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Here’s the truth, the whole truth, and only the truth: Chan wasn’t scared of DK only when he sang well; nowadays, it seemed that he was always scared of his hyung. He just hoped Seokmin-hyung wouldn’t notice…
And how could he not be scared?! Chan had worked so hard, and it still didn’t feel like he was anywhere close to where he wanted. Working on solo promotions for his song was fun, sure, rewarding, definitely, but it was so much work, it was so hard… filling a stage with thirteen members was easy; useless as it was to have twelve hyungs, it certainly came in hand when performing! By himself he felt… inadequate, insufficient, small. So Chan had to work harder, be bigger than life itself, he had to wrestle for the attention of all Carats and non-Carats by himself. It wasn’t easy. Sometimes he thinks he did well, even gives himself a little pat on the back. “Dinow of K-pop” some fans said. How could Chan not feel proud of his achievements and hard work?
But then he watches how one smile from Seokmin-hyung captivates audiences of hundreds of thousands… he can only be mesmerized by the sunshine radiating from his hyung and feel… insignificant. Chan wants to be bigger than life, but all DK has to do is make a joke and everyone’s attention is on him. Even before he opens his mouth! Even his other hyungs, like moths to a flame, they’re all watching him, anticipating him, delighting in him. And Chan does too, how could he not? The pure joy and love for performing and singing that comes from his hyung is contagious, it makes Chan want to be better, bigger, faster! But how can he not be terrified? He thought he was catching up. Before, he was younger, he had a lot of growing to do, he had a lot to learn, but it feels like he’s been running after an ever-changing target… and the faster he runs, the further away the target is… How can Chan not be terrified by how easy it all comes to his hyung? Just a wink, a honeyed “Carat-deul”, a sweet-pitched “Saranghae,” or just a dance move – the same moves Dino does, and he knows he’s so much more proficient at them! So, how?! – and a whole world just throws themselves at DK’s feet.
Not scared. Chan is terrified. He looks forward to his hyung’s high notes in Kidult, but it fills him with so much dread. But then he gets home and he plays the song on repeat. Playing around with Seokmin-hyung in Going Seventeen is so much fun, but his jokes, his magnetism, his stage presence make Chan feel like he’s going through cardiac arrest – one minute he gets hot flashes, another his heart goes into overdrive with terror, then it skips a beat in horrifying realization that he’s not keeping up – again. Twelve useless hyungs? More like one useless maknae.
And the worst part? Just how nice his hyung is. Here he is, thinking all this about him, and Seokmin-hyung is always making sure Chan is taken care of, that he doesn’t lack anything, that he’s included, that he’s not too bullied by the other hyungs, that he gets his spotlight and camera time during filming…
“Andwe Lee Chan!” he admonished himself. He couldn’t go on feeling sorry for himself. It’s not DK’s fault Chan is feeling like this, he had no fault in being a great idol. Chan had to make a decision. Chan was going to live up to the Dinow of K-Pop if it was the last thing that he was going to do! But in order to achieve that, he needed some time to think, he couldn’t keep being distracted by how amazing his hyung is. Nothing good was going to come out of comparing himself! So Chan was going to do his best to avoid his hyung for a while. Hopefully that would help clear his mind and allow him to figure out what he needed to change.
Chan started spending less time in the training room with the rest, and more time with Jihoon in the recording room. He could practice by himself, he knew he was good enough for it.
“Dino-ya, focus. You asked me to help you with your vocals, but you’re wasting both our time if you won’t focus,” Woozi said in his usual sharp tone, but Dino knew that it wasn’t meant to cut. That was just how Woozi talked. Bluntness was efficient, coddling was time-consuming. And Chan definitely did not want to be coddled.
“Sorry, hyung! I’m focused, I’m focused! Can you show me again how to do this part?”
“I don’t really understand what you’re trying to do, maknae-ya… your vocals are good. You’re stable when you dance, your register is great, you can reach both the high and the low notes… what more do you want?”
“I just want to be better, hyung. I don’t want to disappoint our Carats,” Dino answered earnestly. Of course, he was lying… he knew what he was trying to do was just another attempt at feeling less insufficient, like he might deserve to be on the same stage with Seungkwan, and Woozi, and Seokmin-hyung…
“I don’t think Carats could ever be disappointed in you, Chan-ah…” Woozi seemed puzzled, like he was trying to figure out a conundrum. Chan felt like he was under an X-Ray.
“I know, hyung… I’m not saying they are, but we need to be better. I’m just not satisfied yet…”
“Ok… then let’s try again.”
