something about you: chapter 1
something about you: chapter 1
yunho ♥ jaejoong | yoochun ♥ junsu | kibum ♥ minho | jonghyun ♥ minho
AU | pg-13 | romance | angst | drama | comedy
summary: The love between two friends, who came from two seemingly different worlds. There is Yunho, the college ‘outcast’, a man who isolate himself from everybody, and there is Jaejoong, the social butterfly, loved by many and envied by others. Both living in masks of pretense that suffocate them with each passing days; waiting for someone to finally lift the veils to their truest souls. With their close families and friends, they began a journey of growing up, of maturing, of surviving, and of loving to no limits.
a/n: this was posted in imie_schweetzel before, so some of you may have read it until the last update. err.
--
One - The Story Has Just Began;
Jonghyun rushed out of his room, grabbing his backpack and sneakers, before descending the stairs in twos and rushing to the dining table. There sat Kibum and Jaejoong, the former picking on his breakfast mindlessly, eyes far away into his own fantasy, while the latter smiled at him, mouthing a sing song “Good morning~”.
He replied with an enthusiastic “Morning my lovely sisters!” and ruffled his younger brother’s hair a tad too roughly and winking one eye at his older cousin. Jonghyun laughed when Kibum pouted cutely, swatting away his hands in annoyance.
“Why didn’t you girls wake me up? I thought I was late already..”, he asked, slipping into his seat before grabbing his bowl of fried rice and started chomping down on it.
“Stop calling us girls, you idiot! Or else I’m going to poke your balls off with this fork and give it to the dogs!”, Kibum retaliated, fork pointed towards his brother. Jaejoong chuckled as he poured some orange juice for Jonghyun, as the guy had somehow managed to choke on his food.
“I thought I reminded you last night to set your alarm clock, Jonghyun-ah…”, Jaejoong said softly, rubbing Jonghyun’s back.
“I know, hyung…but I forgot…”, Jonghyun whined, showing a cute, puppy-eyed look towards Jaejoong, which earned him a mock gag sound from his younger brother. He shot the other a murderous look, and Kibum stuck out his tongue. Jonghyun then moved to hug Jaejoong’s right arm, snuggling to his cousin, eyes closed and smile wide like a Cheshire cat. Kibum huffed, and clung to Jaejoong’s other arm, pushing Jonghyun away from his older cousin.
Jaejoong laughed merrily at his younger cousins’ act, before declaring exasperatedly,
“Okay, okay! No more arguing at the dining table! Finish your breakfast, the two of you…I have class in two hours!”
Both teens let go of their cousin, and continued eating in silence, shooting each other a glare once in a while. Jaejoong just smiled, hands deftly opening his mobile phone to check for any incoming messages or miss calls.
His smile wavered as he looked at his phone, and he sighed inwardly, eyes drooping a little at a much-too-known reality.
He will not call you back, Jaejoong. Like all the other guys before him.
“Hyung? Are you okay?”, Kibum implored, touching Jaejoong’s shoulder gently, breaking the man’s reverie. Jaejoong just smiled back and shook his head.
“You got dumped again huh?”, Jonghyun said carelessly, and Kibum smacked his head hard with his spoon.
“Oy!”
“You no-brainer! How could you say that to Jaejoong-hyung?!”
“Errr…hyung…sorry.”
Jaejoong laughed, rubbing on Jonghyun’s head, soothing the pain.
“It’s okay, Jonghyun-ah, Kibum-ah. Yes, I got dumped again…”, he sighed before continuing, “…but it’s okay, I’m good. Don’t worry about me, okay?” as he looked at both of his younger cousins smilingly. They nodded, glancing at each other with a shared concern over their beloved cousin.
“Are you guys finished? Come on, I’ll take you guys to school..”, Jaejoong said, diverting their thoughts away from his problem. It was never his intention to burden his younger cousins with his glitch in love, but their concern did touch his heart in ways that could not possibly be put in words. He had no other siblings, and he was more than grateful to his uncle for letting him stayed in his house, and was beyond elated that he could play the role of Jonghyun’s and Kibum’s older brother.
He missed his parents a lot though, and prayed hard everyday that they were healthy. He felt bad leaving them behind to take care of themselves; on the fact that his parents are much older than his peers’ parents because they conceived him when his mother was already in her early forties. But it was inevitable, he needed to do this to change their life, and he knew he was his parents’ only hope. Two more years to go and he will go back to take care of them, wishing to foster their soybean farm into much more profitable business. He had everything planned, every single details of his future career etched and written at the back of his mind.
All through the thoughts, Jaejoong could not help but wonder, whether his love life too, would be as easily mapped out. Or if there is, at the very least, someone out there waiting for him.
--
“Hyung!”
