“Annyeong, noona,” Changmin cheerfully greets me when he picks me up the next Saturday night. “I’ve missed you.”

I give him a quick glare as I climb into the passenger seat. “I missed you too, but don’t think up will make me forgive you any faster, mister.”

“What? You haven’t forgiven me already?” he asks, looking surprised.

“I have,” I sigh, smiling a little at his puppy eyes. “You’re still evil though.”

Changmin just laughs. “But you love me.”

“I do, but pull another stunt like that and...aish, never mind. You’re going to do what you want so I won’t waste my breath.”

“You’re learning,” Changmin smiles smugly.

“Slowly. Still, your plan didn’t work,” I remind him, leaning back. “Yoochun still got together with Jaehwa.”

He rolls his eyes. “He did get jealous, a little. And don’t remind me about that last bit.”

I look at him curiously.

“I don’t understand. Okay, I understand to a point, but what I understand doesn’t legitimize anything and reality just makes it worse,” Changmin explains.

“In Korean that means...what?”

“Jaehwa seemed to be the type Yoochun usually goes for and no offense, but you’re at least partially friend zoned.” He ignores my snort of sarcastic laughter. “At the same time, he clearly cared for you as more than a friend but he’s blind to your feelings and I’m surprised Jaehwa hasn’t started to annoy him.”

“Why?”

“Yoochun hates drama and I can already tell she’s a drama queen. Maybe it’s because they’re both so busy that it hasn’t come out more.”

“What’d she do to make you think that?” I ask, a thousand things coming to mind.

“You know the bracelet his brother gave him?”

“Yes.”

“When Jaehwa came over to the dorm last time, she took a fancy to it and tried to get Yoochun to give it to her. When he wouldn’t, she threw a little hissy fit and pouted even after he explained why it’s important to him,” Changmin says, frowning.

“How’d Yoochun take it?”

He crinkles his nose in mild disgust. “He went out and bought them couple bracelets.”

“Oh.”

“Hey, buck up, little noona,” Changmin smiles. “You’ve got me and Yunho on your team. I mean, we can’t do anything to break the two of them up, but it has counts for something."

“I guess,” I shrug. “By the way, what exactly are we doing?”

“Other than dinner...you’ll see. You’ll like it.”

“Not even a hint?” I beg.

“Yoochun said something about making good an old promise,” Changmin replies.

“A promise,” I repeat thoughtfully. By the time we reach the dorm, I still haven’t figured it out.

When we get to their apartment, Changmin makes me wait in the hall. “You can come in now,” he yells back after a few minutes of muffled voices.

“What’s going on?” I giggle when I walk into the living room to a strange sight.

A rippling sheet stretches between the two bookshelves, hiding the part of the room where the television normally sits. All the furniture’s been pushed to the edges of the room.

“Just sit down on the couch,” Jaejoong’s voice tells me.

“Yoochun oppa, what’s going on?” I ask, obeying anyway.

Yoochun’s smiling face pops out from behind the sheet. “That day I called you, I was thinking of the day we met and I remembered I promised you-”

A disembodied hand flies out to cover his mouth and pull him back behind the curtain. “Yah! You’ll ruin the surprise,” Junsu laughs.

“My bad.”

“Are you children ready?” Changmin’s sarcastic voice asks.

After their murmured assents, Yunho clears his voice. “Dearest lady, welcome to the DBSK dorm! And now, presenting for your personal pleasure, the one, the only, the legends of Korea’s pop music industry-”

“The longwinded,” Jaejoong interrupts.

After a humph, Yunho resumes. “As I was saying, please welcome Dong Bang Shin Ki!”

    My clapping is soon mixed with laughter as the five of them try to dramatically burst through the sheet, accompanied by ‘Balloons’ and dressed in parts of their animal outfits. I beam as I watch them dance, sing, and act their most ridiculous. Jaejoong has to drag Junsu and Yoochun away from cuddling my sides afterwards so they can quickly  retreat for a quick change behind the sheet. When they emerge again, they make their way through several more songs. It’s a different kind of performance than I’ve seen before. Although none of their power is lost, they all seem softer, to enjoy themselves more as they watch the enjoyment on my face grow.

