I watch my favorite "son" Yoogeunnie play with Hyunki, Lee Jinki-sshi's son.  They're playing Power Rangers and running around the house.  Heh.

It was then I noticed Jinki-sshi's house.  The place is pretty spacious and has lack of color taste.  I tried looking for Jinki-sshi, ending up finding him in the kitchen, cooking something for the children.

Hmm.  Should I help him in the kitchen, or should I explore the house which seems dusty?

....the house is very dusty.  Plus it needs some redecorating.

I'll stick with exploring the house.

I snooped around the main floor before going up the stairs to the 2nd floor.  Gosh, the place is huge!  But, too dusty!  Tsk-tsk!

The 2nd floor is even dustier, each room I walk into.  I finally walked into a decent looking room, but the room is the dustiest.  -__-

Come to think of it, if I clean up the place, this could be my type of room. :)  Maybe if I ask Jinki-sshi's permission, I'll be able to stay here and hide for a while.  My exboyfriend might be still looking for me.

I shivered at the thought of almost getting - well, I can never say the r word.  But yeah, that's what ALMOST happened.  Luckily, I kicked him in the balls and left him all the way in Seoul, and now I'm living in Daegu.  Kim Jonghyun is my past - I don't want to live that wild lifestyle anymore...

"Ahem."  My eyes widened as I spun around, meeting the slightly uncomfortable Lee Jinki standing in the doorway.

Well, at first he looked uncomfortable.  But now his face changed to a concerned expression as he continued to stare at me.

I sheepishly rubbed the back of my neck, showing a nervous smile towards him.  "Erm, sorry, I just couldn't help exploring the place out, and - "

Jinki-sshi cut me off.  "Kibum-sshi, why are you crying?  And you were trembling a second ago in thought."  Eh?  I was?

Slowly, I felt tears streaming down my face.  My hand raised up to my eyes and lightly touched a tear. 

Huh.  I'm crying.  Over something so stupid as that dino ex.

Quickly, I managed to wipe my tears away from Jinki-sshi.  No need to let him know my wimpy side.

Out of nowhere, he starts hugging me.  What the hell?

Despite the awkward hug, I just stood there in his embrace, confused.  "Jinki-sshi, um, ....."  I started out.

He interrupted me.  "Shhh.  Just let it all out.  If you want to tell me what the problem is later, feel free to tell me, okay?"  That was all I needed for the tears to continue flowing.  I pathetically sobbed onto his chest as he continued to comfort me by the pat of the back.

After a few minutes, I calmed down.  I backed away slowly from Jinki-sshi, only to have him hold onto my shoulders and guide me to sit on the bed.  My eyes darted to the floor.  I could feel Jinki-sshi's eyes staring at me as he sat next to me.

"Kibum-sshi, now what's the matter?  Why were you crying in here?"  he asked me.  Aish, do I tell him? .............hell, I got nothing to lose anyway.

Slowly, I began to tell him my story.  "Well, first off, I got a little bored so I felt like exploring your house.  Sorry.  I ended up in this room, and I really like this room, too.  I was also wondering later on, if I could hide here after dropping off Yoogeun at his place..."

Jinki-sshi looked confused.  "Wait a minute, hide?  From what?  And... don't you live next to Yoogeun?"

I sighed and continued on with my story.  "In an apartment.  Actually, the rent is overdued at my place and other than babysitting Yoogeun and hiding mostly at his place, I couldn't earn enough money to pay the rent.  So technically, the landlord's giving me 2 days to evacuate the area.  Today's the last day and I'm out of options here.  Jinki-sshi, I'm sorry if this is too inconvenient for you -"  He held out a hand for me to stop talking.

Jinki-sshi simply smiled at me.  "It's okay if you want to live here, Kibum-sshi, actually.  Hyunki would be glad to see Yoogeun more often if you bring Yoogeun here when you babysit.  Plus, it gets kind of dull in this house other than Hyunki and Minho here."

My eyes widened when he said that.  "Really?!  You're really going to accept me into your home?!"

He nodded.  "Yep, you kind of remind me of my late wife - not to sound creepy or anything!  Ummm..... but yeah, you could stay here if you really wish to.  I just need to know why you need to hide in the first place." he explained.

I nodded slowly and told him my..... terrible past. :

"It started in junior high school, when I first met this guy.  His name is Kim Jonghyun.  He was always the rebellious student at school.  I was sort of the same at the time, too, and we both got detention.  How?  Jonghyun got in trouble for making out with a girl in public.  I got in trouble because I beat the crap out of a bully who called me a Diva .  Jonghyun and I, out of boredom in detention, decided to become alliances and started doing more bad stuff in school.  We did almost everything we could think of - from tagging on the walls with spraypaint to stealing girls' underwears and stuffing them into the other boys' lockers.  We had the time of our lives, living freely.

My parents were never there for me - always working hard and never at home.  The one time they got home, we all started arguing.  My mother slapped me as my father punched me in the gut, both yelling at me for being irresponsible and kicked me out of the house.  At the time, I didn't care what they thought of me.  I didn't know what I wanted to do with my life, just to spend time with Jonghyun.  As I walked along the streets, I bumped into Jonghyun carrying groceries.

