A/N: New chapter. loved writing this.

Hopr you guys enjoy it =D

 =)  =) =)

Chapter 19: I'm Home

Yunho woke up earlier than usual the next day and went to rent a car.

“What is this?” Changmin protested as he put his eyes on the tiny KIA. “This car is all cute. I hate it!” Yunho chuckled as he pushed Changmin to the back seat. “I should be riding in the front… My legs don’t even fit in this miniature car…” the younger man complained under his breath.

“Wanna go choose another car? A bigger one? And you pay for it?” Yunho said while he put his seatbelt on.

“Let’s go pick Jaejoong-hyung up.” Min quickly changed the subject, amusing Yunho. It only reassured him that he had done well inviting Changmin, the maknae would definitely light up and atmosphere that could turn dark very quickly.

“Hey, y thing.” Jaejoong greeted Yunho with a deep kiss as soon as he entered the car. He was visibly excited with the little trip.

“Hey, hey, hey… Innocent mind riding on the back! Let’s reduce the cringe worthy behavior to a minimum, shall we?” Changmin was quick to interrupt the couple’s moment.

 “Oh, hey Minnie. I didn’t know you were coming too.” Jae messed the younger’s hair, a behavior Changmin tolerated in Jaejoong and no one else.

“Well, thanks for the warm welcome.” Changmin said with sarcasm, rolling his eyes.

 “Is it okay?” Yunho asked Jaejoong, ignoring the protests of the maknae in the back who felt that if Jaejoong wasn’t okay with him going with them, he would just be dumped in a desert road.

 “Of course it’s okay. The more the merrier.” Jae’s words were followed by a yawn.

They were already on the road.

“You look tired, hyung.” Changmin pointed out.

“Yeah. Lots of things happened yesterday. I had trouble sleeping. Mostly good things but you know how it’s hard to get some rest when you’re all involved in your thoughts.” Jaejoong said with another yawn.

Changmin and Yunho shared a look full of meaning through the rear view mirror. ‘Maybe this wasn’t the best day to do this.’ was Changmin’s opinion but Yunho thought differently ‘This is the last step to finally get rid of the bad things of the past. He has to do it as soon as possible. And so do I.’. Changmin gave him a small nod of agreement. In an almost telepathic conversation, the roommates decided that there were things that had to be done and better sooner than later.

“Why don’t you take a nap? I’ll wake you up when we get there.” Changmin suggested.

“Yah, I think I’ll do just that. See Yunho, he is a good boy, I don’t know why you think he is the spawn of the devil.” Jaejoong said with a chuckle. “Keep your hyung company while I sleep.”

 The first half of the trip was done in complete silence. Changmin hadn’t been there, in the past, when all the life changing events occurred but he understood completely the immense effect they had in his two friends lives so he also understood how important that trip was.

“How long will it take to get there?” Changmin asked when the scenery started changing and he no longer knew the roads they were taking.

“From here, about 40 more minutes.” Yunho answered.

“Are they expecting us?”

“No.”

“Hyung! Isn’t that a bit harsh? Your mom might have a heart attack.” Changmin said making Yunho smile.

“Don’t worry Min. It’s better this way. If I had warned my parents of who I was gonna bring home, my mom would have made a meal for 100 and set a room for him and would never let him leave again.”

“I see.” Changmin was quiet for a minute. “Hyung, don’t take this the wrong way but… couldn’t she have done that all those years ago?”

 “I think if it wasn’t considered kidnap she would have!” Yunho chuckled.

“Oh, right…”

“But she didn’t even have time for that. Neither did I. One moment he was there and the next he wasn’t.” Yunho explained. Changmin stayed silent for a while longer.

“If some of you disappeared from my life like that I would be devastated…” Changmin said in a whisper that wasn’t meant to be heard by Yunho, it was simply thinking out loud

Yunho caught it, though. It wasn’t very proper of the younger to express what he was feeling. He couldn’t help but smile fondly at his roommate and best friend:

“We will never disappear, Changdoll-ah. Don’t worry!”

Changmin blushed a bit but gave a short nod of agreement before falling silent again.