Dino was thankful to the vocal leader for taking the time to guide him through some exercises and give him some ideas of songs he could practice to broaden his skills and vocal control, and then even gave him some feedback. By the time he headed for the practice room, the others had mostly left already; only Hoshi and Minghao were still going through some drills, as always.
“Look who’s decided to join us!” Hoshi says in his boisterous tone, full-teasing, but with a big smile. Dino was so thankful for his Hoshi-hyung; whenever he was around, things didn’t feel as serious, as heavy. He felt lighthearted and answered with a full smile.
“I’ll have you know I was practicing with Woozi-hyung! I didn’t skip anything. Is there anything new I should be aware of?”
“Nop, we didn’t change anything today. Maybe prioritize the new song for a bit, I might ask for everyone to come together in the next few days for a group practice session. I’ll need you to have it mastered so you can help the others.”
“Got it, hyung! I’ve mostly got it anyway, I only have a few tricky transitions left to figure out, but other than that I should be fine in one or two days.” Chan took pride in his dancing skills, and he knew that what he said was well received because Hoshi smiled wide again and ruffled his hair. “Hyung, stop! I’ll go bald!”
“Don’t lie to me, maknae-ya, I’ve seen your father’s full head of hair and it looks like he’ll have it even when he’s sixty! That aside, do you need me to stay and help you with the transitions? I was done, myself, but I can stay a bit longer; I doubt Jihoon is done yet,” Hoshi offered sincerely. Chan felt thankful and truly loved.
“Thank you, hyung, but it’s ok. I just need to go through the motions myself and figure it out with my body, you know how it is.” And, indeed, Hoshi knew how it was. Dance was all about kinetic memory, and Dino needed to build the pathways for this dance through practice.
“Ok, if anything happens call me, or ask Myungho. He said he’ll be here for another hour or so.”
“I will, hyung. Go! Don’t make Jihoon-hyung wait, take him out on a nice date!”
“He’ll make me wait…” Hoshi grumbled as he picked up his gym bag and headed for Woozi’s recording studio.
Dino got himself going with some stretches while he was visualizing the dance and the parts that were still tricky to him. He plugged his earbuds in, tapped play, and let himself get lost in the beat of the song and the flow of the dance. After a few run-throughs and practicing the transitions, he was taking a break when he felt a tapping on his shoulder. While he wasn’t scared – he knew Minghao was in the room with him -, he did jolt.
“Sorry, Chan-ah, I didn’t mean to scare you!” the older apologized, half worried, half laughing.
“It’s ok, hyung, you didn’t. I was just deep in my thoughts, and you brought me back to reality.”
“All good? Are you managing to figure out the dance?”
“Mostly, yeah. This part here is still giving me headaches, though…” Dino whined as he played the part of the song that went with a particularly tricky transition.
“Ah, I see. This one is especially dependent on the overall group choreography, it might make more sense if you practice it with a partner. Here, let me show you.”
As they practiced together, Dino realized that his hyung was right; the presence of another body to perform the choreography with made all the difference – using Minghao’s position on the floor as a point of reference helped him with coordinating his own movements much better.
“Ah, this makes so much more sense now. Thank you, hyung!”
“We missed you at the practice today, Chan-ah. I know you were busy, but it’s not the same without you. Practicing individually isn’t always the helpful thing to do, and I definitely needed your energy today. Maybe join us tomorrow?”
Dino felt regretful to a certain degree… in his attempt to avoid DK he was also not spending as much time with some of the others. And Myungho-hyung was right – working together always brought about better results, even for Chan himself.
“Sorry, hyung, you’re right. I’ll join you tomorrow for sure! I’m just trying to get better at everything I can!”
“All rivers run to the sea, Chan-ah,” Minghao said in his calm voice.
“What does that mean, hyung?”
“You know how rivers flow into each other and it makes them bigger? That is what allows them to ultimately reach the sea. They become more powerful as they feed into each other, and the bigger the river, the straighter the path to the sea. It means we share a common destiny, but how fast and straight the path to that destiny is depends on how much we rely on each other.”
“That is such a cool saying, hyung! I think I get it. But then, if my river is big and strong, wouldn’t it help the river of Seventeen as well?”
“I guess that’s one way of looking at it, but then the more winding the path of your river is.”
“I’ll try to take it into account, hyung. Thank you!”
Ultimately, how could his small mountain creek compare to Seokmin-hyung’s Amazon river? Chan couldn’t even share a map with him.
