Petting a Boy - Chapter 1 [HaeHyuk Version]

[ime_ime_ime]

Title: Petting a Boy - Chapter 1 [HaeHyuk Version]
Status: Chaptered
Rating: G (All Age)
Word Count: 3290
Pairing: HaeHyuk
Beta-ed by: my beloved vivalahyuk 
Summary: Donghae freeloading Hyuk apartment
Ime’s note: If you realize, I write this in two version. Hyukhae and Haehyuk version. You can choose but if you willing to read both, you can start at the green paragraph. At first maybe it will have a little difference but it will slowly turn to two different plot.

Read the prologue?


.o0o.
Why? People keep asking me. Why? Seriously, I don’t know the answer. Why? Honestly, I keep asking my self. But I really don’t know the fucking answer.

I woke up in the morning…no, scratch that, I woke up in the freaking dawn! I used to be in a silent morning and a peaceful morning. A perfect morning that I used to be was spending some time on my bed, rolling all over, and falling into dreamland again.

I sighed, rolling over and covering my head with monkey pattern blanket, tried to ignore the noises outside. My head ache for having bad hangover after last night ‘party’, but God knew my stomach was empty. The empty stomach feeling was taking over my headache with a loud grumbling voice when the smell of fried eggs sneaked under my blanket, tickling my nose.

I scratched my red head and rubbed my eyes while I was trying to go out to the main room. The main room consisted of a living room and a dining room, or maybe I just put couch in one side and dining table in the other side of the room. In the corner of the room, there is a kitchen that connected openly with the main room.

“Oh, good morning,” the cultpit of the noises flipped the eggs in the frying pan with his spatula (His spatula, because that spatula is his).

“I made coffee for you,” he pointed to his coffee machine (Yeah, his coffee machine) in the kitchen counter. I took a cup of it and sat on the dining table. I sipped the black bitter coffee and took my time, watching the brunette boy’s back while he was cooking. When he finally finished, he shoved the food to me and joined me in the table.

“Eat,” he said. But instead of taking breakfast him self, he was watching at me.

I stared at the food. I used to skip my breakfast and I used to eat instant noodle or left over delivery food at home. That’s why I don’t have much kitchens tools or food stocks (except for instant noodle). I stared at the boy. He was still watching at me with that smile on his face, smile that reminds me of annoying kindergarten kid that live downstairs.

Why is he here in my apartment? I asked my self, ordering my hurt brain to work.

Hm, my brain was reporting. In his first morning here, he made me breakfast too, a simple one, because there’s not much stock in my fridge like I said earlier. And that morning was the first time I’ve ever eaten breakfast since a long time. And just so you know his cook was barely edible.

That day, I was planning on going in another trip for a few days. I told him so. He asked me if he could stay for another hours, waiting for his train schedule. He asked, a please, pledging with such a cute and adorable face. Well, there’s nothing valuable in the apartment though, so I granted his wish. It didn’t matter to me because when I finally back next week, he would be gone for sure.

I used to greet, “I’m home,” when I entered my apartment and because there’s no one, I used to get no answer. But when I was back from my trip, a “Welcome back” was sending shivers through my spine. I saw a brunette boy running trough the corridor to greet me with a big sparkling smile that blinded my eyes. The horror was that the things that sparkling was not just his smile, but my entire apartment. I’m a tidy person. But if you have all your time for ‘working’, you don’t really have time for cleaning your house, especially when I leave it for a long trip, a thick dust will appear for sure. But my apartment was hell clean.

I awe-stuck for a moment before asked him why was he still here. He just pouted and told me that he decided to move to Seoul and asked me if he could stay after he got his own apartment. I stared around my clean apartment and his cute acting. I thought his cute acting was ended right there, but, damn, he added a big puppy eyes on his face. I, I… *cough* I look elsewhere so he didn’t see me blushing. Well, he cooked and cleaned for me. I forced that reasons to my head when I agreed him yet again. I had no other choice because my brain refused to work. That’s why I just realized that a teenage boy couldn’t have his own apartment a week later. He told me that he would apply a dorm school instead. Oh, yeah right, he is still in school age. And maybe I was amazingly too stupid, I didn’t ask any further why the heck was a teenager decided his life by him self? Maybe I just didn’t care. Besides, he was no one for me, even if he already lived in my apartment for a long time, but he was still a stranger and I didn’t care enough to change it.

