CH 16 - Jongwoon
KISMETDonghae's mom was too insistent in inviting them over so there came a Sunday when the brothers arrived at their house, bringing with them cake. "Oh you cuties, you don't have to! Come in, come in!" Donghae's mom cooed at them as they entered the house. She pinched Jongwoon's cheeks and then talked to Heechul right after. Heechul may come of as rude and sarcastic and overly blunt to most people but parents seem to like him. Maybe they found his crazy-talks adorable, Jongwoon thought. Jongwoon won't ever understand why that was. One of the mysteries that will remain as a mystery forever, Jongwoon mused.
Donghae kept Jongwoon company as they played computer games, while Heechul was busy talking with Donghae's parents and both sides just sharing whatever they were doing for the past years they haven't seen each other. He heard his brother apologize for not being able to say goodbye properly to them when they moved cities. He came with some random excuse at that. When the adults excused themselves to go down and prepare dinner, Heechul then chucked Jongwoon out of the game he was playing.
"Yah! Such a bully!"
"You know you can't win anyway so why bother" Heechul said as he took hold of the console. Donghae just laughing at the side.
"It's ok Jongwoon-hyung, I'll let you play again later"
"Oh no no... I won't play against him Hae. Not an ounce of challenge. I am actually just going to play with you to pass off time, because you are just slightly better than my brother" Heechul said while they already playing. Eyes in the monitor.
"No pouting kid, I'm just telling the truth" Heechul continued.
"You didn't even look at me! I didn't pout!" Oh but he did. He cannot help it.
"Yah Heechul-hyung, don't worry my cousin will be here in a bit, he's a pro!" Donghae said snickering. Jongwoon then wondered if he meant Kyuhyun or Changmin.
"I'm counting on that" Heechul answered as the monitor conveyed that he won the game.
• • •
Kyuhyun arrived after 3 wins from Heechul and 1 from Donghae (because of Jongwoon's help in distracting his older brother).
Donghae paused the game when he saw his cousin. Wearing his staple smile, Donghae went to introduce Kyuhyun. "Hyung! You already know Kyu..." He then turned to Heechul and said, "This is Kyuhyun, hyung, my cousin from my mother's side... this is Heechul-hyung Kyu, Jongwoon-hyung's older brother."
Kyuhyun nodded towards both Jongwoon and Heechul, the latter however only picked up on what Donghae said first. "How do you know each other?" He was eyeing both Jongwoon and Kyuhyun.
"He's a new member in VAS hyung"
"Oh I see. So then, you're good" Heechul said knowingly as he faced the newly-arrived guy.
Kyuhyun might have been taken aback by that bluntness, but it didn't show. What showed was his smirk again. Heechul, meet Heechul-clone, Jongwoon thought.
"One of the best as your brother mentioned"
Jongwoon exaggeratedly rolled his eyes. He is now super sure that he'll will never hear the end of that.
"Interesting." Heechul's own brand of smirk showed as well. "This kid doesn't really spit out praises easily. Especially in singing"
"Wow, now I feel more special"
Jongwoon needs to in. Donghae doesn't do anything other than laughing at every one-liners these 2 has been dishing out. "No need to get all cockier than you already are Cho. I just said that to boost your ego, because Taeyeon would be hysterical if she doesn't get you on the team" he chuckled.
"Really though? Because you seemed so sincere when you said that", Kyuhyun not backing down. He was now seated in the sofa Jongwoon was sitting at.
"Well, I am a good actor too" Jongwoon said with a shrug.
"Not as good as I am in singing though"
"I'm retracting my statement because it's raising your ego so impossibly high". Jongwoon was bantering with Kyuhyun now. He did not realize when that specific moment was when he didn't find Kyuhyun's quips annoying anymore. They still are annoying to some extent, but now leaning more towards amusing.
"Yah. Why are you guys talking like you're close?" Heechul was looking at them suspciously. He did not like it when someone he doesn't know gets too familiar with his brother. And that showed just now.
"I know right", Donghae too agreed, nodding vigorously.
"No we're not hyung, it's really just how he talks to me, so disrespectfully actually", he gives the youngest a stink eye.
He mockingly acted a heartache and said, "I can't believe you just said that. After all the help that I gave you with your Math the entire week"
The 2 didn't see how Heechul got wide-eyed looking at them. Nor Donghae who was looking at them back and forth like he was watching a ping pong game.
"I didn't really asked for your help"
"That just tells the world how good of a person I am"
"Or a person who likes seeing others get through hell --"
"I'm really concerned with all these banters guys" Donghae said innocently.
"Kyuhyun-ssi, what year are from?" Heechul immediately cut in.
"1st year"
"Are you gay?"
The reactions from the 3 were simultaneous:
"Hyung!?" His eyes wide open, face looking really shocked.
Kyuhyun's eyebrows met, his forehead crunched, now clearly taken aback by that random question.
Donghae had a resounding "Whaaaaat???" And laughed like crazy right after.
"What? It's just a question." He walked towards them and sat in between the 2. "I want to know every person in my little brother's life" touching Jongwoon's face, the other trying to shove the hands away.
"My Jongwoonie's attractive. He's my precious honey, and I wanna know all he bees surrounding him", Heechul said with fake sweetness, still trying to pinch Jongwoon's cheeks.
