“Aish!” Eunhyuk grumbled to himself as he stood in the queue for a ramen shop. “I could have been having a nice seafood dinner of snow crabs with Sungmin but this Kris had to get in the way. And now I have to eat ramen alone. Not that ramen is bad, but it is kind of sad to eat ramen alone in a foreign land especially when I do that almost every day in Korea.”

The queue started to move and Eunhyuk was now the first in line.

“But I should feel happy for Sungmin, right? I mean, there is someone who likes him. Maybe they can get together. Maybe he will accept Kris. Maybe Kris can make him happy and smile again. Eunhyuk, you did well, right? As long as Sungmin is happy, it shouldn’t matter who is by his side – whether it is me or Kris. I am happy just to be his friend.”

It was Eunhyuk’s turn to enter the eatery. The staff ushered him towards a vending machine to purchase a meal ticket. He quickly scanned the machine for his options that were mostly in Japanese. He had to rely on the pictures to make his selection. He pushed one of the buttons and slipped some notes into the machine, got his ticket, handed it to the staff and was led to his seat at the bar counter – the only empty seat in the small eatery. As he neared the bar counter, he found the back view of one of customers to be rather familiar.

As Eunhyuk settled it and turned to his left to reach for chopsticks, he groaned loudly when he spotted the customer on his left who was busy wolfing down his bowl of ramen thus interrupting the said customer as he turned to Eunhyuk on his right while slurping up a strand of noodle. “What was that for?

Donghae gasped. “You! What are you doing here?”

“Why do I have to run into you everywhere?” Eunhyuk exclaimed in exasperation.  

“What was the groan for? It’s rude and embarrassing. Don’t look at me,” Donghae warned and turned his head away.

“Who wants to look at you? Looking at you makes me lose my appetite,” Eunhyuk jibed.

“Looking at your monkey face makes me feel like throwing up,” Donghae retorted.

“That’s good. I hope you throw up all the vermin, snobbishness and rottenness in you,” Eunhyuk sniped without looking at Donghae.

“Well, and I hope you won’t be able to eat anything and shrivel into nothingness,” Donghae fired.

Just as Eunhyuk was about to say something, a staff came and set Eunhyuk’s big steaming bowl of noodles in front of him. Feeling his stomach growling from hunger, he decided to ignore Donghae and started to tuck in.

Donghae also returned to finishing his meal. When he was done, he turned to Eunhyuk, “Enjoy the rest of your ramen. It’s pretty sad that you have to end up eating ramen here all by yourself instead of being able to have a fantastic seafood feast with Sungmin-ssi. You made a wasted trip all the way to Hokkaido.”

Eunhyuk stopped eating as he was left smarting and angered by Donghae’s remarks. It hit a raw nerve and sore spot for him.

“You’re no better off either. You’re eating alone too without the rest of your colleagues. Shows how popular you are,” Eunhyuk slammed down his chopsticks as he retorted.

“Do mind your manners,” Donghae shook his head. “This is a public place.”

“There’s a limit to what one can tolerate,” Eunhyuk warned.

Let me try to fish out some information about Choi Siwon and Sungmin-ssi from Eunhyuk, Donghae thought to himself.

“I think that Choi Siwon must have been a much more tolerant and gentlemanly person than you,” Donghae remarked.

Eunhyuk froze when he heard Siwon’s name being mentioned.

Noticing Eunhyuk stiffening a little, Donghae knew he had hit jackpot, and thus continued. “And I think Sungmin-ssi must have liked him very much and was very close to him.”

“How...how...do you know about Siwon and Sungmin?” Eunhyuk spluttered as he stared into Donghae. His anger and disdain for Donghae was now forgotten. His curiosity and worry was now piqued instead.

“So Sungmin-ssi and Choi Siwon knew each other?” Donghae pressed on, ignoring Eunhyuk’s question. “Were both of them good friends? They were close, right?”

“Answer my question!” Eunhyuk demanded. “How do you know about them?”

But Donghae didn’t respond and Eunhyuk grew more impatient.

“Damn it. Answer my question!” Eunhyuk raised his voice in irritation.

“Why are you so concerned about how I found out that Sungmin-ssi and Choi Siwon were close?”

“Never mind then,” Eunhyuk stood up leaving his ramen unfinished and stomped off. “I don’t need to know.”

Donghae hastened after Eunhyuk and he shouted after the latter: “Hey does Sungmin-ssi know how Choi Siwon died?”

Eunhyuk stopped abruptly in his steps and turned around with a glare. “What kind of stupid question is this? Siwon died in a car accident. He was hit by a car which lost control.”

Eunhyuk paused for a while when he suddenly realised something. “Why am I even bothering with these questions?”

“Does Sungmin-ssi know the details about the accident?” Donghae asked.

“All he knows is that Siwon was killed by a car which lost control,” Eunhyuk said. “Wait a minute, why are you asking about the accident? Is there something which you know that Sungmin ought to know? Are you hiding something? You seem so concerned...”

“No...no...no...there’s nothing,” Donghae denied vehemently.

Eunhyuk turned away from Donghae. He was about to march off, but turned around once again and with a stern look and warned Donghae, “Whatever you do, do not bring up or mention anything relating to Siwon’s death with Sungmin.”

Sensing that his tone was a little harsh and might backfire on his intention, Eunhyuk decide to soften his stance a little. “I admit that I dislike you, but Sungmin doesn’t...Siwon was his close friend. So he was pretty affected by Siwon’s death.  Sungmin is a nice guy, so I hope you would spare a thought for his feelings.”

Donghae was about to open his mouth to probe more into Sungmin and Siwon, but sensing this was not a good time, decided to hold back. He just simply nodded his head, but deep within, he was able to figure out the possible relationship between Sungmin and Siwon.  

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I'm sorry for the short update...and haven't gotten to the Sungmin and Kyuhyun part. I promise that part would be out before the New Year. 

Looks like Donghae and Eunhyuk keep on crossing one another's paths in the wrong way. 

I know it is still a little to early to wish you my dear readers Merry Christmas, but Merry Christmas and hope you guys would enjoy the Christmas holidays wherever you are with your loved ones. 

Meanwhile, thanks for all the support and love shown for this piece. Please continue to support this story with your comments.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.

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Heaven's Boys 

KyuMin: Almost a love story

KyuMin: 60 Days 

It's You (너라고) Neorago (a YeWook fan-fic)