Kyuhyun wasn’t quite sure what he was expecting his new Chinese tutor to be like. He supposed that he was expecting some stuffy, retired teacher with big glasses and pants that were too tight. Or perhaps he was expecting a cute girl who had done so well in Intermediary Chinese last year, that they asked her to be a tutor this semester. He would have liked that. He could have even asked her out.

But what Kyuhyun most definitely was not expecting from his new Chinese tutor was Zhou Mi. Zhou Mi came barreling through the door to the classroom they had scheduled to meet in five minutes late for their appointment. His arms were full of textbooks and loose papers that he was struggling to balance. A pair of thick-framed glasses were sliding halfway off his nose and his plaid button up shirt was only half tucked in to his dark wash jeans.

“I’m sorry I’m late,” Zhou Mi muttered in heavily accented Korean as he slid into the desk across from where Kyuhyun sat, throwing the pile of books to the ground and adjusting his glasses. His shirt was still half tucked.

“Shall we get started then?” Zhou Mi asked him with a smile that tugged the right corner of his mouth higher than the left.

Kyuhyun merely blinked at him for a few seconds.

“You’re Chinese,” he said bluntly, as though this fact was the most ridiculous thing he had ever heard.

“Well, yes,” Zhou Mi said, a bit bewildered at Kyuhyun’s obvious statement. “It makes sense for a Chinese person to teach you the language, don’t you think?”

Kyuhyun simply swallowed, realizing how stupid he must have sounded, and nodded. He opened his textbook and allowed for Zhou Mi to teach him. He barely heard the words behind the tilt of the tones on Zhou Mi’s lips. When Zhou Mi asked him to read the passage, he stumbled and guffawed as though he hadn’t studied Mandarin for a year already.

No, Kyuhyun most certainly had not been expecting Zhou Mi.

~~~~

They met twice a week for two hours each time. After the second week, Zhou Mi moved their meeting place to a café located on campus. Kyuhyun was struggling to focus and still seemed extremely nervous, so he was hoping that the change in location would relax him a bit and allow him to be more productive.

“Are you a student?” Kyuhyun asked in the middle of trying to translate a sentence.

Zhou Mi raised an eyebrow at him as he sipped from the mug of green tea in his hands.

“That’s definitely not what that sentence says,” Zhou Mi corrected with a small smile.

“I know,” Kyuhyun said firmly. “I was just asking you a question.”

Zhou Mi leaned back in his chair and folded his arms across his chest.

“If we are going to talk instead of study, you should at least ask me questions in Chinese.”

“Fine,” Kyuhyun said in Korean before switching to Mandarin. “Are you a student?”

Zhou Mi smiled and then answered in Chinese.

“Yes. I’m a exchange student here for one year.”

Kyuhyun’s mind was slow and foggy around the words. They weren’t hard, but the way that Zhou Mi spoke them was utterly distracting and he found it hard to focus on what the words meant when he was so busy listening to the sound of Zhou Mi’s voice. Zhou Mi speaking Mandarin sounded much different than Zhou Mi speaking Korean. When he spoke in his native tongue, there was something about the tilt to his voice and the ease with which his mouth shaped the syllables. His voice was still nice when he spoke Korean, but there was something hesitant to it, like he was being cautious.

“You should speak Korean,” Kyuhyun suggested in Mandarin. “That way we can both practice.”

Zhou Mi nodded with a smile. This could possibly be a much more effective teaching method than trying to get Kyuhyun to focus on the material in the textbook. Not to mention that it would be much more enjoyable for the both of them.

~~~~

Their twice-weekly tutoring sessions had essentially disappeared by the time that midterms rolled around. They didn’t need to schedule those four hours into their week anymore because they spent most of their free time each day with each other. Their tutoring now took place in the library as they both worked on assignments or as they ate dinner together. Kyuhyun lived at home with his parents and commuted to school everyday, but he found himself crashing at Zhou Mi’s apartment near campus more often than not after late night cram sessions or movie marathons. Zhou Mi still got paid for the four hours he was supposed to be tutoring Kyuhyun every week, but that seemed negligible next to the fact that they spent so much time together. They were friends.

