Tuesday 4th February 10:00am (The day after Youngbae's party)

That day, Seunghyun made a mistake he would not forget for a very long time. It was a special day, guests were arriving and Seunghyun had to dress up smartly to give lasting first impressions. He was prepared to let his charm shine like the diamonds on Mrs. Park's gold necklace when she walked through the front door Seunghyun had opened for her. Jiyong and Mrs. Siddiqui stood behind Seunghyun patiently and smiled at the guest.

“Good morning Susan, this is Seunghyun and he's staying with us for a while,” Mrs. Siddiqui introduced him.

“Hi, I'm Jiyong's boyfriend,” he announced thoughtlessly. After his own voice echoed in his head, he looked at Jiyong questioningly.

The Night Before

The living room was a carefully decorated room. There something grand about it, as many paintings, antiques and souvenirs were displayed in various ways. Over the years, Mrs. Siddiqui had gathered many precious items to fill the living room with. One side of the spacious room was a line of large windows, adorned with elegantly embroidered curtains; illuminated by the sunlight that shone through. After sitting and chatting to Katrina for a while, Seunghyun felt more familiar with the room. The sense of familiarity had a calming effect on the guest and he found himself more comfortable in the living room than any other room in the house.

“So what does your father do?” Katrina asked curiously.

At that moment, Jiyong walked in and answered for the guest, “Seunghyun's family is loaded.”

Katrina and Seunghyun turned their heads to look at the masterpiece that had stepped in to the living room. From his smartly styled hair, over his soft brown tank top and down to his cute leather flip flops, every inch of Jiyong was gorgeous. This was mainly due to the big bright smile stretching across his face. For Seunghyun, this was the first time seeing Jiyong so joyful and excited.

Katrina was the first to comment, “you look nice. I'm sure Seungri will like it.”

Jiyong immediately blushed but didn't give in to her teasing, “what do you think Seunghyun? Do you think these shorts look okay? I think they look a little tight.” At the memory of the previous incident, Jiyong immediately covered his crotch with both hands reminding Seunghyun of the incident as well. Both men avoided eye contact with each other.

“It looks okay to me,” Seunghyun answered and identified the shorts as swimming trunks, “are you swimming?”

“Huh?” Jiyong raised his eyebrows, “oh yeah, it's a pool party.” Jiyong's awkwardness made Seunghyun uncomfortable.

“I knew it,” Katrina sang to herself. “How come I'm not invited? I've been working so hard to look good in a bikini.”

“I think Youngbae invited some girls before but they all said no or something, so he just gave up,” Jiyong explained.

Katrina narrowed her eyes at Jiyong, “so you mean you're going to be surrounded by a bunch of half guys with no girls to distract them. Jiyong, you do realise they aren't aware of your uality, right?”

Jiyong kept looking at Seunghyun's reaction. “What are you talking about? Youngbae knows, and they'd probably be uncomfortable if I told them everything.”

Katrina looked at Seunghyun and then back at Jiyong. Quickly, she took his hand and walked him out of the room.

“Sorry Seunghyun, Jiyong and I need to talk.”

Seunghyun sighed to himself and sank in to the sofa.

“Youngbae and Seungri... Are they Korean?” he asked himself. “They didn't even let me ask.”

Later that night

After dinner, Seunghyun quietly helped Mrs. Siddiqui clear the table and wash the dishes in the kitchen.

“Jiyong will probably come home late tonight,” Mrs. Siddiqui broke the silence.

Seunghyun nodded and smiled, “yeah, he looked really excited.”

Mrs. Siddiqui sat down on one side of the breakfast table and watched Seunghyun scrub the plates.

“There's a coffee morning at home tomorrow and some of my friends are coming, just the ladies. If you have nothing to do, do you want to hang around?” she asked.

Seunghyun turned and looked at Mrs. Siddiqui before answering, “well, I don't have anything better to do. Will Jiyong be...”

“Oh yes, he'll be at home, he goes to work at twelve tomorrow.”

“Ah yes, he told me before he left,” Seunghyun paused, “well, I'll go to bed early so that I can help prepare tomorrow morning.”

“Oh no, I just wanted to let you know about the coffee morning thing,” Mrs. Siddiqui cheerfully smiled at him, “thank you for helping Seunghyun.”

