Chapter 12

Closing the Distance

Mr. Sun was starting to peep through the morning sky when Eunhee woke up and surprisingly with a huge smile painted on her soft lips (she was not really a morning person so it was quite a surprise that she was smiling the first thing in the morning). It has been like that the whole week. She would wake up with a certain glint in her eyes and proceed to the bathroom just to find herself smiling at the mirror. She would dress up and excitingly walked down the stairs.

Just like every morning since the incident that happened between Jaejoong and his father, Eunhee found Jaejoong in the kitchen. He has a small sweet smile plastered on his lips as he gracefully moved around the kitchen and yes he was cooking breakfast. Who wouldn’t love that? A handsome man cooking and preparing a delicious meal for you every morning. Eunhee’s smile grew bigger with the sight. Eunhee has to admit, she has her doubts about Jaejoong’s sudden change but she cannot stop herself from liking it. It felt so sincere. So with that, Eunhee decided to enjoy the moment even if she was quite aware that in any second Jaejoong’s actions towards her might change again—he was always like that so in a way she actually got used to it. She knew Jaejoong was only doing his part to please both of their parents. But to her even if he pretends, it was okay. She would still treasure these small moments with the guy she loves. Yeah, maybe Eunhee’s a martyr but it isn’t a crime to be happy once in a while right? Even if it was a mere pretention, it was okay…

Eunhee walked quietly towards the kitchen counter as she waited for Jaejoong to finish cooking. She smiled unknowingly, unconsciously staring at his handsome face while he focused on the omelet he was doing.

“Don’t stare at me like that. I might just melt on the spot.” Jaejoong chuckled as he commented. Eunhee immediately looked away and blushed.

“A.. Ahh… I should prepare your coffee right?” Eunhee jumped off the stool she was sitting on and proceeded to the coffee maker.

Jaejoong cannot help but smile warmly as he watched Eunhee secretly. He has to admit he has to thank his father for the incident last Sunday because apparently that turn of event gave him the chance to show Eunhee his affection towards her. Ever since that night the two of them started talking, the awkward atmosphere that has always been around the two of them was now starting to disappear and a comfortable warmth replaced it.

 Eunhee began making coffee for the both of them. As soon as she was done with that Eunhee went back in front of the kitchen counter and sat on the stool she was sitting on a while ago. Just in time Jaejoong finished the omelet he was doing, placing it on a plate where two slices of toast and roasted tomatoes were laid.

“I noticed you liked tomatoes soooo… there…” Jaejoong placed the plate in front of her and sat beside her.

“Oh, thanks, didn’t expect you to notice that.” Eunhee blushed little and began eating. Tasting Jaejoong’s cooking, her face lit up and looked at Jaejoong.

“What? Is there something wrong with it?” Jaejoong said worriedly, tasting his own omelet. Nothing was wrong with it. It was actually delicious. He cooked it the same way so why is she staring at him like that?

“Aniyo. It tastes really good.” Eunhee smiled hugely at him. She turned back to her food and quietly ate more. Jaejoong was left quite stunned by her cuteness. He chuckled and softly poked her cheeks with his fist.

“Aissh… What will I do with you?” Jaejoong said, Eunhee turned to him with a small frowned, quite confused at his gesture.

“Wae?” Eunhee tilted her head a little, holding a fork on . At the moment, Jaejoong swore he might have died with her cuteness. Jaejoong shook his head as he smiled. Without answering Eunhee, he turned his head back to his food and ate.

“So I’ll pick you up after your class? Then we’ll proceed to the airport?” Jaejoong asked, stealing a few glances at Eunhee.

“Yeah, I guess? I packed my things last night. I’ll bring it to the living room before we leave.” Eunhee answered.

“Great. Your class will end at 3?” Jaejoong asked yet again. Eunhee was quite surprised that he had memorized her classes. Last Monday when her class ended, she was surprised to see the gorgeous Jaejoong waiting for her in front of her building. She didn’t even tell him her schedule. She was actually planning on texting him after her class ended so she won’t make him wait but there he was, leaning handsomely on his red sports car.

“Yes.”

“By the way, how about your brother?” Jaejoong asked out of curiosity but this statement made Eunhee stiffen on the spot which of course took his attention.

“Hey? What’s wrong?” He asked softly.

“Ah... Nothing. He’ll go there with his car.” Eunhee answered without looking at him. Jaejoong knew there was something wrong. He had always known Taemin hated this arrangement he had with Eunhee but did they actually grow apart because of it? Jaejoong wanted to ask but he didn’t push through, thinking that maybe Eunhee doesn’t want to talk about it.

