“Mr. Do, if you will, have you been engaging in stressful activities recently? Is there anything that could have possibly triggered this headache?” The neurologist was tapping his clipboard with the tip of his pen, watching me with intrigued, questioning eyes. The tissue paper under me crinkled as I shifted my position on the small bed.

He’d been asking me simple questions for a good ten minutes already, things like past issues or concerns with the condition of my head. So far, this was the only question I could say ‘yes’ to.

“Well, I was about to become an idol at SM Entertainment and that took a lot out on me, with all of the practicing and the anxiety… but I didn’t become one. My bo—friend did, though,” I quickly corrected, reminding myself that he might judge me if I said ‘boyfriend’.

He nodded, scrawling something down before looking back up at me. “And you’re sure you’ve never had problems with headaches before? As a child, maybe?” he asked, ready to write down some more notes.

I shook my head, though he couldn’t see. “The only headaches I ever got as a kid were the ones from getting shoved into lockers, but that was a direct blow. I never got them out of the blue like this.”

The neurologist nodded while he wrote. “I don’t think anything is really wrong with you, but I’m glad you came to me. It’s normal, as you age, to get some reoccurring head pain. I’m going to get you a prescription for some pills to take for a month or so, and from there you should be good.”

Relieved it was nothing serious, I stood up from the bed, taking his hand and bowing respectfully. He handed me a paper, complete with the pills and where to pick them up. I thanked him once more, and walked out of the facility, but not without a friendly wave from the secretary.

Since the pills would take a few hours to be prepared for pick up, and it was only ten thirty in the morning, I decided to take a little walk. I had brought headphones to slip over my ears just in case I needed to drown out some crying with music, but now I put them on to add background noise to the image of tall buildings and small sights. My hands buried deep in my jean pockets, my eyes wandered around downtown Seoul aimlessly.

I didn’t really have much time to appreciate the city I lived in. Most of the time, I was either in Jongin and I’s apartment or at the SM building, so I didn’t have much need to look around once and a while. It was a really beautiful city, especially at night.

Somehow, my journey absentmindedly led me home. What caught me off guard, however, was the car parked in front of the complex. My car. I pulled my phone out of my bag, finding that I had wasted almost two hours walking around, and that it was now Jongin’s lunch hour. He never went home, though.

Cautiously, I slid my keys into the slot, pushing open the peeling door and shutting it as soon as I was inside. The living room, kitchen, and dining room were all deserted. “Jongin?” I called to the emptiness. Silence. “Babe?”

A figure made its way out of our bedroom, and I found it was Jongin, who looked angry. Bewildered, I tried to ask what was wrong, but he beat me to it. “There you are. You had me worried sick! I found one of your band members and they said you left without saying a word and… and… I didn’t know what to think,” he sighed in defeat.

Sort of flattered by his concern, I chuckled and wrapped my arms around his waist comfortingly. “I’m sorry. I had to get away from all the crying. I walked around a bit, and I went to the neurologist to see if something was wrong with me. I have to go pick up some pills later.”

Jongin raised an eyebrow. “Will that stop your headache?”

I shrugged. “It’s worth a try, I guess.”

Without fighting anymore, we stood there, wrapped in each other’s embrace, my head tucked into his chest. His warmth flooded my body, and I once again felt so secure in his arms. It was becoming my favorite place to be. After a while, I pulled away. “So why are you here? You never come home for lunch unless I make kimchi spaghetti.”

Jongin nodded. “They talked to us a lot about what to expect, went over some rules, and then they let us go for the rest of the day to enjoy some freedom. That’s why I was so worried. You were gone, but the car wasn’t. I called and texted you but you didn’t answer.”

Alarmed, I checked my phone and only now noticed the towering amounts of messages and alerts of missed calls from the caller ID of ‘Jongin <3’. I had never changed it from when I had entered it in almost two years ago as I had gotten his number at that library. I was sure the old ripped up McDonald’s receipt existed somewhere. Unsure of what to say, I blurted out, “Oh. Sorry.”

He sighed, laughing it off. “It’s okay. Hey, since the rest of my day is free, do you want to go get some lunch? I’ll pay.”

I really needed that. Nodding with a small smile, I agreed to his plans. After pulling on some tennis shoes, Jongin interlaced my fingers with mine as we walked to the car. Some things never changed.

Even as an idol now, he was still my Jongin.

~*~

“So, how was it? When Lee Sooman told you guys the news and all, I mean.”

