“Wow, Hyung. Did you two made all these foods?” Junjin asked amazed. He already threw the same comment many times while helping us set the table. “Woah, daebak.”

“Not bad, huh?” I asked proudly. I sent a smug smile to Hyesung who was seated beside me. He looked calmer than five minutes ago, when Junjin and Minwoo found us with our red faces and startled state. They guessed right away that they just interrupted our private moment and then they happily teased us to no end.

“Let’s find out if the taste is as good as it looks.” Minwoo took a seat and hurriedly held his chopstick.

“Eat a lot, children.” Hyesung said shyly. He was still waiting for his chance to say his sorry.

Minwoo took a bite and smiled right away. “Woah, this is surpassing all my expectation. Very good. Very good.” He nodded then grinned until his eyes disappeared into thin line. “Hyesung-ah, when Eric lived with me, his cooking wasn’t even half as delicious as this one. You changed him to the better.” Hyesung tried to hide his smile from Minwoo’s comment.

Junjin also dug his chopsticks and began to eat. Junjin then mumbled to Minwoo, “I think they would be okay if they decide to settle down.” He wasn’t even bother to stop chewing while said that.

“What do you mean with settle down?” Hyesung asked with his face was going red. Minwoo and Junjin only chuckled at that, so Hyesung pouted and resumed his eating.

But I noticed that from time to time, Hyesung glanced at Minwoo and Junjin nervously. And it seemed like I wasn’t the only person who noticed it, because then Minwoo looked up at him and said, “You don’t have to say it, Hyesung-ah. We understand and you owe us no apologize.” He smiled again and made Hyesung perplexed.

“That’s right, Hyung.” Junjin added with his mouth full.

“Well, I –“ Hyesung stuttered.

“Did you make these foods to say it? And we’re eating them gratefully right now. Can’t you see our intention?” Minwoo shrugged his shoulder. “And I really don’t want to hear you apologize.” He smiled while Junjin nodded firmly beside him.

Hyesung opened his mouth but found nothing to say. So he shut it again and smiled awkwardly. He blinked many times and finally said, “Then you have to eat a lot.”

“I’ll finish it all if you want me to!” Junjin said enthusiastically made us erupted in laughter.

Hyesung was right when he said that having Minwoo and Junjin was a privilege. They had no obligation whatsoever to stay as our friends. They could have left us before, and they could leave at any time in the future. But they stayed, and that what made a difference. They were here and didn’t blame us. They accepted us. And they even did more than that.

To see them eating deliciously of the food I prepared sincerely, now I knew what blessing looked like.

***

Four men were sprawled on my living room. We were half asleep with empty beer cans all over the floor. After the peaceful dinner, we were back to our nature. Drunkards. Junjin and Minwoo practically raided my alcohol supply and the ending was easily predictable. We lied on the carpet and the couch with our consciousness slowly disappeared.

“If you are the common case, I’ll suggest you to run away and get knocked out. Once one of you got pregnant, there’s no reason for Hyesung’s parents to against your relationship.” Minwoo said slowly with his drowsy voice then sighed. The way he said it felt like it was our fault that both of us could not conceive a baby.

Hyesung groaned from the couch. “Quit the suggestion, Minwoo! You already said it twice and it’s already declined! Nobody would get pregnant between me and Eric. Are you crazy?” Hyesung didn’t drink much like the rest of us, so he was pretty much sober and sane.

“Did I do that? Well, sorry. I forgot about that.” Minwoo then chuckled happily from the floor. He moved his feet and poked my hand with it just for fun.

“Eric Hyung, you can take aunty to some leisure sailing and we can push her to the water. Then you should save her. I’m sure she would accept you after you saved her life.” Junjin mumbled to me.

“Yah! It’s too dangerous!” Hyesung shrieked in horror. He threw the cushion to Junjin’s face before said, “I won’t let you push my mother to the water!”

“Not necessarily to the water. Maybe we could hire some punk and threat her on the street, and then Eric Hyung comes and saves her.” Junjin added.

“Yah, I told you it’s too dangerous!” Hyesung yelled.

“That’s right, Jinnie. Let’s not threatening Hyesung’s mother’s life in here.” I said. I didn’t know how much time have passed, but the suggestions they gave were not getting better by the times. After dinner, Minwoo and Junjin suggested many things we could try to persuade Hyesung’s parents. But combined with alcohol, their suggestions sounded more ridiculous rather than useful.

