[One Shot] You are my Universe [English ver.] {KangHoon}

Title: You are my Universe [English ver.]

Author: Riz Aino (@daisy_illusive) 

Pairing: KangHoon (Yonghoon x Kanghyun) (ONEWE)

Classification: PG–13

Genre: AU, college, romance, fluff, light drama, humor

Number of words: 7.7k

Summary: Hyungu is dragged by his grandmother to church and the last thing he expects is to fall in love with Yonghoon, the guy who sings and plays the guitar at mass.

Notes: written for the WeUs Mini–Bang project. My story was illustrated by @be0minie, you can check the works here. My mother tongue is Spanish, so this is a translation of the original fic I wrote (if you’re fluent in Spanish I recommend you to read it in that language). 

Author’s notes: this story is set in the nineties and I was rewatching Reply 1994 and Reply 1997 (as well as watching Twenty-five, twenty-one) while working on it to get the vibe I needed for the plot. I hope you like it.

 

Hyungu couldn't stop a yawn escaping from his lips in the middle of the mass his grandmother had dragged him to about an hour before. His yawn caught the attention of one of his grandmother's devoted friends, who expressed her displeasure and disapproval with a slight cluck with her tongue before turning her attention to the priest, who was not finishing his speech on love and brotherhood. At any other time, Hyungu would have tried to save a bit of that great disrespect towards the Lord and the Church even though being there was what it had provoked his yawning in the middle of the mass, but after almost an hour and even being unable to concentrate on the book he had taken to read because the priest's soporific voice made him feel sleepy, the boy no longer had the strength to even try to show respect for the institution. Hyungu used to complain about Professor Kim's soporific classes at university, but at that mass he had discovered that there was someone who could make him feel even more sleepy. The boy passed his hands over his face and tried to clear his head by patting his cheeks, but it didn't help much because he was still feeling too sleepy, so he looked at his wristwatch to verify again that he had been there almost an hour and that this mass was supposed to end in no more than ten minutes. If he had endured all that time, he was sure he could endure what little it had left and he hoped that this sacrifice and all the suffering would assure him a place in heaven at least.

 

The chords of an acoustic guitar resounded in the space of the church and Hyungu immediately left his thoughts to pay attention to the soft melody that began to fill that place, followed by a beautiful voice that sang one of the typical songs of the mass. Hyungu's jaw dropped immediately because the voice that was echoing in the walls of the church was indescribable and made him feel in a way that he couldn't even express with words because he had never felt that way before, mesmerized, almost bewitched for that beautiful voice that came from a boy who had climbed the altar with the guitar on his shoulder, playing and singing as if he were an angel that had just come down from heaven, the light of different colors that entered through the windows of the church causing that boy to glow. When the music ended, Hyungu finally came out of the spell, but he couldn't help but follow the boy with his eyes, seeing how he came down from the altar and sat in the front row of the pews. From where he was sitting, he couldn't see him very well, but even so, he didn't stop watching him until the mass was finally over.

 

"Hyungu" his grandmother called, tapping him on the shoulder to get his attention. "I'm going to stay a few moments talking with my friends and with the priest, you can wait for me outside".

 

Hyungu nodded to what she said and she got up from the pew and started walking down the center aisle of the church with a couple of her devoted friends, heading to the altar to talk to the priest. The boy quickly turned his attention to the boy whose voice had caused his body to turn to jelly, noticing that he was no longer sitting where he had been a few moments ago and Hyungu quickly got up from his seat, looking from side to side until he spotted his figure near the church door. Without even thinking for a second, Hyungu quickly walked towards the exit. He didn't really know what was happening to him, his body was just in automatic mode and moving on its own, towards the other boy, as if he had some kind of gravitational force around him and Hyungu had entered his orbit. In this way, he ended up leaving the church, reaching the outside, the light from outside blinding him for a few seconds, making him not realize that right in front of him was the person who had caused his hasty exit, bumping into something hard, specifically the cover of his guitar, slung across his back.

 

"I'm so sorry", he murmured, his eyes getting used to the light.

