Walking out of the café, HongBin and Raelyn were met with the warm and inviting weather that was starting to show up. The wind was just barely breezy, and the sun was shining without a single cloud in the sky to interfere.

The change in weather made Raelyn smile. She stretched slightly, taking a deep breath as she did so. “It’s wonderful out today~!”

“It is…” HongBin agreed, a small smile spreading across his face as he watched Raelyn. He let her walk a few steps ahead of him, his eyes scanning the area to see if there were any wandering eyes. Even though they weren’t officially dating, he still felt responsible for her and overly protective of what happened to Raelyn while they were out.

“So…. Thanks for the coffee~” Raelyn smiled, moving and looking back at HongBin as she held up the cup.

“No problem~” HongBin smiled, his dimples appearing in his cheeks. His eyes met Raelyn’s for a moment, and suddenly his smile grew. “Come on~ we’re not done yet.” He stated, his hand reaching and lightly catching Raelyn’s wrist.

“We’re not done?” Raelyn blinked in surprise, following after the younger boy. He had a slight bounce in his step as he started heading down the sidewalk. “We’re else are we going?” Raelyn was far from complaining, but she hadn’t realized that he had more planned for them than their normal coffee date.

HongBin sent back a gentle smile as he slowed to let her walk beside him. “You’ll see~!” After a moment, HongBin looked Raelyn over, then returned back to looking at where they were going. “Hopefully, you’ll enjoy it just as much as the coffee…”

“I’m sure it’ll be fun.” Raelyn smiled, walking a little closer to HongBin than they normally did.

As they continued to walk though, the sudden heat that had filled the air was starting to get to Raelyn. She didn’t normally mind it, but as she was also walking so close to HongBin, the heat was starting to get under her skin. ping the light jacket she was wearing, she started pulling it off her shoulders. “It’s really nice out today, I didn’t realize I wasn’t going to need this…” She laughed awkwardly, slipping out of the jacket.

HongBin looked over, his eyes widening when he saw the suddenly bared arms and shoulders. He looked around, spotting a few other high school students that he knew from school. Knowing how they were though, he looked back at Raelyn, a smile crossing his face. “Well, you should still wear your jacket~” he stated, pulling the jacket out of her arm and carefully placing it over her arms. “It may be warmer, but you can still catch a cold.” He made the excuse as he pulled the jacket over her shoulders.

“But, HongBin-ah, the weather is nice enough that-“

“I don’t want to risk it.” HongBin shook his head.

Stunned, Raelyn looked at HongBin. Her eyes were widened, trying to figure out why he was acting this way. Instead of arguing though, she adjusted the jacket on her shoulders.

As they continued walking, HongBin gradually moved closer to Raelyn. They made it to an intersection, and Raelyn almost started taking her jacket off again. Before she could though, she suddenly felt a presence around her waist. in a breath, she looked up to find that HongBin had moved closer to her, his arm gently wrapped around her waist. His fingers were barely touching her other side, his arm only softly resting against her back.

Blushing, Raelyn looked back in front of them. She could feel the heat that was suddenly tenfold under the jacket as she settled into the action. HongBin was a little awkward still, so she only moved a little bit closer to him. “Where are we going…?” Raelyn asked when HongBin pulled her so they were walking in a different direction.

“We’re just…continuing the date.” HongBin responded, a smile on his face as he looked at her. Looking back at the sidewalk, he saw that there was an older man that was walking his dog and heading in their direction. Remembering what JaeHwan had said, HongBin moved closer to Raelyn, using his other hand to gently catch her arm. Steering her away from the little dog when he heard her gasp, HongBin stared at the dog as it started passing. Growling low in his throat as the dog started prancing by them, he kept Raelyn moving.

Raelyn, on the other hand, was staring at HongBin with wide eyes. She was fine when he moved her aside, but hearing him growl at the little dog made her blink at him. “Wha-“

“It’s okay.” HongBin stated, gently patting her arm. “We’re almost there.” Turning a gentle smile to her once they were past the dog, he let his arm rest around her waist a little easier.

“Are we…?” Raelyn blinked at him in slight confusion, trying her hardest to figure out what had happened.

“Yeah~” HongBin nodded. “Look.” He pointed with his free hand to a shop sign that was ahead of them.

The only thing that mattered to Raelyn when she looked up was the fact that the sign had something to do with ice cream. Bouncing excitedly, she looked up at HongBin, completely forgetting about his weird actions. She reached up and grabbed his hand loosely before she started running towards the little shop.

Grinning, HongBin followed. He had no idea she would get that excited over ice cream, but he was definitely going to save that information for later. Chasing after her, they made it to the ice cream shop in less than a minute.

