"Mr. Choi! Wait!"

 

The elevator doors are stopped by a woman, breathless and decorated with bandages across her arms and knees. Taemin and Minho recognize her as the woman from the incident just a few hours ago, but they do not say anything, too dumbfounded by her sudden presence.

 

Watching her dubiously, Taemin's grip on Minho's waist becomes protectively tighter. Minho feels the increased pressure, and he pulls Taemin closer to him as well; just to tell him that he shouldn't worry.

 

"Can I help you?" He keeps his tone as courteous as possible as he eyes the woman. The elevator is starting to close again. If his other arm would allow him to, he would have held the doors open himself— but since it is physically impossible for him at the moment, he lets Kai do it for him.

 

She breathes in and out. "I- May I speak with you?" Minho senses that Taemin is about to object until she is quick to add, "-b-both of you, I mean."

 

They are taking up a lot of time in the elevator, and the doors' ringing is becoming increasingly annoying with each second that passes. But Minho does not mind it because he does not want to make any hasty decisions without asking for Taemin's stand on the matter.

 

"Do you want to...?"

 

"If you do, then it's fine.

 

Minho throws a small smile toward the younger for his understanding. He tells the remaining men to go on up ahead to room 208 and that they'll be right up. They comply without question.

 

The lobby is close to empty, with two or three patients passing by every now and then. Taemin keeps his hand enclosed around Minho's as they sit on the couch across from where the woman is seated. The furrow in his brow still hasn't gone away, the suspicion he is feeling written all over his face.

 

"So-" He winces when he feels another sharp sting shoot through his arm. "-what did you want to talk about?" He adjusts himself on the couch to try and accommodate the injury better. The brunette fusses over him to stop moving around so much or else it'd hurt even more.

 

The woman's eyes follow the group of doctors passing through before she awkwardly clears . Minho sees the red marks dotted all over her neck, as if it was clawed by something sharp, but he does not comment on it.

 

"I would like to apologize." All of a sudden, she is standing. She bows deeply, and continues. "And to thank you."

 

"Please sit down," Taemin remarks. "Someone might see you." In all honesty, Minho does not think there is anyone else around save for the security guard and the nurse manning the front desk to witness her less-than-dignified apology. But that is not to say that he finds all of this necessary, either. When the woman looks up, he wordlessly nods his head in agreement to Taemin's statement. She sits back down.

 

She frowns, the unnoticed lines on her face becoming more visible. "I don't know how else I'm supposed to properly express my gratitude and my... how should I put this... remorse?" Minho tilts his head, not quite getting what she means by that.

 

"It's just that- the things I said before. At the restaurant. Don't you remember?!"

 

His head remains tilted in confusion until Taemin whispers something into his ear. And then he remembers.

 

You're disgusting. The both of you.

 

"Oh. That."

 

She almost looks panicky when the memory comes back to Minho. "I really do regret saying that! I was wrong about you two and I just have to say thank you because you-"

 

"It's okay. Anyone would have done it." He feels proud when he says this, wanting more than anything (as childish as it is) to impress Taemin for his improved character. He knows that he has succeeded in doing so because the brunette is squeezing his hand again, and from the warmth and tenderness that he feels in the touch, it is done out of admiration.

 

"But you got shot!" Her shrill voice brings him back to the conversation.

 

"I don't regret what I did," He frankly retorts. "So what's the point in worrying about it?"

 

"But you..." opens and closes but no words are coming out. When she regains her composure, her voice returns as well. "…even after what I said?"

 

Getting tired of the roundabout conversation, Minho sighs. "Just forget about it, alright?" He signals for Taemin to pull them both up. "Gotta go. Family''ll be here soon." He wraps his arm around the brunette's shoulder where he can lean some of his weight and begins to leave for the elevator, not giving the woman a chance to finish her apology.

 

Taemin still has his eyes on the woman even as they are walking away, but his expression is no longer reeking of suspicion. His eyebrows are furrowed, and Minho is positive that the younger man is worried about the gaping woman on the couch.

