Chapter thirty three - Love does exist after all.

Jaejoong was standing in front of a rose bush with the garden hose in his hands as he was watering all the alleys of climbing roses quietly. Once in a while, the pair of matched partners visit Yunho's grandparents in the Jung side. And here, he was but without his matched partner. Because Yunho had an assignment to do with his group of study and he did not want to let his Supplier alone as the older boy trusted his grandparents Jung more than his grandparents Kim.

Jung Suk-Kyu and Jung Sung-Ryeong weren't two cold persons by nature. On the contrary, they were two doting grandparents making time for the pair of matched partners. However, people saw them as two insensitive persons as they never really involved themselves with others. Their cold and inapproachable feature was a wall they built to protect their partnership, to protect what they had between them.

The young boy turned his eyes toward his matched partner's grandmother for a while. Halmoni was cutting a few roses from the bush next to him with a quiet smile. As she sensed the teenage boy's stare on her, the older woman turned to face the latter and laughed softly.

"You're going to suffocate my roses like that."

"Oh!" Jaejoong cut the running water quickly and apologized.

"You seem to be elsewhere and surely not in our reality." The older woman said quietly as she cut another stem of red rose. "Shall I cut a few yellow too?" She asked turning her attention to the bush of yellow roses a few steps from them.

"I don't know."

"I shall teach you the art of ikebana. If you intent to stay with Yunho-yah, we must do something with you. Let me make you the best housewife in this world."

"Is it something you want to?" Jaejoong asked quietly.

Jung Sung-Ryeong smiled at the pretty young teenager and nodded. "Why not?"

"People expect Yunnie to take a wife. Not you?"

"You sound a lot like someone with a broken heart." Yunho's grandmother said with an amused smile on her lips. It was a subject they never discussed with the pair of matched partners. However, she never thought of seeing her grandson with anyone else than this Kim Jaejoong. "Want to tell me what's going on in your little pretty mind?" The elegant older woman, clad in her soft creamy dress and summer hat on her head, asked quietly.

"A lot of things." Jaejoong said as he returned to water the flowers.

"The people around us aren't really kind, right?" She said as she decided she had enough roses for her bouquet. Then, she walked toward the garden table, putting her wicker basket on the surface table and poured herself some tea. She watched carefully her grandson's matched partner as she was waiting for the boy to talk to her. She brought the rim of her cup of tea to her lips, sipping the hot beverage for a while with her eyes still locked on the back of this beautiful teenager she viewed as her own grandson.

Jaejoong remained silent but nodded.

He didn't have to voice out loud his worries as Yunho's grandmother knew what kind of life their society could have in store for the kind of people like them. Their situations were different but similar at the same time.

She wasn't someone brought up by a wealthy family. She was just the only daughter of a mere couple of restaurateurs in the countryside who was chosen to be the matched partner of the heir of the Jung family as her wavelength matched up with the wavelength of the only son of that prestigious family with the most high rate in the history of their country.

Almost one hundred percent. A few decimals around and they could be a perfect match. Something all the people from the upper class in their society were aiming in this kind of partnership. The perfect match. The perfect couple of matched partners. Rare it be, people would never deny their proud feeling to be that legendary couple.

That's why, the Jungs did not turn her down and, they were eager to have her as their son's matched partner despite her social station. She was seen by them as a lucky charm. And when she entered the Jung family as Jung Suk-Kyu's matched partner and Supplier at the age of three, the other boy's family had made sure that her family would never lack of anything, mostly another child to ensure her family's small business and lineage in the future. By that, they had scheduled a programmed child only those who had money could offer. A process not everyone in their country knew about as programmed children were a banned topic.

It was a kind gesture if we could say that. But, it was more like the Jungs had bought her in exchange for a better life for her family. She didn't dwell on this side of the deal. Playing blind and deaf was the only thing she could do to stand straight in this society.

However, Jaejoong was a boy. His situation was, if she could say, worse than hers. And no one in their society were favorable for this kind of predicament. So, she understood his worry for the near future as Yunho and him will grow into the adulthood faster than they could imagine from now on.

Of course the question of them taking a wife will be thrown to them by those insensitive people sooner or later. However, she was hoping that those two boys would never face this predicament in their entire life.

"Do you not know us enough to tell what we want for Yunho?"

"I do. But... but you are the Jung. And people expect a lot from the kind of you."

She nodded with a soft smile on her lips. "Are you happy with Yunho?" Jung Sung-Ryeong inquired as a maid was giving her the menu set by the cook for their lunch. The older woman browsed at the file for a while waiting for a response from her grandson's matched partner.

"I am." Jaejoong said honestly with a smile painting on his lips.

"Do you think you are able to make Yunho happy?"

"Yes." The teenage boy nodded with determination.

"So don't think too much." She nodded and the maid let them alone returning inside the Jung mansion. "Let those ignorant people talk. Let them mock. Let them think of themselves better than us. What matter is that you are what Yunho-yah needs in this world, in this society. Right?"

Jaejoong nodded, loving his Yunho's halmoni.

"Jaejoong-ah? The roses are going to drown more than being nourish with all the water you give them." Yunho's grandfather said with a smile, peeking through his newspaper. The older man could not help but feel sorry for all the attention Jaejoong gave to those poor plants. "And let those tasks to the maids. You're more than a guest in the Jung house. You're family. And a Jung doesn't do those simple tasks."

The teenage boy huffed but he turned off the garden hose. "For your information, they are happy that I water them every time I'm here." He added as he turned to face his matched partner's hal-abeoji.

"Of course. They love your attention so much." Jung Suk-Kyu chuckled softly as he returned to his reading. "Let's sit and have lunch for now." The older man added when a few maids were setting their lunch on the table. "And Yunho will be there at noon after doing his assignment. So, do you think I can coax him for a chess match?" He asked with an amused smile painting on his lips, knowing exactly what was his answer from that beautiful boy.