Next day he asked me if I could help him with the administration. I wanted to get rid of him as fast as possible, so I agreed him. But he took me to local junior high that didn’t have any dorm. I was confused. He kept saying things that didn’t match his actions. I wanted to ask him, sure, but before I could say a word, he shoved a paper under my nose, it’s a registration form. He told me that he wanted to make sure I understood the content. Why? It’s not like it’s my concern. But hell, I read it and found the most ridiculous things the brat ever did.

The form said that his name was Kim Donghae, age 16 and addressed at my apartment and he named his guardian Lee Hyukjae, age 27, whose family relations was a cousin. A millions questions forced its way from my brain to my mouth, and the winner was the most ridiculous thing me myself ever heard. “Oh, you have a cousin named Lee Hyukjae?”

It’s obliviously me, because that guardian addressed to my apartment. I tried to ask another question, and I so hated my self when I said, “but my age is 25...Wait, no! What the hell is this? Explain!”

Here we go again he babbled another excuses and I was listening furiously. I didn’t understand why I was listening in the first place. I said to myself over and over again. Just kick him out, Hyukjae! , so half of his long talk didn’t even enter my head. Like when he explained his name, I thought he said that I misheard him in Mokpo (think about it now, I didn’t mention about his name at all, but he already knew that I questioned it. How?). And he reassured me that he would change the address after he got new apartment. That brat knew he was running out his luck. But who would think they could survive this kind of fraud. Hell how he explained about the guardian thing? Even when he tried to use his puppy eyes attack or pleaded or what ever trick he had ever used, he knew it wouldn’t work this time. I told myself, He is lying, Hyukjae.

“You are underage,” I said furiously. We cancel our visit to the school and hurried back home.

“Ye, yes,” well, it’s obvious.

“You can’t get your own apartment and you know that and I know that. Stop lying, kid. What the hell do you want from me?”

“I, I,” he was in the edge of crying, but I didn’t care.

“You are running out your time. And luck. Stop acting or I won’t think twice to send you to an orphanage!”

“Just send me, I’m from that place from the beginning,” his eyes was red.

“You are an orphan?” I so hated myself that I had a reason to pity him. It’s the beginning of stupidity that was about flooding inside me. “Did you run away from your orphanage?”

He stared down, I couldn’t see his eyes, but after a sort time of pause, he nodded.

“Why?”

“Why I get there? Or why I’m running away?”

“Why, um, both,”

“My parent…got divorced, because my father abused my mom.” He paused, I didn’t ask further, but he continued, “Wh, when I was 2, I think. And my mom got me and my brother. She couldn’t afford both of us alone.” He paused again. “She couldn’t, so she sent my brother to an orphanage, even if she didn’t want to, but, our economic had gotten worse and there’s no way to escape and we just left it like that…” another pause, “until I was big enough and started helping her work in the local shop, or, or, what ever place wanted to accept me, since, since I’m underage. My mom knew they would take me away, I meant government; if they knew I was working. To an orphanage, I guess. Well, that was why my mom worked harder, and um, she…” he chocked.

“Dead?”

“Sick…and got worse, and worse,” he was quietly sobbing, “that when we started having debt that got worse and worse, and…”

He lifted his head, looked straight at my eyes. For the first time I saw sadness in his eyes. And somehow I knew it wasn’t fakes.

“And she died?” I asked again. I didn’t realize that my voice started trembling.

He stared down again. “And they send me to… and… orphanage…,” he lost his voice in the way.

