1 ½ Years Later…

*Yunho’s POV*

“Are we there yet?” Junsu poked his head through the small opening of the wagon behind me. “No.” I answered for the 5th time. The younger groaned, “Can you hurry up? I really want to show Jaejoong the new moves I learned before I forget them.”

“If you forget them, then you never learned them.” I grumbled in irritation.

Yoochun squeezed his head next to Junsu, “Yah, can you pick up the pace? I have a conversation that I need to finish with Jaejoong that we didn’t get to finish last time.”

I growled now aggravated, gripping the reigns even tighter.

“Yah! Yunho. Did you hear me??” Yoochun said.

I ignored him.

“I said I need to finish a really important conversation with Jaejoong.” He repeated.

“Oh yeah! That reminds me. Jaejoong said that he’d show me ho-,”

“Jaejoong. Jaejoong. Jaejoong!” I cut Junsu off, unable to take it anymore.

The two of them went silent.

“That’s all you guys have been talking about the past 2 weeks!” I snapped. “Is he your friend or something?”

The two of them stared at me, not expecting my sudden outburst. “Uh, yeah.” Yoochun said as if it were obvious.

I glared at him. “No, he’s not! He’s my friend!” I spat and shut the opening closed, not wanting to hear another word from them.

Over a year and a half has gone by since I first went to Jaejoong’s house with Yoochun and Junsu, and unfortunately, they enjoyed themselves and immediately became “friends” or whatever. Ever since then, they’ve joined me on my visits. They don’t come all the time, but one time is already too many, so anything more than that was overdoing it. However, I only allowed it because Jaejoong was missing his friends. He seemed to lighten up whenever Yoochun and Junsu visit, for some weird reason.

A lot has changed over the past year.

Jaejoong and his friend Iseul graduated from their class in the middle of last year. Jaejoong spent his time working in the city, studying under other mentors to help expand his knowledge and abilities as he worked for them. He spent his free time experimenting and refreshing on his school learnings.

His friend, Iseul, suddenly moved to the Snow Kingdom a few months after they graduated. She didn’t say why, only that she knows someone who lives there, so that her friends and family didn’t have to worry about her being alone. It was suspicious, but she refused to give any details.

Nonetheless, Iseul did write frequently to assure everyone that she was safe. However, the Snow Kingdom was the furthest kingdom away from the Fertility kingdom, so the mail came in slow and thus, it was easy to forget to write all the time. But Jaejoong waited patiently for her letters. He seemed worried about his youngest friend, since it was rare that she kept secrets, if any.

Around the same time, it was announced that a marriage had been arranged between Prince Jiyong and the crowned prince of the Sunshine Kingdom. To my surprise, Jiyong seemed very much excited about it, despite never having met the guy.

I’ve never met the crowned prince of the Sunshine kingdom, despite them being our sister kingdom. My mother has tried to get me to meet him, in order to continue our friendship with them, but I refused. I could care less about making friends, especially for political reasons.

In late fall, Jiyong left for the Sunshine Kingdom to meet his fiancé and get accustomed to the kingdom that would become his new home in the near future. He’s supposed to return sometime this summer.

He wrote Jaejoong in the beginning. But his letters became less and less frequent, as he became too busy to write him.

I was surprised that Jaejoong wasn’t upset by his friends’ lack of letters. He understood that they were busy and living their lives and they did try hard to write him. But he didn’t want them to stress over something that he claimed to be trivial.

I didn’t agree with him and warned him that if he stopped writing me, I wouldn’t forgive him. To which, his response was only a “playful” eyeroll.

I personally didn’t mind their absence. That meant I could have the elder to myself (that is, when Yoochun and Junsu didn’t come). And it was annoying how they knew more about him than I did. Their childhood friendship was aggravating.

I finally stopped in front of the Kim’s farm hours later.

“We’re her-,” Before I could finish, Yoochun and Junsu jumped out the wagon, and ran straight to the front door. I frowned but followed them anyway.

“Hel-…Oh my! You guys are here!” Jaejoong’s mother was the one to answer the door. “Hello. Ms. Kim.” The three of us bowed in unison.

“It feels like forever since, I’ve seen you two.” She hugged Junsu and Yoochun tightly. Unfortunately, Ms. Kim seemed to love Yoochun and Junsu, especially Junsu.

“And hello to you too Yunho.” She smiled at me before giving me a hug. But I was still clearly her favorite.

“Jaejoong isn’t here yet. It’s still a bit early, so he’s still at work.” She informed, already knowing what I was about to say next. “I’ll pick him up.” I offered.

“Don’t you want to rest first? Or eat? You just had a long trip.” She said.

“I’m fine.” I assured her, already walking back to the wagon.

“We’ll go with you.” Junsu and Yoochun followed after me.

“No. I only have one horse.” I immediately unhinged the horse from the wagon.

“What about the wagon?” Junsu whined.

I climbed on top the horse after saddling it up. “You two can take the crates of food out and bring it inside.” I instructed. I then took off without waiting for their response.

I already knew where Jaejoong worked and what his schedule was like, so it wasn’t hard to find where he was.

He worked three jobs. On the weekends he assisted a nearby vet in caring and treating animals. On the weekdays, he worked for an herbalist in the morning and at Mr. Lee’s bread shop in the afternoon. After graduating, Mr. Lee promoted him from running deliveries to making bread with him.

I stopped by a couple of bakeries and food stands to buy a basket of sweets and other treats before going to Mr. Lee’s shop.