“Oh, I want that~!” Raelyn’s eyes widened as she saw something on one of the boards that looked interesting to her.

“Are you sure?” HongBin asked, his eyes going to where she was looking. He blinked a little as though he was unsure of if she would really like it or not.

Shrinking a little, Raelyn’s eyes still shined for the ice cream even though she was trying to keep it to herself. “Well…I mean…I can get whatever….” She stammered, trying to cover for herself.

“I don’t care what you get, get what you want.” HongBin laughed a little, looking at her with a smile. “I’m buying.”

“Is there anything I can’t get…?” Raelyn asked, her eyes scanning the ice cream that was presented at the front of the shop.

HongBin shrugged. “I guess anything that you don’t like.” He laughed a little, gently pushing her forward. “Just get whatever you want.”

“I, uh, you, well….” Raelyn pressed back into the hand that was placed on her back, her eyes getting wider the closer they got to the counter. “You order first!”

HongBin laughed. “No, just get what you want.” He pointed towards the counter, urging Raelyn on with a bright smile.

“I- uh- no, I-… Okay.” Raelyn gave in, making her way slowly to the counter. When she looked down at all of the different choices, she almost became overwhelmed and backed up. Her eyes landed on the one that she would always take over everything else. “Oh! Pistachio ice cream!” She looked up with a huge grin at HongBin.

“Well, get it~” he urged, pointing towards the man behind the counter.

“Oh, okay…” turning back to the worker, Raelyn pointed towards the pistachio ice cream. “Can I have a medium shake…?” She asked, her eyes slightly boldened.

“Coming right up.” The worker nodded, smiling in a friendly manner. “And for you?” He asked, looking at HongBin.

After thinking for a moment, he shrugged. “I’ll just have a chocolate shake. Medium.”

“Alright.”

Raelyn looked back at HongBin, her eyes meeting his for a moment before she blushed a little and looked away. “Thank you~” she cooed, smiling to herself.

“You’re welcome.” HongBin laughed a little, his arm gently wrapping around her waist with only a little bit more pressure than he had before. Pulling her towards the cash register, they waited until their order was ready.

After they had their shakes and everything was paid for, HongBin sent a smile towards Raelyn. “Come on.” He nodded towards the door.

“Now where are we going?” Raelyn asked, her eyes showing her confusion.

“Just come on~ you act like you have another date to be on or something.” He pouted teasingly, waiting until she gave in.

Making a face at him, Raelyn shook her head. “I only have the one date.” She huffed a little before taking a drink out of the shake she had.

Laughing, HongBin gently placed his arm around her shoulders, letting out a small breath that contained all of his nerves. Leading her out of the ice cream shop, he took her down the walkway for awhile. They mused back and forth about little things, talking about little things that they saw while they were walking that didn’t really matter.

Finally, HongBin lightly tugged on Raelyn’s shoulders. “Come on, this way.” He nodded to the side, taking Raelyn away from the main sidewalk and down a different one. They walked for a little while longer before Raelyn finally saw where HongBin was taking her.

There was a small park there that no one was even at. There were wooden tables scattered about the area, and a little playground for kids that may have come there. Mostly the entire area was just grassy and surrounded by trees that were just starting to get their leaves back and turn green. There was a little stone path that lead to where the sign that stated what the park was, but after that, there was no more walkway.

“Whoa….” Raelyn’s eyes widened a little as she looked around the simple but cute park.

HongBin nodded. “I used to come here a lot….” He smiled softly as though he was remembering a different time and place. “Let’s go sit down.” He gestured towards one of the tables that had a cover over them.

Once they sat down across from each other on the benches, HongBin couldn’t help but send a small smile towards Raelyn. “So you like the park?” He asked, tipping his head a little.

“Yeah…. It’s really peaceful here.”

“I know…. My grandma used to live around here…. While I lived with her, I used to come here a lot.” HongBin looked away from Raelyn, looking towards the little playground. A soft breeze brushed through the park, whipping both HongBin’s and Raelyn’s hair around a little.

“Really…?” Raelyn asked, looking around at all of the little houses that surrounded the park. “It’s nice here….”

HongBin nodded, smiling softly.

After a moment, Raelyn got a large smile on her face. Reaching forward, she tagged HongBin’s shoulder. “Hey~ let’s go play!”

Surprised, HongBin’s eyes widened. He could only watch as Raelyn jumped up from her seat, leaving her shake on the table and bolting off towards the playground. Laughing, he watched her for a moment, her face of almost childish joy as she climbed her way into a tire swing, the chains swinging it back and forth while she tried to get adjusted in it.