The next day Dino joined the rest of the team in the practice room. Most were practicing in groups of 2-3, others were learning the choreography by themselves, committing each step to muscle memory. Chan felt his mood lift immediately. He was so happy to see the members again, working so hard, running together towards the sea! His eyes surreptitiously went towards Seokmin-hyung. Today he was wearing white baggy shorts exposing part of his strong thighs and the rich bronze smooth skin expanse of his lower legs, and a baggy long-sleeved checkered shirt, while his head was covered with a bucket hat. Chan exhaled in relief (and slight disappointment); while he appreciated his hyung’s strong arms and beautiful face, he was glad today he was well covered up – he wouldn’t have to worry about being distracted by his own feelings of inadequacy regarding these things.
As he got ready, he could hear DK singing along to the song as he was practicing the moves. The fact that he already had the vocals for the song down pat was once again terrifying… and the song included some Kidult-level terrifying parts again… and doing them while practicing a choreography he hadn’t mastered yet? How stable were his lungs?! Autotune, who is she? Seokmin-hyung definitely doesn’t know her…
“Dino-ya! You’re here!” Shit… he saw Chan.
DK and a few others gather about Dino, making jokes and welcoming him as though he’d been gone for months, not just a few days… useless hyungs, overreacting like this… Still, it felt pretty good.
“We couldn’t practice properly yesterday because you weren’t here!” DK accuses him in mock-pout, his childish high-toned whine in full display.
“Woozi-hyung wasn’t here either, stop lying!”
“Ah, you were with him? What for?”
“I was working on some vocals.”
“Oh? But you just finished with your solo song a few months ago. Are you doing another one? Can I get a feature on it?” DK laughed.
“Nah, just some practice, you know.”
“Yah, why didn’t you come to me, then?” DK asked in mock hurt. As if Dino could learn anything from him… The Amazon doesn’t flow into the mountain creek, it’s the other way around… Plus, he’d probably be distracted anyway.
“Ha, ha. Funny, hyung. As if you’d have time to teach me.”
Chan hadn’t thought anything about it when he said it, but he wanted to take it back as soon as he looked at his hyung. It might have been for just one second, but DK had looked as if Dino slapped him. Now that’s an expression that Chan never wants to see on his hyung’s face ever again… But he wasn’t wrong! Why would his hyung waste his time with Chan?
“Hyung…”
“No, I understand… I’d go to Woozi too if I were you, he’s the producer after all… You just do such a good job at teaching me, I would have hoped I could have been of some use to you as well, Chan-ah… sorry for being such a useless hyung…” DK was smiling bright as he said that, but for some reason all Dino could feel was like bursting into tears. What a terrible dongsaeng he was, making his hyung feel like this! It was unforgivable! Nobody should be allowed to make his sunshine hyung feel anything less than the mighty Amazon River itself!
“No, hyung, listen…”
“It’s ok Chan-ah, hyung is sorry. Let’s get back to practice, we have a busy day ahead of us,” DK said, not looking at Dino anymore, going back to his original spot, between Mingyu and Minghao.
And Chan felt like crying. He was terrified by his hyung again. But this time he felt terrified that his hyung’s eyes weren’t on him anymore. He felt terrified that he might lose his beautiful, talented, scary, kind, lovely hyung.
“Chan-ah, are you ok? You’re trembling.” Vernon had come over to his younger friend, having seen that his discussion with DK had finished, only to find him trembling and looking terrified. “What’s happening?”
Chan just shook his head, silently asking Hansol not to probe any further. He breathed in, trying to calm himself, and did his best not to look towards the 97ers.
“Nothing. Let’s practice,” he muttered and dragged Vernon towards Seungkwan.
That day’s practice, for how well it had started, was one of the most miserable, longest, hardest practices Dino had had the misfortune of experiencing. He made a lot of mistakes, and even drew Hoshi’s ire a few times.
Vernon and Seungkwan tried multiple times to get him talking, but he refused. Nothing was wrong. At the end, he stayed behind to practice some more. He could feel the members throwing him worried glances, and he couldn’t meet their eyes. He felt like the most insignificant rain-puddle, on the verge of drying up at any point.
“Chan-ah. Are you ok?” Minghao had apparently stayed behind too. He was, however, dressed in outside clothes so he was probably about to leave.
“I’m ok, hyung, sorry. It’s just a tricky choreo.”
“Don’t think I’m stupid or a pushover just because I don’t blow out as often as other members, Lee Jungchan. I practiced with you yesterday, I know you’ve already mastered the choreo, so there’s something else going on.”