He can hear the cousins laughing at his expense. "Ughhh why are you embarrassing me!" He was trying to kick his brother away now.
His brother went back to the game console, but then said, "So Kyuhyun of year 1, do you like my brother?"
"Stooop talking!!!" Jongwoon threw him a small pillow from the sofa. He was sure he was all red right now. "Nobody listen to him!"
"Heechul hyuuung" Donghae said in between laughing crazily.
Kyuhyun has his share of laughter too. "I actually have a boyfriend"
"He is actually with Sungmin hyung!" Jongwoon said.
"Oh yeah? I remember Sungmin-ssi. Too pretty to be guy... Just like me" More laughter from the room.
"If you are worried of guys hanging around your brother, then you should go and look out for Donghae... or Ryeowook" Kyuhyun said as he looked at Jongwoon, seemingly checking out the latter's reaction. Jongwoon's face just showed confusion of course, he was sure of that. And then he heard his brother sprout out his random crazy talks again.
"Yeah Ryeowook. But that's a one-sided thing. I'm not worried with him---"
"What the hell! Wookie's straight!" What the hell are they talking about, Jongwoon was really at a loss.
"...and hmm... Hae's harmless. Come to think of it, I would actually approve of Donghae for my Jongwoon"
"Oh god! You. Are. Impossible." He doesn't know why his brother was sprouting nonsense in his expense. He gives up. He resigns to his fate. He'll let his brother be. He chuckled at the thought. He covered his face with his hands as he leaned back at the sofa.
"Thank you Hyung!" He heard Donghae say. Oh gosh, even Donghae now wants to .
"Oh not you too" was all Jongwoon can say.
"You like Jongwoon?", came Kyuhyun's curious voice.
"You had the biggest crush with Jongwoon way back right?" Heechul said. Huh. Now, that's new.
"Yeah, well..." Donghae said. "I'd probably be all over Jongwoon-hyung now, if I was't able to meet---" Donghae gasped. Jongwoon saw his window. He won't let that slip-up go. He and Kyuhyun are now at Donghae's tail.
"Meet who?"
"From school?" Jongwoon added.
"Do I know him?"
"Come on Hae tell your hyung"
"We're cousin's Hae-ah!"
"Why are you joining forces against me!!!" Donghae whined. It's his time now to blush red.
Heechul was laughing at them.
• • •
Donghae's mom knocked and asked Kyuhyun and Jongwoon (who she saw was not playing/in the game) if they can grill the beef. They went down to do it.
Jongwoon tried small talks as they prepared to put the beef strips in the grill.
"Who might that be... That person Hae mentioned"
"Could be anybody really. He's friendly and can get close to anybody so easily so..." Kyuhyun said shrugging his shoulders.
"True" He chuckled.
"But if I'm to guess, I bet it's that it's Eunhyuk"
"Oh yeah!!! He's mentioned that guy from dance club a number of times to me too!"
Kyuhyun smiled at him. "Why are you so excited with his love life?"
"I wasn't excited" He got embarrassed, because he might have jumped a bit when he realized that Donghae talked about a certain Eunhyuk a lot when they've been texting each other. To change the topic he decided to ask questions about Sungmin and Kyuhyun, but the latter was not intent in sharing information though. His answers were short and evasive. So Jongwoon stopped. And silence enveloped the 2.
To break the silence, Kyuhyun tells him that it must be great to have a brother. Kyuhyun told him that he is an only child.
"Hmmm... At least you have your cousins right? You seem to be close just like brothers" He offered him a smile. "Cousins are the next best thing Cho"
"Yeah I guess you're right" He smiled back at him. A real smile. Then he added, "Plus I cannot imagine being brothers with your brother. I might be a handful but he's just over the top crazy..."
Jongwoon laughed uncontrollably at that. He cannot stop laughing at the thought that Heechul-clone/Heechul 2.0 actually finds original Heechul crazy. Heechul wins then, Jongwoon thought. He cannot help but laugh at Kyuhyun's words.
It was only when his laughter subsided that he realized the other was staring at him. He felt self-conscious. "What?" He asked.
Kyuhyun moved his gaze away from him abruptly. Cheeks faintly pink.
"Are you blushing Cho?" He cannot pass up on this opportunity. It's his time to smirk.
"What?! Of course not! It's just s-super hot in here... I'm not used to grilling stuff..." He was moving the beef strips with the tongs in his right hand and used the other hand to waive away imaginary smoke.
"Right, just give me that then and go back upstairs" Jongwoon said as he tried to take the tongs from Kyuhyun's hand. Kyuhyun won't give it though, but Jongwoon won't back out as well.
"Give me that!"
"Nooo!"
"Give it to me!"
"NO!"
Kyuhyun moved away from the grill and held the object above his head, taking it away from Jongwoon's reach.
Then Kyuhyun just blurted out, "I want to stay here with you!" He seemed to have realized what he said. He quickly turned his back and went back to grilling.
A good thing, Jongwoon thought, or else Kyuhyun will see his face now, blushing too.
(End of CH)
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
I'm currently listening to Tiffany's I Just Wanna Dance album and Yesungie's Here I Am album. Kekeke... Just sharing :) Good morning! (It's morning here LOL)
- TMFG
Comments