_{Credit to: http://kaleidoscopek...s.blogspot.com/
Made By: Orphey}

Chapter 11 - Fated


Shaky hands placed neatly folded clothes on top of another; pushing down to try and make them stay in the undersized suitcase. Midori had been at this for hours, trying to sort her favourite clothes and whatever essentials she might need for her upcoming trip. Yunho had told her to just buy things in Korea but she wanted to spend her money on musicals and sightseeing, not clothes she could buy just as easily in Japan. In the end the small woman sat on top of her suitcase cross-legged, in a vain attempt to make the lid close so she could zip it up. 

By the end of it all she’d worked up a small sweat but was, overall, proud of her packing; until she realized she’d forgotten underwear. Half an hour later the doorbell rang briefly before a click of the door as the key unlocked it. Moments later Yunho was leaning against her bedroom doorway watching, in badly concealed amusement, as Midori once again tried to get her suitcase shut.

‘Having trouble?’ His voice was full of laughter she didn’t have to look to know he was grinning at her stupidly with a light twinkle in his brown eyes. Midori huffed out a breath, effectively blowing stray hair out of her face only to see it settle back into place annoyingly. Without looking at him she muttered a brief negative to his question and continued to struggle with the suitcase.

She was grateful, though desperately tried to hide it, when Yunho came over and shoved his weight onto the top of the suitcase and, with his free hand, zipped the bag shut without spending any energy. Midori, on the other hand, fell onto the bed full of denied clothes and let out a breath, spent. 

With her eyes closed she heard Yunho’s brief chuckle before his weight suddenly settled next to her on the bed. She let out a slight squeak when the weight caused her to roll into his side and before she could escape she was 
trapped in his tight arms. Slowly her body melted into his, her own arm coming up to let her hand rest on his chest only to be snatched up by his hand and guided to his heart.

The furious beating under her hand made her face flush.

‘W-what are you doing?’ 

He shushed her, eyes still closed. His thumb lightly ran circles around the back of her hand. Time slowed, minutes melding into each other. Before Midori knew it she was being lured to sleep, only stopped from her journey to dreams by Yunho's deep voice whispering a heart felt, 'Thank you, for trusting me.'

She didn't respond, unsure what to say so she simply snuggled closer to him only to be lifted up and nudged towards the door with a brief, 'We'll be late.'

Before she knew it she was outside of the house and staring at the closed door. An odd sort of fluttering flew through Midori’s chest, a lightened feel that sent a chill through her spine. She stared at the closed door; a little shocked at the situation she was in. She was nervous. She was about to actually see the world, to leave Japan for her own reasons, not her fathers. Hell, who wouldn’t be nervous?

The sun beamed down on her gently, almost as if smiling on her fear and reassuring her that she wasn't alone. In the next instance Yunho’s warm hand had linked with hers, her suitcase in the other and they were heading down to his car. She snuck one last glance at Maiko’s apartment before turning back to Yunho with a smile when his hand reached over to squeeze her hand in reassurance. 

She’d stayed in the ryokan that night, despite her previous resolve to let him go and escape… despite her heart that screamed at her to let him go before she hurt him. She was selfish; she knew it best of all. Still she’d stayed in his arms, holding onto some false hope that she’d never have to leave. 

But she knew she didn’t have that courage. That knowledge was killing her.

So she stayed in his arms, sleeplessly, and tried to fight her inner demons and challenge herself to whether she could betray her father for the love of her life.

Her eventually answer didn’t please her. 

But she wasn’t going to think about it. She wasn’t going to acknowledge it until she had a control on herself. His whispered, ‘don’t go’s’ still rang through her head.

The airport was packed, of course it was, the Japanese fans were farewelling their beloved members for who knew how long. In the shelter of the car Yunho had bent over, kissed her forehead briefly and told her to be safe until he saw her on the plane. Easier said than done.

The fans pushed and shoved each other and, in turn, any one else trying to get in or around. More than a few times her feet were stepped on and she was constantly steered off path. Relief filled her when a warm hand grabbed hers and pulled her from the crowd, fear only settling in when she realized she was heading out of the airport.

Shocked brown eyes rose, feet digging into the floor as she met an identical pair of eyes that stared at her restlessly.

‘Stop this nonsense,’ her father hissed and Midori only gave in, until Yunho’s face flashed in front of her vision. Her soft features transformed into ice, her eyes blank as she pulled her hand away from her fathers and, without a word, began to walk back into the crowds.

This time his hands were rougher when they span her around, his body towering overs hers as authority filled his every pore. People walked past them casually, not interested in the stirring turn of event that was happening in Midori’s life, oblivious that her life felt like it was slowly crumbling around her feet day by day.

He opened his mouth to speak and fear fell over Midori like a tidal wave, showering her senses in panic. He knew how to speak; any politician had that sort of flair in their words that could persuade you to lose sense of your own resolve and your own will.

That scared her more than violence.

In desperation, and maybe a little insanity she shook out of his arms and did the unthinkable. The sharp slap echoed in her mind, repeating tauntingly to her what she had done. Passers had now stopped to start whispering, pointing rude fingers at the pair as if what was going on was any of their business. Midori recoiled in fear, gripping the wrist of the hand she’d used to imprint red on her father’s face. Her eyes were wide with fear, her body already beginning to shiver with tears. He, on the other hand, stood firm and furious.

In a desperate rush Midori her heel and fled. As usually her fight of flight instincts led her away from the danger, forever running from the reality of her life. Forever scared. 

She was still shaken when she met up with Yunho but as he was and as she loved him, he didn’t notice. Instead he did exactly what she needed and waved a hand enthusiastically at her and let a heart warming smile grace his face. Calm flew through her body immediately, the shaking in her hands stilled and a smile of her own was returned to him.

