I heard the doorbell ring incessantly. But I couldn’t be bothered at all. The more persistent the knocking became, the more tightly I curled up under the covers. I glanced at Minhee who was still asleep in her cot. The knocking increased for sometime and then stopped abruptly. Whoever it had been, may have given up. The silence now seemed louder than the banging on the door had been.

I sighed. I deserved to be left alone. I wanted to be left alone. I had no desire to see or meet anyone. Neither to eat nor take care of myself. I had not gone to school for what seemed like days. I had no idea what sort of story Appa had told the school, but I had no wish to know it too. I am planning to be locked up in my room for the rest of my life.

I had hardly closed my eyes when the door of my bedroom flew open. I sat up with a start and threw a glance at Minhee. Fortunately, my sister possessed the ability to sleep like dead. She just her stomach and slept on. My eyes whipped back to the door to see Junsu and Kibum come in. I pulled the covers over my head promptly. May be they will go if I pretend to sleep.

“Come out, Jae. No use hiding. We know that you are awake”, Junsu said, sitting with a whump, right on my legs. I yelped and moved the covers just to uncover my eyes to shoot him a glare. He rolled his eyes. I again covered myself. I felt another weight settle by my side and guessed it as Kibum.

“You can’t hide forever, Jaejoong”, he said, trying to tug the blanket away.

“I can and I will. Watch me”, I said, though it may have come out muffled. There was silence for some time and I was almost hoping they would go and leave me to wallow around, when a sudden yank pulled all the covers of off me. I gasped as cool air hit me and scrambled blindly to claim back my haven. But Junsu just held the blankets tightly, looking calm, while Kibum tried to hide his laughter.

“You are such a mess, Jae. When was the last time you took a bath? Or changed clothes”, Junsu said, throwing me a disgusted look. I just glared at him  and refused to answer. I didn’t care. Not anymore. Why can’t I just mope around in peace? I deserved it. Junsu gave a long look and sighed. He sat down again, but kept a tight hold on the blankets in case I tried to pull them back. Not that the thought didn’t cross my mind. 

“ Get up, Jaejoong. We are going out. Have lunch. And hang out”, Kibum said. I turned my glare at him  and he sighed too.

“What happened, Jaejoong? You skipped school for a week. No contact of any type from you. We asked ahjussi but he said you were sick. We tried to get in contact with Yunho too”, Kibum asked, not unkindly. I stiffened at Yunho’s name, but refused to give away anything. Junsu, who had been watching me closely, spoke.

“It’s Yunho, right? Something happened between you two. And Yunho is not here anymore. He returned to his home, right?”, Junsu said, watching me sharply. I glared at him, but couldn’t stop the sniffle or the tears that threatened to well over.

“How do you know?”, Kibum asked.

“I talked with Yoochun”, Junsu said, shrugging, looking back at me. His eyes softened as he scooted closer.

“Did he confess to you?”, he asked.

I shook my head.

“Did you confess to him?”.

I again shook my head.

“You like him?”

A pause and I nodded. And a traitorous tear rolled down. I willed the others to stop, but they all followed the first, rolling down rapidly. I felt Kibum wrap his arms around my shoulders. Junsu stared absently at the walls for a few minutes as I got some semblance of control over my tears.

He looked at me and got up, keeping the rolled up blankets on bed.

“Get cleaned up. We are going out”, he said in a tone of finality.

                                                                                        -x-x-x-

An hour later, we were walking down the road to Kibum’s house, bundled up in our coats and scarves. I had to admit, the sharp, clear winter air felt good on my face, clearing up a bit of the muddled thoughts inside me. Minhee was babbling along with Kibum who carried her. She had been rather listless the entire week I was moping around, alternating between crying and sulking. Junsu glanced at me a few times, but I didn’t look at him. We reached Kibum’s home and Kim ahjumma smiled, letting us in. Minhee went to her, clearly happy to have many people to shower her with attention. Since it was pretty cold outside, we had decided on playing some video games and watching movies. We entered Kibum’s room and found Heechul hyung siiting on the bed.