 

So Minho calls out a few parting words over his shoulder. This is probably the last time they'll be seeing each other, anyway. "Take care of yourself, okay?"

 

The brunette releases a small smile and his shoulders feel less tense under Minho's arm. The elder winks at him just as the elevator rings and the doors open.

 

 

When they reach their room, Mr. and Mrs. Choi and Minseok are already there. The moment Taemin stepped inside with Minho right behind him, his mother had immediately rushed to them and bombarded them with questions he couldn't have possibly answered right away. Thankfully, Mr. Choi stops the woman's hysterics by pulling her away and telling her to calm down somewhere in a corner of the room.

 

Minseok regards him with a 'Cool cast.' before asking if he could sign it. Minho, of course, finds the idea of vandalizing his cast appealing, so he agrees to it. His younger brother has already pulled a marker out of nowhere when Taemin pulls him away and demands for him to lie down on the bed before they start doing whatever idiotic things they are planning on doing. He complies with a 'Yes, ma'am.' as he is dragged to the bed by his boyfriend, hearing Minseok's not-so-subtle cough of "Whipped." He successfully punches his brother with his uninjured arm without the brunette noticing. Kibum and the others join in on signing the cast as well.

 

The room remains in this state of disarray until a nurse drops by and tells them that visiting hours are over.

 

"Sleepy?" Taemin is looking up at Minho, his eyes twinkling with concern. They are in their usual cuddling position, with the brunette pressed up against the elder's side, only in a considerably smaller bed. Beggars can't be choosers, Taemin says. After all, he reasoned, he couldn't possibly ask for another bed when he had already begged to be allowed to stay the night at the hospital. (Plus, he doesn't mind the closeness. He prefers it, actually.)

 

Minho shakes his head. "No." But then his yawn gives him away.

 

Taemin playfully clamps his hand over Minho's opened mouth. "Liar." When he feels Minho's tongue tickling his palm, he laughs and retracts his hand away, instead placing it on Minho's chest where he can trace light circles and patterns. "Come on, sleep if you want to. I'll be here."

 

"Stiiiill," He is whining like a child, as if he isn't a grown man whose life had just been threatened a few hours ago. "I wouldn't see you in my sleep. I want to keep looking at you."

 

"Ever the romantic." Taemin leans up to place a sweet kiss on Minho's lips. "But you should really sleep now." He feels the delicious tingling across his chest from Taemin's nimble fingers. "I'll be the first thing you see in the morning. I promise."

 

 

A painfully dull newspaper is what greets him in the morning, having been casually thrown onto his face. The black and white and gray of the paper are so disgustingly far from the beauty of Taemin's gorgeous face that he had been promised.

 

"YAH, WAKE UP!"

 

Kibum's voice is too much for the both of them, especially in the mornings, so the only thing they do is groan simultaneously in sleepiness as they ask for five more minutes. Both with closed eyes, Taemin noses Minho's neck, purring in satisfaction, while Minho buries his nose in Taemin's hair.

 

"Uh... son." A deep, uncomfortable cough. "I think what Kibum has to say is quite important."

 

Taemin's and Minho's eyes snap open at Choi Yun-Gyeom's voice. The brunette would have fallen off of the bed in his panic if it weren't for Minho's quick reflexes and his practiced instinct to save Taemin from his own clumsiness. He pulls the brunette back to him on the bed as he sits up, trying to keep his panicking boyfriend in place.

 

Taemin eventually settles down after a while when the alarm had faded away to be replaced by embarrassment. He fidgets under Mr. and Mrs. Choi's gaze while Minho internally laughs at his lover's adorable antics.

 

A sheepish smile. "Sorry about that. We slept a little late last night."

 

Kibum raises a hand and shushes him. "Don't want to hear it. Keep your stuff to yourselves."

 

The brunette tenses, turning red at the fact that Minho's parents had just heard loud and clear what Kibum had said, something which is completely untrue. They never do anything ! ... At least not last night! "We weren't—"

 

"Save it." Another raise of the hand, and then he gestures to the newspaper that is now scattered across the small hospital bed. "Read that. Go look for the front page."