As soon as they were done eating, Jaejoong offered to clean up while Eunhee headed to her room and brought down her luggage. Tomorrow was Hanuel’s birthday, so they will actually going to celebrate it by going to Jeju Island and spend 3 days enjoying and relaxing with their friends.

As usual Jaejoong drove Eunhee to her school before going to work.

“I’ll see you later okay?” Jaejoong said warmly. Eunhee simply nodded her head and was about to get off the car when she felt a sudden tugged on her wrist, making her fall back to her seat again.

“No goodbyes? Just like that?” Jaejoong stared at her surprised brown orbs. She literally sank on her seat, seeing him hovering over her.

“I’ll see you then? You careful on your way to your work?” Eunhee stated well more on like a question. Her voice was little and shy. Jaejoong cannot help but chuckle at this insanely cute creature in front of him.

“Yeah, I’ll see you later.” Jaejoong smiled but didn’t pull back right away. Instead, he stared at her face for a while and cupped her cheek.

“You take care alright?” Jaejoong whispered.

Eunhee wanted to laugh, why is this guy being like this? It’s not like they will be apart for so long, for goodness sake they will only be apart for 7 hours. Eunhee blinked multiple times, not comfortable with their closeness. He was taking her breath away. Once Eunhee nodded, she felt Jaejoong’s lips on her forehead. Immediately it sent butterflies on her stomach. She could just melt in the spot.

Jaejoong kissed her forehead three times, after that he smiled seeing her blushing face.

“As much as I want you to stay here for a little while, I’m afraid you have to leave because you might end up being late. I don’t want you to blame me for that.” Jaejoong smirked, his eyes never leaving Eunhee’s. He actually enjoyed teasing her and making her flustered.

“Ah yeah!” Eunhee got off and bowed her head.

“Annyeong, Eunhee-ah!” Jaejoong waved. As soon as Eunhee entered her building, Jaejoong left with a huge smile of success.

---

Classes were over, Key found himself on one of the benches in their open field waiting for his friends. He stared emptily at the clear sky. Why was he so bothered? He took a deep sighed yet again and tried not to think about what happened last Sunday. But he never really succeeded; he would always end up thinking of it.

…Flashback…

Key was anxiously waiting in front of an amusement park. To be honest he never really enjoyed the place. He hated the rides and all but since Ah Yeon’s the one who requested for them to go there, he cannot just refuse. His face immediately lit up when he saw Ah Yeon approaching but then it dropped all of the sudden when he saw who she came with. Onew.

He frowned in confusion. He knew he didn’t ask Ah Yeon out as a date but heck he didn’t expect her to bring her “bestfriend” along. They should be spending the whole day with only the two of them. A sudden thought disturbed him, why is he so disappointed? Isn’t the purpose of this day was to make Onew jealous and for him to realize how important Ah Yeon was to him? Then why is Key feeling hurt at the moment, disappoint and unpleased. Did cupid’s arrow backfire on him?

“Key-ah! Hi! I’m sorry I’m late, this guy beg me to join us since he was bored.” Ah Yeon nudged Onew who was smiling innocently.

‘I bet he didn’t even know why he came along.’ Key thought, glancing at the smiling Onew. Oh god, that smile irritated him somehow.

“I don’t mind.” Key answered casually, smiling like always. When he turned he made a face and led the way.

The three of them bought tickets and they were actually having a descent time together. They walked around the amusement park with smile of delight.

“Aaaah… It’s been a while since we last came here huh?” Ah Yeon looked up at the rollercoaster from a far with a smile of excitement.

“Yeah, I wanna eat the chicken they’re selling here. I miss eating that!” Onew grinned with the thought of his favorite food.

“How about we look around some more before we eat? I think eating before riding the rides is a bad idea.” Key shutting down Onew’s suggestion right away. Onew looked at him while he smiled innocently.

“Sure.” Onew said, still not leaving Key’s gaze.

“Oh! Let’s ride that!” The two of them didn’t noticed that Ah Yeon was already ahead, pointing at the rollercoaster which was so high and had so many loops. Just looking at it, Key can feel his stomach churning, agreeing to come here was indeed one of the worse decisions he ever made. He gulped but nodded his head. On the other hand Onew can easily see the nervousness on Key’s face. He grinned wider as he thought of challenging the guy.

As soon as the lined up for the said ride, Ah Yeon was so giddy that she doesn’t even notice Key’s pale face well not until Onew noticed.

“Ah, are you sure you wanna ride? You look pale Key.” Onew said with concern but with his tone Key knew he was challenging him. Key straightened up his back and took a deep breath. He stared at Onew and made a huge grin.

“Well of course.” Key exclaimed cockily. ‘ you.’ Key cursed Onew in his mind, throwing him glares of daggers.

