Yonghwa chuckled softly but there was no humor that could be heard in the sound. It was a good day that day – well, for a lot of SM Town fans most especially. A few days had already passed since the first SM Town 2010 concert took place but people still couldn’t stop talking about it. They specifically couldn’t stop talking about a certain number in the concert – Seohyun and Kyuhyun’s duet.

            All he could hear, listen and read for the past how many days was how ‘SeoKyu’ was the most romantic, well-paired couple in KPop. Everyone thought they looked and sounded perfect together. Everyone did except for him. Yonghwa sighed as he stayed glue to the stool he was sitting on in a very private bar. Staring blankly at his glass of whiskey in front of him, he sighed once more before he picked it up, swirled the contents around for a while and took a sip.

            It was like everyone forgot about him and YongSeo. Though he was just married to Seohyun in We Got Married, that didn’t mean he didn’t like her for real. Heck, he was madly in love with her. But did everyone else realize that he did? Did everyone realize that he was hurting? No. Yonghwa knew that the duet was just work but what could he do? He didn’t know if she loved him as well and as far as what he could tell from the videos of the duet that he watched, there was a chance that she liked Kyuhyun.

“Drowning your misery with alcohol, oppa?”

Once the very familiar voice reached his ears, he turned around and he immediately saw the owner of the said voice. “Sooyoung?”

The tall brunette smiled at him but the smile didn’t reach her eyes. “I wasn’t expecting to see you here.” Sitting on the empty stool beside him, she gestured for the bartender to approach her. “One dry martini please.”

“I could say that myself.” The CN Blue lead vocalist arched an eyebrow. “SNSD’s cheerful princess drinks?”

Sooyoung smirked. “Yah! I’m already in the right age.”

He nodded slowly at that before he asked for a shot of vodka from the bartender as well. “So what brings you here?”

“Probably the same reason why you’re here.”

Yonghwa turned to face her and for the first time he noticed the sadness in her usually happy looking eyes. “Kyuhyun?”

Though he didn’t directly ask the question, she could read between the lines. “Surprising, isn’t it?” She sighed. “People think KyuYoung is just some online thing... A Super Show trend. It’s much more than that. Well, at least for me”

“It’s funny how we both love two people who we’re not even sure love us back.” The brown haired man shook his head sadly. “Funny how we have everything we could ever wish for except for that.”

Sooyoung waited until the bartender finished giving them their drinks before she replied. “I guess it’s true how we can’t have everything we want.”

“Cheers to the two broken hearts.” Yonghwa held out his glass and once Sooyoung clinked her drink against his, the pair downed the alcohol quickly. “By the way, you look great.”

She laughed, looking down at the short black dress and high heeled pumps she was wearing. “You’re drunk, Yong.”

            Yonghwa thought that he was going to spend the night alone in the bar but in the end, the opposite happened. He had met Sooyoung before through Seohyun and though they were friends, he could say that he wasn’t really close to the shikshin as compared to her relationships with the male idols of SM. But he knew that the drinking escapade would change that. As he listened to her blabber about random things, he couldn’t help but study her a little. Everyone saw her as the noisy, always hungry and blunt SNSD member. But as he watched her, Yonghwa saw a different side of her. He saw someone in pain who was trying so hard to be okay, to be the Sooyoung everyone knew. He saw someone who let go of her façade just this once.

He saw himself in her.

o-o-o-o-o

            Kyuhyun stormed through the halls of the SM Building in search of a leggy brunette by the name of Choi Sooyoung. After a short conversation with Yuri a few minutes ago, he had to talk to her especially after what SNSD’s Black Pearl informed him. To say that he wasn’t happy with what she had told him was understatement. Kyuhyun turned at the corner and it didn’t really surprise him when he found her standing in front of a coffee vending machine, having a hard time figuring out what to get to cure her pounding headache.

“YAH! CHOI SOOYOUNG!”

The tall brunette looked away from the machine to face him. She was about to smile when she decided otherwise after seeing the look on her face. “Oppa, is there something wrong?”

“I should be asking you that!” He exclaimed as he reached her, thankful that no one else was in the hallway. “Where the hell were you last night?”

She turned her attention back to the coffee vending machine, inserting some coins in the slot. “I was out.”

