One of These Nights...

It was a lovely warm night. The breeze messed up with Kyuhyun's hair, as the softly blowing wind embraced him like a cape, crawling on the arm skin he had decided to show from the rolled up sleeves of his shirt.

It was getting near summer and he had not a really much vaste choice of clothes anyway, but he felt good...at least on the exterior.

His body was trained like an armor during the past five days, it had to show no signs of care whatsoever and so his smile was falsely painted like the enigmatic one of Da Vinci's Mona Lisa, his eyes were attentive and flashed at the first outer signal.

However, it was that prickling sting of his hurt pride that still commanded him to look decent enough for the upcoming family night.

Because Heechul and Siwon had summoned him to be present at a dinner in which they claimed to be disclosing some really big news.

Of course the dinner meant that Ryeowook was coming as well, and he hadn't seen him around since the day of the tempest. The day when they both agreed to put an end to their deal and to walk away from the danger that their relationship was becoming.

Kyuhyun waited for Heechul and Siwon to show up in front of the nice, elite restaurant Heechul had chosen as their dinner venue.

The wimpy designer had booked a private room for them all and Kyuhyun could have simply waited inside, but he thought he'd rather enjoyed a little bit of the night view before the dark sky could be brought away from his sight.

The stars were rather pretty then, they glowed in sparkling brilliance and dusted the cloak of visible universe like thousands, little gems.

A high, resonant laugh vibrated in the air, snapping him out of his thoughts when he realized it was none other than Heechul's.

His anticipating smile faltered and grew wider of merely an inch just to mantain his mask in front of the two approaching men.

"Kyu!" Siwon was the first to greet him. And thank you very much, he was his only blood-relative in that cage of mad-minds but he was too tangled up into his work to simply care what was happening to his cousin while in Los Angeles. They hadn't seen each other for quite a while then, and Siwon looked sincerely at fault for having spared very little time for his baby cousin.

"The man of the moment!" Heechul exclaimed as he slung both arms around Kyuhyun's neck and greeted him with an unexpected hug. He wasn't used to this much skinship with the blondie, therefore he considered it strange for Heechul to be that excessively clingy.

"I should say that of you two, don't you think?" Kyuhyun blurted out in embarrassment as he tried to get himself out of Heechul's hug.

"Of course, as groom and groom-to-be we are important, but you are equally too!" Heechul grinned and glanced a little behind, where Siwon stood with one arm loosely holding his lover around the waist.

"I don't know if I want to ask you the reason of this, or not. Really, I'm perplexed" Kyuhyun admitted, scratching a temple in the meanwhile.

"You can spare the question, Heechul will tell you as soon as Ryeowook joins us for dinner" Siwon nodded and explained, finally getting to have Heechul off Kyuhyun's body and showing the way inside the restaurant.

Kyuhyun didn't add anything else. He had a few questions in mind, maybe even a couple of jokes to crack with the other two, but he soon felt like the mood had quickly dissipated into thin air at the simple mention of Ryeowook's name. His heart wasn't at ease, and the more he walked inside the restaurant, the more his heartbeat grew faster, conscious that somehow he was bound to look at Ryeowook in the eye, face him and pretend that nothing had happened between them.

Oh, how he need a date that could keep up the game for him.

Unfortunately there was no one, and it was useless to even look around for a nice girl to invite at the table just so he could feel less lonely.

It was while dwelling in those thoughts that he hadn't noticed the waiter sitting three glasses of cocktails on their booked table to welcome their arrival.

"A fourth one is coming right away" the waiter assured with a nod and Siwon thanked him, or so Kyuhyun understood, looking at the way the older man tipped his head in that diplomatic way of his (a bad habit from work, by then).

"Please, add another glass. There's a fifth person to join us tonight" a sparkling, enthusiastic voice announced Ryeowook's arrival. The waiter took mental notice of the order and disappeared, closing the door behind him after Ryeowook and his companion had slipped into the room.

"Sorry for the wait" Ryeowook effortlessly smiled, this time keeping his head up higher than normal as his fingers threaded with the ones of the man he had brought as his date. Those two hands swung a little, betraying some sort of disquiet, but Ryeowook soon used his free hand to stop them from moving and anchoring the hold in a proud showing-off gesture.

He waited then.

Silence had falled, filling the room entirely, if not for the low-volume jazz music playing on the background and the feeble clattering of forks and knives against porcelain plates coming from the large, open hall beyond their four walls.

