The morning light peeped through the curtains of the newlyweds' room, awakening the small figure laying on the sofa. Youngjae slowly opened his eyes and squinted to the large windows, almost grimacing at the sunlight.
When he stood up and looked over towards the large bed, he noticed there was nobody in it. Jaebum must have left early, he thought to himself. He slipped on the furry slippers beneath him and made his way to the bathroom, where he freshened up to start his day.
He had a half hour to spare so he took his time eating breakfast and calling his mom to check up on her. After two rings, someone picked up.
"Hello?", a female voice spoke.
"Mom! It's Youngjae.", he said in excitement upon hearing his mother's voice.
"Oh finally! How have you been? Are they treating you well?"
"I'm doing fine. How's everything going back home? How're you?"
He heard her sniffle a little before she answered, "Well, your brother is doing great -- Mrs. Im hired a tutor for him just yesterday. He actually has a session in a couple hours!"
It was silent for a while, Youngjae just held up his phone against his ear as he listened to his mom's silent breathing. He hated being away from home. Though it had only been a day, he wished to be home again in the shared room of his and his younger brother's, humming a soft melody as he tried to put both of them to sleep.
However, for now he had to stay put with the given situation and hoped that someday, all this would become routine for him.
"I miss you guys.", he spoke quietly.
"We miss you too, Youngjae. But remember what we're doing this all for. We'll come to visit soon!"
~
Youngjae sat in the backseat of the driver's car, looking out the window and humming the new song he had in mind. He thanked the man in the driver's seat when climbing out of the car, and jogged into the building as he anticipated Hanmin's thoughts on the song he had offered him.
He put his weight onto the door to open it with a piece of paper in hand. Hanmin was already seated on his chair in front of a desktop, fingers tapping away on the keyboard.
"'Morning, sir.", he greeted.
"Youngjae! What've you got today?", the man said, turning his chair to face him.
"I've a new song that I think will match your theme for this year's quarterly session.", he spoke with pride as he handed the paper to him.
Hanmin pulled down his glasses to read the lyrics,
it's bittersweet, the way you treat me
it's confusing don't you see
one act of kindness, one look of coldness
unspoken love at its finest
"Do you have the chords for this?"
~
"Sir, your mother's on the phone.", Jaebum's assistant said at the doorway of his office, a phone in hand.
"Tell her to leave a message.", his boss said, eyes not leaving the laptop in front of him.
"Uhm sir, it's about your -- spouse."
This made Jaebum stop his typing, his index finger landing on the 's' key which caused a long line of esses on the document. He brought his hand out in front of him, signalling for the phone.
"What is it?", he said coldly to his mom.
"How's everything going at home?"
Jaebum sighed, rolling his eyes a little. "What are you expecting?"
"Are you being good to him?"
"Will it matter--"
"Of course it will! He can leave you if you mistreat him, you know. We need his mom in this corporate and you cannot be the reason behind her resignation.", she nagged him.
Jaebum thought about Youngjae and the night before. To him, Youngjae was still a small, fragile person who submitted to whatever people told him to do. Along with that, he hadn't forgotten about his spouse' sexuality. Jaebum wasn't homophobic. (seriously antis come at me holy shi--) Maybe he himself wasn't sure of his own but for now he didn't think he was into Youngjae, ironically.
~
Later on that day when evening had reached, Youngjae hopped out of the shower and dressed himself in comfortable clothes. He was extra giddy that night because Hanmin had decided to publish one of his songs for one of the artists. Additionally, the song he had introduced was making well progress with the composure.
He made his way down the stairs, allowing the aroma of his dinner to lead him to the dining room. There were two plates ready in front of him which he assumed the other was for Jaebum.
"Is Jaebum not having dinner?", he asked a helper.
"Actually sir, Mister Im isn't home yet. Simon called and said he may be home late."
Youngjae could only nod in response and order that the other plate be put away so his spouse could eat when he returned home. However, what Youngjae didn't know was that Jaebum did not like old stale food. If he wanted to eat, he would have food freshly made for him. He wouldn't care if it was three in the morning and he was starving -- the whole house would have to wake up to prepare him something to eat.
However, the present helper obliged and placed the plate in the fridge where she would throw away later when Youngjae wasn't looking.
~
The sky had already turned black and a few stars had begun to twinkle when Jaebum wasn't home yet. Youngjae was back to reading his book in their bedroom, his legs wrapped in the cozy comforters of their bed. The clock had read almost twelve in the morning, and as much as he hated to admit it he had started to become worried about Jaebum not arriving soon.
He remembered that he still had work the next day so he placed his bookmark on the last page he read, closed his book and placed it on the small table next to him. As his eyelids began to feel heavy, he heard a loud click from the doorway which caused him to lift his head.
There was Jaebum, finally home making his way inside their shared room. His eyes met Youngjae's for a second before he made his way to the closet.
"Why are you still awake?", he asked, not looking at him.
"I-I was just about to head to sleep."
The elder looked behind his shoulder, a small smirk forming on his lips.
"Could it be you were waiting for me to get home?", he asked so smugly.
Youngjae scoffed lightly, crossing his arms across his chest. "Don't be a narcissist."
Jaebum, who had pulled out his sleep attire from the closet, smugly walked over to the foot of their bed, tugging at his tie and tilting his head at the smaller male.
"Then why have you been up all night?", he teased, eyebrow cocked and eyes not leaving Youngjae.
"I-I...", the younger tried to form a sentence but the elder's intense look was starting to become too much to bear. Jaebum completely removed his tie, lightly tossing it over top of Youngjae who frowned at the action.
The larger male slowly climbed into bed, starting from the foot and staring intensely at the other. He used one hand to unbutton the first three buttons of his shirt and positioned himself on top of Youngjae, who at this point was in a small state of panic, trying not to look Jaebum in the eye.
He shyly pulled the covers over his mouth, hiding half of his face. Jaebum was dangerously close to him now, their chests almost touching and his breath on the younger's cheek.
"W-Will you get off?", Youngjae said which sounded like a muffle due to the comforters over him. Jaebum chuckled a little, eyeing his spouse down before swiftly getting off him and making his way to his shower.
Youngjae released a breath he didn't know he was holding, and clasped a hand to his chest before throwing the covers over his head completely.