fic: The Game {Chapter 9}
Title: The Game - Chapter 9
Length: Chaptered
Author: M_K Yujji
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Drama
Pairing/Characters: MinHo; past-JaeHo
Warnings: angst
Disclaimer: Though real people are used as characters, this fic bears no resemblance to Real Life and these people are not owned by me.
Comments/Notes: So only one, possibly two chapters left to go. Aren't you excited? ^_^
Prologue | Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8
Summary: Being the leader was hard, sometimes...
~*~*~
“Dance with me?” Yunho did a quick little two step back, holding his hands out and beckoning Changmin towards him.
The younger man sighed and rubbed his eyes under his glasses. “I have a lot of work to finish, Yunnie.”
“All work and no play makes Minnie an old man before his time.. Please?” Yunho cajoled, trying not to look too pathetic or needy and knowing that he wasn't really being very successful.
“Yunho...” Changmin snorted and stretched, his t-shirt lifting away from the waist band of his jeans, drawing Yunho's attention to the patch of skin exposed there. “You realize, of course, that since we dance for a living, technically speaking you're asking me to work, right?”
Yunho pouted and put his hands on his hips. “I happen to like dancing. And I'm not asking you to do any routines, I'm asking you to dance with me, but excuse me for disturbing your precious study time because I wanted to spend my free time with you.” Sometimes Changmin could be so infuriatingly male. He had to force himself not to stomp as he went to turn off the stereo, but he was unable to help himself as he stabbed furiously at the buttons, shutting down the system.
Strong hands kept him from actually leaving, though. Sometimes he forgot how much working out Changmin had actually done over the years in his quest to shed his childlike image.
“Changmin-“
Warm, slightly chapped lips pressed against the back of his neck and his lover's hard body molded against his back, swaying lightly. “I guess a break can't hurt anything.”
Part of Yunho wanted to hold on to his fit of pique, to shrug off Changmin's arms and go rant at Jaejoong about the youngest's insensitivity.
He couldn't help but sway along with Changmin, though. “You don't have to. Not if you don't want to.”
Changmin snorted before nuzzling at his ear. “Suure...” He held Yunho still while pressing closer, evidence of his arousal hard against Yunho's ass. “It's such a hardship, but I think I can bear sparing you some time.”
Yunho tilted his head back against Min's shoulder, slipping his arms back to hold Changmin closer as they swayed to his own humming.
His intent to dance vanished like a puff of smoke when clever hands slipped under his clothes, one in his shirt, the other in his sleep pants.
“Minnie....”
“Oh for fuck's sake-“ The cut off obscenity jerked Yunho's attention to the doorway where Junsu was blindly feeling his way through the process of slipping out of his shoes and jacket to come in. “The whole point of me switching rooms was so that you two could do that in privacy where I wouldn't have to see it.”
Yunho's cheeks flushed and he would have ducked his head in shame except that his lover's grip had tightened on him.
“Oh grow up,” Changmin said, snorting. “How many times have I had to watch you shove your tongue down some girl's throat?”
Jaejoong's laughter spilled into the room as he pushed Junsu bodily out of the way and tumbled in, face flushed from the cold outside and his own merriment. “I think it's hot - you guys, not Junsu and his girls. Please, feel free to continue. Don't mind us!”
“Jaejoong!” It was hard to know who was more scandalized by the suggestion, Junsu or Yunho.
To both their horror, the youngest seemed to actually consider the suggestion. “What's it worth to you?”
“Changmin!” Yunho wiggled out of Changmin's arms and began dragging him back towards the bedroom. Even with the interruption, he was still achingly hard, but there was no way he was performing for an audience.
More laughter followed them, but Yunho ignored it. He was much more interested in picking up where they'd left off.
~*~*~
“What's with the frown?” Jaejoong asked, looping his arms around Yunho's neck and settling against his back.
Yunho just sighed and shrugged.
Jaejoong followed his gaze. “Oh.... Want me to go pull her hair?”
That was enough to get a snort of laughter out of the band leader, but not much more. He continued to stare, disgruntled and annoyed, at the tiny Japanese interviewer hanging on his lover's every word, laughing and giggling like a school girl with a celebrity crush. As if she hadn't ever interviewed someone famous before. And Changmin was eating it up, flirting back in a way that he seldom bothered with.
