Choices

The Bench

Jaemin lay on his bed staring up at the ceiling. He usually never fell asleep early especially not on weekends. It's one of the reasons he drinks coffee, he doesn't like it, he needs it. He wanted to get up and do something productive such as catch up on the syllabus. Even though he was born and practically grew up there, he had gotten used to only communicating in English and he felt like he was having to relearn Korean. But he felt too lazy to even move.

The only thing he could currently think of was Donghyuck, his cute laugh and adorable dimples that showed every now and then. Just thinking about him made him feel uneasy. He thinks back to the day before he left South Korea. He called Donghyuck with a hand on his heart that day not knowing what to say or how to say it. That was supposed to be the day Jaemin finally gathered his courage and told Donghyuck the way he felt, about the feelings he had been harbouring for his best friend. He had never really expected everything to change as drastically as they did.

Sitting there with bated breath he had wondered if he should just confess, but he knew it would be way too hard for both him and Donghyuck if he chose to reciprocate his feelings and even if he didn't. In the end he knew he would be left feeling broken either way. Back then he didn't know if he would ever return. He assumed all his feelings for the, then barely thirteen year old boy had dissipated over time. He had a pretty normal love life back in the USA and over time he had practically forgotten about the boy he was so close to. What he didn't expect was all his feelings for Donghyuck to resurface when he saw him again on the first day of school.

He placed his hands under his head trying and failing to not think about Donghyuck and even though he'd been with him just hours ago, he wanted to see him again. He was much more conscious of the way his heart skipped every time Donghyuck said his name or touched him or simply smiled at him. For a long time he couldn't accept the way he felt, even to himself. He felt like a weirdo and he was afraid that if Donghyuck found out about his sexuality he may not accept him. Even his dad didn't accept him at first but he had promised himself the day he stepped foot in that foreign country to be true to himself, even if people didn't like the real him.

He wasn't a pre pubescent tween anymore and he wasn't sure where the confidence was coming from but he knew that he couldn't second guess himself now. He picked up his phone from his bed side table as he called Donghyuck and grabbed his car keys.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Donghyuck was woken up when his phone started ringing in the middle of the night; he had half a mind to ignore it. After what was the fifth ring he gave in and extended his hands to reach his phone that was on the night stand beside his bed.

Donghyuck croaked out a raspy "Hello", putting the phone to his ears.

"Hyuckie? Did I wake you up?" Jaemin asks concerned when he hears Donghyuck's hoarse voice.

"Um.... no... What's up?" Donghyuck says sitting up and rubbing his eyes with his free hand.

"I couldn't sleep and...... I'm craving Ice cream but I don't want to go alone."

"Now?" Donghyuck asks bringing the phone up to his face to see the time and adds "At 3:30 am?"

"Yup. I'm coming to pick you up, be ready." Jaemin says cutting the call.

"This bitch" Is all Donghyuck can say as he stares at the black screen of his phone.

Donghyuck reluctantly gets up and replaces his pyjamas for denims. He jumps back in surprise when his phone chimes; he hadn't realized just how much the sound resonated in the quiet house.

Nana:
I'm here

Donghyuck puts his phone in his back pocket as he tip toes his way to the front door. He opens the door as quietly as possible, hoping no one wakes up. He is definitely going to be in trouble if he doesn't come back home before his parents are awake.