Donghae was the first friend Ryeowook made in his new school. Donghae had a nice and friendly personality but Ryeowook had noticed that people either glared daggers or looked at Donghae in a seductive manner. He didn’t mind too much about that. After all, he still needed to get to know Donghae better before he start judging the person.

Ryeowook accidentally saw Donghae making out with Eunhyuk in an empty classroom. The next day, Donghae received a punch from Sungmin. Later that day, Ryeowook found out that Sungmin was actually Eunhyuk’s boyfriend. The other day Ryeowook heard rumors and gossips about Donghae and Eeteuk having an affair. By the end of the day, Donghae was a complete mess because Kangin’s gang had attacked him on his way home.

Ryeowook learned that this must be the reason why a lot of people either flirt or hate Donghae. He accepted this side of Donghae even though he doesn‘t know why Donghae was acting that way. He would always be the one to tend to Donghae’s injuries.

“Thank you.” Donghae said gratefully when Ryeowook finished placing betadine on the small wound. “Why are you being such a good friend, Ryeowook? Don’t you find me filthy? ty? Disgusting?” When Donghae befriended Ryeowook, he was expecting that Ryeowook would stop being friends with him sooner or later. He hadn’t expected Ryeowook to remain as his friend despite knowing about Donghae’s ability to cause ruckus in other people’s relationships.

“Because you need a friend.” That was Ryeowook’s simple and sincere answer. It’s been a long time since Donghae had a friend. It’s been a long time since he felt touched and for his heart to skip a beat.

Since then, Ryeowook started helping Donghae escape from fights by driving a car (instead of running, Donghae can just sit instead and let Ryeowook do the driving) or throw smoke bombs (so that his enemies would be blinded and Donghae can escape) and sometimes sleeping gas but the last one is a bit of a hassle because Donghae would sometimes forget to bring his facemask and would falls asleep which meant that Ryeowook had to drag his body.

“You better stop helping me before someone finds out and targets you.” Donghae said. He was concern of his only friend getting hurt because of him.

“You know, you’re always busy flirting, seducing, having an affair, getting into a fight that the only time we actually spend together is after I save you or help you escape from a fight.” Ryeowook pointed out. “If I’m going to stop, when are we suppose to hang out?”

“You actually want to spend time with me?” Donghae asked in disbelief. His heart skipped a beat again. The next heartbeats were getting louder and faster.

“Of course, I want to spend time with my best friend.”

“Best… friend?”

“Are you getting dumb from inhaling too much smoke bombs?”

“Yah!!!” Donghae hit Ryeowook’s arm playfully.

The next few days, Donghae had been really happy being Ryeowook’s best friend. He decided to spend most of his time with Ryeowook that his habit of having an affair was lessening.

“It’s been a while since I’ve last seen you in the club, Donghae.” Zhoumi, the bartender, said while he was busy mixing and shaking different combinations of alcoholic beverages. “Could it be perhaps you’ve finally settled down with one person?”

“No. Just hanging out with my best friend.” Donghae took his drink. He had a chit chat with a few people while having his drink. Then he proceeded to the dance floor.

“Best friend huh?” Zhoumi’s tone of voice and facial expression showed amusement. He observed that what Donghae did all night was simply to drink, talk and dance. It was unusual because the bartender had always been a witness to Donghae’s affairs like how Donghae would seduce a man or a woman which always lead to making out and who knows what they do behind closed doors.

Ryeowook has the same reaction as Zhoumi as he was also surprised that Donghae was behaving in a different way. Since he had always been the one to save Donghae, Ryeowook had also been a witness to Donghae’s affairs. Another surprising thing was that an hour later, Donghae pulled Ryeowook to the dance floor with him.

They always go to the same club but they never hanged out together so that Donghae’s enemies wouldn’t know that Ryeowook was Donghae’s ally and savior. “Donghae, what do you think you’re doing?” Ryeowook tensed because Donghae was dancing so closely, rubbing their bodies together.

“Dancing.” Donghae stated the obvious.

