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Chapter 36 - A Part of the Secret

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"What's the problem?"

Sungmin took Kyuhyun to a nearby park where he used to play when he was younger. Come to think of it - he has not been there since he was in middle school.

Kyuhyun does not answer. He is not crying anymore, Sungmin can see how Kyuhyun still feels depressed. He remembers how Kyuhyun broke down in front of him. He was far from the cold but composed Kyuhyun who always made him upset. Sungmin wants to make fun of him but he knows it is not a good time for that.

"Kyuhyun, tell me what it is."

"You don't have to know," Kyuhyun finally speaks in a soft voice without looking at him. He stands from the swing where he is sitting. "I don't want you to be involved in this."

He tries to walk away from Sungmin, but the latter stops him by blocking his way. "That's it? Wow, thank you," Sungmin asks with a sarcastic tone. "You asked me to stay with you then you'll just leave me here? I can't believe you."

Kyuhyun does not utter any word again.

"Fine, if you want to leave then go," Sungmin says. "I'll go now. It looks like I wasted my time waiting for you."

When Sungmin is about to leave, Kyuhyun grabs his wrist and stops him. "I'm sorry."

Sungmin turns to Kyuhyun and stares at him. In all fairness, he looks sincere in apologizing. Sungmin pulls his hand and looks away. "Go back to the swing. Let's talk about your problem."

When they are both sitting on the swing again, Kyuhyun speaks. "Someone left."

Sungmin glances at Kyuhyun. "What?"

"I wanted to take someone back, but it turned out that someone left the country," Kyuhyun meets Sungmin's eyes and continues, "I was already late."

Sungmin looks away from Kyuhyun and focuses his eyes on the sky instead. "That someone must be really important to you."

"Special," Kyuhyun mentions the word again. "That person is very special to me. I am living because of that person."

Sungmin feels a little hurt for no reason. Now that he realizes his crush on Kyuhyun, he feels a little jealous because of that person. He doesn't even know if that person is a male or a female. Even so, that person must be someone very dear to Kyuhyun. Maybe he loves that person a lot that is why he doesn't like Sungmin pairing him with Ryeowook. Maybe Kyuhyun has that person in his heart, just like what he said before to him.

He lets out of a sigh.

Kyuhyun hears him. "Why?"

"Nothing really," Sungmin replies. "I am just wondering if you use that word to describe a lot of people in your life, Kyuhyun."

"Are you jealous because I don't only use it to describe you?" Kyuhyun asks.

Sungmin blushes so he looks away. "Oh please, Cho Kyuhyun. I don't even use that word because I barely know its meaning," he defensively says. Then reverts to the original topic. "That someone... was the same person that you told me before, right? The one that you'd want to take back? Where is that person now?"

"Philippines," Kyuhyun answers. "I talked to the landlady and told me that the family won't go back to that house. They wanted to keep it, but they are living outside Korea for their businesses. The landlady does not know if they are still going back to Korea so I was afraid that we would not see each other again."

"That person is not yet dead and is just in another country!" Sungmin exclaims. "Why are you already giving up!?"

Kyuhyun looks at him with a questioning look.

"Come on, Kyuhyun, there's still a chance to take that person back! All you have to do is to go to the Philippines!" Sungmin tells Kyuhyun.

Kyuhyun looks to the ground. Sungmin is right. There is still a hope to see Jino. He just needs a ticket to the Philippines. "The problem is that I don't have an idea where!"

"I thought you're intelligent? Ask the land lady where that person lives in the Philippines," Sungmin suggests. "If the land lady doesn't know, then that would be the best time to panic. The land lady must know, because she is trusted, right? And if she does not tell you where, ask her for a hint, like school or whatnot!"

Kyuhyun falls to deep thinking. He can't help but to smile at Sungmin who is obviously curious about his reaction. He impliedly asks him with his eyes why Kyuhyun is smiling and Kyuhyun replies, "I can't believe that you're that wise because you are originally dense."

Sungmin hits Kyuhyun's arm. "Yah! What did you say!?"

"You made me smile again," Kyuhyun suddenly says that makes Sungmin blush for the second time that day. "You're always here when I need you."

"Jerk, what are you saying!?" Sungmin crosses his arms and stands.  "Come now!"

"What?" Kyuhyun asks Sungmin as he lifts his chin to look at Sungmin.

"I have an idea so that you won't pay for your ticket anymore," Sungmin winks at Kyuhyun and stretches his hand towards the latter. "Come!"

Kyuhyun sighs deeply as he holds Sungmin hand who in turn pulls him up.

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"Are you sure about this?" Kyuhyun asks. It doesn't mean that Kyuhyun does not trust Sungmin but to spend too much for a game, it is ridiculous.

"Kyuhyun, trust me just this once," Sungmin says as he pulls Kyuhyun until they reach the stall. "I am always lucky whenever I join raffle draws!"

"Is it better for us to join this raffle draw than to buy tickets?" Kyuhyun asks again. Sungmin finally lets go of his arm as they stop in front of the stall. The person who is attending to it is already packing up.

"Ugh! Just pay for it! It'll save us a lot," Sungmin replies and asks the person who is in charge of the stall, "What do we have to do?"

"Sorry, but I am closing now," the man says and continues to pack up.

"Please, sir! Can we just try it one time?" Sungmin pleads,  but the guy does not pay attention to him. "My friend here really has to go to the Philippines and he is trying his luck. He needs to find his girlfriend who is dying of cancer and he needs to say goodbye to her so can you please help him?"

