Keeping Love Again

What hotter thing could there be than a young woman standing her ground, fighting with unmatchable prowess in a room full of old, conservative men to prove that time was finally changing in favour of gender equality?

The two met for a couple of casual dates – nothing fancy, more like snacks and long walks along the Han river on summer nights – but they could already tell there was good ground to plant the seeds of love.

And quite literally so, since Mrs. Kim found herself pregnant with Ryeowook even before discussing marriage plans with their respective families.

Once notified of the situation both sides were pushing the young couple to go on with celebrations before Mrs. Kim’s pregnancy could show, but they refused to.

Ryeowook was only six when, strongly clasping his mom’s hand, walked her down the humbly decorated aisle of a countryside church to witness his parents being pronounced man and wife.

Whenever at school he happened to hear stories of more customary ceremonies his classmates’ parents held when they were young and Ryeowook couldn’t help but inquire about the unusual choice his own kin had made. No matter how many times he asked, he wouldn’t understand the answer.

“One day the firm and all its nationwide branches will be yours, Ryeowook,” his father proudly promised at each of his son’s birthdays.

Right. A promise was a promise.

A bit dazed about the current situation, Ryeowook blinked himself out of the daydream as he stood in front of a large standing mirror showing his sharp reflection. Except for the bowtie, loose around his white collar and yet to be fixed.

He took a swift glance at the silver wristwatch he wore. Eleven forty-five. Had he seriously spent twenty minutes finally realising he was about to be named managing Partner of the Kim-Choi Studio alongside his parents as a gift on the occasion of his successful marriage?

That was the result of his parents’ hard work, after all. The brilliant law firm established right during Mrs. Kim’s pregnancy. When you put everything at stake to secure yourself and your family a future, mundane things like planning a wedding just aren’t priorities.

“It’s going to be fine,” Ryeowook murmured to himself to ease his anxiousness, as he noticed his face paling a little bit. He didn’t want to be labelled as a failure, not when he had spent half his life walking his parents’ steps to become the slick attorney everyone expected him to be.

Knock. Knock.

Charcoal black eyes fixated on the mirror flickered on to the reflection of the wooden door behind his back.

“How are you, sweetie?” Ryeowook’s mom quietly entered the room with a huge smile stretched on her lipstick-painted lips. Her pale pink Hanbok swished with her as she walked in. She looked absolutely lovely, as majestic as a princess from the past.

“Why aren’t you done yet?” she worriedly asked, glancing at how the bowtie was still undone and hanging. She began fiddling with the loose ends of the silky strips in order to make a good job of that tie.

“I’m… I’m all done,” Ryeowook blushed, looking down at the soft hands that were smoothing his shirt collars.

“It doesn’t look like it, honey. I thought I had done a better job at teaching you how to take care of yourself,” the woman scolded her son, leaving Ryeowook with mouth slightly ajar for not believing what he had to put up with on that moment.

Her wrinkly cheeks opened up again in a sweet smile then. She cupped Ryeowook’s face and held it in her hands so that her son’s attention couldn’t shift to anywhere else.

“I understand you are probably nervous, since you’re going to be a married man in less than ten minutes,” she reasoned. “But, trust me, it’s easier than you think. You’re a gorgeous man, with a huge heart and skilled at what you do. You’ll be totally fine,”

Ryeowook felt his eyes become watery with unshed tears – or what remained of the ones he couldn’t totally bring himself to cry the previous night in the arms of his lover – and only wished to have more time. How could he be brave like his parents wanted him to and just go on with this farce that required him to marry a stranger?

Yes, maybe he had never had the greatest love relationships one could wish to have. Maybe he had been a bit selfish as well and too often only moved from bed to bed to casually hook up with random people and have fun. Maybe keeping his best friend Siwon as his trustworthy fucking buddy was the only option for him whom, due to the nature of his profession, was forced to keep his name untainted by scandals.

However, ending up in an arranged marriage and saying ‘yes’ to a man he had never met before and whose face he had only noticed standing out on magazine covers was totally a new, unsettling feeling for his guts.

It was like totally walking on a rope stretched over a deep, dark pit with no protection. Only the ever-present sensation of tumbling down.

Another knock at the door preceded the appearance of one of the staff: “All guests have arrived. The grooms and their parents are expected in the main hall,”

“We’ll be right there,” Mrs. Kim nodded. Ryeowook quickly had no choice but gulp down all the fear he was harboring like that one annoying soju shot he didn’t particularly like to have during office get-togethers.

While his mother latched her arm around her son’s, walking by his side but also basically dragging him along, Ryeowook felt the real thing was coming. Each step he took down the corridor was like a fist in the stomach, tugging him to a brand-new life he wasn’t so sure he wanted to meet yet.

“Darling?”

Ryeowook heard his mother call Mr. Kim who stood across the small round vestibule, pleasantly engrossed in small talk with a rather chubby man accompanied by a lady wearing a finely embroidered chestnut brown Hanbok with wide blood red sleeves.