I entered the small shop, and per usual Jaejoong was lost in his work. I stayed out of sight, smiling as I watched him.

He put away the last of the dough and wrapped the bread that was ready to be delivered. When he was done, he wiped down the wooden countertops and swept the floor. He didn’t notice that I entered at all.

I was about to step further into the shop, when someone appeared from the back of the store. I scrunched my brow in confusion. That’s not Mr. Lee. It was a tall young man with long dark brown hair tied up. He looked about our age. He approached Jaejoong.

Jaejoong instantly noticed him. “You must be tired. You were out all day.” He stopped what he was doing to pour him a glass of water. “It’s been like this all week. I’ve been making deliveries nonstop.” The guy expressed.

Deliveries? Is he the new delivery boy? Why I haven’t seen him before?

“Here.” Jaejoong handed him the glass with a couple of slices of slices of freshly baked bread.

The guy smiled and thanked him.

“I don’t remember ever making that many deliveries.” Jaejoong recalled. He leaned against the counter, across from where the guy ate. “It’s because everyone loves yours and Mr. Lee’s bread.” The guy smiled cutely; his cheeks stuffed. “But I like your bread better. Don’t tell Mr. Lee I said that.” He added, earning a light chuckle from Jaejoong.

I frowned as they continued to talk. Who is this jerk anyway? I’ve never seen him before, but I already don’t like him. It was both weird and annoying seeing Jaejoong laugh and talk with him. He wasn’t even funny, nor was he interesting.

“I should probably get going. I have to get home early today.” Jaejoong said.

Finally!

“Are you sure you’re fine closing alone today?” He asked.

The guy nodded. “Are you okay going back home alone?” Jaejoong continued to question with concern.

I scrunched my brow at the strange question. Alone? Why does it matter to him?

“I’m fine Jaejoong.” The guy chuckled. “I’ll see you tomorrow night.” He smiled warmly.

However, Jaejoong was hesitant. He was about to ask another question when I quickly stepped out, further into the shop. “Yah!”

He waved at me. “Hello.” He greeted me with a friendly smile. I narrowed my eyes at him, not accepting his so-called greeting.

Jaejoong followed his line of sight, turning around. A large smile appeared on his lips when he saw that it was me. “You’re here.” He beamed.

I felt my anger dispel. I completely forgot about the jerk. I smiled back at him.

Jaejoong turned back to the guy. “I have to go now, but I’ll see you tomorrow.” He promised. The brown-haired guy nodded, “See ya.” He waved him farewell as he walked away. The jerk even waved at me, but I ignored him.

Jaejoong quickly ran up to me and greeted me with a hug. I smirked at the other guy who was still watching us, but he wasn’t fazed. Jerk. I thought.

“I didn’t know you were coming today. I thought you weren’t going to be here until tomorrow morning or late tonight.” Jaejoong broke the hug.

“We left early.” And I was glad we did. I sent the jerk a suspicious glare before following Jaejoong out the shop.

“We? Yoochun and Junsu came too?” He asked, delighted by the thought.

I nodded.

He smiled at this, “It’s been a while since I’ve seen them. I can’t wait to see them.” he said more to himself.

I scoffed at this, “You haven’t seen me in a while either.” After what happened 2 winters ago, I stopped coming in the winter. Jaejoong’s family couldn’t produce herbs I need for my father’s medicine, because of the snow and ice. And it was too dangerous to travel. I didn’t care about the herbs or danger, but Jaejoong threatened to never speak to me ever again if I came in the winter. So, whenever winter comes around, I have to wait 4 dreadful months before I could come back.

“Are we stopping by the garden first?” He asked, climbing onto the horse. I climbed on in front of him. “Yep.” I grabbed the reigns. He wrapped his arms around my torso for support. A crooked smirk etched my lips. I stole a final glance at the shop before hitting the reigns.

Over the past year, we always went to Queen Konomi’s secret garden whenever I visited. It had eventually become a tradition for us to go on the first day I arrive. After our second trip to the garden it became a lot easier to find it. It was still difficult finding it, however.

We found out that the garden was at the base of a small, slanted plateau that circled around it, which explained why we fell the first time. It was an odd place to find the garden, but I guess that was part of its magic.

We couldn’t bring my horse with us. Whenever we did, we couldn’t find the garden, despite following the correct path. So, we had to leave him at the park and travel the rest of the way on foot. I didn’t mind, but Jaejoong was the one who felt bad for leaving the horse alone for hours. He was weird.

“You brought food?” Jaejoong spotted the basket in my hand. We sat at our usual spot by the pond. Before I could answer he immediately opened the basket. “Mmm…I’m starving.” He hummed his mouth stuffed with his favorite pastry.

I watched him, speechless, as he ate happily. He didn’t seem to notice me staring at him, as he was too busy enjoying his food. I couldn’t help but frown. He wasn’t a big eater, so seeing him this happy over food wasn’t a good sign. “You haven’t been eating, have you?” I accused, catching him off guard. He looked at me a bit offended. “Yes, I have. I eat my regular meals.”

My frown deepened. “You only eat 2 meals a day, and your meals are small. Your first meal is not enough to sustain you through a long day of work. You need at least 3 meals.” I told him.

“Thanks for the advice Dr. Yunho, but unfortunately, we don’t live in a magically abundant palace nor are we a wealthy noble family. This is the most we can do.” He reminded in a slightly teasing tone, brushing off my concerns.