{ Summer Paradise}

Word Count: 2, 544
Pairing: D.O / KAI

{♥} aDOrable_ {♥}

How can you show me paradise when I'm leaving?

Kyungsoo wakes up tangled up in his sheets, the smell of the sea still in his nostrils as he stretches lazily. He blinks, feeling strange until the alarm rings just right beside his pillow.

Groaning, Kyungsoo turns off the alarm, before a broad smile lights up his face.

8AM.

Another day with Jongin.

--

Jongin has his car parked at the exact same spot as Kyungsoo hurries down, a plastic bag full of lunch in his hand. Jongin spots Kyungsoo and raises his hand lazily, waving, failing to notice the bright red that spread across Kyungsoo’s face.

“What are we having for lunch?”

Kyungsoo flushes, hands busy as he ransacks the plastic bag. “Mom prepared cherry tomatoes, rice, kimchi and beef-bone soup. I hope you like it?” He squeaks nervously, the last statement coming out as a question instead.

A moment passes before Jongin grins; nose scrunched upwards as he brushes his fingers across Kyungsoo’s cheeks. “You know I like everything.”

Kyungsoo turns away, ears red, failing to catch the last bit of Jongin’s sentence.

--

Kyungsoo wakes up happy every single day, safe in the knowledge that it’d be another day spent with Jongin and Sehun, his best friends, working at the beach near their houses.

Jongin and Sehun are both life-guards and swimming teachers, whereas Kyungsoo works in the small café right beside the beach as a waiter.

There are times when he feels insanely jealous; girls drool whenever Jongin and Sehun walk past half-, abs almost glittering like gold in the sunlight. He can never forget how beautiful Jongin looks under the sun; tanned, tall, muscular and good-looking, too much like a Greek God.

There are many things Kyungsoo cannot forget, things like Jongin’s smile, Jongin’s words, Jongin’s likes and dislikes, and most importantly the way Jongin behaved around Sehun.

He couldn’t help but feel that Jongin liked Sehun more, Jongin always fooled around with Sehun and he would watch from the window of the café he works in as the pair wrestles in the sea playfully, bodies glistening like diamonds under light. Kyungsoo’s eyes fill up with tears at times like that, but eventually Jongin’s smile breaks him down into little pieces and he goes all soft for Jongin again.

“Yo, Sehun, get your in or we’re driving off, and bloody hell, open your eyes!” Jongin yells through the open window at Sehun who has his swollen eyes half-open. Sehun promptly responds with his middle finger as he crawls into the back-seat, yawning profusely.

“Your eyes are very swollen today, Sehun,” Kyungsoo comments, turning around to look at Sehun. Sehun shrugs, rubbing his eyes.

“It swells up every morning, it’d be fine later on, trust me.”

Jongin chokes jokingly and Kyungsoo can hardly stop the dagger driving through his heart as Sehun smirks and leans forward until his mouth is close enough to be brushing against Jongin’s ear. He mumbles something into Jongin’s ears, something Kyungsoo cannot hear, something Kyungsoo is not supposed to know and Jongin’s body becomes stiff as the silly smile vanishes from his face. Kyungsoo furrows his brows at Sehun, but the younger male simply winks and slumps back onto the seat.

Nobody else says anything for the rest of the journey.

--

Kyungsoo spots Jongin as soon as he walks into the café, Sehun following close behind him, both shirtless.

Although Kyungsoo has seen Jongin without his shirt more than he can remember, he still feels his heart skip a little. Compared to Jongin, Sehun is a paler boy with a permanently stoned face. Sehun beams at Kyungsoo, but the smile doesn’t quite reach his eyes.

Kyungsoo notices that, too.

He notices how Sehun seems to only smile when he’s around Jongin, un-stoning his face and letting himself go a little wild. He notices how free Jongin seems to become around Sehun.

He notices how he doesn’t really fit in.

Jongin and Sehun are two playful boys, and Kyungsoo is stiffer than flexible and more motherly than playful, and he has no idea why the two boys even included him because honestly, it hurts like hell whenever Jongin has his arm around Sehun to tickle him.

Kyungsoo is a bundle of nerves and a broken machine around Jongin.

“I’m starving!” Sehun complains, face red. “The sun is being a little er today.”

“He forgot his sun-block,” Jongin snickers in a loud-stage whisper to Kyungsoo, and Kyungsoo can’t help but giggle a little as he places the bag of food on the table. Jongin looks around to ensure the manager isn’t around before pulling Kyungsoo down beside him, letting his hand linger around Kyungsoo’s wrist a little longer before pulling away, lips pulled into a mischievous smirk.

“Wanna hang out tonight?”

