I Love Him

“Uncle Hae, have you sent the car to pick up our guests from the airport?” Jinki looks at his watch and reminds Donghae who is busy pouring coffee for himself. His question elicits guffaws from the group of people seated in a corner of Donghae’s hotel lounge.

“Jinki, this is the sixth time you have asked Hae this question,” Siwon winks at no one in particular. Hee catches her husband’s actions and grins wider, “And, that is only in the past ten minutes. Don’t forget the constant reminders since our flight landed yesterday.”

Yunho looks at his quickly reddening elder son and winks at the couple across the table, “Lady Hee, don’t tease my son. Weren’t you the one who’s always urging him to find a girlfriend to explore the world of love with? Now that he has finally found someone, you should pick up the tab for this holiday.”

“What?” Hee straightens in her chair and pats her well-coiffed hair. “No way, Yunho. We did that when Gwiboonie accepted Jonghyun.”

Eunha snorts at her friend’s miserliness, “Lady Hee that was because you lost the bet.”

“Of course, Gwiboonie can do so much better than your dino boy. I still don’t understand what she sees in your pipsqueak of a child,” Hee retorts and puts the fingers and thumb of her right hand two inches apart in the air to show how short she thinks Jonghyun to be.

The young boy in question looks at their parents and leans to kiss Gwiboon on her lips. He grins when Siwon yells in protests and Hee squawks like an enraged chicken. Donghae and Eunha encourage their son to continue. Gwiboon moves her head back and pinches Jonghyun’s cheek, “Don’t tease my mother.”

“I am not a pipsqueak, babe,” Jonghyun whines.

“Yes you are, sweetheart. But you are my pipsqueak,” Gwiboon smiles at him with love shining bright in her eyes. “And they are my parents. Show them due respect.”

Jonghyun looks at her for a moment more, then bows his head towards Siwon and Hee, “I am sorry.” When the older couple smiles at him, he adds cheekily, “But it’s your fault for producing such a delicious daughter.”

The older couple’s sputtering is drowned by the gale of laughter which echoes in the hotel’s lobby, turning everyone’s head towards the group. Jinki continues to fidget through the good natured teasing and his eyes do not move away from the entrance of the hotel. He suddenly jumps up and rushes to meet the tall pair stepping in. His actions catch the attention of the elders in the group. They look at the newcomers and sit immobile, their faces reflecting their inner shock. Gwiboon and Jonghyun look at each face which is turned towards Minjung and her father, noting each open mouth and eyes gone wide.

Jinki beams in welcome at Minjung and then bows to her father, “Welcome! I am Jinki, Minjung’s friend from school. Thank you for accepting our invitation.”

Minjung turns red and leaves it to her father to respond to Jinki. Her father, who its clear Minjung has taken her large eyes and plush lips from, grins merrily at her reaction and looks with keen interest at the boy in front of them. “Hello, Jinki! Thank you for inviting us. How were your exams? You are the one who keeps acing all subjects, keeping Minnie awake to study all night and then about you all through breakfast?”

Jinki smiles warmly at Minjung who has turned redder than a few seconds ago, “It was never been my intention to frustrate her, sir. She only had to tell me and I would have gladly handed in blank answer sheets.”

Minjung groans in embarrassment and tries to hide behind her father. She succeeds only due to her slimmer frame, but Jinki can still see her face as she is inches taller than her father in her heels. Jinki smiles at her failed attempt to evade his eyes. Minjung’s father gauges the situation and gives a tinkling laugh which he hides with the back of his hand. Jinki quickly gathers where Minjung has inherited her shy nature from. He stares for a moment at the shyly laughing, good-looking man in front of him and a corner of his mind notes that ‘his’ Minjung will remain beautiful even as she ages.

Jinki leads the pair to their corner of the hotel lobby, only to find all the older people staring at Minjung’s father. He turns to the concerned man who is focussed on getting his daughter to stand beside him and not hide behind him. “Sir, let me introduce you to everyo-,” Jinki’s sentence remains unfinished as Minjung’s father looks at the seated people and gasps loudly.

Gwiboon, Jonghyun, and Taemin, come to stand around Jinki and along with Minjung they look at their parents in puzzlement, wondering what could have shocked them so.

It is Gwiboon’s mother who moves first and jumps up to hug Minjung’s immobile father, “Joongie! Oh God, it is really you, Jaejoongie! I can’t believe we have finally found you! Wonnie, look it’s our Joongie!” She squeals in joy and hugs the man whose arms automatically go around her to hold her closer to him.