Kyuhyun spoke to Zhou Mi in Mandarin, stopping and asking for a word or grammar point when he couldn’t figure out how to construct what he wanted to say. Zhou Mi’s Korean was much better than Kyuhyun’s Mandarin, but Zhou Mi had been studying it for much longer.

Zhou Mi was on a one-year exchange program at Yonsei University as a part of his Korean language program at his home university in China. He had studied Korean in China for two years before he came to Korea. Now, he took advanced level Korean language courses and also several business courses that were taught in Korean as well.

“I’ve got good news!” Kyuhyun exclaimed in a hushed whisper as they were in the library trying to finish some midterm essays.

“What is it?” Zhou Mi asked as he put his pen down and took his glasses off, rubbing his eyes.

“I aced my last Chinese exam!”

Zhou Mi smiled at him. He hadn’t expected anything less. Kyuhyun had been improving rapidly.

“Good job,” Zhou Mi said enthusiastically.

“My professor told me that he was amazed at how quickly I am learning not only the course material, but additional vocabulary and grammar as well. He said that he has never had a student catch on as quickly as I am, and that if I continue to learn at this pace for the rest of the semester, I could skip Intermediary 2 and move right on to Advanced 1 next semester.”

“That’s really fantastic, Kui Xian,” Zhou Mi said with a grin.

Kyuhyun felt his heartbeat get off track for a minute at the sound of his Chinese name on Zhou Mi’s lips. He had never called him that before. Zhou Mi shouldn’t have nearly the effect on him that he did. If Kyuhyun was honest, he didn’t have a type. He had dated a few girls before at the urging of his parents, but none of those relationships had turned into anything special. He had even tried fooling around with a guy once, wondering if perhaps he was gay. He hadn’t found that experience very enticing either.

But Zhou Mi was Kyuhyun’s type. Zhou Mi with his ever sliding glasses and tousled hair. Zhou Mi with his long legs and never ending appetite. Zhou Mi with his ambition and drive, but also a deep appreciation for life. It was Zhou Mi who laughed at Kyuhyun’s bad jokes and challenged Kyuhyun to think about life. It was Zhou Mi who supported Kyuhyun in his goals and encouraged him along the way. It was Zhou Mi who could speak a language in such a way that left his stomach in knots.

Yes, Zhou Mi was definitely Kyuhyun’s type.

“We should celebrate tonight,” Kyuhyun suggested out of the blue an hour later.

Zhou Mi sighed and looked up at him, skeptical.

“This essay is due tomorrow, Kyuhyun,” Zhou Mi said in a flat tone.

“I know,” Kyuhyun said. “So get it done and then we can go out for a few rounds of drinks. I can sleep at your place, right?”

“Of course,” Zhou Mi said with a small smile. “I’ll try to finish as quickly as I can.”

By the time that Zhou Mi had finished his essay it was nearing 2 a.m. He had to turn it in at 10 a.m., so they didn’t go too far for drinks. They ended up walking into a nearby convenience store and grabbing two bottles of soju and some cider to mix. They sat outside, enjoying the cool night air and toasting each other.

“Kui Xian?” Zhou Mi asked suddenly. “Why did you decide to study Chinese?”

Kyuhyun laughed. He was amazed that they hadn’t talked about this before.

“My father owns a shipping company that he wants me to take over after I graduate,” Kyuhyun explained while playing with the soju cap in his hands. “One of our largest competitors is a Chinese company. He thought that if I had the language skills, then I could penetrate the Chinese market further and take business from our competitor.”

Zhou Mi listened closely to Kyuhyun’s words, and as they sunk into him he felt his heart sink too. Kyuhyun’s father owned a shipping company. Kyuhyun’s family name was Cho. Zhou Mi knew exactly which shipping company it was that Kyuhyun’s father owned. And he knew exactly what shipping company Kyuhyun’s father identified as their biggest competitor.