 

The person in front of him turned around and Hyungu gasped for just a second because he hadn't realized that the person he had bumped into was precisely the one he had come out after and because the other was really attractive. His dark hair fell over his forehead in purposely messy bangs and, below them, his brown eyes looked at him in surprise until a kind, bright expression appeared on his face, his eyes turning into two half-moons and his lips showing a smile.

 

"You don't have to apologize", he told him. "I was the one in the way because the light has left me a little blind".

"Oh… mmm… okay…" Hyungu suddenly felt nervous, not knowing what he could say, not even knowing if he should say something, but his mouth opened without permission and some really stupid came out. "I've heard you play at mass... you've played some chords wrong".

 

The other boy's expression changed back to one of surprise, but Hyungu felt terribly stupid because his mouth had spoken without permission and he didn't stay to see the full reaction of the other boy, he just ran away, back inside the church to wait for his grandmother there, with his heart beating rapidly inside his chest, thus not seeing the smile that had appeared again on the other's face.

 

~

 

"Hyungu?" His friend Harin called, tapping him on the shoulder. "Are you listening to me?"

 

Hyungu turned to him at the touch, snapping out of his thoughts and giving him a small apologetic smile. No. He hadn't heard anything he had been saying to him so far and he was really sorry, but for a few days he couldn't think of anything other than the voice of that guy in the church. He had felt something he had never felt before and he couldn't help but remember the song, his voice, the way his eyes closed when he had to sing a little higher notes, the way his fingers strummed the strings of the guitar that was hanging from his shoulders, even if he got some chords wrong and, obviously, he also couldn't help remembering how stupid he had been when he had talked to him. He had somehow gotten very nervous and had said things that he shouldn't have said.

 

"Sorry, I wasn't listening," he told him. "What were you telling me?"

"I was telling you if you wanted to come with me to the mall and we'll go to the music store later," Harin commented. "There's a couple of tapes I'd like to buy and I'm sure you'll love playing some of the guitars".

"Yes, of course, count on me," he replied.

 

Harin gave him a wide smile that Hyungu reciprocated and the boy quickly began to plan everything they could do when they go to the mall, talking so much and so fast, that Hyungu ended up abstracting from reality again and getting into his thoughts, thoughts that were pretty full with that guy from church. He didn't even know who he was or what his name was, but Hyungu couldn't help it, his mind wandered and the only direction it took was that... maybe the only way not to think about him all the time was to focus on something else, so he fervently tried to engage in Harin’s conversation again, also coming up with ideas for what they could do and thus taking his mind off the guy from the church.

 

~

"Are you going to spend the whole vacation doing nothing?" Said the voice of his grandmother, bringing him to reality and away from the book he was reading. Hyungu raised the book he had in his hands and pointed it at his grandmother. "You spend the day reading as if that were the most important thing in the world when what you have to do is go out, meet people your age, with your same tastes, interests, make a friend other than Harin, start dating girls..." his grandmother began to enumerate. "You're already in college, you can do all those things, but you spend the day lying down reading or playing guitar or with Harin doing who knows what, locked up in your room all day".

"I don't need any of that, grandma," he answered, unable to help but roll his eyes at the scolding the woman was giving him simply because he had only left her room to eat and shower in recent days.

"Of course you need it," she replied. "You know? In the church there are several events and activities for young people and there are always things to help with and you can do some volunteering with that... or just play the guitar at mass, like the boy the other day." Hyungu felt that he was running out of breath at those magic words. "I know his mother and he's a good boy, he sings very well and also plays the guitar, like you, come to mass with me one day and talk to him, I'm sure you’ll have a lot of things in common".

 

Hyungu didn't answer that to his grandmother out loud, but nodded to what she had said and the woman gave him a wide smile before leaving his room, leaving him there still trying to find the breath he had lost moments before. His grandmother had simply mentioned that guy, she had only told him that he was a good boy and that since he played the guitar, they would have things in common. It hadn't been anything she hadn't told him before about any other boys in the neighborhood when she'd wanted him to make more friends, but it had taken his breath away. He didn't understand exactly what was happening to him, why he felt so strange, why he was out of breath... but Hyungu decided that he had to know, that he had to find a way to find out what was happening to him and of course, for this, he would have to listen to his grandmother and accompany her to mass again to be able to see that guy again.

