Five.

“Explain!” Jaejoong’s voice is crisp and firm.

Changmin’s brain is taking holiday. How would he explain what he did there to Jaejoong when he himself doesn’t even know what he did. Let alone why.

“Yoochun and Junsu are two most dear friends for me.” Jaejoong slicing eyes stab Changmin’s skull. “You are messing not only with one of them, Changmin. Explain now before I lose my self-control and you’ll wake up either in your grave yard or in emergency unit bed.”

Jaejoong is the oldest among them and despite his sometimes childish behavior, Changmin is fully aware what Jaejoong could do to define destruction.

“I don’t know.” Changmin chooses to be honest. “I swear I don’t know, Jae.”

Jaejoong steps one foot forward. Changmin might be taller than him or have more muscles than him or fight better than him but none messes with Jaejoong’s best friend without tasting his claws.

“You kissed Junsu.” Jaejoong says in blatant coldness.

Changmin nods helplessly. “I did.”

“Are you not Yoochun’s fiancé anymore?”

“I think I still am.”

Changmin’s collar pulled harsly. “Then why the f*** did you kiss Junsu?!”

“I.. really don’t know.” Changmin’s neck is pressed and squeezed he finds it’s hard to breathe.

“I’ll repeat once more.” Jaejoong tightens his claws on Changmin’s collar. “Why did you kiss your fiance’s best friend?”

Changmin’s throat starts to burn. “I don’t know.” He struggles to breathe. “I really.. don’t know.”
The sharp fist on his face is expected yet it still stings painfully.

“You’d better leave.” Jaejoong’s clenched teeth couldn’t block the building up rage. “Before I change my mind and I send myself into police investigation file.”

Changmin is thrown on the floor. Jaejoong rubs his fist to calm the escalating anger down.
“We’ll talk again when you have remembered.” Jaejoong growls. “I’m going to keep my mouth shut so none but us knows about this. Now go!”

Changmin gets up in difficulty. His legs are half shaking he doesn’t know for what cause or reasons.

“Jae.” He calls feeling the salt liquid greeting the corner of his lips. “I really don’t know what I did. I just did it. I didn’t think. I didn’t remember Yoochun was my fiancé. I didn’t remember Junsu was what or who. I just did what I did.”

“GO!!”

Changmin groans silently. He needs long cold shower and new head because his head is in terrible mess right now.

He goes home by taxi. His head goes crazy as a sudden hammering bad headache is biting his brain and awareness out of his mind.

He goes blank into darkness right when his sister opens the door for him.

----

Yoochun wakes up in haze due to the commotion takes place in Junsu’s ward. He blinks his eyes several times registering and attempting to grasp what the fuss is about. He jumps out in reflex when he catches the emergency medical team rushes in the ward along with Junsu’s mom and dad ushered out of the ward.

“Mom?” Yoochun asks the pale woman being held by the husband. “What’s going on?”

Junsu’s mother shakes her head, lip bitten and hands shaking.

“He tried to take all the IV and tubes off of him.” the father explains instead of his wife. “He wanted to go out of bed but fell down on the floor. Yunho caught him in time. The bleeding is new.”

“He what?” Yoochun blinks hard.

The mother’s effort to hide her sobbing cry fails.

“I’ll go there.” Yoochun decides can’t bear seeing the tears of his best friend’s mother.

“Don’t!” the father holds him. “Yunho is already there. Stay here with us.”

Yoochun clenches his fist. Why didn’t he wake up sooner? Why can’t he be helpful at least once these days?

He sees Jaejoong running toward them in dark look.

“Mom?” Jaejoong’s eyes widen. “Dad? What’s wrong? Junsu?” His dark look turns into horror. “Tell me what’s wrong with Junsu, please, dad?”

“Wait here.” The father tries his best to be calm. His wife is crying in his hold. He has to keep sane for his family.

“Junsu fell on the floor.” Yoochun says shortly in thick heated up tone when Jaejoong’s eyes pound into his. “I was sleeping. Dad said Junsu tried to leave bed and fell.”

Jaejoong’s legs tremble. He falls to sit on the floor in dead pale look. Yoochun hastily catches Jaejoong’s arms to keep his body balance.

“Jae!”

“It’s me again, Chun.” Jaejoong whispers in guilt. “It’s me again.”

None has time to ask what he means as Yunho bursts out of the ward door in sweats. One medical staff, the doctor perhaps, follows him behind approaching the family.

“No further bleeding.” The medical staff informs. “We think it will be better to move him back into intensive unit care.”

“Is he alright?” the mother wipes her tears. “He will go home with us, right?”

Yunho looks away. The medical staff gives her an assuring nod. “He’s fine. We’ll monitor his progress closely. Would the guardian follow me please for further discussion?”

