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Rival’s Love Affair Part Two
“That plan is ridiculous,” Zico comments from his chair, his head on top of the metal, his lips sucking a red lollipop.
“Oh, shut up! You think all my ideas are ridiculous,” Kyung retorts from where he was situated, in front of a desk, his arms leaning on the hard surface, and a look of desperation on his face.
“That’s because they are.”
Kyung’s plans were never bad or horrible, in fact they were brilliant. And just like he was a brilliant it made his plans always sound ridiculous. There was no way that they would be able to go through with it. They hadn’t won anything these past few weeks, so planning this massive plan was like already choosing their fate, which was in fact dead.
“I don’t see you coming with any ideas whatsoever.” Zico only rolls his eyes in response. Zico is bad at making plans, planning schemes; the only thing he’s good at his punching someone, that’s not got them very far.
“Look, he still have time. We gotta focus on our fight on Friday.” Zico removes himself from his slouch state, and lowers himself up to his thighs, and says,” That’s what is more important.”
“You don’t get it. If we steal 400,000 thousand dollar from the bank this will be epic. We will earn the respect of the other gangs, and it will help us earn a victory, a sweet, sweet victory,” Kyung, babbles, his eyes lightinh up, filled with adoration for the victory that to Zico feels impossible.
It’s not that he’s letting this get to him, but deep inside it was getting to him. What kind of a gang doesn’t win. Not even to other lesser known gangs they have won over. Perhaps they haven’t won because their strategies suck. Or because his mind has been in la la land ever since he met Jaehyo a couple of weeks ago.
That man was doing things to him that he couldn’t quiet explain. Words were inexplicable when it came to his feelings. The rush of energy bursting through his veins was the same as when he wins fights. It was really weird for him to feel like this. He also questioned his sexuality now that he was with Jaehyo.
At night he would wonder who this man was. What gang was he a part of? He wanted to know so badly, while at the same time he didn’t. Zico might like the man now, but who knows if he will once he finds out what kind of mask Jaehyo has hidden under that angelic, beautiful face.
In fact, he doesn’t want to know. He would rather stay under the illusion of their pretend world where masks aren’t a thing. Which is what he feels when he’s next to him. A world without masks.
A rumble brought Zico into reality, once realizing he was for the second time in his own world, and he shoot straight up.
“Tael is here. I’m gonna discuss this with him since you’re not being rational with me,” Kyung says, picking up his map, that he sprawled all over, his pencil, and his phone, all with him as he jogged outside to the truck whom was just pulling up.
“Whatever,” he mumbles, standing up and biting his lollipop. “I have to see Jaehyo anyways.”
~ ~ ~
The floor creaked as he walk on the carpet, dirty of beer stains. Zico, with the little time he had, cleaned as much as he could. For the first time he was brining Jaehyo to his cabin that he would come to when he felt like getting drunk.
His only remedy was alcohol whenever he lost a fight. Losing a fight was embarrassing for his team and for him. Just the thought of how badly people must be thinking of his gang brought him forward to a pool of his own misery, welcoming by the taste of the bittering alcohol.
Last night he came here and drank a whole bottle of whisky to stop himself from thinking of all the disappointments he was making these past few weeks. It wasn’t until he was almost done with the bottle that he realized if he didn’t stop with this he would end up deeper into the cycle of self pity and the salvation that he thought alcohol brought whenever his lips touched the tip of the bottle.
Although he couldn’t get rid of the smell of alcohol off of the couch, he did manage to make it look clean and decent enough for someone to sit. The kitchen had no plates and silverware, and he managed to bring some chips and sodas instead of his deadly sin.
Waiting for Jaehyun to come was nerve-wracking. Zico found himself in deep thought, slapping his phone on his hand. He recollects his first love, at ten years old. He liked this girl who was in his class always smiling at him. At that time he didn’t know how it felt to be smitten, although his heart had burst with happiness. That feeling didn’t last long. The memory of his father telling him that he couldn’t date a girl from a different street because it was against the rules broke his heart. A young boy’s heart doesn’t know about the reality of demands, and the prohibitions of restrictions, yet he knew his crush was wrong. Little Zico didn’t understand what was so wrong with having a crush of a different street.
Now with the present, Zico doesn’t understand the restrictions of love and liking someone. He thought he did, which was why he only dated girls from his street, even Kyung’s cousin which didn’t end in good terms. Suddenly his interest swerve into the nonlinear road, with curves and restrictions, he began to question the notions, and the dominion that the leaders have over the gangs. Why did it matter who they dated? Especially of the same sex relationships. He was so shaken. His body was infuriated, starting with a sensation that burned deep inside of his body.