Laughing, HongBin slowly pulled himself off the bench. He felt something fall from his pocket when he stood up though, stopping him from running after Raelyn. His phone had fallen to the ground, making him gasp a little. Reaching down, he saw that he had a text from JaeHwan. Remembering everything that his brother had done for him, HongBin smiled to himself. Opening the message, he saw that it read:

Having fun, HongBinnie?

Smiling, HongBin glanced back at Raelyn who was laying on her stomach in the tire swing. She was spinning slightly, probably having pushed herself by accident or on purpose. Quickly, he decided to respond to his brother.

I’m having a great time! Thank you, Hyung, for everything.

A huge sigh of relief was released from his lungs as JaeHwan stepped out of the front doors of the school building. He took in a breath, smelling the post-storm grass and concrete and happily folding his umbrella and tucking it away under his arm. Sending a passing grin towards a few of his students as they hopped into their parent’s vehicles, he pulled his jacket closer around himself.

“This whole not having a car business is getting a little tedious.” He said to himself as he hopped up onto the ledge that lined the school property. After letting out another sigh, he looked up towards the orange and pink streaked sky that faded into dark cumulonimbus clouds in the distance, allowing the exhaustion spread throughout his muscles as he eased into the peaceful scenery.

“Once it starts getting a little warmer, I think I will start walking home.”

Just as he said this, the blue van that HakYeon used to haul his children around pulled up in front of him, and down rolled the window to reveal the red-headed eldest.

“Sorry we’re late. We had to go shopping, and then there was an accident while going through the Jongno-gu district that caused quite a bit of traffic.”

“There was another accident?” JaeHwan asked as he walked up. He reached for the door of the passenger side, but upon seeing that the seat was filled with groceries, he instead opened the back door. “This must be the year of bad drivers.”

Before he even stepped in, he noticed that back seat was completely stuffed with car seats and strollers, aside from where SangHyuk sat. It was apparent that the child was asleep, so JaeHwan instead hesitantly took the seat in the middle where Leo had decided to occupy.

Once the door was slammed shut and JaeHwan had buckled in, HakYeon kicked the vehicle into drive and they were in their way down the street.

“We were going to go pick up HongBin from his weekend session at study hall, but they’re keeping him late.” HakYeon said. “He said that he could walk home, but I’m afraid that this storm is going to pick up again.”

JaeHwan stared out the window; he would have admired the way the dry lightning jumped from cloud to cloud off in the distance, but the mention of his brother quickly turned his stomach sour. Subconsciously, he pulled his phone out of his pocket and unlocked it, the first screen popping up being the one of the text he had gotten from his brother just a few hours before.

Thank you, Hyung, for everything.

The accumulation of saliva in his mouth doubled, though the more he tried to swallow it away, the drier and drier his mouth seemed to become.

“Do we have anything to drink at home?”

The question made HakYeon’s muscles immediately contract. He glanced back at JaeHwan in the rearview mirror before clearing his throat and turning onto a different street.

“Um, I think we have a bit of Yakju at home….”

“Do we have any soju?”

“Aniyo.”

“Do you think we could drive by and pick some up? I just got paid the other day, I could buy it.”

“Neh….”

In almost no time, they had pulled into the parking lot of the nearest market and JaeHwan began to unbuckle himself.

“Ah ah ah.” HakYeon reached back and gently tapped JaeHwan on the hand. “I’ll run in and get it.”

JaeHwan blinked in confusion. “But hyung, I can pay for it.”

HakYeon smiled and shook his head. “I can do it. I’ll be in and out quicker anyways.”

With that, HakYeon hopped out of the van and made his way towards the building, leaving the car in a still silence. It was then that JaeHwan became aware of different variants of breathing that took place within the car.

Although he would have usually found the situation uncomfortable, in his exhaustion JaeHwan sunk down in the seat as he let out a sigh, not even realizing that his knee had come into contact with Leo’s.

TaekWoon, however, did. He felt his eyebrow twitch ever-so-slightly at the contact, but then picked himself up off of the seat to scoot over.

This sudden action immediately caught the attention of JaeHwan, who raised his head in slight offense at the action. He stared over at the older, but TaekWoon refused to meet his gaze and instead just continued to stare out the window.

After a moment, JaeHwan sighed.

“So do you hate me now, is that it?”

There was no reply.

“Whatever happened to the TaekWoon who used to hang onto me, and hug me from behind, and hold onto my arm when he got scared?” JaeHwan asked.