It was nothing.
He knew it and still it bothered him.
Changmin was a grown man. He wasn't a piece of property to be owned or dictated to. Flirting was practically part of their job description - even if it was one that Changmin frequently ignored. As band leader, he should be glad that the youngest member of their band was finally losing some of the vicious snark that lost him so much of the popularity with girls as he trashed their feelings left and right.
If nothing else, it meant he wouldn't have to lecture the other over the importance of their public image anymore.
Somehow, those facts were doing nothing to quell Yunho's rising disquiet.
~*~*~
“Are you sure, Minnie?” The discontent he was feeling was clearly evident in his voice, but Yunho didn't try to hide it.
“Look, I'll catch up. This will be a good chance for me to finish up my class work without distractions.” Changmin rolled his eyes at Yunho's pout and handed over his bag.
Jaejoong shifted around to scoot by them. “Guys, you're blocking the door.”
Yunho sighed and took the bag. “We've only got a few days of actual vacation before this trip turns into work, Minnie...”
“Yunho, I'm so far behind on this stuff thanks to ...” Even though the other made an effort to bite his tongue, the accusation was already out there and Yunho deflated. He hadn't seriously thought Changmin had that much work or he'd have done better at keeping his hands to himself over the last couple of weeks.
Probably.
Maybe....
Changmin sighed and pulled him in for a quick kiss. “Don't worry about it. I should be there by Sunday, okay? That'll still give us a couple of days to hang out.”
Guilty and unhappy, Yunho had no choice but to accept it. A day or two was better than nothing.
~*~*~
Yunho sighed and stared blindly out the window. They'd only been at the inn for a few hours, but he couldn't enjoy himself. His mind lingered back at the apartment with Changmin. He hoped the younger man would actually be sensible and go to sleep at a reasonable hour rather than study until he passed out at the table.
“It used to be me...”
“What?” Yunho glanced up, startled at the sound of Jaejoong's voice.
With a sigh, Jaejoong shoved him over and moved to snuggle under the blanket against him. “It used to be me you couldn't be happy without.”
“Jaejoongie....”
But Jaejoong just shook his head, sighing again and slipping his arms around Yunho's waist. “No. It was my fault, I know that. And I'm not really jealous, I just... I left you alone so much so I could do other things and I see Changmin making those same mistakes and it makes me want to smack him around for not cherishing you properly.”
“His schoolwork is important, and I have been distracting him from it more often than not.” Logically, Yunho knew he was guilty of what Changmin had accused him of. He couldn't seem to help it, though. Like he hadn't been able to help needing to be Jaejoong's one and only when they'd been together.
“He's already too smart for his own good,” Jaejoong grumbled and Yunho didn't disagree. He hugged the other close, grateful for the warmth and support.
“I thought you were going out with Chunnie and Junsu...” Granted, he hadn't been paying that close attention to the others all afternoon, but he was sure he'd heard the three making plans to go out for dinner, maybe even catch a movie at the tiny theatre they'd passed on the way in before any possible fans in the town realized they were there.
Jaejoong shrugged. “I'm supposed to be trying to get you to come along, but I know you'd just be miserable.”
With a faint smile, Yunho leaned further into Jaejoong. It was nice having someone know him so well, but for once, he didn't feel the ache of disappointment and longing that had so long clouded their friendship. “I love you.”
The older man glanced at him in surprise, searching his face for a long moment before returning the soft smile. “I love you, too.”
With the both of them riddled with pain and doubts, lingering guilt and betrayal, the words hadn't passed between them since before their break-up.
It was a healing moment between them, the invisible rift set to right finally and Yunho felt at peace again in a way he hadn't even realized was missing until it was returned to him.
The moment was broken though when Jaejoong gave a put upon sigh and twisted them around, knocking Yunho to the floor. “Get off your ass and go fetch your boyfriend. I already stole car keys from Manager sshi.”
He dangled said keys above Yunho's head.
“You're something else, Joongie.” Laughing, Yunho rose up to his knees and gave his friend a playful, smacking kiss before snagging the keys and rushing off.
He'd bring Changmin back with him even if it meant stealing the student's books and hiding them in the car.
~*~*~
The apartment was deserted.
