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Chapter 6

“No!”

“Hyukkie, you have to! I don’t care! You wanted to get this job in the first place, even when I said you don’t have to. So, there should be no excuse,” Donghae had his hands on his waist by this moment, glaring at his Hyukkie for not getting out of bed. What he said was true. When they first got to London, he didn’t like the idea of letting his boyfriend do any sort of work. His brother, Donghwa, was supporting them, sending money every few weeks. The only property they truly shared together was the house they were leaving in, which was put under the name ‘EunHae’.

“But Donghae…” Hyukjae whined with his face buried in the pillow. He couldn’t take this anymore. Including today, he had been forced to wake up early for nearly a whole week. For nearly a whole week too, they had been doing the same things every day. It was as if they had a schedule, written by Donghae, that they had to follow. They woke up at the same time, they ate breakfast at the same place and then they either went for a walk or straight home. Whenever Hyukjae suggest they do something, Donghae didn’t want to do it. Reasons behind all these? Because Donghae said those were the things they always do. Donghae didn’t want to change; Donghae didn’t like changes.

Poor Hyukjae, who went bored with the same stuff quickly, wasn’t thrill with this. He was ready to start doing what Heechul asked him to do. He was ready to get the plan into motion. And most importantly, he was ready to be a new Eunhyuk for Donghae, whatever it was that means.

“What?”

“Can we ask Mr Jackson for a leave for today?”

“But Hyukkie, we’ve never ask for a leave before.”

Hyukjae lifted his head and, with barely opened eyes, looked at Donghae, “That’s why we should. Let’s do something different today.”

“Hyukkie –“

“Please, Donghae. Just for this once?”

Donghae sighed. He sat on the edge of the bed and looked back at the other, “Okay, if, just if, we don’t go and help Mr Jackson with the newspapers, what are we going to do?” That ‘if’ was enough to perk Hyukjae up and he immediately sat up on the bed. But then, he thought about the question. What could they do? “You don’t know what to do, right? So, let’s just get ready and-“

“What do you want to do?” Hyukjae cut him off. No, he couldn’t let go of this chance.

“Me?”

“Yes.”

Donghae chuckled, “Forget it, Hyukkie. You won’t want to do what I want to do.”

“Tell me what it is first.”

“I want to go on a date. A real date where we show our affection towards each other in front of others and make them jealous… but I understand that you don’t like to be in public that much,” Donghae took Hyukjae’s left hand, and he caressed it, remembering all those hard times they went through on their date while in Korea.

“No, let’s do it,” Hyukjae felt like slapping himself for always talking before thinking. He should have given the date a thought. He didn’t even know what couples do on a date. He had some girlfriends back then, but all of them just wanted to go shopping. He was positive that Donghae won’t enjoy shopping.

“Are you serious? It has been so long since we last went for a real date. Eunhyuk, you don’t have to do it if you don’t want to. We could stay at home.”

“No, I want to. It has been a while, right? So, let’s get ready. I’ll use the bathroom downstairs. Oh, and I’ll tell Mr Jackson too, alright?” Hyukjae got off the bed, grabbed his towel and phone, giving a smile to Donghae before he left the room. As he walked down the stairs, he pondered again on what they were going to do. Where should they go, what would they do, how long would it take to get there?

Then, he stopped on his tracks as something seemed to bother him. He wondered why he was even more worried about what to do on the date than about he was actually going out on a date with another man. He shrugged it off and started typing a text to Mr Jackson.

Mr Jackson, this is Lee Hyukjae.

I’m sorry, but can we take a leave?

You know about me trying to help Donghae, right?

So, I hope you don’t mind.

Minutes later, he got a reply from Mr Jackson, saying he didn’t mind them taking a leave. He hoped that, whatever it was Hyukjae was going to do, it would help Donghae.

Hyukjae had met up with Mr Jackson and Mr and Mrs Dawson, along with Heechul, about three days ago, while Donghae was cooking for lunch and thought he was sleeping. He had told them who he was and why was he there, pretending to be Eunhyuk. They weren’t too eager about him acting as if he loved Donghae, but they agreed to help him out in anything if they could.

He got ready, washed his face and brushed his teeth. Hyukjae had his towel wrapped around his waist when he went up back to the room. He didn’t expect to see Donghae in the same state as him when he entered their shared room though. He instantly got out of the room again, before the other could notice he had gone in. He leaned against the wall outside and he closed his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose.

Donghae went out after a while but wanted to go in again and watch Hyukjae put on his clothes, making the latter shut the door and locked it. Pouting, Donghae went to get the breakfast ready, guessing his Hyukkie won’t want to stop by the café. Hyukjae came down, fully clothed, and they ate the simple breakfast.