"No!" The teenage boy said with no hesitation.

"Your reason?"

"I need cuddles. A lot of cuddles." Jaejoong said as he let out a sigh.

Jung Suk-Kyu chuckled. With time, the man had learned to never go against this beautiful boy. And if he wanted something, they must give way for him to achieve his goal which was of course Yunho.

"You're going to have those cuddles. So be good. And don't sulk. Want me to kiss away those pouty lips of you?"

"No! Yunnie hates it when others than him kiss me."

"My grandson is really a lost cause." The older man said with a teasing tone, but soon he gained a grunt and a stare from the young boy. "Arasso! Arasso! You do not love people talking bad of your matched partner. However, for now, young boy bear with us, old people." Yunho's grandfather added as he took the boy in his arms for a while, giving the attention Jaejoong needed at this moment.

Yunho had dropped Jaejoong this morning without warning and at the last minute like usual. And here, the older Jung couple had to entertain a sulking baby Joongie who had so much in his plate and wanted his Receiver back. But Jung Suk-Kyu could not be angry or annoyed by the ill-mannered of his grandson. Because it showed him how much the boy trusted them for the safety of his young matched partner.

With the long story Yunho had with his other grandparents from his mother's side, the old Jung couple was than happy to be some of those rare people the boy depended on and thought of family.

"I'm not sulking!" Jaejoong said in a matter of fact manner. Then, he took place next the older man and pressed his elbows on the surface table, his chin on his palms. He watched the older couple for a while. "What is it to be almost a perfect match?"

Suk-Kyu and Sung-Ryeong said nothing for a while as they looked at each other not knowing what to say to the boy. But, them being a very good match was not a secret for everyone. And people in their society referred to them as the perfect pair of matched partners with their high rate in their wavelengths, even if some of them had tried to separate them with the excuse of the sake of the good reputation of the Jung family.

"Nothing much." Yunho's grandmother answered quietly as she poured some orange juice for the teenage boy, while the maids had finished to set their meal in front of their eyes on the surface table. "As you can see, since hal-abeoji had retired, we spend our time together. Not that before we weren't always together. I was his trophy wife. A matched partner he never left behind. And this man had walked me around the town for his own profit. So, now, it's just quieter than before. And it's good." She said amusedly.

"I wasn't bad like halmoni described me." Yunho's grandfather corrected as he patted Jaejoong's head lovingly. "I was a good husband not the kind type who would spend his time to cuddle with his wife. But you did have a good life, I am not wrong?" He asked his wife with a smile.

"You're right. I did have a good life." She returned his smile. Thinking of all those years next to that man. Since their first meeting, her husband had promised her he would never let her down. And he did hold onto that promise until now. Never leaving her alone. Always doing thing with her standing at his sides, never far away from him. The man was not a coldhearted person like his appearance made people to believe. "Better than I thought at first." She laughed softly.

"I am not talking about your lives together."

"We know what you are talking about." Jung Suk-Kyu chuckled as he took his glass of water and sipped a few drop of the fresh liquid. "Being what we are is nothing much than what other matched partners have." He added quietly as he looked at the young teenage boy.

"So, nothing changes..." Jaejoong muttered with a nod, a frown marred on his forehead. The boy thought that being an almost perfect pair of matched partners was different than other pairs of matched partners. And with their answers at his query, they did nothing than confused him more. He had so much questions and no answers to appease his worry. He was not normal but an anomaly.

What if in the long run, he was a danger for his Receiver?

"Why would things change?" Hal-abeoji asked, cocking his brow.

"I don't know... being an almost perfect match should give you something better than what others have." He said quietly. "Your tie should be different than everyone. Your feel... your love... I don't know." Jaejoong let out with a pout. "I just want to know... I just want something... someone to say that we're being matched up is not for only survival... I want to know if Yunho and me... we are not a mistake..."

Jung suk-Kyu nodded as he understood the boy's feeling. Him, too, had gone through all those feelings and questions about his own pairing with his wife. However, he stopped questioning himself the day people other than his own family wanted to get rid of her because of her station. And as the man he was, he stood against those people. He made sure that nothing was going to happen to her.

"There's no feelings involved when we talk about our partnership." The older man said quietly. "You should know that. And we aren't the only one. The majority of our people end up together for convenience not for love. But, I understand your feelings. Coming from a family like yours, where people tied the knot for love not for interest, seeing others like us is somehow a bit odd."

"It's sad. Really sad."

"Not really sad if at the end of your road, you find the same person waiting for you with a kind smile painting on their lips." Halmoni said as she looked at her husband tenderly. "What you did or what you said... it doesn't matter when you have someone who accepts you whole, with your bad and good sides."

Hal-abeoji nodded as he took the hand of his wife in his. "At first it wasn't love. We were used to each other as the idea of having one another until death do us part could not be avoided." The older man smiled. "And finally, one day, you wake up with this feeling that without your matched partner, you are nothing. There, you can't avoid that feeling of pride to have the other in your life. If this is love, I call it love then."

"Yunnie has your character." Jaejoong said with a bright smile, happy to have this pair of grandparents in his life. People found them cold but he found them warm.

"Is it bad or good?" The older man asked curiously.

"Good! Very good! At first, I thought you were like granddad and grandmamma Kim. But, you aren't." Jaejoong shook his head as he was talking about Yunho's maternal grandparents. "You don't care that Yunho-yah is a mixed blood. You just accepted him in your own way." He nodded with a smile.

"Well, what can I say more than that arrogant man is as stubborn as a mule?!" Jung Suk-Kyu said as he shook his head lightly with a smile on his lips.

This boy was