Yunho frowned as his search yielded nothing more than a neat pile of school books next to Changmin's laptop. Attempts to call his lover's phone sent him straight to voice mail, which meant it was turned off wherever it - and Changmin - was.
He did another walk through, trying to tell himself not to worry.
The computer was off, the school books were in the kind of anal retentive biggest to littlest, evenly lined stack that only Changmin ever bothered with. Changmin's cell phone was not abandoned anywhere around the apartment.
The door had been locked with no sign of forced entry or hasty retreat. Changmin's boots were missing, as was one of his jackets.
The frizzle of worry finally left him at the evidence that his lover hadn't met with foul play at the hands of some psychotic fangirl.
Grinning, Yunho headed back to the bedroom. He was sure he'd seen Changmin's diary sitting on the bed and he knew the younger man well enough to know that Jaejoong had been right to tease him about the way he kept information in it. If nothing else, it would have a list of Changmin's favorite all night eateries in the area and give Yunho a place to start looking.
Part of him was uncomfortable with flipping through the book, but Changmin had never hidden its contents from them before - almost making a point of telling them everything in it if only so Jaejoong wouldn't feel the need to sneak around and steal it again.
Another, similarly diary-styled book was under the familiar one and Yunho looked at it curiously for a moment before focusing on the one he recognized. Flipping to the back few pages, he found Changmin's small careful writing detailing the ten best - in Changmin's opinion - restaurants within a five block radius of the apartment, their hours, their phone numbers, etc. There were even notes on the best valued menu items and what tasted best.
Yunho could only laugh and shake his head. Only Changmin.
He put the diary back in its proper spot in the night stand beside the bed. Then his attention wandered back to the other book and he hesitated. He'd never seen it before, so he wasn't entirely sure if it was simply a new diary or one of the many strange books Changmin used for school.
Flipping it open, he glanced through to see if he could figure out if it went in the work room on the desk with the other school books or in the night stand with the diary.
His mouth went dry and he had to swallow around the sudden lump that appeared in his throat.
He shook his head. It couldn't be what it looked like. It simply couldn't.
Determined to prove his own paranoid suspicions wrong, Yunho took the book into the living room and started from the very first page.
Hours later, Yunho was still in the living room. Midnight had come and gone, the digital clock a single bright flare of red light in an otherwise dark room.
Yunho's head was resting against the arm of the couch, his legs stretched out along the length. He stared sightlessly into the darkness, a numb feeling in the center of his chest that he'd occasionally rub at absently. His phone buzzed in his pocket, but for once he couldn't be bothered to check it. Who cared if Jaejoong was worried? Who cared if their manager was flipping out because the band leader had disappeared with his car?
Who cared if the world had ended and someone was just remembering to tell him?
Sounds in the hall alerted him to the fact that he'd have company soon - physically, if not emotionally - but he didn't move. Just that moment, he wasn't even sure he could.
They were louder than any kind of late night tryst called for. They'd be lucky if they hadn't caught the attention of some industrious busy body with a camera.
It was mostly Changmin's lusty laughter, though the high pitched giggle of the girl could probably burst ear drums.
A light flickered on near the door, but Yunho knew from experience that its low beam wouldn't reach very far. It was used more to keep anyone from tripping over stray shoes or the short entry carpet during an exhausted return from work than anything else.
He waited, but the main light never flickered on.
The pair stumbled through the apartment without ever stopping and Yunho closed his eyes at the familiar squeak of their bedroom door. His imagination supplied him with an image of Changmin tumbling the unknown woman onto the larger bed they'd made by pushing the smaller two together and tossing a futon mattress over the top. He bit his lip at the thought of their bed being used for a stranger, but he didn't cry.
There were no more tears to be shed.
Yunho lay in the living room, waiting for the sounds of copulation and betrayal to quiet down.
When all was silent once more, he wrote a short note to Jaejoong and taped it to the small book that had shattered so much of his heart and sat it carefully in view. If he knew anything about his mother hen of a friend, it was that an entire day of unanswered txt messages would not go unpunished.
He'd be very surprised if the morning sun didn't find the rest of the band back at their apartment trying to sift through the devastation left by the night.
Slipping on his shoes, he flipped off the light and slipped out the door, wishing it was so easy to flip off feelings he'd never been meant to feel.