“Why have you started calling me ‘Kui Xian’?” Kyuhyun asked before Zhou Mi could say anything about what Kyuhyun just told him. In a way, he was gratefully for that.

“It’s what I call you in my head,” Zhou Mi explained. “I guess it just started slipping out. Do you mind it?”

Kyuhyun shook his head and looked down at the paper cup in his hand. He hoped that it was dark enough that Zhou Mi wouldn’t see the fact that he was blushing slightly. He lifted the cup to his lips and tilted his head back, downing the remaining contents in one go. He put the cup down on the table and when he looked up again, Zhou Mi was staring intently at him.

Zhou Mi said something quietly in Chinese that Kyuhyun couldn’t hear clearly enough to decipher.

“Kui Xian,” Zhou Mi said quietly and Kyuhyun shuddered at the sound of it. He wondered if he would ever get used to Zhou Mi calling him that.

“Are you cold?” Zhou Mi asked, concerned. His tone of voice had changed and he was speaking Korean again. “We should go, it’s late anyway.”

Kyuhyun nodded and pulled his light jacket tighter around him, pretending that he was indeed cold and not that he was beginning to want the man walking a few feet in front of him so badly it had him trembling.

They walked the short distance to Zhou Mi’s apartment and when Zhou Mi let them in, Kyuhyun grabbed the pajamas he had left there the last time and went to the bathroom to change. By the time he emerged, having changed and washed his face, Zhou Mi was already in his pajamas and sitting on the couch with his arms folded and a very serious expression on his face.

“Is everything okay?” Kyuhyun asked as he walked towards Zhou Mi.

“What? Oh! Yes! Everything’s fine,” Zhou Mi defended a bit too brightly as he stood, a frazzled hand scratching at the back of his head. “Goodnight, Kui Xian.”

Zhou Mi started moving toward his bedroom door, leaving Kyuhyun to make his bed on the couch. But before he could get very far, Kyuhyun grabbed his wrist to stop him.

“Mi,” he said softly and Zhou Mi slowly turned to face him again.

Zhou Mi didn’t say anything, but his eyes were searching, watching Kyuhyun’s face. Meanwhile Kyuhyun was doing the same. He was looking for something specific as he moved closer to Zhou Mi, never letting go of his wrist. He was looking for permission. And he thought he saw it as he stretched up on his toes to brush his lips against Zhou Mi’s ever so slightly. As he pulled away, he opened his eyes to find that Zhou Mi had his closed. He watched as Zhou Mi opened his eyes and a throaty groan left his slightly parted lips, all the tension leaving his body in that one breath. Zhou Mi’s hands grappled at his hips, almost as though Zhou Mi was grounding himself in Kyuhyun.

“I’m sor-,” Kyuhyun started before Zhou Mi cut him off.

“Kui Xian,” Zhou Mi barely breathed. “Kiss me again.”

The tilt of his Mandarin was not the hypnotic tone that Kyuhyun was used to. This was harsh, angled, demanding.

Kyuhyun stretched up again, resting his hands on Zhou Mi’s sharp shoulders, and kissed Zhou Mi full on the mouth again, only this time more confidently. Zhou Mi’s mouth molded against his and he could taste the soju and cider on their tongues. Zhou Mi s his arms around his waist, pulling him flush against his body and lifting him off the ground. Zhou Mi’s lips never left his as Zhou Mi carried him into the bedroom. Zhou Mi roughly lowered them onto the bed and Kyuhyun landed on top of him with a huff. They parted for a moment and Kyuhyun let out a small laugh. Zhou Mi’s dark eyes looked up at Kyuhyun as he ran a hand through Kyuhyun’s dark hair. Zhou Mi leaned up and claimed Kyuhyun’s lips again, hungry for more.

As Kyuhyun learned how Zhou Mi tasted, how he moved, he thought that he could kiss Zhou Mi forever. And kiss forever they did as they rolled together on the bed. Kyuhyun learned that Zhou Mi liked it when he on his earlobe and Kyuhyun moaned as Zhou Mi nipped at his lower lip. Their hands wandered, exploring hot skin under the coverage of cotton shirts, stopping hesitantly at waistbands. Kyuhyun mapped Zhou Mi’s collarbone with his mouth and he was sure that Zhou Mi was leaving marks on his chest where his teeth had been.

