Hours turned to days, days into weeks, and weeks turned into months that Kyuhyun stayed with Donghae at his shoppe to keep him focused. Time didn't exactly fly, but it was a little better than it would have been. Donghae seemed like he was doing just as well at work as he was before....but secretly, when he was alone, he was worse than ever. Donghae still thought of Eunhyuk day in and day out even though he knew the man hated him by this point. The days dragged on and on and sometimes they felt like prisons to the chocolatier even though Kyuhyun treated them like simple minutes. One day, though....

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"Donghae..... Donghae," Kyuhyun whispered from across the other side of the glass counter display case. Donghae turned nonchalantly, his eyes heavy and unamused.

"What?" he questioned in a regular voice, not really too concerned of why Kyuhyun was whispering for the first time in forever. Kyuhyun shushed him and pulled him aside and gestured with his eyes across the shoppe to a table which was being occupied by a very cute, fair-skinned boy with chocolate hair and matching eyes. He sat there, the candy in front of him being a white chocolate rose, colored with natural hues to look like a real red rose whilst being relieved of any bitter taste. Donghae shrugged. "What about him?"

"Isn't he cute?" the devilish man asked the chocolatier, the boy the chocolate rose like a lollipop. "And amazingly alluring?" Wisely, the chocolatier gave a smile, though it was somewhat moking, and patted Kyuhyun on the shoulder.

"Whatever floats your boat."

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The sun was setting rather early that evening... It must be spring now, though it didn't really feel like it too much. It was still chilly and coat-worthy. It wasn't warm by any means. Kyuhyun had left earlier that day to pursue the chocolate-haired boy with pretty eyes and nature, leaving Donghae alone that evening to clean up and pack everything away. The shoppe, even with it's prettily-adorned caribbean-blue walls and gold-flecked onyx floors, was dark and dismal. Donghae wondered if all of this was really worth it after all. With a light shake of his head, he put on his leather coat and scarf, turned off the bright, beacon-like shoppe lights, and walked out of the brick building, putting on his messanger boy hat before pocketing his old-fashioned keys that he prefered, and began to walk home along the deserted streets.

Donghae hummed to himself, trying to cheer himself up from the recent events which were not so very recent anymore, though it felt like they were. His mind was a bit hazy; so hazy that he missed the turn to his house and he continued walking up the street instead. He walked for a good quarter mile before spotting another person. The man ahead of him, hoodie pulled over his head, staggered like a drunk here and there as he tried to find his way home. Donghae, in a lost mind himself like the drunken man ahead, decided that perhaps it'd be good to help.

When the chocolatier caught up with the intoxicated man, he tapped his shoulder and the man turned. A very small gasp escaped Donghae's lips, the cold air filling his lungs, the breath sticking in his throat. There stood none other than Eunhyuk, drunk off of what smelled like dark chocolate Godiva and strawberry Schnapps. It was most likely a large drinking overdose of a famous drink that mimicked chocolate-covered starwberries that used those two alcohols as it's main composition. If there was one small good thing to Eunhyuk's drunkness, he didn't seem to recognize Donghae even in the slightest bit. What was bad, though, was the wrenching the chocolatier felt in the pit of his stomach when he noticed the tears that poured onto the other man's skin like sizzling transparent sugar onto his fair-skinned cheeks. As much as Donghae wished to embrace the crying man, he thought it may look odd.

"Sir, are you all right?" Donghae asked the hoodied blondey after a moment of sorting himself out.

"Who're'ya t'mock me?" Eunhyuk slurred, his stupor in alcohol making it hard to understand what he said. " 'Course I'm'ot a'righh..." The chocolatier asked why and the reply was, "I don't go'nobdy anymore."

"What do you mean by that?" Donghae asked quietly, sitting Eunhyuk down on a near-by bench. The blonde sobbed quietly before answering.

"M'girl lef' me....and th'only guy tha' ever seemed ta care... I scared him 'way..." Eunhyuk fell into another sob and Donghae felt his throat close as he tried not to cry. "I lost 'em 'round th'same time..." This added statement only made Donghae feel worse and worse. However, the chocolatier tried to buck up. Maybe this was his chance to help the sobbing, lost boy he had fallen in love with so long ago.

"Here.... Sir, you're very intoxicated.... Why don't we go to my place? You can sleep there and we can talk more in the morning," Donghae offered. Eunhyuk nodded once, his vision obviously blurred from alcohol because he almost missed Donghae as he went to lean on him for support. Luckily, though, Donghae caught him and held him up. Their walk to Donghae's meager apartment was trecherous and time-consuming due to Eunhyuk's state, but Donghae didn't mind too much.... He only wished that the beautiful blonde man knew who was helping him and how much he really cared....

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Author's Note: Sorry that this chapter took so long and it was so uneventful. Writer's block is really horrible for me.... And I apologize that it is not as feels-inducing as most would have probably liked. I intend to work on that more in the next chapter. Thanks for reading!

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