“I’ll go.” The father hugs his wife tighter for a minute then he walks after the staff.

“I’ll go with Mr. Kim.” Yunho exclaims. He hugs Junsu’s mother shortly before walking fast after the father and the staff.

“I’m so going to lock him in the basement.” The mother uses tissue to blow her nose. “Scaring us twice in a row over night. So going to chain him up to laundry basket.”

“Mom.” Yoochun must appreciate Junsu’s mother’s humor. “He’s twenty seven.”

“Don’t care how old he is.”

Jaejoong hasn’t moved from his spot on the floor.

Yunho approaches the slumped battered Jaejoong sitting alone in the corner of the waiting/visitor lounge. He flashes cold canned drinks in front of Jaejoong’s empty look to get the forlorn man’s attention to no avail. He sits next to Jaejoong, opens one can and drinks the content noisily.

“What do you think if I manipulate Junsu to marry me when he’s under medicine influence?”

Jaejoong’s eyes spark alive. “Over my dead body, Jung Yunho!”

“That’s easy.” Yunho drinks some more. “You look like dead person now. Just lie down here I’ll step over you and it’s a wrap.”

“My ghost would strangle you into long painful death at your wedding night.”

“I can manage no wedding night.” Yunho grins. “Wedding days instead. What do you think?”

“You won’t be saved from Yoochun or Junho or Woonsik!”

“I could convince them.”

Jaejoong gives Yunho a bad look. Yunho chuckles lightly. He shoves the cold drink into Jaejoong’s hand.
“Drink. You do look like dead person.”

Jaejoong obeys. He drinks the cold treat wetting his dry throat.

“If I may ask, as a friend and as someone who shares similar care to Junsu, what makes you feel guilty toward him?”

“I won’t answer even if it’s yoochun or Junsu himself asking me that.”

Yunho nods. “Okay. Junsu would ask that to you very soon.”

Jaejoong stops drinking. He stares in questioning eyes at the Jung man.

“I don’t know what’s going on between you and Junsu or Yoochun and Junsu or the three of you.” Yunho crosses his legs. “He refuses to talk to me since he wakes up this morning. He doesn’t speak much to his parents either. He asks Yoochun to go home in harsh way. He never does that before. I wonder how he would do if you see him now.”

“He’s awake?” Jaejoong’s eyes lit up. “Why didn’t anyone tell me?”

“I told you you are as good as a dead person.” Yunho says. “He wakes up at eight something. He speaks very little ever since.”

“I’ll go see him now. Is it okay?”

“You have to take turn with his mother, though.”

Jaejoongs stands up abruptly. “There are thousand ways to send mom off of our radar.”

----

Changmin has this floating inexplicable feeling since he wakes up today. No more headaches. No more crazy spinning head. No more swirling sensation running through his body. Just a bit disoriented state which confuses him further. His memory lane is being funny. Sometimes he remembers his high school days very clear like he’s just gone through it then it jumps back into present day. Sometimes he sees vivid pictures of him and Yoochun going on a passionate date then it runs to the time he carried Junsu into taxi rushing them to central hospital. He sees things like graphic moving images jumping from his memory box in random slides. New year is a day away yet he’s trapped somewhere between past and present.

Yoochun senses Changmin’s inner troubled mind soon after he feels Changmin isn’t quiet because he still in cold war with him but his fiancé is quiet because Changmin is thinking deep over something. Is it about them?

“Min?” Yoochun cups Changmin’s cheek.

Changmin mentally shakes his head to clear the running images and focus on the present. “Uhm. Sorry? I didn’t catch that.”

“I didn’t say a thing.” Yoochun smiles in understanding. “You look tired. What time do you leave work? I’ll pick you up. You can’t ride your motor in your current tired look.”

“No. it’s alright. I’m fine. I just have so much running in my mind.”

“I know.” Yoochun touches the fiance’s hand. “Can I see you again later? After work?”

Changmin stares at Yoochun’s semi pleading eyes. Since when does Yoochun need Changmin’s approval to see him? “Of course you can. You always can. You’re my fiancé.”

Yoochun beams. “You’ve just made my day.” He leans forward kissing Changmin’s cheek. “I have a lot to talk to you about us.”

“About us?” Changmin starts to feel uneasy. Does Jaejoong say something to Yoochun?

“Yes. About us. Let’s talk about it later. We can’t talk it over your break. I’ll clear the rehearsal schedule this evening.”

“Okay.” Changmin nods. “Where will we talk?”

“Um..” Yoochun tries to look casual. “My house? Mom and dad are attending some event. Yoohwan said he’d review some lessons in his friend’s flat. The girls are going to see new movie or something.”

Perfect time and place for a date. Only that Changmin isn’t sure whether he is up for it or not. Dating at home usually ends up in either.. you know.