They melded together, mewling at each other’s kisses and touches, hungry and searching for something that neither one of them understood.

When Kyuhyun woke the first time, Zhou Mi was gone, slipped out to turn in the essay he had spent last night finishing. Kyuhyun woke the second time to Zhou Mi kissing his chest where all the little marks from their explorations the night before glowed dark against his pale skin. Kyuhyun moaned before he could tell himself not to, and when he opened his eyes again he was met with a smile brighter than the sunshine coming through the window.

~~~~

“Mi, what is it?” Kyuhyun asked as he put a quieting hand on the knee that Zhou Mi was bouncing.

Kyuhyun wanted nothing more than to hold Zhou Mi down and kiss him until he told him what had him so agitated for the past week, but they were sitting in a rather public part of campus and all around them were people sitting and walking in the late summer sun.

Their summer vacation had been spent teaching Kyuhyun hundreds of Chinese characters. His professor told him at the end of the course that his vocabulary and grammar was good enough to skip the second intermediary course, but that he didn’t know enough characters to move to the advanced course. That’s what he got for having a Chinese boyfriend. He also got that same Chinese boyfriend to help him learn the lengthy list of characters that his professor had handed him to learn before he could move ahead.

“It’s nothing,” Zhou Mi answered automatically. It was the same answer Kyuhyun had been getting all week whenever he tried to get Zhou Mi to talk about what had him so antsy.

“It’s obviously not nothing, Mi. I just wish you could talk to me about it,” Kyuhyun said. “I thought that we were closer than that, but I guess not.”

Kyuhyun regretted saying the last part because he knew it would hurt Zhou Mi, but it had been hurting him for the past week that Zhou Mi wouldn’t talk to him. And he really did think that they were closer than keeping secrets from each other.

When he was met with silence and more knee bouncing, Kyuhyun withdrew his hand and stood to leave.

“I have class. I guess I’ll see you later,” Kyuhyun said, his voice somber.

Before he could really walk away, Zhou Mi was on his feet and calling Kyuhyun’s name.

“Can we have dinner tonight?” Zhou Mi asked, leaving Kyuhyun a bit confused at the sudden mood change. “I do want to talk to you about it. Just, let’s have dinner and we’ll talk then.”

Kyuhyun nodded in agreement.

“Alright, I’ll see you later then.”

Kyuhyun turned and left before Zhou Mi could say anything else. He wondered what it was that Zhou Mi was keeping from him. Zhou Mi didn’t get agitated easily, so it had to be something major. He thought it might have to do with Zhou Mi’s family because Zhou Mi hardly ever talked about them. He just hoped that Zhou Mi wasn’t being made to go back to China early. He was already struggling with the thought of Zhou Mi leaving at the end of this semester, and it was only the second week.

Kyuhyun met Zhou Mi at the front gate of their school and they walked to one of their favorite restaurants in silence. Kyuhyun let his hand brush against Zhou Mi’s as they walked, letting him know that he was there. Zhou Mi seemed less anxious than he had been that afternoon, but there was something that was obviously still weighing heavily on his mind.

Kyuhyun didn’t push Zhou Mi to talk about it as they ate. He figured that Zhou Mi would tell him when he was ready. It was only as they were finishing eating that Zhou Mi finally brought it up.

“Kyuhyun, there is something that I need to tell you. Something I should have told you awhile ago,” Zhou Mi said while keeping eye contact with Kyuhyun.

The use of his Korean name instead of his Chinese one immediately created distance between them, and he didn’t like it. He could tell that Zhou Mi was fighting to look at him. He took a drink from his water glass, nervous as his heart started beating faster.

“My father is the owner of a shipping company. The same shipping company that is your father’s biggest competitor,” Zhou Mi said. His tone was unfamiliar to Kyuhyun. It was all business, and he wondered if he learned that from his father. He wondered if he had a similar tone as well.