“Lady Hee?” Jaejoong’s voice echoes the same disbelief. He is quickly surrounded by the others who push each other to hug him. Their children watch their tussle in amazement. Failing to find his father in the melee of arms and legs, Jinki looks around to see him sitting and staring at Minjung’s father as if he’s seen a ghost.

Jinki approaches his father and sits next to him, poking his cheek to gain the shocked man’s attention. Yunho remains unmoving, his eyes focused only on Jaejoong’s face. Jinki watches his father silently for a few minutes, waiting for his reaction to change. It does, to a smile, with a barely audible whisper, “My Jaejoong! Where have you been all these years? Don’t you know how much I missed you? How could you leave your Yunho without a word?”

Jinki looks from one man to the other and in a corner of his brain he feels pieces of an as-yet-unknown puzzle begin to align themselves. He takes his father’s phone from his nerveless hands and quickly goes to the image folder. Observing Jinki’s actions, first Taemin and then the other three teens gather around him and look into the phone with him. Jinki scrolls till he finds the photographs he is looking for. He transfers some images to his own phone and hands back his father’s phone to its owner, still not getting any acknowledgment from the phone owner.

Leaving the elders to reacquaint themselves, the five teens occupy one couch and pour over the images in Jinki’s phone. Jonghyun mumbles at the first grainy image of faces of six high school students, “This is the high school photograph of our parents. On the right side are my parents, left are Uncle Siwon and Aunt Hee, center are your parents, Jinki.”

“But, that one in the center is my father,” Minjung softly corrects Jonghyun. “I have seen this photograph in Dad’s wallet. He told me it’s of him and his best friends in school.”

Jinki wordlessly scrolls to open the next image he had transferred. This time Taemin smiles and gently touches a fingertip to the phone screen, “This photograph I know. It’s of our parents on their first date.”

Jinki silently opens the next photograph which is a close up of his mother’s face when she was sixteen years old. He has the same photograph and many more in an album that he had created in memory of his mother. Crouching in front of him, Taemin gives a sad sigh and runs a soft finger on the photograph’s cheek.

Minjung hesitantly asks Gwiboon, “Who is she?”

It is Taemin who answers before Gwiboon can, “This is our mother, Jaekyung. She died giving birth to me.”

Jinki hears them but his fingers move to open the next photograph which is a close up of a young boy. Minjung gasps, “Why is Dad’s photograph with your father?” No one responds to her as they watch Jinki move quickly back and forth between the photographs of his mother and Minjung’s father in their teens. The resemblance between the two is noticed by all of them.

Taemin holds Jinki’s thumb and stops its movement over Minjung’s father’s photograph. He enlarges the image and peers closely at it before muttering in disbelief, “Isn’t this the ring that Dad has worn all his life? Why is her father wearing it around his neck?”

Minjung forgets her shyness and extends her long arm to take the phone from Jinki, who lets it go without protest. She peers at the image and denies Taemin’s question, “No, it isn’t your father’s ring. It is my father’s good luck charm which he never takes off.”

Gwiboon takes the phone from her and scrolls back to the first image and peers closely at the grainy photograph of school friends. After a few moments she hands the phone back to Jinki with a whispered conclusion, “We were mistaken all this time. It is not your parents in the center, Jingles. It is your father and Minjung’s father. I don’t know which would be right – he resembles your mother a lot or your mother is a copy of him? Jaejoong Jaekyung. No wonder Uncle Yun never remarried.”

At Gwiboon’s pronouncement, all of them look towards their parents. They find Jaejoong still surrounded by Gwiboon’s and Jonghyun’s parents. But his eyes are fixed on Yunho who stands up holding his gaze. In two quick strides, Yunho reaches Jaejoong and parts his friends to pull the man into a tight hug. Jaejoong stands stiff for a few seconds before closing his eyes and wrapping his arms around the slightly taller man. He hides his crumbling face in Yunho’s shoulder.

Yunho kisses Jaejoong’s hair and whispers in a choked voice, “Where did you go? Why? Don’t go. Please. Stay.”

Jaejoong shakes his head and unwraps his arm from around Yunho. He denies Yunho’s request in an equally soft whisper “I can’t. Jaekyung.” He sniffles to hold back his tears.

