The next day, news about Eunhyuk’s unusual smile had already spread like wildfire.  There were several speculations as to what was the reason behind the gesture and the most plausible would be that he was dating someone in the audience.

Needless to say, Donghae had been suppressing the urge to shout that Eunhyuk was still very much single…as far as he knows.

“I really despise that guy.  Everyone’s been talking about him and his ‘smile’…no one even bothers to talk about the play anymore.” Siwon sulked while reading the school paper.  He was definitely not amused of the fact that an article about Eunhyuk’s smile occupied one whole page, while the article about the play only had a quarter.

Siwon continued to ramble about his frustrations while Henry and Kyuhyun ignored him completely.  Donghae, on the other hand, was generous enough to listen to the guy’s complaints despite his unwillingness to think about anything related to Eunhyuk.

He had just come to terms with the strange feeling Eunhyuk gave him.

He had felt the same way before when he met his first crush during middle school…but the feeling now was completely different.  It’s more profound.

It felt so foreign that he didn’t want to think about it any further. It could be just a phase and he was only overreacting.  But just to make sure, he had decided to avoid the guy for the time being.

Besides, admitting to himself that he was attracted to a guy was a scary thought.

“Have you even seen his smile?  It looked rotten to the core!” Siwon continued whining against Eunhyuk, but this time, Donghae had tuned out his voice.

..--..--..

Heechul’s POV

“Hae, I’m meeting Hankyung now.  Don’t forget to lock the door if you’re leaving.” I said absentmindedly while grabbing my phone and wallet from the table.  Donghae only grunted in reply, not tearing his eyes away from the movie he was watching.

Aish, this dongsaeng!  Not even looking at his hyung!

“Ya!  Why are you not even looking at me, huh?  You’re not even paying respect to your hyung.” I crossed my arms on my chest, making sure to throw a poisonous glare at the sulking kid.

He finally clicked the pause and looked at me. “I’m sorry, hyung.”

I was taken aback by his appearance.  I almost dropped my phone once I saw the dark circles in his eyes, the disheveled hair, mouth covered with popcorn crumbs, and lopsided pajamas stained with… an unknown substance.

“Did you break up with someone?!”  It was the first thing I thought, after all, that’s what he looked like.  A heartbroken man.

Now I may not exactly be the perfect hyung to him…but I know when I need to act like one.

I quickly texted Hankyung to cancel our meeting and slumped on the couch next to my pitiful dongsaeng.

Gah, he smells terrible!

Without a word, I pulled him up and dragged him to his room, ordering him to take a shower.

A few minutes later, he had entered the kitchen where I was.  He finally looked presentable… apart from the sullen eyes, but I decided to ignore that.  Anyway, it doesn’t make my dongsaeng less attractive.  What can I say, good-looking genes runs in our family?

“Here, eat this.” I handed him the bowl of kimchi bokkeumbap which I prepared while he was taking a shower.  He ate silently while I observed him.  Once had had finished, I finally took it as a chance to talk to him.

“So, what’s bothering you?”  I knew I sounded harsh, but it’s just the way I am.

He stared at me for a while before shaking his head with a small smile on his lips, “Nothing, hyung.  Just tired.”

I sighed in annoyance at his stubbornness.  I didn’t just bribe him with kimchi bokkeumbap just to hear him say ‘it’s nothing’.  Obviously there’s something!

“Well, if it’s really nothing…THEN WHY THE HELL ARE YOU WATCHING TITANIC FOR THE 6^TH TIME THIS WEEKEND?! And can you explain to me why you look like a wreck?”

He flinched at my sudden outburst and I noticed how his grip on his glass hardened.

“Did you just get dumped by a girl?” I asked suspiciously.

Donghae’s POV

“Well, if it’s really nothing…THEN WHY THE HELL ARE YOU WATCHING TITANIC FOR THE 6^TH TIME THIS WEEKEND?! And can you explain to me why you look like a wreck earlier?” Heechul screeched, and I almost wished I’d worn my mufflers.  I hadn’t noticed that I was putting too much pressure on my grip on the glass.

“Did you just get dumped by a girl?”

No.  It’s not even because of a girl.

“I told you, hyung.  It’s nothing.  I thought you had to meet Hankyung-hyung?” I tried to change the topic when he only sneered at me.  “Never mind that china-boy.  We’re talking about YOU here.”