Behind the tone of voice were the words, and as Kyuhyun processed them, he didn’t see what had Zhou Mi so agitated. They were the sons of two business competitors. That didn’t mean that they had to hate each other and compete with each other, did it?

“Okay,” Kyuhyun said, his heart slowing down as he realized that what Zhou Mi had to tell him wasn’t that big of a deal after all. “So, I just don’t understand why this has you all agitated?”

Zhou Mi sighed and leaned back in his chair.

“Because my father has been asking me to try to make connections while I am here in Korea. He wants to penetrate the Korean market more and take customers away from your father’s company.”

Kyuhyun’s mouth formed a round ‘oh’ as he understood. Zhou Mi’s father basically wanted him to help destroy Kyuhyun’s family, to help destroy Kyuhyun’s future.

“So you don’t want to help him?” Kyuhyun asked, though the answer was obvious.

“Obviously I don’t,” Zhou Mi said. “But he’s my father, Kui Xian. How can I tell him no when he is the one paying for me to be here? Like you, I’m supposed to take over the company after I graduate. If I screw up before then, if he would find out that I’m with you, that would be taken away and one of the current executives would take over.”

“Your parents don’t know about us?” Kyuhyun asked. He was beginning to panic again. He didn’t like the sound of what Zhou Mi was saying, didn’t like where he saw this going.

“No,” Zhou Mi answered. “Well, my mom kind of knows. I told her that I was seeing someone, a Korean boy. I never even told her your name though. You haven’t told your parents, have you?”

“No!” Kyuhyun said quickly. “I don’t think they would approve of me being with a man, and if they knew who you were, well, I imagine I would be in the same situation you are.”

Zhou Mi nodded in understanding. He had been trying to think his way out of this mess, but the only solution he currently saw was something he desperately didn’t want to do.

Kyuhyun sat across from Zhou Mi, watching as Zhou Mi struggled to think of a solution to their situation. In the pained expression on Zhou Mi’s face, in the creases of his forehead as he focused, Kyuhyun saw the solution. He saw it clear as day, and he knew that Zhou Mi saw it too.

They couldn’t have each other and still have their families and their futures as well.

So why wasn’t Zhou Mi just breaking up with him already? He had to realize what Kyuhyun now understood. They couldn’t throw away their families and their futures for each other. It wasn’t worth it. It wasn’t even like their relationship was that serious, anyway. Sure, they spent a lot of time together and fooled around with each other. But they hadn’t even slept together yet and they weren’t going around saying ‘I love you’ at all either. So why wasn’t Zhou Mi just ending what they had when they didn’t even love each other?

It was because Zhou Mi was nice. He didn’t want to hurt him, so he couldn’t do it. He was going to have to do it for him. That’s why Zhou Mi was finally telling him this.

“I understand,” Kyuhyun said. He could hear it in his own voice, that business tone. He had learned it too: cold, hard, calculating. His heart wasn’t there anymore. He was just taking care of a transaction.

“We can’t have each other and keep our families and our futures. I understand.”

“Kui Xian, there has to-“ Zhou Mi started but Kyuhyun didn’t let him finish.

“There isn’t, and you know it. It’s okay, Zhou Mi. It wasn’t like we were that serious anyway. I’m sure that we will both find other people, one’s that aren’t our future enemies.”

Kyuhyun pulled out his wallet and left enough money to cover his part of their dinner on the table. Then he got up and walked out of the restaurant, leaving a speechless Zhou Mi behind. As he walked he felt his professionalism leaving him and all of a sudden the pain of what he just had to do started creeping in. He wasn’t a business professional; he was a kid. He was a second year university student that just had to walk away from someone that made him happy.

He had just broken up with Zhou Mi.

“I had to,” he said to himself as he walked as quickly as he could towards the subway station. He was actually going to be going home that night.

Yes, he had to do it. There was no other way. Sacrifices had to be made in this situation, and the other alternatives were simply unthinkable.

