CHAPTER TEN
Realigning The Lost Stars.YOONA'S POV.
"Omo! Annyeong Yoong-ah."
Distracted, I turned my head only to see a grinning Yunho appearing out of thin air beside me.
"Changmin hyung, don't put so much icing on the cake, you're ruining it!"
"Cho Kyuhyun! Stop eating the food right now! There's not going to be enough for everyone later if you continue doing this!"
"Wha- Oh come on Ryeowook hyung, there's plenty of food to go around! Besides you can always cook more later."
"Stop it! You're messing and ruining the dishes!"
"I am not-"
"ENOUGH. Everyone, except Ryeowook and I, is to leave the kitchen this instant. OUT! NOW!!"
"Aish Qian, seriously... you need to loosen up a little--" Kyuhyun paused midway as he emerged from the crowded kitchen, pointing his index finger accusingly at me.
"You-You... YAH! What are you doing here?!!"
"What's going on?" My eyes darted to the two tall figures automatically as they too emerged out from the kitchen as per Victoria's order.
Kyuhyun groaned as he face palmed himself while my eyes zoomed in onto the gorgeously decorated white cake that Changmin was holding onto. The two who finally realized my presence, nearly had their eyes bulged out of their sockets when they saw who it was that was talking to Kyuhyun. In a not-so-subtle manner, Minho immediately darted in front of Changmin, using his body in a futile attempt to hide the cake away from my eyes. Peering around Minho, Changmin asked flusteredly, "Yah, what are you doing here? You're not even suppose to be here till 9pm."
I rolled my eyes at the repeated question, "Like I said, the Great Kyu here was the one who texted for us to meet up at 8 tonight remember?"
Changmin groaned in response, "But didn't you receieve the message that he sent later to tell you to come at 9pm instead?"
"Well... I did... But I was already on the way, so I thought I might as well just arrive earlier to wait for you guys. But clearly I shouldn't have done that... Mianhe, hehehe." giving an apologetic look to the three exasperated figures standing in front of me.
"Noona~ You should have just followed the Kyuhyun hyung's instructions~" whined Minho out of frustration.
"Oops? Hehehe." scratching my head with my index finger as I gave a sheepish grin in return.
Kyuhyun waved his hands dismissvely as he rolled his eyes, "Ugh, whatever. The cat is out of the bag now."
Putting both hands on his hip, the maknae of Super Junior grouchily stomped over to where I stood, "Im Yoona-ssi, you're an actress right? You're going to forget what you saw and pretend to be surprise later, no excuses. Now, if you would be so kind to follow me, I've someone I need to introduce you to."
"Yes sir!" I mock-saluted as I trailed behind Kyuhyun like an obedient docile puppy while Changmin and Minho chuckled lowly at my antics before heading into one of the rooms in the dorms.
"Now, I would like to introduce you to the newest member of Kyu line-"
"Yoong line." I injected.
With a pointed look directed at me, Kyuhyun shook his forefinger warningly, "Now, I want you to sit here and not ruin any more surprises etc. Also, don't you dare scare Jonghyun away with your mischievous antics, I want him to be in Kyu line for a long while."
I pouted and grumbled under my breath as Kyuhyun left the living room to disappear into the room that Changmin and Minho went earlier.
Plopping down onto the couch, I patted on the empty spot beside me as a gesture to invite the guitarist to sit down, which the latter did so quite awkwardly.
I beamed at the newcomer, amused by his awkward stiff behavior. "He's so different than what Kyuhyun tells me, he must really be uncomfortable here since he's new, especially since he might not know all of us that well considering that he's from another company." I thought inwardly, a surge of sympathy filling my system as I empathize with the plight of the newest addition to our group.
"You know... I don't bite. You don't need to be this afraid of me."
"Bwoh? Oh no, I'm not! Really I'm not afraid of you, don't be mad! I'm just... it's just I'm new to this and I-I don't-"
I couldn't help it, I burst out into giggles at how anxious and flustered Jonghyun was being.
"Relax~ I'm just messing around with you."
"O-Oh. I thought that I'd offended and you were mad, and..."
I shook my head at him as I placed a reassuring hand on his forearm, "Don't worry, I'm really not mad at you. I just noticed how uncomfortable you were so I thought of pulling a little prank to... you know, break the ice and ease the awkward tension and all."
"I usually don't warm up to people this fast. But hey, I figured since I'm going to be seeing a lot of you from now on, I might as well help you feel as comfortable as quick as possible. Plus, since I'm the leader of this line, it is my solemn duty to make every new member as welcome as possible." keeping a straight face as I said the last sentence with mock seriousness.
With that, I managed to earn myself a light chuckle from the bashful Jonghyun.
