-Zhang Li Yin-

The morning that my grandma left for her trip to Japan, Jaejoong and I woke up extra late because one, we spent the whole night talking with my grandma, and two, my eyes would let me wake up so easily. When I got up the next morning, I walked downstairs into the kitchen to make some breakfast for Jaejoong and myself. Just as I was about to bring out the pan and eggs, Jaejoong came down the stairs in a casual outfit consisted of a pair of black faded jeans and a navy blue sweater.

“Hey, why are you up so early?” I asked him as I put everything down on the counter and crossed my arms. On days when we aren’t going out, Jaejoong tends to sleep in quite late into the morning.

“The sun is too much for me. It was blinding my eyes so I just decided to wake up and see what you’re doing.” He smiled as he grabbed a glass of water.

“That’s good. It’s not good to sleep for so many hours. You’ll feel even sleepier.” I told him.

“You know what? I already miss your grandma and she just left yesterday.” Jaejoong pouted as he put his glass of water down and cracked an egg onto the frying pan. I could hear the sizzling noise coming from the pan. Within seconds, I could already smell the fried egg.

“I want scramble eggs.” I told him. Jaejoong then scrambled the egg until it was a nice and yellow golden color. He then scooped the food onto a clean plate and brought it over to where I was standing. He then handed me a fork and gave me some ketchup.

“She’ll be back in two weeks. Just worry about what we will do for two whole weeks without grandma’s cooking. It’s not like we can go out to eat every meal.” I replied.

“I can cook, remember?” Jaejoong raised his eyebrow.

“Do you really want to cook every single meal for me?” I folded my arms.

“I’m fine with that.” He smiled widely.

“I still don’t get why Korean people love to put ketchup on their rice and eggs.” I mumbled as I put a spoonful into my mouth. Even though the combination was actually quite weird, I had to admit that it did taste good in its own special way.

“It’s just the way we do things in Korea. Stop dissing the ketchup. I know you love it.” Jaejoong chuckled as he scooped some into my mouth to shut me up. I chewed down the remaining pieces of my breakfast and was about to stand up when Jaejoong stopped me from doing so.

“You have something on your lips.” He said as he reached over across the table and wiped away the excess ketchup on my lips with his finger. I could feel my body tense up and face reddening the second his flesh touched mine.

His eyes then met mine and our connection last for a bit too long to be called friendly. My head was telling me that I should stop staring and look away, but my heart was telling me the other way. My heart was beating faster than when I had liked Junsu. My heartbeat was accelerating as the seconds ticked by. All of a sudden, Jaejoong leaned towards me, his face slowly expanding in front of my eyes. I was frozen. I couldn’t move at all. As his face closed in, I closed my eyes and prepared for what would happen next. I could feel the softness of his lips when his lips landed on mine. I slightly put pressure on Jaejoong’s lips, indicating that this is not a one-sided kiss and that this kiss also belongs to me. Jaejoong has told me the answer to my question. He likes me too.

When the both of us pulled away, I couldn’t look at him in the eyes. All I could do was stare at the ground and wait until he said something.

“LiYin… I…” He started. I looked up at him and found him with his hand scratching his head and his eyes darting all over the place, as if trying to think of something to say. He then caught my eye and put his hand down. His face became serious.

“I think there’s something I should tell you LiYin, but I never told you because I wasn’t sure of your feelings, since you were so into Junsu for a long time.” He started off. “To be honest with you, I’ve liked you the day I met you and as the days pass by, I think I like you even more. When you told me how much you liked Junsu, I couldn’t do anything but help you because I knew you didn’t like me the same way that I liked you. I was afraid that if I told you my true feelings, you would avoid me and stop being my friend. I didn’t want that to happen, but I’m confessing to you now because I feel like you’ve already given up on Junsu and I think you should move on to someone else. What do you say, are you considering taking this confession from a guy who’s never asked out a girl before?”

After his confession, I could only look at him with my eyes wide. This was the first time I heard of something like this from Jaejoong. He stayed by my side even when I was sad. He listened to all my words about Junsu even when his own heart was probably breaking just by my compliments about Junsu.

I walked over to the other side of the table where Jaejoong stood and hugged him.

“I’m sorry I made you suffer. I’m sorry you had to wait so long. I hope you will forgive me.” I softly whispered into his ears.

“Forgiven.” He replied with a soft chuckle as he hugged me tighter.

“By the way, you’ve actually never asked a girl out before?” I laughed.

He pulled away and pouted at me.

“You’re the first. You should be happy!” He exclaimed as he poked my head.

“I better be your last!” I shouted as I pushed him and ran upstairs into the bathroom.

I closed the door behind me and leaned on the wooden door. I could hear Jaejoong laughing as he was washing the dishes downstairs. I touched my lips with my finger and let my brain absorb everything that just happened in the last couple minutes. I couldn’t believe that Jaejoong confessed to me. I couldn’t believe that we are now dating. I couldn’t believe that I missed out on someone who is a lot better than Junsu. I was glad I stopped loving Junsu and moved on.

