His last day before college, Jonghyun decided to pay Kibum and Minho a visit.

It had already been a month and a half since their meeting at his “farewell” party. He hadn’t heard much from either of them in that time other than Minho’s erratic Facebook posts linking readers to webpages about new inventions and cool gadgets. The boy was a nerd through and through, no one needed a second opinion on that. And the only non-science-related posts on his wall, Jonghyun had noticed, were occasional messages left there by his aunt or someone, asking him how he was doing my sweet pumpkin.

Choi Minho had never been a mystery to Jonghyun. He’d known of the guy, understood him perfectly, even before they’d been formally introduced at his home that night. His brother was a legend at their school, someone people still idolized for his flawless academic career as well as his excellent skills on the football field. Popular with the faculty and students, ex-Head Boy, Football Team Captain for the year they won the inter-school cup by a landslide— Choi Minseok was the greatest student in the history of Hyundai Chungun.

Which meant Minho was constantly living in the shadow of an elder sibling: something Jonghyun understood and sympathized with perfectly. Sodam noona was the apple of his parents’ eyes, and striving to be half as good as her nearly destroyed his self-respect. Without him having to say it out loud, it was clear Minho was fully focused on trying to be better than his elder brother.

Kibum, on the other hand, had forsaken Facebook a year ago for “the intellectual delights of Tumblr” as he’d put it. His thoughts were more difficult to follow. Because his posts ranged from political rants to scraps of poetry quotes to pictures of cherry blossom trees to… odd English songs with an inhuman abundance of growling and banshee-like screeching on them. What went on in his head was only for him to know, and no one else. Not even a childhood friend.

It warranted a visit.

“What’s up with your eyes, dude?” was the first question that jumped to Jonghyun’s tongue as he entered the other’s room without even knocking, only to find him puffy-eyed and sprawled over his desk. He placed down the tray of breakfast Kim eomoni had sent up with him. "Breakfast" she'd called it, even though it was past eleven-thirty already. Clearing out books and notes, he scrunched his nose at the distinct smell of unwashed socks. Jonghyun knew who cleaned this room every week, and clearly Minho hadn't been around in a long while.

Kibum squinted at him and stretched, groaning, yawning tiredly. He carelessly picked up a slice of bread and was about to stuff it into his mouth without even brushing his teeth, but then stopped for some reason, pressing his lips shut and placing the slice back. Jonghyun frowned at the significance of that action. “I was up last night studying for the mock exams. What do you want anyway?” he was asked.

“You were studying? What a shocking turn of events…”

The other jumped out of his chair. “You have my permission to kiss my ,” he said in loud annoyance, leaning his palms on his table, sticking out his in the air and wiggling it like in a silly dance. “Come, here, nice little peck to the left cheek. Go on, don’t feel shy,” he growled and glared at Jonghyun with his bloodshot eyes before pushing away in the direction of the bathroom door. “Why the hell you’ve shown up so early in the morning to ruin the rest of my day is a matter of national outrage…” he mumbled on his way there.

“I came to say goodbye,” Jonghyun answered.

Kibum stopped and turned around, face unreadable. He slowly nodded his comprehension, then continued over to the sink to brush his teeth. “What time’s your flight?” he asked from inside his bathroom. It was obvious from the tone he really didn’t want to know, was just trying to make small talk so he wouldn’t feel guilty about it later. Typical Kibum… Jonghyun smiled.

“Eight forty. I’ll be gone when you’re in school.”

For what felt like a long while after that all Jonghyun heard was the sound of Kibum’s toothbrush and the pressure cooker going off downstairs. He walked to the bed and plopped down on it, smoothing over creases in the sheets, just like old times. Twisting a little, he looked out of the window and studied a man in the neighboring house, smoking in his balcony as he yelled at someone on the phone. When they were much younger, he’d helped Kibum pull a prank on the guy by setting off fireworks in his front yard in the middle of the night. It brought a sad laugh to his chest now.

“So,” Kibum asked, driving him off of memory lane. “Wanna do something special on your last day in Korea?”

Jonghyun wagged his finger in the air. “You’re pitying me right now, aren’t you?”

“What.”

“Don’t.”

“Uhh…”

“Just don’t.”

“O… K?” Kibum unsurely complied, face twisting in that oddly expressive confused way only he could manage to show.

“Anywho, Minho and I gonna go to the hills tonight for ugly hotdogs and udon. There’s a lot of tent bars up there, someone told me, so we’re going to check them out,” he explained while rapidly typing a message out on his phone. When he was done, he threw the phone onto his mattress and raised his eyes to look at Jonghyun. “You’re uhh… welcome to join us, you know? He’s been asking about you, so I guess you should meet him yourself and—”

“Kibummie,” Jonghyun cut in as gently as he could, sure that his face was making him look like he was pleading. He didn’t care how pathetic and useless he sounded though, he had to say it out loud, now or never. “That boy’s not good for you.”

The following silence was heavy with alarm. For both of them.

