Hyukjae is officially confused as to his best friend’s love life. Wasn’t it just two days ago that Sungmin didn’t even want to look at Kyuhyun, much less talk about him? And now he can’t stop yapping about missing him already.

“Three months,” he weeps, burrowing his face into Hyukjae’s shoulder.

The younger boy doesn’t even know what to say besides pat Sungmin’s back awkwardly.

“After just two months, I have to watch him leave for three months.” Kibum and Shindong are looking over to see what Sungmin is wailing about. Shindong seems somewhat amused, while Kibum just looks annoyed as he tries to go back to reading.

“I don’t get why you’re so sad about this,” Hyukjae mumbles. “I thought you were over him.”

“I was! Until that bastard kissed me yesterday, smirked, then walked away! He walked away!” Sungmin yells, hitting Hyukjae’s chest repeatedly, frustrated.

Hyukjae winces and tries to ignore the pain, although his best friend is pretty strong. “He kissed you?” he manages to ask through the stinging.

“Yes! Can you believe the nerve of him!?” Sungmin snaps, sitting up, his eyes wide. “He came over to ask if we could be friends again, and then he kisses me. Isn’t that just so rude?”

“Well, that’s Kyuhyun for you,” Hyukjae says with a shrug. “I still can’t believe he kissed you though…”

“And the day before he leaves! Ugh!” Sungmin falls backwards onto the grass, covering his eyes with his arm. “He’s truly evil,” he grumbles.

“So are you two, uh, together now?” Hyukjae asks curiously, staring at his friend on the floor.

“I don’t know!” Sungmin exclaims, throwing his hands up exasperatedly. “I don’t really know anything right now.”

Hyukjae sighs, taking a bite of his food as his best friend quieted down.

-

The following week, they finally got an e-mail from Ryeowook concerning everything. There was a picture of all of them with Hankyung, standing by two other males no one knew about. Ryeowook’s e-mail read:

Hello everyone!

We arrived a couple of days ago, and all was well. We saw Hankyung again! He is well, too. We also met two Chinese boys – Zhou Mi and Henry. Henry is even younger than Kyuhyun, while Zhou Mi is around Donghae’s age. Their Korean is a bit off, but at least we can understand them. We’re going to be learning a Chinese song soon, and I’m really excited.

 Talk to you all soon!

-       Ryeowook

“That’s good that they’re doing well,” Hyukjae notes, staring at Donghae as he smiles in the picture.

Sungmin nods, and the two continue their homework.

-

It’s about a month in when Sungmin calls Hyukjae over so that they could video-chat with everyone over there. Hyukjae has no idea when Sungmin started video-chatting, but he has a hunch that is has to do with Kyuhyun. He doesn’t know if he should ask Sungmin about it or not, and he decides it’s better not to know anyway.

“Monkey!” Hyukjae can hear Donghae’s voice as he enters Sungmin’s room. A smile sneaks into his features and he walks over towards the computer where Sungmin is sitting.

“Hey, Fishy,” he says, smiling.

“Look at this boy!” the younger boy says, pulling over someone who’s out of the camera’s view. “His name’s Henry! Isn’t he adorable?” Donghae then goes to pinch Henry’s cheek, who just pouts and pulls away.

Hyukjae laughs at the young boy’s reaction. “He’s younger than Kyuhyun? So he’s still in middle school then?”

Donghae nods. “Eighth grade, right, Henry?”

Henry just nods. “Can I go now, Donghae? I want to continue practicing my violin.”

Donghae sighs but nods. “Henry is really talented at instruments,” he tells Hyukjae. “Right, Siwon?” Siwon isn’t on the screen, but they can hear his agreement.

“I thought you were talking to Kyuhyun,” Hyukjae says, turning to Sungmin, who’s leaning back in his seat, bored.

“I was,” he says. “Until you came in and Donghae saw you. Then Kyuhyun went away.”

“Kyuhyun’s right here!” Donghae exclaims, pulling a shirt that Hyukjae can only guess belongs to the freshman. Donghae then goes to turn the camera so that Kyuhyun’s showing.

Hyukjae is afraid to look over at Sungmin now. Beside Kyuhyun is the other Chinese boy Ryeowook was talking about – Zhou Mi – playing with Kyuhyun’s hair, oblivious to the lurking Sungmin.

Kyuhyun notices and glances up at Zhou Mi, who continues to twirl a strand of hair, somewhat bored. “This is Zhou Mi,” he introduces to the both of them, although he’s looking at Sungmin through the camera. Sungmin just sits there, his arms crossed.

“Hello!” the Chinese teenager says, smiling brightly. Hyukjae smiles back a little uneasily, totally aware of the brooding Sungmin. “Ah, you must be Sheng Min! And Eunhyuk! Yes, Qui Xian talks about Sheng Min sometimes. And when he does” – Zhou Mi laughs – “he kind of loses himself.”

Kyuhyun frowns at Zhou Mi. “I don’t talk about him as much as Donghae talks about Eunhyuk.” Donghae, who is currently not shown, sticks out his tongue at Kyuhyun.

Hyukjae flushes. “Um, okay,” he mumbles, looking down.

“We have to go now,” Sungmin says, leaning over to click the ‘end chat’ button without letting anyone say goodbye.

