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Yuta struggled to finish his artwork. Yuta only needed finishing touch, and he would complete Rapunzel, the block toy he stacked in the shape of a puppy. He once saw a poodle puppy named Rapunzel, and since then, the image of Rapunzel lingered in his mind, up until now.
Yuta turned his head to the right, and there, he saw Taeyong was also stacking his block toy. Yuta saw how Taeyong also stacked it into a puppy shape, only with pointed ears. Yuta had to finish his artwork before Taeyong, and he would win the competition.
Yuta then saw a baby-blue ribbon near Taeyong’s right foot. Yuta planned to use the baby-blue ribbon as his finishing touch for Rapunzel. Yuta stretched his hand, trying to reach the ribbon.
From his position, Taeyong saw what Yuta was about to do. Of course Taeyong wouldn’t let Yuta win the competition that easy. Taeyong would like to win too. Taeyong then stretched his hand too, and he slapped Yuta’s hand, so the baby-blue ribbon fell from Yuta’s grip.
Yuta glared at Taeyong. Yuta couldn’t let Taeyong get away with that. Taeyong shouldn’t be so unfair. Anyone could use anything in the area to finish their artwork. If Taeyong acted unfairly, then it would be fair if Yuta acted like one too, right? And so, Yuta bit Taeyong’s hand.
Taeyong screamed in pain. Avanging Yuta, Taeyong pushed Yuta’s shoulder so hard until Yuta almost fell. Luckily, Yuta got the chance to lean on his hand, so he didn’t really fall. Unluckily, Yuta’s hand bumped into his stacked block toy, making the block fall apart, and ruining his “Rapunzel”.
Yuta fell silent. He gazed at his collapsed block toys. He couldn’t win the competition. He wouldn’t make it. A single tear fell from his right eye. Yuta cried, and he hit Taeyong in the arm. Slowly, Yuta’s crying got even louder, when beside him, Taeyong also started to cry too.
The boys’ crying reached two beautiful women who were making food for the boys. They stopped with what they were doing, and automatically turned their heads to the room where Yuta and Taeyong were. One woman approached Yuta, and the other approached Taeyong.
Both each took their boys into their arms, and started to cradle them. “Oh, my baby, Yuta-chan, don’t cry, don’t cry~” said the woman before she sang a lullaby.
Taeyong’s mother did the same to his eleven months-old baby. The women both smiled when their baby’s slowly stopped crying. They looked at each other’s baby and silently squealed at the boys’ blushed chubby cheeks.
(o≧▽≦)o☆*:.｡.*☆o(≧▽≦o)
“This is my chair!”
“No, it’s not! I got here first!”
“But you left! So this is not your chair anymore!”
“You took it from me!”
“I did not!”
“Yes, you did!”
Taeyong hit Yuta’s arm.
“Hwaaaaa!!” as he hit Taeyong’s hand back.
“Aaaaanng!”
“Oh my god. What happened here?” asked a young woman when she saw both Yuta and Taeyong were crying. She hurriedly took them into her arms, Taeyong to her right, and Yuta to her left.
“He took my chair!”
“I didn’t dooo iiit!” Yuta defended himself. He could barely close his mouth because he was too busy crying.
“You took it!” Taeyong cried back.
“I did nooot!”
“Ssh, there, there, Taeyong, Yuta. There are still other chairs. Both of you can share. And can sit side by side.”
“But I sat on that chair fiiirst!” Yuta pointed to the yellow chair with a star ornament at the chair’s backrest.
“But you left iiitt!”
“I just wanted to bring the rubber duck heeere!”
“But you still left!” Taeyong yelled. “Hey, that’s my rubber duck!”
“Nnngaaa!”
In the end, the young woman called her friend to help her. The feud between Taeyong and Yuta was too fierce for only one kindergarten teacher to handle. At least two teachers were needed to mediate the two boys. This was not the first time Taeyong and Yuta were warring, by the way. And every teacher in the kindergarten would expect that THAT won’t be the last time either.
(ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧･ﾟ:*\(◕♡◕\)
“Lee Taeyong!” the man called like a commander to his subordinate.