She was amiably laughing at something Ryeowook’s father was telling them and hid her perfectly polite composure behind a white gloved hand.

“Oh, my son’s here!” Mr. Kim exclaimed, excusing himself as he briefly parted from his soon-to-be son-in-law’s family to meet his own.

It was when he moved away that Ryeowook finally laid his eyes on the figure that his own father’s towering presence was hiding just before.

A tall, slender man with slightly auburn hair wearing a deep blue velvet suit just like his met Ryeowook’s eyes for the first time in person with his fiery chocolate brown ones. They looked as if they were withholding curiosity for the other man and a tiny bit of mystery as well.

Slowly creeping on his rosy, plump lips, a smile was directed to Ryeowook as the man walked up to the other groom, sniffled the beautiful white rose he was holding in his hands and then offered it to Ryeowook.

“It’s matching with mine for the occasion,” the man simply explained as he took his time to slide the short stalk inside Ryeowook’s breast-pocket. Then he retreated to join his parents once again and very gentlemanly took his mother’s arm.

In a matter of seconds that Ryeowook perceived like a gazillion – or better, his heart did, since he was completely taken aback by the small, but surely meaningful, gesture – the wedding march began to blast from the adjoint room, signaling their cue to parade their way among the awaiting guests.

Doors as high as the ceiling, wonderfully decorated with ivy and white roses, finally opened on to the white carpet that was rolled off all the way to the altar, in the middle of a parterre bustling with people sat at abundantly set-up tables, which had been strategically planned so that guests could entertain business purpose too.

The first groom was walking with his parents at his sides, welcomed by cheerful whistles and applauses as if he were a king finally returning home from a bloody war campaign.

“Come on, it’s time!” Mrs. Kim wore her own pair of gloves before tugging Ryeowook’s sleeve to scroll him off whatever thought or fear was possessing his mind now.

She proudly stood at her son’s left side, while her husband took Ryeowook’s right. They waited until the first trio ad almost reached the end of the aisle before finally strutting their way just like the other man had done.

Ryeowook’s friends, colleagues, business partners and relatives were all cheering for him upon his entrance, which – although not as triumphal-like as the other groom – was still very well received.

The loud music, the bustling noise coming from the countless guests, the furious clicks and blinding flashes from photographers holding their cameras like they were guns made Ryeowook panic inside.

His stomach was nauseatingly upset, painfully twisted like a kitchen sponge when it was time to drain it, not to mention his heart beating at the speed of hundreds jackhammers while a strange, suffocating warmth spread over his cheeks to paint them in dusty red.

The man reached the altar where the second groom patiently waited, and the music halted.

All guests became silent and didn’t budge from their chairs so not to miss anything from the ceremony.

“I’m so proud of you,” Mr. Kim greeted Ryeowook with a warm embrace and a huge smile, his voice betrayed a tiny bit of emotion as it cracked before he could finish his sentence. Then, showing paternal care, he took Ryeowook’s right hand and offered it to his son-in-law.

“Please take care of him, Kyuhyun,” the older man pleaded, adding more quick celebratory words to the tall groom before respectfully bowing to his family and finally taking a seat.

“We are all here today…” began the voice of the officer standing before him, but Ryeowook was still too engrossed with the whirlpool of actions that was happening to care about one mere syllable.

The man named Kyuhyun had just smoothly moved so to offer to hold Ryeowook’s hand and the latter couldn’t even comprehend how it was possible for him to have accepted. Well, all conjectures aside, there it was: his gloved hand being gently squeezed by Kyuhyun’s in a sign of encouragement. Ryeowook battled with his inner self to bite back the shadow of a smile from creeping on his lips.

As the solemn ritual went on, particularly focusing on how sacred the commitment of wedlock was for the two souls who had chosen to willingly present themselves to partake the joys and pains of a life shared together, Ryeowook couldn’t help but noticing that despite the warmth of the hand holding his, Kyuhyun was feeling rather distant. And cold.

Not even when he had said his ‘I do’, did Kyuhyun spare him a look of complicity, much unlike when they had briefly met in the hallway, just moments before.

Why?

Ryeowook’s heart dropped in the pits of his stomach as he mulled over the thought too much for his own likings. In fact, the better question should have been: why was Ryeowook still thinking of those chocolate brown eyes indeed. Why was he bothered by the lack of attention?

Was he simply a fool for believing – or wanting to believe – to have finally found even the slightest reason to trust this whole farce? First of all, he knew nothing about Kyuhyun except for what his persona was like in the tabloids, however that unmistakable glance looked trustworthy, almost understanding enough when he had caught it then, probably even too soft to the point Ryeowook had almost felt the urge to positively throw all precautions aside and maybe yes, agree to try out living up to the filial son’s standards that he had to abide to.

