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Between Hyunjin and Jisung, there has always been rivalry, and this since they were in elementary school.
In elementary school, when they were both seven years old, Hyunjin fell in love with a cute girl with long silky hair but Jisung also fell in love with the same girl so they both challenged each other to make the girl fall in love with them.
Yet despite the fact that they both did everything they could, giving their snacks to the girl or offering her flowers picked in the school garden, None of them succeeded in making her fall in love with them since the girl moved in the middle of the school year.
Rumor had it that she had grown tired of being the cause of the two boys' incessant arguments and had asked her parents to take her away from school and Seoul. This obviously made sad the two boys who blamed themselves but did not cease to challenge each other on everything and anything in the following years whether they were in the same class or not.
Today they were both in their third year at their university specializing in cooking. Cooking was, of course, one of the thousands of things they had challenged themselves to do. They suddenly became interested in cooking in their final year of high school at the same time, as if by chance, and decided to give it a try and enroll in the new university in Seoul created especially to train wonderful cooks. "Blast University" was the name of this university, which was unlike any other university in Seoul or even in Korea for that matter.
Although their rivalry only increased over the years, they both had the same group of friends and therefore had to see each other several times a week. This did not sit well with them at all. At least that's what they told their friends at each meeting. Their group of friends also included their best friends. Minho for Jisung and Felix for Hyunjin. And these two knew everything that was behind this rivalry that they both considered ridiculous. Especially when they knew that Hyunjin and Jisung had fallen in love with each other a few years ago.
That's why Minho and Felix decided to get all their friends together, excluding Hyunjin and Jisung of course, to think of a plan to get them to confess their feelings. They all gathered in the room of the only couple in the group, Chan and Minho, to share their ideas. They were at their 30th idea, which was to lock them up in a room alone together. Chan exploded with laughter when Felix proposed this.
"I was sure someone would propose this, but I didn’t expect it to be after so many other ideas," said Chan trying to calm his laughter.
Felix simply looked at him, looking confused. Minho then elbowed Chan to make him calm down, and that's what he did before adding.
"I'm sorry I laughed Lix. Your idea is not bad, but I don't think it will work with those two. They've been roommates for two years at the most, and even though they've been in their room alone together, they've done nothing but ignore each other or argue. - He explained - "We've all known each other since high school and we all know how hard it was to get them to at least say hello to each other before they spat at each other.
The other five nodded sharply as they remembered their long struggle to get those two to say hello to each other.
"Yes. You’re right Chan-hyung I had completely forgotten that. Now that I remember, I even wonder how it is possible that they both fell in love with each other in high school when they seemed to despise each other more than anything," said Felix.
"I have often heard that between love and hate there is only one step and I guess that these two are the living proof of it," responded Changbin.
"Indeed, I think I have an idea that could push them to confess their love to each other," said Seungmin, smiling.
The five others then looked at him intensely hanging on his lips. He continued, "Tomorrow is the first Saturday of the month. And as you know, on the first Saturday of every month we have a fruit peeling contest for those two. This contest was primarily created so that these two could spend time with us without arguing as they were too busy peeling fruit to win. - he says, looking at his friends one by one to see if they are listening carefully. - Every month we change fruits so it's not too boring and this time the fruit we chose is the pear, it's not very important but I just want to remind you what you have to bring to their room tomorrow. Anyway. So my idea is that in addition to this contest we will also prepare some actions to do for the loser. We will write on small papers a meeting place for these two and no matter who the loser is, they will have to go together.
Applause was heard immediately after Seungmin had finished his explanations. And so, without even saying a word to each other, they all understood that this was the best idea and the one they were going to carry out.
The next day, they were all in Hyunjin and Jisung's room. Unfortunately or fortunately for these two, despite their rivalry and alleged hatred for each other, they had found themselves roommates since their first year at university. They had initially tried to change roommates in vain and had to resolve to share a room.
