Don't Understand
Flower Boy Next Door
Youngjae’s head shot up and his eyes traveled to the unknown male in the room. He looked slightly younger than him with his fiery red hair and eyes circled with eyeliner.
Was he Seyong?
Youngjae could sense the distress in Daehyun’s voice and something else that was so familiar to him yet he couldn’t put his finger on it. It sounded like a mix of emotions. Hurt, confusion, sadness & loneliness combined.
Youngjae unconsciously ran his thumb over Daehyun’s hand as though to calm him down. Youngjae may not have had much contact with other people in awhile but he knew something was wrong with Daehyun. He shifted his gaze to Daehyun. His lips were quivering and his eyes looked more glassy than before.
“Chill out squirt. Seyong just missed you and wanted to see you again.”
Youngjae observed as Daehyun’s eyes were filled with a look of contempt when the baritone man spoke.
Did Daehyun hate his cousin?
Youngjae had so many questions but he couldn’t ask them. His mind didn’t let him.
Instead, he continued Daehyun’s hand with his thumb to ease his heart. Daehyun hadn’t replied and had only continued staring at his eye candy with so much hate. His eyes had occasionally flickered over to the red head and his eyes showed so many emotions. He looked in love but hurt.
“Who’s this, Dae?” The red head asked, his eyebrow cocked on one side.
“It’s the editor I’ll be working with for my biography. His name is Youngjae, be nice.” Daehyun mumbled under his breath and pulled away from Youngjae to tend to his pasta.
Youngjae had nearly forgotten that his hand was bleeding till Seyong had blurted it out. “Are you okay? Yongguk, go check his hand out!” The red head screeched and pushed Yongguk forward.
Youngjae held his breath as his eye candy looked at him with worried eyes. “What happened to your hand? Daehyun, how can you not help him when he’s bleeding?”
“I was, till you got home that is.” Daehyun hissed and frustratedly stirred the contents of his pan. Yongguk had chosen to ignore Daehyun’s tone and grabbed Youngjae’s hand hastily. Youngjae gasped and jumped back. “I’m sorry, that must’ve hurt.”
“Don’t apologize, I don’t like it.” Youngjae whispered and cupped his hand close to his body. Yongguk seemed to be taken aback by Youngjae’s behaviour.
“You sound exactly like Daehyun.”. Youngjae could only nod his head at the comparison. He knew deep down inside that he was worlds apart from Daehyun. They were polar opposites.
Youngjae kept his eyes trained on Yongguk. The latter was still staring at his hand that was covered in dried blood. “You need to let me have a close look if you want me to help your hand.” Yongguk murmured and took a step towards him.
He took a step back. It continued till Youngjae was backed up into a wall and Yongguk was invading his personal space.
‘He smells like coffee and hand sanitizer’.
Yongguk reached out for Youngjae’s hand that was still cupped to his chest. His fingers grazed Youngjae’s skin and the said male turned to Daehyun with pleading eyes.
Daehyun looked back at him with confusion as he dished out the pasta onto the plates. Daehyun’s mouth turned into an ‘o‘ when he got the message.
“The pasta’s ready! I’ll go check on Youngjae’s hand.” Daehyun chirped, sounding unnaturally happy. Daehyun had plastered on a smile and pulled Youngjae into the bathroom for him.
“You don’t like people being near you, don’t you?” Daehyun asked as he ran Youngjae’s hand under the tap. “I should’ve guessed but you seem to be okay around me.”
“Maybe because you keep forcing yourself on me and give me no choice.” Youngjae voiced out. His jaw slackened when he realised he’d just said his thoughts aloud. Daehyun seemed to have looked over his words because he was more fixated on the fact that he’d spoken again.
“You spoke again! You should keep talking, your voice is really nice and soft.” Daehyun gushed excitedly while applying the antiseptic onto Youngjae’s clean wound.
“Thanks, I guess.” Youngjae muttered.
“We should probably head out. Those two love birds outside are probably wondering where we are.”
〆(・∀・＠)
Dinner was painfully awkward. Daehyun had tried to lighten the mood by cracking a couple of lame jokes that made Yongguk snort while Seyong was too focused on flirting with Youngjae’s eye candy. Youngjae was left to eat in silence as he watched the other three talk.
Seyong and Daehyun were bickering like a bunch of five year olds while Yongguk just watched them like a parent, inserting his input into their petty arguments occasionally.
Youngjae choked on his juice when the baritone man turned his attention to him instead. “So what do you do for a living Youngjae?”
