“Go buy the welcome cake when you’re done with that.”

“What?” Jonghyun swivels around, looking back at Jinki who was standing at the doorframe of his office.

“I said you’re buying the welcome cake. Kibum’s grandmother is coming over today and you’re in charge of welcoming her.”

“Hyung, what part of ‘I’m busy’ did you not get? And why wasn’t I informed of this earlier?!?”

“You’re busy every day, Jonghyun. If you haven’t noticed.” Jinki rolls his eyes.”And I didn’t say buy the welcome cake right now, I said buy it when you’re done with whatever you’re doing.”

“Go buy the cake yourself.” the lawyer says irritably.

“Jonghyun.”

“No.”

“Kim Jonghyun.”

“No.”

“Jong-“

“I SAID NO!”

Jinki sighs, shaking his head at his best friend. Although he was happy that lawyer seemed to be a bit more elated these days (just a tad bit), he still had trouble convincing the lawyer when it came to these things. Still, he was glad of the tiny changes.

“Jonghyun, Minho and I are going to be out today. It’s your job to welcome Kibum’s grandmother and help her enjoy her stay.”

“And why should I do that? Its Kibum’s visitor, not mine.”

“You know what kinds of troubles those two have gone through.” Jinki pushes on.

Jonghyun quirks an eyebrow at the older boy. “Wait; how the did you know that I knew that?”

“Kibum tells me everything. Unlike you who’s naturally born as a stubborn old mule.”

“Since when did I ever share about my personal life to you?”

“Um, since four years ago?”

Jinki winces as soon as the words slip out of his mouth, mentally face palming himself for saying that so openly. He watches as Jonghyun tenses for a second, chocolate eyes averting from his and darting around to look at the walls of the room.

They stay in an awkward silence for a few seconds, the silent whirring of the lawyer’s laptop somehow adding on to the icy atmosphere.

“Sorry, did I say too much?” Jinki squeaks out.

Jonghyun sighs, leaning back against his chair and closing his eyes as he cranes his head back up at the ceiling.

“Before you say anything else that will piss me off, I’m going to go and buy that stupid welcome cake.”

Jinki takes that as a sign to speed out of the office as fast as his legs can take him.

Jonghyun is surprised to find that Taemin had been expecting him to come when he arrives at the bakery.

The young baker already has a list of cakes to hand to the lawyer, who smiles when Jonghyun takes it with a stunned expression on his face.

“Jinki hyung told me about Kibum hyung’s grandmother.” Taemin answers the lawyer’s silent question.

“So apparently I’m the clueless one now.” Jonghyun says drily.

“You’ve always been clueless.” Taemin giggles, avoiding a smack on the shoulder from the lawyer by a rare chance of coordination.

“Since when did I become the target here?” Jonghyun complains, flipping through the list of cakes carefully.

“All five of us are linked, hyung. It’s kind of hard to miss a detail with our little tight knit family here.”

The lawyer scoffs, and Taemin automatically assumes its Minho that he’s thinking about. Judging from the time those two made a scene in the bakery that one time; the baker knows that the chance of them ever getting along is very slim.

“There’s no way in hell I’m including Minho in our so called family.” Jonghyun says, mumbling a curse under his breath when his fingers accidentally get caught by the corner of a laminated page, cutting the tip of his thumb.

“Need a band aid with that?” Taemin asks, not even flinching unlike the other working employees around him.

He had become immune to Jonghyun’s antics by now.

“Nah, its fine. Just a scratch.” the lawyer answers, grabbing a tissue from the counter and pressing it against his bleeding finger.

He curses once more underneath his breath, and Taemin could only make out a few words such as ‘ing Minho’ and, ‘bastard has telepathy issues.’

The baker laughs. “So have you chosen a cake yet?”

“Oh.” Jonghyun blinks, as if he’s momentarily forgotten why he came to the bakery in the first place. “Yeah, I’ll just get the Black Forest one.”

Taemin nods, calling out the order at one of the bakers in the kitchen and leaning back on the counter to rest his elbows against the surface.

“So how’s Kibum hyung?”

Jonghyun drops the list of cakes in his hands at the moment, letting out a yelp as he quickly bends down to grab it and hand it back to the baker.

“Uh, sorry what was that?”

“I said, how is Kibum hyung doing?” Taemin repeats, half a smirk playing on his lips.

“Oh. Um. Fine? I don’t know, why the are you asking me?”

“Because you two work together at the same office.”

“What the- how did you know that?”

“You seem to have forgotten that I’ve become quite close with Kibum hyung over these past few months.” Taemin replies cheekily.