Taeyong stood from the bench as he fixed his cap up. He walked to the middle of the field, and to the bat that was lying on the ground. Firmly, Taeyong gripped the bat with both of his hands. He then squinted his eyes to the left, and put the bat on his right shoulder.
“Are you ready, Lee Taeyong?” asked the man still with his commander-like tone.
“Yes, Sir!” Taeyong answered with full confidence.
The man then gave the sign to the boy who stood far in front of Taeyong. The boy nodded, and bent down a little with his right hand hidden in his left large glove. The boy lifted his left leg before he threw the ball toward Taeyong, fast.
Taeyong watched the ball closely, and at the perfect time, Taeyong swung his bat. He hit the ball as hard as he could. The sound when the ball got hit by Taeyong’s bat sounded so loud, and the ball flew so high, so far, across the field, until it reached the opposite of the field, and it—
—hit someone’s head, so hard that Someone suddenly stopped in his tracks. Taeyong, the man — which is his PE teacher, and his classmates gasped. All of them watched with wide-eyed, as The someone just stood silently on his spot. And slowly, The someone fell down to the ground dramatically.
“Holy!” the man with commander-tone — Taeyong’s PE teacher — shouted. “Lee Taeyong!” he called.
“Tsk… why must it end like this…” Taeyong whispered to himself. “Yes, Sir!” he answered as he jogged toward his PE teacher who ran toward the falling Someone. They approached Someone, and Taeyong tsk-ing again.
“Yuta…”
“So you know this boy?” the PE teacher asked. “Great! Then you, Lee Taeyong, take him to the infirmary!”
“What?!” Taeyong eyed his PE teacher disbelievingly. “W… why must me, Sir?!”
“I know you didn’t mean it. But! It’s still because you’re the one who hit him!” the PE teacher exclaimed. “Moreover, I still have to continue the class, don’t I?” he patted Taeyong’s shoulder.
“Tsk…” for the third time.
“I know you can do this, Lee Taeyong! As a grown up man, you have to, you should, and you CAN be responsible for your deed!”
“I’m still a 3rd grader, Siiirr!!” Taeyong protested to his PE teacher who always likes to exaggerate things.
(~◕▽◕)~ ..｡:*☆*:.｡.٩(◕‿◕｡)۶
“Fistfighting?!” Yuta’s mother gaped. “And why must you do that unimportant activity, Yuta?!”
“This was about pride, Mom!”
“Pride?! Was this your pride?!” Yuta’s mother asked as she pressed the thin wound on her son’s brow.
“Aw aw ouch! Mom! It hurts!” Yuta held his head.
“You're embarrassing!” Yuta’s mother protested yet she started to treat Yuta’s wounds. “Who were you fistfighting with?!”
“Someone from a different school.”
“The school has a name at least. Mention.”
Yuta then mentioned the school name. Yuta’s mother frowned, and then she closed her eyes, still frowning. She tapped her temple as she tried to remember where she heard the school name before, it sounded so familiar.
Yuta watched his mother closed-eyes, and tried to use the opportunity. He stood from his chair, and started to tiptoe. He walked toward the door, and that was when his mother’s eyes snapped open. Yuta was startled when suddenly his mother grabbed his collar from behind.
“Stop right there, Young Man!” his mother called, but then cringed at her son’s collar that was dirty by blood and soil. But not letting her son get away, she pulled her son by the collar, and made him sit back on his chair. “Sit down!”
“What, Mom?” Yuta whined.
“It’s Taeyong-chan’s school, right?! Don’t tell me you actually had a fistfight with him!”
“Don’t -chan him!” Yuta pouted and folded his arms. “So what if I had a fistfight with him?!”
“Nakamoto Yuuta!!”
“Lee Taeyong!!” Taeyong’s mother scolded her son at their house, right at the exact same time Yuta’s mother scolded her son. Which mother won’t get restless after they saw their son went to school on a bright sunny morning only to pick them up later from school, black-and-blue, in soiled-dirty uniform, and suddenly were not handsome anymore?
At least, Taeyong and Yuta did that to their mothers that day.
“Your nose!” Taeyong’s mother pointed at her son’s blood-red nose.
“Blame that midget!” Taeyong protested.