“Mr. Kim?” the officer called his name, snapping him out of his preoccupations “May we know your answer?”

Kyuhyun was still standing tall, looking straight ahead at the frown that the officer was poorly trying to hold back on his face.

“I- I do…” Ryeowook blurted out his follow up when it was his turn to cooperate. Not even a flinch came from the other groom as the two were pronounced lawfully wedded and the guests deafeningly applauded them.

Kyuhyun smiled and his eyes hid behind two crescents as he allowed Ryeowook to latch an arm onto his and slowly walk him down the white carpet in the middle of the large room.

Step by step, the two paraded among the tables to greet as many guests as they could and engage in small talk with them. It was the least that was expected of them to repay their guests’ kindness anyway, as the attendees had little choice but to participate in a very pricy wedding list as the only requirement needed for them to join the party.

Perhaps we haven’t stressed enough the fact that the wedding that had just taken place was simply the biggest event ever held in Seoul during the past few years. It wasn’t ordinary occurrence to witness one of the richest Korean households holding a wedding for their own heir. Anyone lucky enough to sit at any of the thirty tables arranged for the occasion could say to have had the unimaginable luck to be photographed with and breathing the same air as the Chos, owner of the largest billionaire conglomerate of the whole country.

“I hope you enjoyed the banquet,” Kyuhyun was telling a plump woman and her husband whose name Ryeowook couldn’t quite recall, but was sure was part of the Cho’s many firms entourage, like the previous dozen of faces he had to greet and smile at, anyway. Nothing extraordinary. He felt like a trophy to showcase around at that point.

“Ryeowook?” The groom’s brow flicked up high as he heard his name being softly pronounced by a deep voice he was quite accustomed to.

Ryeowook flinched and soon his arm undid the link with Kyuhyun's as he hastily made his way towards a man standing less than a few meters away.

“Siwon!” Ryeowook’s own voice squealed out of joy as he leapt in Siwon’s hug, letting the taller man swing his petite body from side to side. Never in his own life could Ryeowook imagine himself able to measure the enormous happiness he was feeling for seeing one friendly face standing out in the anonymity of the people present at his own wedding reception.

At this point perhaps it would have been better not to have one at all, right?

“You’re gorgeous,” Siwon complimented him softly in one ear, before putting Ryeowook down and helping him to fix his suit after wrinkling it in that squeezing embrace.

“Thank you,” Ryeowook beamed up, blushing ever so deeply as he felt Siwon’s sincerity. The way the pair of known, pitch black eyes landed on his smooth facial features was reassuring and soothing for Ryeowook, who found himself biting down his lip in a suggestive way.

If only that had been their wedding, Ryeowook thought, it wouldn’t have been so burdensome to entertain unknown people because only friends and family would be invited. And the ceremony would be intimate and he wouldn’t feel judged if he were to sneak away hand in hand with his tall, sexy husband to make out on the back seat of a cab headed to the airport for their honeymoon.

Or so Ryeowook had secretly wished ever since telling Siwon his parents had already arranged his own wedding to this stranger. Speaking of which, was slowly making his way towards Ryeowook.

The latter stopped breathing for a moment as he felt Kyuhyun’s burning stare fixated on his back as the polished black shoes clacked against the marbled floor until they stopped. One hand landed gracefully on the small of Ryeowook's back to almost claim it as his property. “I believe Ryeowook hasn’t introduced us properly,” Kyuhyun’s mellow voice preceded, before the man extended his hand towards Siwon to shake.

“No one has even cared to introduce us properly, why would you care?” was all that Ryeowook wished he could snap back at Kyuhyun for using such courteous manners to tell him off for running away from his duty.

“This is Choi Siwon. We are childhood best friends,” Ryeowook explained, brave enough to hold Siwon’s gaze that would have otherwise betrayed the words “and something more” for sure.

“From the Choi Group, am I right?” Kyuhyun asked, particularly able to discern pretty much all the richest households from Korea and their heirs, shaking Siwon’s hand.

“My family has been clients of the Kims ever since their firm was established and so it happens that we grew up together,” Siwon explained, careful enough to confirm his lineage to a curious Kyuhyun.

“Amazing! I will surely have many more occasions to hear everything about Ryeowook’s childhood then. I hope my husband’s friends could become mine,” Kyuhyun used once again his contagious smile while talking to Siwon “but now it’s not a good time. We need to leave,”

And that is when it happened.

Ryeowook’s head snapped up high to meet Kyuhyun’s orbs again finding the glint in them was far from benevolent.

Unlike a few moments prior the ceremony, Kyuhyun’s eyes had just flickered in a way that betrayed anger and a hint of jealousy. A couple of shivers rolled down Ryeowook’s back as he wasn’t spared any moment to properly bid good-bye neither to Siwon nor to his own family, as he was almost dragged away from the spotlights.

“I thought we were staying a bit more,” Ryeowook blurted as he followed Kyuhyun all the way to a lift and into the underground parking lot then.