 

After seconds of frantic searching, Taemin is finally holding up the front page for the both of them to read. Their faces on the paper are not what surprise them— rather, it is the headline and the contents of the article that have them speechless.

 

'helped in seizing a group of men connected to the human-trafficking syndicate running rampant this year'

 

'they saved this journalist's life.'

 

'unselfish deeds of one Choi Minho'

 

'a Samaritan is akin to this man'

 

'they do not deserve the harsh treatment they are being subjected to'

 

They both search for the writer's name in the page, and when their eyes land on a woman's black and white and gray picture, they recognize her immediately. They had not bothered to ask for her name last night, but now they know that her name is Soo Miyoung and she, as Kibum provided, is coincidentally one of the most influential writers of today.

 

They could not care less that the woman is an influential journalist who is entirely capable of changing other people’s opinions about them. What keeps them grinning like idiots is that someone is actually speaking up for them. Someone is actually saying good things about them for all of the public to see. And the fact that it is the work of a highly-opinionated, hateful, stubborn, homophobe is what makes it all the more fulfilling.

 

Mrs. Choi offers up a piece of news as well. She says that the police had released a statement this morning about his health's state and the reasons behind it.

 

Just then, Jonghyun comes barging in with a tray of breakfast in his hands. He looks as chirpy as he always does, with Jinki following right behind him. Taemin slides off of the bed for Jonghyun to place the tray in front of Minho properly as the man exclaims, as if to continue the conversation, "Everyone knows what happened!"

 

Minho regards him with a raised eyebrow as he stretches his uninjured arm a bit. "Is that a good thing?"

 

"Hell yeah it's a good thing!" Jonghyun pats him on the back, almost hitting the colourfully decorated cast, "People're calling you the -turned-hero. Disregarding the '' part, things are looking up for you again!"

 

Minho can only laugh at that. The others laugh along as well, and when the laughter dies down, he is smiling. When he looks to the brunette sitting beside his bed, he finds that he is smiling as well. Only, he looks much more radiant than Minho ever will.

 

But maybe they are as happy as the other can ever possibly be.

 

Taemin picks up the plastic hospital fork and cuts up a small piece of the food for him. When he holds it up to Minho's mouth, he leans in for the bite.

 

 

Hours later, Minho is discharged from the hospital. Once they step through the glass doors, they are mobbed within seconds by reporters greedy for their scoop. Minho pulls his cap even further down his face while Taemin adjusts his large sunglasses over his eyes. Neither says a word as they make their way to the limousine waiting for them by the sidewalk, where Shindong cheerily greets them. When they are safe within the confines of the car, however, they let out huge sighs of relief.

 

Taemin smirks at him, "Did I hear right? How does it feel to be a hero?"

 

Minho shrugs as he holds the brunette close, "Hey, that's better than ‘how does it feel to be the cheater of the century’? Or was it ‘the two-timer of the millennium’?" He racks his mind to try and remember the fabricated headlines and captions. 

 

He feels a peck on his cheek. "Doesn't matter. As long as we're okay." Minho nods in agreement, because as selfish as that sounds, that is really the only thing they are hoping for at the moment: for everything to be okay.

 

 

 

As the days pass, what Jonghyun had said begins to sound truer and truer.

 

Things really are starting to look up.

 

As ironic as it was, it only took that one incident from that one fateful night to blow over an issue that had been going on for weeks. After the woman's article had been published (they can never seem to remember the name of the journalist-woman), people have begun seeing them in a different light. It seems that a lot of people were affected by that particular group of men from that night, and all of the victim's families did not hold back in expressing their gratitude to them.

 

Some of them sent flowers, some sent rice and chickens (which were generously passed onto a twinkly-eyed Jinki), and some mailed messages while the rest of them personally went over to Minho's building to thank him. The experience is completely opposite to what had been happening just weeks ago. But Minho is grateful for the change nonetheless. This unfamiliarity is more welcome than the harassment before.