I bit my lip nervously, thinking of ways to make him drop the subject.  I still wasn’t prepared to talk about my problem since I myself didn’t want to face it yet.

“Fine.  If you don’t wanna tell your lovable hyung, then there’s nothing I could do…”

What?!  He’s giving up??  This is out of his character!

I stared suspiciously at my hyung.  There was definitely something behind this.  “Oh yeah!  I saw your nemo plushy in the laundry.” He smiled evilly.

Oh God, no.

“…I can’t wait to get that thing washed.”

“NOOOOO!” I impulsively launched myself towards him, stopping him on his tracks.  Heechul and Laundry was never a good mix.  My nemo plushy was too innocent to be a victim of his over-bleaching.

He only gave a stern look at me, and I knew I just had to spill it.

..--..--..

“So what you’re saying is…you’ve met this person…and you learned that he was completely a different person from what you used to think?” Heechul cleared while I nodded.  I never mentioned Eunhyuk’s name during the entire time I narrated my story, and I don’t think I should even tell my brother that I’m talking about a guy.

“And suddenly…you just realized that this person had become someone special to you.”

“Yeah.” I nodded again, while watching my brother smirk in amusement.

I don’t even wanna know what he’s thinking right now.

“What do you mean by this person being…special?” I could tell he was having fun with this. I rolled my eyes before leaning back on the couch.

“I don’t know.  I just think that…this person could affect me in a lot of ways…” I frowned, not really understanding what I was even saying.  Heechul seemed to enjoy it, though.  He was practically beaming in glee.

“You mean it’s like this person has gotten you wrapped around their fingers?”

“Exactly!” I almost jumped in excitement, if it weren’t for the mischievous smirk playing on my brother’s face.  I never liked that smile…

“I think you’re in love with this person.”

“What?! No!  I’M NOT GAY!”

I regretted it as soon as those words left my mouth.  Heechul seemed to be as surprised as I was.

“Gay? …You mean ‘this person’ is a guy?”

I couldn’t read the expression on his face, but since the cat was out of the bag, I decided to just be honest.  He could kill me later…I’m as good as dead anyway.

“Y-yeah.”

Awkward silence filled the room.  It was awkward, at least for me.  I just realized, my whole confession screamed ‘gay’ in big bold letters.  After all, which straight guy would admit that he’s got himself wrapped around the fingers of another guy?  But I said he was someone special!  I never said I was… in love with him.

Was I?

“You’re in love with a guy?” Heechul grinned.  I could never know what was going through his mind.  How can he freely accept the idea that his little brother could be gay?

But I’m not.  I don’t even find other men attractive.

Although I always thought Eunhyuk looked…alluring?

Oh god, no.

I wanted to pound my head on the wall, but that wouldn’t be a good idea.

And it wouldn’t make you straight, either.

“AISH!  I’M NOT GAY!” I screamed with all the frustration I had built up inside me.  For a moment I had forgotten that my brother was still in the room, and was now practically scared out of his wits from my outburst.

When we both finally calmed down, no one still dared to say anything.

But then again, when you have a brother like Heechul, you can’t expect to live a peaceful life.

“You never answered me.  Are you in love with him?”  I was about to answer back with the same lines when his warning glare stopped me. “You know…liking another guy isn’t the issue here.”

“So, are you in love with him?”

I remained hesitant.  Saying that I ‘love’ him was probably too much and Heechul probably noticed my train of thoughts and decided to change his question.

“Do you like him?”

It took a while for me to think of what to answer.  I wanted to scream ‘no’, but then images of Eunhyuk started flooding in my head.  How he’d tell me to pass him his carton of strawberry milk, how he’d whine when his sister , how he’d jump excitedly over a new comic book, how he’d patiently listen to me when I complaint about him ignoring me again at school… how he’d complain when Sungmin forced him to do another aegyo…

How he talked… how he smiled… how he laughed…

And how he could make my heart jump in circles by just being there…

“Yes.  I like him.”

Chapter 12 =_=

err...you could call this the 'Heechul special'.

Anyway,  THANK YOU VERY MUCH to my loyal readers.  I've been constantly thanking you each and every chapter, but I feel that it's not enough.

I hope you continue supporting this fic!  I'll be updating again soon.

I'd most likely be busy starting the middle of september so I might not be able to update much...so before that happens, I'll try to wrap this fic up for you guys.