~*~*~
Chapter 10
Length: Chaptered
Author: M_K Yujji
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Drama
Pairing/Characters: MinHo; past-JaeHo
Warnings: angst
Disclaimer: Though real people are used as characters, this fic bears no resemblance to Real Life and these people are not owned by me.
Comments/Notes: So only one, possibly two chapters left to go. Aren't you excited? ^_^
Prologue | Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8
Summary: Being the leader was hard, sometimes...
~*~*~
“Dance with me?” Yunho did a quick little two step back, holding his hands out and beckoning Changmin towards him.
The younger man sighed and rubbed his eyes under his glasses. “I have a lot of work to finish, Yunnie.”
“All work and no play makes Minnie an old man before his time.. Please?” Yunho cajoled, trying not to look too pathetic or needy and knowing that he wasn't really being very successful.
“Yunho...” Changmin snorted and stretched, his t-shirt lifting away from the waist band of his jeans, drawing Yunho's attention to the patch of skin exposed there. “You realize, of course, that since we dance for a living, technically speaking you're asking me to work, right?”
Yunho pouted and put his hands on his hips. “I happen to like dancing. And I'm not asking you to do any routines, I'm asking you to dance with me, but excuse me for disturbing your precious study time because I wanted to spend my free time with you.” Sometimes Changmin could be so infuriatingly male. He had to force himself not to stomp as he went to turn off the stereo, but he was unable to help himself as he stabbed furiously at the buttons, shutting down the system.
Strong hands kept him from actually leaving, though. Sometimes he forgot how much working out Changmin had actually done over the years in his quest to shed his childlike image.
“Changmin-“
Warm, slightly chapped lips pressed against the back of his neck and his lover's hard body molded against his back, swaying lightly. “I guess a break can't hurt anything.”
Part of Yunho wanted to hold on to his fit of pique, to shrug off Changmin's arms and go rant at Jaejoong about the youngest's insensitivity.
He couldn't help but sway along with Changmin, though. “You don't have to. Not if you don't want to.”
Changmin snorted before nuzzling at his ear. “Suure...” He held Yunho still while pressing closer, evidence of his arousal hard against Yunho's ass. “It's such a hardship, but I think I can bear sparing you some time.”
Yunho tilted his head back against Min's shoulder, slipping his arms back to hold Changmin closer as they swayed to his own humming.
His intent to dance vanished like a puff of smoke when clever hands slipped under his clothes, one in his shirt, the other in his sleep pants.
“Minnie....”
“Oh for fuck's sake-“ The cut off obscenity jerked Yunho's attention to the doorway where Junsu was blindly feeling his way through the process of slipping out of his shoes and jacket to come in. “The whole point of me switching rooms was so that you two could do that in privacy where I wouldn't have to see it.”
Yunho's cheeks flushed and he would have ducked his head in shame except that his lover's grip had tightened on him.
“Oh grow up,” Changmin said, snorting. “How many times have I had to watch you shove your tongue down some girl's throat?”
Jaejoong's laughter spilled into the room as he pushed Junsu bodily out of the way and tumbled in, face flushed from the cold outside and his own merriment. “I think it's hot - you guys, not Junsu and his girls. Please, feel free to continue. Don't mind us!”
“Jaejoong!” It was hard to know who was more scandalized by the suggestion, Junsu or Yunho.
To both their horror, the youngest seemed to actually consider the suggestion. “What's it worth to you?”
“Changmin!” Yunho wiggled out of Changmin's arms and began dragging him back towards the bedroom. Even with the interruption, he was still achingly hard, but there was no way he was performing for an audience.
More laughter followed them, but Yunho ignored it. He was much more interested in picking up where they'd left off.
~*~*~
“What's with the frown?” Jaejoong asked, looping his arms around Yunho's neck and settling against his back.
Yunho just sighed and shrugged.
Jaejoong followed his gaze. “Oh.... Want me to go pull her hair?”
That was enough to get a snort of laughter out of the band leader, but not much more. He continued to stare, disgruntled and annoyed, at the tiny Japanese interviewer hanging on his lover's every word, laughing and giggling like a school girl with a celebrity crush. As if she hadn't ever interviewed someone famous before. And Changmin was eating it up, flirting back in a way that he seldom bothered with.
