Captive (JiKyu)

24. 돌봐

Junkyu bought cupcakes. A lot of them. So many that when he brought them to his and Jeongwoo's now shared home, the younger gaped at them, asking, "Whoa! These many boxes! For whom?"

"For you and Junghwanie?" Junkyu replied, "And if Yoshi or Ruto comes, they can have some." Junkyu snapped his fingers, "And Doyoungie of course!"

Jeongwoo chuckled, "And for the man who cooked dinner for all of us yesterday?" He asked with his eyes, "Jihoonie hyung?"

"Uh.." Honestly, Jihoon was the first person Junkyu had in mind while buying the cupcakes. He would convince himself that it was out of courtesy that he was returning favour to his neighbor, but he knew, with his hard earned money, he wanted to give something to Jihoon. Something the latter would like. But of course, he wouldn't admit it. Not ever.

"Sure, if you say so.." he played along. Jeongwoo nodded his head, "Hyung will like it, I have a feeling." Then he said, "If you have some to spare, I can go and give it to him."

"No, it's fine. I'll do it instead." Junkyu crossed his arms, "By the way, what's the deal between you and him? Huh? You seem to like him a bit too much??"

Jeongwoo grinned, "Hyung, you have no idea how cool Jihoonie hyung is! He's so fun to talk to, and he plays games with me although he sucks."

"Jihoon plays games?" Junkyu laughed, "He's so bad at games though."

"I know right!?" Said the younger, "But he still does so and he talks about his experiences at the coffee shop. He also talks a lot about you-"

"Me?" Junkyu pointed at himself, suddenly curious, "What about me?"

Jeongwoo coughed, playing cheeky, "Uh-hum. What about you? Hm... He says you're the most gorgeous guy he had ever seen."

Junkyu stumbled upon thin air, "The what?"

The other guy laughed, "I'm just kidding. He didn't say it that way. But yeah, he says positive stuff about you. How you're affectionate and I'm lucky to live with you."

"Oh." Junkyu wanted to keep hearing it, but he didn't wanna come off as some narcissist, so he dismissed the topic, saying, "Alright, I'll go give these to your favorite hyung. Happy now?"
There was a bit of upset somewhere, but Jeongwoo knew it was playful. So he grinned it away. Even he could tell something was cooking between his flatmate and the neighbor. The way they looked at or talked about each other gave it all away. He wished all the best for both of them, that whatever they had wished for might come true. After all, both of them were such good people! They deserved happiness more than anyone else.

Junkyu realized he had taken a bold step when he walked out of his apartment with the box in his hand. He was supposed not to care about Jihoon, to have a blind eye towards every effort made by the other. But the gesture of him handing over some dessert did not align with that. Was it giving his heart away- that he was in fact still as weak for the man as he was before?

He stepped closer and closer to the closed door. What was Jihoon doing at that hour? Sleeping? Nah, he wasn't a sleepyhead. Studying? Less likely. He was probably using his phone, or learning to cook. Did he really learn to cook for Junkyu?

The younger reached the door. He heard some voice talking on the other side. All muffled. Maybe Jihoon was on the phone, or he had someone over? His friends, maybe? Should he leave? Was he going to disturb the other? Junkyu didn't know when he rang the bell, but once he did, there was no going back.

"Who could it be at this hour-" He heard someone speak, it wasn't Jihoon's voice. Indeed, the door was opened by Choi Hyunsuk, looking all happy and smiley.