 The ride was silent and quicker than Yunho thought it would be, even though his watch said the 45 five minutes had in fact passed. He was half dreading the arrival and half anticipating it.

“Min, we’re here!” he said waking Changmin from some daydream. Changmin sat up straight and took close attention to his surroundings. They were entering a small neighborhood full of well-kept houses with pretty gardens. A perfect place for a kid to grow up in. But Changmin couldn’t like the place. Everything seemed gloomy and ugly to him.

“Hyung.” He shook Jaejoong’s arm softly. “Hyung, wake up, we’re here.”

“Can’t we go somewhere further away? I could use another half hour of sleep?” the older man joked as he rubbed his eyes and stretched his arms, still not aware of his surroundings.

 Yunho finally parked the car and took off his seatbelt.

 When Jaejoong started noticing where they were, his expression changed rapidly.

“We are…” he started, looking through the window on Yunho’s side. He suddenly turned around and looked through his own window. On the other side of the street where they were parked stood two houses that he knew from his past and from his dreams, perfectly well-kept, like the years hadn’t passed.

He turned to Yunho again. His expression didn’t give anything away maybe because he himself didn’t know how he felt. Was he scared? Sad? Mad? Happy? Excited?

“Are you angry?” Changmin asked when he saw his friends were in a silent staring contest and none of them seemed willing to talk.

“No- That I know: I’m not angry.” He said, analyzing his own feelings.

“What do you feel then?” Changmin asked again. Jaejoong turned to him and stared at the younger like he had just made the 1 million dollar’s question.    

“I actually don’t know Minnie. I… I think I just feel… nervous!”

“Good, nervous is good. It’s not a bad emotion.” Changmin smiled and Jaejoong mimicked the movement without even knowing.

“Hyung?” Changmin called, this time referring to Yunho. “Yunho-hyung? Will you show us your house or not?” Changmin joked.

‘Thank god for Changmin.’ Yunho thought to himself. He was petrified in his place. There he was in front of his house, his own house that he knew so well and still he felt just as nervous as Jaejoong. Going there with him was something special.

“Oh, common!” Min got out of the car and opened Yunho’s door pulling him out too and then went around the car and did the same with Jaejoong, holding their hands in his, keeping each man on his side. “Okay, now take deep breaths. And here we go.”

He took a step in the direction of the houses, Jaejoong and Yunho followed.

“Which one is your house, Yun?”

“The yellow-ish one.” Jaejoong informed, surprised that it was easy to utter words.

 Changmin held their hands tighter and the three of them climbed the few steps to Yunho’s house front porch. Every step was taken with caution and Changmin felt terribly weird between his two hyungs. In all honesty the scene would look weird to anyone watching: 3 men climbing steps with the velocity of a hurt snail and seeming afraid of a door. But Changmin didn’t care about what people might think. He felt weird because he felt like an outsider, it was weird that he had to be the one helping his friends in that moment. What did he know after all? What could he do to help?

Well, at that moment he could ring the doorbell. These small gestures meant worlds to Jaejoong and Yunho because they were full of love and Changmin knew it so he overcame any weirdness.

“Hello, princess.” Changmin greeted with a smile when Seohyun came to the door. But the young girl was not paying him attention. Her gaze went from Jaejoong to Yunho and to Jaejoong again.

“OMMMMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA…..” she screamed like the house was on fire and ran inside coming back a second later, pulling her mother by the arm.

 “What is it Seohyun? Why are you acting like this? It’s so not you…” Mrs. Jung fell silent when she saw who was standing at the front door. A dozen different emotions passed through her expression: surprise, happiness, incredulity… She looked at each one of the boys very carefully, like to make sure they were really there. “My boys are home. My boys are really home.” She mumbled, her hands clenched together and against her chest.

Changmin was looking at Yunho and then at Jaejoong, waiting for some reaction. Yunho was just smiling fondly and Jaejoong kept biting his lower lip, full of nervousness. He had to put one hand in each of their backs and give them a little push so they would enter the house.

“Come in, come in…” Mrs. Jung kept saying. She took Jaejoong’s hand and led him in and Seohyun did the same to her brother. 