Key didn’t notice that their batch was already on its way to the rollercoaster. He just realized that when Ah Yeon grabbed his hand.

“Key-ah! Let’s go.” Ah Yeon exclaimed excitingly. Unconsciously Key’s eyes travelled to Onew and he smirked when he saw Onew’s face darkened.

Ah Yeon sat between the two guys, she kept on blabbering her excitement, almost jumping on her seat.

“This is going to be soooo fun!” Ah Yeon squealed. Onew grinned and leaned forwards in able to see Key’s face. A smirked grew as he witnessed Key, closing his eyes and taking repetitive sighs.

“Oh, yeah this is going to be fun, right Key?” Key opened his eyes and was about to glare at Onew then the ride started to move. Instantly he froze and began screaming his heart out. While Onew smiled in triumph and laughed repeatedly, especially when he felt Ah Yeon’s hand holding his but unaware of it Ah Yeon’s other hand was actually holding Key’s which somehow made the latter guy a bit better.

When the ride was over, Key’s knees were as soft as jelly. Of course Ah Yeon noticed it.

“Are you alright?” Ah Yeon exclaimed, putting a hand of Key’s back, rubbing it up and down.

“You should have told me that you’re not comfortable riding these things so I didn’t invite you to ride it. I won’t force you if you can’t.” Ah Yeon said in concern. But Key shook his head and said “It’s alright, I wanna try it out. I guess I was just overwhelmed.”

“Alright.” Ah Yeon nodded and helped him towards a bench. Onew’s brows furrowed instantly. But after that even he was actually happy because Key didn’t ride anymore rides and he actually spent more time with Ah Yeon.

..End of flashback..

“Aish! I’m so embarrassing!” Key muttered under his breath as he hit himself softly in the head.

“Oh! Key-ah! Where are the others?” Key’s bubble was burst when he heard a familiar voice, his heart beat fasten instantly. ‘Aish! Why are you feeling this way, you moron!’ He shouted in his mind. He turned and saw Ah Yeon and of course Onew tailing him.

“Ah! They’re getting things.” Key said as casually as he could.

“Where’s Eunhee-ah?” Key asked out of curiosity, the three of them were always together when in campus. Ah Yeon was just about to answer when a sports car halted in front of them. The driver’s window was pulled down and the three of them can see Jaejoong’s profile. Jaejoong turned to them and removed his sunglasses, he then greeted them with a nod. Peeping on his side was the waving Eunhee.

“Hey! I’ll go ahead alright? Since Onew-ah brought his car I guess you will be okay if you can’t fit Taemin’s on his way.” Eunhee exclaimed with a soft smile.

“Sure! Bye Eunhee-ah! See you later!” Ah Yeon exclaimed and waved at her.

“Bye!” As soon as Eunhee replied, Jaejoong drove off.

“Wow, she really looked blooming isn’t she?” Key commented as he saw Eunhee’s smile. He was aware that Eunhee’s smile was contagious but the kind of smile she made a while ago was more lively than ever.

“Well, Jaejoong-sshi’s treating her really well lately. Don’t they look like a cute couple?” Ah Yeon smiled with the thought.

“Cute couple, who?” Instantly Ah Yeon felt shivers down her spine. She knew who it belongs and after hearing the question, she doesn’t want to answer it.

“Oh! Taemin-ah!” Ah Yeon greeted. Ah Yeon heard a lot of stories about Taemin from Eunhee, that was why she was aware to keep shut and not talk about Jaejoong.

“Oh! Jonghyun-ah, Minho-ah!” Ah Yeon greeted the people tailing him.

“Where’s Hannie?” Ah Yeon asked.

“Ah, she went ahead. She said she’ll meet everyone in the airport.” Taemin said. Ah Yeon sighed in relief as Taemin forgot about his question.

The six of them headed to the airport with their things. Taemin, Minho, Key and Jonghyun rode Taemin’s car, while Ah Yeon and some of the guys’ luggage was with Onew’s car.

---

Hanuel waited excitedly for her friends to arrive. A smile immediately formed when she saw Jaejoong and Eunhee arriving first. Jaejoong was pulling both his luggage and Eunhee’s while Eunhee was kind of arguing with him because she wanted to pull her own luggage.

“For the nth time, I said I’ll do it for you!” Jaejoong scowled over Eunhee which actually made the girl leaned back and pouted a little.

“Don’t scare her, look at that face! Aigooo!” Jiyong who was with Hanuel teased Eunhee and put an arm on her shoulder, trying to inspect her blushing face.

“I know she’s cute, now drop your arm.” Jaejoong exclaimed, glaring at the laughing Jiyong.

“Aigooo… You have such a possessive fiancé!” Jiyong raised his hand in the air as he continued to teas the couple. Eunhee lowered her head as she tried to hide the red tint on her cheeks.