 

But despite the overwhelming influx of adoring messages and supporters, there still remained that group of people who insisted that Minho's 'heroism' was all a publicity stunt to cover up his 'homo-'. Thankfully, these people were brushed off to the side by the majority of the population who were now in support— or at least tolerant— of Choi Minho's and Lee Taemin's relationship.

 

New clients are signing up while old clients are coming back. Plus, the rude ex-employees are crawling on their hands and knees for their old jobs (x: A janitorial position will do!). He is slowly but surely making his way from the most hated man in his country back to his coveted position as one of the world’s youngest, most successful business tycoons. (Not bachelor— not anymore.) And what's best is, everything is okay.

 

No— everything is perfect.

 

 

And even after eight months, everything is still perfect. 

 

Jinki has finally found the girl of his dreams— the one girl who has managed to pin down the elusive, playboy Lee Jinki. The one girl who can tolerate his addiction for poultry products just as much as anyone can tolerate anything in this materialistic world. When the woman named Park Sun-young introduced herself as Jinki's fiancé (you can call me Luna!), Minho and the others had all but bowed down to this amazing woman.

 

It was on accident that they met, really. Jinki was supposed to drop by Taemin's apartment, but he had somehow ended up at the dance school were Kai was coincidentally teaching. He said that he had meant to ask for directions, so out he went. A few stumbles out of the car here and a number of tripping on the pavement there, Kai and Luna eventually chanced on seeing Jinki as he dusted himself off of the ground for the nth time. The sheepish grin that Jinki sent their way was enough to make the woman fall for him. (Or at least that's what Jinki says.) 

 

 

Kibum and Jonghyun, much to everyone's mild surprise, had decided to move to the United States. The city they had moved to, of course, was all up to Kibum. Jonghyun had said that he was fine with wherever they stayed, as long as they were together. Under Kibum's strategizing, they had moved to New York, where marriage for them was entirely possible. Both Kim's parents had no problem with the arrangement. They were still raking in the money for their families, anyway. 

 

Kibum had told Minho months before the move that maybe— just maybe, the whole reason of their moving was for their dream of finally being together like how they have always wished to be. Minho, as sad as he was to hear about the move itself, was happy to hear the reason. Besides, distance does not prove to be a problem for these men. They are so accustomed to country-hopping during their business trips that flying from South Korea to the United States only feels like one train ride away. In fact, he and Taemin had visited them just last, last, week out of plain boredom.

 

 

Taesun and Kai are still in the stage of denying whatever it is that is surfacing between them. But Taemin knows them enough to figure that sooner rather than later, Kai will eventually be running to him for advice on how to confess to someone as cold as Lee Taesun. He sometimes ends up pouting thinking about it, not seeing how his manly elder brother can turn his manly best friend the other way without even trying.

 

 

Krystal and Amber seem to be having the most fun these past months. After Minho's big announcement, they also decided to let themselves and their insecurities go. They allowed themselves to go out on dates in public— in the theatre, in restaurants, in parks, everywhere couples usually go. And it amuses both Minho and Taemin because whenever the couple does go out on public dates, Krystal would always end up fuming in anger.

 

Apparently, Amber had accumulated quite a large fan base all from the paparazzi’s blurry photos of them and the public's sightings. Amber's boyish appearance had girls waiting outside the restaurants they were dining in, screaming, "We love you oppa-unni!" (The confusing honorific is necessary because the couple hadn't actually made a public announcement for their relationship— instead, they just let their relationship speak for itself as they walk hand in hand down the streets and in shops and malls. So now, people are only left to wonder about Ms. Jung's mysterious androgynous partner: is he/she a man or a woman?)

 

Krystal would then always reply in a shrill shriek to the hyper-active fan girls, "I'm the only one allowed to call her oppa!" Which makes it all the more confusing for the public. Taemin and Minho only shake their heads in amusement whenever Krystal comes over to their building, scolding Amber for being too attractive for her own good.

