Kibum smiled brightly when he awoke that morning, like every other lovesick person in Korea did. He stretched, slipped into his slippers and made a beeline for his phone charging by his desk.
What he was expecting was a long, sappy message, expressing Minho's love for him and where he was to pick him up for their White Day date. Or maybe just a simple, 'saranghae', since Minho was always so busy with his soccer team and was too prideful a man to send fluffy love messages.
He was prepared for sweetness as he opened his text, not a breakup.
From Minho:
I'm sorry, Kibum. I don't think it's working out between us. I don't think I'm ready for a serious relationship yet.
Kibum's heart froze. He felt like an overly cliché chick flick in which the guy suddenly broke up with his girlfriend, then sent a second message overflowing with hearts and light-hearted, 'JK's.
But there was no second message. The bastard was serious—just like he always was; there was no humour in Choi Minho's dictionary.
Kibum's hand shook violently as he typed his reply.
To Minho:
LOL, you're kidding right?
Minho's text came minutes later, and it stung.
From Minho:
No.
Kibum spent his 14th of March sulking over his treasured collection of chick flicks with a diabetes-inducing load of junk-food spread out on his coffee table. He didn't show up at work, neither did he bother with the free photography course they were giving at the library.
Not that anyone would go anyway. Everyone else was on a date with their partner.
It wasn't that Minho meant the world to Kibum. Sure, he was cute, funny, handsome, and smart—everything a perfect guy should be, but there was that noticeable lack of warmth between them whenever they met up. They were both aware of it, and now Minho had taken action and called the whole thing off.
Kibum wasn't exactly head-over-heels with Minho, either. But the sudden breakup – a breakup on White Day– had sort of hurt him. It hurt even more that this was his third breakup of the year, and that this had been his longest relationship since he had been dumped by Sunny. Yep, Kibum and Minho had lasted a grand total of 23 days. And the bastard had decided to dump Kibum on the day he was waiting for most. That bastard, Kibum mused bitterly as he shoved another mouthful of caramel popcorn into his mouth.
He didn't even bother checking his phone when it vibrated until the movie was over. He waited for the ending credits to finish rolling before standing up begrudgingly and sauntering over to his phone. The text wasn't from Minho – Kibum expected that, anyway. The bastard was probably at some cafe with some slut on his arm – but rather, it was from Jonghyun.
Had it been a different classmate, or a relative (they never texted nor called unless there was some kind of emergency anyway), or even the president of Korea, he would have shut off his phone and flung it across the room, then went off to bed and slept until Black Day. But this was Jonghyun.
There was something about Jonghyun that kept Kibum bonded with him, even though he couldn't stand the guy. He was loud, obnoxious and intolerable, yet Kibum had chosen to stick by him since fourth grade. Hence making them a sort of love-hate couple, except even though Jonghyun was bisexual, he was more into girls and had a girlfriend.
From: Jonghyun
Wassup. Having fun with Minho? ;) ;) ;) ;) ;)
Kibum scowled. He knew. He knew. The dipshit had found out somehow and he knew and he was rubbing it in Kibum's face because he knew and he was about to make Kibum's day even worse.
To: Jonghyun
Fuck off.
The reply came moments later, as expected, and was overflowing with its usual emoticons.
From: Jonghyun
:O! Oh, having a bad day? (x Poor babyyyyy. Did Minnie-baby break up with you or something? xD xD xD
Kibum wondered why he even bothered.
To Jonghyun:
If you're about to make me feel worse, I will kill your firstborn.
Satisfied with his threat, Kibum pressed the send button and placed his phone down. He waited by the table for one minute, two minutes, and was about to go back to his couch of calories before the phone vibrated again.
From Jonghyun:
I'll be right there.
"Hey Jjong?"
"Hmm?"
Kibum glanced at Jonghyun from the corner of his eye, but Jonghyun kept his eyes glued to the screen.
"Aren't you supposed to spend White Day with a lover?"
