runs past Nichkhun.

“Oh what—” Nichkhun sounds surprised. Wooyoung doesn’t even think twice and runs towards the sea. “Wooyoung, no—”

“Yahhhhh!!” Wooyoung screams as his feet finally hit the cold water, jumping up and running away from the sea back to the shore. Nichkhun laughs outright and catches Wooyoung as soon as he reaches up to him. “The water’s cold!!” he whines and hugs Nichkhun. Nichkhun squishes him.

“You really went into the water!”

“What?! What is that supposed to mean? Did you just trick me?” Wooyoung mocks an angry face.

“I was going to stop you but you ran straight towards the sea,” Nichkhun defends himself. Wooyoung’s taking none of that, of course.

“No fair. You must get a taste of that cold water too!” He hops onto Nichkhun’s back and latches himself there. “I’m not gonna get down until you get in there.”

Nichkhun grabs the back of Wooyoung’s legs and makes sure he doesn’t fall. “Do I really have to do it?”

“Yes, mister.”

Nichkhun gives in. “Well, okay. Hang on. My pants,” he refers to the hems. Wooyoung holds on to Nichkhun’s neck tightly with his legs around his waist as Nichkhun lets go and folds the hems of his jeans. Then he grabs the back of Wooyoung’s knees again, locking them securely with his arms. “Wooyoung, you’re so light.”

“Thank you~”

“That wasn’t a compliment.”

“Go, go, go!” Wooyoung ignores. Nichkhun looks at the sea and reluctantly moves forward. Just when the water’s about to reach Nichkhun’s feet, he quickly backs away. “Hey. I said get in there!”

“Do I really have to?”

“Yes!” Wooyoung says again, hitting his heels onto Nichkhun’s thighs. Nichkhun takes a step forward and waits for the water to get to his feet. When it does, Nichkhun tiptoes on the sand trying to avoid the cold water as much as he can. Wooyoung giggles at the back.

“The water is really no joke!” Nichkhun admits.

“Loser~ can’t even put your whole feet into the water,” Wooyoung lets out a cheeky smirk. Nichkhun laughs in disbelief.

“What? Maybe I should send you down instead.” Nichkhun tilts his body sideway, playfully threatening to drop Wooyoung down into the water.

Wooyoung shrieks and tightens his arms and legs around Nichkhun. “No, please don’t!” Nichkhun balances Wooyoung again on his back and stays still, looking down at his feet under the clear water. “Aren’t you cold?”

“A little,” Nichkhun shivers. “Should we head back to the penthouse or do you want to wait for the sun to set?”

Wooyoung sighs and thinks it over. “We should get home…Minjun hyung….” he trails off. They should head back home so he can apologize to Minjun for being rude to him earlier on. “Besides, we can still watch the sunset from the penthouse, right?” he says as Nichkhun starts to walk back to where their bags are.

“Of course,” Nichkhun agrees.

“Then hurry up!” Wooyoung urges. Laughter escapes his mouth when Nichkhun increases his pace into a jog. They got nearer to where Wooyoung left his sneakers and socks so Nichkhun drops Wooyoung off for him to pick them up. Wooyoung does so in a hurry so he can catch up with Nichkhun again. He drops himself next to Nichkhun, cleaning his feet with clean water from Nichkhun’s bottled drink and wiping them dry with tissue papers. Wooyoung’s the first one to finish putting on his socks and sneakers and right after he fixes the hem of his jeans, he bends his knees and leans on Nichkhun’s back on his side.

“Tired?”

Wooyoung shakes his head. “Content,” he says. He really is. Wooyoung closes his eyes, enjoying the rise and fall of Nichkhun’s steady breathing. Nichkhun lets him stay like that for a little bit even after he’s done tying his shoelaces. After a few minutes, Nichkhun grabs Wooyoung’s hand on his waist and kisses his fingers one by one, causing Wooyoung to open his eyes again. “What was that for?” Wooyoung asks, a soft smile on his face.

“For happily being mine.” Wooyoung snorts at Nichkhun’s cheesiness, although his heart flutters greatly at his words. “Let’s go home,” Nichkhun suggests. Wooyoung nods in agreement. Nichkhun helps Wooyoung stand on his feet and dusts the sands of his pants, and then together they head back home hand in hand.






They enter the penthouse quietly and are greeted by the silence. As they walk through the hallway towards the living room, Minjun’s voice can slowly be heard. Sensing the somehow weird situation, the boys halt right at the end of the hallway and glued themselves on the wall.

“What’s going on?” Nichkhun whispers. Wooyoung shrugs and they both try to listen again.

“— don’t want to waste another second, another breath without you. Wang Fei Fei.” There’s a sound of Fei gasping, and just grasping what Minjun just said, Wooyoung drops his jaw open in excitement and disbelief. He turns to Nichkhun, only to find out Nichkhun has the exact same reaction as his.

“Oh God, is he—?”

“Shh!” Nichkhun shushes, complete with the motion of pressing his finger against his mouth. They quietly and carefully peek their heads from the corner and see Minjun down on one knee and Fei covering with her hand as she looks at the ring inside the small box on Minjun‘s hand. At the background, the sun is setting in and even Wooyoung feels how beautiful and magical this moment is.

“Will you marry me and let your heart, body and soul be eternally mine?”