Chan’s cheeks paled in horror, his eyes burned, tears filling them. He’d done it again… how stupid can he be?!
“I’m sorry, hyung, I didn’t mean it like that, please forgive me, I’m so sorry hyung, I’m sorry…”
Chan felt strong arms wrapping around him, surprisingly conforting.
“It’s ok Chan-ah, I’m not mad. Hyung is sorry, I shouldn’t have phrased it like that. It’s ok, Shhh.”
Chan continued crying for a few minutes until he managed to calm down, feeling slightly lighter.
“Th-thank you, hyung. I’m sorry for your shirt…”
“It’s ok Chan-ah, tears don’t stain, and clothes dry. Are you feeling better?”
“Yeah…” Chan whispered softly. He didn’t like it when his voice went soft like this, he knew it showed how insecure he was. He’d even showed it to Carats a few times, and he feels so ashamed… they don’t want to see him weak; he needs to be strong for them! That’s why he’s an idol!
“Can you tell hyung what’s wrong, Chan-ah? And don’t even try to lie, something is clearly wrong…”
“I just… I just feel like I’m an insignificant mountain creek, while all you hyungs are such big rivers… and however hard I work I can’t catch up and become big enough to be seen on the same map as your rivers…”
“Where is this coming from, Chan-ah? Is this why you’ve been taking vocal lessons again?”
“You know… sometimes when Seungkwan and Seokmin-hyung sing really well, it scares me…” Chan’s soft voice had almost become a whisper by the end of that confession.
“You said that before in an in an interview, Dino-ya. It didn’t seem to impact you that much back then though, so what changed?”
“I don’t know, but recently… Pretty much everything DK-hyung does terrifies me…” Chan felt so ashamed by this confession, he couldn’t even look in Myungho-hyung’s eyes.
“Is this about Seokmin?” Minghao asked confused.
“He’s just so… bright! He’s so funny, he sings so well, he’s so good at interacting with Carats, and so good at securing screen time in Going Seventeen, and have you seen the photoshoot he did for Allure?! He doesn’t even have to say something, just smile, and everyone is paying attention to him, knowing that one way or another something good is going to happen. It’s like… he has his on gravitational pull or something, that’s how big his presence is!” Chan realized he was ranting, but Myunho-hyung did ask; when else would he be able to say everything that was on his mind? “In terms of rivers, he’s the Amazon!”
Minghao was taken aback by the change of pace; from softspoken and insecure, Dino had all of a sudden become impassioned, ranting at a high verbal debit… about Seokmin’s qualities? Was he complaining about how great Seokmin is?
“And that… terrifies you?”
“So much, hyung! Sometimes, watching him during concerts makes me feel like I can’t breathe. It’s terrifying! How can one person be so…. Huge?”
“I’m not sure I understand, Dino-ya… Can you explain better what you feel when you’re terrified?”
“I’m just terrified! Being terrified is a feeling, hyung, you should know that!”
“Yeah, yeah, I get that,” Minghao chuckles at his dongsaeng’s sudden burst of animation. “But how does it manifest physically? You know how when you are happy you feel warm all over… How does being terrified manifest for you? You said you can’t breathe, is that it?”
“Not really… sometimes my heart starts beating very fast, you know like when there’s suspense in a horror move… and sometimes it just slows down or even skip a beat, like when something gruesome happens in an action movie… and sometimes I get an adrenaline rush and get hotflashes, similar to when a dog barks at you and you feel like running, you know, you get really scared!”
“Ah…” Minghao thought he had a pretty accurate image of what was happening. “I see, yeah that sounds a lot like being terrified… what about your stomach, how does it feel?”
“Oh, yeah, that happens often as well! It feels like it’s completely empty, and I’m falling, like on a roller coaster? And my mouth goes dry like I’m at the top of the roller coaster and know what’s coming… do you feel the same, hyung?”
“Oh, I definitely do, but not from watching Seokmin, no.” Minghao laughed out loud, windchime-like, having fully understood the youngest’s predicament.
“What do you mean? When else would you feel this terrified?” Dino asked confused.
“I often get in the same state as you when I see Mingyu doing well in concerts,” Minghao answers him, smirking. Hook…
“Your own boyfriend terrifies you?!” Line…
“Quite often. But I wouldn’t use the word terrify, Dino-ya. My heart beats fast, it skips a beat, my mouth goes dry, my stomach does tumbles, and I get hot all over…” and sinker. Minghao had him right where he wanted. And, for all of is childishness, his dongsaeng wasn’t stupid.