The question had only come up now, after we had been served our food and we were both swallowing down portions of our food. Stopping momentarily to bring back the memory of just a few hours ago, I sighed, explaining to him. “It wasn’t horrible… there was a lot of crying, and one of them even got mad at me because you signed it, but it doesn’t matter. As soon as I get the change, I’m dropping out of SM to go back to writing.”

That made Jongin drop his chopsticks entirely. “You’re quitting?”

I shrugged, my decision final. “There’s no more point anymore. I’m not good enough, I guess.”

Jongin was about to open his mouth to argue with me, but I didn’t let him, stopping him with my icy stare. Obediently, he picked up his chopsticks and quietly slurped some noodles up. Letting out a sigh, the silence deafening, I began the conversation again. “I know what you’re going to say, and while I don’t disagree, I have better luck in my already established writing career than playing Russian roulette with SM Entertainment.”

Defeated, Jongin shrugged. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. I just wish you wouldn’t give up so easily on yourself. You’re good. Great, actually.”

“Apparently not great enough,” I muttered.

“There could’ve been millions of reasons why they didn’t pick Echo over us, and I’m sure not even two have to deal with you,” he reassured me, grabbing my free hand from across the table. I looked up from my food to find him with that charming half smile stuff he always pulled on me when I was upset.

It always worked.

“Fine,” I mumbled, taking my hand away so I could eat with two. We ate in silence for a couple minutes following that, but I couldn’t stand it when it was quiet with him. I felt like I should be saying so much more. It wasn’t everyday that you are in a relationship with a freakishly hot rookie idol.

Well, maybe for me it was.

“So how is the Kai life?” I asked, suddenly remembering his nickname. Joonmyun had taken it from him, saying that when he debuted, it could be his stage name. Well, now that that was happening, it was acceptable to use it. I still preferred Jongin, though.

That made me realize something.

Joonmyun still was a trainee, and Jongin was debuting.

With his age, that pretty much meant the end of the line.

I didn’t have much time to pity him, though, for I was shoved back into reality by the response to my question. “Not much has happened yet. It hasn’t truly sunk in yet, but I’m sure it will. But you know what’s funny? There’s a no dating rule put on idols. If they only knew.”

I laughed. “No one expects the two guys, do they?”

He shook his head. “Nope. And they won’t find out any time soon if I have something to do with it. Apparently they’re quick to assume if you’re even walking by the opposite , so if they catch hand holding or anything like that, that’ll get you in big press trouble.”

“But that stuff is normal between guys, it’s a sign of friendship. They won’t be able to figure it out between us, right?”

“Absolutely not,” he promised with a whisper, reaching over the table and kissing me on the cheek. We were in the corner, facing away from others, so no one could see. It had been a long day already, but it had already been fixed by Jongin.

As we were leaving to go back home in the car, Jongin suddenly cracked a lopsided smile. “So are you going to start calling me Kai now?”

I scoffed. “No. I like Jongin much more.”

“But you called me Kai in the beginning.”

“Because I never realized how nice Jongin sounds, as compared to Kai.”

He rolled his eyes, pulling into the parking lot of our complex. “Okay, pushy. But to the public, I’m Kai.”

“And to me, you’re Jongin.”

“That’s been covered.”

I grinned. “Just making sure.”

He copied my smile onto his face before we both opened our car doors to go inside.

~*~

Even though it left a bad taste in my mouth afterwards, the pill was slowly but surely starting to work. The headaches were so dull that I began to not even notice they were there. Over a course of two days, I had already felt much better, and I probably wouldn’t have had I stayed at the SM building.

I had mostly spent my day wandering around the city, getting some lunch before going home to take a nap and watch some television. Around six, the door opened to Jongin, his sleeves previously cut off of his shirt and basketball shorts covering his thighs. He wasn’t glistening with sweat, but his hair was still wet at the ends, and the look on his face portrayed exhaustion.

I raised an eyebrow. “Rough day?”

Jongin nodded. “Like you wouldn’t believe. Since we’ve had such little training, they’re pushing us extra hard so we can debut as soon as possible. That means raw throats and sore bodies, apparently, because I lost feeling in my thighs about half an hour ago.” With a sigh, he threw his bag on the counter and opened the front pocket, pulling out his phone to charge.

