Oneiric Tryst

29. Wedding Guest: The Groom

Of course, San hadn't stopped teasing Hongjoong about the whole encounter. Hongjoong found seventeen new messages from the man once he woke up. They ranged from innocent smiling emojis that conveyed a far less innocent meaning to outright direct questions about whether Hongjoong and Seonghwa had banged after their date.

Hongjoong punished him with silence as he went about his day. He got dressed and ate while he checked on Seonghwa. The man had asked him via text to tell him once he woke up and whether he had rested well. Giddy at his attention, Hongjoong texted him he had risen and slept well. It took Seonghwa only a few moments to reply. He responded that Hongjoong had done well.

They shot some messages at each other while Hongjoong ate. Seonghwa had finished most of his reports successfully and spent his day at work running on coffee. When Hongjoong learned that the other man despised the bitter drink, he had to chuckle fondly.

They settled on an earlier sleeping time for Seonghwa since he was reasonably tired after his all-nighter. Hongjoong promised him to be there early and rushed to get ready. Today, he was overjoyed to be meeting Seonghwa again soon. His thoughts raced with the reminders of Seonghwa's gentle kisses and his affectionate words. In between, he got distracted by the sudden memory of Seonghwa sprawled out on ochre sheets beneath him, his cheeks flushed.

Hongjoong batted at the thought as if it were a bothersome fly. It was too early to be thinking about Seonghwa and handcuffs in relation to him. No matter how curious Hongjoong was now about how different things would be if they had sex in real life.

As expected, Hongjoong couldn't fool himself. Throughout his ride to work, his mind supplied him with various ideas and teased him with thoughts of what would happen if Seonghwa's bold side appeared in combination with handcuffs on one of their proper dates.

Hongjoong was flushed and very distracted as he came to work. The speech Jongho dumped on him droned by, while Hongjoong stood behind Mingi to play with the man's hair. He fled to the attic with Jongho's full understanding and permission before San came in. Hongjoong didn't even need to explain himself. Whenever somebody wanted to flee from San, they had Jongho's unconditional support.

Due to his exhaustion, Seonghwa fell asleep on time. When Hongjoong skimmed the informative data of what was going on inside his head, he had to double-take the words.

"A wedding? Huh?" Hongjoong asked into the room as if it had an answer for him. He rarely doubted the monitor since it only read Seonghwa's brain waves and pieced the signals for certain objects and surroundings together like an image. But a wedding seemed like a sudden change of setting.

Hongjoong was confused about what to wear, so he went for a black suit hesitantly. For the fun of it, he wore a lavender coloured shirt beneath. He jammed his gun into his chest holster and stepped over into Seonghwa's dream ever so sophisticated.

He found himself in a little back room of a church. It was decorated in white and pink flowers that crawled up the desks and walls like pretty mould. Seonghwa stood at a table with his back to Hongjoong as he fastened his cufflinks and tie. The suit on his body hugged his form charmingly and shone blindingly white in the sunlight falling through the open window.

Hongjoong sat down on the only available chair that was free of wedding-related clutter. A little spider had made its web under the armrest. With a gentle blow, Hongjoong destroyed it and sent the insect flying.

"What are we doing today?" Hongjoong leaned back comfortably as he crossed his legs. With a fleeting smile over his shoulder, Seonghwa sorted through his impeccable hair with careful fingers.

"Marrying. I'm the groom." Seonghwa eyed Hongjoong subtly through the mirror. Pretending not to notice, Hongjoong put his head down on his hand in feigned nonchalance. He battled the mean stab of jealousy in his chest.