Midori didn't see the happy surprise that filled his face when she jogged up to him and immediately wrapped her arms around his waist, letting him break her speed with his body. She did feel the protective arms that wrapped around her and the laugh that chuckled through his chest, vibrating his body against hers.

‘I missed you,’ she whispered, already well aware of the red that was burning the cheeks buried in his chest.

‘Really?’ His voice was deep, so deep. Midori didn’t think she’d ever noticed before how soft and deep his voice was. How calming. Why was everything about him so calming? It was as if God had created him for her so her nerves could easily be controlled by his strength. If she was a frightful bird he was a strong eagle, watching over her. In response she simply nodded into his chest, trying to hide the tell tale smile from him. 

‘Oi! Love birds, calm it will you?’ 

Midori and Yunho turned at the same time to see a grinning Junsu waving at them. Slightly behind him were Yoochun and Jaejoong who were smirking knowingly at the affectionate pair. Changmin was bent over laughing. 

‘Yeah, yeah. One day you’ll fall in love Min.’ Yunho announced, slinging an arm over Midori’s slim shoulders and slipping her bag from her hand before guiding her to his friends. 

Changmin wriggled his nose at his friend, ‘not me.’

Jaejoong rolled his eyes, putting a friendly hand on Changmin’s shoulder and guiding the boy away. The only thing Midori heard before their voices escaped her ears was, ‘Changmin… when a man meets a woman and likes a 
woman he…’

Yunho’s chuckle brought Midori’s attention back to her boyfriend who was watching his friend affectionately. With a small smile of her own she nudged her elbow gently into his side, drawing his attention to her for a moment simply so she could smile warmly at him.

‘What?’

With a small shake of her head she looked away, the smile growing as love filled her heart, ‘Nothing.’

Even when their plane flight was called Yunho continued to nudge her, trying to pull the really reason for her smile from her but, stubbornly, Midori remained quiet. Eventually Jaejoong pulled Yunho away from his girlfriend, allowing her to be snatched away from the cheeky Junsu.

Because of that Yunho and Midori were separated on the flight even so they remained within the others line of vision and, as passengers were entering and finding their seats, kept glancing ‘inconspicuously’ at one another.
It was in the middle of one of Junsu’s jokes that she saw him. He walked in with a purpose, the pink tint to his cheek now near invisible but the fire in his eyes still burning. 

She almost chocked and immediately panic overwhelmed her. Junsu quickly caught on to her fear, which surprised her, sometimes he seemed like the least intellectual in the group. Before she could blink he’d shoved a magazine in front of her face and slung an arm over her shoulder, closely pulling her towards him and pretending to be pointed at sometime on the paper with a smile on his face.

She flinched when breath tickled her neck and turned her head slightly to realize how close Junsu really was to her. ‘Calm down,’ he whispered so quickly it was hard to pick up, ‘Yunho may be a bit slow but he’s noticed as well.’

At his words her eyes flickered over to the man she loved. Just as Junsu had said, Yunho already knew. He didn’t indicate it in anything but the tenseness of his body, hardening of his eyes and the clenching of his jaw. 

‘Just trust him,’ Junsu’s voice whispered into her ear. Midori swallowed the growing ball of fear in and turned back to Junsu, eyes curious.

‘How do you know about this?’

She watched, in slight fascination, as his cheeks and ears turned a faint pink and a nervous smile slid over his face. Slowly in transformed into a cheeky grin as he admitted the four of them had helped Yunho with translating the newspaper. When she didn’t respond he rushed into explaining that Yunho hadn’t wanted them to but they’d be relentless and, in the end, the leader had given up.

Midori had already zoned out, her fear growing as he father walked closer and took a seat behind her. To the other side Yunho was clenching and unclenching his fists, eyes impatiently glaring at the seatbelt icon. It took 20 minutes before the light flickered off and immediately his seatbelt was ripped apart, his tall frame standing and, with long strides, made his way to Midori and Junsu’s seat. 

He didn’t have to say anything, Junsu was already up and moving to sit beside Jaejoong. Impatiently Yunho motioned for her to take Junsu’s previous seat before settling into the aisle seat. Silence fell but Midori didn’t mind, she felt more at ease with him beside her, especially when he slipped her hand into his lap and played with her fingers mindlessly.

How odd, she thought, that despite the dark cloud that loomed behind her so menacingly with such a bright, strong light beside her the fear melted and darkness faded until all she could see was him. How perfect he was for her, that he knew her emotions even if she kept her poker face too often.

‘Are you going to be ok?’ he whispered in Korean, effectively cutting of her father intruding on their conversation. Not only had Midori been learning Korean for Taeyeon, her close friend in Korea, but she’d also been getting private lessons from Yunho. Normally it involved lounging around at Maiko’s house while the later was away or being locked in Yunho’s room of their apartment, trying to ignore the teasing from the members.

But that was in the past right now, in the present Midori was nodding her head, keeping her eyes to their joined hands. She still got a blush when they had any sort of physical or romantic contact. She still got stirs in her stomach and a flutter of joy through her heart that flowed into a golden river of warmth.

He was mesmerizing.

He was perfect.

He wasn’t hers.

She didn’t have the right to call him hers, but how she wanted to. She jumped slightly when he nudged her, a small inkling of a smile curving his lips when she turned in surprise. She couldn’t help it, a smile of her own formed and her cheeks grew hotter.

She was in love. Crazily, stupidly in love with a man that was beyond perfect, every thing she’d ever wanted and more. For once, she decided, just once; she was going to give him her all. For their time in Korea she would hold dear to his love and show him how much she loved him.

Maybe she’d finally have the courage to leave her father. Maybe, just maybe; Yunho was the blessing she needed, fated for her, to save her.