Jinki watches his father tighten his arms around his old friend. Pieces of the puzzle are forming a picture in his mind that he is uncertain he wants to know. He hears his father’s denial, “No Jae. Only you. Always.” When Jaejoong again shakes his head to refute this claim, Yunho speaks more assertively, “I am no longer a teenage boy. I know what I am saying. I know what I want. I will not make the same mistake twice. I will stand by you, Jae. Till I die.”

Jinki hears Minjung’s and Taemin’s sharp intake of air. He wraps his strong fingers around Minjung’s suddenly cold ones and puts his other arm around Taemin’s thin shoulders, comforting both at the same time. As they watch Jaejoong pull away from Yunho, Jinki breaks his silence to whisper, “They love each other.”

Gwiboon and Jonghyun nod in agreement. Only Taemin and Minjung stop breathing at Jinki’s assessment of the old friends’ reunion. Jinki absently rubs Minjung’s long, slim fingers to warm them up. They view the actions of their parents with a new understanding.

Jaejoong puts his hands on Yunho’s shoulders and tries to move out of his embrace, but Yunho only clutches him tighter with a protesting murmur, “No Jae. I am not letting you go. I can’t let you disappear again. I won’t lose you this time. You have to stay by my side forever.”

Jaejoong closes his eyes and sags against Yunho, “And do what, Yunho? Watch you love Jaekyung?” The pain in his voice is easily detected by the teens. Jaejoong shakes his head and stiffens. He tries once more to separate himself from the taller man, “I can’t, Yunho. It nearly destroyed me then. I just can’t do it.”

Hee rubs her right hand over Jaejoong’s shoulder and uses the fingers of her left hand to wipe away her tears. The tall woman sobs out, “Jaekyung knew Yunho loved you. She knew even when they were dating in school. She wanted to break off but their parents wouldn’t let her.”

Siwon and Donghae pull Yunho away from Jaejoong and herd them out of the hotel lobby into Yunho’s suite on the third floor. Jaejoong tries to take Minjung’s arm and leave the hotel but Jinki pushes her behind him, out of her father’s reach. Hee holds on to Jaejoong and makes him follow the three men leading the way. Eunha stops on the way and orders her staff to serve coffee in Yunho’s suite.

In the elevator, Yunho makes Jaejoong stand next to him by wrapping an arm around the resisting man’s shoulder. In the room, Yunho pulls the unwilling man to sit next to him, not allowing him to move away by the force of his hand holding tight to Jaejoong’s shoulder. Hee sits down on Jaejoong’s other side and holds his hand in both of hers. Donghae seats himself next to Yunho and Siwon sits besides his wife.

The teens squeeze themselves into the nearby loveseat, with Jinki making Minjung and Taemin sit on either side of him. Gwiboon chooses to sit near Minjung and Jonghyun sprawls on the floor. With Gwiboon attempting to find place on the loveseat, Jinki pulls Minjung up to sit on his lap. When the girl resists, he wraps his arms around her waist and mumbles soothingly, “Calm down. I am not going to do anything. Please let’s just learn what happened.” The shy girl halts her squirming and sighs deeply, her desire to know the facts overrides her wish to move away from the teenage boy. All of them have their eyes trained on their parents who are sitting across from them, engrossed in their own painful memories.

Yunho spreads his right hand in front of Jaejoong and states in a soft and better-controlled voice, “Jae, you confessed to me on my seventeenth birthday. See, I still wear the ring you gave me.” His words elicit loud gasps from his friends, but he prefers to ignore everyone.

“And you went on a date with Jaekyung the next day itself,” Jaejoong is barely audible. He tucks his chin into his chest and closes his eyes to avoid looking at anyone.

“I was seventeen, fighting my feelings for my best friend. We were boys. We weren’t supposed to love each other as anything except friends. Even our friends wouldn’t have accepted us as a couple,” Yunho sadly explains his deplorable actions.

Their friends immediately protest, with Hee’s voice the loudest, “How can you say that Yunho without even asking us first? I knew you loved each other. Are you forgetting I am older than all of you? Every time you held Jaekyung’s hand, I could see Jae hurting. I tried to talk to you but you wouldn’t let me.”

Donghae is lost, “I didn’t know you both loved each other. But if I had, I would have accepted it. After all, we were friends since we were in diapers. I think we even shared our diapers, and you didn’t think us worthy to share your feelings with?”

Eunha rubs her husband’s arm in consolation, “You are such a dumbo. Anyone with even one eye could see what they felt for each other. Or feel now.”