“Get in,” Kyuhyun tiredly urged him, walking Ryeowook to a sleek black, fancy car that was waiting for them with the engine ragingly on.

As soon as they had both got in the back seat, Kyuhyun didn’t wait a second before pulling the partition up, and when he did the driver took it as a signal to leave.

Unmoving but with a questioning frown depicted on his face, Ryeowook couldn’t help but follow Kyuhyun’s movements for a hint at an answer. Why so secretive? But most importantly, why the hurry to leave their own party?

Kyuhyun relaxed a bit more as soon as his back hit the leather of the seat. He brought up a hand and started massaging his own forehead before exhaling a very tired breath: “Please, be more discreet in the future.”

“What do you mean?” Ryeowook asked, his heart clenched in that mysterious suspense which he seemed not to be able to get rid of anytime soon.

“I don’t know what might be the reason for your parents to have you marry into my family, it appears clear that you are very close to your kin,” Kyuhyun started.

“I can feel there’s a but coming up,” Ryeowook interrupted, his eyebrows scrunched in a frown as he tried to question some more.

“But my family has got a reputation to live up to and possibly restore. So if you have any lewd relationship going on with Mr. Choi, which is rather obvious by the way you leant into his arms, I’d like for you to keep it behind closed doors as I won’t be forcing you to put a stop to it, if you don’t want to,”

Jaw dropped as low as it could go, Ryeowook’s eyes popped open as he was caught speechless and almost stuttering for words that wouldn’t come out of his throat.

Kyuhyun sat almost too dignified as he crossed his legs and looked at Ryeowook’s shocked expression: “I had to marry into a respectable family to stop rumours about me from spreading like wildfire and thus the reason why you’re here. However, I do not intend to entertain with you a full marriage, if you know what I mean,”

Now everything was going back into place: the necessity to be looking as sharp and caring as possible in front of the photographers and their guests didn’t absolutely mean that Kyuhyun had good intentions for this relationship to work out. If anything, it was the very opposite of it. Everything that had been staged out in form of a wedding was just a play whose continuation Ryeowook had silently agreed to ensure.

“W-why?” Ryeowook dared to ask, not knowing if the fire in his stomach had broke out more out of absolute relief or hurt. Not that he had rather try to become the perfect work-and-home kind of husband for Kyuhyun, that is, however he wasn’t a bad-looking guy at all himself, this must have been the first time he was rejected by someone. Let alone a man whom he was supposed to be married with.

“I don’t have to explain,” Kyuhyun started to look even more tired and annoyed at Ryeowook’s natural expression of shock “I will have my secretary email you a contract on how to behave when we are together. I believe you will only have to show up at big corporate events with me and keep playing the part of the perfectly happy husband in front of everyone. What you do with your lover is none of my business, really.”

“A contract?” Ryeowook scoffed “Are you really considering to tie me – a lawyer – to a contract? You are quite something,”

“I’m sorry for breaking it out to you this way, but a marriage is a contract indeed, have you never realized?” Kyuhyun smirked, fully knowing to have just extinguished in Ryeowook all means to look quite a smartass.

“B-but, that is different!” Ryeowook defeatedly tried to rebut, still not knowing why he was particularly affected by this particularly egotistical stranger’s not wanting to share anything from their married life. He should be thankful, if any.

“Wait, were you looking forward to our first night together?” Kyuhyun suddenly asked, this time his smirk getting bigger and, in some way, even more irritating.

“Are you nuts?” Ryeowook almost shouted and thanked god that the partition was up and the driver couldn’t quite hear their bickering.

“So what’s the problem now? I have just told you that you can keep seeing your beau, aren’t you happy?” Kyuhyun shrugged, moving a hand into his perfectly combed hair, in fact dishevelling it a bit.

Ryeowook didn’t want to admit that Kyuhyun could look a bit too alluring in the dimly-lit car, sitting in that relaxed stance of his, legs crossed, bowtie hanging from his open collar and fluffy hair sticking out.

“You know what, to prevent any kind of scandal from arising, you could also invite him over however many times you want, let him fuck you there day and night and then quietly leave. No one will question your best friend visiting you, opposed to you two meeting a bit too frequently at a hotel. Look at it this way, it’d be also cheaper for our pockets.”

That was the last Ryeowook had heard from Kyuhyun during their trip home before being entrusted into the skilful hands of their servants and shown around the big mansion that would serve as his big, golden cage for many days to come.

Thinking the better of it, he could still practice his job, had plenty of access to an enhanced bank account and on top of everything have the most mind-blowing sex with his long-time best friend. What else was there to complain about if not willingly step into this new lifestyle and play the part of the trophy husband for a workaholic man who loved his company more than his own life?

“You’re still minding him too much,” later Siwon made him reason as Ryeowook straddled on top of him, naked on his brand new bed.