“That was kind of rude,” Hyukjae notes, although he’s a bit relieved because it means he doesn’t have to face Donghae.

“What’s rude is letting someone pet you like his dog when your boyfriend is watching,” Sungmin snaps, shutting his laptop close with unnecessary force.

“Boyfriend?” Hyukjae asks, his eyes widening. This was new.

“We talked on the phone,” Sungmin admits. “And now we’re a couple…” Hyukjae notices the red flush on the older boy’s cheeks and smiles.

“That’s great, Minnie,” he says softly.

Sungmin shrugs, trying to act nonchalant. “Yeah, I guess. But he’s in China, with some grabby man, which is not great.”

Hyukjae laughs and pats his friend’s back. “That’s okay, Min. He likes you, remember?” Sungmin doesn’t answer, but his smile says it all.

-

It’s a month and three weeks when Hyukjae starts feeling more lonely. Ryeowook sends pictures often – too often, even.

There’s a picture of Siwon and Donghae side by side, smiling brightly. Another one of Donghae and Henry, their sides smushed together in a selca. Then there’s one of Hankyung and Siwon, Siwon carrying the older man and laughing. Ryeowook and Henry have a lot of selcas together as well. There’s more of Siwon and Zhou Mi, Zhou Mi hanging off of Siwon’s side with a smile. Then there’s one of Hankyung and Zhou Mi, eating together. Kyuhyun is in the least photos, some of just him playing games, others when he’s with the whole group. There’s one where he’s with Zhou Mi at what looks like a mall, carrying a lot of bags and looking tortured.

Hyukjae finds himself missing Donghae’s smile in person, and dreads that it’s only December. They’re on Winter Break right now, so Hyukjae is especially bored.

When he gets a surprising invite to video chat from Kyuhyun – or at least he thinks it’s Kyuhyun… gaemKyu13, right? – he accepts it without hesitation.

“Eunhyuk,” Kyuhyun says, looking a bit relieved.

“Hey, Kyuhyun.” He glances around in the background, hoping maybe Donghae’s around.

Kyuhyun notices and smirks. “Donghae’s out getting something to eat with Siwon and Henry. He’ll be back soon though.”

Hyukjae flushes but nods. “Yeah, okay,” he says. “So why’d you want to talk?”

“Well, I was hoping Sungmin would be with you,” he admits.

“Sorry, but he’s not,” Hyukjae says.

“I noticed,” Kyuhyun replies dryly. “He’s been ignoring me lately. I think it has to do with the pictures Ryeowook sends you guys. Sungmin doesn’t seem to like how friendly Zhou Mi is.”

“Yeah, he doesn’t,” Hyukjae answers. “Hey, so why did you kiss him, anyway?”

Kyuhyun blinks, not expecting Sungmin to have told Hyukjae, although he should have, since the two seem to tell each other everything. “Because I felt like it,” he answers.

“That’s not a good reason,” Hyukjae argues. “You told me you were straight.”

“I was, but I’m gay for Sungmin,” he admits. “It’s just something about the boy… maybe it’s the way that he acts younger than his age.” Hyukjae almost laughs because he can relate to this. “I guess I kissed him because I wanted to make sure I liked him and wasn’t making a mistake leading him on.”

“You mean you wanted to make sure he liked you,” Hyukjae deadpans, staring at Kyuhyun’s pixilated face on the screen. He’s no expert on love (obviously), but he can tell that Kyuhyun had guts to kiss a boy who was ignoring him weeks prior to the incident.

Kyuhyun just smiles a bit. “I guess that was part of it, too.”

“Part of it?” he asks incredulously. “You obviously already knew of your feelings before you kissed Sungmin, or you wouldn’t have done it at all.”

“And when have you become an expert on feelings?” Kyuhyun asks, raising an eyebrow. He’s not denying it, though.

Hyukjae just sits there, not knowing what to say. “I-I’m not,” he finally says, looking down. “I have to go now,” he mumbles, leaning to log out.

“Bye.”

“Bye…”

Hyukjae logs out and turns off his laptop before collapsing on his bed. He’s not an expert on feelings, and he knows that. If he was, he’d know what he’s feeling right now, because it’s definitely not just loneliness he’s feeling now that Donghae’s gone. It’s something else, and it’s scaring Hyukjae.

------

A/N: This story is getting too long >.< Hopefully it'll stop around the forty mark, and does not even touch the fifty mark -.-" After this story, I'm gonna write another Eunhae story :D I already have its first chapter written out, but I'm going to wait to post it (I want to reread, revise, etc. -- and I want to get this story done first). It definitely has a different plot (if it was similar, that'd be boring!), but it's going to have Eunhae. The main difference (besides the plot, which shall not be spoken of) is that it's going to come from Donghae's main point of view, instead of how this story is mostly Hyukjae's. So yeah... hope you look forward to that, maybe.

I'm glad I got this out today. I had most of it typed earlier, so I decided just to post it. Kyumin is finally official! Kyuhyun's so smart, finally making a move, isn't he? xD Well, smarter than Hyukjae, at least.

Hope you enjoyed and thanks for reading!

[[ Everyone is coming back in the next chapter. I told you the three months would be very short chapter-wise :) ]]