 

~

 

The masses were long, boring, full of stupid talk about love and concord, about accepting and caring for everyone because they were all children of the Lord, but they were nothing more than empty words because Hyungu knew firsthand that this it was’t practiced in reality, outside the church. At the moment in which all those who devoutly attended the masses set their foot outside that building with a huge neon cross on the facade, their good wishes and their duties towards the community and towards the rest of the human beings who they weren’t equal to them ceased to exist. Only a few people were free from being that way, but because there should always be exceptions to the general rule, good people who really cared about the well-being of those most in need and who didn’t judge anyone because they were different from them in any sense existed. Hyungu had learned that people who went to church had two faces several years ago, when he was still in high school, and since then he had tried as little as possible to set foot in that place... but he spent winter vacations at his grandmother’s house, away from the hustle and bustle of the big city, having a little time to rest and to be able to meet Harin, his childhood friend, and spend as much time as he could with him before returning to the capital to start the next school year. For all that, Hyungu didn’t usually set foot in the church unless his grandmother forced him to go, but at that time he was there, sitting on one of the pews near the altar, with a book between his legs, reading and trying like this to block out the soporific voice of the priest once again, simply because he wanted to see that guy who sang during the mass again, hear him sing, maybe talk to him without saying something silly that would put him in evidence like the last time.

 

Hyungu had isolated himself so much on that occasion, completely focusing on the book that he has reading and blocking out any other sound from outside, whether it was the priest's sermon or the chants of those attending the mass, that when the voice in which he hadn't been able to stop thinking about the last days of his life entered his brain through his ears, the song that the boy was singing was almost ending. Hyungu couldn't help but slam the book shut, without even putting the bookmark on the page he was on because of his emotion, raising his head and looking for that boy with his eyes, finding him before him, just a dozen meters away, with the guitar on his shoulder, singing with that voice that could belong to the very angels, if they existed in reality. The hairs on his arms stood up as he listened and Hyungu couldn't even keep his mouth shut, too fascinated to have control over his body's reactions even after the last syllable left the boy's lips, strumming the last note on his acoustic guitar. His voice was too incredible, inexplicable, it seemed out of this world and the only thing Hyungu could do was be amazed at how it sounded with the echo of that huge church, reverberating in his ears and filling every part of his being without missing a single hole.

 

When the mass ended, Hyungu didn't even wait for his grandmother to say anything, he quickly got up from the pew to approach that guy, not wanting to lose him in the crowd, not wanting him to run away and just wanting to be able to talk to him a little, but almost before taking a step in his direction, towards where he had seen him sit after the song he had sung that time, he couldn't go any further because the same guy he wanted to hunt had appeared directly before him, with an enormous smile that turned his eyes two crescents, a smile that stopped his heart for an instant.

 

"I'm glad you came today," the guy told him. "I've been rehearsing a lot with the guitar after what you told me last time that I had some chords wrong to make it perfect so I can show it to you".

 

Oh. Hyungu opened his mouth to reply, but no sound came out of it for a few moments because what he had just heard left him completely paralyzed; however, he desperately tried to get out of that kind of trance to be able to answer him without looking like an idiot —or at least trying to—.

 

"You haven't played any wrong chords today," he replied, causing the smile the other had on his face to grow even wider. That smile, directed only at him and provoked by him, made Hyungu feel a little calmer, a little more relaxed, despite the fact that his heart had begun to beat too fast inside his body, and he risked paying him a compliment more right after. "You sing very well, by the way, I had never heard anyone sing church songs like this".

"Thank you very much," replied the guy. "I usually rehearse when I come in the afternoons to help my mother with whatever she has to do, in case you want to come and keep me company or listen to me sing, I don't see many young people around here and I feel a bit lonely".

"Of course, I would love to".

"Perfect!" exclaimed the other. "I come every afternoon, so I'm sure I'll be around here somewhere any day you're here,” he told him. "My name is Yonghoon, by the way, in case you don't see me and you have to ask for me".

"Yonghoon…" Hyungu murmured, almost savoring the name in his mouth, holding out his hand to the other and giving him a small smile. "Nice to meet you, I'm Hyungu".

