“H-hey, are you okay?” Jonghyun asked from the other line, worry obvious from the tone of his voice. Sooyoung continued to cough, not being able to answer immediately, and hit her chest several times. Roo jumped down from her bed, onto the floor, where small dog sat down and stared at Sooyoung with wide eyes as its tongue stuck out.

Sooyoung jumped from surprise as soon as she heard someone knocking. “Sooyoung? Are you okay?” That was Sunny’s voice.

With a deep breath, Sooyoung hit her chest one last time before shouting back. “I-I’m fine!”

“You sure?”

“Yeah!”

“Okay, just—be careful.” Sunny’s voice started to fade away.

Sooyoung gasped for air before bringing the phone back to her ear. “Sooyoung?”

“I’m fine.” She repeated, this time, directing her answer towards Jonghyun. She stood up and got off her bed to head towards the kitchen and get a glass of water. “I’m sorry, but what was that?”

“What was what?” Sooyoung couldn’t see it, but Jonghyun cocked his head to the side playfully, even bringing his hand up to brush several fingers against his lips.

“You—,” Sooyoung sighed. “You called me something. What was that?”

“I didn’t call you anything.” Jonghyun answered, obviously feigning innocence.

“Yah,” Sooyoung warned before taking a deep breath and closing her eyes for a second. She ran her tongue on the front row of her teeth as she opened the refrigerator and took a cold glass pitcher and pushed the door with her foot to close it. “Why did you call?”

Sooyoung’s eyes met with Tiffany who shot her a curious look. She mouthed Jonghyun’s name and Tiffany immediately smiled and giggled before turning away. Sooyoung shook her head as she pressed her phone in between her shoulder and her ears.

“Well I.. I just wanted to check on Roo.” Jonghyun answered.

Is it wrong to feel jealous because of a dog?

“She’s okay,” Sooyoung answered. “She’s in my room right now, you wanna talk to her?” Sooyoung poured cold water from the pitcher onto the glass.

Jonghyun chuckled because Sooyoung didn’t even bother to hide the jealousy from her voice. “Nah, it’s fine. I’m sure she’s happy to have a mother.”

Ah, that word again. Jonghyun should really stop calling her a mother.

“Yeah,” Sooyoung answered and carried her glass of water as she walked back to the room. She took a sip and placed the half-full glass on the side table. Roo was back on her bed and she smiled because the furry creature was already asleep. Sooyoung carried Roo and placed it on her lap as she rested her head on the headboard. “So.. How was the concert?”

“It was fine. Really great, to be honest. I had fun. A little bit tired, but nothing I can’t manage.” Jonghyun answered. “Are you using your iPad now?”

Sooyoung looked at her iPad which was at her feet. “No, why?”

“I wanna show you something.”

Sooyoung used her feet to push the iPad until it was in a reachable distance. She picked it up (careful not to wake Roo up) and opened it. “Okay, I’m using it now.”

“Go online on Twitter or something. I’m going to send you a picture. Check your inbox.” Jonghyun instructed. Sooyoung hummed.

“Hey, I.. I met your sister today.”

“You did?” Jonghyun asked, a little bit surprised. “How was she?”

“She’s fine. She’s a really kind person.” Sooyoung answered. “She also gave me a small box, told me to give it to you.”

“Oh,” Jonghyun answered. “Well take care of that little box for me until I get home.”

“So am I some kind of caretaker while you’re gone? First your dog and now your—“

“Why, would you like to take care of me instead? I wouldn’t mind.” Jonghyun smirked.

“I—“ Sooyoung stuttered and oh boy, it was a good thing no one can see her because her cheeks were burning and her face was already as red as a tomato. “Where’s the picture you wanted to show me?”

Jonghyun chuckled. “Changing topics, I see.”

“I am not—“

“Open your inbox. I just sent it.”

Sooyoung opened her inbox and pressed a link which was sent by Jonghyun. She gasped because she can see lightsticks in pink forming her name, surrounded by pearl aqua blue lightsticks. “Wh-what—“

“The fans surprised me during my solo stage by forming your name with pink lightsticks. Really nice, eh? I almost forgot what I was going to sing when I saw that. I should thank Taemin for taking a picture.”