Dawn was almost hitting and the sunrise was about to be visible behind the cracks of the drawn curtains.

“You don’t understand! It doesn’t sound quite right to me!”

It didn’t take Ryeowook too much to take Kyuhyun’s word and invite Siwon over. He was supposed to be sleeping with his husband after the wedding anyway, it wouldn’t have made any sense for him not to have his needs tended to during his own wedding night. No matter the man he was sleeping with. Therefore there he was, Siwon’s wet cock delving into his tight hole, hips shaking as he almost ragingly rode out his best friend’s wet climax and quite loudly panted as he felt his ass dripping with cum for the third time that night.

“Why? He will surely live up to his fame as a playboy, keep two or three whores hidden somewhere or I wouldn’t explain why turning you down,” Siwon exhaled, seasoning that last sentence with a grunt as his hand squeezed Ryeowook’s ass as he stilled to take a breath.

“Yeah, but it surely doesn’t make any sense, he's so secretive!” Ryeowook recounted, impatiently getting off and releasing everything on Siwon’s stomach.

“He’s just a spoilt kid that was reprimanded by his own family. I bet they told him he would have no money if he kept hitting the magazine covers with his scandals and that’s why he agreed to marry,” Siwon helped Ryeowook down and made more space for him to cuddle on the bed, next to each other.

“I’m just too lucky for still doing this to you and not being outed as the lover of an adulterer,” Siwon laughed and groaned as Ryeowook hit him in the chest.

“What I am trying to say is that you don’t need to worry too much and just get adjusted to your new life. I’ll be there to help you all the way through,” Siwon promised, sealing his words with a soft kiss of Ryeowook’s temple.

Ryeowook melted down in the hug of his lover for a second, grateful for the prospect of not being completely abandoned to fight the odds of his new, weird life on his own. But then he replayed Siwon’s words in his mind and realized his lover wasn’t the only one to be there with him, since he perfectly reminded to have crossed Kyuhyun in the hallway just seconds before welcoming Siwon in for their sinful night.

Siwon’s hard cock sank deeper in his tight hole with each shallow thrust. They were going at it for the third time that night and Ryeowook’s body wasn’t showing but excitement as it shivered underneath the other known, bulky figure like its perfectly matching half.

“Ugh! I’m about to come,” Siwon breathed in Ryeowook’s ear as he doubled over the smaller man and kept pushing his cum-coated cock against the spot he knew was making Ryeowook see bright.

With a small movement of the hips, Ryeowook slid further down onto the mattress to meet the point of conjunction of their two bodies. He silently hummed before gasping wide-mouthed and letting out a lewd moan of pleasure. Locked around Siwon’s hips, his legs were ferociously trembling as he grabbed the man by the neck and pulled him down for a deep kiss.

As he savored the tongue fast dancing inside his mouth, Ryeowook finally stilled when sticky, warm cum completely ran against his insides and along his thick thighs.

Siwon contentedly sighed as he dislodged himself, flopped down on to the smaller man’s body first and then rolled over to lay next to him.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to help you get off?” Siwon asked with hoarse voice, eyes fixated on the white ceiling visible in the dimly lit hotel room.

Ryeowook hummed a quick no in response before prompting himself on the elbows and taking a more comfortable position against the pillows. After a while, his slender hand reached down for his own hard-on and began to gently stroke it to relieve himself.

“I’m a bit sore tonight, you were particularly rough,” he explained, watching how his own twitching cock looked painfully swollen and red.

Finally sitting up himself, Siwon turned around to fetch a small packet of cigarettes from the bedside drawer. Then, naked as he was, he walked to the window as he lit one. “I only did as you asked,” he conceded, matter-of-factly, while he glanced at the night-view of Seoul’s panorama and the central mountain where the Namsan Tower proudly stood.

Ryeowook didn’t answer, too busy at crying out another orgasm to care about Siwon making an obvious point.

“Are you going to let him touch you like I do?” Siwon waited for Ryeowook to come down his high and then broke the silence. The mattress dipped on the spot where he took a seat, next to the other man’s fast cooling down, sweaty body.

Ryeowook sighed. Curling on to a hip, he pushed himself to kneel just behind Siwon and let himself lean against the muscly, broad back that he soon hugged around the shoulders.

“You look more worried than what you’ve let on so far,” Ryeowook stated, playfully pressing a kiss flat against the man’s throat. “I mean, we are called friends with benefits for a reason and thus you shouldn’t be too much concerned about who I date,”

“Geez, Kim Ryeowook… You’re quite impossible!” Siwon whined, sharply sucking in some more smoke. Cigarettes weren’t tasting particularly satisfying that night and instead of calming him down, they were making him feel more nervous and agitated.

