As the door closed behind Daesung's mother, Seunghyun put his arms around him, hugging him tight. “You have no idea how relieved I am that you're alright. Never ever get beaten up again, okay?” Seunghyun sounded really tired. Daesung hugged him back and timidly placed a kiss on Seunghyun's neck. Seunghyun drew him in closer, placing his hand on the back of Daesung's head, holding him like he was the most precious thing in the world. Daesung felt like a million bucks. As they loosened their embrace, Seunghyun leaned in for a sweet kiss. Daesung closed his eyes. Would he ever stop getting butterflies in his stomach when Seunghyun kissed him? Daesung hoped not.

Seunghyun made Daesung lie down on the couch while he made breakfast. Daesung got a kick out of imagining Seunghyun in the kitchen, using all of their stuff. Now whenever he'd go into that kitchen, there'd be a trace of Seunghyun's touch all around. The thought made him ridiculously happy. How cheesy was he! Daesung was a little surprised at himself, at how utterly giddy and in love he had become. It was almost as if he had transformed into some crazy person that only had a one track mind – Seunghyun, Seunghyun, Seunghyun.

“TaDA!” Seunghyun placed a tray on the living room table, it had half-burned eggs, soggy toast and something in a cup, Daesung hoped it wasn't coffee since there was something floating in it. Okay, so Seunghyun wasn't perfect after all, that was actually a comforting thought. Originally, Daesung's plan had been to be polite and silently eat the food while hiding his disgust, but as he held a fork full of burned eggs, he couldn't hold in the laughter any longer. He laughed heartily, shaking so hard that the scrambled eggs fell off his fork and to the floor. Seunghyun laughed with him, collapsing onto the couch. He really looked exhausted. “So yeah, I think we've at least established that I won't make a good wife.” Seunghyun snorted. Daesung laughed even harder, wishing he had seen him in the kitchen while he was whipping up this disaster. “I prefer cereal anyway.” Daesung winked at Seunghyun, still laughing.

Two seconds later, they were both digging into bowls of delicious cereal. “So what was the wish of the grumpy boy? I fell asleep before I could hear the end of the story.” Daesung asked curiously. Seunghyun coughed, some cereal spitting out of his mouth. “That's a bed time story, I'll tell you more next time.” Seunghyun winked, his eyes smiling. Daesung got goose bumps. Next time. Oh he wished next time would be tonight, but he doubted his mom would go for it. When they finished their cereal, Daesung got to pick a movie to watch and they got all cuddly under a blanket. After the first 5 minutes of the movie, Daesung could hear Seunghyun's breath becoming slow and steady, his body relaxed. He had fallen asleep, holding Daesung like a giant teddy bear. Daesung liked his role as a teddy bear, wishing he could do it more often. He closed his eyes and felt himself start to drift off, Seunghyun's rhythmic breathing making him drowsy.

Daesung had been giving Seunghyun stealthy looks all morning, they were back at school. Daesung's mom hadn't fallen for Daesung's 'I'm so sick, I need my Seunghyunie'-act so they had spent the night apart. Daesung had found himself missing him, but it was a good thing. Missing someone made you realize just how much you cared, making sure you enjoyed the moments you did get together. The 11 o'clock break was almost over, next class was maths, not one of Daesung's favorites.

“Hehemm.”. Daesung looked up. There was a girl standing by his desk. She wasn't in his class, but he thought he'd seen her somewhere before. She was shaking like a leaf. Why was she so nervous? She handed Daesung a note and all but ran away. That was weird, Daesung thought, holding the note half-stunned. He glanced in Seunghyun's direction before opening the note. Seunghyun was playing it cool, but Daesung could tell his curiosity had been raised. Seunghyun was becoming less of an enigma to Daesung, he was beginning to learn how to read him. He might not have read further than the first two pages, but they had all the time in the world. That was one book he was going to read carefully cover to cover, he didn't want to miss a thing.

Daesung opened the note, it was very neatly written on pink stationary:

'Dear Daesung,

I like you. I hope you like me too.

If you like me back, please text me.

If you don't, please pretend this never happened.

Bora *^^*

(555-9256-2231)'

Daesung stared at it for a while. It was really cute, he was flattered that she picked him, but obviously he didn't feel the same. He felt bad for her, remembering how it was like when he thought Seunghyun didn't like him back. What if Seunghyun really hadn't liked him back, how awful would that have been. He would have had to see him at school every day, watching him from afar, unable to ever get close to him. His heart ached. Now that was Bora's fate, poor Bora. Maybe she didn't like him quite as much as he liked Seunghyun though, since he liked Seunghyun so much it was scary. He hoped not, for Bora's sake. He had a hard time imagining that anyone could like someone as much as he liked Seunghyun, if so, then how did people ever get anything done? The bell rang and he slid the note into his pocket, pretending this never happened it was. Sorry, Bora.