~~~~

The good thing about knowing Zhou Mi as well as he had was that Kyuhyun had his schedule memorized, and thus was able to successfully avoid him. Kyuhyun no longer spent evenings in the library. Instead, he headed home immediately after finishing his classes each day. He found knew spots to relax between classes so he didn’t have to see Zhou Mi at all.

Unfortunately, his Chinese was beginning to suffer due to the lack of constant practice and his private teacher.

Still, he was managing alright.

That was, at least, until he walked into his Chinese class over a month later and saw that it was Zhou Mi, not his usual professor, standing at the front of the classroom.

“Kyuhyun,” Zhou Mi said curtly as a greeting as Kyuhyun entered the classroom and took his seat.

At the top of the hour, Zhou Mi turned to the class and introduced himself.

“My name is Zhou Mi,” he said in quick Mandarin. “I’m an exchange student from China. I’ll be teaching your class just for today as your professor had an emergency and couldn’t make it.”

Kyuhyun thought he was lucky that Zhou Mi was only teaching their class for one day. But then Zhou Mi was speaking Mandarin and only Mandarin and he began to wonder if this was some new form of torture.

It started as just a dull ache in his chest. It was the lost feeling of longing, fueled by the words whizzing past his ears. All he could hear were the tones leaving Zhou Mi’s mouth: up, down, curved, flat. He felt the angles of all those words, felt the sharpness of their corners and the smoothness of their sides. They fed the ache as it grew, filling his chest and core. He squirmed in his seat, trying to make himself comfortable. He had been trying not to look at Zhou Mi, but he couldn’t help himself.

He looked up.

Zhou Mi was staring right at him. And judging by the smirk that he wore on his face, he was fully aware of what he was doing to Kyuhyun at that moment. Kyuhyun watched Zhou Mi has he spoke. He watched his mouth, shaping out the consonants and vowels. He watched his hands waving through the air and his eyes got caught on those long fingers. Oh, where those hands had touched him. How they had slid so smoothly over his own skin to caress and fuel a deep seeded need that he had for Zhou Mi.

The uncomfortable ache had spread through his arms and legs now. It was coursing through him like poison, this desire. His heart was racing and his body was on fire. How was it that Zhou Mi could do this to him with no more than his own voice and words?

He wanted Zhou Mi, yes. But he also needed him. He needed to be held by him, to be touched in only a way that Zhou Mi could touch. But he realized that he needed Zhou Mi in so many more ways than that. He needed Zhou Mi to make him laugh. He needed Zhou Mi to help motivate him when he couldn’t find the drive within himself. He needed Zhou Mi to challenge him, to make him think. He needed Zhou Mi to stay up late and watch movies with him. He needed Zhou Mi to gorge himself on pizza with him as they struggled to finish assignments. He needed Zhou Mi in his life, because his life wasn’t the same without him in it. A life without Zhou Mi was the life he had been living for the past month, and it wasn’t a life he truly wanted to live. He needed Zhou Mi, because he loved him.

Kyuhyun calmed himself down. He knew what he had to do.

Sacrifices had to be made. He was just now realizing that he had made the wrong one.

The class finally ended and Kyuhyun packed up his things slowly as his classmates filed out the door one-by-one. He was the only one who remained as Zhou Mi turned to erase the chalkboard. Kyuhyun approached him quietly, so that when Zhou Mi turned around again, he was surprised to see Kyuhyun standing right in front of him.

“Kyuhyun,” Zhou Mi said breathlessly.

“Shh.”

They stood in silence, not looking away from each other’s gaze. Kyuhyun was searching Zhou Mi’s face. He needed to know, needed to know if he was right in thinking that he needed to fix the mistake that he had made. There was pain and heartbreak in the tense set of Zhou Mi’s jaw. He was upset, but that wasn’t what Kyuhyun was looking for. It was in Zhou Mi’s eyes that he found what he was searching for. There was sadness in them, but there was also concern. Even deeper than that was something that Kyuhyun found familiar, but that he hadn’t been able to recognize before. He knew what it was now.