 Changmin saw the scene develop in front of his eyes and felt happy. He decided he should give them some space and just take a stroll around the neighborhood. It would be interesting to see the place Yunho grew up in.

“Hey! Where are you going?” Seohyun called from the door when Changmin was already on the sidewalk.

“I figured I should just…” he started but she stepped down the stairs, two at a time  and wrapped her arm around Changmin’s.

“You figured nothing. Come in you silly pants. When my mom said her boys were home she didn’t only mean her Yunho and Jaejoong were home.” She said with a cute smile. Changmin couldn’t help but smile back.

“Thank you, princess!”

 “You should not figure or wonder or think, I already told you. It’s dangerous when you do that.” She added, giggling.

“Yah!” Changmin whined loudly. “Why are you such a brat???”

 “Sit, sit.” Mrs. Kim said. She finally left Jaejoong hand to go plant a big kiss on her son’s cheek. She then looked at Jaejoong, wondering what she should do. “Ohhh, what the heck.” She said and enveloped the former blond in a bear hug that made Yunho laugh and Jaejoong look at him with a nervous but happy smile on his lips.

“Mom, don’t suffocate him.”

“Oh, right right. It’s just that it is so wonderful to see you dear, so wonderful.” She said to Jaejoong, letting him go and sitting on a kitchen chair too.

“It’s… it’s very nice to see you again, too.” Jaejoong said, his voice shaking but his smile turning into a bigger and more secure one.

“I never thought I would see this day. I can count the times this mister right here as come home since he left for college.” She pointed an accusatory finger to her son. “You two coming together now is just marvelous. I thought that might take a while since… well the last time I tried to talk with you on the phone didn’t go very well…”

“Mom!” Yunho scolded her but Jae shook his head, telling him it was okay. There were no more taboo subjects.

“I know. I’m sorry for that. I tried to hide from certain things for a very long time. And when you hide from things you grow afraid of them. But things have changed now.” He said looking at Yunho and Changmin, who had just arrived to the kitchen, with a smile.

“I’m glad. I’m glad.”

Jaejoong turned a bit on his chair to look through the big kitchen window. On the other side was the house where he used to live.

“A young couple with two baby girls lives there now. Twins, the cutest. I think they are 4 or 5 now. I see them playing around the house from time to time.” Mrs. Kim explained. Jaejoong nodded.

“It has a different vibe now.” Yunho voiced his thoughts.

“It’s a lovely house. It always was. To you it just looked gloomy because Jaejoong no longer lived there.”

Moooom! Let’s not talk about those things.” Yunho whined.

“I think we should. Even if they are boring or painful. I feel like I have to say them to get over them.” She said and then turned back to Jaejoong. “You see, dear, when you left, that didn’t only have an impact on Yunho’s life. All of us, our family, your friends, all of us were hurt and pained to see Yunho hurt. All of us missed you and worried about you.”

“I didn’t want to leave!” Jaejoong said, alarmed that Yunho’s mother might for some reason think he abandoned his life willingly.

“I know, sweetheart, I know. I worded it wrong. I meant when you had to leave.” She smiled. “Every time I received your postcards I build up the courage to go looking for you. I knew some of your friends would know how to get in touch with you. I was so decided to bring you back. But then my husband reminded that there was nothing I could do. You were a minor, you answered to your parents and I couldn’t just take you away from them.” Mrs. Kim sighed. “I don’t know who was more hurt: my husband who had to make me see the things as they really were or me who had to realize how flawed my plan was, every time.

But then again, I don’t know what would have happened if I did bring you back. Yunho was so out of his mind he wasn’t able to understand you didn’t left because you wanted to. To cope with his pain he tried to hate you…” she looked at her son who had his eyes on Jaejoong, playing attention to how he would react to those words. All he did was smile. Jaejoong understood why Yunho reacted like that, he couldn’t judge him when himself pushed everyone away. “The years went by and I felt like I had lost my son. Yunho was practically unrecognizable for those three years that followed. Once I was so desperate to see my son well again I got angry and told him to get over it already, that teenage loves are not that important… I said all those hypocritical words even though I included you in my prayers every night, every single night.”