Minho yelled from his room, the sound of things tossed and thrown around can be heard easily through the small 2-room apartment. Yunho shrugged, ignoring Minho’s usual morning mood-swing and continued to tie Taemin’s shoelaces, the boy fidgeting just to stay still.
“Hyung!”
This time he saw Minho’s head peeking at the doorway, holding out an opened textbook on which scribbles of unknown nature can be seen, a pissed-off expression plastered on his face. Taemin looked at his second brother and laughed, head thrown back in his mirth and almost tumbling down from the bed. Yunho smiled as he held Taemin from falling off, knowing exactly why Minho was mad in the first place. He stood up, ruffled Taemin’s hair and walked to Minho, not before telling his youngest brother to stay at his spot on the bed.
“Minnie did that, huh?”, he asked pointedly, already knowing the answer. Minho huffed, pushing the book into his backpack. The lanky lad shot a sardonic glance at his elder brother,
“I told you not to let Minnie into my room. He is a machine of destruction. He scribbled on my favorite jeans jacket too, if you want to know. With a black marker.”
Yunho laughed aloud, patting Minho on the back.
“I didn’t let him in. You did that, Minhoya. Remember? You asked him to get the ball for you, before you went off for your soccer practice yesterday evening.”
Minho’s eyes rounded, recalling. He smacked his own forehead, obviously remembering that he had brought this on himself. He laughed finally, face relaxing by seconds. Still trailing out his laughter, he muttered,
“This isn’t fair, hyung. Why did he never destroy your things even though you guys stay in the same room, but have a hobby of making mine into unusable waste? Pssshh. I’m sure Minnie actually hates me.”
Suddenly the door opened, revealing the youngest of the Jungs’, eyes blinking rapidly as he looked at both of his older brothers.
“I…don’t…hate…Binho.”, he said with difficulty. Minho shrugged to appear untouched by Taemin’s words, as Yunho grinned widely. He hugged the youngest in his arms, and Taemin giggled, snuggling into his big brother’s embrace easily.
“See? He couldn’t even pronounce my name properly. It’s Minho, Minnie. M-I-N-H-O. My name is Minho. Remember that, won’t you?”, he said while poking the boy’s cheek, annoyed but smiling nonetheless.
“Binho.” Taemin uttered out, before continuing to chant the name repeatedly, much to Minho’s annoyance.
Yunho ushered both boys to the front door, with Taemin still latching his hands firmly around Yunho’s waist. Minho rolled his eyes at his youngest brother’s antic, swung his backpack onto his right shoulder and Taemin’s onto his left one.
“Taeminnie only loves you, hyung…seriously. You must have put something in his food.” Minho added jokingly. Yunho chuckled, one hand shooting fast to ruffle Minho’s hair, which Minho quickly dodged away to save his already styled hair.
Taemin let go of Yunho to jump on Minho’s back when he heard Minho’s comment. Minho yelped, almost stumbling forward and fell face first on the tiled floor.
“Binho! I…love…Bin..ho!”
“Minnie! You..are..choking..me! Ughhh!”
“Binho! Binho!”
“Hyung! Help..!!”
Yunho chuckled as he pulled Taemin off Minho’s back.
“Aishh, you guys. So early in the morning and you are already so noisy. Save me from all those lectures from the landlord ok? I have to go to class too.”, he said, bemused. By now, Taemin had already found a keychain on Minho’s backpack to be of interest, and keep flicking it off his fingers, repeating the actions a few times. Minho smiled, unclasped the object and put it in Taemin’s hand, by which he lost his interest almost as quickly and threw the item away to a corner in the house before exiting the door nonchalantly, whistling an unknown tune off-key.
Minho sighed, defeated.
“I’m so whipped, hyung. So whipped by a 15-years old.”
Yunho just laughed, picked the keychain from the floor and gave it back to Minho.
“Go. You’ll be late.”
“Whatever, hyung. I’m already blacklisted anyway…I swear the prefects and teachers had given up on me loooooonnnngggg time ago.”
“You’re such a smartmouth, aren’t you? Always have something to say back to me.” Yunho retorted as he kicked Minho’s butt with his left foot, albeit gently, towards the door.
Minho shrugged his reply carelessly, mouth pouting as he corrected a few hairs that came tumbling down over one of his brows.
“Take care of Minnie ok? I’ll go pick him up in the afternoon, I have only one class today.”
Minho nodded, already out to catch Taemin, who by then was crouching down not far from the apartment building entrance, seemingly studying his colorful sneakers with utmost interest and intense focus. Minho pulled his youngest brother to stand, before he heard Yunho yelled out,
“Minho-ah! Don’t be back so late! I know what you have in mind, but no karaoke visit on school days! Study hard! Don’t play pranks on people!”
Minho rolled his eyes as he mimicked Yunho’s order which he had known by heart, and Taemin copied his action, their faces contorted as they tried to mock their eldest brother.
“I saw that!!”