Dating someone from the same sex was forbidden just as dating a girl from the same gang was. From a young age, when their small minds were beginning to learn the rules, the words of “restriction” of this and of that, was engrained on their minds. The number one rule was to never ever date a guy because it was sinful and disgusting. It went against what they believed which was dominance over others, proving their masculinity through fights and violence.
One of the consequences, other than death, was beatings which sometimes lead to death or severely injured in the hospital. Depending on the magnitude of the relationship, consequences were heavy scrutinize and analyzed. Plenty guys had tried to escape resulting in couple of deaths, and induced in comas; however there was many who escaped, leaving this world of pained illusion of a realm that was unnecessary in this world.
Zico tried his best to get rid of these thoughts of his head. He didn’t want to be sad while Jaehyo was here to get to know him better.
And just in cue, a hard knock was heard, stumbling himself from the living room, almost falling to the ground. Zico managed to steady himself before he walked to the door. He composed himself and opened the door. Trees whistled against the wind and darkness was looming around the sky, bringing the colors down into disappearance.
“Hey,” Jaehyo, said breathlessly, his body reaching for air.
“Hey, did you ran or something?” Jaehyo’s forehead was sprinkled with sweat and his hands were on his hips which meant he was sort of in pain.
“Maybe? No offense, but the cabin is so deep into the forest that it gave me the creeps. Ran as fast as my scrawny legs could let me,” Jaehyo laughs, eyeing the cabin from the top.
“I’m pretty sure your legs are as meaty as mine are,” Zico comments, mentally slapping his head after realizing what he said. He clears his throat,” that was weird. Sorry. Come in.”
“Pretend I didn’t hear that, alright,” Jaehyo proposes, entering inside, walking after Zico closes the front door and leads him to the living room.
The living room was brightly lit by a source coming from two long lamps horizontally inches apart, two feet exact. For a second it seemed blinding for Zico, and then it quickly it became lit enough to not disturb their eyes any longer.
“Do you always come here?” Jaeyho asks, sitting himself on the couch, grabbing one of the pillows and placing it next to him. He came forward and situated his hands on his knees. Zico was reluctant to answer. Does he tell him that he only comes over when he’s disappointed in himself. Or should he tell him a lie. He went with the lie instead. “I rarely come.”
“Hmm,” he hummed as he inspected the place, his eyes particular stuck on a painting of a rainbow. “Your cabin is good enough to let frustrations out.”
“Been told. It’s far enough that you don’t hear about the world miles, miles away,” he says, disappearing to the kitchen and bringing two orange sodas. Zico hoped that he didn’t looked lame by brining sodas instead of alcohol. After last night’s hazily drunk phase, he swore to himself he wouldn’t touch alcohol in front of Jaehyo afraid that it might cause him to drink more than he can actually take.
“Want one.” Zico extends the soda in front Jaehyo. He takes it, and swiftly opens the can, the pop heard quite rather loudly.
Zico does the same and then sits down far away from the man despite the fact that he turned his body towards where Jaeyho was so he can see him entirely. Jaehyo did the same: slightly moving his body with one foot in the sofa folded beside him.
“I’m trying to decipher whether that rainbow is just another hetero rainbow that displays the colors after rain has fallen, or it’s your way of secretively supporting the LGBTQ+ movement,” Jaehyo implies, taking another sip of his soda.
“Or you could of taken this piece out of context and instead overanalyzed a simple drawing,” Zico comments. Jaeyho looks at him with wide eyes and rather takes an insulting, taken back attitude. “But you’re onto something.”
“So you’re gay.” Jaehyo raises his eyebrows, immersing himself in the conversation.
“Aren’t you?” Zico had sipped the last of the drops of soda; he crushes the can and lets the cylinder hang from his hand.
“Excuse me? Are you threatened me?” Anger rose from his voice. Quickly, Zico went to his defense. ” If you thought I meant to ask you so I can report you to the leaders, then I like to apologize. I didn’t mean it that way. It was an honest, curious answer.”
Jaehyo nodded, his face fallen into misery. “I think I can trust you. Will you keep my secret ?”
“As long as you keep mine.”
That night something went beyond words. Perhaps the right word for it is trust. Trust of a deadly secret that they know can end their existence.
~ ~ ~
A/N:
Well that escalated quickly. @YugiFazbear I’m falling in love with this story more and more. Zico is admitting his crush to Jaehyo subtlety. Comments and likes are greatly appreciated.
-Laterz Kelsi.
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