“We are childhood friends, Siwon! After all these years of being around each other, becoming fucking buddies was just the most convenient step for us to take, but you perfectly knew my parents would set me up an arranged wedding at a certain point!” Ryeowook coolly explained, his hands were skillfully melting all the tension Siwon had accumulated in his shoulder muscles by giving him a massage. “To be honest, I’m surprised yours haven’t planned anything for you yet,”

“Probably because South Korea’s richest eligible bachelor has already been closed in a deal by your parents?” Siwon snorted. The thin cigarette he was holding in between his fingers wasn’t feeling tasty anymore and got simply discarded in the ashtray even before reaching half of its length.

Ryeowook heartily laughed. “Am I sensing envy, perhaps?” he sarcastically asked, quickly reaching for the packet before Siwon could anxiously take out a brand-new stick to light.

“Give me that!”

“Answer me first,” Ryeowook defied him, stretching his arms away and thus holding cigarettes out of Siwon’s reach.

“You truly believe I am envious of you for getting to marry a cold-hearted, nerdy bastard like him?” the taller man rolled his eyes for what he had felt like an insult. “Good for you, if you consider yourself that much lucky, of course.”

“What if he’s nothing like the press describes him?” Ryeowook thought out loud, still battling Siwon for the squared packet. He got up from bed and sprinted away to avoid his best friend’s hold.

“He’s always been in the centre of a bunch of alcohol and sex scandals. Do you really think he wouldn’t be like that?” Siwon tried to make him reason, hunting Ryeowook like a prey all around the wide bedroom until the smaller man realized he had just reached a dead end. “Who is going to assure you he’s not pulling off strange tricks on you? A premarital contract where the only thing he might do is ensure himself more riches in case you two were to divorce?”

Cautiously stepping back across the carpeted floor, Ryeowook’s naked back hit the cold surface of the windows and sighed in defeat.

“Are you really worried for my wellbeing?” he asked, showing utmost curiosity with a small smirk of his while finally handing Siwon his trophy.

A warm, large hand grabbed the packet of cigarettes and threw it on bed. Siwon walked closer to Ryeowook until their bodies touched, their cocks twitching again with life as they brushed against each other.

“After all the years we’ve spent together, I would be a fool for not worrying about you, Ryeowook,” Siwon admitted sweetly looking down into Ryeowook’s eyes, warmth possessing his limbs once again while he turned his best friend in his hold. “I don’t care if the whole Seoul becomes yours as a wedding gift, I won’t let you go,” he promised.

In front of the shining bright lights from fancy billboards, countless skyscrapers and just as many companies that Ryeowook would acquire as per agreement to the arranged wedding terms, Siwon took his time lining himself up against the man’s hole and slowly slid in with a grunt.

Their joint bodies were hot against the cool glass panels, their moves deep and controlled as they left handprints on the steamy surface.

Ryeowook lifted an arm, placed it against the window and rested there his forehead, hiding his whines as he was too ashamed to have Siwon discover he was silently crying after the whole boastful rebuttals he’d felt legit to poke his best friend’s pride with just earlier.

With his free hand Ryeowook reached behind and grasped Siwon’s only to pull it on the front for him to palm his aching erection.

How could he interrupt what they had? Marriage with a stranger couldn’t be the only deterrent to stop seeing his best friend and be fucked senseless by him. They had to find a way to keep having secret meetings, it didn’t matter where, when or how. It wasn’t like theirs could be considered the world’s first ever affair, after all.

Ryeowook couldn’t give up on what precious relationship of trust and understanding he had built with Siwon ever since they were high schoolers hitting puberty and looking for brand new experiences to make.

That only thought recurred in the back of the man’s mind like a pleasant romance movie, as his body was so easily – almost too shamefully – handled and his wanton moans were filling the surrounding silence.

Sighing, inconsolable, Ryeowook tossed the phone on the bed, before letting his back fall on it as well. Cautiously, he looked at the ceiling, lulled by the distant waves crashing against the shore. He loved the smell of the sea permeating the air, it made him feel nostalgic but also satiated, as if he were able to wholly reconnect with parts of himself that were past forgotten, maybe buried. Oh how much needed was one of Kyuhyun’s tight hugs right now?

Tired, Ryeowook closed his eyes, acknowledging that sleep was about to take over, when he heard a soft knock on the door which drove him to spring up and skip all the way across the bedroom.

Quickly grasping the handle, he twisted it so to open the door. In his mind there was nothing but a mix of words that wouldn’t make any sense as he didn’t quite know how he would have greeted Kyuhyun yet. Would he be ragingly angry still? Or more relieved to see him finally back, into his arms where he belonged? Ryeowook couldn’t really tell.

What he could say for sure was that he couldn’t be any more aware of his disappointment completely bared on his face, when he noticed that the person on the other side of the door wasn’t Kyuhyun.

A kid with messy, blond curls and the sun-kissed skin showing from his baggy shorts and tank top was smiling in front of Ryeowook, who looked terrified as he didn’t know how to politely tell the kid to go away and leave him alone.