Chan felt like he was struck by lightning.
Seokmin-hyung terrified him. Seokmin-hyung was the Amazon. Chan was even more terrified of not having Seokmin’s eyes on him.
Chan had a crush on Seokmin-hyung.
No. Chan was in love with Seokmin-hyung,
“Sibal.”
“Watch your mouth, maknae. But yes. Good job on Sherlocking your way out of that terrifying conundrum. So what happened today? Seokmin was in just as foul a mood as you.”
“I … I told him I was taking vocal lessons with Woozi-hyung…”
“That’ll do it. Expect a long message by the end of the day.”
“But… I didn’t do anything wrong, did I? Why would he send me a long message? Those are scary, and not in the good way….”
“The fact that you think there is a good way about feeling scared is what truly scares me about this situation…”
“Hyung…” Dino whined. Sue him. He is the maknae, it’s written in the contract that he’s allowed to do it.
“Fine, fine… Listen, Chan-ah… do you know why Seokmin wears all those long shirts during practice?”
“I don’t know? Because they make him look cool? Because he knows he’d distract me otherwise? Does he know?! Oh my god, I can never face him again…”
“No, and you’re an idiot. Calm down. I know that you put him up there on an Amazon-sized pedestal, but Seokmin is still a human, Chan-ah. In fact, he’s a very insecure one, as well… He thinks the Allure photoshoot was a fiasco, and he is very sensitive about his upper-body nowadays.”
“What? How can he think that?! That photoshoot was one of the best to grace the covers of that magazine ever, he looked so good that I thought I was going to die when I first saw it… I genuinely thought I was having a heart attack…”
“Why can’t you spare yourself some of this affirming-talk, Chan-ah, you’re in the exact same situation… two peas in a pod, I swear, you deserve each other…”
“Stop joking, hyung… it’s not helping!” Chan felt flustered. He liked compliments, the occasionally healthy boost to his ego, but being put in the same category as Seokmin-hyung was taking things to an extreme, how could he even take Myungho-hyung seriously….
“I didn’t meditate enough today to put up with this…” Minghao muttered, rolling his eyes. “Anyway, the idea is that, whether you see it or not, Seokmin is also very self-conscious and feels like he’s inadequate. And one of the things he feels like he is lacking most in is dancing. But you’ve been helping him every new comeback, step-by-step, encouraging him. Everyone can see he’s an amazing dancer, but not everyone could muster the patience to deal with his insecurity like you did. So, he feels like he owes you, like he should be helpful to you. And when he can finally help you with something, you go to another person for help… how would you feel if Seungkwan or Vernon came to me for help with the choreo instead of going to you?”
“Pretty crappy… I can help them just as well, and they’re my best friends, why would they trust somebody else more?”
“Exactly… do you see how he feels?”
“But he doesn’t owe me anything, he never actually needed help with those dances! He just needed some encouragement and supervision!”
“And you shouldn’t feel like a small creek, and yet here we all are, with our skewed self-perceptions. If only Pledis invested more in therapy, I wouldn’t need to meditate so much…”
“You’re rambling again, hyung,” Dino teased.
“You know what? I should’ve let you figure it out by yourself. I’m leaving, Mingyu is cooking lunch for me. Keep wallowing in your self-pity by yourself.”
“Aw, hyung, don’t be mean! I’m sorry! Thank you! I love you!” Dino shouted towards Minghao’s departing figure.
So, what was he going to do now? At that point Chan was exhausted… the seemingly endless series of revelations had taken a toll on his mental energy levels. A shower and maybe take-out sounded good.
As he was going into the changing room assigned to Seventeen’s practice room, he heard one of the showers on. He thought he’d been the last member out there, but maybe not. He put down his gym bag and started preparing the items he needed for the shower, and taking off his sweaty clothes and putting them away. Towel around him, he turned towards the showers, only to face a freshly washed and squeaky-clean DK.
Chan’s mouth went dry. Beautiful bronze skin (ah, how Chan hated it when the editors whitewashed his beautiful hyung!) stretched over soft muscles, relaxed from the shower, but still flared up from the long dance workout. The Allure photoshoot did him no justice… Had his hyung been working out since then? Droplets of water were dripping from his hair onto his shoulders, slithering down towards his towel-covered midriff, some catching into the barely noticeable fuzz of his happy trail. Chan was terrified and was having a heart attack all at once… wait, no, he’s just learned this. Chan was incredibly attracted to his ridiculously hot hyung, and didn’t know what to do.