It was nothing.
He knew it and still it bothered him.
Changmin was a grown man. He wasn't a piece of property to be owned or dictated to. Flirting was practically part of their job description - even if it was one that Changmin frequently ignored. As band leader, he should be glad that the youngest member of their band was finally losing some of the vicious snark that lost him so much of the popularity with girls as he trashed their feelings left and right.
If nothing else, it meant he wouldn't have to lecture the other over the importance of their public image anymore.
Somehow, those facts were doing nothing to quell Yunho's rising disquiet.
~*~*~
“Are you sure, Minnie?” The discontent he was feeling was clearly evident in his voice, but Yunho didn't try to hide it.
“Look, I'll catch up. This will be a good chance for me to finish up my class work without distractions.” Changmin rolled his eyes at Yunho's pout and handed over his bag.
Jaejoong shifted around to scoot by them. “Guys, you're blocking the door.”
Yunho sighed and took the bag. “We've only got a few days of actual vacation before this trip turns into work, Minnie...”
“Yunho, I'm so far behind on this stuff thanks to ...” Even though the other made an effort to bite his tongue, the accusation was already out there and Yunho deflated. He hadn't seriously thought Changmin had that much work or he'd have done better at keeping his hands to himself over the last couple of weeks.
Probably.
Maybe....
Changmin sighed and pulled him in for a quick kiss. “Don't worry about it. I should be there by Sunday, okay? That'll still give us a couple of days to hang out.”
Guilty and unhappy, Yunho had no choice but to accept it. A day or two was better than nothing.
~*~*~
Yunho sighed and stared blindly out the window. They'd only been at the inn for a few hours, but he couldn't enjoy himself. His mind lingered back at the apartment with Changmin. He hoped the younger man would actually be sensible and go to sleep at a reasonable hour rather than study until he passed out at the table.
“It used to be me...”
“What?” Yunho glanced up, startled at the sound of Jaejoong's voice.
With a sigh, Jaejoong shoved him over and moved to snuggle under the blanket against him. “It used to be me you couldn't be happy without.”
“Jaejoongie....”
But Jaejoong just shook his head, sighing again and slipping his arms around Yunho's waist. “No. It was my fault, I know that. And I'm not really jealous, I just... I left you alone so much so I could do other things and I see Changmin making those same mistakes and it makes me want to smack him around for not cherishing you properly.”
“His schoolwork is important, and I have been distracting him from it more often than not.” Logically, Yunho knew he was guilty of what Changmin had accused him of. He couldn't seem to help it, though. Like he hadn't been able to help needing to be Jaejoong's one and only when they'd been together.
“He's already too smart for his own good,” Jaejoong grumbled and Yunho didn't disagree. He hugged the other close, grateful for the warmth and support.
“I thought you were going out with Chunnie and Junsu...” Granted, he hadn't been paying that close attention to the others all afternoon, but he was sure he'd heard the three making plans to go out for dinner, maybe even catch a movie at the tiny theatre they'd passed on the way in before any possible fans in the town realized they were there.
Jaejoong shrugged. “I'm supposed to be trying to get you to come along, but I know you'd just be miserable.”
With a faint smile, Yunho leaned further into Jaejoong. It was nice having someone know him so well, but for once, he didn't feel the ache of disappointment and longing that had so long clouded their friendship. “I love you.”
The older man glanced at him in surprise, searching his face for a long moment before returning the soft smile. “I love you, too.”
With the both of them riddled with pain and doubts, lingering guilt and betrayal, the words hadn't passed between them since before their break-up.
It was a healing moment between them, the invisible rift set to right finally and Yunho felt at peace again in a way he hadn't even realized was missing until it was returned to him.
The moment was broken though when Jaejoong gave a put upon sigh and twisted them around, knocking Yunho to the floor. “Get off your ass and go fetch your boyfriend. I already stole car keys from Manager sshi.”
He dangled said keys above Yunho's head.
“You're something else, Joongie.” Laughing, Yunho rose up to his knees and gave his friend a playful, smacking kiss before snagging the keys and rushing off.
He'd bring Changmin back with him even if it meant stealing the student's books and hiding them in the car.
~*~*~
The apartment was deserted.
