It was finally the day. The day that Kibum would finally be free of all his troubles with the army men. The rice was all harvested and packed in sacks. All there was left to do is to get the sacks into the forest where the army was hiding. With enough men, it should only take one trip to get all the sacks there as one person would only be able to carry one sack. Finally, Kibum wouldn’t have to see Minho and Yunwoo again.

Shouldn’t that make him very happy? Then, why isn’t he?

Despite everything that has happened, Kibum knew deep inside that he would miss the boy’s strangely luring eyes that could keep Kibum a prisoner if he didn’t have the will to look away. He knew he would miss the low baritone of his voice that was somehow soothing to hear after a long day. He knew that he wouldn’t ever forget the sad look that he got in his eyes when Jonghyun mentioned his parents in a conversation a long time ago.

 It was scary how all this can be summed up into one feeling, love. But Kibum doubted it. How could he love a stranger? It took him years to actually acknowledge the fact that he loved Jonghyun or Taemin.

Unless, of course, Kibum was in love with Minho. That would actually explain all the signs Kibum has displayed thus far. The instant connection with Minho (although it was one of hate) and the longing for his attention. Everything would be explained except one thing. Minho was a male. A boy. It was ridiculous, just the thought of it. Kibum couldn’t be in love with another guy. It was just not natural and it was never meant to be that way.

Those are the reasons Kibum used to shut the voice in his head up. He was not in love with Minho. He does not even love Minho. It was just a strange relationship he had shared with another person, one that was short-lived as they will be mere acquaintances by the end of today.

“Damn it!” Kibum cursed to himself as the light bulb in the barn refused to light up when he switched it on. It was particularly dark outside this morning as the clouds have rolled in, indicating the beginning of the rainy seasons. He couldn’t see much in the barn without the light bulb.

Kibum grabbed a wooden ladder and carried it over to the place where the light bulb hung. He had to check if it was the bulb that blew out or if there was another power surge in the barn. Placing the ladder underneath the light bulb, Kibum climbed onto the weak wooden structure carefully, making sure to check each step before placing his foot on it so that he doesn’t hurt himself.

Balanced precariously on the top two steps, Kibum reached to check the light bulb, just as the door to the barn opened. It was the bulb that was fused and not the wiring system. Kibum was glad he wouldn’t have to fork out a large amount of money (that he didn’t have) to fix the wiring in the barn.

“Hyung, the bulb is fused. Get me a new one from the storage room at the back,” Kibum told Jonghyun while unscrewing the bulb from the socket. He heard footsteps shuffling towards the storage room and back towards him.

“Here you go,” a voice that was not Jonghyun’s spoke to him. Kibum almost lost his balance just at the sound of the voice but he managed to stabilize himself, with some help from the other holding the ladder steady.

“Woah, careful there!” Minho told him. Then, he held the new bulb out to Kibum. Kibum took it and passed the old one to him, trying to make a quick work of changing the bulb. After a few minutes of shaking hands and wobbly feet not allowing him to do his job properly, Kibum finally finished screwing the bulb.

“Go switch it on,” were the first words Kibum spoke to Minho after all this time. Minho listened obediently. He went over and flipped the switch. The bulb flickered on, the sudden brightness blinding Kibum. He took a step lower in a rush to get away from the light.

Everything happened in the blink of an eye. The snap of the step on the ladder breaking reached Kibum’s ear and in a panic, Kibum clutched onto the ladder. This only caused the ladder to move and Kibum finally lost his balance. He only managed to turn his body to face the ground in time, his eyes closing, so that he could break the fall with his hands.

But the fall never came. Neither did the pain that Kibum expected soon after. Instead all he felt was a warm, strong grip on his waist and a sturdy, firm surface under his hands. Kibum opened his eyes again slowly as he was lowered gently onto the ground, the grip on Kibum’s waist not loosening one bit.

The world must have stopped spinning. It must have.

“Are you alright?” Minho asked with genuine concern and Kibum was tempted to look up into Minho’s dark orbs at the sound of it. He gave in to the temptation and looked up, instantly being into the black pearls of beauty that were Minho’s eyes.

Kibum couldn’t even utter a word. And for some reason, Minho seemed to be in the same trance that he was in, to notice Kibum’s lack of verbal response. Minho’s piercing gaze was threatening to bring down every wall Kibum had built around him. The distance between their bodies were practically non-existent, the heat emanating from his body messing up the rhythm of Kibum’s hearbeat. And the proximity between their lips…

I shouldn’t be thinking of that! Kibum scolded himself.

“A-are you okay?” Minho repeated himself, his eyes darting between Kibum’s eyes and lips. It made him feel so self-conscious, all of a sudden.

Could it be that he was thinking of the same things Kibum was?

“Minho, I thought you wanted to go see the grandmother or something. What are you doing here?” came Yunwoo’s voice breaking the magical silence that was beginning to wrap around them. Kibum finally came to his senses and pushed himself back from Minho’s hold (as reluctant as he was to get away from the amazing warmth.)

“Uhhh….yeah! I’ll be right there. You go ahead!” Minho said, running a hand through his hair awkwardly and messing it up.

“Is he giving you trouble again, Minho?” Yunwoo asked, glaring at Kibum.

“No, no. Just go. I’ll be there,” Minho told him a bit more firmly. Yunwoo finally left the barn. Kibum stood there not really knowing what to say or do.

“So I just saved your life. Does that make us friends?” Minho asked jokingly to bring back some normalcy between them, because even their arguments were more bearable than this awkward standing around. But that didn’t mean Minho wasn’t serious about what he was asking. Kibum could tell by the hopeful look he was wearing when he said those words.