Jaejoong reached out and squeezed Mrs. Kim’s hand in his. It was soft and warm like he remembered, like he imagined a mother’s hand to be.

“Then he went to college, Yoochun went to college, Junsu went to college, Hyunjong had moved away, your old house had new people… The traces of you seemed to start vanishing slowly. I never forgot about you but I wished Yunho had. I’m sorry dear but I really wished he would forget you. He was so broken.

In his first year he was a normal college boy, he partied even too much, I thought he was getting back to his normal, happy, friendly self. I was only kidding myself of course, that didn’t last long. He didn’t want to come home. That was the first signal that he was still not okay.  And now he was far away and refusing our help, little as it might be. He didn’t realize he was hurting and just kept living a little life, going nowhere.

But he was away, I didn’t hear him screaming in the night when he woke up having nightmares, anymore. I tried to convince myself he would get okay.

I can’t tell you how happy I was when our Minnie came along.” She said and turned to slap Changmin in the . He rolled his eyes and whispered to Seohyun ‘you’re family abuses me.’

“A sharp-tongued, energetic, smart and caring boy. He was all Yunho needed to come out of his shell again. It was not enough but it was a huge help. If Changmin wasn’t around I think Yunho would’ve just get more lonely, more depress and more lifeless every day. So yes, I fooled myself into thinking my baby boy was alright. Even though your name was still forbidden in this house and even though I hide from him every time Seohyun randomly found a picture of you that I had put away and asked all sorts of questions. It wasn’t her fault but she did bring me to tears. She was always a smart baby…” she smiled at her daughter “and somehow she remembered you and couldn’t understand why you weren’t around anymore.

“Time passed and I became happy with the fact that Yunho could have at least a normal life. I stopped worrying so much. We tried to move on.

 But there were times when I suddenly remembered: my Yunho has us, my Yunho is okay. But how is Jaejoong? If Yunho became like that even with the support and love of a whole family, how is that blond haired beauty living after all that happened in a family that just doesn’t accept him how he his?” she sighed again. “I wish I could have done more.”

“You did all you could and all you should.” Jaejoong reassured her. “Sometimes a silent but caring presence is all that’s needed to help our loved ones begin to heal. You gave Yunho all you could, you kept him healthy and living a good life. You more than did your job as a mother. The rest depended on him and him alone.” He paused letting that sink in. “As for me, you did something so big and so special, something that only you could have done and that I cannot thank enough: you trusted me Yunho!”

“Oh…” Mrs. Jung gave Jaejoong another bear hug as she tried to hide a few tears. “Well the past is done and dealt with.” She said, holding her son’s hand too and pulling him closer to Jaejoong, talking to them in a very serious voice. “I was seriously pissed at you two for a while. You just lost faith…” Jae and Yunho shared a look, knowing it was true. They had given up. “But somehow here you are, back together and happy. Now that you overcame the things that kept you from truly living, I won’t you to really live. Find awesome fulfilling jobs, go travel, meet people, try delicious things, do what you love. And I want you to come back here and look at this house, at this neighborhood with a huge smile on your lips. You were happy here. This place is the scenery of some of your best memories. The house next door is not gloomy, Yunho. This is the place where you two met, the place where our family grew up and very probably the place where your father and I will live until the rest of our days. When you can, come back and look at the backyard and remember the times you camped there, or look at the house next door and remember the time Yunho almost had a heart attack thinking Jaejoong was gonna jump out his room’s window and ending up making a full of himself. That’s when I’ll be truly reassured that I have nothing more to worry about. Let’s work on that, okay?”

 The two boys holding Mrs. Jung’s hand shared a look and then nodded affirmatively, wearing silly smiles.

That stroll down memory lane hadn’t been as painful as they might have imagined it to be. Especially because each sentence was laced with love and care. Yunho felt like he was back home and Jaejoong felt like he had found a home.

“Good. Now go take a look around while I make food for everyone. Go. Go.” She rushed and Yunho and Jaejoong left the kitchen hand in hand, giggling. ‘Yunho laughing, well there’s a thing I have missed very much.’

“Mama Jung? Are you okay?” Changmin asked, lightly massaging her shoulders.