When they wind down with ‘Beautiful Life,’ Yoochun walks forward with a gentle smile on his face. Bending on one knee and taking my hand, he sings the last line while looking me in the eyes. “I love my beautiful, ordinary life with you.”

I can only look back at him, my breath stopping.

His smile widens. “I promised you a concert when I made it big time, remember? Did you like it?”

I nod, letting go of his hand to throw my arms around his neck, too happy to speak.

Yoochun laughs and wraps his arms around me. “I’ll take that as a yes.”

“_____, what about us?” Yunho pouts. “Didn’t we do good?”

I smile and untangle myself from Yoochun to hug him. “You were amazing. Thank you!”

Of course, the remaining three get their own hugs and thank you’s, but I can’t help tackling Yoochun again.

“Thank you,” I whisper.

Yoochun doesn’t say anything, just lifting me off my feet to swing me around once and hugging me tighter. Pulling back a little, we let our eyes do the talking for us.

“Oppa? What are you doing?” a small voice asks.

All of us look toward the doorway to find Jaehwa standing there, her hand covering as her eyes begin glittering with tears.

“We were just messing around, Jaehwa. We gave ________ a mini concert and then she was giving us all hugs to say thank you,” Yoochun explains, hurriedly dropping me and going over to Jaehwa.

I stumble a little bit but find myself steadied by Yunho.

“_______ and I are just friends.”

“It didn’t look like that,” Jaehwa sniffles. “It looked like you were going to kiss her.”

“We’re just friends. I’ve never thought of _____ like that. She’s the same way. Right, _______?” he asks, looking back to me for confirmation.

Ignoring the wrenching of my heart, I lie through my teeth. “Right.”

“See? Come on, let’s take a walk.” Yoochun grabs a jacket and wraps a gentle arm around Jaehwa’s shoulder, leading her out of the apartment.

Still gritting my teeth, I turn to the remaining boys. “That was a little awkward,” I say, giving a strained laugh. “Thank you so much for doing this for me. It was wonderful. I’m getting a little hot so I’m going to step out for a few minutes but I’ll be back in a bit to help with dinner. Okay?”

    Barely waiting for their acknowledgement, I rush out of the room, making my way up to the roof. I run to the railing, first pressing my hands to the cold metal, then to my face. Looking around as my embarrassment fades, I realize some of the flowers from Junsu’s confession are still hanging up, now dried from hours in the sun. I reach up to break one off, putting it just below my nose. The flower retains a wisp of its original fragrance, hinting at the romance of that night.

    Frustrated with myself and my train of thought, I fling the flower away. However, it’s too late. My heart’s dilemma now occupies my mind, its silent cries echoing and stinging. I close my eyes in a futile attempt to banish them, but that only makes the pain worse.

“Why? Why does it have to be him?” I shout, demanding answers of the silent sky. “Why him?”

“It’s not really for it to decide, is it? Or us for that matter,” a quiet voice replies.

Giving a slight jump, I look over my shoulder to see Jaejoong walking towards me. I quickly turn away, mortified to have been discovered.

I feel him come beside me, resting his arms on the railing next to mine. “We can’t help who we love sometimes, ________. It just happens.”

I hesitate before answering, but decide evasion at this point is useless. “But it shouldn’t. He...I can’t love him, not the way I want.”

“Since when has the heart obeyed the mind?” he chuckles.

“Very rarely. It’s a well known fact,” another voice suddenly adds. Changmin comes to stand on my other side, twirling the flower I had tossed between his fingers. “Are you all right?” he asks me.

I nod.

“Pretty girls shouldn’t cry,” he says softly, reaching over to gently wipe away the lone tear trickling down my cheek that I hadn’t noticed.

I laugh half heartedly, wiping at my face to make sure I wasn’t crying. “I’m not pretty.”