Daesung sat up on the roof, waiting to see if Seunghyun wouldn't join him. Seunghyun had limited their contact at school to be on the safe side, but every so often he would cave and come to the roof. This was one of those days. Seunghyun closed the door behind him and walked briskly towards Daesung. “So? Give it!” Seunghyun was dying of curiosity. “Give what?” Daesung pretended. He only managed to keep his face straight for about two seconds, breaking down in giggles. “The note, the note!!” Seunghyun held out his hand. Daesung fished it out of his pocket. “I really feel bad about this. You were right, Bora has a crush on me.” Daesung frowned as he handed Seunghyun the note.

“I think you should go on a date with her.” Seunghyun remarked after reading the note. “WHAT?! Is this some morbid joke? If so, it's not funny!” Daesung retorted shocked. “No think about it. It would be the perfect cover. Half the school would know in an instant that you two were dating, the girl that delivered the note is one of the school gossips, you know.” Seunghyun was deep in thought, hashing out a master plan. “It would solve all our problems! We wouldn't have to sneak around at school and we wouldn't have to worry every time we go to the movies or out for a bite to eat whether there could be people there we know, always having to choose the places furthest from the school.” Seunghyun said it like it was the best idea he ever had. Daesung couldn't believe what he was hearing. He was talking about sacrificing a poor young girl without any regards to her feelings. He only wanted to use her for his own gain. Was this the same Seunghyun he knew and loved? Daesung was shocked. And would Seunghyun just be okay with Daesung dating someone else? He was hurt, he would rather have wanted him to get jealous.

“I don't want a cover, I won't be bullied into being ashamed of myself and there's not a chance in hell I'm going to trample over other people just so I can crawl further into the closet.” Daesung was not amused. “We don't even need a cover! We've been super careful and I don't think there's anyone who remotely suspects that we're dating.” Daesung added, frustrated. “What if you get beaten up again?” Seunghyun complained. “Then I'll just get beaten up again. What am I supposed to do? Stop seeing you? Live my life in hiding?” Daesung all but cried out, this was non-negotiable. He was not going to use Bora and Seunghyun couldn't make him. That would mean they were stooping as low as the boys who beat him up. And even worse, they would be tainting their love with selfishness. Their love would be responsible for making the world a slightly worse place, contributing its small part to all that was wrong with the world. Daesung wouldn't have it. He wouldn't be able to take it. He wanted their love to be something he could be proud of.

“You can at least stop hanging so much with G-Dragon and Youngbae.” Seunghyun said, obviously sensing Daesung's reluctant and hostile demeanor. “Yeah, cuz that would make it less suspicious?! You've just never liked me hanging around them!” Daesung was peeved, he didn't like Seunghyun's attitude today. “Then they'll have less reasons to beat you up! Although if you would just tell me who they are, I could take care of it for good!” Seunghyun replied, irritated. This was not how this lunch break was supposed to go. “They have NO reasons to beat me up, they're just jealous! If anything, you should start being more social and get to know more people, then nobody would think twice when they saw us together, but would I EVER ask you to do that?! No! Cuz I know it's something you don't want to do!” Daesung's voice was elevated, he was furious. He thought Seunghyun was being selfish, stubborn and unreasonable. He was shaking. They were having their first fight. He couldn't believe it. He could feel the tears lining up in the tear ducts, just waiting to come out.

Without making a conscious decision, he ran away before he could say something he would regret. He ran down the stairs, ran through the hallway and before he knew it, he had run out of the school, heading for the exit. What was he thinking? He still had afternoon classes and he hadn't even picked up his stuff. He wasn't thinking. He just wanted to get out of there.

Daesung threw himself on the bed. He had calmed down a bit, running the whole way home had drained his energy. Ah, what was he going to do about his stuff? He couldn't do his homework without it. And he was cutting class. Him! He had never cut class before. It'd been an accident. But what was done was done, he didn't fancy showing up way too late, getting questioned about where he'd been. But his stuff...

There was one way, but that would require him to make up with Seunghyun. Maybe he had overreacted. If they just sat down and discussed this calmly, they could try and understand each other's point of view. After all, that was what being in a relationship was all about, right? Compromise and communication. Daesung took out his phone and sent Seunghyun a message, asking him to please grab his stuff and meet him tonight for a chat. It didn't take long for Seunghyun's reply to arrive.

'Meet you at the juice bar.'

Daesung put extra effort into looking nice, since he had been the one to run away from their argument. He realized it had been childish of him. He needed to step up and mature a bit, since he was now in an adult relationship and all. Daesung giggled to himself, adult relationship. Okay, the mature thing maybe wouldn't happen over night, but he was determined to work on it. He entered the juice bar, scanning the crowd for that handsomest of faces. He couldn't see Seunghyun anywhere, was he early? As Daesung raised his hand to check his watch, his eyes found something else than his watch. He could feel ice cold water run down his spine. Bora stood in the corner of the shop. She was looking right at him, waving happily with a great big smile on her face.