Chapter 42

Hongbin recognised him right away – Sanghyuk's friend – the person that the latter chose over him to go to the arcade with just days ago. It sounded rather childish in his head that he felt bitter about being ditched, but it was unavoidable since he especially looked forward to going with Sanghyuk that afternoon. Hongbin hesitated to approach him since he did not know his name – or at least he did not remember if Sanghyuk ever mentioned it. However, the said friend immediately whipped his head to his direction, surprising Hongbin. He gulped and jogged to where the boy was, "You... You're Sanghyuk's friend, right?" Hongbin asked him.

Sanghyuk's friend scanned him first, studying him, before he answered, "You're one of Hyuk's friends...? Are you the dimples one? The handsome one with the dimples?" He pressed a finger to his cheek as if to indicate where a dimple was supposed to appear.

Hongbin blinked. 'Is that how Hyuk describes me to his friends? The handsome one with the dimples...?' The thought made him embarrassed but he immediately shook his head before he could drown in his thoughts. "It's Hongbin," He corrected Sanghyuk's friend. "Do you know where he is? We were supposed to meet."

"So you are the handsome one with dimples," Sanghyuk's friend nodded at him, a smile forming on his lips. "I'm Sungjae!" He held out his hand in front of Hongbin and they shook each other's hands even with Hongbin's initial reluctance. "Hyuk told me that you'll be here and to tell you to wait with me at the station. He got caught up with something unexpected so he had to deal with it. You don't mind, do you?"

At the mere mention of 'getting caught up with something unexpected' made Hongbin worry. He was not relaxed in the first place but Sungjae's words only seemed to cause a spike on his anxiety, "What happened? Is he alright?"

Sanghyuk's friend eyed him, observing his reactions, "Oh he's fine! Just that ever since he did this whole makeover thing, girls had been fawning at him and confessing to him from left to right. I mean, you must have it hard too. I saw you the last time that you were here. Girls were crowding you! Man, how did you survive that –"

"Ah..." Hongbin sighed, his eyes downcast. He felt a tug at his heart the moment he heard that Sanghyuk was being confessed to by a lot of girls. Hongbin started to detest himself for ever feeling disappointed and wistful. He could always blame his brother about opening his eyes about his feelings. But at the same time, he could not bring himself to hate his brother for stating what he sees. Hongbin felt sorry to Sanghyuk even more because with their first and last fight, he was able to hear more of what was going on in the latter's head. He did not want Sanghyuk to feel burdened about his feelings at all but he also did not wish for Sanghyuk to leave him just so he could sort out his feelings. Hongbin was conflicted and he was dreading the time when Sanghyuk would have no other choice but to accept him because he did not want Hongbin to keep being pitiable all by himself. By all means, Hongbin wanted Sanghyuk to fall in love on his own and not to be influenced by anything, especially by him – "I'm going to uni anyway... Start anew..." He mumbled to himself absentmindedly.

"Hey hyung!" Sungjae called out to him when he started to walk where the station was. Hongbin was not sure if he wanted to go home or if he was going to wait because either way, he would end up despondent. It was just that Sanghyuk would be forced to accompany him if he chooses the latter.

Hongbin bit on his bottom lip and decided, "Just... Just tell Hyuk that I –"

"Tell me what, hyung?"

Hongbin turned around and saw Sanghyuk panting, sweat trailing down his temples. He had his hands on his knees as he tried to catch his breath.

"Sorry I took long!" Sanghyuk apologised then glanced at his friend, "Thanks for looking after him." He returned his attention back to his hyung right after, a smile gracing his lips that Hongbin definitely did not miss. "Shall we go? It'll be just the two of us so don't mind him! He's going home now." Sanghyuk chuckled, knowing full well what his friend's reaction would be like. And as he expected, Sungjae mocked the way that he spoke with a weird facial expression before he said his farewells to both Sanghyuk and Hongbin. The two watched him go to the opposite direction before Sanghyuk slipped his fingers in between Hongbin's. It caught the latter off guard and he was going to drag his hand away the second after but Sanghyuk secured their linked hands together as they walked,

"Did Sungjae tell you...?" Sanghyuk asked his hyung, looking ahead of them, smiling.

Hongbin almost wanted to say no, but he knew too that saying either would end up with Sanghyuk telling him anyway. So he did say a soft yes and the latter immediately said to him,

"The girl that confessed to me today was someone that I liked for a really long time. She's pretty and cute... She's also talented... And she's also really smart. She was my ideal type for a really long time..." He trailed off, only causing Hongbin to feel regretful that he was currently with Sanghyuk at that very moment. The girl could be with his new girlfriend, but because Sanghyuk already promised to spend the afternoon with him, after leaving him once, Hongbin believed that Sanghyuk felt that he had to take him to the arcade. Hongbin forcefully shook his hand away from latter and tried to formulate some kind of lie about helping his brother out with what he missed with school or that he was not feeling well – anything, any reason would have been fine just so he could avoid having to hear 'I have a girlfriend now, hyung,' coming out from Sanghyuk's mouth. He was supposed to be happy for him; he promised himself – But of all the times, why did it had to be right after he was just rejected? –

"But I turned her down..." Sanghyuk said all of a sudden, sending Hongbin's heart to a frozen state. "I like a girl who would only look at me and she only started to like me after I took the glasses off and dyed my hair – I don't want to imagine what it would be like when she meets you. She would probably dump me right there and then for you. And –"

Hongbin chuckled, interrupting him in his talk, "Is that so?" Suddenly, it seemed like all of the weights in his chest was lifted in just one phrase.

A smirk tugged at Sanghyuk's lips. "Why? Were you sad? Did you think that I already have a girlfriend? Hyung, I am your girlfriend. I don't really feel the same kind of like that you feel for me but I like you enough to stay with you like this. I haven't really thought about dating guys before either but if it's you, I don't really mind..." He stopped at his tracks and turned to Hongbin, "As long as I tell myself that it's you, I don't mind what we are. I just want to be with you, is what I thought..."

"Mhm," was all Hongbin managed to reply as he was chewing on his bottom lip to prevent himself from smiling wide. 'I just want to be with you too...'

"You can't!" Jaehwan shouted that he even startled the taxi driver. He apologised softly before he had his focus back on N. "Hyung, does Leo-hyung even know? You can't see them! What if you come back with more bruises or worse they –" The idol stopped himself from continuing and looked away from N. He still remembered that day when he found N early in the morning, barely able to walk any further with just his bare feet. He had bandages covering parts of his body and once Jaehwan had taken them off, his eyes widened the moment he saw how terrible the bruises N had on his body. They were huge raging purple splotches that were littered all over his body. Jaehwan did not even want to imagine how N got them or what was used in order for him to get such bruises. He just promised to himself then that he w