Changmin turns me to face him. “None of that. You are not allowed to pity yourself. We both know hyung didn’t mean to hurt you. He doesn’t know how you feel. As for your comment, you are pretty, _______. Very much so. As well as smart, funny, brave, and loving. You’re a wonderful person and honestly, I like you much better than Jaehwa.”

“Changmin...”

“Don’t argue. You know I’m right.”

“Why do I feel you should be an oppa rather than a dongsaeng?” I quietly chuckle.

“It’s not just you. Sometimes Junsu messes up and calls him hyung,” Jaejoong says.

“I can’t help it if I’m more mature than the bunch of you,” Changmin counters.

“This coming from the person whose favorite things about Japan are based around food.”

“Point taken. So, out of curiosity, how long have you known about _______ noona liking Yoochun hyung?”

“Since a little before the last time we left Japan.”

I whip around to face him, completely surprised. “You knew and you didn’t say anything?”

“I hoped you’d trust me enough to tell me eventually.” He holds up a hand when I try to apologize, smiling. “It’s all right, ________. You were trying to be strong and deal with it on your own.”

I slowly nod.

Turning back to Changmin, Jaejoong continues. “Honestly, I’m still a little surprised I caught on as soon as I did; she was very good hiding it. I only caught her slipping up every once in a while. You?”

“It was a matter of observation and I asked her about a month ago. Actually, I saw it before she did after I found them sleeping together when we first got there.”

“You two slept together?” Jaejoong shouts.

“Shh! Not that way! Jeez, oppa. Don’t you know me well enough by now to know I wouldn’t do that?” I answer quickly.

Changmin chuckles and rolls his eyes. “Chill out, hyung. They just took a nap in the same bed the first day and noona looked really happy being so close to Yoochun.”

“He didn’t do anything, did he?”Jaejoong asks, looking into my eyes.

“No. Remember? ‘We’re just friends.’ Like he’d even be tempted to do something like that with me,” I say sulkily.

“Yah! What did I say?” Changmin bursts out, grabbing me in a bone crushing hug. “None of that. We love you, noona. Don’t forget that.”

“You’re not doing it right, Changmin. You’ve got to completely smother her.” Jaejoong joins in, pressing me between him and Changmin. “Trust me. My sisters taught me well.”

“Come on, guys. Get off,” I giggle into Changmin’s chest, trying to push the two of them off. “I’m fine now. I promise.”

“Nope. Not until you admit how beautiful a person you are,” Jaejoong says.

“Changmin.”

He shakes his head. “You heard what hyung said.”

“Fine. I’m an beautiful person.”

“Louder.”

“I’m an beautiful person.”

“Shout it,” Jaejoong orders.

“I’m an beautiful person!”

“What are you guys doing to _______?” Yunho stands a little in front of the door, arms folded across his chest and a smile on his lips.

“We were...um...” Jaejoong fumbles.

“It’s all right, oppa,” I sigh. “He knows too.”

He looks down at me, looking a little hurt. “You told him and not me?”

“He asked,” I shrug apologetically. I quickly hug him again. “Mianhae.”

“Does Junsu know too?”

“Junsu’s in his own little world half the time, you really think he noticed?” Changmin affectionately scoffs. “Not to mention he can’t always keep secrets well. If Junsu knew, so would Yoochun.”

“Yejin knows,” I add.

“So it’s only Junsu and Mr.Oblivious that don’t know, huh? Figures,” Jaejoong laughs.

“Why is Yoochun hyung is dating Jaehwa?” Changmin asks, running a hand through his hair.

“She’s not that bad, Changmin,” Yunho says, sounding like he only half believes it. “We don’t really know her well enough to judge.”

“Can we not talk about her?” I ask quietly, standing on tiptoes to fix the mess on Changmin’s head. “It was the start of a great evening and I miss hanging out with you all, so can we not let this ruin it?”

He nods, giving me a smile as Jaejoong puts an arm around my shoulder to lead me back to the apartment.