Kyuhyun took a step forward so that he was even closer to Zhou Mi now. He stretched up on his toes and brushed his lips ever so gently against Zhou Mi’s, just like the first time they kissed.

“I needed to know,” Kyuhyun said and then turned and left the room without another word. Zhou Mi was left behind, standing alone, confused.

As Kyuhyun walked down the hallway he pulled out his phone. He had a lot of people he needed to talk to and a lot of things to get done in the next few days.

~~~~

Kyuhyun was glad to find that Zhou Mi hadn’t changed his schedule much. It was fairly easy for Kyuhyun to find him later that week. He was sitting in his preferred corner of a much-loved café. They had good cake, was why Zhou Mi liked to come here. The memory of them splitting a carrot cake and quizzing each other on vocabulary words made him smile.

Kyuhyun took a deep breath before he walked over to greet Zhou Mi. He had spent the past few days ruining his life, so to speak. He had started by talking to people at the school, trying to get into an exchange program for the next semester. It was last minute, but they told him that because he was such a good student, they would let him in.

But getting to China was the easy part. Telling his parents that he was in love with their enemy’s son was much harder. His parents disapproved, of course. And when he told them that he was going to study in China for a year to be with him, they threatened to no longer support him. His sister was the savior there. She helped negotiate a compromise: they would pay for his undergraduate education, but after that he was on his own. And of course, by making this decision, he was forfeiting his future as his father’s successor. He doubted if his father would ever be able to look at him with pride again.

It would all be worth it, though. If only Zhou Mi would take him back. He was the last piece of the puzzle. And the biggest variable.

“Mi,” Kyuhyun said as he reached the table where Zhou Mi sat.

“What are you doing here?” Zhou Mi asked, his voice wary. He was still confused from the other day.

“I needed to talk to you,” Kyuhyun explained as he took a seat across from Zhou Mi without permission. “I need to explain some things.”

Zhou Mi laughed. It was a short, hurt laugh, and it made Kyuhyun cringe. He missed Zhou Mi’s carefree laughter.

“If this is about the other day, you most definitely have some explaining to do.”

“I’m sorry about that,” Kyuhyun whispered, as he looked away from Zhou Mi. “I needed to know, though.”

“Know what?!” Zhou Mi’s voice cracked at the top of his exclamation and Kyuhyun realized just how badly he was hurting.

Kyuhyun looked up to meet Zhou Mi’s eye and took a deep breath before he spoke again.

“I needed to know if you loved me.”

Zhou Mi’s breath hitched at his words and the pain was back in his eyes.

“Kui Xian, I-“

Kyuhyun’s heart squeezed at the sound of his old nickname and he forced himself to continue before Zhou Mi could interrupt him.

“I know you did, or rather, that you do. I don’t know if you have realized it, or if you would say it, but I know. I saw it in your eyes,” Kyuhyun rambled on. “I needed to know, because I love you, Zhou Mi. I love you and I realize that I have made a terrible mistake.”

Zhou Mi leaned forward, putting his elbows on the table and resting his chin on his hands.

“But Kui Xian, what you said when you walked out. It’s true. We can’t have each other and our futures.”

Kyuhyun nodded. It was true then and it remained true now.

“I know. Sacrifices need to be made somewhere, and that’s what I was trying to do when I walked out that night,” Kyuhyun explained. “But I’ve realized that I made the wrong sacrifice.”

Zhou Mi raised an eyebrow at him and Kyuhyun was reminded of the first time they were studying in a café and he asked if Zhou Mi was a student. The fact that he remembered these tiny things showed him just how important Zhou Mi is to him.

“What do you mean?” Zhou Mi asked.

“I’ve decided to go to China for a year abroad,” Kyuhyun said with his head high. “To your university, actually. I want to improve my Chinese, and that is the best way to get better.”

“Wow, Kui Xian, that’s fantastic.”

“I’m not done,” Kyuhyun said with a pause. “I also told my parents about you. I told them that I have been seeing the son of their enemy, and that I was going to China to be with him as well.”

