One afternoon, Jinki had come home from his schedules for lunch and was in pleasant surprise at the view he was greeted with. He had decided to leave Jonghyun at home with Taemin and Kibum, though he had to spend half an hour trying to convince the manager to agree. Of course, when Jinki told him, all the elder Lee did was say that Jonghyun wouldn't be joining them and then ignored his manager's protests. The manager finally agreed and called Jonghyun to make up an excuse as to why he wasn't allowed to join Jinki at his schedules.

After letting Jonghyun see so much about his true self, it felt wrong to keep him around while the elder was in "Onew mode", but it was rare for Jinki to find an event so relaxed that he would get away with leaving the bodyguard behind. He didn't know how Jonghyun would react to being left behind, but Jinki could only hope he was glad for a day off. However, Jonghyun wasn't in the living room with Kibum and Taemin like Jinki had expected for him to be. In fact, the elder Lee had no idea where Kibum and Taemin were at all, but he could hear the distant sound of pots and pans clattering, and Jinki slowly trailed into the kitchen only to freeze in the doorway.

Jonghyun was in front of the stove with one hand stirring whatever was cooking with the use of a wooden spoon, and his free hand was being used to flip through the pages of a cookbook that was laying just a few feet away. For a few minutes, Jinki actually forgot how to speak, because the side profile of Jonghyun was so focused, so determined, so... handsome, that he found himself at a lack of words. Jonghyun must have noticed him after a few moments of his gaping, because the younger turned to him with a blank stare and then returned to cooking as if Jinki hadn't been there at all.

"Where are Taemin and Kibum?" Jinki didn't physically cringe at the look he was given, but he had the feeling that Jonghyun was upset with him for leaving him behind again.

"Out." It was all Jonghyun said, and Jinki couldn't understand why his heart felt like dropping so suddenly. He didn't expect for their conversation to continue, so Jinki turned and headed for the staircase, only to pause as he heard Jonghyun speaking once more, "Do you hate me, Jinki?"

Jinki threw a glance at the bodyguard over his shoulder, but was relieved to see that Jonghyun's full attention was on the stove and not on him, "What makes you ask that?"

"No matter what I do to get close to you, Jinki, all you do is push me away." Jonghyun turned to look at Jinki as he spoke, and the elder found himself rooted where he stood, unable to think of a response that didn't seem like a weak excuse in his own ears.

"I didn't want to disappoint you." Jinki finally admitted, finally able to tear his gaze away from Jonghyun in order to stare down at himself in dejection, "You don't like it when I'm Onew, so-"

He was cut off when he felt Jonghyun's arms around him, and after a bried period of shock, he was able to hold Jonghyun the same way he was being held, "I like you, Jinki, and Onew is a part of you."

Jonghyun could have certainly meant that in the romantic sense, but for Jinki, it was much deeper than someone confessing what they like about their crush. To Jinki, it was finally being accepted no matter what type of front he put on, because there was finally someone who looked past the smiles in order to see the tears. Jinki hadn't felt accepted since he was a child and he didn't have to live up to any expectations other than to be a good older brother to Taemin when their parents were at work.

"Me?" Jinki's response was gentle, almost afraid, because surely Jonghyun didn't mean to accept Jinki when no one else had ever wanted to accept him.

That resulted in Jonghyun pulling back and gently cupping the elder's face, pushing some stray hairs away from Jinki's eyes, "You. No one else but you, Jinki."

It took him a moment to realize it, but he was smiling again, the kind of smile that only Jonghyun could make him smile, and Jonghyun was smiling in return; the kind of smile that always had Jinki smile even more, if that made any sense. It felt like a moment he could have seen in dramas or pictured after reading books, and of course, it was ruined when his stomach grumbled and Jonghyun's smile turned into an amused chuckle and he pulled back to return to his cooking.

Jinki trailed right after him with a small grin on his face, "Is there enough food for me as well?"

Raising an eyebrow, Jonghyun took out a bowl and poured some of the stew he prepared into it, holding the ceramic bowl out for the elder, "Even if you leave me behind, I refuse to let you go hungry."

"Oh shut up." Jinki groaned playfully, taking the stew from the younger and taking a seat at the table as he waited for the jerk to finish cooking and join him. Usually, Jinki would be exhausted after playing Onew, but for some reason, he felt energized after just seeing Jonghyun's smile again. It made him wonder why Onew had been created in the first place, but the tightness in his heart reminded him why Onew was created.