Yunho shouted as Minho and Taemin ran out together from the building, laughing happily.
--
Junsu watched on as Yoochun loaded the back of his expensive car with boxes of canned food, which the former had planned to donate to the poor orphanage somewhere in Seoul.
“Help me, won’t you? This box is not exactly light!” Yoochun hissed, his breath came out in short, spurty pants.
Junsu clicked his tongue, disapproving.
“Tsk tsk. Yoochun-ah, you should exercise more, you know? If you can’t lift the box, how are you planning to carry your wife or husband in the future?”
“I will make him carry me!”
“Ahh, you already decided that you’re going to marry a guy?”
“You know that already! Stop talking bullshit and help me!”
Junsu chuckled, and went to Yoochun to help him with the box he was carrying. It was indeed heavy, and it actually amazed Junsu that Yoochun managed to carry it from inside the house to the car on his own. Obviously, he had not give Yoochun the credit he deserved.
“Oh, it’s heavy!”
“Told you it is!”
“Shut up. I’m helping you now, am I not?”
“I AM THE ONE HELPING YOU, KIM JUNSU-SSHI!”
“Yada, yada, yada. To be exact, you’re not helping me, Yoochun-ah. You’re helping 55 orphans of Lovely Hearts Orphanage.”
“Whatever. Next time, don’t ask me to help you again, okay? I might break my pretty back in the process. Ask Jaejoong instead. He loves this kind of things.”
“You know he can’t help me on school days. He has to drop his brothers off at school.”
“Don’t they have chauffeur or something? His family is so damn rich…”
“He likes doing it. They are his brothers after all, Yoochun. If I have one, I would want to do the same thing too, or ask my brother to do it for me.”
“And because you have none, you bother me everyday to come, pick you up and help you with your annoying charity thingies, huh?”
“You’re welcome, Yoochun.”
“Huh?”
“I know you secretly like doing these things. You love me.”
Yoochun could not retort back as Junsu skipped towards the other side of the car and got himself in; Junsu’s words roiling around in his head as he tried to explain to himself why the last sentence made his stomach clench insensibly.
--
Changmin walked towards his class, passing by a labyrinth of corridor where his father’s office was situated. He saw a familiar figure leaning against the wall near the door, and lifted a hand to bid a ‘hi’.
“Hey.”, Jaejoong smiled his welcome, head cocked to the side as he looked at the taller man. Changmin grinned back, brushing a few tendrils of hairs that had naughtily escaped and felled down his forehead.
“Hey back to you. Here to see my dad?”
“Yeap. It’s that time of the month again.”, Jaejoong smiled thinly, and Changmin nodded. A fact known only by the two of them (aside from the college administrations, of course), it was something than none of them even bothered to speak out. Jaejoong never intended the truth about him getting a scholarship to be a secret, but he was glad that Changmin never make a fuss out of it when he stumbled onto the truth a few months before. Somehow, Jaejoong could picture everybody treating him differently if they knew he was not the rich prince that they thought he was, and it was not a situation he knew how to deal with.
Changmin went to Jaejoong’s side and leaned on the wall too, both studying their feet. They barely talk to each other for the simple reason that they both were in different majors, taking absolutely different classes from one another. But it does not matter, because Jaejoong had come to like the silent friendship that he has with Changmin. Changmin was wise, although a little self-absorbed sometimes, but nevertheless the ever-so-thoughtful guy. He was Junsu’s classmate, so he sometimes joined the JaeSuChun trio at lunch or when they met at one of the college’s soccer matches.
“How’s class?”, Jaejoong prompted, the silence growing wary between them. Changmin shrugged once, before muttering a bored “same old, same old” under his breath. Jaejoong grinned, patting his shoulder.
“You should cheer up a bit, you know. It’s not like you to look so down.”
“Well, things haven’t exactly been going smoothly for me.”
Jaejoong lifted one brow up, a look of concern genuinely shone on his face.
“What’s up?”
“One of my players decided to quit the team. He’s going oversea to study or something, I don’t really care what it is. But the problem is, we’re now one-guy short of our usual formation, and that guy is our best midfielder. Shit. I wish he could tell us earlier though, not when we are nearing the match season.”, Changmin huffed out his protest, as Jaejoong listened attentively.
“How come I didn’t hear Junsu talk about this?”
“He doesn’t know yet. The guy quit this morning.”
“Oh.”
“What should I do now? It’s so near the first seasonal match…”, Changmin whined, massaging his throbbing temple, oncoming headache making its existence known.
“You should do a try-out. Who knows there is someone interested and talented enough to join you guys.”, Jaejoong suggested, and Changmin nodded pensively, still not very much in the mood.
“Why don’t you join the soccer team, Jaejoong?”, Changmin asked suddenly. Upon hearing that, Jaejoong laughed, body doubling forward, one hand pressing his stomach.
