01

The Boy Next Door

Jung Daehyun always starts his weekend with a cup of brewed coffee sitting by the balcony while bathing under the warm sun.  Their apartment building stands a few blocks away from the main street making it quite peaceful compared to other areas in their vicinity. Aside from the usual chatting noises from the three elderly women living across the street, there seems to be nothing out of ordinary- that is until a white elf truck stops right besides their building. Curiosity tingling on his every nerve, Daehyun pushes his way towards the edge and watches the unusual sight of a moving truck.

The person who steps out of the said vehicle is a young male -probably around his age- tall and lean with a bush of brown hair peeking underneath an orange beanie. Those round-rimmed glasses and stripped wool sweater suits him really well.  He looks cute and cuddly like a teddy bear – a really attractive grown up teddy bear.

He is too engrossed in appreciating the beauty before his eyes that it is a great shock when their gazes suddenly met. Tumbling down on his is his only resort and luckily, he had thought of putting down his coffee before he turned into a Peeping Tom.

He exhales and waits for a while before he crawls back to the edge, peeking through the gaps of the balcony’s balustrades.

The boy has his back facing him, hoisting up boxes from the ground. He balances a medium sized box on his arms before disappearing into the building.

Daehyun, on cue, runs back inside the apartment and into the living room where he spots his housemate and old-time friend sitting in the couch, flipping channels on the TV.

“Gukkie, someone’s moving in our building.” Daehyun announces as he stands in the middle of the room. Yongguk doesn’t look particularly interested and just give a lazy hum of acknowledgement.

“he’s moving his things now.”

“and that’s exciting because?”Daehyun rolls his eyes before plopping down beside the other male.

“He looks good,” Daehyun reaches for the other’s hand, squeezing it in playful manner. “Really good.”

Yongguk runs his gaze down his hand, watching as his forefinger and middle finger being stretched apart in a not-so painful way. He shakes his hand off the grasp saving his body part from being abused. “so, that’s why you’re almost hanging off the rail. Ogling on our new neighbor already?”

“I wasn’t ogling. I’m just—curious.” He adds the last part almost inaudible. He hears a low chuckle on his side that automatically makes his eyes narrow.

“fine, not ogling. Curious, huh? You and curiosity is the worst combination ever..”

Daehyun scrunches his brows, mouth opening as to say something back but trails off after hearing the familiar dingle of the elevator stopping on their floor. He suddenly remembers the empty flat across theirs and realization hits him. He gets up at the speed of light, bumping his knee in the corner of the coffee table in the process, and limps towards the door and into the peephole.

Standing in one foot as he bends the other to appease the pain on its joint, Daehyun almost loses his balance when the boy, standing in front of the door directly cross theirs, bends to place the box on the ground and sturdy looking muscles flexes beneath those skinny jeans, not to mention that cute little bottom that is asking to be touched.

“you’re creepy..”

Daehyun jumps in surprise, hitting the top of his head on the other’s chin in the process. “Will you stop doing that? I almost died of a heart attack because of you. Geez..” He hisses as he caresses the new sore spot.

“And I almost cut my tongue, creep!” Yongguk whines as he the part he was hit. “Is your head made of metal or something? This is why I told you to stop devouring everything that has taste. Your head is just as hard as a bowling ball,”

“I will pretend I didn’t hear such ridiculous logic.” Daehyun sighs and turns back to his peephole. The boy is nowhere in sight but the door is ajar. The box is left lying on the ground, few LP tapes from the past decade peeking on the little opening. “so he’s into such music..”

Daehyun can feel eyes on him and he knows there’s judgment on them. He’s friends with Yongguk long enough to know what those stares at the back of his head means. “Stop judging me. I’m just checking. Who knows what kind of person is our new neighbor? He can be a serial killer or a drug dealer..”

Yongguk rolls his eyes because he knows the lad as much, if not more. He’s aware that Daehyun’s curiosity always, as in without doubt, has hidden motives.

“good luck with your ‘checking’ ” Quoting the word, he walks back to his beloved TV. “Just inform me if you found out something about the new boy aside from his good looks and interests in music.”

Daehyun looks at him and raises an ok thumb with matching looks of determination and confidence. “Just sit back and relax and let me do the investigation.” And he goes back to his ‘investigation’ task missing the defeated sigh of his best friend.

Half an hour has passed with Daehyun pacing back and forth the door and the balcony, throwing small comments about the