“He’s almost as TALL as you!” his mother protested back. “And how would I blame him if you hit him too?!” His mother’s yelling, but her hands were busy treating Taeyong’s wounded nose. But then she sighed. “I just don’t get it. Ever since you’re baby, it seemed like both of you could never get along. What grudge are you two holding against each other? You’re in middle school now already!”
“Dunno!” Taeyong pouted and folded his arms. “He was annoying. He IS annoying. Looking at him annoyed me. I thought attending different schools would stop the chance of me meeting him. But then he was there, standing so annoyingly… so I punched him.”
“Are you saying you’re the one who punched him first?! And you punched Yuta because he was just standing?! Lee Taeyong?!” his mother pinched his nose.
“Ouch! Mom! That huuurts!”
(ｏ・_・)ノ”(ノ_<、)
“Aigoo…” Taeyong exhaled slowly. He was lying on the grass field, near the artificial river. Taeyong used his folded arms behind his head as a pillow while he was gazing straight up to the sky above him. Few masses of white clouds could be seen on that bright day. “Aigoo…” Taeyong let out another sigh.
Taeyong didn’t do anything else other than gazing at the sky and sighing. Oh, he was also biting dry grass that he previously picked randomly from the grass he was lying on now too. He bent his right foot beside his leg one.
“Aigoo...”
Taeyong got suspended for three days from school. He got caught scribbling on bathroom walls at school. His mother got called. His mother exchanged a few words with his teacher before she took her son home with her. And as usual, after they got home, she scolded her son.
“Aigoo…”
Sooyoung had started the mess. Why Sooyoung?
Sooyoung and Taeyong attended the same middle school. Because they had this one year difference, Sooyoung graduated a year after Taeyong. There, Taeyong didn’t actually have the right to prohibit Sooyoung from enrolling to any school she wanted, or asking her to enroll in the same high-school like he did, of course. But...
Why must THAT school.
It’s not that Sooyoung enrolls in a girl-only school. Nope, so it means, Taeyong could still visit her. He could actually visit Sooyoung every. Single. Day. The school even had a Theater Club, which Sooyoung said she would like to become a member of after she got enrolled.
But.
Sooyoung didn’t sign to the Theater Club. She signed herself to the Soccer Club, as the club’s manager. In a very short time, she became the club’s favourite, just like Yuta, who also at a very short time, became the club’s Ace.
Yup, Sooyoung enrolled in the same high-school as Yuta.
“Damn Midget…”
Two days ago, Taeyong was about to pick her up as he always did on Tuesday, when Taeyong was free from any club activity. Taeyong waited for her by the school gate, also just like he always did every time. Just a few minutes left until Sooyoung was done with her duty as the club’s manager, and they could meet, and went home together.
But things happened that day.
Taeyong saw as Sooyoung walked toward the school front gate, not alone. She walked with Yuta, hand in hand. Taeyong was shocked. He just stood there, while watching as Sooyoung and Yuta walked closer to where he stood.
Sooyoung did that. On purpose. Of course, she did. Taeyong always picked her up on Tuesday, yet THAT day, Sooyoung chose to appear, hand in hand, with Yuta. She definitely did that on purpose. Including when she stopped right in front of Taeyong and said, “Oppa, I… I’m so sorry. B… but I don’t th… think I can c… continue our relationship anymore? I… I just—”
“—realized that you’re not the best for her,” Yuta chimed in and finished the sentence.
Then it happened. Taeyong turned toward Yuta and grabbed his collar. Taeyong punched Yuta in the face, and they started to fistfight. The school staff appeared because of the commotion, and broke them up, before they could punch each other's face further.
Yuta got pulled back into the school by his History Teacher, and Taeyong’s school got informed of their student’s behaviour. Taeyong looked at Sooyoung’s shocked yet sad face. “I… I’m so sorry,” was the last thing Taeyong heard from the girl that day.
The day after that incident — or yesterday — Taeyong got punished to mop up the whole Club room corridor for two days straight for “Disgracing your school’s name by starting a fistfight with a student from another school! If you don’t want to mop another corridor up, then don’t repeat your mistake!”