Thankfully, there was no need to get lost in useless words, because the kid simply motioned forward as he reached out to Ryeowook and handed him a small piece of paper.

Curiously fiddling with the finely decorated card, Ryeowook spotted a neat handwriting that he immediately recognised as Kyuhyun’s. His heart immediately swelled as he took in a deep breath of relief. Perhaps plotting things he could hardly understand, but at least Kyuhyun was somewhere, alive and breathing, and not at the bottom of a ditch like Ryeowook was beginning to imagine due to the lack of response.

“Shining in the sunlight You’re smiling dazzlingly As I look at your beautiful face I’ve gone blind. Let’s go to the secret island with only each other, Name the first star we meet and stay there.”

“Hey! Where did you get this?” Ryeowook tried to ask the kid, who had already ran away and was nowhere to be seen. The words he had just read were taken from the first verse of one of Kyuhyun’s latest songs: Together.

The lyrics of the song, without even realising it, were summing up that idyllic getaway they had just had on such a beautiful island. And Ryeowook was starting to wonder whether that holiday had been thoroughly planned because inspired by such a song. It wouldn’t make any other sense.

Mentioning the sunshine, summer days idly spent in the company of each other, the moon and the star shining over the secret island… everything was leading Ryeowook to think that impromptu holiday was intricately linked to such a sweet, melancholic song.

“Kyu?” he called from the door, expecting Kyuhyun to show up at his command.

No answer echoed back but the distant chattering coming from the communal living room a few floors below.

Pushed by the curiosity of investigating further into the matter, Ryeowook sighed before he bravely stepped outside the room. Warily walking down the marbled corridor, he reached the stairs whose polished, wooden banister he gripped as he peeped down through the spiral of steps leading downstairs.

“Hey! Wait there!” Ryeowook called out loud, startled a bit as he caught a glimpse of the kid holding his head up high to look at him. Their eyes briefly met. With a mischievous grin, the kid chuckled rather loudly before running even faster downstairs.

Defeatedly sighing, Ryeowook decided to completely entrust his faith in the hands of said kid and – even though with a little caution – followed him. Step by step, until he reached the ground level and much to his surprise found the little kid waiting for him by the closed door.

“Okay, stop there now,” Ryeowook demanded, not without stopping to take a longer breathe, while he attentively eyed the kid who seemingly couldn’t stay still. He swung quite excitedly in that manner kids do when they are involved in a game of hiding stuff from adults.

Ryeowook approached him carefully, a bit too scared he might have taken off anytime with each of his steps forward, however that didn’t happen. The kid giggled hard as he extended his thin arm towards the older man and gave him another card, similar to the one he was handed before.

This time, though, the kid didn’t run away for his life like he had done before.

Greedily, almost excited to read from Kyuhyun again, Ryeowook made peace with his heart as he was expecting yet another absurd hint to who-knew what kind of treasure hunt that was, possibly one that led him to Kyuhyun himself.

He carefully read the card in his shaky hands, sighing at the end, once he was done.

“You know, we’ll stick together, Below the sunlight, Forever, Let me shake it shake it for summer There is only you in my eyes I’ll be your refreshing raindrops in our hot summer memories, Every single day with you I just want to be happy. Swimming in the deep blue Ocean The two of us, the two of us whisper, This love is too overwhelming for me Even time has stopped. Holding your hand in the glow of sunset, I want to shout like a fool, I love you,”

The door creaked open, letting the blinding sunlight through. Ryeowook had to actually raise a hand to shield his eyes from the too luminous light that was otherwise bathing the broad hall… and himself.

The kid chuckled one more time before running into the light, escaping once more all the questions to those riddles that Ryeowook had wanted to ask him so much.

Suddenly – and totally unexpectedly – the song whose lyrics Ryeowook had just read on those two separate cards started playing. A mellow voice he was so used to listen to almost daily was enunciating those words that rang more like a never ending promise than the simple lyrics of a love song.

Squinting his eyes to adjust them to the warm sunset colours coating every corner of what would have been the luxurious greenery of the gardens, Ryeowook’s jaw dropped in awe as he spotted Kyuhyun and his signature slippers standing at the very end of a soft carpet covered in white daisies.

“Kyuhyun,” Ryeowook’s lips trembled, his heart was doing some somersaults in his chest. At least Kyuhyun was safe and sound, he realised, before his earing could be completely embraced by the chorus of the song that his partner was performing. For Ryeowook only.

“You know, we’ll stick together, Below the sunlight, Forever, Let me shake it shake it for summer”

Kyuhyun sang, not without the hint of nervousness staining otherwise perfectly pitched notes. To minimise his embarrassment, Kyuhyun lightly shook his body in a small dance, only to wish he had never done such a move because he would just result more awkward. However, Ryeowook’s bright chuckle reassured him.

Kyuhyun sang their holiday, their Love, and promised – through those words – that he would always be there to bring solace to Ryeowook’s long, tiring days or add a bit more spice to their future adventures.