“Chan-ah, are you ok? You’re very red… is it too hot in here?” DK’s concerned voice barely reached Dino. The younger turned his blazing face to the side, ripping his eyes form the sight of the sculpted Korean Adonis standing in front of him. In the slightly-fogged-up mirror he could discern how his body betrayed him: starting from his chest, a deep red covered his skin up to his forehead, deepening around his ears and neck.
“Chan-ah?” DK closed the distance to put the back of his hand on Dino’s forehead. Instinctively, Dino took a step back. Big mistake. Second time he figuratively slapped DK that day.
“Oh…” DK’s voice trembled. “Erm… never mind,” he rushed to say and turned towards his locker.
“Wait, hyung…” Dino’s voice cracked.
“Hmm?” DK asked, not turning around, fiddling with his belongings.
“I’m sorry…” Dino whispered. DK let out a dry chuckle.
“What do you have to be sorry for, Chan-ah? You didn’t do anything wrong.”
“I hurt you…”
DK turned around, half curious, half shocked. Did he think Chan wouldn’t notice? Did he think Chan wouldn’t care? Did Seokmin-hyung really not realize how important he was to Chan? How much mental space he occupied?
“I hurt you,” Dino asserted, more confidently, strengthening his voice. “I hurt you and it’s not ok. You’re so good, hyung, so amazing, so bright, and nobody should ever do anything to ever hurt you, least of all me! I am so mad at myself that I hurt you, twice today! While you are so good and so important to me, I hurt you! I deserve to be hurt back! Please hurt me, hyung!” Dino’s voice grew in volume, and became more impassioned the more he talked.
“I am important to you?” asked DK confused, and a bit weak, a hint of wonder.
“Is that all you took from that? Yes, of course you are, hyung! You are my hyung, and you are so amazing, and you inspire me so much, and you are so good at everything you do, you’re just so …. Great.” Somehow by the end of his compliment-rant, Dino was left without air.
“I’m great?” How could hyung be so confused, like he didn’t believe a word that come out of Dino’s mouth? Does he not know how awesome he is?!
“Yes! You are so great, hyung! You are like this huge Amazon River, going straight for the sea, and everyone else in the group depend on you so much! Even I do! God, you inspire so much fear in me, and I want to be so much better, but I’m just a small creek and I can’t even compare to you and the other hyungs!”
“Dino-ya!” DK’s admonishing tone shut Dino instantly. “Never, NEVER talk about yourself that way! You are my dongsaeng, and I won’t allow you to talk about my dongsaeng in that way! You are such an amazing performer, and you sing so ridiculously well, and you even rap like a professional! And the way you can fill up a stage by yourself, and get everyone’s attention, you are so amazing and beautiful and you inspire us hyungs to always try our best to be worthy of the diamond maknae! You are Dino, Dinow of K-pop! You are…. You are the Han River! The most important river in Korea!”
“I am the Han River?”
Dino’s small voice incensed DK, who took took the younger’s shoulders in his hands and gently shook him as if to say: listen to me!
“You are the Han River! The oasis of peace and love in the middle of the bustling city. The connection between past and future for the Korean people. The place where lovers go to exchange vows because it’s perhaps the most beautiful piece of nature in Seoul, which inspired poets and the great painters! The only river I’ve ever known! You are my Han River, Chan-ah, and never doubt it!” At this point DK hugged Dino, holding tightly unto him, as if wanting the younger to melt into him. He was filled with so much fierce protectiveness and love, and didn’t want to share the younger with anybody, but he knew that such a shining star deserved to be witnessed, loved, and worshipped by many.
“Hyung,” Dino’s voice came muffled, “did you forget we’re naked? Also, you’re terrifying me…”
“Oh, sorry, Chan-ah, hyung got a bit overwhelmed with emotion,” DK apologized, letting the younger go.
“Thanks, hyung,” Dino said, inhaling deeply. “For everything!”
“You’re welcome, maknae,” DK answered him, smiling brightly at his dongsaeng, who was smiling back just as brightly.
“Wait… I terrify you? What do you mean? And now that I think about it, you said the same thing earlier, that I inspire fear in you… what does that mean?” DK asked threateningly.
“Well…” Chan didn’t know how he was going to handle this new issue…
But maybe, just maybe, honesty was the best way to go about it. Maybe, just maybe, that way the Amazon and the Han Rivers could meet and flow down to the sea. Together.