“Me? Soccer?”, he pointed at himself.
“Why not?”
“You will see that chickens could play better than me, Changmin.”, Jaejoong said breathlessly, words laced with laughter. Changmin chuckled, patting Jaejoong’s back.
“You are that bad, huh? Then I better not let you in the team, or else we will get dubbed the ‘chicken team’. Bad enough our mascot is a duck with blue feathers and a massive butt.” He rolled his eyes at the last sentence, which worsened Jaejoong’s laughing fit.
“Okay, okay, stop.”, Jaejoong held out one hand up, surrendering.
Out of the corner, a pair of eyes watched the two of them, not amused and rather irritated. He hated how the riches have so much time at hands, laughing like they do not have a care of the world, when all that he was doing all his life was trying to fit too many tasks in too little time space. He almost believed God gave the riches more than 24 hours a day, and took his share in the process.
He sighed openly, before wide, long strides took him near the two who were still laughing. The laughter stopped instantly when he reached them.
“Is the dean in? I need to see him.” He asked the taller one, ignoring the gaping smaller guy beside him.
Changmin nodded, before adding cautiously, “He’s in a short meeting though. I guess you have to wait. We are queuing here, Jaejoong’s the first one, and I’m the second.”
Yunho shrugged, small lips twisting into non-too-friendly smirk.
“I don’t have time to be queuing. I have work to go to. Guess I just see him tomorrow.”, he said coldly, turning to go on his way. Changmin huffed on hearing Yunho’s comeback, but Jaejoong, on the other hand, quickly captured Yunho’s wrist to stop him from going any further away.
“Wait!”
Yunho wrung his wrist off Jaejoong’s grip. He looked at Jaejoong, eyes forming tiny slits as he tried to gauge the man’s intention of stopping him. He knew the rich bastards sometimes just like to rub it in on the well-known fact that he was not as financially-apt as they are, and he knew very well that Jaejoong could easily fit in the group of those rich bastards, having to see the guy driving an expensive car to school and wearing designers’ clothes while he took the bus and wore the same jacket religiously every single day.
Jaejoong smiled at him, a kind smile that was rarely given in his way. Yunho was taken aback, shock to the core.
Is this a new game the riches are playing? Being nice then turning into savage beast?
“What do you want?”, Yunho shot out, eyes leaving Jaejoong’s face and came to wander on random things around them.
“You can go in first. I don’t mind.”, Jaejoong said gently, the smile never leaving his lips. Yunho looked back at Jaejoong, but then turned away again when he found the smile too disturbingly dazzling to look at.
“I don’t need your pity, Jaejoong-sshi.”
“This is not pity, Yunho-sshi. This is what we call prioritizing.”
“Prioritizing?”
“Yes. You have work to go to, so you should be prioritized in this case. I don’t have anything else to do after this, while Changmin can wait to see his own father, right Changmin?”, Jaejoong grinned his way into explaining, and from behind, Yunho could see the taller one nodding mindlessly.
Yunho could not describe why, but Jaejoong’s words did not settle well in his gut. He looked at both of them, eyes drafting from Jaejoong to Changmin and to Jaejoong again.
“Are you trying to make fun of me, Jaejoong-sshi? Because if you are, I don’t have time to entertain you and your stupid mockery.”
“Make fun…of you? I…I…”, Jaejoong stuttered, caught off-guard at Yunho’s cold remark. He did not understand why Yunho would think that he was mocking him; honestly, he was just offering his place because it seemed like the right thing to do.
Jaejoong knew from the nosy talks around the campus that Yunho was an orphan and had various jobs to support him and his brothers. Jaejoong also knew that Yunho was not very friendly with others, and would often shield himself off from any contacts or conversations with anyone in the university. He had always been curious to know what Yunho was like as a person, but he never dared to go and talk to the guy, afraid that he might be pushed off like what just happened. He looked at Yunho, eyes full of disappointment at the mistaken meaning of his gesture.
Yunho stared back, but what he saw in Jaejoong’s eyes tugged a cord in his heart. Never did he see such disappointment in someone’s eyes, such sadness that was not accompanied by hatred and spite. While his own mirrored all those negative sentiments, Jaejoong’s were simply full of apprehension and dejection, as if Yunho had accused him of something that he never intended to do.
Maybe I did…Yunho began to doubt himself, for the first time ever in his life.
Changmin who had been silent for a while coughed to break the uncomfortable silence that passed between the two. Yunho was the first one to regain his composure again, and he just straightened up, looked at Changmin and announced that he was off, not sparing even the last look at Jaejoong. Jaejoong’s eyes followed the man’s back as he walked away, a deep feeling settling between the space of his heart and conscience. He silently vowed, as the glimmer in his eyes returning bit by bit.
He would correct the impression that Jung Yunho had of him, no matter what it takes.
