Prologue
EuphoriaP r o l o g u e
Eunhyuk's heart was beating painfully against his chest.
It was a Tuesday morning, 9 a.m. and a mob of journalists and photographers had gathered in front of him; clicking sounds and the clattering of cameras filled the air. The flashlights dazzled him every time he raised his head just a little too much while speaking words that had been rammed into him the whole night before. He kept his gaze on the floor, apologized now and then and silently accepted that he was permanently interrupted by his manager who mercilessly shot the journalists' questions down every time someone dared to ask something.
As the elder man currently spoke about how the both of them would make a real effort to right what they had done wrong, Eunhyuk lifted up his gaze a little bit and looked to the left, past the manager and other people until he found Donghae who was standing on the other side. It was just a short side glance for he didn’t dare to look at him any longer, too afraid to worsen the situation even more.
Underneath a simple cap he saw short, jet-black hair peeping out that he wasn’t used to yet; he almost forgot that his own hair had the same length and color for about a couple of hours now. Donghae's head hung low, he nodded now and then and only spoke with a very quiet voice when he was asked to. But the trembling of that voice and the slight shaking of his shoulders told absolutely everyone present that he was crying silent tears. Those tears he had been crying throughout the whole night and those were tears which Eunhyuk himself could only barely suppress. He wanted to be strong; he didn’t want to give anybody the satisfaction of winning. However, deep inside he knew that with doing what he did right in that moment, he was admitting his defeat.
It just had been a picture. Nothing more than a simple picture had brought them into this situation and Eunhyuk cursed himself that they – that he – hadn’t been more careful. This whole time, year after year, they had been able to hide it and just one careless moment had destroyed everything. Now he felt like he was a dangerous criminal during the pronouncement of judgment; the night before had been the inquisition.
"Lee Donghae and Lee Hyukjae will start their military service this very day. They will be stationed in different cities and promise to better their behavior", their manager announced strictly and the cameras clicked vigorously.
Eunhyuk took the blame. He shouldn’t have ignored the alerting voices in the back of his head, shouldn’t have felt that safe. It had gone well for too many years; the feeling of security had made him careless. But they weren’t safe, they never had been and they most likely never would be. Both of them had been so afraid of the moment when it all would come out and now that this moment was there, he couldn’t think of anything crueler.
It hadn’t been more than a kiss. A short, innocent kiss.
The day before had been one of their rare days off and they had spent it together. They had taken Eunhyuk's car and he had driven them to the coast, simply because he wanted Donghae to see the sea again. The road had lead them to a small town with long beaches and only a few people on the streets. The moment he had seen the joy on the other
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