“Everyone can see we're together. As we walk on by. And, and we fly just like birds of a feather. I won't tell no lie. All, all of the people around us they say. Can they be that close. Just let me state for the record. We're giving love in a family dose.”—We are Family by Sister Sledge

"Yunho, hurry up!” Shim Changmin shouted on the sidewalk with two other of Yunho’s friends, Sungyeol and Myungsoo—the latter two were always together, as if they were connected at the hips. They are best friend who had gone through childhood together, therefor Yunho half understood their affinity for the other.

The bright morning sunlight shone behind the trio, casting a warm, welcoming glow on the world.

“I am coming!” Removing his breakfast sandwich from his mouth, Yunho groaned. He quickly shoved it back in his salivating mouth, holding the softening bread with his teeth, and squeezed his feet in his tennis shoes, busying his hands with fixing his dirty white shoelaces.

“Why are they screaming this early in the morning?” Yunho’s ninety-nine-year-old great grandfather crooned, leisurely walking onto the spacious yard with his three year old black cat, Chrysanthemum, in his arms.

The sun reflected off Poppi’s snow white thin wisps of hair, casting a golden glow on his olive skin and dark eyes.

The trio on the sidewalk gave a deep, proper military bow, greeting the elder. He waved and lightly shook his head in their direction as a form of greeting.

Though Yunho’s great grandfather was considered constitutionally senile as he was passed the age of seventy, he was as sharp of mind as anyone could be. Those sharp vanilla dark eyes of his did made that clear.

Seventy was the age that people were required to retire for most jobs and declared as constitutionally senile. The policy applied to their governing bodies too, and that was why the supreme leader, if she/he was elected at thirty—five must step down peacefully at seventy. Though she/he could become a mentor to her/his successor; taking such a position after retirement was highly encouraged, and most did do it.

His Poppi, as Yunho and the rest of his family addressed his great grand—poppa, was a soft—spoken man of few words and a quiet disposition. He spent most of his days playing board games with his friends at the downtown social center, drinking well brewed tea accompanied with well baked delicious pastries, and reading books while petting his beloved cat, Chrysanthemum--the child of his late wife’s last present to him. Chrysanthemum’s mother passed three years ago.

Yunho loved his Poppi and was rather closed to him.

Yunho never knew his paternal great grandmother, Poppi’s wife, who died before he was born. He knew his maternal great grandparents and grandparents before all four passed in a vehicular accident. They were traveling home on the national train from their vacation when a huge storm occurred, and the freak accident killed everyone that was on that line. It had been a national tragedy.

He was too young when it happened, and therefore did not greatly mourn their death.

His paternal grandparents were still alive, given that they work in the service department, their retirement age is exactly at seventy. Majority of early retirees worked in the physical labor sector. The hard work took a toll on their weathered bodies which gave them plenty reasons to retire younger. His grandparents had a few more years to go. They made it clear, unlike Poppi, they would live in an elderly home when they retire.

Elders are respected and revered, as they've worked all their lives to improve their great civilization, that was why the state takes care of them at retirement. They are like ancient artifacts.

Fixing his two—stringed bag on his back, Yunho’s older sister, Sanah, age twenty, dashed passed him.

His three friends greeted his beautiful older sister, smiles stretching a hundred miles on their face, eyes moony and dripping with admiration.

She was the female version of him, except with softer features and much more beautiful. She was tall—taller than most women and men— muscular and carried an air of elegance around her. She commands and scares people with her powerful, sometimes overbearing, presence.

“Good morning Yunho’s older sister,” Sungyeol shouted with a large, gummy smile, waving enthusiastically.

She smiled in their direction and waved. “Hello kids.”

They swoon with glee. It was as if she were a politician from the way they were reacting, Yunho thought, amused.

They were like most siblings. The older they’ve gotten, the closer they’ve gotten.

As a History major, she had no similar interest with her baby brother. Yunho would catch her spending hours talking to Poppi, who also majored in history and had taught at the state university in their prefecture, had written papers, books, given lectures, and traveled the country. The two viewed the world through similar lenses.

“What are you still doing here?” She asked, distracted. She appeared to be in a rush.

“I am going.” He smiled at her. “You, why are you in a rush?”

Running her fingers through her shoulder length hair, Sanah laughed. “I woke up late. I am going to be late for my first lecture. The professor is extremely harsh on punctuality.”

“Run.” Yunho smiled waving as he jogged toward his friends.

“I will. Be safe,” she said dashing for her bike and jumping on it.

“I will. You too.”

“Yunho, hurry up!” Changmin snapped, and quickly looked at Sanah, giving her a charmed smile. She chuckled at his quick transformation.

Rolling his eyes, Yunho fastened his pace, now running.