I know more than you think.

“So he told you about that too, huh? Well gosh; I wasn’t aware that he’s spilling my life secrets to other people.” Jonghyun glares.

The baker smiles. “Hyung, I was kidding. Jinki hyung told me about it.”

The lawyer’s mouth forms an ‘o’ and he slams his forehead against the counter, not even bothering to cry out in pain. He doesn’t know why he was thinking that Kibum had told Taemin instead.

The baker pats Jonghyun’s back sympathetically, secretly amused of the way his hyung was acting. He hadn’t seen the lawyer like this in a long time.

“Don’t worry; your secret is safe with me.”

“What?” Jonghyun’s head shoots up. “What do you mean by that?”

Taemin’s about to answer when he gets interrupted by one of the bakers, handing him a fairly large box that Jonghyun assumes is the Black Forest cake.

“Damn, your bakers have outdone themselves.” the lawyer says as Taemin hands him the box.

Through the clear plastic covering on the top, Jonghyun could see every detail of the cake. White icing coated the top of the cylindrical shape, with swirls of whipped cream meticulously scattered around the edges of the circle. Bright red cherries were placed above the whipped cream, with the word ‘Welcome’ fancily written in the center with cherry icing.

“My mom and dad taught them well.” Taemin says proudly.

“When are they coming back from their trip?”

“In a month or so, I guess? They send their greetings to you, by the way.”

“Tell them I’m doing well.”

“Sure.”

Jonghyun swears he sees a sparkle in Taemin’s eyes after he said that, like there was something more to his ‘Sure’ than just saying, ‘Alright.’

For a second the lawyer thinks that maybe Taemin doesn’t agree that he’s doing well.

Jonghyun thinks long and hard about it, stepping out of the bakery with that word in mind and fingers tapping on the steering wheel as he drives back home.

It’s not until he pulls up in the driveway of Kibum’s home and knocks on his door that he’s suddenly reminded of something. Just before Taemin and he were interrupted by the cake arriving, there had been something else that the baker had said.

In fact, the lawyer was about to ask about it earlier, but he had forgotten the thought until now.

Don’t worry; your secret is safe with me.

Now what exactly did Taemin mean by that?

Kibum’s grandmother turns out to be gentle and warmhearted, just like her grandson.

Jonghyun finds himself doing countless numbers of good deeds for her, like helping her bend down to grab her cane, offering to reach for something far away, basically anything that required physical movement.

Even Kibum was shocked at the older boy’s actions, taking a moment to pause at the doorway to watch as if he was afraid of moving and waking up from a dream.

Finally, his grandmother calls him over, and Jonghyun finds himself tearing up as well when the two share a warm hug for a few long moments. Kibum’s eyes are already starting to get red as he gazes into his grandmother’s eyes, kneeling in front of her and taking her hands in his.

“Stand up, my grandson. There’s no need to be formal around me.” her voice is strong and thick, unlike her current weak and fragile posture.

Kibum stands up and does what she says, rubbing at his eyes and finally offering her a smile.

“It’s good to see you, grandma. I’ve missed you.”

“Every time I see you, you’ve grown so much in different ways. Yet you still shed tears whenever we meet. Why is that, my grandson?”

“I-I know I haven’t been the best member in our family.”

She shoots a look at Jonghyun and tugs at Kibum’s hands, as if to remind him that they are not alone.

“It’s okay, he knows.” the younger boy says softly.

“Ah.” comes her short reply. “Kibum, you know that no one in our family is perfect.”

“I know.” Kibum mumbles.

“And we’ve all made mistakes in our lives. No one is perfect. But sometimes, we just have to follow our hearts, because that may be the only thing that will save us. I believe that you did the right thing, my dear. You chose to defend yourself and stand up for what you think is right. And I couldn’t be any more prouder.” she reaches out to cup a hand to his face.

Jonghyun forces his mind to stop thinking back to events of his past, Kibum’s grandmother suddenly arousing unwanted memories.

“But, that decision cost me.” Kibum says softly, voice barely above a whisper.

He gently brushes his fingers against his grandmother’s neck, where a pinkish scar was permanently marked on her skin.

Jonghyun remembers the younger boy telling him about his father’s metal stick, and how the scar now ran all the way to his grandmother’s hipbone.

“I don’t regret being marked by this.” she says, removing Kibum’s hands from her neck. “When I look at myself in the mirror, I’m not reminded of the terrible events that happened. I’m reminded of the day my grandson chose to stand up and fight.”

They share a warm silence after that, consoling and comforting each other and just drinking in each other’s presence.