 

~

Contrary to usual, Hyungu was excited about going to church a couple of days later, so excited about meeting Yonghoon again and being able to spend some time with him, even if it was just listening to him sing, rehearse because he didn't think he could have an exactly coherent conversation with him —although the last time hadn't gone particularly badly, Hyungu still had the memory of their first meeting very fresh in his memory— and he was long before it was time to the mass to meet him at the place to see if the other was there as he had said he would be. His grandmother also seemed quite excited about the idea because when he had commented on his way out that he was going to church to meet Yonghoon, her eyes had sparkled and she had even given him some money. He hadn't expected that the woman would be so excited about him making a new friend and wanting to spend some time with him, but he was glad his grandmother was happy about it and he said goodbye to her quickly, to run in the direction of the neighbourhood church, hoping to meet Yonghoon first thing and not have to look for him so they wouldn't have to waste the precious time they could spend together. Hyungu wanted to talk to him about many things, he wanted to know him more, to know everything he could about him and more and he knew that the more time he spent with him, he would feel less nervous and he would be able to function like a normal person and not like an automaton that had bugs and glitches in the system.

 

His wishes were heard that day because as soon as he entered the church Hyungu suddenly found Yonghoon, who was carrying a huge pot full of flowers, his head barely peeking through the petals. Despite this, the other saw him and gave him a huge, charming smile that caused his heart to skip a beat before pounding like crazy, dropping the pot on the floor and walking towards him.

 

"You came," he said, seeming genuinely happy to see him there.

"I came," Hyungu replied, "but I don't know if it's a good time or not," he commented, pointing to the huge flower pot that the other had been carrying.

"Oh, you've come at the best time," Yonghoon replied, pointing to the side of the church, where there were a lot of pots of different sizes, all full of flowers, and some bouquets and bows. "We have to place all this because in a couple of hours there is a wedding".

 

Hyungu felt that perhaps he had chosen the worst day to start going to see Yonghoon while he was helping in the church as soon as he picked up the first flower pot, the one that the other had left on the ground to help him carry it to the place where it had to be, and he felt all the weight of it... but the moment Yonghoon started talking to him, joking and telling him things about what he did in that place —apart from singing and carrying flower pots— he felt the opposite. In this way, the conversation between them wasn't strange or awkward, Hyungu still felt that his heart was about to explode inside his chest, but the words didn't get stuck in his mouth too much and he could answer the other and even ask him some questions. Thus he discovered that Yonghoon had already finished his studies at the university and that some days he gave singing lessons to children in a local academy and, therefore, was older than him, at the same time that he discovered that he was an even more pleasant and charming from what he seemed at first, who talked a lot and who didn't mind filling all the silences that were between them because they’ve just met, changing one topic after another, going from his favorite color to his favorite food, followed by his enthusiasm because he was saving the money he earned in classes to buy a beeper and ending with the last movie he had seen.

 

By the time they finished organizing all the flower arrangements for the wedding, Hyungu felt that he had almost known Yonghoon all his life… but, even so, he still had many more things to know about him… and about himself.

 

~

 

"Do you think it's weird to fall in love with a voice?"

 

The question had come from his lips after spending several days wondering what he felt when he heard Yonghoon sing and came to the conclusion that that feeling must be something similar to love, but not for a person, but for the voice. In his grandmother's house there was no computer and much less internet, so Hyungu couldn't search on the net or ask in one of the chats he connected to from time to time in search of advice from his friends on the net, for which, in the end, the question had ended up being asked to Harin, to confirm if his suspicions were true or not and he had fallen in love with Yonghoon's voice... and perhaps a little also with the owner of that incredible voice.

 

"Is there a singer who has dazzled you because of how she sings?" Harin asked back. "Lately I'm in love with S.E.S and Yangpa".

 

Harin went on to talk about how he had fallen in love with their voices when he had heard their songs on the radio and then couldn't help but fall in love with them because they were amazing too and Hyungu ended up inadvertently tuning out of his friend's monologue midway, getting lost in his thoughts for a few moments, thoughts that were completely plagued by Yonghoon, by his voice as he strummed the guitar strings softly, enveloping him in the echo created by the church walls, at least until Harin snapped him out of his thoughts.

