Just Before The Dawn [DaeJae]

Thirty Nine

Christmas day had come and Youngjae was sitting in the living room, together with Daehyun and his mother. Kanji lied next to the Christmas tree, sleeping. He had eaten some of the treats Daehyun had given him as  Christmas present earlier. 

The latter had gotten a high-quality Bluetooth speaker from his mom and told Youngjae he would get his present when they were back upstairs and given his mom tickets for a musical. Now they were waiting for his father to come home for lunch. 

"Youngjae, Daehyun told me he's tutoring you. How's it going at school?" Daehyun's mother smiled at him. 

"Um, it's going alright I guess..." 

"He got a C in the maths test" Daehyun said, grinning at the younger. "We'll show that idiot of a teacher that he can't harm you, am I right, JaeJae?" 

Youngjae lowered his head, blushing a little. "Yeah..." 

"That sounds good. This Mr Kim has always seemed strange to me." She looked at Daehyun. "I remember when you just started going to this school and he tried to accuse some kid of stealing his keys while he had just forgotten them." 

Daehyun nodded. "Right, I had already forgotten about that. He's always been nice to me though." 

"Yeah, because you're the school's best student." Youngjae said, then his phone signaled a new message. It was from his cousin Mina, who was wishing him merry Christmas. He answered her and put his phone back in his pocket, just when the front door opened. 

After lunch, the two boys went back to Daehyun's room, where they lied down on the bed. Daehyun sighed and closed his eyes. "I'm so full" he mumbled and yawned. "I'll take a nap, okay?" 

Youngjae nodded. "Me too." He turned onto his side, facing the older. Daehyun had been the one suggesting that Youngjae could share the bed with him, since they had already done that before and it was more comfortable than the sofa. In the beginning, Youngjae had been bit nervous about it, remembering the dream he had had last time, but eventually he had agreed and he was glad about that, as it was really comfy and calming for him to sleep with Daehyun's arms wrapped around his waist. He felt so safe and even kind of happy when he was with the older, he like, for the first time in ages, he had a true friend. 

It didn't take long for both of them to fall asleep and when Youngjae woke up, it was already getting dark outside. The light on the nightstand was on, but he could not see Daehyun anywhere. 

Youngjae went to the bathroom to wash his face and wake up fully, when he heard someone coming up the stairs. Back in Daehyun's room, he found the older sitting on the bed, looking kind of mad. 

"Are you okay?" 

Daehyun sighed and motioned for him to sit down. "Youngjae, what do you think about my family?" 

"Um, well... I really like your mom, she's super nice. I've only met your dad today so I can't really tell about him..." 

"Yeah... Jae, if I tell you about something, can you keep it to yourself?" 

"Of course." 

"Okay, so... I know to the outside it looks like we're the perfect family, but actually..." He stopped, thinking about how to say it. "I- I know that my dad... he's cheating on mom. I don't think she knows though and that stresses me out so much, because I feel like I should tell her, but if I do, she will be hurt and I don't want to do that to her... I really don't know what to do and this is pressuring me so much..." 

Youngjae was shocked. He had never expected Daehyun to tell him something like this. Did Daehyun really trust him that much? Why would he tell him this? 

"I've thought if maybe I should tell dad that I know but I'm scared of his reaction... But I have to do something, I can't just leave it like this..." 

Daehyun's voice had started shaking and Youngjae carefully hugged him. It was the first time he was doing this, starting a hug, so he was really nervous, almost scared that Daehyun would push him away, but the older immediately returned the gesture and pulled him closer. 

"Thank you for listening, Jae... I've never told anyone about this...." 

"What about Junhong?"

"Not even him. He's known my parents since he was a kid, it's like a second family to him, I can't destroy that..."

Youngjae nodded. He understood what Daehyun was going through. He could feel how confused and helpless the older was.

It was kind of strange to him, being the one who Daehyun came to, the one to comfort the latter. He had never expected this to happen and the fact that not even Junhong knew about this, that he was the only one Daehyun shared this with, was somehow giving him a calming feeling. He felt that he could trust Daehyun more and more, the more time he spent with him.

They sat there in silence, still enjoying the warm embrace, until Daehyun sighed.

"I hope it's okay for you that u told you this... I just Was downstairs and he acted like the perfect husband around mom again, I just couldn't take it..."

"It's okay. I- I'm glad you shared this with me. I kind of always saw you as... The guy with the perfect life and perfect family..."

Daehyun chuckled. "Oh if you knew... You haven't even met my aunt yet."

"What about her?"

"Oh, long story. But I can say she's super arrogant and despises everyone who's not 'normal' in her eyes, which means every visit is a nightmare for me since I bleached my hair and got a tattoo. Also, she's pissed that I don't have a girlfriend because I need to 'ensure I have a good future' "

"Sounds annoying."

"You have no idea. We see her so often it really pisses me off."

He looked Youngjae in the eyes and grinned as he saw a smile on the boy's face. "Jae, I'm honestly so happy that you're here."