Sooyoung smiled because her name—in SHINee’s concert, during Jonghyun’s solo. And Jonghyun wasn’t kidding. It was indeed beautiful. She made sure to save the image right away and made a mental note to thank Taemin too. “It’s.. it’s really beautiful.”

Jonghyun hummed, agreeing with her statement. “So how are you?”

“Huh?” Sooyoung asked, surprised with the sudden question. “I’m okay.. I guess.” Sooyoung tried to recall what happened today and suddenly remembered her encounter with Kyuhyun. “Hey, I.. I wanted to ask you a question.”

“Go ahead.”

“I..” Sooyoung thought of a way to ask this particularly-hard-to-ask question. “W-when are we going to announce that we’ve broken up?”

Silence.

Sooyoung could feel her heart racing. Why did she even ask that question? Maybe she should’ve just—“Why?” Jonghyun suddenly asked, and Sooyoung wasn’t sure about the tone of his voice. “Do you-do you want to—“

“No!” Sooyoung suddenly exclaimed and clapped her hand on upon realizing that she might have sounded a bit too.. obvious.

Jonghyun didn’t react however. He kept silent, as if waiting for Sooyoung to continue.

“I just, I—Sekyung. Things might be getting a bit too hard for her already.” Sooyoung explained. She was good friends with Sekyung, and she didn’t want their friendship to be broken. And somehow, maybe in a little way, Kyuhyun was right.

“Sekyung and I..” Jonghyun said, as if pondering if he should continue or not, “We broke up.”

“What?” It was the only word that Sooyoung managed to say audible enough for Jonghyun to hear. “You what?”

“We broke up,” Jonghyun repeated. “It wasn’t that long, like.. A week ago? Two weeks ago? I can’t really remember.”

Sooyoung felt a pang of guilt hit her. Was it because of her? Oh god, she wouldn’t be able to live peacefully if she finds out that she was the reason of a break-up.

“W-who ended it?” Sooyoung almost whispered.

“S-she did.” Jonghyun answered, lying. He doesn’t want Sooyoung to think that it was because of her, so he said it was Sekyung, when the truth was he actually ended it. Well, it was kind of a mutual break-up, but Jonghyun initiated it.

“Oh.” Sooyoung answered. She felt a bit relieved because if it was Sekyung, then maybe it was her decision and she was happy with that, right?

“Things weren’t working out between the two of us anymore,” Jonghyun explained. “We barely see each other. Heck, we can’t even text each other frequently.”

“S-so, how are you now?” Sooyoung asked. She was a little bit happy (Sorry, Sekyung), but only because she wouldn’t have to feel guilty anymore. And that kiss she stole from Jonghyun? It was okay, because he didn’t have a girlfriend when that happened.

“I’m okay,” Jonghyun shrugged. “It was for the best, maybe. Everything happens for a reason.”

Sooyoung hummed and closed her eyes.

“Hey, I-I have something to tell you.”

Sooyoung hummed again.

Jonghyun took a deep breath. “Look, I know this is going to sound a little weird, and it may even shock you, but I don’t think I can’t say it infront of you properly so..” Jonghyun took a deep breath again. “I-I think like you.”

Sooyoung was silent and Jonghyun felt nervous. He gathered all his courage to repeat what he had just said, maybe Sooyoung was shocked and didn’t understand it? “I like you, Choi Sooyoung.”

Silence.

“..Sooyoung?”

Sooyoung had fallen asleep with Roo on her lap and her phone pressed on her ear (thanks to her shoulder.)

Jonghyun sighed and face-palmed himself. Talk about confession failure.

“Goodnight, Sooyoung.”

Jonghyun decided to sing a song for Sooyoung before finally dropping the call and let her fall asleep peacefully. He then texted Jessica, politely asking her to check on Sooyoung and tuck her into bed properly, just in case.

A few minutes later, Jonghyun receieves a message from Jessica, saying how Sooyoung fell asleep with his dog sleeping on her lap, and her back against the headboard. But she's fine now, and Jessica had tucked her into bed (just like Jonghyun had requested).

Jonghyun smiled upon imagining Roo sleeping on Sooyoung's lap before sending a thank you message to Jessica.

From: Jessica-noona

I deserve a bag because of this.