“Aish! Jiyong-oppa stop meddling with them!” Hanuel exclaimed as she dragged Jiyong away by his collar.

Eunhee went to Hanuel and hugged her.

“You’re doing okay?” Hanuel whispered to her bestfriend. Eunhee nodded in the crooked of her neck.

“I’m happy for you.” Hanuel grinned as she looked at Eunhee’s face.

“You? Are you sure you’re gonna continue your plan?” Eunhee asked while Hanuel nodded excitedly.

“Well, he has to know sooner or later right? Not sure about the outcome but let’s hope for the best okay?” Hanuel said, watching Jiyong’s back as he talked to Jaejoong.

Eunhee and Hanuel watched the two people they adored the most. Both of them can feel their heart beating loudly as they stared at them.

“Aiiissh! We look stalker-ish watching them from a far. Come on.” Hanuel exclaimed and offered a hand to Eunhee as they walked towards the guys.

The rest arrived, Jaejoong was so surprised that Taemin doesn’t even approach his sister. Did something really happen between the two? As they waited for their private jet to be ready, Jaejoong asked Hanuel to exchange seats with her so he can sit next to Eunhee.

Eunhee stared at him and watched him sit beside her, instantly she felt quite nervous. What if Taemin will see them interact will Taemin hate her more?

“Hey what happened between you and your brother?” Jaejoong asked looking down at her, confused features.

“Hmm… Nothing, really.” Eunhee said and focused her eyes on the cup she was holding. She was taken aback when Jaejoong took the cup away and said. “Look at me when we’re talking.” He said softly, sounding like a plea. Eunhee looked at him and she can see the concern on his handsome face.

“Is it because of me?” Jaejoong asked, a sudden sadness appeared in his black pearl, seeing that Eunhee shook her head rapidly.

“No it’s not!” Eunhee exclaimed. Jaejoong just stared at her, telling her to tell the truth.

“Well, okay fine…” She gave in and sighed. She looked away again but her chin was then held by Jaejoong and he made her turn to him. Yet again she blushed.

“I said look at me when we’re talking.” Jaejoong said. Eunhee sighed but followed was asked from her.

“But that’s not the only thing, he’s bothered by something. I tried to ask him but he always just shoves me away.” Eunhee said, disappointment was evident in her voice.

“You want me to talk to him?” Jaejoong asked, Eunhee stared at him as if he said something funny. “What? I’m serious!” Jaejoong whined like a kid but Eunhee just laughed at him.

“You really think he’s going to talk to you?” Eunhee retorted and laughed. For a second Jaejoong got insulted but then he ended up laughing as he watched Eunhee.

“I’m sorry, but I think that’s impossible. Don’t worry he’ll come around.” Eunhee stopped laughing and said. Jaejoong nodded and ruffled her hair.

“It’s better seeing you smile.” Jaejoong complimented and stood from his seat.

“Do you want something?” Jaejoong asked while Eunhee nodded with a smile. Yeah maybe their relationship is actually developing into something.

--

Taemin glared at the sight in front of him but he cannot deny that he was quite relieved seeing Jaejoong being caring towards his twin sister. His thoughts was then broken when he heard Hanuel calling everyone’s attention. They gathered up and listened to her.

“The private plane is settled. We just have to wait for a few people.” Hanuel exclaimed which made the majority frown a little. But soon enough their questions has been answered.

Asterisk ran towards the crowd of friends and apologized for their lateness.

“Mianhe, Jaejoong-sshi!” Chanyeol apologized but Jaejoong simply smiled at them. “We understand you have some training.”

Taemin’s jaw dropped seeing Haerin looking at him with a sad pair of eyes. Why is she here?

“Why are they here?” Taemin muttered under his breath but Hanuel heard it well enough.

“Well, they’re going to play for my small party.” Hanuel said, shrugging at Taemin’s weird behavior.

“And I took some gig for them. You will be playing in our hotel a few kilometers away from where we will stay, don’t worry I assigned a driver that will send you to your schedules. I want to expose you for a bit. I’ll observe how you can get people’s attention. You’ll never know I might suddenly debut you.” Jaejoong added with a hint of amusement. Hearing this Asterisk’s face lit up, their energy burning up well except for one, their guitarist who was currently having a little staring contest with the confused Taemin.

None of them knew that in those 3 days a rollercoaster of emotions will flow. After that trip a lot of things will change…

--

Done with the short chapter (as promised I updated within this week)

Sorry for this short one but this is kind of an introduction to the next chapters!! J
Leave some comments please! Thank you for my new subscriber! =))

p.s not proofread as usual

Yui dea~!
 

02-07-14