 

 

And here comes today.

 

Taemin tiredly steps out of the car and waves 'See you later,' to Shindong. He had just picked up a mailed package an hour’s drive away from their company building. The cheery man waves back and drives off. The brunette thinks he saw a mischievous smile on the driver's face, but then he assumes that maybe he's just imagining things from all the exhaustion from today's work.

 

He swings the paper bag around his wrist as he enters the building and steps onto the elevator. The rings of the contraption are so familiar to him now that sometimes, when he is alone and achingly bored, he would sing along with the 'ding!'s. Reaching the desired floor, he steps out of the elevator.

 

Everyone has gone home, and the floor is only illuminated by the dim cubicle lights and the lights from his boss's office. He takes his time as he walks to where Minho is working, still trying to figure out the contents of this bag he had picked up.

 

He knocks on the glass door, knowing that it is entirely unnecessary, but wanting to do it for the fun of it.

 

"Sir? May I come in?"

 

Minho looks up to the doorway, at him, taking off his glasses that he uses every so often. He boyishly smirks at the brunette. "Of course."

 

Taemin smirks back and then waltzes in, plopping down onto the office couch. He is hugging the package to his chest as he chuckles quietly. "You look old with glasses, sir."

 

There is the sound of a chair rolling against the carpet and then footsteps. Minho is walking towards him, loosening his tie along the way. "Do I really?" He sits beside Taemin and pulls the younger to his lap, his lean thighs laid across his own. Taemin links his hands around Minho's neck, paper bag still in hand.

 

"Yep. My boyfriend's getting old." He jokes, leaning his head against Minho's shoulder. He listens to the elder's heartbeat until he is satisfied enough to speak again. "What's this for?” He asks, shaking the paper bag.

 

Leaning back and making himself comfortable on the couch, Minho replies. "Take a guess."

 

"Is it for me?"

 

"That's not a guess." He pecks Taemin's forehead laughingly, "But yes, it kind of is."

 

Taemin pouts at him in return. "Why kind of?" The large, brown eyes sway Minho way sooner than he had expected. He kisses away the pout and asks for the brunette to give him the bag. It takes a bit of convincing and a lot of bribing kisses, but he eventually gets it into his own hands. Minho gently sits him down on the leather seat and walks to his desk. There, he pulls out a dark, polished wooden box.

 

When he returns to the couch, Taemin is climbing to his lap again, and he only chuckles at his boyfriend's enthusiasm.

 

"Here."

 

"What's this for?" Again with his heavenly pout that never fails to make Minho sigh dreamily. He puts his hand into the paper bag and takes out a key. Taemin's curiosity is showing through his eyes as he hands the key to the younger.

 

"The box is locked."

 

He did not need to say anything else for the brunette to get to work on the lock. He laughingly pulls Taemin closer to him as the latter tinkers with the objects like a child working on a complicated project.

 

"Why- is this- so- hard to—" The tinkering stops and Taemin is only staring at the inside of the smooth box. "Oh."

 

It is unbearably silent, and for the first time in a long time, Minho feels nervous in Taemin's presence. The digital clock is beeping, signalling 10 P.M. Neither of them take notice.

 

When the beeping of the clock finally ceases, Taemin takes out the silver ring and the plane ticket. His eyes are wide and confused as they scan over the lone diamond at the top of the gleaming band and the piece of glossy paper. "Is this...?” He looks up at Minho, expression unchanging.

 

Minho nods. He finds it in himself to look Taemin straight in the eye despite his anxiety and his apprehension as he utters the two words that he had been repeatedly rehearsing in his head since several months back.

 

 "Marry me.”

 

The room feels unbearably hot in spite of the air-conditioner on high and the cold temperature of Seoul. Under Taemin’s tentative and uncertain gaze, he is burning, he is afraid. His mind is racing and his heart is pounding faster as he waits for Taemin’s reply.