"I can forgive you for the wait, Wookie" Heechul was the first to break the silence, his throat produced a small gurgle of angry notes to stain his voice "but I can't feign my indifference to his presence. With us. Tonight."

Siwon immediately stretched his right arm out and grabbed Heechul's hand on his knees. He tightened the hold to let his lover understand that he wasn't alone, that he was supporting him no matter what.

"I...told you this wasn't a good idea" a low whisper murmured in high embarrasment and shyness against Ryeowook's ear.

"No, it's not" Ryeowook snapped, his eyes angrily darting ahead of him, to flash his brother and openly challenge him in front of the others.

"It is!" Heechul growled, promptly slapping his free hand on the table to show his right of being furious "For once, I can say that Jongwoon is right about something. Don't be too excited about that though, I won't have myself lower to you any more time" Heechul grinned, as he once again made clear his total detatchment to the couple that was presenting itself in front of his eyes.

"Care to explain what this being is doing here, on the day of my party?" Heechul took in a deep breath and lowered his eyes to the cutlery that rested on the table, fantasizing about the sharp point of the knife, and how its slim silhouette would have twirled in the air if he were to throw it past Jongwoon's face to scare him off.

"You're...stupid if you expect me to tell you the reason" Ryeowook calmly stated as his sincere smile grew wider "I thought this was a family gathering, therefore I simply consider it legit for my boyfriend to show up with me" he explained, chin in the air and posture straight like the one of a brave prince from fairytales.

"Since when have you been back to Los Angeles? Since when have you been meeting my brother?" Heechul quickly asked, keeping his fiery eyes on Jongwoon's pale face.

"About three weeks, but we reconciled only two weeks ago" Ryeowook answered, knowing better than to force any kind of words from his shocked lover, that knew something of that kind was about to happen, but who simply couldn't imagine Heechul to be ready for war like he was showing on the moment.

"I asked him, not you!" Heechul shouted "Let's try again" his eyes darted again on Jongwoon's face, catching the slight glimpse of the man's features furrowing, as if he was getting ready to face other questions "How long before you break his heart? How long before you'll run to your wife again? Have you already laid your dirty hands on my brother?!" this time Heechul's rage got the best of him and he swiftly stood up, making the chair fall back at his movement and almost dragging Siwon up with him "Answer me like the man you are, for God's sake! I asked you if you ed my brother already!"

"Stop it!" Kyuhyun interrupted the scene then. Words snapped out faster than what he expected and he already knew his existence would be doomed, if he dared to fight Heechul anyhow. His arm stretched out as a barricade, to prevent the man from jumping over the table and assault Jongwoon with fangs and claws. He didn't have the courage to turn his head to Ryeowook's direction, he couldn't stand to keep watching him stand petrified in his shoes, while he chewed on his bottom lip to desperately hold back the tears.

Kyuhyun couldn't bear to watch the man he loved despair for the sake of another. He most likely knew, that he'd have gone nuts like Heechul had, and simply taken a chance at strangling Jongwoon to evacuate the room of what he deemed being the biggest problem between them all. However he didn't do anything in particular.

"What now?!" Heechul barked, shocked that Kyuhyun had really had the guts to interrupt him.

"Heechul, you need to cool down" Kyuhyun calmly stated "We're not at your place, first of all. Other customers might be hearing all the scene for all you know"

"I don't care!"

"Well, I don't want to spend a single night behind bars for creating a commotion at a public place. That would leave an annoying mark on my criminal record when I go back to Korea" Kyuhyun scoffed, hoping that his words could easily turn the whole argument into something that could be made fun about, but whose concern was truly making him dwell in worry.

Heechul seemed to step back a little, because his back was straightened all of a sudden and his shoulders slumped a bit. He roughly exhaled, waiting for more words to come from Kyuhyun's mouth. He sensed them in the air.

"Leave them be. They're in love, they did nothing wrong" Kyuhyun exhaled, feeling each and every word just said burning on his tongue. Never had he imagined to be on the position of protecting Ryeowook's relationship with Jongwoon, not after all that he had heard about the man's reputation, not after hoping so bad he could take his place somehow.

How stupid, how damn stupid of him! 

He should have been the one cursed at for staying with Ryeowook, he should have been the one introduced to Heechul as the "new boyfriend", he should have been the one grasping Ryeowook's hand as if his own life depended on it... he should have known that dreams stay like that, and nothing more.