 

"Why did you ask, by the way?"

"Mmmm… no… for nothing really…" he ended up answering. "It was just something that had crossed my mind and I don't have internet here, so I wanted to talk to you about it".

 

Harin let out an “ahhhhh” of understanding and then the conversation took completely different paths, focusing on the music tapes before them, looking for the ones Harin wanted to buy among the tangle of different genres, groups, singers on the shelf in front of them.

 

It wasn't that Hyungu didn't want to tell his best friend what he was starting to think, it wasn't that he didn't trust him, that he didn't know that he would be there for him no matter what he said, whether he liked even if, for some reason, what he sensed was happening to his turned out to be true and he was falling in love not only with Yonghoon's amazing voice, but with him as well. No. Harin wouldn't judge him for something like that. But for Hyungu all that was something new, strange, unknown, many feelings, thoughts and sensations that he had never had until now and he himself felt strange, as if he weren't in his own skin... so first he wanted to understand himself before putting the issue on the table with Harin and looking to him for the support he would probably need later on.

 

~

 

"Where are we going?"

 

The question left his lips without Hyungu being able to avoid it because that afternoon when he had appeared at the church to spend some time with Yonghoon, he had slung his guitar case over his shoulder and had indicated with a movement of his hand to follow him, without exchanging more words than just a few greetings. He was curious to know where the other was taking him and, above all, he was very curious to know what they were going to do there because until that moment, the days that he had decided to stop by the church, there had been a lot of things to do and the two of them had hung out together while doing all sorts of chores.

 

"Now you'll see, we're about to arrive".

 

Hyungu nodded, but curiosity was still eating away at him and his heart was beating in his chest as if he wanted to get out of it, perhaps too excited. They had left the church a few moments before and had walked through the church grounds, skirting it until they came to its rear, where there was a small building, some kind of storage room or warehouse, the boy guessed. Yonghoon led him to the spot and unlocked the door with a key he took out of his pocket, indicating to Hyungu that he could come in, stepping aside. Hyungu pushed the door open and found himself in a place that he really hadn't expected, because he believed that what he would see would be things piled up, full of dust and narrow corridors between them that would barely fit a person. Contrary to what he had imagined, the small warehouse was practically empty and there were only a few old sofas, a couple of mattresses on the floor and some boxes against the walls.

 

"Welcome to my secret hideout," Yonghoon said behind him, very close to his ear, so close that he felt his hot breath against his skin and Hyungu couldn't help the shiver that ran down his spine. "This is where I usually rehearse," the older one commented, walking away from him and leaving his guitar case on the floor in front of one of the sofas, where he sank down. "Until a few months ago it was full of things, but this summer the church organized a kind of flea market and it was practically empty, so I took the opportunity to ask the priest to let me use it while it was still empty".

 

Hyungu didn't know what to say to that, but it seemed fascinating to him that the other had a place like that to be quiet while rehearsing and simply walked towards him, sitting on the sofa next to him, watching as Yonghoon took his guitar out of the case and began to play a few chords before starting to sing, filling the room with his voice and Hyungu's heart with a warm and tingling feeling inside him. He really had no words to describe what Yonghoon's voice made him feel when he sang, but it left him completely mesmerized and made him lose himself completely, the real world disappearing around him and there was simply Yonghoon, his voice and his guitar.

 

"What do you think of this song?" Yonghoon asked as soon as he finished singing, giving him a smile.

"You got a couple of chords wrong," he answered, without even thinking.

 

Yonghoon started to laugh out loud hearing his answer and Hyungu wanted to make a hole in the cement floor and get inside because he had once again said something he shouldn't have, even though it was true. Yonghoon sang luxuriously, he sang much better than the singers who appeared on television, on the radio; however, he wasn't as good as singing playing the guitar and there were times when he didn't play the correct chords and the songs didn’t sound exactly as they should. Hyungu knew about music, but, above all, he knew about guitars and although Yonghoon's voice left him completely mesmerized, his ear captured absolutely all the mistakes he made playing, despite the fact that most of them were insignificant and almost imperceptible.