Seunghyun chuckled, “anytime. Well, goodnight then.”

“Goodnight,” Mrs. Siddiqui replied and left the kitchen.

Meanwhile, Youngbae's party was starting to slow down. At that point, practically everyone was either drunk or half drunk, standing in the pool which was situated behind the house. Muscat was a fairly quiet city at night, especially in the residential areas. When Youngbae turned off the music, everything fell silent. The splashing in the water was the only sound in the air for a few seconds.

Jiyong had abandoned his shirt somewhere in Youngbae's house a long time ago. Out of the eight men attending the small get-together, Jiyong was the only one who was a father. Youngbae was, like Jiyong, in his mid-twenties and was also the closest to Jiyong out of the seven other men. At the very least, Youngbae had a vague idea of Jiyong's situation at home. Nobody else had a clue.

Individual conversations filled the atmosphere. The entire time, Jiyong hadn't said very much. He constantly glanced at Seungri and it was more obvious than he thought.

“So Jiyong, how's your love life?” Jeff randomly asked him. Jeff worked as a waiter in the restaurant opposite to Jiyong's. He and Jiyong had graduated from different schools in the same year, so he had known Jiyong for quite some time. At Jeff's question, Seungri turned his head to hear Jiyong's answer.

Jiyong finally spoke, “I'm single...”

“Actually,” Youngbae added, “Jiyong likes men.”

“Youngbae...” Jiyong didn't know what to say. Only Jeff and Seungri were actually listening, but Jeff wasn't in his right mind and neither was Youngbae.

“I didn't know that,” Seungri responded.

Jiyong's face was burning up and he smiled awkwardly before saying, “you never asked.”

“True... So you're single?” Seungri repeated.

“Uh,” Jiyong stopped again and nodded instead of saying anything.

“Jiyong has been crushing on this guy,” Youngbae explained. Jiyong gulped and nudged Youngbae. “You might as well tell Seungri while he's interested,” said Youngbae, “well, aren't you going to tell him?”

Seungri looked at Youngbae and smiled, “is it someone I know?”

Youngbae laughed at Seungri's question.

“No, actually, I lied,” Jiyong revealed, “I'm not single, I have a boyfriend. In fact, he was supposed to come pick me up. I should go check...” Jiyong ran away from the swimming pool and searched for his bag. He could hear his heart pounding in his head, but he had to calm down.

Meanwhile, Seunghyun was brushing his teeth in the bathroom when he heard his phone ring. He read Jiyong's name on the screen and raised his eyebrows.

“Hello? Jiyong?”

“Hey Seunghyun, did I wake you up?” Jiyong asked hurriedly. Seunghyun could hear the sound of talking in the background just as well as he could sense the desperation in the other man's voice.

“No, why? Are you okay?”

“Can you... pretend to be my boyfriend?”

Seunghyun laughed and didn't know how to interpret Jiyong's request, “is this like a joke?”

“No, I need you to lie to everyone here,” Jiyong was biting his nails and hoping Seunghyun would say yes.

“Jiyong?”

“Yes?”

“What do you need me to do?”

About half an hour later

Seunghyun was by far, the best fake boyfriend Jiyong could ask for. Luckily, Youngbae's house was a five minute walk from Mr. Siddiqui's house, so there was no trouble for Seunghyun. It was almost midnight and Jiyong was planning to leave the party earlier than everyone else. When the doorbell rang, Jiyong's heart started racing again and he quickly grabbed his wet shirt and bag, heading towards the front door. Seungri watched him leave and followed him out of curiosity.

“Hi, I'm Seunghyun Choi, Jiyong's boyfriend,” he introduced himself to Youngbae and shook his hand. Seunghyun wasn't wearing anything special, but he still looked like model in his hoodie and jeans. After Youngbae introduced himself he turned around and saw Jiyong standing shirtless in the corridor.

“Hey babe, do you have all your things?” Seunghyun turned his head to look at the man behind Jiyong. “Hi, I'm Seung-”

“This is my boyfriend,” Jiyong introduced to Seungri, “his name is Seunghyun.”

“He has the same name as me, my real name is Seunghyun too,” Seungri waved at Seunghyun. Jiyong nodded at Seungri and hurried to the door. Automatically, Seunghyun placed his hand on Jiyong's bare waist, startling the smaller man.