“Both of you could kneel down in front of your house, Hyesung-ah. Just like in a movie. All day and night, then your parents would see you from the window.” Minwoo chirped. “That always works on the movie.”

“But it’s winter soon.” Hyesung sighed lowly. “It would be freezing.”

“That’s it, Hyung. You kneel down on winter, that’s perfect.” Junjin exclaimed happily. “Make sure you wear the light coat for miserable effect. No hat or glove.” I already pictured it in my head, both of us kneel down in front of Hyesung’s parents’ house in winter. Not a happy scene.

“I could be dead.” Hyesung said desperately. “We could be dead, Eric.”

“Well, wear a lot of heat plaster on your T-shirt under your coat, Hyesung-ah.” Minwoo added.

“I must be crazy, but that suggestion sounds make sense to me.” I mumbled.

“If you want to do that, we’ll make sure to accompany you.” Minwoo smiled from the carpet.

“You will kneel down with us?” Hyesung asked. He was so startled he even sat up from the couch.

“Um, me and Junjin will wait inside the car just nearby. We’ll watch you and cheer for you.” Minwoo grinned annoyingly. Hyesung snorted insultingly then lied back down again.

“This gets us nowhere.” Hyesung murmured.

“I’m curious!” Junjin suddenly sat up and stared at Hyesung seriously.

“What is it?” Hyesung asked rather bored.

“Hyung, what would you do if you want a child?” He asked bluntly.

Hyesung and I looked at each other with much confusion. We never talked about this matter, so we didn’t know how to answer the question. But Minwoo saved us from the obligation when he suddenly said, “They could adopt or using surrogate mother.”

“Surrogate mother is a good idea.” Junjin nodded approvingly. I glanced at Hyesung and relieved to see he smiled amusingly.

“But then I’m curious.” Minwoo now sat up too. “If you’ll be using surrogate mother, would you have with her or just handed your ? Your and her egg cell could e on lab, right? On the plate or something. They called it plate, right?” Minwoo mumbled endlessly.

“I think it’s called dish.” I said without thinking. “And I don’t think I want to have with her. I guess, I’ll just hand my .”

“You guys are impossible.” Hyesung gawked in disbelief.

“Woah, Eric is loyal to you, Hyesung-ah.” Minwoo chuckled and ignored Hyesung’s glare.

“Can’t you guys please be focus?” Hyesung pouted.

“Hyesung-ah, we’re drunk. Drunken people don’t focus.” Minwoo chuckled at his own joke. Hyesung groaned then lied back down to the couch again. Junjin and Minwoo lied back down too just a second after. And for my surprise, I could hear they started to snore right away. I guess our conversation had to end just like this.

I didn’t know when I fell asleep too. I woke up hugging myself from the cold. I looked around and found Hyesung and Junjin sleeping on the couch, whereas Minwoo sleeping on the floor with me. I got up on my feet and walked to Hyesung. I shook his shoulder lightly and whispered, “Hyesung-ah, moved to bedroom. It’s cold in here.” I glanced at my watch and it was already 3 in the morning.

Hyesung got up in half conscious, but he had the sense to shook Junjin’s shoulder and sleepily said, “Jin-ah, move to bedroom.” He then walked to the bedroom with his eyes were still closed. Junjin automatically got up and also with eyes closed, followed his hyung to the bedroom. And Minwoo, even though no one woke him up, like a robot he got up on his feet, sniffed once then walked to bedroom too. All three of them found my bedroom with eyes closed!

So here we were, four men cramped on each other on my bed. Minwoo reserved a space in the middle (his crazy obsession of being in the middle still appeared even when he’s drunk) with Hyesung, whereas Junjin and me on the side. If only I wasn’t too sleepy, I would find the view amusing. This bed wasn’t made for four adult men, so we lied so close at each other we couldn’t move. It supposed to feel so uncomfortable, but I found myself happy with the situation. This was so warm and felt like having a sleep over with your friends.

“Good night, Hyung.” Junjin mumbled softly one last time before I let myself drifting to my sleep.  

***

“Hyesung-ah, I’m home!” I yelled happily from the front door that night after I went home from work. This feeling was incredible. Come back home from long hours of work and knowing that I would find Hyesung was waiting for me. After two days of neglecting my work, today I had to get back to my senses and went to work again. This morning Hyesung was on a bad mood seeing me get ready for work, because he hated the fact that he was forced to have some ‘days off’.

