C h a p t e r  1 6

"I'm so proud of you."

Soft Giggling.

"Really?"

"Yeah. I'm the proudest boyfriend on earth."

Donghae laughed as his neck was covered with pecks, tiled his head slightly and pulled Eunhyuk closer. His back hit the wall and the other's hands roamed all over his body, making him giggle more and letting out contented sighs. Their lips met shortly after that, tongues slid against each other and tender hands caressed Donghae's hips. Their kissing was slow and it was tender but the air around them seemed to heat up with every second. Eunhyuk broke the kiss as it became too sensuous and grabbed the other's hand, grinning broadly.

"Come", he said and pulled a laughing Donghae along to the bathroom, the door snapping shut behind them.

Eunhyuk blinked and let his eyes stay closed for a moment longer than necessary before he looked back at the phone in his hands. He noticed that about twenty minutes had been skipped as he saw what happened next.

They stumbled out of the bathroom, lips and bodies glued to each other, only clothed with boxers and thin shirts. Donghae fell backwards on the bed with a loud laugh; Eunhyuk grinned and immediately bent over him, kneeled between the other's parted legs and bent down to continue where they had stopped. Arms were thrown around his neck that travelled over his back as their kissing kept going. Low moans left their mouths now and then as their bodies brushed against each other but they didn’t go any further.    
Eunhyuk grabbed the blanket after some time, pulled it over the both of them as Donghae snuggled down into the warmth of his arms. There was this soft smile on Donghae's lips and Eunhyuk almost couldn’t tear his eyes away from it; the younger had to pinch his cheek to make him stop staring. Their kissing didn’t stop after that – it just became more innocently.

Too innocently, Eunhyuk thought as the video suddenly ended. He let the phone sink down and rested his head against the back of his seat.               
So this was what they all had been talking about – and they clearly were right: there was nothing to deny about the video. It wasn’t blurry or filmed in a dark room, didn’t let him have the chance to say that the people shown weren’t them. It was filmed in HD, their faces and every part of their bodies was clearly visible; their voices and the sounds of their kisses had also been recorded just like everything else. There was no need to lie anymore.

His eyes skimmed the short text written below the video; he read the author's ranting about how they had destroyed the dreams of many fans and how they should've been role models instead of becoming addicted to a sin like that. It was written in a harsh language and without really reading everything he knew that there wasn’t a single good word about them in the whole article.

"Do you know when they recorded it?"

Eunhyuk gave the phone back to Leeteuk who was sitting beside him in the back of the car. He his dry lips.

"It was this night", he said silently and tried the best he could to not think about how just a few hours ago as this video had been filmed everything had been so much better.

"But how?" Leeteuk asked. "This was in your hotel room, right? Where did the camera come from?"

"A chambermaid brought it", Eunhyuk said blankly without needing to think much about it. "It was hidden in a bouquet of flowers."

"What?!" Heechul shrieked from the driver's seat, making Leeteuk flinch. "They spied on you that deviously?! That's illegal; those sick bastards, I should-"

"Please look back at the street, Heechul!" Leeteuk cried out as the car started to drift towards the other lane.

"Even if it's illegal", Eunhyuk said, uncaring and while staring at the hands in his lap. "We can't turn back time. No matter what we do, if we sue them or not: we can't erase this video from everybody's memory and we can't change the fact that Donghae…" He his lips once more and didn’t finish his sentence. His eyes started to well up with tears again just by the thought of the other.

"It's still wrong! And I want them to pay for what they did to you! This whole just started because of them!"

"Calm down, okay? I think we all want the same but we won't get anything if we start to freak out now", Leeteuk said and looked back at Eunhyuk who was still staring at his hands. His expression softened a bit. "Do you know what you want to tell them, Hyukjae?"

"Yes. I know very well what I want to tell them." His words sounded determined even though his voice was still trembling. Leeteuk sent him an encouraging smile.

"You know that we're with you, right? You're not alone in this."

Eunhyuk nodded and shortly let their eyes meet. He didn’t need to say a word to show him how thankful he was.

As they arrived at the SM building, they could already see the cars of the journalists and TV teams which caused a heavy nausea in Eunhyuk's stomach. There were some fans too but they rushed past them without paying them much attention. Eunhyuk felt like he was about to pass out and he knew that he most likely looked awful but he didn’t try to hide from the girls' cameras. He was so tired of hiding.

They walked through the building without greeting or looking at anyone, didn’t return gazes or reacted to the whispers they heard. They only stopped briefly in front of the closed doors that would lead them to the big conference room; Eunhyuk's hands were trembling badly and his whole body was uneasy but he suddenly felt calm. The fear of the reaction that would follow after he had said what he wanted to say was nothing compared to what he felt when he thought about Donghae.

"Are you ready?" Leeteuk asked and Eunhyuk was quick to nod his head.

"I've never been more ready than right now", he said with his still shaking voice. Leeteuk and Heechul looked at each other for a short moment before the latter pressed down the handle and pushed the door open with a bit more force than necessary.

Eunhyuk entered the big room behind Heechul and was closely followed by Leeteuk; he kept his gaze on the floor as they walked to the table at the front and didn’t see the glares Heechul sent the people around them. Cameras and the curious eyes of all those present followed them and vigorous clicking filled the room. Reaching the table Eunhyuk looked up a bit for the first time and saw some of their managers standing in front of him. Their faces were serious and even a bit angered but he didn’t care. One of them looked past him and seemed to search for someone.

"Where's Donghae?" he asked with a hushed voice but waited in vain for a reply. His words hadn't been loud enough for Leeteuk and Heechul to hear who were standing at the side and Eunhyuk didn’t react to them.

The raven head kept staring at the crowd, the microphones, cameras and unfamiliar faces. Someone tugged at his sleeve in an attempt to make him sit down but he kept standing, grabbed the microphone that was the closest to him without looking at it and held it in his hand, ready to speak. Long seconds of silence followed which seemed to make the managers and other notabilities standing next to him even more nervous.

"Sit down", someone hissed. "But don’t forget to greet them properly first!"

Eunhyuk blinked and eventually held the microphone a bit higher. This was the moment, he thought. This was the point of no return.

"My name is Lee Hyukjae", he said; it sounded weak and pathetic but that fit to how he looked. He wouldn’t act like all the times before and smile no matter how bad he felt. This was different.

"My name is Lee Hyukjae", he said again, his voice trembling more this time. "And I'm gay."

What followed was a mixture of shocked gasps and hushed words, most sounds coming from right beside of him. The cameras kept clicking and the flashlights were blending him; one of the managers tried to rip the microphone out of his h