Finally, Kibum’s grandmother looks away and gestures towards Jonghyun.

“Let’s not discuss about such sad events today. You still have to tell me all about this young man who I haven’t met yet.”

“His name is Jonghyun, Minho and I’s neighbor.” Kibum introduces.

“It’s nice to meet you.” Jonghyun bows respectfully.

“Ah, no need to bow like that. I take it you are a lawyer?” Kibum’s grandmother says.

“How did you know?”

“My husband was one himself. He wore suits like that as well when he was young.” she chuckles.

Jonghyun assumes that he’s no longer living, since she had used the past tense word, was.

“Oh, silly me, I haven’t introduced myself yet. I have a long Korean name that derives from generations back, so you may call me Anna.”

“Anna? But doesn’t that seem a bit too….” Jongyun trails off.

“Unformal? Don’t worry about it, love. Since you’re a close friend of Kibum’s, you can call me that. You know, my grandson talks about you a whole lo-“

Kibum touches Anna’s arm and violently shakes his head, his cheeks turning a shade of red that for some reason made Jonghyun’s insides flip.

The three of them spends the remainder of the day talking and eating the Black Forest cake while playing a game of scrabble, with Jonghyun winning by a mere one point against Anna. He’s surprised that she knows so many words; no one had come even close to beating him in the game.

“I learned some law terms from my husband.” she explains upon seeing the lawyer’s astonished face.

Kibum seems even more energetic and lively as usual today, talking animatedly with Anna as if they were the best of friends.

Jonghyun finds himself smiling and chuckling at Anna’s jokes, who seemed to have a wide range of humor.

They say time flies when you’re having fun, and Jonghyun couldn’t have described the situation in a more perfect way.

All too soon Anna had to head home, much to Kibum’s disappointment.

“When will you visit again, grandma?” the artist asks, the sadness evident in his voice.

“Soon. In a month or so, at least. Don’t worry, Kibuumie. I’ll be back as soon as you know it.” she smiles gently.

“You can live with me, you know.”

“No one else will be at home guarding your mother and father’s graves.”

“I’ll miss you, grandma.”

Anna chuckles, pulling her grandson in a hug. “Stop acting like this will be the last time we’ll see each other.”

“But-“

“Shh. Positive thoughts my dear, what do I keep telling you for all these years?”

Kibum sighs. “Keep your chin up, and smile like you’re the happiest person in the world.”

Anna nods, definitely pleased of his answer. She turns to Jonghyun, who has been quietly standing off to the side for some time now.

“Come here, Jonghyun. No need to hang back.” she says, opening her arms towards him welcomingly.

“It was nice meeting you, my dear. And thank you for bringing the welcome cake.” she says in his ear, and Jonghyun nods as he pats her back gently.

“Come back soon, Anna.”

Kibum manages to hold in the tears until Anna leaves, standing at the doorframe and not making a move to close it. He looks out far into the distance, blonde bangs brushing against his forehead.

Jonghyun sighs, pulling the artist back and closing the door.

“Come inside, its cold out there.”

“Thanks for coming, Jonghyun.” Kibum smiles, failing to hide the disappointment in his eyes.

The lawyer doesn’t know what pushes him to do it, but he steps forward and gently pulls Kibum into a hug, ignoring their height difference and letting the younger boy curl his fingers against his chest.

“You know, you’re just like her.” Jonghyun says, not knowing what else to say.

“I get that a lot.”

“Now I know where you get your annoyingly hyperactive attitude from.”

Kibum laughs, sniffing back and thudding his head against Jonghyun’s shoulder.

The lawyer lets the embrace linger for a second before letting go, that familiar feeling of warmth swelling inside of him again like swallowing a spoonful of thick and sweet honey.

He’s not sure what’s happening, but he knows there’s definitely something going on inside of him. It’s like his insides were shifting, turning him into a completely different person.

Or worse, the person he was four years ago.

A/N: I at names so I came up with a lame excuse to use Anna for Key's grandmother xD There will be karma prizes or oneshot prizes (your choice) for people who can guess what Taemin meant by, "Your secret is safe with me." Hint: It was something to do with Jonghyun's feelings. A oneshot prize is getting to request me for a oneshot of any pairing in SHINee and u can come up with the scenario. I will be posting it on tumblr, on my request side blog. I'll announce the winner and the answer next time I update ^^

So how was ur late Thanksgiving, everyone? I was going to update yesterday but I had to go Black Friday shopping :)

No time for gifs today, I'm lazy again. Bye guys, see you next time! <3

P.S. Don't forget to comment~