I found him watching TV while smoking on the couch. I slumped on the couch too beside him and leaned my head on his shoulder.

“You had dinner?” Hyesung asked.

“Uh hum. At the restaurant. How about you?” I glanced at the full ashtray on the coffee table. Did he just smoke all that cigarettes?

“Yeah, ordered jjajangmyeon just now.”

“What are you watching?” I shifted my attention to the TV which some young girls and boys – idols maybe – on a talk show. I didn’t watch TV much so I didn’t know who was who.

“If only I knew.” He chuckled. “But that girl is so pretty and cute I can’t stop looking at her.” He pointed to a young girl with rosy cheek and bright eyes. Cute indeed.

“That girl in pink? She’s too young for you Shin Hyesung! I bet she has no ID yet.” I searched for the remote to turn the TV off.

“You’re just jealous. Because she’s far prettier than you.” He finally crushed his last cigarette on the ashtray. “And you’re so helpless about it.” He smiled teasingly.

“You seem in a good mood today.” I eyed him suspiciously before looked around again for the remote. Where the hell is that thing?

He only shrugged his shoulders before watched the TV again. He curled his lips as if he was holding his smile.

“Where is the remote?” I asked when I gave up searching.

“Why? So you can turn the TV off?” He asked amused. I nodded. He snorted but handed the remote he had been hid under his thigh. “You’re jealous for nothing.” He said in disbelief.

“I’m not the jealous type, but what’s mine is mine. End of story.” I stated while clicked the button off triumphantly. There’s no way I would let a stupid clueless girl steals my Hyesung away from me. Not if I could easily stop it just by clicking one button.

I loosened my tie and gestured to the full ashtray. “You smoked awfully a lot.”

“I think I just bored.” He answered shortly. “And here some information, my credit card and bank account are still valid. So I’m not as poor as I thought.”

“You checked it today?”

“Yeah. And I went shopping too, because I’m tired of your ugly sweaters.” He eyed me and smiled teasingly. He was back on his playful self.

“What else you did today?”

“I called my father and mother.” He said quickly. “They didn’t pick up this time. So I sent them messages. Just asking whether they had meal and something like that. No reply.”

“Maybe they’re busy.” I held his hand on mine.

“Must be because of that.” He nodded then we laughed on our joke. “I’m okay. And I’ll try again tomorrow.” He smiled assuring me. I knew he was okay. I could see it that his smile – even though still had some sadness on it – was his sincere one. 

“You do that.”

“I have a feeling that they would call me very soon. Let’s hope it would be tomorrow.”

I leaned forward and pecked him lightly on his lip. I frowned then pulled away. “You smelled awful.” It felt like I just kissed a chimney. He laughed when he saw me pouted.

“No, you’re the one who smelled awful, Ahjussi.” He pushed me away. “Go get showered and change your clothes!”

So I did what I’ve been told. I took a bath and changed my clothes just like an obedient child. When I was done, I walked out the bathroom and found him was lying on the bed with his phone in his hand. His face looked serious.

“What are you doing?” I snuggled myself to him and nuzzled his neck. He wiggled a little but said nothing to stop me. I thought I would live for long time if I could do this every night. Snuggling him was far better than taking any health tonic. I hugged him closer and breathed in his skin. We used the same soap and cologne, but why his scent smelled so different?

“I’m not doing it tonight. So don’t be too close.” He warned me.

“You’re always thinking about dirty thing even when I just want to hug you.” I retorted.

“Then stop tickling me, Idiot.” He shoved my hand tickling his chubby belly under his T-shirt. I chuckled before released him. I knew I would be too excited if I didn’t release him immediately.

“I know it’s not the right time and right place to say this, but I’m grateful you’re here with me.” I murmured to him but looked at the ceiling. Living with him was so easy and natural as if all my life I’ve been waiting just to do this.

He shifted a little and when I turned my face, I saw him laid on his side and looked at me. I couldn’t read his expression. “I have a secret.” He said softly.

“Huh?”

“I have this disease.”

“What?”

“I have this disease. When I see you, even if I am in pain, I am happy.” He said before slowly leaned forward to kiss me.

“I won’t cure it if I were you.” I grinned before embraced him for another kiss.

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A/N

just because i'm so happy these days..

you gave this story so much love, from your lovely comments and upvote, I'm writing this fluffy chapter for you ^^