“Well, yeah but… uh… aren’t you going to have an affair?”

Donghae stopped dancing and looked at Ryeowook seriously. “Do you want me to have an affair?”

“No… of course not… never…”

“Then why haven’t you stopped me with my past affairs?”

Ryeowook shrugged. “I just figured that you wouldn’t stop if I would just say so. There are a lot of scenarios going on inside my head whenever I think of trying to stop you. One would be that you’ll get angry at me and we’ll end up having a fight instead. The other scenario would be that you might think I like you or something and I’m acting out of jealousy.”

“Although I’m disappointed that you didn’t stop me, I have to admit that what you said is right. Let’s go back. I’m not in the mood for clubbing anymore.” Donghae walked through the crowd.

Ryeowook was confused as to what Donghae meant by being disappointed but he still followed Donghae out of the club. Both were silent as Ryeowook was busy driving and Donghae was busy looking outside the window.

“Haven’t you ever been curious on why I kept on having affairs instead of just having an honest relationship with someone?” Donghae suddenly spoke up.

“I am but I thought that if you want to tell me, then you would probably do so one day. Is today that day?” Ryeowook asked.

“I’ve been honest with my 1st and 2nd boyfriend in the past but both were cheating on me. I was hoping that the second would be different but it turned out he was the same.” Donghae sighed as he leaned his forehead on the window. “The break up with my 1st boyfriend, I was completely sad and depressed. The break up with my 2nd boyfriend made me angry and I wanted revenge so badly that I ended up having an affair with his new boyfriend.”

“You got your revenge right? So why do you still choose to have an affair with different people?”

“To see how much faithful they are to their respective partners. Unfortunately, they’re all unfaithful.”

“They wouldn’t be unfaithful if they hadn’t met you.” Ryeowook pointed out.

“They should remain faithful even if they met me.” Donghae retorted.

Ryeowook stopped the car in front of Donghae’s house. Donghae opened the door and stepped his foot on the ground when Ryeowook decided to speak up again. “Donghae, tell me what I should do to stop you from having these affairs.”

Donghae turned his head and spoke seriously. “Be my boyfriend.”

“…What?!?!” Ryeowook couldn’t believe what he just heard.

“Just kidding. Hehehe!” Donghae broke out a grin and laughed a bit while stepping out of the car. “Goodnight!!!” He closed the car’s door and headed off to his house not knowing that he left Ryeowook’s heart beating like crazy.

“Idiot.” Ryeowook muttered as he drove off and tried to calm his heart.

Honestly, Donghae wasn’t kidding. He liked Ryeowook a lot which is why he stopped having an affair for a while but he’s afraid to be in a relationship because of his past experiences. He thought that Ryeowook probably wouldn’t like him that way anyway after all those affairs that was witnessed.

So Donghae went back to having an affair with Ryeowook saving his from those angry boyfriends/girlfriends. “You know, I was happy when you didn’t have any affairs. I was hoping that you have completely stopped.” Ryeowook said as he placed betadine on Donghae’s wounds. Ryeowook thought that he should be a nurse or something like that with all the first aid he had been doing for Donghae.

“Jealous that I’ve been spending a lot of time with affairs than you?”

“More like I’m worried. One day, you might really get killed for having an affair.”

Donghae smiled at the way Ryeowook said those words so sincerely. “I was serious when I told you that the way to stop me from having these affairs would be for you to become my boyfriend. But you don’t like me that way, right?”

“But I do.” Ryeowook surprised himself when he suddenly blurted out those words which held his true feelings. Donghae was surprised by Ryeowook’s sudden confession. “…ah… I meant… as a friend.” Ryeowook tried to take back what he said because he doesn’t want Donghae to know.

Donghae knew that Ryeowook was trying to cover up his slip. “…oh…right” Donghae replied and felt disappointed but he thought that it was probably better for them to not to be together as a couple anyway.

The fact didn’t change that they knew that they like each other so every time Donghae had an affair, every time Ryeowook would save him, every time they spent time together, there was always an air of tenseness and awkwardness.