Siwon is the quiet voice of reason, “We would have accepted. Hee and I talked about it. We are your friends. But, your parents wouldn’t have, school wouldn’t have, society wouldn’t have. We didn’t know Joongie had confessed to you. If we had, we wouldn’t have let you hurt him by getting together with Jaekyung. We would have helped you find a solution that allowed both of you to be happy.”

Jaejoong stops any further protests, “It doesn’t matter anymore. I have moved on. My wild days are behind me now. I made a new life in a new world. The expulsion from the school was the best thing that could have happened to me then. It stopped me from completely self-destructing.”

Yunho puts his face in Jaejoong’s neck uncaring of the other man’s attempts to dislodge him. He breathes deeply and grumbles, “You changed your cologne. Doesn’t matter, I will get used to it.” He shifts a little to wrap both his arms around Jaejoong’s waist, securing the tall man to his side. Jaejoong begins to squirm again.

Hee brushes her fingers on Jaejoong’s cheek and asks, “Where did you go, Joongie? We tried to find you but couldn’t.”

Jaejoong takes a deep breath to calm himself and tries to ignore Yunho’s face buried in his neck. He focuses his eyes on Hee and tries to smile, “The day after my expulsion, my parents sent me to New York to live with my mother’s older brother. My uncle owned a modelling agency and got me modelling for him. With his grooming, I became a supermodel and married another. We have a beautiful daughter who is friends with yours. After my uncle’s death I inherited his business and stopped modelling.”

Hearing about the marriage, Yunho begins into Jaejoong’s neck, “You can’t be married. You told me you will wait for me.”

Siwon hits him at the back of his head and admonishes, “Stop being an idiot, Jung Yunho. You married Jaekyung and had two kids. But you expected Jaejoong to pine for you all his life. How much more selfishness are you going to display?”

Donghae quickly catches on and nods, “This is inexcusable, Yunho. First you hurt Joongie. Next, you want him to lead a lonely, loveless life. Siwon is right. You are selfish.” Eunha adds a “moron” with a sour look towards Yunho, and then busies herself in serving coffee. Yunho ignores the coffee and does not let Jaejoong accept either.

Hee looks at her husband and chuckles, “Wonnie, you should pay more attention to what our daughter says. Didn’t you hear Gwiboonie tell us about her new friend Minjung, from New York, who had lost her mother recently in a freak skiing accident? Now think how many Minjungs has our daughter known for the past year?”

While Siwon looks chastised, Yunho lifts his head and searches around the room till his eyes fall on the kids looking wide-eyed at them. He stares at the girl in his son’s lap and then at the musk-scented man squirming in his arms. His suddenly alert brain cells remind him of his many conversations with Jinki about the girl he loves. He puts his head back on Jaejoong’s shoulder and squeezes him hard. When Jaejoong starts to protest, Yunho laughs happily, “Tell the whole truth, Jae. You are a widower. There is nothing stopping you from claiming me now.”

Jaejoong frees his hands from Hee’s and begins hitting Yunho wherever he can reach, “Get off me, you idiotic man. I don’t want to become a part of your harem. Go claim another woman who is willing to share you with Jaekyung. I have had enough of your stupidity. I say, let go of me. Stop clinging to me like a koala.”

Their friends move away from the couch to stand nearby and watch them engage in their old childhood scuffle. Yunho holds on tight to Jaejoong who squirms all around the couch to get loose and move away. Yunho keeps yelling, “No way are you getting rid of me. I told you, I won’t let you get away from me now. Not till you agree you are mine.”

“What the hell, Yunho! I am not yours. Let go, you halfwit dumb . Think what your wife will say? Think what your children will feel when they find you behaving like a playboy, you overgrown donkey,” Jaejoong struggles harder and keeps moving all over the couch in his efforts to break loose from Yunho’s grip.

Eunha wonders quietly, “Why isn’t Yunho explaining to Jaejoong that he has been a widower for fifteen years?” Siwon laughs and reminds them of how stupid Yunho can be when in his child-like mode.

Yunho meanwhile is still shouting out his reminders to struggling Jaejoong, “But Jae, you had pledged your undying love for me when you gave me the ring. Come on, be a good boy and accept it.”

“No way, Jung Yunho! You threw my love back at me when you accepted Jaekyung in your life. Leave me alone, you oaf! I don’t want you in my life!” Jaejoong screams and pulls Yunho’s hair.