Lee Jinki had the voice of an angel but the personality of a devil. At least, that's what the other trainees thought, and they let Jinki know that every time he was around. Because of Jinki's quiet and cold nature, they'd even nicknamed him the "Stone Prince", and were always trying to sabotage his training so that he could get kicked out. At first, Jinki had let it all slide because it was a competition and he didn't need to make friends, but as the months flew by, it became harder to do so.

Even the training instructors had  gotten into the habit of either mocking him or ignoring him because of his personality, and Jinki felt like he was being suffocated. All he ever wanted to do was sing, but because of who he was, no one wanted to listen to him, and it broke his heart repeatedly. It was then that he had met an idol that seemed to be very friendly and had the brightest smile to match. Jinki was secretly desperate to know how the male could be like that with all the pressure, so he went to the male's dressing room to ask.

When the idol had come around, Jinki was quick to realize what a jerk he really was, for all he did was boss his helpers around and he was a little aggressive with his own manager. Even though Jinki hated the way he was treating others, he had to admit that that's where he had gotten the idea for "Onew" from. From that day on, he had everyone in the industry call him Onew, and things slowly became better.

From having no friends and all the instructors mocking him, he was then the most popular and well liked, and his debut date had bumped up two years because of the "progress" he made. He was bitter about it, of course, that his personality was what brought fans to him and not his music, but that was the dark truth about the music industry. Taemin, when he had learned about Jinki's transformation, had been silent but Jinki knew he wasn't supportive of Onew because that wasn't the real Jinki. Jinki's manager at the time, who had been with him all throughout his journey of becoming a singer, was also against the transformation, but he knew Jinki was just trying to survive and do what he wanted to do, and had never verbally let anyone know how he really felt towards Onew.

"It smells good in here." Kibum's voice snapped him out of his thoughts, and Jinki turned his head to see the two younger men walking into the kitchen with what seemed to be shopping bags in their clutches, and Jinki was strangely relieved that he had been at his schedules instead.

"Did you buy the entire mall?" Jonghyun stared at the bags Kibum and Taemin were holding before slowly getting up and walking towards them with a hand outstretched in order to help.

"No, but we come with presents!" Taemin shouted cheerfully, ing out a bag to Jonghyun who had no idea what to do but eventually took it because it was polite to do so. With another smile, Taemin skipped around Jonghyun and ran towards Jinki, holding out what seemed to be an expensive shop's shopping bag, "This is for you, hyung!"

Jinki, instead of how Jonghyun reacted, only glanced up at his brother because he had no idea Taemin would think of him enough to buy him a present, but he ended up taking the bag anyway after seeing the light slowly fade from Taemin's eyes. He didn't know what Jonghyun received, but when he opened his bag, he was stunned with the sight of a photo album. It was a beautiful album, but it was mostly empty other than a few pictures Taemin must have stolen from his phone's camera, but Jinki was still grateful for it anyway.

"Thank you, Taeminnie." All three of the other men froze, because hearing such endearment come from Jinki's lips was unusual, but the elder was already up and retreating to his room to be alone to fawn over the present and maybe even cry over it because he felt weirdly appreciated.

"Jinki!" he stopped when he heard Jonghyun calling him and turned around, only to widen his eyes at what Jonghyun was holding in his hands. Apparently, Taemin's present to Jonghyun was an album of music made up by Jinki's original works, rather than the edited tracks sung by Onew; Jinki knew because he could see the track listing very clearly and had to wonder how his brother had gotten hold of his music after all. The album was covering the bottom portion of Jonghyun's face, so Jinki could only guess Jonghyun was smiling behind it.

Jinki practically flew down the stairs in order to get it back, but Jonghyun had pulled the album away so quickly that Jinki changed where he was aiming his hands and didn't realize that his face was going somewhere else until he felt Jonghyun's lips press back against his.

A moment later, Jonghyun pulled back and winked gently, "I'll listen to this later," he walked away slowly, but it wasn't like he was afraid of Jinki coming after him because the elder was frozen in a mix of embarrassment and wonder, "Goodnight, Jinki."

In a daze, Jinki nodded dumbly to the invisible person standing before him and climbed back up the stairs to his room, only then allowing the entire situation to sink in, and with wide eyes, Jinki crawled into bed and covered himself with all the blankets, convinced that he wouldn't get up ever again or at least until whatever pounding his heart was going through decided to recede.

"What's happening to me?" he muttered, glancing up at the ceiling and absentmindedly tracing his lips with his finger, as if to remind himself of what the younger male had felt like. It was strange because they had kissed before, but this time had felt a lot more real, and wasn't done to keep his mind calm but to make it race. There was one thing that he knew for certain, however, and that was that he was becoming dependent on Kim Jonghyun.