“What are you doing here?”, Kibum asked.

“That is no way to talk to your elder brother. I am here for my sweet JaeJae”.

And he crushed me in a rib-cracking hug. 

“You look so pale and thin. What happened? Junsu talked a bit, but he won’t let me know much”, Heechul said. Junsu shuffled a bit and had the grace to look contrite as I glared at him. How many people knew? Some friends I have.

“It’s nothing, Hyung. Just a bit under the weather”, I said, smiling my best smile. Heechul looked at me for a bit.

“Is it about that Yunho guy? Do I need to go and kick his for hurting my baby Jae?”, he asked. I blinked. How many people did really know? I looked at Kibum and he raised his hands in ignorance. I glanced at Junsu and he raised his eyebrows in question. My thoughts must have seen plainly on my face.

“No one told me, Jaejoong-ah. I just happen to have ears and eyes in the right places”, Heechul said. I looked away.

“We will find a way around this.Now that I am here to save the day. We just have to show this Yunho guy what he lost when he left my Joongie alone and sad”, Heechul said dramatically, the glint coming in his eyes . The I-Am-Kim-Heechul-and-I-will-do-it-for-glory-of-Satan glint.  Kibum groaned silently and Junsu audibly gulped. I quickly racked my brains for an escape route, but came up blank. I desperately glanced at my best friends but they looked at me as helplessly.

“First of all, a haircut”.

                                                                                              -x-x-x-

After 2 hours of pure torture, I stood awkwardly in new boots, tight jeans and a hoody, running my hand through my newly shorn hair. The bangs a bit short for my liking and cold wind against my neck. Thankfully, I managed to stop Heechul Hyung from shearing all of my nape. And the clothes I was forced to wear were something I wouldn’t even dream of touching, let alone wearing. I mean, I was wearing boots. Who does that? Not to mention the lipgloss. Of all things, a lip gloss. Strawberry flavoured lip gloss. 

He looked at me, a satisfied look in his eyes as if he had personally cut my hair and applied lip gloss. Well, in a way, he did, but that was an entirely different matter.

“Look at you! I will need to come as a bodyguard with you now. That Yunho guy won’t know what hit him when he sees you”, he said. I stilled in shock from fidgeting with the laces of the boots and looked at him. Kibum facepalmed in the background and Junsu determinedly refused to see my way.

“What?”, I asked, voice barely above whisper. Heechul looked at me, smiling like a fairy godmother.

“Yeah. Yunho”, he said, as if that made sense to the turmoil inside me. He narrowed his eyes at me and I wilted a bit under that stern gaze.

“You did not think I was going to let the matter go, right? Oh no. No. I personally got his contact from his friend. I did say I have eyes and ears in right places. The Yunho boy was still here. Said that he will leave next week. And he will be arriving”, he glanced at his watch,”any minute”.

My jaw must have surely dropped, and my body tensed, ready to run away. I was not ready. At all. I needed to hide. But Heechul Hyung knew that already and had me cornered.

“Jaejoong, talk it out. You need to. You will know what to say when the time comes. He likes you a lot from what I could tell when I spoke to him. And I am a pretty good judge of people. I know you like him to. You deserve it, baby Jae”, he said softly and I willed myself to not cry again. I had been doing that a lot lately. I also couldn’t deny his talk. But instead of me, Yunho deserved an explanation. Or even a proper closure, if things turned awkward. I glanced at Junsu and Kibum, both nodding in encouragement.

“Ah, there he is”, Heechul said, looking somewhere behind me.

                                                                                                             -x-x-x-

Hello people!

This story will be over in may be, 1 more chapter? 2 more?

I don't know. I want to wrap up this fast so I can give attention to other fics.

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Kamsahamnida!