 

“Minho… I-” The brunette frowns, biting his lower lip. He keeps his gaze down, his fingers toying with the ticket and the ring, and Minho knows that Taemin hates to say it just as much as he does. “You know we can’t…”

 

"We can if we lived someplace else. Jjong-hyung and Kibum-hyung did.”

 

“But—”

 

Minho takes his hand, stopping him right then. “"I know that we've talked about this and that you're not too fond of living in another country. But I really hope that you'll give it some thought. But…. if you really don't want to,” He pulls out the key card that was inside the box as well, “will you consider moving in with me?"

 

The uncertainty is still present in Taemin’s face as he looks down at the card in Minho’s hand.

 

Frustrated, Minho runs a hand through his hair as he breathes a weary sigh. He adjusts the both of them so that Taemin is straddling him and he is properly face to face with the brunette. He slowly tilts the younger’s chin up. "I love you, Tae. I can't promise that I'm going to win the prize for best ing boyfriend in the world, but I sure as hell will try. I want to be with you as much as I can. I’m never able to sleep at night whenever you’re not there beside me and it just drives me ing crazy. I want to take care of you like you’ve been taking care of me all this time. You're the most important person in the world to me and… I want to do absolutely everything I can to make you happy. So... if you're not ready to say yes to the ring, then, please- would you at least move in with me?”

 

When he only receives silence as a response, he tentatively brushes away the curtain of bangs hiding Taemin’s eyes from his view, feeling every bit as crestfallen as he expected to be if his requests were ever to be rejected.

 

“Taemin… Sorry, I just—”

 

Teary brown eyes meet his when Taemin looks up at him. The brunette rubs away the tears in his eyes with the back of his hand, laughing quietly to himself. Never in his life had he expected to consider laying the rest of his future, his life, in the hands of another person. Never in his life had he expected to be able to trust another person again just as much as he has trusted the man before him. The older man can only look at him expectantly.

 

Through the tears, Taemin smiles at him. "I could already tell you’d make a bad husband. Husbands aren't supposed to make their wives cry."

 

Minho’s lips stretch into a hesitant smile, his eyebrows furrowed with wary hope. “I- I can call you my wife?”

 

Quiet laughter escapes Taemin’s lips as he softly smiles at his fiancé, “I look like one, don’t I?”

 

The elder is beaming, looking as if he can conquer the world at any moment as he holds his dear ‘wife’ close. “I promise, I’ll never make my wife cry again.”

 

“Idiot.” He buries his flustered face in Minho’s neck, wrapping his arms around it as he savours the closeness and the intimacy and everything else that he has learned to love in the moments that they are in a simple, perfect embrace, just like this.

 

“You love me.” Minho smirks, and although there is that faux arrogance in his voice that he had taken on over the years that he was single, there is still that hidden, child-like need for reassurance that the man in his arms does indeed, love him. So, all too willingly, Taemin replies. Not because he has to, but because he wants to.

 

“Yeah.” He whispers. “I do.”

 

When they pull away from their embrace, it only takes a brief moment for them to lean back in to silently seal the final point of their relationship with a tender kiss— a kiss that promises a future where the both of them are beyond content, beyond happy. They are setting themselves for a life where they are willfully bound to each other and their imperfections, short tempers and stubborn personalities all the same.

 

 

They have not a clue what the future holds for them. If things work out, then they will revel under life’s willingness to comply with what they want. But if it doesn’t, then they will decide that it isn’t the end for them just yet.

 

But who knows? Before all of this started neither one of them had expected to fall- hard- for someone quite like the other.

 

What they are certain of though, is that if love were a business, they both got the better end of the deal.

 

---

 

To everyone who commented, subscribed, upvoted, and recommended my fic, thank you so so so so much! I wanted to list down every one of you but I couldn’t figure out how to go about it in the end. T__T I’m sorry that I wasn’t able to accommodate all of the endings that you guys had in mind. D: But anyway, thank you soooooo much for your feedback, your constructive criticisms, and the support! :) I could just crai from how happy you guys made me, haha! <3 I hope that you guys enjoyed reading this story just as much as I did writing it. Bye, for now! :D