HeungSoo I wanna sleep next to you by harukno89

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Namsoon's POV

"Go on a date with you?" He walks around my workroom, looking at the mangas I have scattered all over.

"Yes. I mean, will you spend the entire day with me?"

"It's late at night, where do you want to take me," he smirks.

"Not tonight, silly. You just said you requested a few days off, so how about in two days? Take a day off to allow your weakened system to recuperate," I tease him.

"Funny. Sure, I'll go on a date with you. Did I tell you I planned to buy into Misul Publishing?"

"You were? What stopped you?"

"Misul Publishing just wasn't the right fit. Gidae Publishing is. Besides, there's a recent project we plan that will blow the other publishing companies out of the water," he says.

"What?" I ask, curious.

"I'll tell you when we complete it. Meanwhile, how about the day after tomorrow for our date? So, what should I wear," he winks?

I throw my chair pillow at him.

"Silly goose. It's late, do you want to spend the night?"

"Not tonight. I'll sleep like the dead when my head hits the pillow, and it's better that I fall into oblivion in my house. What time are you picking me up?"

"The whole day means I'll pick you up at seven am. Good? And dress casual," I tell at him.

"Casual it is. I'll see you later."

He walks out of my workroom. I follow him. He grabs his jacket and heads out the door. I watch him get in his car and drive off.

I release the breath I had been holding and my heart now beats in excitement. Now to plan our date.

                                         ― ☾ ―

"We're set to meet with Hwa Chul-Moo in three days?" I ask my editor.

"Yes, we are. I'm glad that you have completed your first manga. It's going through the first stage of printing. We're all so excited. I have never had a client that works ahead of schedule. It's a breath of fresh air."

"Thanks. Even though we went head to head a few times," I smile.

Kim Eun-Kyun, my editor, and I had a few heated discussions on parts of my story. We worked it all out and I am proud to launch my first manga.

"And the title works," she says.

"Thank you. 'It could only be you' is appropriate for the story. I just hope there's a following for a gay manga story. Just remember that it's only a five series book. No more than that, regardless of how it does."

"The beauty is that you weave in other characters and their stories, so the manga has all types of relationships, something for everyone," she says.

"I can't wait to meet Hwa Chul-Moo. Don't forget to send me his address and I'll meet you at his place."

"Why can't we go together? It'll be easier," she coaxes.

"I have other appointments after that, so I need my car."

"Fine. Come in," she responds to a knock on her door.

A young man comes in with a small brown box. He nods at me, greets me, and leaves.

"Here you go. As you requested, first five copies of your manga, right off the presses," she says.

"Really?"

I rush to her desk and gingerly reach into the box and pull out a copy of my manga. I spread my hand over its cover. The cover is eye-catching and beautiful. It has a side view of two boys in school uniform sitting back to back. The boy on the left leans his head on the shoulder of his friend, who does the same. A girl in the same uniform is drawn running towards one of them and another girl is watching everyone from a distance. It captures my major characters perfectly.

"Do you like it?"

I nod my head.

"Did they capture your idea for the book cover?"

I nod again.

"Say something Namsoon," she shakes my arm.

"I'm sorry. It's beautiful. I'm finally a writer. I have a manga ready for sale. My name is on it. I can't believe it. You have five copies here, right?"

"Sure."

"Thank you so much for all your hard work. I appreciate it."

"You're welcome."

"I've got to go. There are a few people I need to send them to. I'll call you later. Thank you again. It's been a pleasure working with you."

"You're welcome. I had fun. See you at Hwa Chul-Moo's house."

I wave and walk out of her office. I nod at some faces as I walk to the elevator and make my way out of the building. I walk to the nearest convenience store and mailed two signed copies of my manga to KangJoo. I grab the remaining three; one for HeungSoo, Teacher Jung, and me. Still riding on a high, I walk into a ramen restaurant energized. I sit, order my ramen, and plan my upcoming date with HeungSoo. Life is wonderful.

