A/N:  3/17/10- Should be doing my homework, but instead…  I want to get this short rewrite chapter over with, ahaha…

3/27/10-  Well, it’s been ten days and I haven’t got a single word down.  Actually, I have, but it’s on paper.  Not even done with it…  But I decided, since tomorrow’s my fifteenth birthday, that I should make a little gift for you guys!

“All noble things are as difficult as they are rare” -Baruch Spinoza.

Chapter 3

    They were, once more, sitting in the living room, discussing intensely on Reina’s latest decision.  Jin Ri was paying no attention to the adult argument, her eyes only peeling away from the Korean cartoon when she adjusted her sitting position.

    “Why, Reina?  Why now, after six years?” Hyun Soo was asking in a hushed voice.  It took everything he had to not yell out-- it would scare Jin Ri.

    “I’ve explained it to you already, Hyun Soo.  Jin Ri needs a formal education-- the village doesn’t offer that,” Reina replied, glancing over at her five year old daughter.  She was still oblivious to the tension, her eyes never leaving the commercial for a new doll.

    “I can’t let her future go to waste because I was too scared of the chance of meeting up with JaeJoong.  It’s not worth it.”  She smiled sadly at her friend whom she had leaned on for the past half decade.  Reina considered him the brother she had never had…

    “If you do meet up with him?  What then?  Will you tell him?”  Hyun Soo asked, his voice no longer tinged with aggravation but a mix of worry and curiosity.  She hesitated.  What would she do?

    “Ah, that won’t happen!  JaeJoong’s an idol now… he’d be too busy to notice a single woman with her daughter.  He’s probably forgotten all about me, with the hectic schedule and popularity of Dong Bang Shin Ki.”

    She knew Hyun Soo didn’t buy her excuses with the look he was giving her, but was relieved when Jin Ri intervened, asking for a snack.  She wasn’t sure if she bought her own excuses either… or maybe she didn’t want to believe it.

~

    The five members of TVXQ were returning to Korea to, once again, restart their Korean activities.  However, this time, it was different.  While normally, they’d release singles for their comeback, they were to release a photo book to mark their new concept.  The concept was still unknown to everyone but the manager.  Even the five young men of TVXQ didn’t know anything about it.

    Yes, they were now young men rather than boys… but no matter what, some thing still stayed the same.

    Yunho, sitting next to Junsu, held the window seat and was sleeping with a cloth over his head-- courtesy of JaeJoong, of course.  Changmin was studying for his return to University and eating an airplane snack at the same time.  Yoochun was listening to his iPod and JaeJoong was next to him, sleeping peacefully.  Junsu, holding a DS in one hand, was rummaging through his bag for a game with his other hand.

    Next to Changmin was their manager, who was looking through his notes of their comeback and muttering to himself.

    Finally, TVXQ was back.  After a year of Japanese activities, they were to top the Korean entertainment scene once more.  However, before they could do so, they would first have to top the hearts of young primary school children.

~

    Lee Reina watched as the scenery disappeared and the train entered the dark tunnel, the lighting on the outside minimal for navigation.  Next to her was Jin Ri, the child’s head leaning against her, sleeping.

    “Do you want to buy anything off the cart, Miss?” a saleswoman asked, pushing a cart full of food and souvenirs down the narrow aisle.  Reina shook her head politely and motioned towards the sleeping girl.  The other woman nodded knowingly and moved on.  Reina smiled when she realized, as the woman had moved onto another customer, that the salesperson had lowered the volume of her voice slightly.

    They were on their way to Seoul-- or back to Seoul, in Reina’s case.  The new school term was about to start, so Reina was in a rush to enroll Jin Ri before it was too late.

    The outside’s natural lighting had rece more and Reina found herself getting lost in her own thoughts.  What if? she wondered, Hyun Soo’s words returning to her.  It was frightening to think that JaeJoong would ever meet up with her again.  If he remembered.  She didn’t want to know what he though of her, of the woman who loved him so much one day, yet left him the next, leaving only three words.  She was afraid of his hatred.