Kyuhyun made a face at her. “Yuri told me that you came home early in the morning and very tipsy.”

Sooyoung frowned, wondering just why in the world that Yuri had a problem with keeping shut. “I just went out to drink with a friend.”

“You don’t drink, Soo.” The maknae folded his arms over his chest.

She furiously pressed on the button for a cappuccino coffee, turning her head to glare at him. “Don’t act like you know me, Cho.”

“I think I know you very well, Choi.” He glared back at her. “Which is why this drinking or whatever it is you call it of yours doesn’t sit well with me.”

“Don’t act like my brother.”

His jaw dropped at her reply. He was about to recover from his shock when a distant voice interrupted their conversation. “SOOYOUNG UNNIE!”

            The pair turned their heads and saw Seohyun walking rapidly towards them. It didn’t take an Einstein junior to figure out that she was upset judging by the look on her face as she made her way to where they were. She stopped beside Kyuhyun once she reached them and sent a sharp look at her unnie. Taking out her phone, she held it up for her to see.

“Unnie, what’s this?”

            Sooyoung took the phone and her eyes widened when she saw what SNSD’s maknae was talking about. Apparently someone who saw her and Yonghwa in the bar last night was able to take some pictures and posted it online. She sighed as she went through the series of pictures which were mostly of her and Yonghwa looking like they were having a great time getting to know each other.... and not to mention getting tipsy. So much for being a private bar.

“You were with Yonghwa oppa last night?” Seohyun asked, obviously demanding for an answer. “Why didn't you even tell me?”

The older woman opened to answer but no words came out. Kyuhyun took the opportunity to get Seohyun’s phone from her to look at the pictures himself. “You came home late and very tipsy because you went out drinking with Yonghwa?”

Sooyoung was about to explain when another voice entered the conversation once more. “Soo! There you are!” The smile on Yonghwa’s face soon disappeared when he realized that Seohyun and Kyuhyun were with her.

Seohyun locked eyes with her onscreen husband before turning her attention back to Sooyoung. “Unnie, if… if you feel something for him, you could at least tell me! You could’ve been just honest with me instead of leaving me to find out from the internet!”

            Yonghwa wanted to help Sooyoung so much but for some reason, Kyuhyun’s glare kept him in place and instead, he glared back at Super Junior’s maknae. As far as he and Sooyoung were both concerned, she didn’t deserve to be ganged up on. All they did last night was to talk and get to know each other as friends… nothing more, nothing less. Yonghwa arched an eyebrow as if challenging Kyuhyun to try and get in the way of what he wanted to do.

“HOW ABOUT YOU MAKE YOUR MIND UP ABOUT THEM?!”

            The two men finally tore their gaze from each other as they stared at the very pissed of shikshin with wide eyes. Even Seohyun stopped her ranting; her jaw dropping in shock. Sooyoung looked so angry that neither of the three knew what to say. She didn’t want to be angry at all and most of all, she didn’t want to shout at her Seobaby like that. But there was only so much she could take. She could tell that Seohyun was torn between Yonghwa and Kyuhyun. That didn’t mean that she had to be caught in the middle.

Lowering her voice this time around, Sooyoung looked at her sister with tears in her eyes. “You can’t love them both.”

            All three of them watched in silence as Sooyoung walked away from them, storming down the hallway to wherever it was she wanted to go. Yonghwa sighed; his eyes locking with Seohyun’s once more. She felt so bad and guilty for what she did to her unnie and that showed on her face. But what she couldn’t understand was the unreadable expression of her onscreen husband’s face. Seohyun wanted to explain so badly but even she couldn’t justify her acts anymore.

            Kyuhyun glanced at the two, not wanting to intrude. So just as he was about to go and run after Sooyoung, who he was a hundred percent sure was crying already, Yonghwa suddenly broke his gaze from Seohyun and ran towards the direction Sooyoung went. The two left stayed frozen in their place, not knowing what to do or say. God, it hurt like hell for the two of them. Kyuhyun’s hand curled into a tight fist. Seohyun let out a soft sob as tears fell from her eyes. He sighed once more before reaching out to comfort the other maknae… the person he only considered as a friend and nothing more.

Misery does love company.