--[TBC]
yunho ♥ jaejoong | yoochun ♥ junsu | kibum ♥ minho | jonghyun ♥ minho
AU | pg-13 | romance | angst | drama | comedy
summary: The love between two friends, who came from two seemingly different worlds. There is Yunho, the college ‘outcast’, a man who isolate himself from everybody, and there is Jaejoong, the social butterfly, loved by many and envied by others. Both living in masks of pretense that suffocate them with each passing days; waiting for someone to finally lift the veils to their truest souls. With their close families and friends, they began a journey of growing up, of maturing, of surviving, and of loving to no limits.
a/n: this was posted in imie_schweetzel before, so some of you may have read it until the last update. err.
--
One - The Story Has Just Began;
Jonghyun rushed out of his room, grabbing his backpack and sneakers, before descending the stairs in twos and rushing to the dining table. There sat Kibum and Jaejoong, the former picking on his breakfast mindlessly, eyes far away into his own fantasy, while the latter smiled at him, mouthing a sing song “Good morning~”.
He replied with an enthusiastic “Morning my lovely sisters!” and ruffled his younger brother’s hair a tad too roughly and winking one eye at his older cousin. Jonghyun laughed when Kibum pouted cutely, swatting away his hands in annoyance.
“Why didn’t you girls wake me up? I thought I was late already..”, he asked, slipping into his seat before grabbing his bowl of fried rice and started chomping down on it.
“Stop calling us girls, you idiot! Or else I’m going to poke your balls off with this fork and give it to the dogs!”, Kibum retaliated, fork pointed towards his brother. Jaejoong chuckled as he poured some orange juice for Jonghyun, as the guy had somehow managed to choke on his food.
“I thought I reminded you last night to set your alarm clock, Jonghyun-ah…”, Jaejoong said softly, rubbing Jonghyun’s back.
“I know, hyung…but I forgot…”, Jonghyun whined, showing a cute, puppy-eyed look towards Jaejoong, which earned him a mock gag sound from his younger brother. He shot the other a murderous look, and Kibum stuck out his tongue. Jonghyun then moved to hug Jaejoong’s right arm, snuggling to his cousin, eyes closed and smile wide like a Cheshire cat. Kibum huffed, and clung to Jaejoong’s other arm, pushing Jonghyun away from his older cousin.
Jaejoong laughed merrily at his younger cousins’ act, before declaring exasperatedly,
“Okay, okay! No more arguing at the dining table! Finish your breakfast, the two of you…I have class in two hours!”
Both teens let go of their cousin, and continued eating in silence, shooting each other a glare once in a while. Jaejoong just smiled, hands deftly opening his mobile phone to check for any incoming messages or miss calls.
His smile wavered as he looked at his phone, and he sighed inwardly, eyes drooping a little at a much-too-known reality.
He will not call you back, Jaejoong. Like all the other guys before him.
“Hyung? Are you okay?”, Kibum implored, touching Jaejoong’s shoulder gently, breaking the man’s reverie. Jaejoong just smiled back and shook his head.
“You got dumped again huh?”, Jonghyun said carelessly, and Kibum smacked his head hard with his spoon.
“Oy!”
“You no-brainer! How could you say that to Jaejoong-hyung?!”
“Errr…hyung…sorry.”
Jaejoong laughed, rubbing on Jonghyun’s head, soothing the pain.
“It’s okay, Jonghyun-ah, Kibum-ah. Yes, I got dumped again…”, he sighed before continuing, “…but it’s okay, I’m good. Don’t worry about me, okay?” as he looked at both of his younger cousins smilingly. They nodded, glancing at each other with a shared concern over their beloved cousin.
“Are you guys finished? Come on, I’ll take you guys to school..”, Jaejoong said, diverting their thoughts away from his problem. It was never his intention to burden his younger cousins with his glitch in love, but their concern did touch his heart in ways that could not possibly be put in words. He had no other siblings, and he was more than grateful to his uncle for letting him stayed in his house, and was beyond elated that he could play the role of Jonghyun’s and Kibum’s older brother.
He missed his parents a lot though, and prayed hard everyday that they were healthy. He felt bad leaving them behind to take care of themselves; on the fact that his parents are much older than his peers’ parents because they conceived him when his mother was already in her early forties. But it was inevitable, he needed to do this to change their life, and he knew he was his parents’ only hope. Two more years to go and he will go back to take care of them, wishing to foster their soybean farm into much more profitable business. He had everything planned, every single details of his future career etched and written at the back of his mind.
All through the thoughts, Jaejoong could not help but wonder, whether his love life too, would be as easily mapped out. Or if there is, at the very least, someone out there waiting for him.
--
“Hyung!”
Minho yelled from his room, the sound of things tossed and thrown around can be heard easily through the small 2-room apartment. Yunho shrugged, ignoring Minho’s usual morning mood-swing and continued to tie Taemin’s shoelaces, the boy fidgeting just to stay still.