Yunho shouted his bye to his great grand—poppa who positioned himself in his rocking chair under a large tree. The man hardly looked in his direction, he was too busy looking blankly in the distance, enjoying Neap’s refreshing morning under the delicious shade of the tree, and petting his purring cat.

His mother, Jung Saera, a marriage planner, would bring Poppi his morning tea and light breakfast before she would go to work.

Her job was located downtown and was a very corporate, office like job. Her duties differed from a wedding planner, who is specialized in preparing the hall where couples are wedded, choosing invitation and sending them out, the theme of the ceremony, the decor and doing the decoration, and more.

A marriage planner was someone whose job was to help families find the perfect marriage candidate for their child. A lot went into the process, like aptitude test scores, compatible interests, and intelligence, besides other factors that must be considered.

A list would be drawn with all the potential candidates, it was known as The List. The level A candidates are people that are from the same department, same prefecture, and same school that meets a lot of the criterias; B candidates are from the same department, but different prefecture, and so it goes down the list. The job was tedious and meticulous, and the workers were highly revered and placed in the same category as health workers, only below the most respected professionals, politicians.

His dad, Jung Jinwoo, was a high—ranking police officer. Though, their little prefecture was mainly quiet with no high profiled crimes, he would sometimes sojourn to other provinces to help with their criminal unit.

Yunho was proud of his family. They’ve all contributed to the greatness of their country, and they continued doing so with each generation, including his. They made Peyisivil civil.

Yunho’s home was near his campus, therefore he did not have to take the public train. If he wanted to go in town, he would have to take it. The school was near the large wood that serves as a border in that part of the country. Therefore, he lived closer to the border, and the barbaric Korems than he would like. But the region was beautiful, and his family had lived there for generations.

The Jung family’s house had a large yard that was located with a small citrus grove, and filled with numerous of different trees, some that bore fruits and some that simply offered shades that protected idyllic afternoons spent lounging in the large hammock. It was Yunho’s favorite way to spend his precious few free afternoons.

Some mornings Yunho would take his bike to school, but because he usually walked with his friends he would leave it at home. However, he would regret that choice in the afternoon. After a hard day of drills, walking home all tired, all he wished for was that he could get home faster to shower the yucky sweat off, eat dinner, and sleep—he felt as if he never got enough sleep.

“Let’s go.” He smiled stepping on the quiet sidewalk.

The street was lightly populated with a few walkers, mainly school students.

Sunbeams coruscated on the asphalt, and the shadow of the trees on the ground waved when a gust of wind blew through the town.

“Finally,” Sungyeol sighed, making Yunho give him a stink eye.

As they walked to school, stopping by a small snack store to fill up on sweets and junk food, Yunho couldn’t help but admire the natural, green beauty of his town.

It was a cool, refreshing morning. The sun was warm, lending its light to Yunho to better take in the beauty surrounding him with clear lenses.

Opening a bag of crisps chips, he saw a back he was happy to see. It was his favorite singer.

Jaejoong was walking alone in a brisk pace in front of him and his growing group of friends. They had slowly been joining Yunho and the original trio as they made their way to school.

Smiling he shouted his name and farcically waved, “Jaejoong!”

The male stopped walking to turn around, sighted Yunho, and waved with an equally as large grin.

Jaejoong was much warmer and welcoming than his icicle countenance belied. Yunho loved the stark difference.

Yunho felt warmed to his core.

The opaque haired male’s grin told him that he regarded him as more than just a stranger he goes to school with. That knowledge pleased Yunho more than it logically should.

Looking at his friends Yunho said, “I’ll be back.”

Changmin rolled his eyes and groaned. “No, run to your best friend. Leave us, your old friends, behind.”

Groaning and rolling his eyes back at him, Yunho slapped his buff friend on the arm and ran to meet up with his new friend, as Changmin called Jaejoong. In the background, his immature friends made animal noises.

“Good morning.”

Jaejoong nodded back at him.

Furrowing his thick, dark, well—shaped eyebrows he inquired, “Is it okay to leave your friends?”

Yunho unconsciously looked back at the boys who had already forgotten him and were playing in a rough manner.

He shook his head with a colossal smile, breathing in the clean morning air. “They’re good. What about you, why are you alone?”

“I woke up late, so I had to take the second train.”

“That . You live far from school?”

“I wouldn’t say far,” he mumbled. “But, it would take me around, hmm, maybe two hours and a half to briskly walked to school.”

“That’s far,” Yunho snickered, making Jaejoong simper and looked up at him through those prepossessing doe eyes of his.

He slipped the chip bag in front of Jaejoong, encouraging him to take some. He accepted and grabbed two small pieces, making Yunho chortled.