“I will not let you pine for your dead wife. You are mine,” Yunho puts his leg over Jaejoong’s thigh in hopes of dominating the struggling man.

Jaejoong pushes Yunho’s leg away by putting his leg on top of it, “Who the hell is pining for that ? She married me only for my uncle’s agency. She stopped being my wife the day she wanted to abort my princess.” Jinki hugs Minjung tighter to him, hoping to block any pain to her from her father’s words. But she does not show any reaction, which makes him conclude that she already knows the truth about her mother.

Minjung does attempt to break out of Jinki’s comforting embrace to go to her father’s aide, but Jinki holds her tighter. With one broad hand, he pushes her head onto his shoulder and softly whispers to her, “I am sorry, but we need to let them settle their life in their own way. Please don’t stop them. My father has been alone for far too long.”

Minjung closes her eyes for a moment before opening them to stare at the mole on his neck. After a moment’s silence she speaks to him, for the first time, in a barely audible mumble, “I don’t want my father to suffer anymore. He has brought me up on his own, managing his business at the same time. My mother was always away on work or holidaying with her man-friends. It has just been him and me all these years. He is a wonderful father. My mother hurt him a lot. But your father has the power to hurt him more. Please stop your father.” Her worry for her father overrides her shyness around Jinki and makes her uncharacteristically voluble in his presence.

Jinki smiles at her, “I won’t let him hurt your father. I swear. If they don’t stop in a few minutes, we will intervene.” Minjung nods and watches her father still struggling to move away from his old love.

Jaejoong and Yunho are engaged in their battle uncaring of all the eyes, young and old, watching them. It is almost like a wrestling match with both of them shouting at each other, and Jaejoong trying to push Yunho away from him.

“Get away from me, you imbecile! I hate you, you stupid log!” Jaejoong shouts and kicks Yunho’s calf with his booted foot.

“Don’t lie. I love you too,” Yunho yells while attempting to subdue the other man under him.

“You are twenty eight years too late and too married. Stupid, idiotic, lothario! Stop humping my leg. Go to your wife if you are . Leave me alone,” Jaejoong pushes at Yunho’s shoulder to loosen his hold. He only succeeds in pushing himself against the back of the couch with Yunho crowding him in.

“I will never leave you alone, Jae. I don’t have a wife. I have been to your photograph for fifteen years,” Yunho screams back.

His words produce a deafening silence in the room, as if no one even remembers to breathe. The five teens stare dumbfounded at the two men lying prone on the couch, their brains scrambling to understand the events in Yunho’s and Jaejoong’s lives. The men’s four friends try to look away from the couch, but unable to do so, too fascinated to know what Jaejoong will do next.  

Jaejoong stops struggling and asks doubtfully in a softer tone, “You don’t? You divorced Jaekyung?”

“I didn’t divorce her, she left this world nearly sixteen years ago while giving birth to my second son,” Yunho explains in an equally soft voice. When Jaejoong stares at him disbelievingly, he continues in a rush, “I knew I loved you then. I know I love you now. I never stopped loving you, Jae. Not for one moment. Jaekyung knew and it broke her heart. I just couldn’t love her the way she wanted me to. Your name is carved into my heart, leaving no space for anyone else’s. I don’t care anymore about right or wrong. If it is a sin to love you, then I have spent my entire life sinning.”

Hearing Yunho’s confession, all struggle leaves Jaejoong and he goes still in Yunho’s arms. His only movement is to close his eyes and bury his face in Yunho’s shoulder. Everyone waits with bated breath and there is absolute hush in the room for the next few minutes.

Suddenly, Jaejoong shudders and begins punching Yunho’s arm and back, his legs kicking Yunho’s. With every hit he cries out in misery, “You butthead! You dolt! How dare you? You made me suffer so much and you think I will just fall in your arms and shout I love you?” Jaejoong’s fist lands on Yunho’s ear, making him audibly wince. Jaejoong continues to punch and kick, uncaring of the physical pain he is causing Yunho because he feels the pain of his own mental anguish even more, “I won’t do it. You hear me? I don’t love you. I will never love you.”

Jaejoong does not stop punching even when his dress shirt can’t take the violent actions anymore and some of its buttons pop open. Yunho stops evading the hits when his eyes catch sight of the ring that Jaejoong wears on a chain around his neck. It is the partner of the couple ring that seventeen-year-old Jaejoong had given to Yunho which he wore on his right hand’s ring finger.