Yunho frowned as his search yielded nothing more than a neat pile of school books next to Changmin's laptop. Attempts to call his lover's phone sent him straight to voice mail, which meant it was turned off wherever it - and Changmin - was.
He did another walk through, trying to tell himself not to worry.
The computer was off, the school books were in the kind of anal retentive biggest to littlest, evenly lined stack that only Changmin ever bothered with. Changmin's cell phone was not abandoned anywhere around the apartment.
The door had been locked with no sign of forced entry or hasty retreat. Changmin's boots were missing, as was one of his jackets.
The frizzle of worry finally left him at the evidence that his lover hadn't met with foul play at the hands of some psychotic fangirl.
Grinning, Yunho headed back to the bedroom. He was sure he'd seen Changmin's diary sitting on the bed and he knew the younger man well enough to know that Jaejoong had been right to tease him about the way he kept information in it. If nothing else, it would have a list of Changmin's favorite all night eateries in the area and give Yunho a place to start looking.
Part of him was uncomfortable with flipping through the book, but Changmin had never hidden its contents from them before - almost making a point of telling them everything in it if only so Jaejoong wouldn't feel the need to sneak around and steal it again.
Another, similarly diary-styled book was under the familiar one and Yunho looked at it curiously for a moment before focusing on the one he recognized. Flipping to the back few pages, he found Changmin's small careful writing detailing the ten best - in Changmin's opinion - restaurants within a five block radius of the apartment, their hours, their phone numbers, etc. There were even notes on the best valued menu items and what tasted best.
Yunho could only laugh and shake his head. Only Changmin.
He put the diary back in its proper spot in the night stand beside the bed. Then his attention wandered back to the other book and he hesitated. He'd never seen it before, so he wasn't entirely sure if it was simply a new diary or one of the many strange books Changmin used for school.
Flipping it open, he glanced through to see if he could figure out if it went in the work room on the desk with the other school books or in the night stand with the diary.
His mouth went dry and he had to swallow around the sudden lump that appeared in his throat.
He shook his head. It couldn't be what it looked like. It simply couldn't.
Determined to prove his own paranoid suspicions wrong, Yunho took the book into the living room and started from the very first page.
Hours later, Yunho was still in the living room. Midnight had come and gone, the digital clock a single bright flare of red light in an otherwise dark room.
Yunho's head was resting against the arm of the couch, his legs stretched out along the length. He stared sightlessly into the darkness, a numb feeling in the center of his chest that he'd occasionally rub at absently. His phone buzzed in his pocket, but for once he couldn't be bothered to check it. Who cared if Jaejoong was worried? Who cared if their manager was flipping out because the band leader had disappeared with his car?
Who cared if the world had ended and someone was just remembering to tell him?
Sounds in the hall alerted him to the fact that he'd have company soon - physically, if not emotionally - but he didn't move. Just that moment, he wasn't even sure he could.
They were louder than any kind of late night tryst called for. They'd be lucky if they hadn't caught the attention of some industrious busy body with a camera.
It was mostly Changmin's lusty laughter, though the high pitched giggle of the girl could probably burst ear drums.
A light flickered on near the door, but Yunho knew from experience that its low beam wouldn't reach very far. It was used more to keep anyone from tripping over stray shoes or the short entry carpet during an exhausted return from work than anything else.
He waited, but the main light never flickered on.
The pair stumbled through the apartment without ever stopping and Yunho closed his eyes at the familiar squeak of their bedroom door. His imagination supplied him with an image of Changmin tumbling the unknown woman onto the larger bed they'd made by pushing the smaller two together and tossing a futon mattress over the top. He bit his lip at the thought of their bed being used for a stranger, but he didn't cry.
There were no more tears to be shed.
Yunho lay in the living room, waiting for the sounds of copulation and betrayal to quiet down.
When all was silent once more, he wrote a short note to Jaejoong and taped it to the small book that had shattered so much of his heart and sat it carefully in view. If he knew anything about his mother hen of a friend, it was that an entire day of unanswered txt messages would not go unpunished.
He'd be very surprised if the morning sun didn't find the rest of the band back at their apartment trying to sift through the devastation left by the night.
Slipping on his shoes, he flipped off the light and slipped out the door, wishing it was so easy to flip off feelings he'd never been meant to feel.
~*~*~
Chapter 10