“Scared of gaining weight before the monthly weigh—in, Singer Kim?” he joked.

The teen shook his head and looked down at his flat, toned belly. “I am actually in great shape.”

Did he put his foot in his mouth again, Yunho wondered, a lump forming in his throat? He stared at Jaejoong, trying to detect any dark emotions. He saw none and relaxed a bit.

Jaejoong was not as sensitive as Yunho kept on perceiving him as.

Jaejoong tittered at the conspicuous emotions that waltzed across Yunho’s handsome face, and added, “I check my weight weekly, as I do not exercise as often as I would like, but with drill practice I haven’t had to.”

“True. Strenuous thing,” Yunho hastily concurred.

“True that.” Jaejoong made a twisted expression of displeasure.

Yunho found himself laughing again that morning. He could not help but smile and be genuinely happy when he was with the angelic choral member.

Given that the country operated under a mixture of socialism and communism, the state made it its business to monitor citizens’ health. Being over or underweight, even by a slight decimal, ensued in a health regimen that would make sure the recipient never slipped out of shape again. It was for the good of the citizens.

Their big sisters and brothers would always look out for them. It was their job to always be on top shape and be ready at moment's notice to fight and defend Peyisivil if attacked.

Their time together ended too soon.

That morning Jaejoong was actually talkative, taking Yunho by surprise—one that greatly pleased him.

The singer met up with two of his friends who were waiting for him by the road under the shade of multiple large trees. They did not seem too pleased when their eyes landed on them and one of them, the taller male, shouted some profanities at Jaejoong, unabashed.

Jaejoong laughed and apologized in his habitual serene composure.

In position to run and join them, Jaejoong looked back at Yunho, face alive, appearing more beautiful than Yunho had ever seen him outside of his performances when he would transform into an ethereal being, he dipped his head in farewell.

Yunho waved at him, words stuck in his throat.

Yunho went back to his rowdy group of pals and Jaejoong lightly jogged to meet his own nagging friends.

Without giving their new budding relationship a deeper though, Yunho found himself lingering near Jaejoong during lunch and talking to him with hurried laborious pauses.

He always rambled himself out of breath. He just had so much to share, and Jaejoong’s tranquil presence made him feel at ease, as if he could tell the other male any and everything and he would understand. He would just get him—get it.

Jaejoong just got everything.

During lunch Yunho would discussed his future plans to join the military—his dream—with an attentive Jaejoong. He shared that his love for chemistry has gotten him in a difficult position, because he wanted to be admitted to the state university in the capital and major in chemistry, but he also desired to join the military combat unit.

Yunho laughed, telling Jaejoong his father had help him settle on a decision somehow—it was still tentative: he would join the state chemical warfare program and work on creating bombs for the military.

“It’s not like we are in a war right now, right?” he added, his eyebrows arching up, forking steamed vegetables in his mouth, the corners of his lips lifted.

Jaejoong nodded.

Whatever route he’d take in life, Yunho wanted to come back to the military. His love for his country ran deep and he wanted to help protect their territories and capture the other ones that were stolen from them by their neighbor Korem during the twenty years war.

Jaejoong could not help but find Yunho the most fascinating when he was discussing his passions.

Yunho who usually wore his glasses during lunch would lift the slipping black frame and positioned it higher on his nose bridge, his smile ever iridescent and arresting.

Yunho was igneous, lit from within with a confidence, content happiness Jaejoong craved.

Jaejoong wanted to be passionate about something—anything—in his life like the charming general.

“You can, umm...stop calling me Singer Kim, you know?” Jaejoong positioned, pressing his lips together, raising his eyebrows in an awkward expression.

They were sitting under a group of black oak and tulip poplar trees on the grassy ground, eating their lunch in the thirty—minute time span allotted.

Yunho noticeably blinked and blushed, laughing loudly with his mouth wide opened. “Sorry. Horrible habit.”

Jaejoong nodded. “It’s okay. It is just—I am not used to being referred to as ‘Singer Kim.’”

He nodded, promising, “I'll try harder.” He forked his food in a playful manner.

Yunho would not say it, but he enjoyed addressing Jaejoong as Singer Kim. It was his own special nickname for him. He’d always wanted to give someone a pet name. He would respect Jaejoong’s wishes, however.

“Jaejoong is fine.”

“Jaejoong,” he tasted his name.

Jaejoong’s heart quickened at his affliction and pronouncement of his name.

“Yeah,” Jaejoong muttered, ducking his face to hide his shameless staining cheeks and stuffed food in his mouth.

Writer's note: You guys are AMAZING! Thank you for the comments, it made my days and gave me so much energy. The next chapter is currently being edited and will be out soon.