 

"You told me the other day that you also played the guitar," the other said when he stopped laughing. "I'd like to hear you play and maybe teach me how to fix the mistakes I make".

 

Hyungu was about to refuse, but Yonghoon handed him his guitar, laying it on his lap and Hyungu had to catch it so it wouldn't slip and fall to the ground. He looked at Yonghoon not really knowing what to do, but Yonghoon was smiling at him in that charming way where his eyes turned into two half-moons and, in the end, he ended up sighing and picking up the guitar well to start playing it. He didn't know too many songs, but he did know a few, so he started with one of them, plucking the guitar strings gently with his fingers and letting the music fill the empty space of that warehouse again for a few moments before stopping and look at Yonghoon to see if he liked what he had just played. Meeting directly with the other's eyes shining as if they contained a million stars as he watched him wasn't what he had expected to see and Hyungu ended up coughing, clearing his throat and immediately averting his gaze, his heart beating inside his chest so fast and so loud it must have been heard throughout the neighborhood.

~

Going to church practically every day became a habit for Hyungu and many times he didn't even go to it in case there was something to do, he just went to that empty warehouse and waited for Yonghoon to show up to rehearse and they both passed the time together in that place, playing the guitar, listening to music with the walkman that Hyungu always used to carry in his jacket pocket, sharing tapes, discovering each other's musical tastes and talking about themselves, filling every silence between them with thousands of interesting conversations that made Hyungu almost feel like he was on cloud nine, snuggling up against each other on colder days, sharing the warmth of their coats and giving Hyungu tachycardias.

 

~

 

"I would like to listen to your singing".

 

Those words left Yonghoon's lips and left Hyungu completely paralyzed, immediately stopping playing the song he was playing, turning his face towards the other and looking at him almost in panic. Singing… Hyungu didn't sing… well, he did it like everyone else, in the shower or in the solitude of his room, when he knew that there was absolutely no one in his house and they couldn't hear him. He played the guitar, he played it very well, but no, he didn't sing, absolutely not, much less in front of Yonghoon, who must have been the person who sang the best in the whole universe. He hadn't even sung in front of Harin who was his best friend for life. How could he sing in front of Yonghoon when his heart was always on the verge of bursting simply because the other was next to him? No no no no. Impossible.

 

"No, no, no, no... I don't sing," he answered.

"You don’t?" Yonghoon asked, puzzled. "You look like you sing wonderfully".

"You can't tell how someone sings just by their appearance," he tried to joke to divert the conversation to other directions and make the other forget about the request he had just made.

"How come not?" said the latter. "If you look at me, in addition to thinking that I am the most handsome guy that has ever existed in the entire universe, it is normal to think that I sing incredibly well".

 

Yonghoon's response made Hyungu laugh out loud because he hadn't expected it, but deep down he couldn't help but agree with that. Yonghoon was handsome, he was incredibly attractive and, besides, he knew it, his hip-hop and trendy style contrasted terribly with the much more classic Hyungu used to wear, but it made him even more attractive in his eyes... and it was clear that his voice was the most incredible he had ever heard, it made him feel inexplicable things and almost turned his body to jelly. He didn't think that appearance had anything to do with each person's singing ability, but he couldn't deny that Yonghoon was very attractive and sang very well.

 

"Don't laugh, Hyungu… I'm going to end up taking it as an offense," he commented.

"No, don't take it as an offense… it wasn't," he answered. "I just hadn't expected it".

"Okay…" Yonghoon said and after a few moments of silence he added: "I want you to sing something… just a bit, a verse, it doesn't have to be the whole song… I just want to hear you sing".

 

Hyungu opened his mouth to refuse again, but ended up sighing at the look of anticipation on Yonghoon's face. He hadn't asked him to sing a whole song, he only had to sing a verse, it wasn't something that complicated for him, it would only be a few seconds and he could do it. He didn't sing well and the comparisons were going to be hateful, but he couldn't refuse if Yonghoon was asking him like that.

 

"Just one verse," he said.