“Oh yes. When I woke up I did not imagine that my day would turn this emotional. But I couldn’t be happier, Minnie.” She smiled, putting a hand on top of his and patting it. “Go take a walk around with Seohyun. When I cook I need space in my kitchen.”

“Yes, sir!” Min joked and let Seohyun lead him out.

“Like I imagined: you are an organization freak.” Changmin mumbled when Seohyun showed him her room.

“There is a long way between clean and neat and freakishly organized.” Seo punched him lightly in the arm as they both sat on her bed. “Oh, there’s something I want to show you.” She opened a drawer and took a picture frame out. In the picture a blonde and teenager Jaejoong held a 2-year-old smiling Seohyun.

 “Wow. This is…”

“He is really different isn’t he?” she asked.

“Yes! Very much. But only in looks. It might be hard for someone who isn’t very close to him to see, but he’s such an innocent and kind hearted guy. I think in that aspect he didn’t change a bit, he just tries to hide it.”

Seohyun placed another picture in his hands. Yunho surrounded by a big group of boys and girls, before Jaejoong came along.

“Now, this is even more surprising.”

“Yap, he used to be one of those popular guys. Not that he wanted the attention or did anything to gain it. He always had a small group of real friends. Still, people followed him. He had a natural leader charm.” Seohyun explained.

“I think I haven’t seen him with a group bigger than 4 or 5 people since I’ve known him. I would never say he was a natural leader.

“Just wait and see. Jaejoong and Yunho bring the best out in each other. I don’t remember much but mom told me about them. In no time Yunho will be this Yunho again.” She pointed at her teenage brother in the photo.

“It’s kinda weird isn’t it? Being here for them and trying to help them but not knowing much of what exactly happened!” Changmin sighed. Seohyun understood him.

“Yes, it is. But I know this: what happened between them was so strong it seems that could only happen in books. When even your parents lower their heads when that is talked about instead of telling your brother to just get his head right and move on and be a man, you known how important it was and you just kinda go along and try to do whatever you can do with what you know. It was very intense; it affected the whole family in a way I can’t totally understand. But I saw my brother was broken and I tried to… well, glue his pieces together. And you did too. Under your Voldermin mask, you’re a nice guy.” Seohyun looked at him with a pretty eye smile and once again Changmin was blown away by how smart and intuitive the younger girl was.

“You are too smart for your own good. You speak like a 40 year old.” Changmin joked, trying to light up the atmosphere.

“You should know. You are like, what, 42?” she teased back.

“YAH! You were one ugly baby.” He said showing her the picture of baby Seo and Jae.

Oh, please. I’ve seen you as a kid. Your head was three times the size of your body.” She laughed ignoring Min’s protests.

“What are those two up to?” Jaejoong asked when he heard the little discussion going between the younger ones.

 “That’s just the way they express their affection.” Yunho shrugged while smilling. “And here we are.” He announced, opening the door to his old room.

The room was exactly how Jaejoong remembered it. Even the bedcovers were the same. A few pictures of their teenage days were placed all around the room but Jaejoong knew they were only there since the holidays when Yunho had come home after meeting Jaejoong.

“Everything is exactly the same. I feel like I used a time machine.” Jaejoong chuckled.

“Is it hard? Being here?” Yunho asked. He had made his peace with his house and the memories there but coming with Jaejoong made him feel all nervous again and he could only imagine Jaejoong was feeling the same.

Jae took a moment to check what he was really feeling and finally answered:

“No!” he exclamated in surprise. “It is not hard at all. It’s… nice.”

Yunho smiled and pulled Jaejoong by the hand in the direction of the window.

“I think I spent more time looking at that window in that summer, than at anything else.” He said with a chuckle, pointing at the window in the house next door, the one that used to be Jaejoong’s bedroom window.

Right at that moment two little girls,wearing two ponytails each,came to that very same window with a little machine in hand that made huge bubbles. They laughed like crazy as they saw the bubbles float away.

Yunho and Jaejoong looked at each other and started laughing too.

“Yap, your mom is right. There is nothing gloomy about that house.” Jae said.

“Can I come in?” Changmin asked from the door.