As it turns out, he was in the same situation as me a year ago.  He's actually living by himself.  Jonghyun invited me to live with him, and so I did.  We both graduated from junior high and moved on to high school.  That's when.... things started getting intense.

For one, we started drinking underaged and partying in clubs.  When people started fights, Jonghyun and I would join in, too.  We were called the Kim brothers because we have the same last names.  So, people basically thought we were related.

The 2nd thing that got intense was well...our relationship.  I slowly started to have feelings for Jonghyun, and got more closer with him.  At the time, I thought he only thought of us as friends, but one night changed EVERYTHING...."

I had to stop there because I didn't want to share intimacy details. 

Unfortunately, Jinki-sshi quickly understood yet pressed on for more information.  "Well?  Did this Jonghyun guy hurt you in bed?"

I bit my lip and looked away from him.  How the hell can this guy be so straightforward?! 

Oh yeah, he was married and has a kid.

"Did he?"  Jinki-sshi asked again.  I rolled my eyes.  "No, he didn't.  Although he was pretty wild in bed, he didn't hurt me much.  He was a pretty good lover, but then something happened after he graduated - he's a year older than me."

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes.  I could hear Jinki-sshi say, "What happened after he graduated?"

"He..... he almost got attacked by a muggler.  Out of defense, he.... he killed him."  I can imagine Jinki-sshi's shocked expression right now.  Of course.

"E-Ever since then, Jonghyun has been a b-bit a-agressive in o-our relationship.  So, I b-broke u-up with him.  B-But then he became a s-stalker, f-following me e-everywhere I g-go.  S-So, I ran away.  To here in Daegu."  I stuttered and in the end finished my story.  I looked up to see Jinki-sshi's expression.  It was the look of worry and concern.  Concern over...me.  Other than Mrs. Jung, Yoogeun's mom, I've never had anyone concerned about me.

It actually feels nice.

There was a long pause of silence until Jinki-sshi spoke. 

"You can come stay here, like I said before.  I promise to help you hide from that awful exboyfriend of yours."

My face brightened a bit.  "Really?  You'd do that for me?"

He nodded and stood up, holding my hand.  I realized he's been holding my hand the whole time I was talking to him.  "Come on, let's go play with the kids."  he suggested.  I nodded and smiled at him, standing up and following him downstairs to the backyard.

Out on the backyard, Yoogeun and Hyunki were starting a game called freeze tag.  Jinki-sshi and I joined in, all 4 of us playing for 5 hours until Mrs. Jung called on my cellphone.  Damn, I have to bring Yoogeun back.  Oh wait, I get to move here.

Jinki-sshi was kind enough to drive me to Yoogeun's apartment to drop off Yoogeun and help me carry my stuff from my apartment into his car.  An hour later, we drove up to his house and carried my stuff inside.  I was shocked to find Hyunki playing with a tall man who... looks like an alien, honestly.  O.O

The guy started staring at me, then back to Jinki-sshi.  "Hyung, who's the girl?"  he asked him as he nodded towards my direction.  Excuse me?!  I'm not a girl!!!

"Um... Minho, this is Kim Kibum, a good friend of mine.  HE needed a place to stay, and since we have so much room, I've decided to let him live here for a while."  Jinki-sshi explained.  The alien guy nodded and turned to me, suddenly smiling.

Wow, he's pretty cute.  "Hello, my name is Choi Minho.  I'm Jinki hyung's friend and brother of his late wife."  he greeted and extended a hand out.  I shook his hand.  "Nice to meet you, Minho-sshi."  I smiled back at him.

Onew's POV

After helping Kibum with his stuff in the pink bedroom that we never use (I told him we should all drop the formalities since we're living together), I let him go to sleep as I walked back downstairs to the kitchen.  Minho was sitting on a chair sipping coffee on the table by himself.

I looked around.  "Minho-yah, where's Hyunki?"

"I put him to sleep."  He said with unemotion.  My eyes widened.  "WHAT?"

He started laughing.  "Not like that, hyung.  I sent him to bed."  I glared at him as I walked past by him and searched through the fridge.  He still laughed, but slowed down as I heard him mumble audibly.  "....he looks like Eunae."

My body stiffed as I heard him.

"Eunae can't be replaced, you know that."  I spun around and looked at him.  I sighed deeply.

"I know.  I'm helping Kibum hide from his abusive exboyfriend."  With this statement, Minho widened his eyes and looked at me.

"He's gay?"  I nodded.

Minho sat there, contemplating on the matter.  "No wonder he looks like a girl.  He's like a male diva version of Eunae."  I chuckled at his evaluated comment.

"His favorite color's pink, you know."  I mentioned to him.  I saw Minho bit his lip as he continued to daze.

"Eunae's favorite color."  I nodded once more before walking out of the kitchen.

On my way out, I could hear him mumbling, "Well this'll be interesting...."