 

A wide and beautiful smile appeared on Yonghoon's face as soon as those words left his lips and Hyungu's heart stopped for a few seconds before beating like crazy inside his chest again. He had to look away from the other and clear his throat, strumming the guitar strings without knowing what song to sing and trying to calm down little by little so that his voice wouldn't tremble. After a few moments, he ended up thinking of a song that his mother quite liked, a song by Lee Sooman that he had listened to at home and that he knew by heart. Hyungu took a deep breath, psyching himself up for what he had to do and then he began to play the chords of the song, of the chorus, beginning to sing without raising his voice much, in just a whisper, that love song, until he finished, just a few seconds after starting.

 

Hyungu turned to Yonghoon with the intention of joking, to talk about how he didn't sing well and that's why he shouldn't do it again, but when he turned his head, he found that the other was staring at him, as if he had just discovered an ancient wonder lost in the immensity of time. His mouth was slightly open and his eyes shone like they contained a million stars as he stared at him unblinkingly and Hyungu had to look away from him, too nervous to hold it.

 

"You sing incredibly well," Yonghoon said, drawing his attention, causing him to turn back to him, incredulous after hearing those words come out of the other's mouth. "You need a lot of practice to be able to project it because you sing very softly, but you sing very well, seriously, you could sing with me in church and play the guitar, you are much better than me and we could rehearse together and spend more time together and also could you teach with me at the academy..."

 

Yonghoon said all that very quickly, completely excited, happy and Hyungu didn't know why exactly, if it was because of the other excitement or because of the compliments or because of the way he wanted to spend much more time with him or because of the feelings he had left because the song he had sung a few moments before... but he ended up approaching the Yonghoon's face and leaving a kiss on his lips, causing him to immediately stop talking and remain completely paralyzed. Realizing what he had just done, Hyungu simply got up from the mattress they had been sitting on that afternoon and ran out of the warehouse without looking back, knowing that what he had just done had been the biggest mistake of his entire life because now Yonghoon would hate him.

 

~

 

"Aren't you going to open the door even for me, Hyungu?"

 

Harin's voice echoed in her room, as did a couple of knocks on her door, but Hyungu didn't react to that either. He didn't get out of bed or open the door to his best friend like he would have done on any other occasion, telling him what had happened to him and asking for advice on how to fix the situation. If it had been anything else that had made him lock himself in his room for two days, never going out except to the bathroom and the kitchen at times when he knew his grandmother wasn't there or wouldn't know he was out, he would probably tell him. It wouldn't have taken time to open the door and let him in... but at that moment all he wanted was to be alone and wallow in his own misery, simply wanting to disappear from the world as if he had never existed.

 

Because he had kissed Yonghoon. He had kissed Yonghoon and ran away before Yonghoon could react because he didn't want to know what his reaction was. He didn't want to know that the other hated him for what he had done. That was why he had locked himself in there and hadn't come back to the church to see Yonghoon, that's why he didn't want to talk to anyone or see anyone, even if those people were his grandmother and Harin, two of the most important people in his life, for that, all he wanted to do was stay in his room until the holidays were over and he could go home to his parents, to the university, where he would forget Yonghoon forever, his voice and the intense way in which he spoke. her heart ached when she thought of him.

 

"You can't go on like this, my boy," his grandmother told him. 'Whatever happened to make you like this, I'm sure there's a solution, you just have to get out of the room and eat and deal with it'.

 

Said like that, it sounded very easy, but Hyungu knew perfectly well that it wasn't going to be easy and he didn't want to face Yonghoon again, he didn't want to face his hatred or his rejection, all he wanted was to keep running away from that situation until the end of time, so he just snuggled deeper into his bed, in a fetal position, and didn't wipe away the tears that began to fall down his face.

 

~

 

His grandmother had gone to mass moments before with her friends, so the house was empty and Hyungu decided to leave his room to take a shower and eat something before the woman came back. He only had a few more days left in the place, he could continue hiding and going out only when his grandmother wasn't there or didn't find out about his outings because she was watching his after-dinner dramas or cooking, once those days were over, he could return to the capital and he would try to forget everything that had happened, he would try to forget that he had met Yonghoon and, above all, that kiss that he should never have given him... or at least that had been his plan, because when he got out of the shower and he went to his room, he found that his grandmother was there, with her arms crossed and a frown... and next to her, tall as a tower and with terrible bags under his eyes, was Yonghoon.