I stayed silent. He was about to continue the explanations, but there’s a dry sob escape from my lips. I was startled. He was startled. He looked up and stared at me confusedly. I stared back at him. I felt the tickling sensation around my nose when my face started heating up. I didn’t think back then, but for some reasons, I felt really sad. And tears finally flooded my cheek. I stared at Donghae, who still looked confuse but then his hands reached me and I fell to his embrace. I cried harder in his chest, felt like crying out all of my heart. He gently patted my back and brushed my hair. I tried to speak but ended up chocking.

“Ssh… it’s okay” Donghae said, tightened his embrace, and started rocking back and forth.

Okay enough! From there, I refuse to tell you guys what an embarrassing moment I went through. When I thought about it now, why the hell I was the one who crying when the one who died was his mother? As a result was that I did pity him and he now freeload me.

My cheek heated up. I was still eyeing his breakfast while he was still eyeing me. I raised the coffee cup that I still held in front of my face so he couldn’t see me blushing. I was eyeing him worriedly. His gentle smiles turned to the amusing one. Shit. Maybe he thought that I was blushing over his fried eggs and found it amusing.

“Eat!” he repeated.

“Yeah I know, I will” I hoped I sounded irritated.

“Well, then I’ll go now.” He grabbed his backpack, and then inserted his lunch box. I followed his actions. His school is just 15 minutes away by walk.

“Where are you going?” I asked. Curiosity took over.

“Um, school?” he said as if he didn’t sure himself.

“At this hour?” I pointed the clock that said it’s 6 in the morning.

“I sort of… um, club activities!” he smiled brightly, trying to shift my attention from his answer. But it’s not like I care. I didn’t know why I was asking in the first place.

I’m not ‘working’ every day, just if there are ‘projects’, or you can say that I’m a part-timer, or unemployed, or what ever. The main idea is that I have a lot of time to spend with my friend, co-worker to be exact, planning ‘project’ or just having fun, like this dinner. Somehow dinner always ends up in a small party with various alcohol drinks and cheap food, and cheap chick, and a lot of fun, and some times a lot of sex, or just a lot of hangover in the next morning. Even if I’m good at handling alcohol, I never drink too much for the sake of my health, or because no matter how little I drink them, the hangover is always too much.

Today, just like any other day in the small restaurant, I had dinner with everyone in the business. One of my co-workers is Hankyung hyung. He gave up his dance studio cause didn’t earn too much, he said, and ended up in this business with me. And there’s Kyuhyun. He had been my partner since the first time I entered this business, even if he is ‘a little bit’ slimy and witty and unreliable, I like him. But other co-workers are just common co-workers that I don’t need to introduce to you, because there are not my friends, but alright, I will mention them as friends of mine in this story, unnamed friends.

Today, there was a new guy. One of my friends introduced him to everyone in the table. Not really ‘new’ actually, cause I had seen him around this business a few times. And he was not joining our group, just some kind of delegation of other alliance for the sake of ‘friendship’. He said his name is Lee Sungmin. He came because he wanted to spread the news about disturbing rumor and why we must aware of it. But business was never take place at number one here. Not here.

Everyone was helping themselves with the service. Drink, food, girl, and talked within themselves. I was talking with everyone that sitting near me, including Hankyung and Kyuhyun. Hannie and Kyu. And little guy Sungmin. I was helping myself with a piece of pork and chewing it when Hannie said out of the blue.

“I’m glad you’re moving on, Hyuk!” he said cheerfully, taking the attention of a few people.

“Hum?” I asked, what he meant by that while I was still busy swallowing the pork.

“But I never thought that you would turn out to be a gay!”

The pork jumped out to the wrong entrance in my throat, I gasped at the statement. And the little thing blocked my breath. I was chocking. People around me immediately tried to help me with patting my back or offering a drink while the other laughed at the statement. Why were they laughing? Maybe because half of their brains were already on lalala land. I was trying chocked out that bastard pork out but it didn’t work and I was desperate for air, so I tried to flush it with some liquid, and the one and only liquid that available was alcohols. Hannie was laughing to, but as soon as he took control of himself he added the statement.