“Do you like Donghae?”

Ryeowook whipped his head towards the bartender who asked. He read the bartender’s nameplate which said Zhoumi. “You talk as if you know Donghae pretty well.” Ryeowook commented.

“More or less.” Zhoumi replied while cleaning the wine glass. It’s one of the rare moments in which the bar only has a few customers. “Donghae talks to me about his affairs and even about his past.”

Ryeowook felt a surge of jealousy. “So you two are close?”

“Not exactly but we share secrets. Are you Ryeowook? Donghae’s best friend?” Zhoumi asked with a smile.

Ryeowook hesitated to tell Zhoumi because in order to keep himself safe from Donghae’s enemies, people don’t know that he and Donghae are best friends. They only know that they are just friends in like an acquaintance level. “What’s it to you if I’m Ryeowook or not?”

“Whether you’re Ryeowook or not, doesn’t change the fact that you like him.” Zhoumi said as he leaned forward on the table. “If you like him so much, you should stop those two from dancing and committing an affair instead of just sitting here and drowning yourself with alcohol and jealousy.”

“I don’t think he would like me getting into his affairs.” Ryeowook replied, taking a sip from his wine.

“Probably not but if you’re Ryeowook, then he’ll like it.” Zhoumi said before going to the other side of the bar to tend to other customers.

Ryeowook stared at Zhoumi for a while and let Zhoumi’s words sink in his brain. He finished off his drink before heading to the dance floor. Donghae was surprise when someone grabbed his arm and forced him to turn around.

“Ryeowook! What ---” Donghae’s words were cut off as Ryeowook smashed their lips together. He felt the forceful pressure of Ryeowook’s lips on his own and it hurts in a good kind of way. He surrendered into the kiss and let Ryeowook have his way with his mouth.

“I hope you don’t mind if I borrow Donghae for a while.” Ryeowook said to the girl who Donghae had been dancing with. “Come to think of it, I don’t think I’ll return Donghae to you.” He said in a possessive tone before dragging Donghae off the dance floor and out of the club.

“Woah! What was that all about?” Donghae asked when they were out of the club.

“What do you think it was?!?! I was jealous, damnit!!!” Ryeowook released Donghae’s arm.

“Ryeowook, are you drunk?” Donghae asked because Ryeowook was acting differently and he had never seen Ryeowook act this way.

“Just tipsy.” Ryeowook corrected. “But probably drunk enough to act on my jealousy and kiss you like that. I assure you that I won’t let something like this happen again.”

“Maybe I want it to happen again.”

“That would add more awkwardness to our friendship.”

“As if it wasn’t awkward enough. Kiss me again.” Donghae demanded.

Ryeowook didn’t bother to think because if he thinks, then he definitely wouldn’t kiss Donghae but right now, he captured Donghae’s lips, parted them with his tongue and teased Donghae’s tongue.

“You already know how I feel for you, Donghae, but I haven’t said it clearly. I love you.” Ryeowook confessed. “I’ve always wanted to be your boyfriend but I’m afraid that you might not stop from having affairs even when we do become a couple. After all, a habit is hard to break.”

As much as hearing those words brought happiness to Donghae, it also brought past memories. His past boyfriends also said those exact the same three words and yet, they cheated on him. “The only reason that I asked you to be my boyfriend was because I knew you would never be one but nevertheless my feelings for you were true.” Donghae also confessed. “Just like you, I’m also afraid a different reason that you might cheat on me in the future.”

“I would never do that!!!!”

“You say that now but who knows in the future.”

“Do you want a relationship with me or not?” Ryeowook asked straightforwardly. “Because even with all the fears, uncertainties and insecurities that I felt, I’m still willing to be your boyfriend. Now, how about you? Would you be mine?”