The man stops from packing up and faces Sungmin. "Are you telling the truth?"

To the man's shock, Sungmin tears up in front of him. "P-Please... he needs to at least say goodbye to her."

The man is moved with Sungmin's tears then he looks at Kyuhyun who is not really showing any expression in his face. The man asks Kyuhyun, "Is he telling the truth?"

Kyuhyun does not want to lie, but Sungmin will kill him if they screw up. "Y-Yes."

"Fine," the man gives up and tries to rearrange his things. "But with one condition. You have to draw two white balls instead of one, that is if you are able to shoot three rings into three bears behind me."

Sungmin wipes his tears and nods. "Okay! Deal," he exclaims. He then turns to Kyuhyun. "Hey, Kyuhyun. Pay for the rings!"

"How much is it?" Kyuhyun asks the man.

"One thousand five hundred won each ring," The man tells them. Kyuhyun immediately shows a disapproval in his face, but Sungmin hits him and tells him that it is nothing compared to the plane ticket price. Kyuhyun sighs and puts out his wallet. He gives four thousand five hundred won for three rings to the man who in turn gives them the rings. "Good luck."

"I'm going to throw it first," Sungmin tells Kyuhyun and throws the first ring that shoots into one bear. "Yes!" He shouts as he throws his hand in the air. "Kyuhyun, do the second and third."

Kyuhyun obeys Sungmin and without sweat, he also shoots the rings into two more bears. Because of that, they are qualified for the next part, which is to draw white balls out of black ones from the rectangular box.

"Are you sure that there are two white balls inside?" Sungmin asks the man. "If you are not telling us the truth..."

"Of course there are two white balls in the box," the man insists. "This game originally requires a partner so..."

Sungmin's eyebrows meet. "But you told us that we had to get two white balls instead of one!"

"Well, because you are latecomers, I kinda changed the rules," the man laughs. "Originally, for a pair to win, they have to get one white ball. Each of them has to draw  once separately. If one of them draws a white ball, then automatically, the pair would win. Now, for the both of you, I will require you to tie your hands together then you have to draw together. You both need to get white balls in order for you to win two plane tickets to the Asian country!"

"Aish, you're a cheater!" Sungmin yells to the man who is still laughing.

"You are past my working hours so I am doing you a favor," the man tells Sungmin who is not amused at all. "Are you going to do it or not?"

"Let's do it," Kyuhyun finally speaks and holds Sungmin's hand. Sungmin feels a little nervous when their skins touch that his blood rushes to his cheeks. Kyuhyun takes their hands to the man and says, "Please tie us now."

The man smiles and gets a handkerchief. He ties them together. "Your hands actually fit together."

Sungmin looks away as he realizes that Kyuhyun's hand is intertwined to him. Sungmin's face is all red. "Let's get over it!"

Kyuhyun and Sungmin lift their hands together and insert it into the small hole of the rectangular box.

"There are total of three white balls inside. However, five hundred black balls are also inside. Good luck," the man says to both of them.

Kyuhyun calls Sungmin and says, "Get the first ball that you pick and don't hesitate to get it!"

At first, Sungmin doesn't want to do it, but in the end, he trusts Kyuhyun and obeys him. He picks one out of his feeling. Kyuhyun has also picked one ball already. They remove their hands together and hold the balls that they draw. The man counts from one to three for them to open their palms.

Their hearts are beating so fast because of nervousness as they both open their palms. They scream in happiness when they see that both of them have white balls. The man is so surprised about that.

"Oh my gosh, Kyuhyun, we did it!" Sungmin exclaims as the man removes the handkerchief from their wrists. Out of so much happiness, Sungmin hugs Kyuhyun tightly. When he realizes that he does something overboard, his face flushes as he tries to pull himself, but Kyuhyun hugs him and pulls him closer as he puts his head on Sungmin's shoulder.

"Thank you, Sungmin," Kyuhyun says. Sungmin feels that same yet unknown feeling again.

this. I think I really have a crush on him. Only a crush. He closes his eyes as he hugs Kyuhyun back. Just a ing crush, nothing else.

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"Did you really cry?" Kyuhyun asks Sungmin on their way to Sungmin's house.

Kyuhyun volunteered to take him home as a sign of endless gratitude for Sungmin.

The man gave them vouchers and itineraries after registration to claim their tickets two weeks from now for further processing. He also told them that the vouchers were only under their names, unless one or both of them authorize others to use one ticket or both, they were the only ones who could use the ticket. If one didn't agree with the terms of the other, especially the authorization, then both tickets would be void. They were also asked to use both tickets or else, both could not be used.

"Nope," Sungmin chuckles. "I used that eyedrop that Ms. Jang gave me. She said that I needed that for my eyes for my future modeling."

"You accepted?" Kyuhyun asks.

"Well..." Sungmin changes the topic. "Anyway, congratulations. Who would use the other ticket? Donghae? I can give him my authorization."

"Donghae hasn't renewed his passport yet," Kyuhyun says.

"Ryeowook?" Sungmin mentions. "He can go! I know he'd be happy."

Kyuhyun shakes his head. "Probably not. He can't go outside his dorm that much so I doubt his parents would allow him overseas."

"Oh well, still two weeks."

"I'll go to your house tomorrow," Kyuhyun says suddenly. Sungmin looks at him, shocked. "I want to check my heart. Has it been doing well?"

Sungmin's eyes grow in shock. "Oh no, I forgot to water it! Bye!" He runs away from Kyuhyun. 

Kyuhyun just smiles and murmurs, "Thanks, Min."

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