“To – tonight?” Kyungsoo stammers, the spot on his wrist where Jongin’s hand had been around a few seconds ago burning. “Where?”

“I say we crash at Sehun’s house.”

Sehun narrows his already small eyes at Jongin who narrows his eyes right back. “Don’t think I forgot what you did to my house the last time you came over, Kim ing Jongin.”

“It wasn’t my fault that we both fell asleep, and besides its nothing serious either…”

“Nothing serious!” Sehun scoffs, popping a cherry tomato into his mouth. “You almost burned down my whole kitchen. We’re lucky I woke up in time.”

Kyungsoo slips away quietly, feeling emptier than ever.

Nobody notices.

--

The red angry circle around ’28 June’ is the first thing that greets Kyungsoo’s eyes when the petite male wakes up, and today he doesn’t feel the rush of happiness that hits him along with Jongin’s smile.

Today he feels empty, like someone cut him open, took out all his organs and then sew him back again.

Today he’s an empty rag-doll, today he can hear his own heart shattering over and over again if it’s even possible for a broken heart to break even more.

8:06AM.

He doesn’t bother to climb out of bed as he grabs his phone from the bed-side table and types in a text message.

To: Jongin
Text: I’m not feeling well today, I won’t be joining you guys. Have fun w/o me.

The reply comes sooner than he expected, and Kyungsoo almost drops his phone on his face as it vibrates without warning.

From: Jongin
Text: gws hyung, I’ll come over with sehun later once we’re off work. Take care of urself (:

Kyungsoo turns off his phone and bolts out of bed, making sure the door is locked before retreating back to his room.

He wonders if Jongin remembers that he’s only here for vacation. He wonders if Jongin will miss him after he leaves Busan in three days’ time.

--

Kyungsoo remembers the first time he stepped onto haeundae beach.

He remembers the blazing sun and scorching sand under his feet, and he remembers feeling so incredibly warm it felt as though he was going to start burning up any moment.

He remembers the first time he made eye-contact with the tanned half- boy, who smirked instead of smiled, and feeling his face temperature shoot up even more.

“Hello,” tanned boy had approached him, surf-board in his arms. “do you want swimming lessons?”

Kyungsoo had gulped, and then shook his head. “I can swim very well, but thank you.”

Tanned boy had later introduced himself as Jongin, and before he knew it he had been dragged to lunch together with Jongin and his best friend called Oh Sehun (who had an illness called the stone-face disease). Following that Kyungsoo had completely gone over to Jongin’s side, and Sehun got him a job at the café beside the beach so that they could meet up every-day.

He only told Jongin once about the fact that he would go back to Seoul to study once his vacation ended on 28 June, and Jongin had seemed to be genuinely disappointed.

Through it all, though, Jongin never asked him to stay.

--

That night, Jongin and Sehun shows up like he promises, but Kyungsoo stuffs his headphone in as he turns his music player up loud, ignoring the knocking and vibration on his phone. He continues to sing along softly even long after the knocking and vibration stopped, just to keep his mind preoccupied.

--

 27 June, Kyungsoo gets out of bed at 2.30PM and changes into a white V-neck shirt and blue shorts, suitcase packed and everything ready. He sits by the window, staring out at the lonely road and a lump forms at his throat because there is someone he misses dearly but he cannot approach him.

Said person does not like him back, said person will not miss him, and said person does not care.

“Kyungsoo?”

His mother peers into the room, a shawl wrapped around her bony shoulders. Kyungsoo plasters a smile on his face and turns to her, eyes wide and innocent.

“Yes, mom?”

“You’re leaving tomorrow, have you got everything ready?”

“Yep, my clothes are all packed.”

“I’m sorry to have you leave, soo, I wish we could spend more time together. I told your father to have you transfer over to a school here in Busan, but he insists that it would be better to have you study in the city. Do you wish to transfer here, Kyungsoo? I wish to spend more time with you, you’ve spent your childhood with your dad and you’re all grown up now. I fear we won’t have much time together anymore, since you’re going to grow up and all – “

“Mom, it’s fine.” Kyungsoo smiles reassuringly, fingers curled around his knee. “I’ll continue to stay in Seoul with dad, he keeps falling ill recently. I have to take care of him.”

“Kyungsoo – “

“Mom…”

“Okay, fine, fine.” She chuckles heartily, looking fondly at her son. “Have you bid farewell to Jongin?”