“There is only you in my eyes I’ll be your refreshing raindrops in our hot summer memories, Every single day with you I just want to be happy.”

The chorus ended, but Kyuhyun still stood across Ryeowook, as if put on a hold… waiting for something more to happen. The blond kid reappeared from behind the man, tugging Kyuhyun’s white trousers to catch his attention. Too bad Kyuhyun had eyes only for Ryeowook and almost forgot the last step of that last-minute stage.

He fiddled with his pocket and took another card out of it, which he entrusted to the kid, asking him to take it to Ryeowook.

Furrowing his brows in sweet confusion, Ryeowook noticed how tense Kyuhyun looked. The fact that he hadn’t said anything else after completing the song was a detail that made him feel uneasy as he couldn’t understand the reason for such a game. Not to mention that his boyfriend had dared go missing for the whole length of the morning, contributing to make Ryeowook inconsolably sad first, then dead worried, passing through shades of ragingly fury that didn’t quite match with his soft facial features at all.

The kid stepped on the carpet of white daisies to reach Ryeowook. His job as love messenger ended as soon as he saw Kyuhyun’s card safe and sound in Ryeowook’s hands. After that, he quickly ran back inside the building, diving his face flat into Maria’s skirt.

Confused, Ryeowook watched as the lady stood in the hall, reciprocating the look which showed curiosity and a hint of happiness, while she motioned for him to read the content of the card.

Trembling, Ryeowook did as instructed and read the new scribbles.

“I know I lack many things, but not my love

I’ll look out and take care of you

Will you promise me just one thing?

No matter what happens

We’ll always love each other.. That’s all.”

Kyuhyun’s handwriting at the back of the card was already making Ryeowook quite emotional as it was, since he very well grasped those lines to be the final verses of their song: Marry U.

After countless times – years, actually – that Ryeowook had found himself involved in other people’s weddings as the featured singer, singing that vow of love to other couples and wishing them all the best, Ryeowook couldn’t but affirm that those words were now engraved in his mind, other than heart.

“Open it,” Kyuhyun incited, looking anxious and trepidant while watching Ryeowook carefully taking a look at the card, not really knowing what to do with it. Until he did what he was told and loudly gasped, completely at loss for air as he read: “Will you marry me?”

The final verse of the song.

One question that usually other people were replying to, Ryeowook had never imagined he could be hearing (or reading) it directed to himself one day. No one had told him there was the slight possibility for becoming someone else’s significant other, no one had properly instilled in him thoughts or ideas – fantasies – on what his love life could have been in the future. No one… but Kyuhyun was there, doing exactly that now.

Kyuhyun was always there whenever Ryeowook was feeling down, tired and demotivated. Whenever he felt like the weight of the whole world was crushing against his weak shoulders. Through hurt and tears and phases of his life when all he had wanted to do was taking the easier road and hate on himself, when dreams – oh, such ephemeral concepts when your life was minutely scheduled to the second – were nearing to become the bridge leading him to give up everything that he had built so far.

Kyuhyun was there all the way through. The man, his best friend-turned lover, was the missing link, the only one to show him the way to satiate his hunger for humanity, how to enhance his genuine naivety to levels of the same selfless love and care he would show everyone daily: his members, his family, fans around the world and everyone who worked in the showbiz alike.

“Ryeong?” softly, Kyuhyun called his name, interrupting the train of thoughts that was briefly crossing the other man’s mind.

Ryeowook sniffed silently, blushing hard as his armour fell apart, allowing him to even forget what the initial reason for his anger towards Kyuhyun was. His silly boyfriend had spent precious hours away from him only to be able to gift him with a much more unique experience: a lifetime together.

Taking unwavering steps – the firmest he’d ever walked, really – Ryeowook reached Kyuhyun across that blanket of flowers scattered on the ground. When he stood just one breath apart from Kyuhyun, Ryeowook’s teary eyes met the other man’s, that shone brighter than two stars, and allowed himself just a couple more seconds to open up in a genuine, beautiful smile.

“What do you think I’d say?” Ryeowook asked, keeping the message open onto the burning question.

“I-“ Kyuhyun began to say, stopping just the right amount of time to fish something else from his pocket. He opened his hand under Ryeowook’s nose and showed him the two golden rings resting in his palm and now shining brightly under the warm sunlight. “See, I really hope you say yes, or I would need to give these back,” he clumsily added, while Ryeowook’s state of awe was completely taking over at that point.

Raising on his tippy toes, Ryeowook wrapped Kyuhyun’s neck with his arms and drew him closer. Their eyes were focused on each other as if they were the only thing that mattered in the entire universe. Time didn’t mean anything anymore. For what they knew, it had stopped running, stilling in one definite moment that they would remember forever.

“I do,” Ryeowook pronounced, using a kiss to seal his promise in return. Now and for sixteen more year, until forever.