"I thought Kyuhyun hyung was the leader?"
"Oh no no, things have changed since then. To the public, it may seem like it's still Kyu line but in actual fact I've already overtaken Kyu's position months ago and this is now the famous Yoong line instead! Muhahaha."
The smile on Jonghyun's face grew as his shoulders become less stiff. His smile was infectious and I soon found myself smiling along with him, but behind his smile I could still sense his worry and uncertainty in accepting Kyuhyun's invitation to the group.
"Hey, don't look so worried." giving him a light nudge before carrying on, "Kyuhyun was talking about you for months before he approached you, everyone was waiting for you to arrive and join us. Changmin was looking forward to having a new evil buddy, Minho particularly since he's seen you in action with SHINee's Jonghyun. Jonghyun even came to tell me what a nice and easy-going person you were and asked me to take care of you here. Victoria unnie is like our umma here in the group, she takes really good care of us so don't fret about not getting along with her, while Ryeowook oppa is well... as what Kyuhyun always like to say, the grandma of the group. He doesn't join us as often as the rest do, but like a doting grandma, he spoils the most of us with his excessive affection and food whenever he's around. As for me.. well, you've seen it for yourself, I'm the choding here. Keke. I... We, all of us welcome you here with open arms, so don't worry.. same company or not, you're gonna fit right in."
"So, it's really okay for me to join you guys?" he bit out uncertainly.
"Yep! Most definitely! So smile, loosen up, enjoy and have fun! Especially since I think there's going to be a party going on, not that I was supposed to know about it.. Hehehe."
Jonghyun shook his head as he chuckled, probably amazed by how I managed to single-handedly ruined the surprise party.
"Yoona-ssi, kumawoyo-"
"Oh no no." I shook my fingers warningly, imitating what Kyuhyun did earlier on, "Banmal only. It's Yoona and it's kumawo. It's not my actual birthday yet, but still, birthday girl's orders."
"Alright alright, kumawao Yoona." raising his hands in defeat as he laughed aloud.
"Good." laughing aloud as well, I gave the idol an encouraging smile in hopes of soothing whatever nerves he has left within.
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU..
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU..
HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR YOONA~
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU~!
Saeng-il Chugha Hae!!"
Snapping my head up, I was greeted by one of my most favourite group of people in this world with everyone wearing matching glittery party hats. Victoria and Ryeowook were all smiles, carrying a tray full of my favourite dishes each respectively. Minho was beaming his handsome boyish smile, holding onto a huge toy deer that has an adorable pink bow attached to one of its ear as well as a couple of wrapped gift boxes stacked neatly on the head of the toy. Changmin had my favourite soft genuine smile on his face, both of his hands carefully balancing the lighted birthday cake while Kyuhyun had a smug smile plastered on his face, a sparkly tiara in the grasp of his left hand.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CHANGMIN'S POV.
"Wha-? Oh." Averting my gaze to the mentioned cup, I loosen my death grip instantly before returning my gaze to where I was looking at previously; the balcony where Yoona and Jonghyun were seen laughing and chatting with each other merrily.
"Could you make it anymore obvious, Min-ah?"
"What? Yeah Yeah." I answered absentmindedly, not taking my eyes off the laughing duo.
A chuckle from my annoying bestfriend distracted me once more, my brows furrowing a little as I turned give a semi-glare to Kyuhyun who merely laughed even louder, clearly unfazed by my action.
"What." I snapped irritably.
"You're jealous."
"I am not, I'm just watching out for her as usual."
"You like her."
"Bwoh?!" I stared in my best friend in shock over his words for a good three second before chuckling, "Very funny Kyu, you know that I don't. She's my girl bestfriend, Kyu! She's practically a sister to me, I take care of her like how Yunho hyung, Heechul hyung or Leeteuk hyung takes care of her."
To my amazement, Kyuhyun merely shook his head as he chuckled, "Sorry to burst your bubble dude, but the way how Yunho hyung treats Yoona, that's the representation of siblings' love. Heechul hyung treats her like how a mother-slash-older-sister would because he's so protective of her in his usual oddball ways ever since he found out she got bullied by the other mean girls during our trainee days while Teuk hyung, on the hand, plays the role of a father-slash-older-brother figure. The way you treat her, heck the way you look at her, it's different from them three."
I rolled my eyes at his reply, "Of course it's different, I'm playing the role of the best friend duh."
"Yeah... the role of the best friend who's crushing on his girl best friend."
I arched an eyebrow at his words, "Tsch, what you're saying makes no sense. Besides, how do you know what 'gaze' am I looking at her anyways. How can you even tell the difference?" Crossing my arms over my chest, I gave a smug smile to Kyuhyun, feeling positively certain that he would be unable to give me a satisfactory answer in return.