                                         ― ☾ ―

I walk up the pathway to HeungSoo's home and rang the doorbell. He opens the door, and he's scrumptious. Besides his ever-present smirk, he has on a red blazer over a black polo shirt. He finishes the look with black pants and black sneakers. The man looks good enough to devour.

"Hmm, you look good. Ready?"

"Morning to you too. Don't you want to come in?" he asks.

"No. I have the entire day planned. The first stop is breakfast at Mr. Lee's store."

"The same one where we always..."

"Yep, the same and it's still there. Now I don't know if Mr. Lee still runs it, but we're about to find out so come on."

He locks his door and follows me to my car. We get in and I head off to our old neighborhood. Fifteen minutes later, we arrive at the store. It has changed little in the past seven years. We enter the store; I buy snacks and coffee as we did back in the day. An inquiry into Mr. Lee's whereabout tells us he died years ago, and they sold the store. The new owner kept the layout and mood of the store. We sit at the windowsill and have our breakfast. We watch the neighborhood like old times, only now we are not running late for class. We grab extra cups of coffee on our way out.

"Want to stop and see your dad?" HeungSoo ask.

"No. Not today. I have a present for you at our next stop."

"I feel like Cinderella," and he does a fake prancing to my car before getting in. I pull out and drive to our favorite manga bookstore.

"No way. Does anything ever change in Korea?" He asks as he looks at our old manga store where we bought all our books.

"A few," I reply. "Before we go in, I have something for you." I hand him one of my published manga, signed.

He takes it, looks at me, and runs his hands over my name.

"Wow! This is beautiful, Namsoon. Thank you. The cover grabs you. You've done an amazing job," he says as he flips through the pages. "I can't wait to read it. I want to read it at home, is that okay?"

"Sure. Come on, let's go check the newest mangas out there," I smile at him.

We walk in, go our separate ways like before, checking out the ones to read in the store, and the ones to buy. We meet back in the store's corner. We sit with our backs to each other, supporting ourselves, and read.

A few hours pass and our sitting positions change. We lay face down on the floor, opposite each other. I look at my watch, tap HeungSoo that it's time to go. We grab the books we want to buy, and I paid for them.

"My treat," I tell him.

"You just want your name on them," he teases me.

"You remembered our deal. Good. Lunchtime."

I drive to the café near our old school, the one we always sneaked off to.

"Ajumma, two bowls of ramen and kimchi, please." I direct us to the corner table, and we sit down to wait for our steaming bowl of ramen.

"As I said, does anything ever change in Korea? It is the same Ajumma". HeungSoo asks.

I thank the server who brought our ramen with kimchi. I grab my chopsticks and dig into my steaming bowl of ramen. I layer some kimchi on my ramen and clean out the bowl.

"You're the only one who eats every bowl of ramen like the first time," HeungSoo says. I smile sheepishly at him and smirk at him when I notice his bowl is also empty.

"How was it?" I ask.

"Great. Ajumma, a bottle of water please," HeungSoo calls out.

I got a bottle of soda and we sit back, relaxed. I asked him about his life in Colorado. He told me of his feeling of loneliness when he first arrived there speaking minimal English. He was quick to make friends on the team who helped him with his language skills and socializing. He said he loved their away games the most because he got to see so many places in the States. I am happy he had a wonderful life in the States, and I told him so.

"The only thing was that I missed you. The first year was unbearable, but I taught myself to not miss you anymore," he whispers.

"I'm so sorry, HeungSoo. I'm sorry that we've wasted all those years apart."

I touch his hand resting on the table and link my hand with his. He squeezes my hand in response, and goosebumps pop up on my skin.

"So where to next?" He asks.

"One last stop and then dinner. You'll do the driving since you know how to get to where we're going. She's expecting us."

"Who?"

"Teacher Jung In-Jae. She said and I quote 'I look forward to seeing my two favorite students' end quote."

"Come on, let's go," he jumps up and I grab his hand, stopping him.