Sooyoung annoyed him yesterday. Yuta annoyed him since he could remember. Now his own school chose to add the annoyance list in his life. Instead of lessening his anger, the punishment just made him even more irritated.
After he finished mopping the whole corridor, Taeyong went to one of the bathrooms at the end of the corridor, and vent his annoyance there. He took out his marker pens from his pocket, and started to “make poems” on the wall.
Got caught, Taeyong received a new punishment: suspension from school for three days.
“Aigoo…”
＼( l|lº □ º)/ . . . … . . . ლ(ಠ_ಠ ლ)
Taeyong’s mother entered their dining room and took a seat in front of her son. She sighed and smiled. “Now, you can enrol in any university you want peacefully!” his mother said cheerfully as she clapped her hands.
“And why couldn’t I?” Taeyong asked indifferently before he blew the hot steam from his ramyun and ate it with his chopsticks.
“I used to consider it every time you wanted to enrol in middle school and high school.”
“Why?! Mom, so you didn’t want me to attend school?!”
“Silly,” his mother pushed Taeyong’s forehead slowly with her forefinger. “Ever Since you graduated from elementary, I was thinking about whether you would pick another fistfight in middle and high-school. And you did.”
“I didn’t do it on purpose!” Taeyong defended himself.
“Arguably, yes,” his mother said followed by a giggle.
“Now, you’re laughing at me,” Taeyong grumbled as he rolled his eyes.
“I just still don’t get it. Ever since you're a baby, it seems like you won’t graduate from any school without having a fistfight with Yuta.”
“Mom! Why must you mention him?! I lost my appetite!”
“Because without him, I won’t have to get called again after you had a fistfight with Yuta again!”
It stopped Taeyong from any movement he’s about to make. “Without…? What? What do you mean, Mom?”
“Yes, without Yuta. You didn’t know?”
“What? What’s with him?” Taeyong’s heart beat faster in an unpleasant way.
His mother sighed again. “If only the two of you could get along, he would tell you everything. Including about… he’s moving,” his mother said with a smile. Taeyong caught a tiny sad expression on his mother's smiling feature. “Yuta and his family are moving to Japan.”
“J… Japan…?”
His mother nodded. “More precisely, Nakamotos are going back to their hometown in Osaka. Yuta’s mother told me that Yuta had passed the test to enroll in Osaka University of Arts,” she explained, as she watched her blank-expressioned son.
“W… when..?”
“Yuta’s mother told me that Yuta won’t attend his high school graduation ceremony. I don’t know. Maybe next week?” Her mother shrugged. “That’s too bad, isn’t it? I thought we could make a farewell party for the Nakamotos, and especially for Yuta. Don’t you think it would be great?”
“H… how would I know?!”
“Of course, you won’t know,” his mother giggled again. “Instead of enjoying the party, the two of you might find another reason to fistfight and the party would turn into chaos.” She sighed and then smiled that sad smile of her. “But the most important thing is… now, I think no one would annoy you anymore.”
Taeyong fell silent. He hung his head low. He suddenly found it hard to breath. He just gazed at his ramyun, and there, he lost his appetite for a whole different reason. He didn’t even realize how his mother looked at him.
( ˘ ɜ˘) ~ ♬♪♫♪♬~ ヽ(ˇ∀ˇ )ゞ
Years had passed since then, and here Taeyong stood in his tuxedo. He looked around him. A lot of people gathered. If Taeyong had the time to count, there would be at least a hundred people there. Taeyong could barely name them. Most of the guests were his parents' colleagues.
Taeyong was glad he could still invite some of his friends tonight. His mother told him that she invited some of his friends’ parents, but Taeyong just wouldn’t expect that his friends would be here either. For an expensive event like this, Taeyong couldn’t be too reckless, could he?
Taeyong met directly with some of them, and the others just had the time to meet his sister and his parents before they went to another appointment. Taeyong was so glad he could meet them after all these years.
He appreciated their attendance very much, he didn’t even care about the presents and gifts their friends brought with them for the evening’s occasion. As part of the host family, Taeyong could only pay them back with the dish his family served especially for their guests.
“Remember. Never leave this place before you’re full!” Taeyong warned them.