After cleaning up a bit, I opened the door and walked back downstairs to see Jaejoong all done with the dishes and sitting on the couch watching TV. I sat down beside him and just stared at his profile. I never knew his jaw line was so perfect. I also never knew how nice his skin was.

“Why are you looking at me?” He suddenly turned around with a smirk.

“I… was just… nothing…” I turned away and tried to hide the blushing that was coming up.

“Mmmmmmmm?” Jaejoong smirked again as he got closer to me. He sure knows how to make people feel uncomfortable.

“N-Nothing!” I shouted as I grabbed a nearby pillow and stuffed it in his face.

He laughed as he hugged the pillow and went back to watching the TV.

“Jaejoong… do you think we should tell Junsu and Eunji about us?” I asked him.

“What about us?” He pretended to look confused.

“You know! Us! You and I!” I pointed from him to myself.

“What are you and I?” He grinned widely. He wanted me to say the words out loud.

“You know… girlfriend and boyfriend…” I whispered quietly.

“I like the sound of that.” He laughed.

“That’s great Jaejoong, but should we tell Eunji and Junsu? They probably think I’m still angry with them.” I sulked a bit.

“Let’s call them now then.” He said as he got his cell phone out of his pocket.

I watched as Jaejoong dialed in the necessary numbers to direct a phone call to Korea. He then put it on speaker so I could also listen. I heard the phone ring a couple times before a familiar voice picked up.

“Oh hyung! You just called me last week. Don’t worry; the company is doing well under my wing. How’s LiYin? She’s out of the hospital now, right?” Junsu asked. So Jaejoong has been keeping Junsu up to date on our adventures in China.

“Yeah, she’s out of the hospital and she’s doing great, so you and Eunji don’t have to worry about her. But, there’s actually something that I want to tell you. I hope you’re ready to tell the news to Eunji.” Jaejoong looked at me and smiled.

“Okay, hold on; let me get Eunji over so you can tell us both the news.” Junsu replied. I heard him shout out to Eunji.

“What is it? I’m in the middle of watching a drama.” Eunji sounded annoyed.

“Jaejoong hyung has something to tell us.” Junsu said.

“Oh, hi oppa! What do you need to tell us?” Eunji’s voice came through the speaker. It’s been so long since I heard both of their voices. It made me actually miss them, especially Eunji.

“Yeah, what’s so important that both of us have to be here?” Junsu replied with curiosity in his tone.

“Zhang Li Yin and Kim Jaejoong are officially dating.” Jaejoong said each word slowly.

There was dead silent on the other line. A couple seconds passed until Eunji actually spoke, I mean, screamed something.

“Oh. My. God! No way! Are you serious?! This is awesome!” She shouted loudly into the speaker, so loud that I had to cover my ears a bit.

“Eunji, can you quiet down a bit? My ears are hurting.” I said into the speaker.

It was suddenly quiet again.

“LiYin? Is that you? It’s been so long since I last heard you talk to me! I miss you so much! Please forgive me! You can’t just drop me out of your life! I’ve been with you for so long.” She spoke really fast into the speaker.

“It’s okay Eunji, I understand. I was selfish to be made at you and Junsu for something that I wasn’t supposed to even have a say in. I’m really happy that you and Junsu are happy together because now, I’ve found someone who cares a lot for me.” I smiled as I looked straight at Jaejoong. He grabbed my hand and squeezed it.

“LiYin… I’m sorry but you’re better off with Jaejoong. I know that Jaejoong is a really great guy and he’s the only one who can make you happy. Trust me.” Junsu spoke quietly into the phone.

“It’s okay Junsu, I understand and I’ll take your advice and hope that Jaejoong really is the best guy for me.” I laughed.

“That’s good. Eunji and I congratulate you and Jaejoong and give you guys the best of what the future brings. But don’t forget to come back to Korea soon! It’s really boring here and I hate having to take over hyung’s work. It’s really tiring.” Junsu whined like a little kid.

“Yah, we’ll come back when we feel like it. LiYin and I missed out on so many things. We need to make lots of memories in China.” Jaejoong spoke in favor of us. I gave him a little push and he just smiled happily at me.

“You better. I’ll be waiting to see pictures and you guys better get us some souvenirs since China’s things are so cheap.” Junsu instructed.

“Not a problem.” Jaejoong laughed.

“Alright then, we’ll leave you two in making memories. Eunji and I are going to get off now. Take care guys.” Junsu said.

“You guys take care too, bye.” Jaejoong and I said farewell to Eunji and Junsu.

After we hung up, I felt my body relax. I was glad Junsu and Eunji are happy and I was glad they don’t think I’m mad at them anymore. I suddenly felt like the world was a lot more relaxing and calm.

“Aren’t you glad I called them?” Jaejoong asked quietly.

“Yeah. I feel a lot better now.” I smiled at him.

“That’s good.” He smiled at me with sparkly eyes.

“Now let’s watch Titanic!” I exclaimed as I went to grab my all time favorite movie from the drawer where I store all my movies.

“But I’m going to cry!” Jaejoong whined as I inserted the disk and pressed play.

“Stop your whining. You promised grandma that you would do whatever I wanted!” I exclaimed as I plopped back down the couch and stared straight at the TV.