The Manny Chapter 11

The next day, Key arrived at Jonghyun’s house. Yoogeun was the first person to greet the older boy. “Key umma!” The little boy exclaimed as he embraced the older tightly. Key smiled and kneeled down and lifted him up in his arms. “Are you feeling better?” Yoogeun wondered. Key nodded, “Yeah, all better.” Key walked into the living room where Minho slept. Smiling, Key let the older sleep and went into the kitchen where Jonghyun was standing drinking some water while looking through some papers. “Appa! Key umma came back!” Yoogeun announced, making the older notice the Manny’s presence. Smiling, Jonghyun replied, “I’m glad you’re back. Are you feeling better?” Key nodded in reply. A rug of silence hung over the two. Yoogeun looked at Key and said, “Did you know that appa wanted to invite you to a party?” Key looked at Jonghyun, “R-really?” The older man blushed madly and nodded. “y-yeah, Sekyung couldn’t make it. Minho said he was bringing Taemin so I thought why not ask you.” Key smiled, “Who will take care of Yoogeun?” Jonghyun smiled, “He’s going to his grandmothers, he likes it there right?” Yoogeun nodded happily and turns to Key, “Grand mommy has lots of cookies and toys for me.” Key smiled, “No wonder you love her some much.” Yoogeun smiles, Key sighs and lets the younger boy down so he could go and play. Jonghyun looked at the younger, “so, will you go with me?” Key sighed again and said, “Alright, I’ll go.” Jonghyun smiled, “I’m glad to hear it.” Then his and Onew’s conversation came into his head. “Jonghyun, can I ask you something?” The older nodded. “You hired me without a proper interview, did you do that because of my looks or did you do that because you were thinking about your son?” Jonghyun was a little taken back at the question. “Well, to be completely honest, it was a little bit of both.” Key waited for the older to continue, “When I first met you, you got along so well with Yoogeun and so quickly, that never really happened before, I was happy that Yoogeun finally managed to bond with someone so quickly. Then, when I came home from the benefit concert and saw you cleaning, I just got mesmerized by you, it was something that I felt when I first met my wife. It felt nostalgic and nice.” Key nodded, ‘for him, it’s not my looks; it’s because of the memory of his wife that I brought back.’ Key thought as he smiled a little sadly but, Jonghyun didn’t notice it. Key sighed and opened the fridge to make himself a small snack while Jonghyun went to his office to continue his work.

Sekyung came in shutting the door to Jonghyun’s office and huffed annoyed. “Do you know how snappy those singers of yours are?!” She exclaimed. Jonghyun looked at her from his paper work, rolling his eyes and smirking, “Sekyung, they deal with daily stress, one night at a spa won’t do much.” Sekyung huffed at his answer and sat down on the couch in the office. “So who are you taking to the party?” She asked. Jonghyun looked at her and replied, “Key.” Her eyes widened, “K-Key?” He nodded and continued his work. “Yeah, you can’t go and I wanted to thank him for taking such good care of Yoogeun so I’m inviting him.” Sekyung was had to blink a few times before regaining her composure and continuing to page through some papers.

Minho walked into the office later that evening to see Jonghyun fixing his tie. “Sir, we are ready to go.” Jonghyun nodded and left the office. He looked at Key, his breath was taken away. He was in a black suit with a white tie the suit jacket fit him perfectly, he wore a cat winged liner that darkened his already dark orbs and made him look even more handsome and mysterious at the same time. Minho had to nudge the older with his elbow, “Shall we?” He asked smiling. Jonghyun silently nodded and went to get his jacket from the closet. “You look good.” He heard Key say smiling. Jonghyun nodding, giving the younger a silent and, yet, embarrassed thank you. “You look better.” Jonghyun muttered under his breath, handing Key a light weight jacket. Key flushed slightly and said, “Thank you.” Taemin smirked and looked at Minho before saying, “are you two coming or not?” The two nodded and left the house before getting into the stretch limo waiting for them outside.

At the party, Jonghyun was talking to some investors when a CEO walked over to him, “Kim Jonghyun?” The younger male bowed, “Mr. SooMan, thank you again for letting me produce for your company.” The older man smiled, “Of course, your work is always welcome in my studios but, tell me who is that young man over there, he says he’s with you?” SooMan gestured to Key who was talking with Taemin and Minho by the stair case. Jonghyun smiled, “That’s Kibum, I hired him to take care of my son. He’s been doing such a wonderful job I thought I would let him have a night of luxury and let him relax.” He replied, he felt proud that he could show Key off to someone of such high status but, something in his gut tightened; he looked at Key as he held the glass of red wine bringing the glass to his lips and leisurely taking a small sip of the blood colored substance. The two made eye contact and the younger smiled shyly and returned his attention to the other two he was talking to. Jonghyun smiled back and turned his attention to SooMan who chuckled, “If you need anything let me know. It’s good to see you smiling after your wife, you keep that boy around, he’s your lifeline.” Jonghyun stood at attention, like a solder and replied, “Sir, yes sir!” the two chuckled and continued to talk with other people.

As the party drew to a close, Jonghyun, Taemin, Minho, and Key got back into the familiar limo and headed back home. “Taemin fell asleep.” Minho said wrapping an arm around him. “Let him sleep over in the guest room.” Jonghyun said as he stretched.

When they arrived home, Minho brought Taemin up to the guest room and got him under the covers. He turned to leave when the younger groaned and called out, “hyung.” Minho turned to face and saw the younger looking at him smiling shyly. Minho walked over to the younger, “do you want some pajamas?” He asked. The younger nodded. The butler opened the dresser and took out some pajama pants and handed them to the younger that was already in the process of taking off his pants. Blushing, Minho quickly left the room. Taemin blinked a little before chuckling. He put on the soft pajama pants and got into bed before drifting off to sleep.

From the other side of the door, Minho had to mentally slap himself. “Nice going Casanova.” He said to himself. He pushed himself off the door and went to his own room and changed into his pajamas before collapsing into bed and almost immediately falling asleep. Jonghyun and Key were in the kitchen drinking some hot tea to relax them. It was completely silent, the two just sat at the table drinking their tea before Jonghyun spoke, “you know, a lot of people liked you at the party.”

Key smiled, “Really?”  The older nodded. “I’m glad to hear it; I worked hard to make you look good.” He said chuckling a little. “Oh, Jonghyun do you think it would be alright if I invite someone for lunch tomorrow?” The older shrugged, “why not, well I’m heading to bed, night Key.” Key nodded, “good night.”

After Jonghyun left, Key got up to the phone and dialed a number.

“Hello?” A voice answered the call.

“Hey Onew?” Key spoke.

“Hey Key, what’s up?” Onew replied.

 “Would you like to come over for lunch tomorrow?” He asked.

The other turned silent, “Why the sudden invitation?” He wondered.

“I want to try again.” Key said a saddened tone hinted in his voice.

“Kibum, don’t force yourself, don’t do this to make me happy, I like you but, you need to be happy. You come first not me.” He said sternly on the other line.

Key sniffed a little, “No, I want to try again. Even if I do have feelings for someone else, they will never accept me for me so I might as well get them out of my mind now.”

He heard a defeated sigh before hearing Onew reply, “I’ll be there at one.”

Key smiled and said, “Ok, I’ll see you tomorrow.”