Ryeowook, who hadn't budged of an inch when his brother was showing signs of hysteria and was almost on the verge of overthrowing the set table in the air, this time took a couple of minutes to glance at Kyuhyun.

Look at me, Kyuhyun. Damn you, look at me I said!

But the man hadn't showed any interest in looking at Ryeowook at all, if anything Kyuhyun was so bravely fighting against the urge of dividing those joint hands and drag Ryeowook away from the other undeserving man.

At that point Ryeowook's heart pounded way too fast for his likings.

He realized to be at the full center of his loved brother's deceived rage, which he surely deserved to be from the very first moment he had decided to put up that show and officially present Jongwoon as his significant other. For yet the second time, but this one, the only thing he wanted to do was simply - and selfishly - showing off his boyfriend like a toy, so that Kyuhyun could see whom he had ended up with after the man's decision of giving up on their relationship.

Ryeowook was so ready to hurt himself again, but this time he'd have dragged Kyuhyun along. Because...what was that pain of being with a man you didn't love supposed to be, if compared to the one felt when nowhere closer to the man you had actually hopelessly fallen in love with?

And now, Kyuhyun was stupidly playing the role of the knight in the shining armor, protecting his stupid, farce relationship with Jongwoon because he thought that was all he needed in order to wish for Ryeowook's happiness.

How foolish of Kyuhyun...

Ryeowook's shoes silently stepped away as he rushed out of the room and away, far away from the other three men. Jongwoon worriedly followed, until he could successfully chase the younger one in a public park, have him sit on a bench under the starlight and sweetly cradle him, swinging from side to side, in unison with the former's teary whines and hiccups.

In his arms, Jongwoon said, everything was bound to be okay, but if he had been in Kyuhyun's arms - Ryeowook thought - that being okay could have turned to be into a better feeling...without shedding any tears, for a start.

The two weren't the only ones to be walking out of the restaurant.

Kyuhyun slowly made his way out of the building and once again into the dark, fresh night. He looked up at the stars and wondered whether Ryeowook was looking up at the same sky. The thought barely made him feel better.

"What did you do?" Heechul hurried after Kyuhyun with Siwon tagging along. His steps feverishly brought him to where the younger man was standing, on the side of the road with his chin lifted up high.

"I said, what the hell did you just do, Kyuhyun?!" Heechul grabbed Kyuhyun's arm and violently pulled him, so to be sure of catching the man's whole attention.

Kyuhyun didn't speak. Before that night, before challenging Heechul, he had learnt not to interfere with the man at all, if his eyes became as red and puffy as if injected with boiling blood.

"You know what?" Heechul's grin widened into a wicked snigger, as he repetitively poked Kyuhyun in the chest and made sure to press his finger deeply in the skin so to physically hurt him " you, you little bastard"

"Heechul!" Siwon admonished him, trying to keep at bay his fiancé just turned devil.

"No, let me go. I don't care if he's your cousin Siwon, I needed to be having this conversation with him way before!" Heechul opposed his resistance to Siwon's strong hold, with no result. He decided then to show the last drops of his rage by exuberantly spitting on the ground, missing Kyuhyun's shoes by very little "I thought you loved him!" he hollered then.

Well, if he had simply hit him, Kyuhyun swore he wouldn't have felt any more pain than the one spreading in his chest after hearing that sentence.

"I know you do, I know you love Ryeowook!" Heechul stopped for a while only to catch a bit of his lost breath back "Perhaps you may not know it yet, but I know that you love my baby brother, it's crystal clear from the way you look at him with those adoring eyes, and from the way you two bicker at home, then I assume Ryeowook's lost it all for you as well! What the were you thinking of, when you pushed him into that bastard's arms, huh? Answer me!"

Heechul knew.

It was true after all, he couldn't be kept from knowing whatever thing happened and revolved around his brother. 

How long had he been knowing? How did he discover it?

No, those weren't the right questions.

"Would you feel better if I told you that you're wrong?" that was close to the right question "That yes, I've fallen so bad for Ryeowook but that it took him a glance from Jongwoon to be melting once again at his sweet words? That I questioned my sanity while being here, because I didn't want Ryeowook to become so relevant in my life after only two stupid weeks here in Los Angeles, but that he had spent way less to dump me away so to run in his arms? That, oh God, I don't even like men but he was the one I was about to sacrifice everything for?"

Kyuhyun's voice lowered then, becoming merely a whisper when he had recollected his breath and his chest moved with calmer pace.

"Well, love at first sight doesn't exist. Not for me, not when