“Don’t worry about that! You can count on us, Taeyong!” said his friends, laughing.
Taeyong chuckled as he waved at them. He saw his friends join the crowd near the tables when someone called him, “Taeyong!” He turned his head toward the source of the voice, and saw his mother walking toward him.
“What is it, Mom? Taeyong smiled at his mother who was wearing a navy blue hanbok that evening.
“You better change your suit,” his mother told him and Taeyong whined for the hassle. “I know it’s pretty inconvenient. But we don’t do this kind of occasion every day. You’ve done the photo shoot with your sister and we had the ceremony. Now I think it’s just the right time for you to change your suit.”
Taeyong sighed. “I think it is,” he said finally. “Well, I kinda want to escape the crowd too for a while,” Taeyong smiled at his mother. There, his mother held his hands, warmly. “What is it?” Taeyong frowned, but he smiled nonetheless.
“You’re especially gorgeous tonight,” his mother said as she caressed her son’s cheek.
Taeyong could feel his cheeks grew warmer. Taeyong took his mother’s hand in his hold. “I AM your most gorgeous son. I’m your son after all,” he said before he left his mother, leaving the main building, and was about to walk to the guest room at the left part of the building.
But he stopped mid way. Taeyong’s gaze fell to the person who stood near the pond at the garden between the main building and the guest room. From his position, Taeyong could only see the person’s back.
The blonde hair swayed by the soft evening breeze, making the person have to tuck his hair behind his ear. Taeyong squinted his eyes, but he couldn’t still see the person’s face clearly. But as Taeyong watched the blonde person’s posture, it reminded of someon— “Achoo!” The evening breeze made him sneeze. “Ah, damn…” Taeyong rubbed his nose.
When Taeyong returned his gaze to the blonde person — who was now staring at Taeyong because he was startled by Taeyong’s sudden sneeze — Taeyong gasped. Taeyong gaped.
At the same time, startled at how Taeyong was gazing at him, the blonde person gasped and he hurriedly looked the other way.
Taeyong blinked several times before he finally sighed, smiling to himself. Slowly, Taeyong walked toward the blonde person. “So, it’s really you,” Taeyong said as he stopped beside him, near the pond in the middle of the garden.
“H… hi…” the blonde person greeted him with a very soft voice.
“It’s been… a while, ne, Yuta-kun?” Taeyong called his name, Yuta, the one who he always had the reason to fistfight with.
Yuta slowly looked back at Taeyong. He nodded. “Yeah… When was the last time we saw each other? Five? Six years ago?”
“Five and a half to be exact,” Taeyong smiled. “Really, Yuta. You changed. A lot.”
Yuta hadn’t taken his glance away from his interlocutor for two seconds before he giggled. Yuta cast his eyes down, with a soft blush adorning his face. “You too. Changed. Look at that pink hair?”
“Said someone who’s hair is no longer black either,” Taeyong said as he held out his hand. He touched Yuta’s hair, making him Yuta turn his head toward him. Taeyong was startled for his own action, and he pulled his hand back, fast. “I… I’m sorry. I was just—”
“No, it’s okay,” Yuta smiled.
Taeyong blinked. “You’re… not mad?”
“What for?” Yuta shrugged. “You didn’t hit me, did you?”
They both laughed at the remarks. Taeyong nodded. “Yeah. Now that I think of it, I don’t know why we couldn’t just stay still everytime we met. There’s always something that made us fistfight each other.”
“So it’s a really magical evening, don’t you think?” Yuta said as he glanced upward, watching the black night sky with stars spread above the two of them. “We met tonight, but we didn’t punch each other’s face.”
“Yeah, you’re right,” Taeyong followed Yuta’s gesture, gazing at the starlit night sky. There, his smile slowly faded. Taeyong took a deep breath and asked, “Why did you leave?”
“What?” Yuta was surprised by the sudden question. Forgetting the stars above them, Yuta turned his gaze toward Taeyong.
“Why did you choose to study in Osaka, Yuta?” Taeyong asked, and slowly, he gazed back at Yuta. “Why did you leave? It’s not that you can’t enroll in any Universities of Arts here.”
