Chapter 18
Kyuhyun was seated away from the group yet again. It was always like this; him sitting by himself, while the others converged together, although Ryeowook always made it a point to stick close to him whenever he noticed the division happening. But it also wasn’t easy for the eternal magnae. It was hard to have to keep up on both sides, especially when he knew that it didn’t have to be that way.

As Kyuhyun continued staring into space for the past couple of minutes, Zhoumi sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. They were currently waiting for one of their scheduled filmings to start and there really was nothing for all of them to do but wait. And in waiting he saw what had become of Kyuhyun and of the group.

He was Kyuhyun’s best man. But he really couldn’t bear the fact that he had cheated on his wife and he wasn’t even drunk! He was Kyuhyun’s best friend before Jin Ri ever came into the picture. But he had become her best friend as well and he couldn’t just choose one over the other. Even if Kyuhyun thought that he had chosen Jin Ri’s side over his, he really didn’t. He barely talked to Jin Ri since he found out, not really knowing what to say to her, not knowing how to comfort her. Of course, the fact that he was all the way in China, was a big factor to that.

Kyuhyun then suddenly looked up and smiled at the crowd that had gathered during the filming. Before anyone could do anything about it, he suddenly stood up and went to the fans that had been chanting his name the entire time. He shook their hands, gave autographs, and hugged some others. He had half a mind to stand up and take him away before things got out of hand. Fans tended to become too greedy, after all.

The younger one had taken a sudden liking to interacting with the fans. Not that he hated doing so before. But everyone had noticed that he seemed to talk with fans more, seemed to give in to their photo and hug requests more.

“You do know why he’s doing that,” a voice commented.

Zhoumi glanced to his right and gave Sungmin a blank look. The shorter man had his eyes on Kyuhyun, as well, watching carefully as the fans shirts, gifts and other related items onto Kyuhyun’s hands.

“He doesn’t have anyone else,” Sungmin continued, elaborating further. “Granted he has Ryeowook. But he knows he’s being a burden to him already.”

“What are you talking about, hyung?” Zhoumi asked, unable to keep the curiosity out of his voice. He returned his gaze towards Kyuhyun, who seemed to be much happier than the past couple of hours.

“He’s searching for affection everywhere he can,” Sungmin explained patiently, clasping his hands behind his back. “And right now, it seems the fans love him the most.”

Zhoumi scoffed. “No one loves Kyuhyun more than we do.”

“Seems strange, though, how we who love him the most isn’t really talking to him right now,” Sungmin went on, giving the tall Chinese man a sidelong glance.

Sungmin chuckled lightly as Zhoumi let out a frustrated breath. He knew he understood what he was driving at. He was the one who was the most stubborn out of all of them, after all. After Ryeowook had talked to Sungmin, Sungmin made it a point to get through to each of the other members, to have each of them ease the Super Junior magnae back into their affections. As it turned out, Henry actually texted with Kyuhyun often, while Eunhyuk was just waiting for someone to give him permission to talk to him, afraid that Zhoumi would go off on him if he found out. Siwon and Donghae, meanwhile, were both just so busy with their other activities that they barely had any chance to talk to the other members.

Even so, with Zhoumi still not talking to Kyuhyun, all other members found it difficult to openly do the same.

“Why did he even have to do it?” Zhoumi asked in frustration. “There were so many things he could have done in order to appease his anger or get back at her, if that was what he wanted. So many other things.” He sighed and shook his head. “He just had to do one of the most unforgiveable things in a marriage.”

“I agree with you,” Sungmin conceded. He took a step forward when Kyuhyun suddenly tripped on one of the cords by his feet when Ryeowook and the manager got to him on time. “I agree with you,” he repeated, watching as the manager finally brought Kyuhyun back to his seat. “But Kyuhyun’s new at this and he’s young, they both are.”

“He’s 27,” Zhoumi grounded out.

“He’s young,” Sungmin reiterated. “And Jin Ri is his first person he ever truly fell in love with and they got married at once. They’re bound to make a lot of mistakes—.”

“Not like this,” Zhoumi hashed. Sungmin turned to completely face Zhoumi, who looked at him. “What?” he defensively stated.

“I am trying to get you to see that despite the gravity of his mistake, he is making up for it already. Jin Ri is not speaking to him. They’re far apart,” Sungmin specified. “He doesn’t need us ignoring him, too. We’re supposed to be on both of their sides because we love them both and because we would rather they get back together than go through a divorce.”

Zhoumi blinked once then he blinked again. “What… are you saying? Are you saying that… Jin Ri’s thinking of…?” He couldn’t even bring himself to finish the sentence. It was too unimaginable for the couple.

“Heechul hyung said that it’s passed in her mind,” Sungmin elucidated. “But she hasn’t filed or anything like that. He’s doing what he can to stomp the idea out.”

“But Jin Ri loves him,” Zhoumi pronounced. “She would never leave him like that. She would never.”

“Yes, well, she’s hurt,” Sungmin relayed. “When you’re hurt, you tend to think too much, most of the time irrationally, and options like that come out.” He put a hand to the taller male’s arm. “So do you get what I’m saying? You need to start talking to Kyuhyun again. He needs you more than any of us and certainly more than your indignant and angry lectures. He needs his best friend.”