Halfway down the hall we meet a relieved looking Junsu. Smiling, he says, “There you all are. Jaejoong hyung, _____, will dinner take long? We’re starving.”

“We? So Yoochun’s back?” Jaejoong asks, entering the apartment first.

“Yeah. They came back a little while ago,” Junsu answers brightly.

    I feel my self stiffen involuntarily, but relax a little when Yunho rests a comforting hand on my shoulder. Even so, I avoid looking at the couple sitting together. Luckily, they stay in the other room while Jaejoong, Yunho, and I make dinner. During dinner, I risk a glance at Yoochun. He smiles at me, wordlessly telling me everything’s all right. I smile back, but my smile dims when I catch a quick glare coming from Jaehwa.

After we eat and clean up, I get ready to leave, already feeling sleepy. “I think I’m going to go, guys. Otherwise I’ll wind up sleeping on your floor.”

“We like you enough that we’d let you have the couch,” Jaejoong teasingly offers.

I smile and give him a hug goodnight. “Thanks, but I still think I should head home. We’ll do this again soon though, right?”

“I better go too,” Jaehwa says, kissing Yoochun on the cheek. “I’ve got an early shoot in the morning.”

We finish our goodbyes and walk out together even though I still feel a little awkward. When we reach the ground floor, I reach for the door, only to have Jaehwa’s hand slam it shut again.

I look at her questioningly.

Moving to stand between me and the door, Jaehwa makes me take a step back. Haughtily, she asks, “Did you not hear me last time? Do I need to remind you? Do I need to make myself clear?”

“What do you mean?” I ask, genuinely confused.

“Yoochun is mine,” Jaehwa says, enunciating each word. “So stay away from him.”

I take a mental breath to calm the sudden surge of anger I feel. I look her in the eyes and firmly reply, “Yoochun’s my friend, one of my best friends. I’m not going to stay away from him no matter who tells me to.”

“Think again. Stay away from him or else,” she threatens.

I sigh and reach around her to open the door. “Whatever. Goodnight, Jaehwa-ssi.”

I catch her smirk in the glass, but continue walking out, hoping for Yoochun’s sake that this is just a jealous blip in Jaehwa’s character.

============================

Annyeong my lovely subscribers! Yay! No writer's block on this chapter so it's on time! I've just finished my first week of uni classes so writing this was a very nice way to wind down. Despite me now being busy with classes again, I promise my updates will still be weekly because I actually have the plot line for this one half way laid out. Shocking, I know. Heck, it surprised me that I figured it out. Oh, and if you wanted to see my illustrations that I mentioned a while back, I now have them up on my blog so you all can check them out. Anyway, I hope you all had a great week and enjoy this update. Saranghae! ^^

nar12345: Yeah...I know. My only excuse is writer's block and I know that's a lame one. But hey, at least now she has three guys to help her through it, right? I promise it'll move forward more.

Mionyu: I'd have to agree...

tichiharahara: Patience is a virtue, but that doesn't help frustration, does it? I'll definitely continue and I miss them too.

MewNikkiChan: You should totally come visit me! The store's kimchi is so good! Yes, Yoochun is definitely a man child. Ke ke, I feel you on being in love with a manga character. I think you and Ayako would get along very well.

Jun_KOI_Mi: Yes, unfortunately she did. Ayako's a great best friend.

ljolson: I am playing around with that idea. I will tell you that if it does happen, it won't be one of the DBSK guys.

ChinkyKayla: You and me both honey, but I'd probably end up hugging him in apology after.

EhaaKevin: He does, he just hasn't realized the depth of it yet. Unfortunately it wasn't a test.

WhiteAutumn_x: Aw, thanks sweetie! ^^

PurpleangelSJ: I don't think she'd agree to date one of the members; she'd feel guilty knowing she didn't feel that way about them. We'll see how everything plays out.

yellow14: Don't hate Chunnie. Even though he makes her sad, he doesn't mean to and he makes her smile just as often.

YGFamilymember: I'll always update. Thanks! ^^

Champions27: It'll be revealed.