Yuta was stupefied. Again, he cast down his eyes, and he bit his lips. “I… just couldn’t stay here, Taeyong.”
“And why was that?” Taeyong moved so his body was completely facing Yuta.
“I… I can’t be here if I have to hold back all the time,” Yuta explained. “And I just couldn’t hold back anymore, if, in the end, I can’t have it.”
“Have… what?”
Yuta chuckled. “I don’t know whether I can tell you about that or not.”
“And why’s that?”
“It’s… too personal?”
“Oh…” Taeyong nodded. “Sorry.”
“No, that’s okay. Really.”
“Your mother knew about that?” Taeyong asked. “I mean, our mothers often exchanged stories about us, I was wondering why mom never told me anything about you choosing Osaka’s university over Seoul’s.”
“I… don’t know,” Yuta shook his head. “I wish… she never knew.”
“And why’s that?”
Yuta chuckled again. “I don’t know how mom would feel if she found out this thing about her son.”
“Hey,” Taeyong squinted again. “After you said that, don’t blame me if I got even more curious now?”
Yuta gazed back at Taeyong, “Do you really, really want to know?”
“Well… only if you want to let me know.”
Yuta, for the third time that evening, cast down his eyes, staring at the pond in front of his feet. “Okay then. I guess there’s no harm in telling you this. I’ll be going back to Osaka anyway.”
“Oh? So, you’re…” Taeyong scratched his head, awkward. “Here in Seoul only for tonight’s event?”
“Yeah,” Yuta nodded. “I currently work as a freelancer in Osaka. An illustrator. Who knows I can find a full-time job there.”
“But… don’t you want to just… I don’t know… stay here? And fight for what you’ve always wanted? All of this time?”
“If only I could.”
“And you haven’t told me about what you want.”
“Oh, dear,” Yuta covered his face and he giggled. “I forgot, I’m sorry. Yes, you’re right. I guess you wouldn’t believe it if I told you what I always wanted.”
“And that is…?”
“I’ve… tried anything I could think of — at those moments, as students that we were back then — to fight for it, Taeyong. Just so you know,” Yuta started his explanation. “I even made his girlfriend leave him when we’re in high school.”
Taeyong blinked. “Oh?”
“Yes. Because I want him too much, I don’t even care if I have to fistfight with him. As long as I could meet him? Even if we had to get involved in a fistfight? I won’t mind.”
“H… hey, Yuta, are you talking about—”
“You know, Taeyong?” Yuta giggled again. “I always loved to see him doing sports!”
“W… wait a second, Yuta. Do you mean—”
“Oh, look! What time is it?” Yuta suddenly gasped as he looked at his watch. “I guess I have to leave now. Mom is probably already waiting for me.”
“No. Yuta.”
“Oh, right! Tell your sister I said hi? Congratulations for her wedding! She’s so exceptionally beautiful tonight.”
“Yuta. Wait.”
“I’ve put the wedding gift from Nakamoto at the front desk. You can find it among the gifts and presents from your college friends,” Yuta said as he took several steps backward, distancing himself from Taeyong.
“You saw my college friends? H… how long have you been here? Yuta, what time did you get here? Why did I just see you here?” Taeyong asked non-stopped as he walked toward Yuta who kept distancing himself. “Yuta, I said WAIT!”
“I… I gotta go…!” Yuta hurriedly turned around without paying attention to where he was stepping his foot, making him slipped at the pond edge.
“Look out!” Taeyong held out his hand and reached for Yuta. He pulled Yuta away from the pond. Then, it just happened. Taeyong used too much of his strength, that not only he pulled Yuta away from the pond, he pulled Yuta into his embrace.
Yuta gasped. His heart was beating at the same tempo every time he saw Taeyong from afar ever since he could remember a thing. But at those moments, each time they got closer, they would end up fist-fighting.
No. Fistfight Taeyong again that evening was not listed in Yuta’s agenda. No. He was not going to start another fistfight with Taeyong, nor he would let Taeyong start it. No. “Taeyong, I… I’m sorry…!” Yuta tried to free himself from Taeyong’s grip. “I… I slipped! I didn’t mean to—”
“Are you alright?” Taeyong asked without loosening his embrace around Yuta.