Midnight

“So those people were Youngbae and Seungri...” Seunghyun said to himself. Jiyong was still shocked about what had happened in the swimming pool. A dry cleaner's shop's illuminated sign and the dim street lamps were the only sources of light, but Seunghyun could see the man next to him shivering half- in wet swimming trunks. Jiyong was clearly embarassed. The older man took off his hoodie and held it in front of Jiyong. He was wearing a plain t-shirt underneath.

“Are you okay?” he asked in a concerned voice. Jiyong blushed and tripped, only to be caught in Seunghyun's warm arms. “You're all wet.”

“Thanks,” said Jiyong in an emotionless voice. He took the hoodie and tried putting it on but couldn't figure it out.

The older chuckled, “it's inside out, let me help you.” Jiyong stood motionless like a doll whilst the other man dressed him. Jiyong's wet fringe covered his even wetter eyes. When he pulled the zip up to Jiyong's collar bone, the younger man sighed.

“You smell like alcohol,” Seunghyun commented, “how much did you drink?”

Jiyong's mixed emotions had reached their peak and top of all that, he was still intoxicated.

“Just a little bit longer... be my boyfriend for a little bit longer...” Jiyong whimpered and hugged the man in front of him. Seunghyun was surprised but didn't move.

“Right now... I really need a boyfriend,” Jiyong cried in to Seunghyun's chest. The guest wasn't in a position to say yes or no, he had been comepletely caught off guard.

Tuesday Morning

Silent footsteps made their way in to Seunghyun's room around six in the morning. At first, he felt a light poke on his back, but he was too sleepy to respond. With every attempt to wake up the sleepy man, the pokes and nudges got progressively stronger. It finally took a violent push to wake up Seunghyun.

“Ah... What is it?!” he yelled in Korean and turned around to see Hyejung staring blankly at him in her pyjamas.

“Aren't you going to have breakfast? Daddy won't wake up,” Hyejung innocently explained herself.

Seunghyun sat up and yawned. “Your Daddy is tired.”

“Do you want to be my Mummy, then?” Hyejung requested, “let's play family!”

Seunghyun laughed and spoke to himself in Korean, “the father asks me to be his boyfriend and the daughter wants me to be her mother. Am I really that easy?”

Hyejung whined, “what are you saying?”

“Sure, I'll be your Mummy, what do you want me to do?”

“If you're my Mummy then why don't you sleep with Daddy?” Hyejung asked curiously.

Seunghyun choked on his spit and coughed, “Mummy and Daddy aren't that close yet.”

“Why?” Hyejung quizzed him.

“Well... What is there for breakfast anyway?”

Hyejung started babbling, “if you're my Mummy then don't you have to help me get dressed? After I'm dressed I have to go downstairs to make breakfast. After breakfast you have to take me to school with Daddy.”

“You know what? How about I be your Daddy instead, I'll wait for you downstairs. Hyejung is all grown up now, you can dress yourself, can't you?”

Seunghyun went downstairs and in to Jiyong's dressing room to look for some clothes which were appropriate for Mrs. Siddiqui's coffee morning. He had previously put all his clothes in to the space Mrs. Siddiqui provided for him. He also washed up in the bathroom and by the time he was ready, so was breakfast.

“Okay Seunghyun, so first thing in the morning, I wake up Hyejung at six thirty but usually she's already awake,” Mrs. Siddiqui started. She sat down on the breakfast table chair whilst Seunghyun cooked an omelette. “Then, she gets dressed and comes down for breakfast at seven.”

“She woke me up at six o'clock this morning,” Seunghyun chuckled.

Mrs. Siddiqui smiled and continued, “my husband takes her to school and I bring her back, but sometimes Jiyong steps in to help out. She has to be in class by seven thirty and school ends at twelve. The weekend is Friday and Saturday. I'll make a list of who is in and who is out of the house at what time later. Jiyong usually has Sunday and Monday off, but he went in Sunday afternoon when his friend called him in.”

“I see, so-”

“Daddy! I'm ready!” Hyejung called from the kitchen door.