~ * ~

It was only six in the morning and Heechul was already up. Usually, he would sleep later than nine in the morning whenever he didn’t have schedules. But, ever since he came to stay at Jin Ri and Kyuhyun’s house, he’d been waking up at around the same time. Because Jin Ri woke up at around the same time, too, everyday, without fail. She always watched the sun rise.

She would always go down to the kitchen in her robe for a couple of minutes then come back up with a mug of hot chocolate. Then she would open the sliding doors to the balcony, not caring if it was freezing cold and would lean against the railing until the sun rose in the sky. After which, she would take a seat on one of the chairs and just spend most of the morning there.

He wondered what she was thinking about. The past few days he was there, he talked to her—or tried to—about not permanently leaving Kyuhyun. Despite what front he may have put in front of her, the lyrics that she had written made him worry. That was not a path he wanted for any of the people he cared about.

“Oppa, you should really stop trying so hard about talking to me about Kyuhyun,” Jin Ri said, a bit exasperatedly. “It’s just tiring out the both of us.”

“You’re right,” Heechul finally stated, sighing. “I’m sorry. I’ve overstepped my bounds.”

“No, oppa, I—,” she began, startled.

“I mean it,” he interrupted, giving her a pointed look and making her shut up. “I’ve been babbling on and on and on about him when I should know that you probably don’t even want to hear his name.”

“It’s not that,” she responded about a couple of seconds of silence. “I just don’t want to hurt you, too. I know that every time you talk to me about him, you also get hurt because you hate what’s happening to us. I just don’t want to put you through that every single time you talk to me.”

“My hurt is nothing compared to what you two are going through so I’m willing to just take this for as long as it will take for me to help make things better,” he firmly promised.

“But you can’t make things better,” she said softly, almost in a whisper.

“You’re right, I can’t,” he agreed. “Only you can do that.”

“How do I do it, oppa?” she asked so earnestly that it almost broke his heart.

“Kyuhyun told me that he first knew that he was in love with you when he took care of you when you got sick after you guys stood out in the rain,” he shared, smiling a little as he remembered how Kyuhyun described it to him. She looked at him, blinking in surprise. “He remembers it in great detail, how he sang for you and everything.” He paused and got a good look at her. “Do you remember when you first found out you were in love with Kyuhyun?”

“It was when I went to the dorm and met Na Young,” she admitted. “I had an inkling before then of how I felt about him but meeting her…” She smiled a little. “I don’t think I felt so scared before. I admitted it to Kyuhyun after a couple of days. I told him how I felt.”

He smiled. “I remember.”

“You do?” she asked, surprised. “He told you?”

“Who do you think told him to not go home after the schedule until he talked to you?” he proudly declared.

“That explains the 3AM visit,” she recalled, chuckling at the memory. Her smile faded as she remembered what Kyuhyun said that night, what he promised.

“What is it?” he asked, noticing the change of her expression.

“He warned me about things like this happening even before we got together,” she shared, smiling as she met Heechul’s eyes. “He told me that things aren’t going to be easy, that we’re going to fight and that we’re going to hate each other sometimes, and that I might even throw things at him when we do.”

“And have you?” he wanted to know. She gave him a curious look. “Has those things happened?”

“All, except me throwing things at him,” she clarified, smiling even more.

Heechul watched as she bit her lip and looked down at the floor. He knew there were so many emotions going through her at that moment, ones that conflicted with each other.

“I love Kyuhyun so much, oppa,” Jin Ri plainly and devotedly proclaimed.

“I know you do,” Heechul confirmed, watching her closely.

“I’m going to try and do what you’ve been telling me I should do,” she finally committed, making his eyes widen in surprise.

“You are?”

She nodded. “I’ll… I’ll call him.”

Heechul stared at the phone in her hand and knew that she had been trying her best every time the sun was rising to do so. He held his breath as she started dialing, hoping that maybe, just maybe, she wouldn’t hang up before he could answer today.

~ * ~

“I swear if that phone rings one more time, I’m going to KILL IT!” Sungmin screamed, sounding positively murderous.

Henry scrambled out of the kitchen and into the living room to stop the ringing of the phone. Ryeowook, Zhoumi and Eunhyuk watched in amusement as the youngest member scrambled, trying to look for an off switch of the ringer.

“You know you can answer it. It’ll stop ringing that way,” Siwon sensibly advised, picking the phone up, only to hear the dial tone. Kyuhyun snickered, despite himself.

“Oh right,” Henry muttered, perspiring. “I knew that.”

“Make sure it doesn’t ring—,” Sungmin started to demand just as it started ringing again.

The phone had been ringing practically at the same time everyday for the past couple of days, making the members lose even more sleep than they already had. But whenever one of them got up to answer it, there was no one there. Donghae was already starting to think of all possible conspiracy theories about it.

Everyone stared at the phone. Before Sungmin could grab it and pulverize it, Henry beat him to it and answered it before it rang another time.

“Hello?” Henry answered. “Hello?” There was a long silence and he thought that there was no one there. Just as he was about to pull it away from his ear, someone spoke.