“Wha…?” Yuta gasped. “I… I’m alright. Th… thank you, Taeyong. N… Now you can—”
“Do you know something, Yuta?” Taeyong suddenly asked. “You are so annoying.” Taeyong’s words got Yuta startled. “I was SO angry you didn’t tell me you’re moving to Osaka years ago.”
Yuta fell silent before he, slowly, said, “I… I thought that… you… you won’t care about it…”
“I don’t know about you? I don’t know how you felt, but I do know how it felt living for five and a half years without being able to find you in this city.” Taeyong's words, again, made Yuta fall silent. “Did you know why I was dating Sooyoung back then?”
Suddenly Yuta found it hard to breath. He used to refuse when Sooyoung tried to tell him the reason Taeyong chose her as the girl he would date. Now, Yuta won’t have the time to find excuses for Taeyong not to tell him. “W… why?” he asked nonetheless.
“Because she enrolled in your school,” Taeyong said, and Yuta was startled.
“W… what…?”
“Because she was the only girl enrolled in your school. I took the risk to ask her to be my girlfriend. Oh my God. I should ask for Sooyoung’s forgiveness after this. I don’t know if I can still even be forgiven.” Taeyong sighed.
“Tae…”
“Yeah. you heard it right. Any girl would do. I would date any girl enrolled in your school. I’d do what it takes for a reason to go to your school,” Taeyong explained. “And then it happened. You lied to Sooyoung about me.”
“I’m sorry…”
“You should be,” Taeyong snorted. “You made her break me up. You made me lose the reason to go to your school again. You made me lose the reason to, at least, see you,” Taeyong exposed himself as he tightened his embrace.
“You’re... lying…” Yuta said, but closed his eyes in Taeyong embrace.
“Do you remember, at third grade, I hit your head with a baseball ball?” Taeyong asked. In his arms, Taeyong could feel Yuta move his head, nodded. “Did you know why I did that?”
“You did that on purpose?”
“No! Of course not!” Taeyong answered, panicked, as he hid his face on Yuta’s shoulder. “I DID saw you walking at the opposite side of the field. But I never meant to hit the ball in your direction. I just wanted you to see me. I just wanted you to know that I gave my best hit for you. But I didn’t calculate that the ball would be directed to you, and hit your head instead. I was so scared at that moment.”
“Was that why you firstly refused to take me to the infirmary back then?”
“Yeah…” Taeyong replied. And then Taeyong frowned. And then he was shocked. Taeyong broke the hug, and he gripped Yuta’s shoulders. “H… how did you know?! I thought you… you’re…?!”
“I didn’t faint that time.”
“What?!”
“I’m sorry, I lied.”
“What?! But…! Why?!”
“You had a very powerful hit indeed. I have to admit I was so dizzy back then. But I didn’t faint, Taeyong. I… speculated. If you see me fainted, would you come to me or not,” Yuta explained, still with the blush. “And found out, I got even more than I wanted. You… carried me to the infirmary.”
“You…!” Taeyong growled. “You don’t know how scared I was at that time, Yuta! I was so scared, and I was so disappointed! I was so scared you would hate me for hitting your head with the ball! I was so disappointed because I failed in giving my best hit! I didn’t predict my hit well, I hit you instead, and you collapsed because of it. Yuta! You didn’t know how much I…! That time…! Aaargh!” Taeyong clenched his fist and was about to swing it.
Yuta covered his face with both hands, expecting the blow he’ll receive from Taeyong’s punch. But instead of a blow, Yuta was shocked when Taeyong held his head, and pulled him into another hug.
“Damn you…” Taeyong cursed. “Come on now. You don’t have to go back to Osaka anymore.”
“Why?” Yuta asked with a soft voice as he moved his hand as far as he could inside the hug, so that he could reach for Taeyong’s chest, and gripped Taeyong’s collar, a sign for Taeyong so that he won’t let Yuta go.
“The one you’ve been longing to be yours, you can have him now.”
“What if I still have to go back to Osaka?”
“The one you’ve been longing to be yours will follow you there.”