If I didn't know better, I'll be jealous.

I hand him my car keys, and we head off to visit our favorite teacher and our worst teacher, her husband.

                                           ― ☾ ―

Our visit with Teacher Jung In-Jae was wonderful. Her daughter is just the prettiest baby ever. Even the presence of Teacher Kang Se-chan did not dampen the atmosphere. When you forget how he was as our homeroom teacher, he's turned into a decent fellow. It must be the love of Teacher Jung that changed him.

She was teary-eyed and so happy for me when I gave her a copy of my manga. She hugged me and told me she was proud of me. It was so good to hear that, especially when her colleagues wrote HeungSoo, myself, and some of our classmates off as failures. She never did and always encouraged and believed in us.

She asked us to stay for dinner, but we turned her down. I told her I had the day planned for HeungSoo and we have one last destination before the night's over. We promised to visit them again.

I do the driving this time, and we arrive at our destination about twenty minutes later. We're now in the upscale part of Seoul. I park my car and a valet takes my car key as soon as I exited my car.

"Go Namsoon, is this THE restaurant?"

"Yes, it is."

The Wave is the priciest and according to food critic, the best restaurant in all of Seoul. The only Michelin three-star restaurant in South Korea. Besides that, it has five stars from other guides. It took a lot for me to get a reservation at the last minute. My boss, Park Bong Pal, knew someone, who knew someone. So here we are about to go into the restaurant we promised ourselves we'll visit when we are older and rich enough.

The Wave is a steakhouse that sits on a hill high above Seoul. Diners have the perfect view of Seoul especially at night when the lights are on and bright. We are seated at a cozy corner alcove with the perfect view of Seoul at night. The realization of this wish of ours silences us. We place our orders. When our meal arrived, we ate in silence. The food, ambiance, service, everything was excellent.

Our silence continued throughout dinner, paying for our meal, and back in the car. My phone rings with the special ringtone for KangJoo.

"It's KangJoo," I tell HeungSoo. He nods and I pick up the call on my car speakerphone.

"KangJoo, Hi. How are you?"

"I'm pregnant," she screams.

"I'm sorry, what did you say?"

"I'M PREGNANT!"

"Oh my God! Congratulations. When, how?"

"I did a home test a few days ago and went for a blood test and got the confirmation today. Oh my God, Namsoon, I'm going to be a mother."

"I'm so happy for you and Misaki."

"Thank you. We'll be in Korea in about three months after my first trimester to see my mom."

"You and Misaki must stay with me, okay?"

"Definitely."

"Did you get the parcel I mailed to you?"

"Not yet."

"Call me when you do," I tell her.

"Okay, I've got to go. Misaki's dad is here, and we want to share the news with him. Talk later?"

"Sure. Tell Misaki I said congratulations."

"I will. Good night."

"Goodnight." I turn to HeungSoo with an enormous grin on my face.

"I heard. KangJoo a mother, wow! I think she'll be an excellent one. She was the class mother hen," HeungSoo says.

"I can't picture her pregnant. I'm going to be an uncle."

A few minutes later, I pull up to my loft.

"Hmm! Shouldn't you drop me off at my place after the date," HeungSoo asks.

"Here's the thing, I wanted everything we experienced today to show both of us that even though we can't go back, we can move forward. And I know that we can't change the past, but we can remember the pleasant times and work to make our future better. So, are you with me?" I rattle off, my hands on the steering wheel and eyes straight ahead, scared to look at him.

"I went on a date with you, didn't I?"

I turn to face him and ask what's been on my mind since we finished dinner. To be honest, since I picked him up this morning.

"Park HeungSoo, will you spend the night with me? I don't want this day to end. Nothing more than just sleeping in the same bed as we used to?"

He looks into my eyes and nods his head. I release the breath I had been holding and smile.

I get out of the car as does he, and we walk silently up to my loft. I open the door, let him in my house, and excited for what I hope will be a night to remember.