Leo’s muscles tensed up, his nerves tugging at his heartstrings as he shifted awkwardly to where he was facing away from JaeHwan.

JaeHwan stared at his back for a moment, the anger flaring up in his body. “So what, are you too good to talk to me now?” He hadn’t even noticed that his voice had begun to raise. “What do you want me to do, TaekWoon-ah? Huh? I already apologized for the damned situation. Do you want me to shout it out to the whole world? Do you want me to run to the top of a building and yell it over Seoul? Tell me.”

Despite his demand he only continued to receive the cold shoulder from the older. Gritting his teeth, JaeHwan went on.

“You are mistaken if you think that it’s that easy. Think of what they would think of me, TaekWoon. What they would think of us if we were to confess now.”

JaeHwan’s use of “us” made TaekWoon’s heart deflate in his chest.

“I told you. What goes on between you and that woman is none of my business.”

“Why then? Why do you continue to treat me like this?” JaeHwan asked. “Are you jealous? Is that it?” There was a slight twitch in Leo’s expression, which made JaeHwan raise his eyebrows. “Is this about New Years? It is isn’t it. Look, I already explained to you, this whole situation was a big mistake. I big, drunken mistake. I was lonely, and you know how I am when I’m drunk.” He crossed his arms over his chest and looked out his window. “We would have never had to worry about this situation had you not come back home that night.”

“Only a coward will attempt to put the blame of his own actions on others.”

Although he spoke little, the words pierced through JaeHwan’s heart with a force that nearly forced him out of the car. Once again, the atmosphere fell into a deafening silence.

Leo stared out the window, doing his best to ignore the sharp pain that began the accumulate at the base of his neck. He so longed to move his hand just a few inches towards his pocket so he could pull out his iPod and plug in his music, but the presence of JaeHwan turned his muscles to stone as if his body had been overcome with rigor mortis. Just as he had finally gathered up both the strength and courage to move his arm from its resting position, he felt something light, fluffy, yet slightly heavy come down upon his shoulder. It didn’t take him long before he looked over to find that the object was JaeHwan’s cranium resting itself within the crook of his shoulder.

TaekWoon nearly shook with panic.

“Wh-what are you-”

“Don’t move.” Stated JaeHwan.

Leo blinked a couple times, but then did his best to slide his arm out from underneath the shadow of the younger’s nose. “Get off of me.”

“I said don’t move!” Ken whined, wrapping his arms around the older’s and tightening his grip. “I don’t know about you, but it has been a long, hard week for me, and this stupid storm hasn’t been making anything better.”

Leo stayed in his position for a moment or so before letting out a sigh and forcing his body to relax into the embrace of the younger’s as JaeHwan cuddled into the curve of TaekWoon’s neck. His brain suddenly became conscious of everything - the breathing of the bodies in the car, the heat radiating from JaeHwan’s substance, the slight rumbles of the vehicles outside, his own heartbeat, and even the indigestion of the dinner he had eaten earlier.

After a moment, TaekWoon looked away and let out a large exhale that contained that silently contained all of the nerves that he was forcing to keep constrained.

What the hell is taking HakYeon so long?

“I’m sorry, TaekWoon… for everything.”

The words made Leo’s heart flip. He turned his head to look down at JaeHwan, whose eyes were already closed in his attempt to sleep. Despite having been pissed off at him just two seconds before, the vulnerable state that the younger was in shot through his heart like a blunt lead arrow, causing a mixture of pain to pulse through his veins.

The mere minutes that passed turned into ten, and ten into twenty, until the older finally lost track of the time that he could hardly grasp. The younger’s breath turned heavy and steady, a light snore whistling from his nose and signifying that he was no longer conscious.

Looking back down at the sleeping bear, Leo observed every one of his features from the pores on his face to the way his dark eyelashes curled up against his pale cheekbones. Although it was early spring, the heat in the car, as well as the exhaustion of his body, caused a bead of sweat to escape JaeHwan’s hairline and trickle down his forehead.

With a gulp and a of the lip, TaekWoon raised his hand from where it rested on his knee and carefully moved it towards the younger’s face. With trembling fingers, the older gently brushed away the daring perspirant before it had a chance to encounter Ken’s eyebrows and further trickle down into his eyes.

His skin was warm… a lot warmer compared to the cold touch of the older’s fingertips, and TaekWoon felt himself tremble. He opened his mouth, his lip quivering just barely, until finally decided to withdraw his hand from the other’s entity. Although he was physically further away from JaeHwan, his eyes continued to linger on the younger with yearn.

With a heavy heart, he turned his head away and looked off into the distance as the thunder began to roll around them.