“Oh, Hyejung, you're omelette is ready too,” Seunghyun replied, serving the large omelette in to the plate with a spatula. Both of them sat around the breakfast table and Mrs. Siddiqui laughed.

Mrs. Siddiqui playfully inquired, “What happened to your other Daddy Hyejung? Why is Uncle Seunghyun your Daddy now?”

“We're playing family!” Hyejung cheered and then whispered, “Uncle Seunghyun didn't want to be the Mummy.”

“That makes me Mummy then?” a voice asked from the corridor. Seunghyun smiled nervously and avoided eye contact with Jiyong when he walked in.

Jiyong joked, “why did you wake me up so early when Daddy is already making breakfast for you?” Jiyong yawned and smiled at Seunghyun who wasn't looking at him, “don't worry Seunghyun, I've played this game before.”

Seunghyun scratched his head and mumbled to himself in Korean, “that's not the problem here.”

“Sorry?” Jiyong spoke in Korean as well, “I didn't hear.”

“It's nothing,” the other man replied.

Mrs. Siddiqui furrowed her eyebrows and changed the conversation, “why are you guys so suspicious first thing in the morning? All the ladies are supposed to arrive at 10 so Jiyong, please do something about yourself,” Mrs. Siddiqui pointed at his oversized baggy shirt and shorts.

“What's wrong? I took a shower and all...” he pointed out.

Seunghyun sneaked a peek at Jiyong's damp hair to verify the words he was hearing, as he stuffed a cube of folded omelette in his mouth.

“Daddy, it's spicy,” Hyejung commented, picking out the green chillies. Jiyong looked at her assuming she was talking to him.

Seunghyun helped her pick out the chillies as he apologised, “sorry, I won't make it spicy next time.”

“This is why you should ask Mummy to make an omelette,” said Jiyong.

“Very funny Jiyong, you can't even crack an egg properly,” Mrs. Siddiqui stepped in, “you would probably set the house on fire doing it.”

Jiyong talked back, “How would I set the house on fire by cracking an egg?”

Mrs. Siddiqui laughed, “you set the microwave on fire last time.”

“I wasn't cracking an egg that time... I was boiling it.”

Seunghyun giggled at Jiyong's ridiculous explanation.

9:45am

Later, Seunghyun found a chance to talk to Jiyong alone in the kitchen.

“Hey, about last night,” Seunghyun started. Jiyong looked straight at Seunghyun and raised his eyebrows. “Do I just... forget about it?” Seunghyun suggested.

Jiyong quickly replied, “no, we have to keep the act up until I think of something.”

Seunghyun sighed at Jiyong's misunderstanding since he wasn't referring to the party, he was talking about what had happened after.

“Okay... Your mother was asking for tea bags, where are the tea bags?”

After a while, the door bell rang and Seughyun rushed to open the door first. Jiyong followed him at his own pace and Mrs. Siddiqui walked downstairs to attend the first guest.

Mrs. Park was a very materialistic woman. It was clear from her lack of understanding of the functionality of Mrs. Siddiqui's household. This was the reason why Jiyong hated her so much. Every time she came over, she would always make the same criticisms:

“Oh, Jiyong, you still live here? Is it really that hard to support yourself?” or to Mrs. Siddiqui, “Hyejung is being raised here? This is the reason why you have to live in such a place, a married couple with no children should be living in luxury.”

However, even Mrs. Park had a weakness, her son. Perhaps her son was the only reason why she even visited Mrs. Siddiqui now and then. Mrs. Siddiqui was fairly young for a mother with a child as old as Jiyong, so all of Jiyong's friend's mothers were older than her. Mrs. Park was a good example of this, as her son Daesung had finished school as one of Jiyong's best friends. The only problem was, Daesung was a bit more rebellious than his mother had ever imagined him to be. Not only did Daesung refuse to go to university, he wanted to work as a waiter at the same restaurant as Jiyong.

“Good morning Susan, this is Seunghyun and he's staying with us for a while,” Mrs. Siddiqui introduced him.

“Hi, I'm Jiyong's boyfriend,” he announced thoughtlessly. After his own voice echoed in his head, he looked at Jiyong questioningly. Mrs. Siddiqui laughed awkwardly and gave a “what is this?” to both Seunghyun and Jiyong. Her son pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed under his hand.

After the Coffee Morning

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