When they had finished and were about to leave the house, Donghae suddenly remembered something and asked Hyukjae to wait for a moment. He ran up the stairs and came back then, bringing two scarfs; one blue, the other red, “Remember this? The first couple thing we bought on our first ever date?” he asked as he put the red scarf around Hyukjae’s neck. He then proceeded to put the blue one around his. Hyukjae smiled and nodded, hiding the fact that he didn’t know what the other was talking about. After that, they stepped out of the house, marking the beginning of the date.

The first place they went to was Westminster Bridge. It was Donghae’s request, and Hyukjae learned that this was the place where Eunhyuk and Donghae had first gone to. Their arms were linked, Hyukjae now no longer had his left arm wrapped, and they walked together. It was quite early, around 10am, and there weren’t a lot of people around and Hyukjae felt relieved for that. He didn’t want to bump into anyone he knew.

While they were standing closed to the bridge’s railing, Donghae asked, “Give me your phone, Hyukkie.”

“What for?”

“Just give it to me.”

Hyukjae hesitated but still took out his iPhone from his pocket, handing it to Donghae. He was hoping Donghae wouldn’t find anything weird in it. Suddenly, Donghae commented, “I don’t like your wallpaper. It’s so plain. Let’s change it,” as he was saying it, Donghae pulled Hyukjae closer to him, their arms wrapped even tighter. He held the phone in front of them, and when he said ‘smile’, Hyukjae gave him a smile though he was surprised.

“That’s better,” Donghae said when he showed Hyukjae the photo they had taken and was now the new wallpaper.

“Yes, it is a lot better,” that was a sincere reply. Hyukjae did like the new wallpaper, but he hoped no one else would see it.

The date went on with them walking around London. They visited Trafalgar Square for a while and Donghae took another picture of them together, this time for his phone. They saw flocks of pigeons there and Donghae pulled Hyukjae with him as he ran towards the birds, scaring them all away. That managed to bring laughter to the both of them, and they continued doing it, making large steps and stomped their feet when other birds came close to them.

They ate their lunch near there and the smiles hadn’t left their faces, “This is so fun. Why didn’t you suggest we take a leave earlier, Hyukkie?”

“You were the one who kept on refusing whenever I said I want to take you somewhere. We should do a lot of new things. I like new things.”

“Okay, maybe you are right. Maybe we should do a lot more stuff rather than the same old thing. But, we shouldn’t stop doing those things. It holds memories and is really precious. I don’t want to lose it all.”

“Memories are memories, Hae. We could remember them, but they are not meant to be redone. We are supposed to create a new memory, not repeating the same old thing. Don’t you think so?”

Donghae started pushing the veggies on his plate back and forth and his head was down; he didn’t like the topic they were talking about. Why was his Hyukkie talking like this? Feeling uncomfortable, he tried changing the direction of the conversation, “Hey! That was the first time you called me Hae in a week. You used to call me that all the time.”

“Oh? Really? I… I didn’t realize that,” Hyukjae grinned at the other and he ate his food.

Donghae had totally lost his appetite, so he placed the utensils down and stared out the glass window. He saw something that got him hyped up, “Hyukkie, let’s go to London Eye. Quick! Quick!” He had always wanted to go there before, but every time he went there, too many people crowded the place and he never got a chance to ride it.

“London Eye? Now?”

“Yes! Finish your food,” Donghae then raised his hand, calling the waiter and asked for the bill. He didn’t bother to wait for the change and straight away stood up and grabbed Hyukjae’s hand while the other was wiping his mouth. They ran, fingers intertwined, and when they reached there, though the queue was long, they were willing to wait.

Nearly two hours past, and Donghae was jumping with excitement when it was their turn to get into one of the capsules. Donghae was fascinated with the view he got while Hyukjae remained uninterested though he did tried to act as if he was amazed by it. He had been on the London Eye before with his brother and to him it was a boring ride because it was slow.

They were near the top when Donghae turned to face him, “This has been a great date, though it’s not that interesting or the best. I still enjoyed it though. But,” Donghae placed both his hands on each of Hyukjae’s shoulders, “let’s make this great date perfect, okay?”

Hyukjae was paralyzed when the two hands on him cupped his cheeks and suddenly, another pair of lips was on his. His eyes widened and he couldn’t move at all.

Donghae was kissing him.

A man was kissing him.

A loud crack was heard went a hand collided with Donghae’s cheek, and the lips were no longer attached.

Red, teary eyes looked at Hyukjae and a tear slid down the reddened cheek.

Hyukjae had just slapped Donghae.

I admit I'm not good when it comes to date. Sorry :)