“Hyung!”
This time he saw Minho’s head peeking at the doorway, holding out an opened textbook on which scribbles of unknown nature can be seen, a pissed-off expression plastered on his face. Taemin looked at his second brother and laughed, head thrown back in his mirth and almost tumbling down from the bed. Yunho smiled as he held Taemin from falling off, knowing exactly why Minho was mad in the first place. He stood up, ruffled Taemin’s hair and walked to Minho, not before telling his youngest brother to stay at his spot on the bed.
“Minnie did that, huh?”, he asked pointedly, already knowing the answer. Minho huffed, pushing the book into his backpack. The lanky lad shot a sardonic glance at his elder brother,
“I told you not to let Minnie into my room. He is a machine of destruction. He scribbled on my favorite jeans jacket too, if you want to know. With a black marker.”
Yunho laughed aloud, patting Minho on the back.
“I didn’t let him in. You did that, Minhoya. Remember? You asked him to get the ball for you, before you went off for your soccer practice yesterday evening.”
Minho’s eyes rounded, recalling. He smacked his own forehead, obviously remembering that he had brought this on himself. He laughed finally, face relaxing by seconds. Still trailing out his laughter, he muttered,
“This isn’t fair, hyung. Why did he never destroy your things even though you guys stay in the same room, but have a hobby of making mine into unusable waste? Pssshh. I’m sure Minnie actually hates me.”
Suddenly the door opened, revealing the youngest of the Jungs’, eyes blinking rapidly as he looked at both of his older brothers.
“I…don’t…hate…Binho.”, he said with difficulty. Minho shrugged to appear untouched by Taemin’s words, as Yunho grinned widely. He hugged the youngest in his arms, and Taemin giggled, snuggling into his big brother’s embrace easily.
“See? He couldn’t even pronounce my name properly. It’s Minho, Minnie. M-I-N-H-O. My name is Minho. Remember that, won’t you?”, he said while poking the boy’s cheek, annoyed but smiling nonetheless.
“Binho.” Taemin uttered out, before continuing to chant the name repeatedly, much to Minho’s annoyance.
Yunho ushered both boys to the front door, with Taemin still latching his hands firmly around Yunho’s waist. Minho rolled his eyes at his youngest brother’s antic, swung his backpack onto his right shoulder and Taemin’s onto his left one.
“Taeminnie only loves you, hyung…seriously. You must have put something in his food.” Minho added jokingly. Yunho chuckled, one hand shooting fast to ruffle Minho’s hair, which Minho quickly dodged away to save his already styled hair.
Taemin let go of Yunho to jump on Minho’s back when he heard Minho’s comment. Minho yelped, almost stumbling forward and fell face first on the tiled floor.
“Binho! I…love…Bin..ho!”
“Minnie! You..are..choking..me! Ughhh!”
“Binho! Binho!”
“Hyung! Help..!!”
Yunho chuckled as he pulled Taemin off Minho’s back.
“Aishh, you guys. So early in the morning and you are already so noisy. Save me from all those lectures from the landlord ok? I have to go to class too.”, he said, bemused. By now, Taemin had already found a keychain on Minho’s backpack to be of interest, and keep flicking it off his fingers, repeating the actions a few times. Minho smiled, unclasped the object and put it in Taemin’s hand, by which he lost his interest almost as quickly and threw the item away to a corner in the house before exiting the door nonchalantly, whistling an unknown tune off-key.
Minho sighed, defeated.
“I’m so whipped, hyung. So whipped by a 15-years old.”
Yunho just laughed, picked the keychain from the floor and gave it back to Minho.
“Go. You’ll be late.”
“Whatever, hyung. I’m already blacklisted anyway…I swear the prefects and teachers had given up on me loooooonnnngggg time ago.”
“You’re such a smartmouth, aren’t you? Always have something to say back to me.” Yunho retorted as he kicked Minho’s butt with his left foot, albeit gently, towards the door.
Minho shrugged his reply carelessly, mouth pouting as he corrected a few hairs that came tumbling down over one of his brows.
“Take care of Minnie ok? I’ll go pick him up in the afternoon, I have only one class today.”
Minho nodded, already out to catch Taemin, who by then was crouching down not far from the apartment building entrance, seemingly studying his colorful sneakers with utmost interest and intense focus. Minho pulled his youngest brother to stand, before he heard Yunho yelled out,
“Minho-ah! Don’t be back so late! I know what you have in mind, but no karaoke visit on school days! Study hard! Don’t play pranks on people!”
Minho rolled his eyes as he mimicked Yunho’s order which he had known by heart, and Taemin copied his action, their faces contorted as they tried to mock their eldest brother.
“I saw that!!”