“Wow,” Kibum finally said when his jaw wasn’t hanging open anymore. His scarred eyebrow was raised skeptically; his voice had a lilt of antagonism in it. He looked positively scandalized, and also a little bit astonished at the choice of words. “I-I…” he shifted from foot to foot, shaking his head like he didn’t know what to say in response. “You’re like, the only one who would put it that way, you know?” he finally admitted. It was so depressing Jonghyun would’ve cried had he not known any better.

“Yeah. I do. Because I know you better than anyone else.” He stood up to level their eyes. “And you know him better than anyone else, don’t you?” he worried his lip before continuing with more surety. “Bummie, his priorities are different from yours. You need to understand that right now, or someday far in the future you’ll find out in a particularly terrible way, and you’ll regret not knowing before. And then you’ll keep blaming yourself for this failure of a relationship.”

Kibum narrowed his eyes. “What’re you on ab—?”

Jonghyun tutted loudly to interrupt. “He will never feel the way you do. Not about you. This is a fact, Kibum, and you’re smart enough to understand that. I just want you to understand it right now before it’s too late to go back.” He tilted his head sympathetically and took a step forward, closing the distance between them even as the younger boy took a repulsed step back, sight dropped to the carpet, mouth twisted in annoyance, arms raised in self-defense.

“Bummie” he whispered, his words pushed out as slowly and kindly as possible. “I have protected you for as long as I can remember. When we learnt to ride bikes, when he decided to climb trees, when we thought middle school was nothing but another name for hell. I’ve protected you the best I could, because I'm your hyung, and once I go…” he blinked, trying to keep emotion out of his breaking voice. “See, once I’m gone there will be no one for you. Minho won’t be there, OK? You think he will but how many times has he visited since he started that internship?”

“Hey,” Kibum warned, holding a hand to stop the elder. “No. No, don’t you dare use that against him. Don’t you dare,” he denied vehemently. “This is a big opportunity for him. This could get him into a prestigious university. Like you!” Kibum stepped forward and playfully shook Jonghyun by his shoulders, coughing out a laugh like he was stating the most obvious facts in the world. “Na? You see it, right?” he tried convincing. “Minho knows what’s important. He knows what he needs to do right now, OK? He knows what is important for him. And I’m not, OK? Not right now.”

“Are you listening to yourself?” Jonghyun grit his teeth.

“Jjongie you’re being ridi—”

“Kibum, you just said you’re not important to him.”

A pair of fists yanked him threateningly by his shirt collar. He would’ve been scared under normal circumstances— everyone knew how violent Kibum could get when angry. But Kibum wasn’t angry at all. Jonghyun blinked at the space between them, carefully pried the other’s wrists away from himself and pulled the boy into a loose hug. He wasn’t pushed off. “Bummie… I want you to have what’s best in your life. We all do. Unfortunately Minho is not it. He’s just not. He belongs with someone else, someone more like him.”

“I am like him,” the whimper broke Jonghyun’s heart, fists now pulling at him desperately. “Jjongie, I’m just like him.”

“I wish you were. But you’re not.”

Kibum jolted out of the embrace. “Why’re you even—” he sniffed, rubbed the heels of his palms over his face, scowling and turning his gaze away. “Why’re you saying all these awful things?” he demanded angrily, hands gesturing with wildness. He almost picked up a paper weight from his desk and flung it at Jonghyun, but then decided against it as if his rationality had held his hand back. His breath sounded tired, his face looked so fatigued. “Why the hell did you come here today, Jonghyun?! Why did you come to say all this to me?!”

“Because there was a time when I had claim over you,” Jonghyun replied sternly. “There was a time when we were friends. Close friends! There was a time when I could pull you to stand where I stand… and make you see what you’re doing to yourself. How much you hurt yourself by doing this every single day.” He ran a hand over his features. “You drive him wherever he wants, whenever he wants. You buy him unnecessary things with money you’re trying to earn for college, just to make him happy. You spend so much time for him with him around him, time that you could use on yourself. You are his everything, Kibum!” Jonghyun motioned in the direction of the other.

“And your reaction is still to say that you’re not important in Minho’s life?!”

Kibum slumped in his place, then straightened back up. “Because it’s the truth. Sometimes, in a relationship, one side is more crucial than the other, it’s just how things work—”

“No, Kibum!” Jonghyun yelled. “That’s not a relationship, that’s slavery! That’s delusion! You ing idiot, that’s—” he sighed, running his hands through his hair. “Listen: please. Don’t throw your life in the gutter for someone else. Especially when that someone else will never even know the worth of your sacrifice. Minho isn’t a bad guy. He's just as innocent as you, and he's a wonderful guy, he is. But doesn’t know what he’s doing to you. He doesn’t see it yet. So you need to see it first, alright? Please, Bummie, please don’t be so ing blind that—”

“Leave,” Kibum shivered, pointing at the door. “Please leave.”

Jonghyun gave up, then. He had no other choice.

Old friends are important. Because they are often the only ones who can talk sense into you.

Hope you enjoyed this special Jjong POV ^___^*

~IQ