Changmin was wide awake. Staring at the ceiling with whatever little light was coming through the shut curtains. How much ever he tried to sleep, he couldn't. He couldn't just stop his mind from wandering. It just went back again and again to the entire happenings of the day. It was unforgettable in way.

"Changmin, this is my better half, Jung Jaejoong.

Changmin had been rendered speechless before the wide doe eyes holding his gaze. His mouth was dry and his heart was palpitating so loudly, it was drumming in his ears. The person before him was unlike anyone Changmin had ever seen. And Changmin had seen some really beautiful people in his life. But this person. Something was so different about this Jung Jaejoong. 

Changmin had never felt such a forceful attraction to anyone before. And no. It wasn't the romantic type of attraction. It was more of familial longing. Like a father's praise. Like a mother's touch. It was ridiculous considering that it the first time he was meeting that person. But still, something was different.

He hadn't spoken much to Jaejoong, content with listening to Yunho speaking cheerily for all of them, with Jaejoong sometimes losing his focus and staring off into space. He had watched closely the interactions between the two. It was the interaction between two people who were so in tune with each. Of two people who knew each other inside and out. Of two people who were so familiar with each other. It showed in the gentle way Yunho held Jaejoong's hand where it lay in his. It showed from the way Jaejoong sometimes brushed invisible dust from Yunho's shirt whenever he could focus. Changmin had felt like a intruder on their little world.

The ride home had been quiet. Except for stopping for dinner on the way. Even then, the silence had been amicable.

And now, Changmin was wide awake. He sat up and glanced around the room, his gaze pausing on the wooden chest. Again he felt that irresistible pull to open the chest. He had this feeling deep in his heart that the chest might contain answers to his question.

What was it about Jung Jaejoong that had affected him so much?

                                                                                                        -x-x-x-

“Changmin-ssi can you bring the coffee to the counter, please? I have get Chang-ho ready”, Younghee called from the back door of the shop. Changmin nodded as he kept down the books he was about to put back on the shelf. His employer’s house was attached to the book cafe, just behind the place. Changmin had visited it just a few times, but knew it well enough considering how small it was. He got the coffee pot from the kitchen and was about to go when he saw the elderly Mrs.Choi trying to pick something off the floor by leaning from her wheelchair. Fearing that her old arthritis may act up again, he went to help her. It was a photo frame.

And Changmin’s breathe got stuck in his throat. It was a photo of a young and very handsome Yunho and leaning into his side, a young and extremely beautiful Jaejoong. 

“Brings back memories”, Choi halmoni said and Changmin slowly handed her back the frame. She looked at him, eyes bright and clear. Must be one her lucid stages. He again glanced at the photo. Yunho had a small smile, his arm around Jaejoong’s shoulder while Jaejoong looked coyly into the camera. Even from the photo, he could see the love and pride in Yunho’s eyes.

“They were newly married and had just moved into the town. This photo was taken one afternoon when they had dropped for New Year greetings. Sweetest and the gentlest couple I had ever seen. Like two halves of a whole. You never saw one without the other. Young and full of dreams. May be your age”, she said, smiling at him  in a grandmotherly way. Changmin looked at her and back at the photo. He could see the joy and peace on their faces. Like there no place better than being together. “But, unfortunately, life can be a very wicked thing”

“What happened?”, he found himself asking.

“Something very bad. It was as if someone had cast the Evil Eye on them. Just 2 years into their marriage and, one morning, I see Jaejoong being taken away by some people in white clothes. It was horrible. I can still remember Yunho standing like a statue, holding their little baby, unable to even move a finger as they took Jaejoong”, she said, eyes starting to shine strangely.

“Their baby?”, Changmin asked and remembered Yunho mentioning once something about his son.

“I don’t know what happened to the child. Yunho disappeared a month after with the poor,little thing. Used to cry every night for it’s mother. It was heartbreaking. He returned again after a year, without the baby and without his beloved spouse. Alone”, she said, wiping the photo frame with a loving hand.

 “Never married again. Never even looked at another person again. I think he lost the part which loves when Jaejoong was taken away. Like his very own soul was torn from him. It had been a huge blow to him to lose his beloved and his child so soon, one after the other. Two young, blooming lives nipped in the bud before they even had a chance to blossom. Fate can very heartless”, she said, wiping her her. Changmin blinked and was horrified to find his own eyes wet.

“Do you know what happened to the child?”, Changmin asked.

“No. I tried to ask, but Yunho had gone through so much that it would have been cruel to ask him again and again. He returned as the sad shell of the man he once was. It was as if he had lost the will to carry on. That man has been carrying a huge burden and sorrow for know knows how long. But never a word or cry of complaint and sadness. It’s so cruel when life plays so rudely with the ones who have done nothing but good their entire life”, she said, looking at the photo.

“ I still see the two when I came to know them, full of love and life. Yunho loved Ajejoong like he was the reason Yunho was alive. And Jaejoong. He was an angel. A gentle soul who wouldn’t even dream of hurting even an ant. It’s extremely sad what happened to him. Very cruel indeed”, she said, looking at him with a faraway look in her face.

Changmin ignored the lump in his throat as he went back to pick up the coffee. He glanced at Choi halmoni as he passed through the living room and saw her caressing the photo like it was a treasure. He had always wondered how he would repay his host for his unconditional kindness. But now he knew what he had to do.

He would search for Yunho’s and Jaejoong’s lost son. And make sure a happy reunion happened.

                                                                                                 -x-x-x-

Hello!

Who missed me? XD

I will up the angst meter from next chapters. Still not angsty enough, I feel.

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Kamsahamnida!