“I…” Donghae was battling with himself, his inner thoughts and emotions. Ryeowook had always been concern and sincere with him but then again, that’s how his past boyfriends used to be until they started to change during the course of the relationship.  He really loved Ryeowook but what if Ryeowook would cheat on his in the future? He thought that he probably wouldn’t be able to recover. He already experienced a lot of pain and hurt from a heartbreak twice. He doesn’t want to experience something like that ever again. “I want to… but I can’t…”

“That just shows how less you love me.” Ryeowook said in a disappointed tone and walked away.

After that, Ryeowook would avoid Donghae. If he couldn’t avoid, then he would just ignore him. There are times when Donghae would talk and act as if nothing happened but he would never get any reply from Ryeowook.

“I knew this day would come. The day that you wouldn’t want to be friends with me anymore.” Those were the last words Ryeowook heard from Donghae. It wasn’t that Ryeowook doesn’t want to be friends with him anymore. He was just heartbroken and he didn’t want to pretend that things were alright between them like how Donghae was pretending.

But those words made Ryeowook feel quite guilty for giving Donghae a cold shoulder. He told himself that he would make an effort to be Donghae’s friend once again tomorrow but then, Donghae was absent. The next day, the next week, for the entire month, Donghae was absent. This got Ryeowook absolutely worried because he couldn’t contact Donghae by the cell phone and Donghae doesn’t seem to be at home either.

Donghae’s parents are overseas workers so it was Donghae who lives alone although he has a guardian who comes over sometimes but Ryeowook had no way of contacting the guard unless he shows up at Donghae’s house, which he hadn’t. Ryeowook asked Zhoumi, who told him that Donghae haven’t been to the club for a month either but the last time he came was that Ryeowook wasn’t with him. He had an affair so there’s a huge chance that he got beaten up afterwards.

“Hello?” Ryeowook answered his cell phone, which displayed an unknown number.

“Ryeowook…”

“Donghae? Where the heck are you?!?! I’ve been looking all over for you!!!” Ryeowook exclaimed.

“So… you’re worried?”

“Of course I am!!!!”

“But… why?”

“What kind of question is that?!?! You’re my best friend!!!”

“…really? I thought you don’t want to be friends anymore.”

“I was angry and heartbroken but that doesn’t mean I stopped caring for you so where are you?”

It turned out that Donghae was beaten up badly so he ended up in the hospital with bruises and a rib fracture. His cell phone got broken so nobody could contact him. As soon as Ryeowook knew which hospital and room number, he immediately rushed to Donghae.

“Ryeowook, what happened to you? You look like you haven’t slept or eaten in days!!!” Donghae exclaimed the moment Ryeowook entered in his room.

“Maybe because that’s exactly what happened to me.” Ryeowook rolled his eyes before approaching Donghae and sitting on the bed beside him. Donghae felt a guilty as he observed that Ryeowook had dark circles under his eyes and that he lost a lot of weight.

Donghae explained.  “I tried to have an affair but I backed out. However, as you can see, I still got beaten up to the point that I ended up in the hospital. I really hated that fact that I got beaten up when I didn’t do anything to his girlfriend. Okay, so maybe there was a short kiss but I couldn’t bring myself to go on any further. I felt as if I was cheating on you.”

“But we’re not even in a relationship--”

“My lips only yearn for your kiss and my heart only wants to beat for you and even my conscience wouldn’t stop bugging me when I tried to have an affair with someone else. That’s how much I love you.” Donghae had realized what a big mistake he had done when he rejected Ryeowook. “If it’s not too late, would you still accept me?”

“You rejected me last time. Maybe it’s my turn to reject you just so you know how it feels.” Ryeowook replied in a teasing tone which still made Donghae anxious because for all he knows, Ryeowook might actually be serious.

“I’ve been a jerk so if you’ll reject me, I’ll understand.”

“Once you get out of the hospital, you owe me a date.”

“Does that mean--?” This is the second time that Ryeowook cut off Donghae’s words with a kiss but Donghae can’t really be bothered by it because he really liked it.

THE END

A/N: Woah~ This is actually pretty long XD Forgive me for my grammar or typo mistakes.  I have no editor or beta reader whatsoever ^^;; Comments please?