“Kyuhyun, please.”

“Hang on,” Henry said then handed the phone to Kyuhyun, who stared at it then at him. “It’s for you. It’s a girl.”

“Oh for heaven’s—if it’s that girl then I’m going to—,” Sungmin began, but Ryeowook put an arm around him to stop him. The eldest male had been having a hard time in Chinese lessons, therefore always staying up late to add some extra time learning.

“It can’t be her,” Ryeowook muttered. “We changed phones, lines, everything. There’s no way she would know this new number.”

“Well, she is crafty,” Eunhyuk remarked, flinching as he earned a glare from Sungmin.

“It’s for you,” Henry repeated, ing the phone in his hand.

Kyuhyun slowly put the phone to his ear, giving unsure looks to the rest of the members. “Hello? This is Kyuhyun. Who’s this please?”

“It’s me.”

Kyuhyun stilled in shock. The members gave him curious looks, all wondering who was on the other line.

“I can sense a prank coming on,” Zhoumi growled, moving to go back into his room, but not before glaring at the two magnaes. After he had fixed things with Kyuhyun through a long and meaningful talk, things had gotten back to normal. And the two magnaes had once again resorted to pranking the rest of the members. He felt like this was one for Donghae’s benefit, what with his conspiracy theories and all.

“What did I do?” Henry asked as he followed the others back to where they each were originally before the whole phone-ringing fiasco.

“Princess?” Kyuhyun whispered, but it was loud enough for everyone to hear. They all stopped moving and turned to face him again. “Princess.” He walked towards the balcony of their dorm and closed it shut for privacy. “What are you doing? Why are you calling me?” he sounded a bit worried. He wondered if something had happened.

“I’m… I’m watching the sunrise,” Jin Ri’s quiet voice came through.

He closed his eyes for a second as he felt relief go through him. “Me, too,” he told her, opening his eyes and waiting for the sun to rise on his horizon.

~ * ~

Tiffany, Taeyeon and Jessica entered the small and practically empty café. They went straight to the counter, placed their orders and found a secluded spot at the corner. As they settled into their seats, Taeyeon eyed the two girls who sat side by side across from her.

“Well?” Taeyeon prodded, cupping her mug of coffee with both hands to warm herself, despite wearing gloves.

Tiffany fidgeted in her seat, while Jessica looked elsewhere. Taeyeon sighed and forced herself not to roll her eyes.

“You guys were the one who insisted we come out here to talk,” Taeyeon reminded them.

“This is her idea, not mine,” Jessica announced, glancing at Tiffany. “I’m here because she wouldn’t let me go back to sleep.”

Taeyeon patiently eyed Tiffany. “Fany, what is it that you wanted to talk to me about, that thing that no one else can hear?”

“I’m just worried,” Tiffany finally admitted.

“About what?” Taeyeon wanted to know, frowning.

“About Kyuhyun oppa,” Tiffany shared.

“That’s why we left our warm dorm for the cold?” Jessica demanded. “So we can discuss how you’re worried about Kyuhyun oppa?”

“Sica,” Taeyeon lightly berated the girl. Jessica frowned and took a sip of her coffee instead. “Well, what exactly are you worried about?” she continued, knowing it was best to get it all out since Tiffany wasn’t going to let things rest once she wasn’t mollified.

“I’m worried about his safety,” Tiffany told them.

“Is there anything that happened to make you so? Did he get into an accident in China?” Taeyeon asked, suddenly feeling worried as well. She thought back if Kangin had mentioned anything to her, because if something did happen, he was sure to tell her. But she couldn’t remember anything.

Tiffany shook her head. “It’s just something that Keiji said,” she mumbled.

“Keiji?” Taeyeon repeated, eyes widening. “What does he have to do with this?”

“Well when Sica and I went to meet him, we—,” Tiffany started to say.

“You did WHAT?!” Taeyeon burst out, her fists pounding the table. She shot them both dagger-like looks. Jessica shot Tiffany a resentful gaze, while Tiffany stared at the table. “Why would you two go to meet him?”

“It was just at the office,” Tiffany defended themselves. “It’s not like we were in any danger.”

“That’s not the point,” Taeyeon retorted. “Why did you meet him? What was so important? Sica, you know better than to talk to him again.”

“I just wanted to give him a piece of my mind,” Jessica snapped. “I wanted to tell him that we’re onto him and that we know all the things he’s planned, why everything’s happening like this.”

“You mean he planned for Hyo Sun to seduce Kyuhyun oppa?” Taeyeon asked, blinking, her anger subdued.

“Well who else would be behind it?” Jessica encouraged. “He’s been messing things up between them far long than that Hyo Sun girl. I can only guess that he contacted her and told her to meet up with Kyuhyun oppa again just so he can have Jin Ri to himself.”

Taeyeon frowned at the hasty generalization, but she couldn’t help but agree that her reasoning made sense. She looked at Jessica, who was very much angry, then at Tiffany, who still looked worried. She then remembered why they were all there in the first place.

“Fany, what is it that Keiji said that has gotten you worried like this?” Taeyeon pressed.