 

"He told me that he has been looking for you these days because you had a fight and you hadn't shown up at church again and I brought him home," his grandmother said, passing by his side. "I'm not letting you guys out of here until you talk and fix whatever it is that got you in a fight".

 

And after saying that sentence, the woman left the room and slammed the door shut. His grandmother had never behaved that way and that behavior was new to Hyungu, but he couldn't entertain himself thinking about it because in his room was Yonghoon, Yonghoon, whom he had kissed days before. Hyungu closed his eyes and wanted to run away again because he didn't know what Yonghoon wanted to tell him and he was afraid, he was very afraid. Hesitantly, he turned his gaze to the other and realized that he was staring at him, but he was playing with his fingers, nervously. Maybe Yonghoon was too good a person to tell him something horrible despite Hyungu's behavior with him, maybe he didn't want to hurt him even though he was the one who had messed up everything and who had done something he shouldn't... maybe he should be the one making the first move and at least apologize for it.

 

"I'm sorry," he finished murmuring. "I am so sorry".

 

His words were followed by a silence that lasted several seconds, a silence in which Yonghoon opened his mouth to say something several times, but nothing came out of his lips, as if his apology had left him speechless, a silence that Hyungu felt that was terribly long, his heart hammering inside his chest too fast, too anguished, wanting to open a hole in the ground to hide there forever.

 

"No..." Yonghoon began then. "You don't have to feel sorry for it". Hyungu was quite confused when he heard those words because he didn't understand it and probably the older one guessed from his expression that he hadn't understood it and kept talking. "You don't have to be sorry because... I liked the kiss... in fact... I like you too... a lot... and... I'd like to repeat it... the kiss..."

 

Hyungu blinked several times, fast, confused, very confused, his heart beating too fast inside his chest. Of everything he had imagined those days, of all the reactions he expected Yonghoon to have, of all the possible scenarios that had appeared in his head... none of them had even come close to what had just happened and Hyungu couldn't be more confused at the time. It had taken him a while to understand that he had not only fallen in love with Yonghoon's voice, but that he had also fallen in love with the owner of that incredible voice, but he couldn't understand how Yonghoon could feel something for him.

 

"I... like you a lot... seriously, Hyungu," he murmured, approaching him, staying just a few feet away, looking straight into his eyes. "I know that when you kissed me I didn't react as I should because I just didn't react... I hadn't expected it and I was paralyzed... but I liked the kiss... and I've spent these last few days wanting to talk to you to tell you and I didn't know how to contact you because I didn't I have your home phone, I don't even know if you have a beeper... and I... I would like to kiss you again..."

 

Hyungu swallowed at that because his mouth had gone completely dry and he moistened his lips almost without being aware that he was doing it, but the movement of his tongue must have caught Yonghoon's attention because his gaze drifted to his lips and a second later, the other's right hand rested on his cheek and his lips crashed against his in a short kiss, too short, just a brief contact that made Hyungu's whole body turn to jelly and wobble. Yonghoon pulled away from his lips to hold his arms, a look of concern in his eyes.

 

"I'm fine…" he mumbled before Yonghoon could even ask the question. "I just... I hadn't expected any of this... I... I thought you would hate me..."

"Why would I hate you?" Yonghoon questioned, flashing a charming smile that sent a shiver down Hyungu's spine. "Ever since you came into my life you have made everything so much better and every moment I've spent with you has been amazing, so all I want is to be able to spend so much more time with you and be with you forever and still love you and... I could never hate you because, despite the fact that we have spent very little time together, you have become someone very important to me… as if you were my own universe and… that…"

 

Hyungu couldn't help but smile because Yonghoon's words, despite being too cheesy, had calmed him down enough to smile again because Yonghoon really didn't hate him, Yonghoon also felt things for him and wanted to continue being with him. the. A smile also appeared on the other's face and Hyungu rose on tiptoe to leave a short kiss on his lips again, feeling that, although they still had a lot to talk about, a lot to decide, a lot to discover about each other, being together to Yonghoon, he would be fine.