Jonghyun's eyes widened as the sounds of gunshots and bullets ricocheting off stolen cars filled the room (courtesy of Kibum's surround-sound stereo system).
"Jonghyun?"
"Shh! This is the bit where Nicholas Cage's in the car chase."
Kibum didn't repeat himself after that, because once Jonghyun was absorbed in a movie there was no way of having a civil conversation with him, and because Nicholas Cage was kinda hot in that scene.
-!-
Kibum woke up scowling that day. He had been waiting for this day for a whole month now, and now that it had finally come he was going to enjoy himself and soak up the misery. He had even laid out his outfit from the night before, and they waited patiently for him, washed and ironed, ready to be worn and mourned in.
His eyes flickered to the calendar on his wall. 14th of April—Korean Black Day. The day singleness shone and was to be glorified. How was being forever alone something to be proud of?
Sighing, he kicked off his covers and rolled like a buffalo out of the inviting warmth of his bed. He picked up the black shirt and smiled grimly and muttered, "Fuck you."
He didn't even know who he was saying it to.
Kibum was barely in his black outfit and had started making a fresh pot of black jajangmyeon when someone – he had a pretty good idea of who it was – sharply knocked 'No Mercy' on his door. Jonghyun never knocked once or twice like a normal person. His knocks tended to have personality.
At first, Kibum wanted to yell at Jonghyun – without opening the wooden barrier – to go away and that he wanted to spend his day alone, like he should. But then a more sensible part of his brain overpowered the thought and he rolled his eyes and pulled open the door.
He was taken aback when he found Jonghyun standing there, dressed in a black hoodie and jeans, holding a pot that smelled suspiciously like what he was cooking in his own kitchen. Maybe a little burnt, but that was definitely jajangmyeon.
"Nice outfit," he commented cockily from behind the thin swivels of steam that arose from the pot.
"What the hell are you doing here?"
Jonghyun pouted instantly — poking out his bottom lip in his award-winning puppy-aegyo. "Well, annyeong to you too," he said, feigning insult.
"Aren't you with Se Kyung or something?"
Jonghyun chuckled. "I didn't tell you? She's dumped me after White Day."
"Why?" Kibum was on a roll now, shooting off questions one by one and hoping his luck would last enough for him to get his final answer. He was, however, genuinely surprised—h e had never been told this and took his time absorbing the information.
"Aish, you ask too many questions. Move, this stuff's hot."
So that was how Jonghyun ended up spending his day at Kibum's. The jajangmyeon he had very thoughtfully prepared had, apparently, tasted like crap ("You're mean, Kibum, you know that?") and so they spent the couple of precious hours making a whole new pot.
"This stuff is so good," said Jonghyun between mouthfuls of black noodles. "I can't believe you did this without a recipe."
Kibum shrugged and raised his chopsticks to his lips, dropping the sweet noodles into his mouth. "I've made it a few times now."
Jonghyun swallowed – loudly – and didn't make any more comments on the jajangmyeon.
He was going for his second bowl when Kibum asked, quite bluntly, why he came there in the first place.
"We both got dumped," replied Jonghyun. "We're both losers. So I thought we should just sulk to each other until we're over it. And then, maybe, we could look for new love somewhere."
Kibum stared at the older boy, who pinked softly under his gaze. Then Kibum allowed a small smile. Jonghyun was annoying, and unbearable, but...
Kibum got up, walked to the kitchen and dumped a whole ladleful of Jonghyun's shameful failure of jajangmyeon onto his bowl. He returned and took a bite, making sure to chew it very carefully digging into it for a second. Jonghyun watched, wide-eyed.
But maybe, Kibum mused, that's what I like about him.
"I don't think there'll be a Black Day next year," Jonghyun said a few minutes later. Kibum's eyes flickered from the bowl to the older boy sitting in front of him.
"Yeah," he said carefully, placing the bowl on the coffee table. He looked up, and for the second time that supposedly gloomy day, he smiled. "Me too."