Youngjae opened his mouth but nothing left it as he tried to formulate his thoughts.
“He’s an editor, Guk. I said that earlier on.”
Youngjae was tongue tied the moment he heard the raspy voice murmur his name so he was thankful for Daehyun answering on his behalf. He felt like he was going to combust into flames at any moment and the handsome man speaking to him wasn’t going to help him in any way.
The conversation had ended right there and nobody uttered a word till they finished up their dinner.
“Thank you for the meal, Daehyunnie. Now if you don’t mind, I need to exchange a few words with your cousin for a bit.”
Seyong seemed completely unfazed by the look of utter pain on Daehyun’s face because all he did was skip over to Yongguk and drag him out to the balcony.
Youngjae pushed Daehyun to the sink to distract him. He didn’t know what was going on with him but he just hated to see Daehyun looking like a crushed puppy. It seemed all to familiar to him.
The two of them stood side by side in silence as they scrubbed the dishes together, working in absolute synchronization. Daehyun seemed to have forgotten the fact that his crush was sweet talking his cousin because he was back to his old self, fooling around like the five year old he was.
“Do you want to hear a joke?”
Youngjae hesitated as he watched Daehyun plaster on a smile, straining himself to look okay.
“Why do you like him even though he keeps hurting you?”
Youngjae hated that he’d ruined Daehyun’s moment of happiness, even if it was fake. The question had been itching to come out and he couldn’t hold himself back any longer.
Daehyun’s smile was replaced with the all too familiar sulk and his eyes drifted to the red head snuggling up to his cousin outside. His mind was clouded. He tried to find an answer to Youngjae’s question but he couldn’t muster up any more energy for it.
“I didn’t tell you anything about me liking him.” Daehyun choked out.
He knew that it was a stupid reply but he didn’t want to search through his memories just for a reason. Daehyun could see Youngjae looking at him from the corner of his eye but he kept his trained on Seyong.
“Youngjae, let’s go away together.”
“What?”
“You’re hurting too right? I may not know what’s making you hurt but I know that you’re wounded and that’s a legitimate reason for me.”
“Daehyun, we’ve hardly even talked.”
“Does that really matter? We’re the same. We just need time to heal and we’ll be as good as new.”
“Daehyun, I don’t know what’s going through that thick skull of your’s but don’t even compare us. This is a mere crush you have on someone. I’ve been hurting for years. You won’t know how I feel so stop thinking we’re the same because we’re not. I don’t even have the ability to smile anymore so be thankful that you can still feel the slightest bit of happiness in you.”
“Young-”
“From now on, I’d prefer if we kept our relationship completely related to work. I won’t barge into your life and I’d like it if you did the same. Thank you for the dinner and good night.”
Daehyun watched with a slackened jaw as Youngjae stormed out.
“Youngjae, you’re such an idiot.”
〆(・∀・＠)
Jaebum brushed the eraser shavings away from the art piece sitting on his desk. He carefully shaded in the drawing, making sure that all the tones were right. His fingers traced over the drawing, imagining himself touching his skin.
The soft milky skin he absolutely loved.
He added the finishing touches, colouring in parts here and there.
A small smile played on his lips when he saw the finished piece.
“Drawing another one of Youngjae again?”
“Yeah. Do you have a problem with that, Jinyoung?”
“No, I just wish you’d stop obsessing over him.”
“I’m not obsessed with him.”
“Says the guy with fifteen different drawings of the same person pinned up in front of him. Also, that milk carton thing is getting old.”
“What do you expect me to do Jinyoung? If I want him to like me, I can’t just force myself onto him. Especially since he has his problem with people.”
“That’s just the thing hyung! You may not believe me but someone like him needs someone who forces them self onto him.”
“You’re talking crap again Jinyoung. Youngjae is like a precious doll and I don’t want to break him.”
“Yeah keep up with your delusions and he’ll be with you in the next ten thousand years.”
Jaebum ignored Jinyoung’s crude comment and turned back to the fresh page on his sketchbook.
Was Jinyoung right? Was he doing something wrong?
He was right about one thing though, he was never going to get Youngjae.
word count: 1,635
A/N: So now we have more of a look on Jaebum. I’ll be sure to talk more about him in later chapters because he’s one of the key characters. I’m changing the story a bit from the original Flower Boy Next Door. Like how Daehyun’s a soccer player when the actual character in the drama is a video game creator. Buhbye~

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