Yunho shouted as Minho and Taemin ran out together from the building, laughing happily.
--
Junsu watched on as Yoochun loaded the back of his expensive car with boxes of canned food, which the former had planned to donate to the poor orphanage somewhere in Seoul.
“Help me, won’t you? This box is not exactly light!” Yoochun hissed, his breath came out in short, spurty pants.
Junsu clicked his tongue, disapproving.
“Tsk tsk. Yoochun-ah, you should exercise more, you know? If you can’t lift the box, how are you planning to carry your wife or husband in the future?”
“I will make him carry me!”
“Ahh, you already decided that you’re going to marry a guy?”
“You know that already! Stop talking bullshit and help me!”
Junsu chuckled, and went to Yoochun to help him with the box he was carrying. It was indeed heavy, and it actually amazed Junsu that Yoochun managed to carry it from inside the house to the car on his own. Obviously, he had not give Yoochun the credit he deserved.
“Oh, it’s heavy!”
“Told you it is!”
“Shut up. I’m helping you now, am I not?”
“I AM THE ONE HELPING YOU, KIM JUNSU-SSHI!”
“Yada, yada, yada. To be exact, you’re not helping me, Yoochun-ah. You’re helping 55 orphans of Lovely Hearts Orphanage.”
“Whatever. Next time, don’t ask me to help you again, okay? I might break my pretty back in the process. Ask Jaejoong instead. He loves this kind of things.”
“You know he can’t help me on school days. He has to drop his brothers off at school.”
“Don’t they have chauffeur or something? His family is so damn rich…”
“He likes doing it. They are his brothers after all, Yoochun. If I have one, I would want to do the same thing too, or ask my brother to do it for me.”
“And because you have none, you bother me everyday to come, pick you up and help you with your annoying charity thingies, huh?”
“You’re welcome, Yoochun.”
“Huh?”
“I know you secretly like doing these things. You love me.”
Yoochun could not retort back as Junsu skipped towards the other side of the car and got himself in; Junsu’s words roiling around in his head as he tried to explain to himself why the last sentence made his stomach clench insensibly.
--
Changmin walked towards his class, passing by a labyrinth of corridor where his father’s office was situated. He saw a familiar figure leaning against the wall near the door, and lifted a hand to bid a ‘hi’.
“Hey.”, Jaejoong smiled his welcome, head cocked to the side as he looked at the taller man. Changmin grinned back, brushing a few tendrils of hairs that had naughtily escaped and felled down his forehead.
“Hey back to you. Here to see my dad?”
“Yeap. It’s that time of the month again.”, Jaejoong smiled thinly, and Changmin nodded. A fact known only by the two of them (aside from the college administrations, of course), it was something than none of them even bothered to speak out. Jaejoong never intended the truth about him getting a scholarship to be a secret, but he was glad that Changmin never make a fuss out of it when he stumbled onto the truth a few months before. Somehow, Jaejoong could picture everybody treating him differently if they knew he was not the rich prince that they thought he was, and it was not a situation he knew how to deal with.
Changmin went to Jaejoong’s side and leaned on the wall too, both studying their feet. They barely talk to each other for the simple reason that they both were in different majors, taking absolutely different classes from one another. But it does not matter, because Jaejoong had come to like the silent friendship that he has with Changmin. Changmin was wise, although a little self-absorbed sometimes, but nevertheless the ever-so-thoughtful guy. He was Junsu’s classmate, so he sometimes joined the JaeSuChun trio at lunch or when they met at one of the college’s soccer matches.
“How’s class?”, Jaejoong prompted, the silence growing wary between them. Changmin shrugged once, before muttering a bored “same old, same old” under his breath. Jaejoong grinned, patting his shoulder.
“You should cheer up a bit, you know. It’s not like you to look so down.”
“Well, things haven’t exactly been going smoothly for me.”
Jaejoong lifted one brow up, a look of concern genuinely shone on his face.
“What’s up?”
“One of my players decided to quit the team. He’s going oversea to study or something, I don’t really care what it is. But the problem is, we’re now one-guy short of our usual formation, and that guy is our best midfielder. Shit. I wish he could tell us earlier though, not when we are nearing the match season.”, Changmin huffed out his protest, as Jaejoong listened attentively.
“How come I didn’t hear Junsu talk about this?”
“He doesn’t know yet. The guy quit this morning.”
“Oh.”
“What should I do now? It’s so near the first seasonal match…”, Changmin whined, massaging his throbbing temple, oncoming headache making its existence known.
“You should do a try-out. Who knows there is someone interested and talented enough to join you guys.”, Jaejoong suggested, and Changmin nodded pensively, still not very much in the mood.
“Why don’t you join the soccer team, Jaejoong?”, Changmin asked suddenly. Upon hearing that, Jaejoong laughed, body doubling forward, one hand pressing his stomach.