Yunho chuckles and throws his arms around Jaejoong to hold him tight again, “Say whatever you want, Jae. You never stopped loving me. You are wearing the proof around your neck.”

Jaejoong squawks and clutches his gaping shirt with his hands. His legs continue to kick Yunho and manage to make him fall off the couch. Jaejoong quickly sits up, still holding his shirt together to hide the incriminating evidence. His eyes move around the room, noting his old friends standing and gawking at him and then falling on the kids sitting only a few feet away. He notes with a subconscious interest how his daughter is sitting in the idiot’s son’s lap.

Jaejoong gets up from the couch and walks over to his daughter, leaving Yunho protesting on the floor. He pulls on Minjung’s arm, “Let’s go, Minnie. We are going back home to Seoul.” Jinki tightens his arms around Minjung, making her father fail in his attempts to separate the two. Jaejoong uses both his hands to pull up Minjung. His shirt gapes again and the five teens get a good view of the proof Yunho was talking about.

Taemin lifts his arm and holds Jaejoong’s chain and ring in his palm. He brings his face closer to the older man’s chest and peers at the ring. He tries to pull the chain off the man’s neck, but the metal links are strong and stay put. Taemin exclaims in child-like wonder, “It is the same ring that Dad wears. He is telling the truth. You are wearing couple rings with him.” When Jaejoong quickly lets go of Minjung’s arms and pulls his shirt together again, Taemin stands up and starts hopping and it is difficult to know whether it is a happy hop or a worried one. Taemin gasps after a few seconds, “Oh my god! Dad is gay! Jinki hyung, all your efforts to be the school’s bad boy are now wasted. School bullies will eat me alive for having a gay father.”

Siwon finally moves and rushes Jaejoong out of the suite. Donghae helps Yunho get off the floor and checks out the bruises covering his body. Eunha calls room service for a fresh pot of coffee to be delivered in Jaejoong’s suite. Hee stands still for a few minutes, uncertain who she should look after – Jaejoong, Yunho or the kids. She looks at her daughter and Gwiboon nods her head in understanding. Hee hurries to follow her husband and friend. Gwiboon adds her palm to Jinki’s on Minjung’s back to soothe the distressed girl.

Taemin’s excited chatter breaks the silence of the room, “Hyung, we are going to get a stepfather. Imagine that! I was never keen on a stepmother. Who wants a woman interfering between us men? A stepfather will be really cool. And a supermodel on top of it.” Minjung absently corrects him, “Ex-supermodel.” Her interruption is completely ignored by the young boy dancing around the loveseat, “And he really knows how to kick . Did you see how he punched and beat up our dad? Hyung, can I take him to school once in a while, now that you are no longer a student there? I am sure if anyone even looks at him weirdly he will punch the living daylights out of them. I can’t wait to show him off to Jongin.” Taemin rubbed his palms together in anticipation.

“Calm down, mushroom head,” Jonghyun laughs at Taemin’s reaction. “He has not yet agreed to your father’s proposal. Well, your father has not proposed in the first place.”

Just like his father, Taemin is not in the mood to be deterred from his plans. He goes and hops onto his father’s lap and begins bouncing like a kid, “Dad, propose to him quick. A beach wedding here will be very romantic. Then Jinki hyung can also marry the one he loves. Twin weddings will be so very cool.” At Yunho’s sudden intake of breath, Taemin gets off his lap and stands facing him. Yunho looks dazed and his eyes have a faraway look.

Gwiboon sassily observes, “Stop imagining your honeymoon, Uncle Yun. One look at your present face and Uncle Jae will beat you up again.” Minjung’s tinkling laughter joins Gwiboon’s. It is Jinki’s turn to gaze at Minjung with a stunned look. He moves his head a little and rubs his nose in her hair. He inhales deeply and begins to smile stupidly.

Jonghyun punches Jinki’s calf and chuckles, “Gwiboonie, its Jingles you should be asking to stop imagining. I am sure he has already reached the stage of half a dozen kids in his mind.”

Minjung squeals and jumps off Jinki’s lap. His suddenly slack arms protest weakly but are unable to hold on to her. Jinki continues to stare at her dazedly, his eyes looking dreamier by the second. Minjung starts to turn pink and then red. She rushes out of the room. After a few seconds, she pokes her pink face in again and murmurs, “Which is our suite?” Her query is met with laughter from everyone except Yunho and Jinki, who continue to look dreamy.