“I’m choosing you, Mi. I’m choosing you and sacrificing being the owner of my father’s company. I’m not sure if he will ever look at me with pride again, but I know it’s the right choice.”

“Oh, Kui Xian. I-I don’t know what to say.”

Kyuhyun reached across the table and took one of Zhou Mi’s hands in his. He didn’t care about the other people in the café anymore.

“Say you’ll take me back, that you’ll give me another chance,” Kyuhyun pleaded as he squeezed Zhou Mi’s hand. “I love you, Mi. I didn’t realize it when I walked out that night, but I know it now. I love you, and I want to have you in my life. You’ve made me want to live a life that makes me happy both professionally and personally. I can find another job that will make me happy, but I’m not going to find another Zhou Mi. So please, give me another chance.”

Zhou Mi used his free hand to wipe tears from his eyes.

“Come with me,” Zhou Mi ordered and pulled Kyuhyun to his feet. They left the café in a hurry and Zhou Mi pulled him along down the street. They were basically running as they reached the building Zhou Mi lived in, and as soon as they were inside his apartment, Zhou Mi pulled him into a tight hug. He wrapped his arms around Zhou Mi’s waist and rested his head against his chest, content to just be held again.

“Of course, Kui Xian. Of course I will give you another chance,” Zhou Mi choked out as he kissed the top of Kyuhyun’s head. “I love you, I do. I should have told you that night, but I was afraid of pressuring you into staying with me and giving up your family.”

Kyuhyun moved back a fraction of an inch so that he could lift his head to kiss Zhou Mi. Their lips melded together and Zhou Mi tasted exactly like he remembered. They whispered ‘I love you’s’ against each other’s mouths as they kissed, and Kyuhyun thought that he had definitely made the right decision this time.

Later that night as they lay on the couch in Zhou Mi’s apartment, Kyuhyun with his head on Zhou Mi’s lap and Zhou Mi petting his hair, Zhou Mi posed another hard question.

“What are we going to do about my parents?”

Kyuhyun rolled from his side to his back so that he could look up at Zhou Mi.

“You mean how are we going to tell them about us?”

“Yeah.”

Kyuhyun thought for a moment.

“That’s easy. We tell them that we are together and that we love each other. Then we just explain that I am the son of the owner of their rival company, but that my parents have disowned me so I have absolutely nothing to do with the business at all,” Kyuhyun explained with a smile on his face.

He was met with only a frown from Zhou Mi.

“I’m so sorry, Kui Xian,” Zhou Mi whispered, his voice choked with tears again.

“What for?”

“You gave up a good future career and your family. You gave that up for me. I’m so sorry for that. It was a decision I didn’t want for you to have to make,” Zhou Mi muttered as tears fell from his eyes now.

Kyuhyun sat up and moved himself so that he was sitting in Zhou Mi’s lap, straddling him and looking him straight in the eye. He cupped Zhou Mi’s face in his hands.

“Hey, listen. I made this decision. You didn’t force me into it; I made it on my own. Okay?” Kyuhyun said, his voice firm. “I love you. I want to be with you. I choose you, Zhou Mi. Maybe one day my family will be able to see what I see: that this decision is what makes me happy and is what is best for me. If they can see that, maybe we can reconcile. I haven’t given up on them.”

Zhou Mi nodded.

“Maybe when I take over for my father, things can be different between our family’s companies. Maybe we can work together to make a greater profit for both of us instead of competing to make a greater profit for ourselves.”

Kyuhyun smiled at Zhou Mi and kissed him again.

“If you’re in charge, I think that is completely possible,” Kyuhyun encouraged with a grin. “You’re the right choice, Mi. Don’t doubt that. We’ll make everything work out in the end.”

Kyuhyun pondered his life that night, wondering about the decisions he had made. But as he lay beside Zhou Mi in their bed that night, he knew he made the right decision. He was happy. And as Zhou Mi held onto him in his sleep he realized that, while his entire life may be turned upside down right now, Zhou Mi would at least be someone that he could always right himself by.