Jae called him in.

 “Wow, so many photos. You guys used to be kinda good looking and then you turned into this.” Changmin and his witty comments. The older ones just rolled their eyes.

“That used to be my room.” Jaejoong told Minnie, pointing to the window.

“He had the awful habit of sitting there with his legs hanging out.” Yunho added. Changmin only smiled, letting his friends reminisce on their memories.

“And this one over here used to sleep 16hours a day.” Jaejoong accused back.

 “There was not much to do here.” Yunho defended himself. “Oh, let’s go to the garden.”

“We camped here once.” Yunho started telling as soon as they arrived to his house’s back garden. “Yoochun, Junsu, Hungjoong, Eunhyuk, Donghae… it was a mess. An awesome one. Seohyun was a baby at the time but she wanted to play with us.” He laughed.

 “We went grocery shopping that day. I think it took us around 3 hours to buy a few things. Yunho was too entertained taking pictures of everything and making me look awful in all of them.” Jae joined the report.

 “Oh, you looked good.” Yunho shrugged.

“It seems like a nice party.” Changmin said.

 “It was. We need to get everyone together again and have another one, like we did on our birthday.” Jae suggested.

 “But no one can leave in the middle of the night!” Changmin said with an accusatory look to both his friends.

“Deal!” the other two said at the same time, giggling afterwards, receiving an eye roll from Changmin.

“I swear to god this neighborhood is frozen in time. Nothing changed.” Jaejoong said. The three were now taking a walk through the neighborhood. Yunho and Jaejoong, hand in hand, walking in the front and almost permanently laughing at something silly that happened in that place a lot of years ago.

 Changmin in the back, questioning why he decided to come with them instead of staying in the house. In all honesty, he was still a bit afraid something would trigger a bad memory in one of his friends. He definitely didn’t want to see them hurt anymore.

While Yunho shared a story of Donghae and Eunhyuk in their teen years, oblivious that Changmin was not paying much attention, the latter’s phone vibrated on his pocket and he stayed a bit behind to pick it up.

“Minnie-ah…” Junsu greeted, surprising Changmin cause the call had come from Yoochun’s phone. “Where are you? Your message from this morning was very confusing!” Junsu said, referring to the brief message ‘Gonna go home with Yunho and Jaejoong. Keep your phone close. I’ll call if I need help’.

“I’m with Jaejoong and Yunho-hyung.” He half whispered.

“You’re with them where? And why are you whispering?”

Changmin looked at his friends to see if they were far away and spoke in a normal voice:

“I came with them to Yunho’s house. Yunho’s parents house…” he added to make sure Junsu understood. And oh yes, he did understand:

“WHAT? WHAT?” he screamed making Changmin move the phone away from his ear in pain. “Why didn’t you tell us earlier? Are they okay? Who decided to go there?  No, no, no. Don’t answer. This is too much for me. Let me call an adult to the phone. YOOCHUUNNN-AHHH!” Junsu spoke without making pauses to breathe and instead of going searching for Yoochun he chose to scream for him so loudly he sure was heard in the whole country.

“Don’t. Call. Him.” Changmin said in a very firm tone. “He will get all emotional and start crying or do some other embarrassing thing I don’t wanna be a witness of…

“Minnie!” Yoochun said.

Oh, hi hyung.” Changmin changed his tone very quickly

“What’s going on? Junsu looks like a puppy when the owner tells it they are going for a walk.” Yoochun said and Changmin couldn’t help but smile cause he could picture his friend acting all excited.

“I’m with Yunho and Jaejoong at Yunho’s parents’ house.” Silence. “Are you there?” he heard muffled sobs. “Oh for the love of god! Stop crying, you look ugly when you cry. You two are just useless. Jae and Yunho are okay and they seem happy to be back. I’m hanging up now. DON’T CALL ME WHILE YOU’RE ALL EMOTIONAL!”

“We love you too, Changdoll-ah.” Junsu said to the phone before Changmin hang up.

“How did I end up with such a bunch of morons?” he complained to no one.

“It gets one to know one.” Seohyun said from behind him, startling Changmin.