Kyungsoo’s stomach twists and a wave of guilt slaps him but he pushes them back and nods, and only allows the smile to fall after his mother closes the door. He wants to take the bus back to Seoul now, but he decides to face Jongin after all and at least see if Jongin will try to ask him to stay. Nervously, Kyungsoo checks his appearance in the mirror before grabbing his phone and heading out of the door. He hasn’t checked his phone for the entire day and decides not to because he finds it a hassle to hit the ‘on’ button. His mother waves him off and Kyungsoo flags a taxi since it’s obviously too hot to walk.

15 minutes later and he’s at the beach again, feet on the scorching sand as he squints and tries to spot Jongin and Sehun in the waves, tempted to dive in because it’s just too ing warm. He cannot spot Jongin amongst the crazy crowd and his heart sinks a little more at the thought of not being able to see Jongin before leaving, but a familiar voice calls out his name and Kyungsoo’s heart decides to go live in his stomach all of a sudden.

“Soo?”

“Hey, Jongin.”

Jongin looks the same; striking red swimming pants and a white wife-beater, and he’s grinning like nothing’s wrong.

“Where have you been? I missed you.”

Kyungsoo tries to remember how to breathe as he nods awkwardly, knowing how unattractive he probably looks beside Jongin. “I’m leaving tomorrow.”

Jongin looks like he’s been kicked but Kyungsoo tries not to get his hopes up. “Oh, back to Seoul, right?”

“Yeah.”

They stare at each other for a few seconds, letting the awkwardness overwhelm them and Kyungsoo wants to cry because he never used to be awkward with Jongin.

“I guess this is goodbye?”

Kyungsoo wishes he’s never come in the first place because Jongin doesn’t seem to care that he’s leaving and he is too much of a weakling to face that reality but he can’t take anything back.

“Yeah. Bye.” With teeth digging cruelly into lips, Kyungsoo turns back and starts to walk away, ignoring the urge to slip his sandals back on because it really is ing burning and he hopes he doesn’t run into Sehun since he doesn’t wish to face Sehun either and finally give in to the voices that Sehun and Jongin are in love.

“Can’t you stay?”

Kyungsoo thinks he’s dreaming when he hears it and he freezes; eyes opening wide and teeth sinking into his lips so hard he tastes blood. Jongin hooks a finger around Kyungsoo’s finger and repeats the same sentence.

“Can’t you stay?”

Kyungsoo allows his feelings to spill out of him this time. “I can’t. I’m going to fall deeper in love with you if I stay, Jongin, and that really hurts because you don’t love me back because you’re in love with Sehun I’ve always known I was the third party but I just couldn’t stay away I was just so attracted to you and – “

Jongin leaves Kyungsoo with no space to breathe as he pulls Kyungsoo to him and kisses his lips, and Kyungsoo can hardly even feel the ground beneath him as he kisses Jongin back desperately.

“Who said I’m not in love with you?” Jongin whispers against his lips, and Kyungsoo lets out a small whimper before grabbing a fistful of Jongin’s hair and kissing him with so much need. They totally forget that they’re in the middle of the crowded beach; two gay men kissing in public’s eye and Sehun who tries to drag them away gets kneed by Jongin and scurries away in embarrassment.

It’s twilight when Kyungsoo can finally stop Jongin’s addictive lips, and they’re huddled in the backseat of Jongin’s car, the summer air now a gentle breeze playing with Jongin’s hair. Jongin presses a kiss against Kyungsoo’s temple, loving eyes gentle as Kyungsoo smiles, inhaling all of Jongin.

“You’re still leaving?”

“I’ll be back.” Kyungsoo returns Jongin’s kiss with a quick peck to the cheek. “I’ll graduate in a year, and I’ll be back here after I graduate.”

“How can you show me paradise when you’re leaving?”

“I’m going to miss you a lot too…” The older man buries his face in Jongin’s neck. “Feels amazing, doesn’t it? I feel like I’ve known you forever although it’s been less than a month.”

“There’s some things you just don’t question,” Jongin guffaws, fingers locked in Kyungsoo’s hair. “I believe that we are soul-mates.”

“That’s a very big word to use, Jongin.”

“Oh, yeah?” Jongin smirks, one brow raised and Kyungsoo shuts his eyes because this man is too attractive for his own good. “I love you, Kyungsoo, I think I really do. Whatever made you think I was in love with Sehun?”

Kyungsoo pouts, arm sneaking around Jongin’s waist to pull him closer. “I don’t know, maybe it was just me being jealous. Remember that day when Sehun’s eyes were particularly swollen, and he whispered something to you? Things just started going wrong from that point on.”

Jongin laughs and Kyungsoo thinks it’s the most wonderful thing he’s ever heard but Jongin doesn’t reply him so he just pulls him closer and falls asleep to the crashing of the waves and the feeling of jongin’s warm lips pressed against his forehead.

Real life can wait.