“You did not save my life. You saved me from a fall. And why does it matter if we’re friends or not anyway? I won’t be seeing you after today,” Kibum finally voiced his thoughts.

“That’s not true. You’ll be seeing a lot of me, in fact. I am in charge of all the army supplies so I will be coming out of the forest for this and that a lot. And… we can’t carry back all the rice sacks by ourselves today. We’ll be carrying them back a little by little,”

“Nononono….,” Kibum repeated like a broken recorder, “That was not our deal. The deal was to harvest the rice and have it transferred into the forest,”

“That’s exactly what we’re doing. A few at a time,” Minho stated like it was the most obvious thing. Kibum had a feeling that this will only end up in another fight so he decided against retorting back to Minho. Instead, he chose to walk away from the boy, shaking his head.

“Kibum, what ab-“

“I’m older than you! Don’t get informal with me,”

“Okaaaay….-“ Minho dragged the last syllable out before continuing, “- Kibum-shii, what about that friendship deal?”

Kibum gave Minho the bitterest smile he could work up. Unfortunately, Minho mistook it for a genuine smile and smiled back charmingly.

“I’d rather sell my soul to the devil, Minho-shii.”

That killed Minho’s smile off immediately. Kibum took the moment to get away from him as quick as possible. He practically brisk-walked back to his house with Minho a few steps behind him. He saw Yunwoo standing with his grandmother in the porch.

“Halmeoni, as I was saying, Minho and I would like to thank you for being so kind to us when other people refused to,” Yunwoo said, obviously speaking with double meaning when he said the word ‘other’. Kibum just rolled his eyes at this.

“Oh, it was nothing! You boys are young, you need someone to look after you too, after all…” she said, wearing the warmest of smiles. Kibum noticed Minho’s eyes light up just a bit at those words of affection.

“You boys won’t be coming here anymore?” she asked after a while.

“I won’t be, halmeoni. But Minho will drop by once in a while to collect a rice sack or two,” Yunwoo explained.

“That means that this is goodbye for us, isn’t it? Wait here, let me get something,” Kibum’s grandmother left the three of them outside to go into the house. She came back out after a couple of minutes with a pouch in her hand.

“Here you go. Don’t refuse it! It’s custom,” she said as she gave the two military men some money. It was not much but Kibum’s grandmother insisted they take it. Kibum would never understand these ‘customs’ his grandmother practised.

Yunwoo and Minho both accepted the money gratefully. Kibum was beginning to think that he was looking at two new people instead of the Yunwoo and Minho he knew because of how polite they were being. They were never like that to him so why the sudden change?

It was not until that evening- after Yunwoo and Minho were both gone (carrying a heavy sack of rice each on their backs) and Kibum was finally done working- that all the events of the day came back rushing into Kibum’s head.

How does Kibum even begin to explain the things he had felt while standing in Minho’s arm in the barn early this morning? Every touch had been like electric sparks. Every look had been like a flame of desire. His body had overheated so much that Kibum had felt like he was being burned from the inside out.

And he had loved every second of it. He loved the way Minho’s hands held him so perfectly like it was made to fit his waist. He loved how their physiques complimented each other like a puzzle being put together; where he the thin and fragile, Minho was the strong, tall and muscular one.  Even their heights were perfect for each other. Kibum only needed to tilt his head slightly upwards to reach for those luscious, red lips with his own….

Kibum shook himself out of his own reverie. He felt afraid of his own thoughts. What was wrong with him? There must be something so wrong with him if he was lusting for another man. There were no words to explain the things he felt when he was with Minho and the things he wanted to do to him. It made Kibum’s mind spin in confusion because all overwhelming attraction he felt for the other. Kibum wanted to punch that handsome face of his for bringing about these puzzling feelings in him. He wanted to just beat up the guy until he was unconscious and incapable of causing these bouts of wonderfully warm sensations he felt in his heart.

 Strangely enough, the most violent thing Kibum could think of doing to Minho to stop these feelings, was to push him up against a wall and kiss him senseless.

I wonder if he even thinks of me in that way… Kibum mused.

Here Kibum was, beating himself up mentally for having such impure thoughts of Minho while the man who had caused all this in the first place is probably out there in the forest, having no worries about anything. This is the thought that pushed Kibum to put these feelings behind him. It couldn’t mean anything. It shouldn’t mean anything. Kibum should let nature take its course and fall in love with a girl, like boys were meant to. This thing with Minho, it’s just a phase. Just a period of insanity in Kibum’s life. His life had been a very eventful one through every stage, he doesn’t see why his first love would be anything ordinary.

Wait, no! Minho was not his first love. No, he’s more like his first lust (blame his raging teenage hormones for that.) But they say it’s easy to confuse the two, right?

That was it. Kibum is just confused. It will all soon go away and things would go back to being normal.

(A/N) A shorter than usual chapter but an update, nonetheless!!  

How are you guys liking this story so far?? I hope it's not too boring... Tell me what you guys think so that I can improve on it because I realize that my writing style is no where as amazing as some authors here on AFF (seriously, i think some of them are so good that they should be making money from their skills!! Like you, Shiny_A_Plus!! I almost died when I saw that you subscribed to my story!!!) It's always been a problem with me- I have all these great ideas that I just want to let people see but I ruin it with my inadequate skills....

Okay, I'm going to stop this self-pitying now!! Guys, thank you for reading and commenting and subscribing!! I really, really hope you like this *sings Wonder Girls song in a very horrible voice* Hehehehehe.....

Have a good day people!!!