04 ∞  where everything begins to fall into place

CHANGMIN - - -

“Oppa! You won’t be late for the party later, right?”

I don’t know how Yuri thinks going to my apartment early in the morning will do her any good on getting a nicer response from me, but here she was bouncing (what the hell) around in my kitchen while I prepare my breakfast for the day. I yawn loudly and ignore her, but of course she doesn’t notice.

“Hey, oppa…” she pleads, that sickly sweet tone audible in the way she spoke. I sighed, scratching the back of my head.

“Yes Yuri, I’ll be there. Now, stop talking.” I reply, putting down the food I prepared. She nodded, grinning happily and sat herself down next to me.

“You do realize I’m not nice to you, right?” I asked, not really wanting an answer. “That I don’t see as anything but a little sister?”

Yuri shrugged.

“I know, but that just makes you more interesting.”

She looked at me closely, a smile on her face. “No one ever talks to me like you do. You’re not nice to me, and I find that intriguing.” Yuri explained, “No one is ever rude to ‘Mr. Kwon’s daughter’, you see.”

I turn to look at her curiously. I met Yuri in Japan two years ago while researching for a paper I had to write. I vaguely remember her saying that she was looking for a book to read (though I wasn’t really paying attention and was ignoring her) and she thought mine would be interesting, so she sat down next to me. That day, she kept reading over my shoulder and asking me questions about it until I snapped and told her to be quiet. She smiled at me the way she smiled at me now. Curious, intrigued.

It still pisses me off.

“Why did you agree to this, Yuri? We both know this isn’t what you want.”

Her eyes dim, and her shoulders became stiff. I knew about her past. About the man she let go for her family’s happiness. The sad expression her face was enough for me to know what she was thinking about. And for a moment I felt bad about what I said.

That moment is fleeting of course. Yuri’s eyes became bright again after a second and she pinched my cheek. I scowl at her.

“There is no use looking back into the past, Changmin. My life is for the future.”

She grins at me, inching closer. I know where that was going and I glare at her, standing up at once.

“Your life is for the future, that’s true,” I replied, “but that future shouldn’t include me. I don’t want to be in that future.”

“Then why don’t you break this off then?”

I scowl. “If I could do that, I would have already done it.”

Yuri stepped towards me. “Or are you waiting for something?” She put her hands on my shoulders. Gently she pushed me to face her, and I meet her eyes dead on.

“Someone, perhaps?”

I frowned. The way her hair framed her face at that moment… an image of another person’s face flashed through my mind. I wince inwardly, knowing fully well who that person resembled Yuri at that moment.

Yoona.

“There is someone, ne?” she said simply. I ignore the smugness in her tone.

She shook her head at me before placing a kiss on my cheek. “You should find her and tell her how you feel before someone else does.”

I glare at her. “I don’t have someone, Yuri. I don’t have anyone to find or tell something to.”

Again she shook her head, and this time kissed me on the lips. There are no feelings that sparked, but I let her kiss me for as long as she needed…

“You’ve never kissed anyone?”

“What? I don’t give kisses to just any boy who comes by!”

“Yah, Yoona. You’ve never kissed anyone!”

“Shut up, will you!”

“Maybe I should remedy that?”

“What? Huh—”

. . .

“Let’s get back to class, Yoona.”

Suddenly, I hate myself.

YOONA - - -

“I’ll kill you if you ruin this dish!” I hear Jaejoong shout from outside the kitchen. I shake my head, laughing. He was prickly when it came to the perfection of his dishes – a trait I’m happy he has besides being so goofy all the time.

“There he goes again,” Boa, Jaejoong’s wife, said from behind me. They never told me how they got together, but from what I gather from the times I visit them at Jaejoong’s family’s home – they two met in culinary school while fighting over the use of truffles. In the end, Jaejoong’s mother told me, he gave her chocolates with truffles for Valentines’ day and she was shocked because she had some ready to give him as well.

“Oh unni, he’s just being… himself.” I told her, bumping my shoulder to hers in greeting.

Boa laughed and nodded. “That’s true. If he’s not screaming in the kitchen, that wouldn’t be him in there. I guess I should check on him and save those poor assistants he has inside.”

She waved at me before going in, and after a moment the commotion inside the kitchen stopped. I breat