    Turning her gaze to Jin Ri, she knew that if she had been given the chance to change her past, she’d still do it.  She’d still leave him.  Everything in her life revolved around her daughter now, thus the reason for returning to the city.  It was, in reality, a blessing in disguise.  She knew that she would have left JaeJoong in the end, with or without Jin Ri.  After all, having a girlfriend would be a turn off for possible fans of a newly debuted artist.  It would have done him no good, if she had stayed.

    She knew not what she would do in the instance of seeing JaeJoong again, but she knew, without a doubt, that if she did, it’d take everything she had to not tell him the truth.

    But she would keep that secret, no matter what.  Not for her sake, no.

    It was for Jin Ri.  And JaeJoong.

    The scenery was ending.  The buildings were showing.

    It was Seoul.

~

    “Ahh, it’s so good to be back!” Junsu cried, jumping into the house with suitcase and bag in tow.  The others followed, chuckling at their fellow member’s childish mood making.

    “Hyung, can you make something to eat?” Changmin asked, throwing down his bag onto the floor and plopping himself into the nearest chair.  The others followed their maknae’s example, eventually leaving only JaeJoong standing.

    “You pig, Changmin,” Jaejoong joked, “You just ate when we left Japan… and on the plane!”  He shook his head, setting his bag down and taking off his sunglasses.  His dark brown eyes looked around the living room, glazing over the furniture.

    The couches were arranged in a square “U” formation, the opening facing the door.  A clear, rectangular coffee table sat in the space inside the outline created by the sofas, magazines stacked up on top of it.  In front of this arrangement was, somewhat mediocre in size, a flat screen TV.

    The living room connected to a single hallway which immediately branched off into two separate forks.  One turned to the right, snaking around the walls of the living room.  It lead directly to a storage closet.  If one were to further venture into that hall, there were two small rooms.  These were the music workrooms that the members used for their composition and songwriting practice, divided up 3:2.

    Along the second and main hallway, the dining room, kitchen, and patio were lined up along the south wall of the building (aligned with the living room).  On the other side of the hallway were the bathroom and two main bedrooms.  The bathroom was at the center of the entire house, the larger bedroom at the far northwest corner, and the smaller bedroom directly north of the bathroom.  The doors of the bedrooms faced each other, even though the smaller bedroom was only about half the size of the larger one’s.

    The five members shared the largest bedroom.  Whenever the manager stayed for the night, he would take the smaller bedroom.

    At first, they had divided themselves up, as they did with the music rooms, the elder three and the younger two to the larger and smaller rooms, respectively.  However it was bothersome for them each time their manager stayed over, having to rearrange everything.  Eventually, Junsu and Changmin moved into the larger bedroom with their hyungs and left the smaller bedroom unused.

    “Hyung~!” Changmin whined, giving JaeJoong a pair of mischievous puppy eyes.  JaeJoong knew that look.  It was, in reality, a threat-- do-what-I-say-or-else-you’ll-have-a-night’s-worth-of-one-touches-coming-your-way, it said.

    JaeJoong signed in defeat.  He was still tired, however he refused to let himself fall victim to Changmin’s one touches if he had a choice in the matter.

    “Alright, alright,” he muttered, heading towards the kitchen in his socks.  Changmin sent Junsu a victorious grin, an action that didn’t pass through JaeJoong’s eyesight unnoticed.  He chuckled.

    After six years, he was already used to it.  They may have argued like brothers, confided like best friends, and acted like idiots, but they understood each other, without saying anything.  JaeJoong was more than content with his life at that moment… If only…  he shook his head in denial.

    Happiness did not come by itself.  Always, there would be a fleck of misery embedded within.

    The melancholy was slowly devouring his heart… the door locked from six years ago barely holding up.

-----End of Chapter.

A/N:  3/27/10-  I said I’d write it and I did!
The chapter was supposed to be longer though, but I have other things I want to do tonight.  @_@  Sooo, here it is!  

It’d be an amazing birthday present if, say, you commented and subscribed!  (:

P.S.
It doesn't seem like I'll finish rewriting up to Chapter 20 by tomorrow as promised, seeing as how the next chapter is only one page in and extremely awkward.

BUT,

IT'LL BE WORTH IT.

I PROMISE.

My promises mean nothing, as you guys probably know by now.  SORRY. ;___;