They were both in the kitchen peeling the pears for their contest from time to time glancing at each other. Hyunjin and Jisung had twenty minutes to peel forty pears as quickly as possible. The first one who had finished cutting the most pear before the alarm sounded was automatically declared the winner. They were both struggling to finish peeling the pears as quickly as possible.While the others bask in their room, cuddling.
Minho, Chan and Jeongin were in Jisung’s bed hugging each other and the same goes for Seungmin, Changbin, and Felix in Hyunjin’s bed. The beds were big enough for three people but this did not prevent them from wanting to be closer to each other.
"Who do you think will win this time?" Jeongin suddenly asked, squeezed between the two oldest members of their group.
"Hyunjin!" replied the other five at the same time.
"You may not be wrong, Hyunjin is not only good at peeling pears but he can do it very quickly. Jisung also, but he's a little slower," replied Jeongin.
"We could see what each of them was capable of before we came to lock ourselves in here, and Hyunjin will definitely be the winner this month," Minho added.
"Since we all agree on who will be the winner. I would like to know what you have written in your little papers as meeting places," said Felix, excited.
They had all locked themselves in the room so they could write on the little papers that were now in a bowler hat. Nevertheless, they had not yet told each other what place they had each chosen.
"The amusement park! " said J, very proud to have chosen this place.
Seungmin chuckled hearing this. He knew very well what Jeongin had in mind but it was definitely not the best idea for a first date for these two.
They all knew that even though Hyunjin and Jisung loved amusement parks, it didn’t stop Jisung from being scared by half the rides there and even though it was sometimes fun to tease him about it, they all prayed inwardly that the loser didn’t pick that up.
They then listed other places they thought were more interesting for a first date for those two. Chan proposed the skating rink, Minho the bowling alley, Felix the park, Changbin the sports hall and Seungmin the aquarium.
While they were busy debating which place was the best place for a first date, the alarm signaling the end of the contest sounded. They all rushed to the kitchen to see who was the winner of the day, and of course, not surprisingly, it was Hyunjin who had cut twenty pears in forty minutes while Jisung had cut fifteen.
Seeing this, Felix immediately rushed to the room where they had left the hat with the small papers and immediately returned to the kitchen and handed the hat to Jisung who looked at it circumspectly so Minho decided to take matters into his own hands and explain to him what was going on.
"We decided that to make the contest more interesting this month, the loser had to do an action chosen by us. So in this hat there are six papers with six actions that the loser has to do and since you're the loser Jisung, you have to pick one of the papers to see what you have to do," said Minho, with a satisfied smile.
Jisung sighed but not as he was not a sore loser, he didn't hesitate for a second to pick one of the papers. As he unrolled the paper to see what action he had picked, the others looked at him, each looking more excited than the other.
"Go on a date at the rink with the person you have the least affinity with," he said before frowning, then understanding what it meant he looked at Hyunjin and rolled his eyes.
As for Hyunjin having also understood what this action meant, asked the others, looking annoyed, "I won. Then why do you make me also undergo his action? That is not fair."
Changbin snickered and said, "Listen Hwang Hyunjin, nothing is right in life so make yourself a reason and go get ready because you have to go there before the rink closes."
"Binnie is right. It is already late and the rink closes in four hours. You must spend at least one hour there. Be nice to each other kids and come back to us soon. I arranged everything there and you have nothing to pay. Have fun!" Said Chan by giving them their coats and pushing them towards the door without forgetting to take the hat from Jisung's hands. It was obviously not necessary for him to discover that the other actions consisted also of going on a date with Hyunjin but in different places.
Thus, Hyunjin and Jisung found themselves on their way to the rink, which was only a twenty-minute walk away, hand in hand, smiles on their faces.
When they arrived at the rink, still hand in hand, they immediately went to the small coffee shop that was there. Although they were there to skate, they wanted to warm up first by drinking lattes.