He dragged his body to sit next to me on the couch, where I wrapped an arm around his limp shoulders. It was kind of gross, due to his clothes sticking to his moist skin, but I didn’t do anything about it. “You know, if you ever need help with singing, I can work on it with you. I might be a bit more subtle about it than your instructors. I know how mean they can get.”

“That sounds good. But not right now,” he moaned, and I could tell it was hard to talk for him.

I sighed. I hated seeing him so vulnerable like this. “Want me to make you some tea for your throat?”

Letting out a long sigh, he nodded, shutting his eyes and leaning his head back against the wall. I stood up and walked to the kitchen to make some tea. I didn’t usually make it; Jongin’s mother taught him how to make it with a special flavor that tasted great, so most of the time, he did it.

But it was times like these where he needed me more than I needed him.

I was setting up the kettle when I started talking to him, even though we were in separate rooms. “You’ll have to get used to this, you know. It’s only going to get harder from here,” I reminded him, half listening due to my tea preparing.

I heard him clear his throat. “I know. I’m just not used to it yet.” The voice seemed to be getting closer and closer, and soon I felt strong arms embrace my waist. His lips pecked the top of my ear, and his hot breath coursed throughout as he rested his head on my shoulder and spoke. “And I’m definitely not used to how much separation we have now. I hate not being able to see you so much.”

I craned my neck to kiss his forehead. “I do too. But you’ve wanted this for so long, and you deserve it.”

“Thanks, babe. I’ll take it from here,” he muttered, my gaze following his to the tea. “I know you like Umma Kim’s secret flavor.”

“It’s no secret what it is; I just don’t know how to make it.”

He laughed. “Close enough.”

Jongin pulled away, taking over on what was supposed to be his drink, not ours. Unsure of what to do, I resumed my position on the couch. The kettle screeched when it was finished, and after Jongin added some things and poured it into two cups, he joined me and handed me my drink.

“Thanks.”

“No problem.” I watched him curiously as he took a sip of his drink, making a noise of delight. “My umma would always give this to me when I was sick as a kid to soothe my throat.”

“Is it working?”

“Of course it’s working; she’s never wrong,” he said with a smile. I smiled back, and just as I had taken the first sip of my tea, my cell phone rang. Slowly getting up from my position on the couch, Jongin’s arm no longer enveloping me, I reached for my phone, my eyes landing on the caller ID.

Incoming call:

SM Entertainment

That was odd. I had put their official number in my contacts just in case I ever needed it, but I had never expected them to call me personally. Eyebrows furrowed, I answered the phone. “Yoboseyo?”

“Mr. Do Kyungsoo? Hi, this is Kim Youngmin’s secretary calling.” The CEO’s secretary was calling? Bewildered, I continued to listen. “I just wanted to speak to you regarding your large number of absences recently. You do realize that if you hit a total of thirty one days that—“

“I’ll lose my status as a trainee, yes.” It was one of the first things they told us.

Jongin stared at me funny as she continued to talk. “I just wanted to make sure you knew. If you no longer want to be with us, you can quit at any time by signing the form at the building.” She continued, but I didn’t know what else she could say. “Also, do you happen to know Mr. Kim Jongin?”

How did she know I knew him? “Uh, yeah.”

“What is your relationship with him?”

“We’re… uh…” Pausing, I frantically looked around the room, landing on the couch. “Roommates. He helps pay my rent.”

She sounded surprised, but kind of relieved. “Oh. Great. I just wanted to make sure there was nothing… else going on.”

Were they seriously already that suspecting of us being lovers? Of course, though, I had to cover up my frustration. “Oh, no. We’re not.”

“Great. Anyway, thanks for the time.”

“Have a nice day.”

I hung up my phone and joined him back on the couch, only to get a very complex look from my boyfriend as he slowly put his arm back around me. “What was that all about? And why did you say we’re roommates to someone?” He sounded pretty hurt.

“It was the CEO of SM’s secretary reminding me that I miss a lot of classes. And she asked if we were dating, basically, and I couldn’t say yes, really, so I told her we’re just roommates.”

“Roommates don’t cuddle and drink tea together.”

“How would you know?”

“I… Just drink your tea,” he sighed, giving up. With a smirk, I took another drink, feeling the smooth liquid pour down my throat.

~*~

Yo guys! Today was the last day of school!!! :D Which means a lot more writing is coming!!! :D I've also pretty much got this story mapped where I want to, and it looks like there's going to be 5 or 6 chapters left. :( But it's going to be great!

Thanks guys~ Please comment~

<3