“You have a job here. And I still need to go back to Osaka, Tae…”
“What’s wrong with you?!” Taeyong broke the hug. He cupped Yuta’s face with both hands and made Yuta look straight back at him. “You’ve heard everything! I’ve told you everything, every single secret of my life about you! And here you still want to leave me?!”
“I… it’s not that!”
“So what?!”
“I haven’t packed my belongings if I want to stay here longer…”
“Ah…” Taeyong lowered his arms. “Why don’t you say that sooner,” Taeyong said awkwardly.
“Besides...”
“Why?”
“I left your tiny rubber-duck in my home in Osaka.”
“What?!”
“I’m so sorry, Tae. I stole your rubber-duck… back then. When we’re… in kindergarten,” Yuta added fast.
“No wonder…” Taeyong gazed at anything but Yuta. “You know? I didn’t even want to graduate from kindergarten because I thought I lost it,” Taeyong said, making Yuta giggled. “Stop laughing! I still had your tiny artwork with me!”
Yuta fell silent. “M… my tiny artwork?”
“Yes. Those brick toys. The one you wanted to finish with a baby-blue ribbon. I stacked it back and glued them. Maybe it was much different from how you stack it. I… I don’t really remember how you stacked them into… who’s her name? Rapunzel? But… I… I’ve tried my best you know.” Taeyong shrugged.
Yuta covered his mouth. “Tae?!” Yuta smacked Taeyong’s arm.
“Ouch! Hey, what was that for?!”
“How did you even still have your baby-memory?!”
“M… mom told me when I was ten!” Taeyong reasoned. “Your mom told my mom about your craving when you’re still in diapers!” Another smacked. “Ouch! Hey!” Taeyong continued. “Your mom said you had this special squeal every time you saw Rapunzel! How’s that even a dog name?” Taeyong wondered and Yuta smacked his arm again. “Ouch! Anyway! There, my mom recalled that and shared the story with me!”
“And I can’t believe you even had the will to restack thaaat! Oh my God! Taaeee!”
“What?!” Taeyong looked away, not letting Yuta find his blushing face.
“It’s more than twenty years ago!”
“S… so?” Taeyong blushed even redder.
“You still remember it!” Yuta cheered, almost squealed.
“H… hey…?!” Taeyong caught Yuta in his embrace before they laughed together with pinky blush adorning their cheeks.
=OMAKE I=
The two young men were too occupied for the one in front of them, they no longer saw other humans' existence at the side of the garden. Two women to be exact. The two women stood near the garden entrance. The two women only stare at their sons and dreamily sighed.
“I’ve told you. There must be something between them,” Yuta’s mother murmured.
“You’re right,” Taeyong’s mother nodded. “I’m wondering what would it be if they realized their feelings years sooner.”
“Both of them are similarly slow. They needed THIS LONG to finally confess toward each other.”
“We should have helped them, shouldn’t we? They’ll go on a date faster.”
“Oh, we should not. It won’t be natural that way.”
“You’re right,” Taeyong’s mother agreed with a giggle. “It felt more beautiful this way.”
“Indeed,” Yuta’s mother smiled wide.
=OMAKE II=
“Indeed they are,” another girl chimed in, making Yuta’s and Taeyong’s mother turned their heads.
“Sooyoung, my dear?” Taeyong’s mother recognized the girl immediately.
“Oh, so this is the girl…” Yuta’s mother whispered to herself.
“They still don’t know that I know their craving toward each other,” Sooyoung said. “Back then at middle school, I told Taeyong-oppa that dating me was not the best idea to get closer to Yuta-oppa. But he didn’t listen to me,” she explained. “Yuta-oppa didn’t do anything better either. He asked me to break up with Taeyong-oppa as if it would not add more tension between them.”
“Oh, so you knew?” Taeyong’s mother blinked. Yuta’s mother too.
“Of course, I did,” Sooyoung nodded. “Their love atmospheres were all over the place. The only people that didn’t recognize their love atmospheres were themselves,” she sighed. “I’m SO GLAD now they’re together. Like, finally!”
Taeyong’s mother and Yuta’s mother stared at each other and said in unison, “A new ally has joined.”
✿ * : . ｡ . ( ˘⌣˘)♡(˘⌣˘ ) . ｡ . : * ✿
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