They sat down at the first empty table, one in front of the other but before they could call the waiter who was also a friend of theirs, Lee Jeno, he walked towards them with two lattes and a small chocolate cake with a single huge candle on it.
"Happy Something," he simply said to them before going back behind the counter.
Hyunjin and Jisung looked at each other puzzled before they remembered Chan's words and understood what was going on.
"Chan-hyung gave us a nice surprise for our one year, didn’t he?" declared Hyunjin delighted by the surprise and took Jisung’s hands to fondle them.
"Yes. I feel bad about keeping our relationship secret from the others for one year but at least Chan and Minho know and understand us," said Jisung sadly.
Although they always were rivals and even today the competitiveness between these two was still present. Their relationship had taken another turn last year. They had somehow managed to express their love for each other thanks to Minho and Chan who had helped them a little… no actually they had helped them a lot. How ? That, they had promised to keep it secret as well as their relationship.
Nevertheless, their promise to keep their relationship a secret ended today and they had to keep another promise today. The one to tell their friends everything if their relationship lasted at least one year. It's not that they didn't trust their relationship but rather that they were afraid that if anything went wrong it would affect them and their friends but fortunately for them everything went well for a year while they had to hide their love for each other behind false arguments. They were very good actors during that year.
"One year and we managed to make our relationship work without killing each other and being discovered. I'm very proud of us and I'm sure that the others will be too, as well as being happy for us. Don't be sad Ji, we will tell them everything today and they will understand. Especially since they seemed very happy to see us both going on a date, you might even wonder if it wasn't a setup against us but it worked out well for us at the end," said Hyunjin, with a small smile on his face.
He then took Jisung's other hand and placed a tender kiss on both hands, which made him blush slightly.
Then, the two lovers put themselves in their little bubble where nothing existed anymore except them. They blew out the candle then ate the cake, discussing everything and nothing for an hour before deciding to go to the ice rink to skate a little together before the closing. They helped each other to put their skates on before going on the ice where there was nobody. It was as if the place was reserved just for them and maybe it really was.
They spent about forty minutes chasing each other on the ice and as soon as one caught the other, they kissed like never before. Whether it was by dropping little kisses all over their faces or fiercely devouring each other's lips. All of this while hugging each other as soon as they found each other after a chase and this lasted until the rink was about to close and Jeno came to interrupt them while they ... devouring each other's lips for the umpteenth time to tell them it was time to leave.
On their way to their dorm, they were very nervous about having to tell their friends that they were in a relationship and that for a year now. When they came to the door, they even wanted to turn back and go hide somewhere far away but they finally decided to be brave and face their friends, because they knew they would be very happy for them although a little offended that they took so long to tell them.
Unfortunately or fortunately for them it was not today that they were going to tell their friends everything. They were all already asleep, in their room.
Moreover, Chan and Minho had even put on their two-person sleeping bag that they had recently bought for a future hike with all of them, leaving Seungmin and Jeongin to share Jisung's bed and Changbin and Felix Hyunjin's.
They couldn't help but be moved by the image in front of them. Their friends had had to wait a long time for them to come back and had fallen asleep.
Seeing them sleeping so peacefully, they decided that it was better to talk to them tomorrow and went to the living room to watch a movie, both of them not being sleepy.
When they arrived in the living room, they saw a pear cake on the table with a note.
I took it to read it out loud, "Here's the pear cake you've been wanting to eat for months now. Minho baked three but we and the kids gobbled up the other two in a few minutes. I hope you liked my surprise, but it was still a miracle that you came across mine. Even if you had chosen a different paper I would still have made sure you went to the ice rink to at least get the cake.
Happy One Year Birthday to you. And I hope that next year we, I mean all 6 of us, can prepare another surprise for you both because you deserve it.
Chan."
Tears immediately fell on the cheeks of the two boys who instinctively sought refuge in each other's arms, thinking how lucky they were to have such good friends and after all, not everyone was willing to create a fruit peeling contest every month to satiate the competitive spirit of their friends or do they?