“Well, yeah, …, but we aren’t, never take offend on something like sexual orientation, you know,” he said between his laugh, while I was still trying to save my life. I wanted to sprat him and comment on his wrong statement, but the soju did not work and so I tried using beer, and I was glad that worked since my life depended on it. I drank the beer like mad when Hannie continued.

“But I’ve also never thought that you would turn out to be a pedophile!”

I gasped again at the statement, causing the beer that I furiously drinking entered up the space between my mouth and my nose and eventually I was spraying it out from my nose and my mouth. I chocked furiously for the second time and gasped for air. My tears came out also because of the pain. And you know what were they doing? Oh yeah, laughing. Some of them that sat in front of me were cursing me from the ‘present’ I ‘gave’ them of course, but the rest were laughing.

Hannie often visits my apartment, that’s why he knew about that freeloader brat. Oh I was so mad at him. So mad that I didn’t bother to hide my annoyance to him when we went home earlier, because everyone didn’t stop teasing me with a new fuck off nickname: ‘pedo gay’. And that’s all Hannie’s fault!

‘We’ were me, Hannie, Kyu and that little guy Sungmin. Hannie had been apologizing all the way home. Trying to convince me that that wasn’t a problem or that would turn out okay, or he didn’t mean it or he was really sorry. I knew Kyu was coming along because he was curious of the kid in the matter, but I didn’t know why the little guy was coming also. But in the end I managed to get rid all of them and walked home alone. I stopped by in the convenience store to regain my mood by drinking my daily medicine: strawberry milk and took my time, sat in the bench in front of the store. Thought of nothing while observing people passed by. One of them caught my attentions. A pretty lady. A very pretty lady if I could say. She was my neighbor, but we’d barely known each other or rather completely didn’t know each other. I didn’t even know her name. She was cold toward me, ever since my first day became her neighbor, not that I didn’t try to be friendly. But she simply disliked me, from what I saw in her eyes every time we looked at each other in the corridor.

I was observing her. She wore a lovely mini skirt that revealed her perfect leg and matching simple t-shirt under her sweater. She looked like waiting for someone. She stood in the sideway, facing the street, then a car approached her. She got in and that’s it. My strawberry milk carton was already empty. I threw it to the bin and decided that it’s time to go home.

When unlocked my door, I tried to produce sound as minimal as I could and whispered an ‘I’m home’. I took off my shoe slowly then approached living room. The TV was on, but the watcher was no where in sight. I tiptoed to the couch and found him already sleeping in his couch. The couch is not really his, but it’s his bed anyway. I watched him for a moment. He was still as beautiful as when I first saw him. Even when he was sleeping, he still radiated sun. I touched his cheek lightly. It’s cold. In the apartment, there is one room that empty. Not really empty since I use it as storage. But because I always believed that he was here not for a long time, I never offered him the room. Maybe I should buy him a bed, so he would have his own bed room.

At first I thought about turning off the TV but instead, I pulled down a few cushions and lied in the carpet with it after throwing my jacket. Like I thought before, the show was boring. Slowly, I became sleepy, but suddenly some strange noises woke me up. There’re noises in the front door but then I could hear the front door was being unlocked. I took a peek. There were silhouettes of two people that moving around in front of front door. Having some kind war whispering, they closed the front door silently and the whole apartment got completely silent.

.o0o.

To be continues~

Ime’s notes: A narration~ the prologue is narration for the situation and this is narration for the character. There are a lot of character were introduced, aren’t it? Anyone can guess who is ‘she’ the neighbor? And who are two people who breaking in Hyuk’s apartment and what do they want?

But I’m already putting the plot here. You’re gonna realize it later! *wink*

But so sorry it’s short T_T.

P.S: Most of Indonesian never brewed their coffee bean by them self, so I never know how foreign prepare their coffee, which machine is used and such. I have no idea.

I know that i missed grace_uni   and ochidyati   's b'day, but happy bday anyway T_T I'm sorry TT__TT

And May 6 is fishydotlove   bday! Happy bday BB!