“Me? Soccer?”, he pointed at himself.
“Why not?”
“You will see that chickens could play better than me, Changmin.”, Jaejoong said breathlessly, words laced with laughter. Changmin chuckled, patting Jaejoong’s back.
“You are that bad, huh? Then I better not let you in the team, or else we will get dubbed the ‘chicken team’. Bad enough our mascot is a duck with blue feathers and a massive butt.” He rolled his eyes at the last sentence, which worsened Jaejoong’s laughing fit.
“Okay, okay, stop.”, Jaejoong held out one hand up, surrendering.
Out of the corner, a pair of eyes watched the two of them, not amused and rather irritated. He hated how the riches have so much time at hands, laughing like they do not have a care of the world, when all that he was doing all his life was trying to fit too many tasks in too little time space. He almost believed God gave the riches more than 24 hours a day, and took his share in the process.
He sighed openly, before wide, long strides took him near the two who were still laughing. The laughter stopped instantly when he reached them.
“Is the dean in? I need to see him.” He asked the taller one, ignoring the gaping smaller guy beside him.
Changmin nodded, before adding cautiously, “He’s in a short meeting though. I guess you have to wait. We are queuing here, Jaejoong’s the first one, and I’m the second.”
Yunho shrugged, small lips twisting into non-too-friendly smirk.
“I don’t have time to be queuing. I have work to go to. Guess I just see him tomorrow.”, he said coldly, turning to go on his way. Changmin huffed on hearing Yunho’s comeback, but Jaejoong, on the other hand, quickly captured Yunho’s wrist to stop him from going any further away.
“Wait!”
Yunho wrung his wrist off Jaejoong’s grip. He looked at Jaejoong, eyes forming tiny slits as he tried to gauge the man’s intention of stopping him. He knew the rich bastards sometimes just like to rub it in on the well-known fact that he was not as financially-apt as they are, and he knew very well that Jaejoong could easily fit in the group of those rich bastards, having to see the guy driving an expensive car to school and wearing designers’ clothes while he took the bus and wore the same jacket religiously every single day.
Jaejoong smiled at him, a kind smile that was rarely given in his way. Yunho was taken aback, shock to the core.
Is this a new game the riches are playing? Being nice then turning into savage beast?
“What do you want?”, Yunho shot out, eyes leaving Jaejoong’s face and came to wander on random things around them.
“You can go in first. I don’t mind.”, Jaejoong said gently, the smile never leaving his lips. Yunho looked back at Jaejoong, but then turned away again when he found the smile too disturbingly dazzling to look at.
“I don’t need your pity, Jaejoong-sshi.”
“This is not pity, Yunho-sshi. This is what we call prioritizing.”
“Prioritizing?”
“Yes. You have work to go to, so you should be prioritized in this case. I don’t have anything else to do after this, while Changmin can wait to see his own father, right Changmin?”, Jaejoong grinned his way into explaining, and from behind, Yunho could see the taller one nodding mindlessly.
Yunho could not describe why, but Jaejoong’s words did not settle well in his gut. He looked at both of them, eyes drafting from Jaejoong to Changmin and to Jaejoong again.
“Are you trying to make fun of me, Jaejoong-sshi? Because if you are, I don’t have time to entertain you and your stupid mockery.”
“Make fun…of you? I…I…”, Jaejoong stuttered, caught off-guard at Yunho’s cold remark. He did not understand why Yunho would think that he was mocking him; honestly, he was just offering his place because it seemed like the right thing to do.
Jaejoong knew from the nosy talks around the campus that Yunho was an orphan and had various jobs to support him and his brothers. Jaejoong also knew that Yunho was not very friendly with others, and would often shield himself off from any contacts or conversations with anyone in the university. He had always been curious to know what Yunho was like as a person, but he never dared to go and talk to the guy, afraid that he might be pushed off like what just happened. He looked at Yunho, eyes full of disappointment at the mistaken meaning of his gesture.
Yunho stared back, but what he saw in Jaejoong’s eyes tugged a cord in his heart. Never did he see such disappointment in someone’s eyes, such sadness that was not accompanied by hatred and spite. While his own mirrored all those negative sentiments, Jaejoong’s were simply full of apprehension and dejection, as if Yunho had accused him of something that he never intended to do.
Maybe I did…Yunho began to doubt himself, for the first time ever in his life.
Changmin who had been silent for a while coughed to break the uncomfortable silence that passed between the two. Yunho was the first one to regain his composure again, and he just straightened up, looked at Changmin and announced that he was off, not sparing even the last look at Jaejoong. Jaejoong’s eyes followed the man’s back as he walked away, a deep feeling settling between the space of his heart and conscience. He silently vowed, as the glimmer in his eyes returning bit by bit.
He would correct the impression that Jung Yunho had of him, no matter what it takes.
--[TBC]