“Why are you always around when a witty remark is needed?” he rolled his eyes and put an arm around her shoulders, wearing an appreciative smirk.

“I’ve been learning from the best.” She giggled.

 “Yes, you have. Yes, you have!”

“Wow, okay this is definitely different.” Jaejoong said, suddenly stopping in front of a house. Yunho stopped beside him and looked at the house, trying to find something familiar but he didn’t. He almost didn’t recognize the house and the garden that had been their secret meeting place for months. That was probably the only place in the neighborhood that brought them only good memories.

The house was now painted in a light yellow and had two chairs on the porch. The front garden was impeccably maintained and there were colorful flowers everywhere in that time of year

While they reminisced on their memories, a car parked in front of the said house and a man, approximately their age, came out hurriedly to open the car door to a girl. They took several shopping bags from the trunk, laughing and chatting all the while, and entered their house looking has happy has anyone could be.

Long gone was the untreated garden where the weeds grew so tall they hid Jaejoong and Yunho from curious eyes. Now the house and the garden where full of life and love and somehow it was very comforting for the both of them that the only place that had changed was the place their most cherished and that it changed into something so beautiful.

“Oppa!” Seohyun called, making them turn and wake up from their memories. The young girl was being led by a caring Changmin and Jaejoong and Yunho shared a look and a knowing smile that didn’t go unnoticed by Changmin:

“Shut your mouths…” he growled.

“What?” Seohyun asked.

“Nothing, nothing.” Min said, Seohyun just shrugged, Changmin was weird like that.

“Mom sent me to call you for lunch. A warning: you will leave the house twice as fat than when you entered.” She giggled.

Seohyun wasn’t exaggerating. Miss Jung had done practically every dish she knew and the delicious smell could be felt from the entrance of the house.

“Homemade food. So many homemade dishes. This is heaven!” Changmin cried out as he was the first to take a seat and start serving himself. Jaejoong was about to scold him but apparently mother Jung was well aware of his relationship with food and just laughed at his antics.

“Everything is delicious.” Jaejoong complimented Mrs. Jug’s cooking when they were all eating.

Thank you dear. I remember you were a great cook too. After Yunho tried your food he kept saying that my dishes were good but if I added a bit of this or that ‘like Jaejoong does’ it would be better. It was quite annoying to be honest.” She made Jaejoong smile and Yunho blush.

 “What smells so good?” came a voice from the front door that Jaejoong immediately recognized as being Mr.Jung. The man entered the kitchen and his gaze was on the food. “What a feast.” He said as he kissed his wife on the cheek and made way to his seat at the head of the table. The table was suddenly very quiet and Jaejoong couldn’t help but feel nervous. Only after seating down did the man notice there were more people than usual at the table. “Yunho, my boy. I must be really tired I didn’t even notice you here. It’s nice to have you around son.” He said and gave his son, who was sitting at his right, a half hug. Yunho simply smiled. “And I see you brought some friends. Changmin, nice to see you.” he greeted the younger, sitting at his left with Seohyun, and then his eyes finally landed on Jaejoong sitting beside Yunho. It took him a few seconds to recognize Jae but when he did his whole facial expression changed and everyone in the table could understand the exact moment he realized who was sitting there. A wide smile appeared on his lips. He got up and walked to Jaejoong who got up too and let Yunho’s father held him at arms distance and take a good look at him. “You seem well. Healthy and still handsome. I’m glad.” He gave Jaejoong a tight hug and three pats on the back before letting Jae seat and going back to his seat himself.

Yunho squeezed Jae’s leg under the table and the latter just returned a huge smile. Mr. Jung wasn’t complicated, he didn’t like drama or deep and serious conversations but still, in his own way, he conveyed his feelings very honestly. Just a hug and 2 or 3 sentences and like that he had welcomed Jaejoong back to his house.

“Your father is awesome!” Jaejoong whispered in Yunho’s ear when everyone was back to eating and chatting.

They smiled at each other and that was the exact moment when all their demons from the past were exorcized.

Both of them would remember that day and especially that afternoon of eating, chatting and playing like one of the favorite moments in their lives.  For Jaejoong, that was the first time he understood the true meaning of family.