"Because you're looking at her the same way I looked at her when I was in love with her."
"What?" My smile faltered upon hearing Kyuhyun's reply, my blood draining away from my face as my heart began pumping an irregular beat. "Kyuhyun loves... Yoona?"
"Actually you know what, I take back what I said. You don't like her, you're in love with her. You've been in love with her all this while."
"You love her?" I whispered softly in shock as an unexplainable sorrow and tension bubbled within my chest.
"Loved. E. D. You know loved as in past tense. It doesn't matter anyways, I don't see her that way anymore, she's now a dear old friend to me."
"Why didn't you tell me?" I asked quietly, gazing at Kyuhyun who merely shrugged in return.
"Does it matter? It's all in the past anyways. I got over it eons ago since I know she's never going to look at me that way and it worked out didn't it? She's a friend that I'll treasure for the rest of my life while someday in the future I'm going to find that someone who's meant for me."
"But still, why..."
"Why did I fall in love with her or why did I say you're in love with her? I loved her because... she's amazing and you know that. That smile, her quirky personality, her as a person... her looks are a bonus as well. She's all grown up now Min-ah, she's no longer that tomboy choding we hang out with when we were kids. She's attracting guys to her like how a moth would be naturally drawn to a flame, in fact I wouldn't be surprised if half of SM if secretly nursing a crush on her. As for why I say that you're in love with her... it's because as an outsider, I can see your feelings more clearly than you do and that I don't want you to lose her and regret it just because you've realized about your true feelings a tad too late. You're my best friend, so naturally I'll be rooting for you than all the other guys chasing after her."
"But that doesn't necessarily mean I'm in love with her for years. I mean, hey I've been dating other women, older women in fact, in the past years and according to you if I'm in love with her, I wouldn't have-"
Kyuhyun chuckled again at my explaination, "I'm not saying you don't love your previous girlfriends, but I'm merely suggesting that the reason why your previous relationships didn't exactly work out is because maybe, just maybe that subconsciously you were comparing them to someone else... that you know that they aren't who you really wanted at the end of the day. And perhaps, it's also because you're being blind towards your own feelings, that you've not realized what you felt towards Yoona all this time."
I stared at Kyuhyun with my mouth wide open, flabbergasted at the singer was suggesting.
"Just answer me this Min. Recently Yoona's being all happy and secretive, sneaking text messages to some unknown person that we've yet to figured out who, how do you feel if she's really in a relationship with someone else? And don't give me crap on how you, Yunho hyung, the rest of the guys and I are going to have the usual 'brotherly' scary talk to make sure that she's seeing a decent guy. I want you to answer me, how do YOU feel when you picture Yoona hugging, snuggling or even kissing some other guy."
"Noona has a boyfriend? Nugu? Do I know him? Is it GDragon? I heard that he's been liking her for awhile now! He's so cool!! I think they make quite a cute match! I saw him talking about noona on Strong Heart, so GYoon huh? " questioned a curious Minho who quite literally popped out from nowhere beside me.
"Yoona doesn't have a boyfriend." answering Minho's question through gritted teeth, throughly annoyed by Minho's statement regarding GYoon.
"See." commented Kyuhyun as he threw a smug look in my direction.
I rolled my eyes as I crossed my arms over my chest once more, "Urgh, whatever. That doesn't mean anything and you know it, Yoona's a best friend, a sister. End of story."
"Denial." coughed Kyuhyun while Minho merely had a confused look on his face as he attempted to comprehend our conversation.
"Just don't come running to me when it's all too late in the future, I'll be waiting for you with a lovely 'I told you so.' and don't blame me for not telling you anything when you had the chance."
I kept my silence, refusing to respond to Kyuhyun's words as I stared at the topic of our conversation. Her hair was flowing gracefully in the direction of where the night breeze was blowing, the moonlight illuminating her side profile, her eyes shining with so much life and joy as she spoke and horsed around with Jonghyun. My heart skipping a beat involuntarily when she gave me a smile once she saw me staring at her direction. "It can't be.. it's not possible, is it? Kyuhyun... No, no way. Kyuhyun's wrong, he's wrong about what I feel towards Yoona. I'm not in denial and I am most certainly not in love with her. She's my best friend, I'm just merely getting more protective towards her in that sense that's all. Yep, that's right, there won't ever be a 'I told you so.' because I'm not going to be proving him right at all. Kyuhyun's being confused that's all, there's no other explanation. Yep, that must be it. Kyuhyun's wrong and I'm right, yep. I have never and will never see Yoona in that light... right?"
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