"Luhan?! Have you heard from Minseok?" I asked frantically.

            "Minseok? Ah yeah" he replied with a yawn in his voice and then there was a bump from the back of his house where I knew his room was and suddenly Minseok appeared.

            "Ah Jongdae! I'm so sorry my cell died and we got lost" Minseok tried to explain to me but I was too distracted by the picture that was right in front of me. It consisted of a shirtless unamused Luhan and the guy I was currently interested in at his house, in his clothes, coming from his room, and both of them seemed in a daze like they'd had a long night.

            "I knew I shouldn't have let you walk back alone" I sighed and pushed through the doorway, inviting myself inside because I wasn't going to leave until I'd heard the full story behind this picture. "Well now that I know you're alright" I thought he looked a little discolored and I wanted to check his temperature but Luhan stepped in between us, handing him a glass of water and feeling his forehead. "I didn't think the two of you got along this well" even if Minseok had to stay here last night I didn't expect that he would agree to sleep in the same bed together. It's not like he has any problems falling asleep on couches.

            "Not really" Luhan ruffled his hair and I could almost smell the tease coming from his voice when he looked over at me as he did so.

            Luhan left to put more clothes on, thankfully, because I kept catching Minseok looking over at him and it was starting to irritate me how Luhan just flaunted himself without caring. "So, what exactly happened last night?"

            "When I left you at the restaurant I met up with Luhan but I got lost and he was too drunk to remember where the train station was and I lost my wallet so I couldn't get a taxi" he began and I stopped him because I remembered I found his wallet on a table last night and I put it in my bag to give him. I was hoping it would give me a reason to stop by his apartment, and maybe I could convince him to get lunch with me or something, but since he'd already mentioned he'd lost it I had to give it back to him now. "Thanks, anyways we wondered around trying to find the train station but we only got more lost until we stopped for a minute at a park" he trailed off before his eyes darted over towards Luhan the back. "We finally found another taxi and Luhan only had enough money to get us here so he let me stay the night"

            "So that's all?" I thought I mumbled to myself but Minseok heard and straightened up awkwardly.

            "Ah, yeah that's basically it" Luhan came back before I was finished talking to Minseok alone.

            "Well that must have been stressful" I pretended like I hadn't heard him return, "I know how Luhan can be when he gets drunk"

            "Hey don't blame me" Luhan complained and Minseok actually tried to defend him so I decided I should probably leave now before I said too much.

            Luhan opened the door for me but he was looking down at Minseok with a smirk like he couldn't wait to tell him something. "Get home safely this time" I told Minseok before I left so that maybe he'd act more carefully around Luhan.

            I was enjoying my days off, well they weren't really days off, I just stayed at home instead of going into the office and researched material for us to start our next issue, when I got an unexpected call from Luhan.

            "What is it you want?" I answered.

            "Couldn't you be a little nicer when answering the phone?" he sounded like he was pretending to be hurt.

            "I'm not being mean, just asking you what you want. Getting straight to the point because I'm busy"

            "I see" he replied, "Well then I'll just ask you, what's Minseok's cell number?"

            "Minseok's cellphone number?" A million things ran through my head all at once and I froze, why does he want to contact him, does he really have to nerve to ask me to give it to him, why in the hell would I give it to him, were just a few.

            "Come on, I know you have it. I forgot to get it from him when he left my house the other day and we have plans" he left it simply at plans.

            "I'm going to make sure he's okay with this first" I sighed and he clicked his tongue before hanging up. I wondered if I should even call Minseok and ask him, but I knew that would look bad on me so I dialed his number.

            It rang twice, three, four times and I got a little nervous as to why he wasn't picking up since I'd just gotten over not being able to reach him. Finally he picked up but his voice was just barely above a weak whisper. "Hello?" he sounded like he didn't even check to see who was calling.

            "Minseok? It's Jongdae. Luhan just asked me to give him your number so I was just checking if that was okay with you first?"

            I waited for him to answer but all he said was "Luhan?" confused.

            "He said he had plans with you" I clarified as best as I could.

            "Oh, yeah, sure" he just agreed even though I wasn't sure he was comprehending what I was saying.

            "Hey, is everything all right?" even though I'd come to realize the extent of Minseok's shyness it was never as bad as this. I hoped there wasn't anything I'd done to make him feel even more uneasy towards me.

            "Ah, I'm just a little sick" he finally let out a cough that he'd probably been holding back since he was on the phone.

            "Do you need someone to take you to the doctor?" I actually jumped up out of my chair, ready to stop working and take him to the emergency room.

            "No, Yixing took me earlier" he replied and he sounded like he just wanted to sleep.

            That's right, he has someone he can count on already. He doesn't need my help. "Okay, then get some rest" He thanked me and hung up.

            I tried to get back to work but I couldn't help but keep thinking. Thinking about how nothing was going how I planned it, how Luhan was really getting in the way, how even if Yixing already took Minseok to the doctor there was still something I could do to help him. Even if it was unfortunate, this was a situation I could take advantage of.

            I saved all my work before shutting down the laptop and I locked my apartment on my way out. At the grocery store I looked up and down the isles with recipes to make for sick people pulled up on my cell, picking a little bit of everything. I held my breath as I stood in front of Minseok's apartment door, hands full of ingredients in plastic bags.

            I tapped on the door lightly, prepared to wait and feeling bad about making Minseok get out of bed, but the door was opened quickly.

            "Editor Kim?" Minseok's friend Yixing answered the door with a confused expression.

            I held up the bags, "I heard Minseok was sick so I brought over ingredients for soup" He was weary but let me in after he'd decided that it was a good time for him to eat something.

            "Have you ever been in Minseok's apartment?"  Yixing asked after watching me awe over the cleanliness. "It's actually usually in an even better state than this but I've been over messing with things since yesterday" he laughed and showed me where the kitchen was. "I'm actually glad you're here, I have to go to work in a few hours so I need to go home and change clothes. I was worried about leaving him here alone since his fever hasn't gone down yet"

            "Oh, that's no problem, I haven't been busy since we just finished a cycle" I opened a few cabinets, looking for a large pot to cook it all in and a cutting board.

            "Yea, Minseok was just telling me about the dinner." he saw that I was having a hard time finding things, and even though I'd found a knife and a cutting board, I hadn't quite admitted yet that I wasn't that good of a cook. "Here, let me do it" he took the knife out of my hand and cut up the vegetables and went right to the cabinet that had all the large pots in it, pulling out the best sized on and filling it with water to boil. "I have to tell you thank you, for all that you've done for him" he continued as he worked.

            I noticed then how familiar he was with his kitchen, and how he was thanking me for what I'd done for Minseok. "Its no problem. You seem to look after you friends closely"

            "Just Minseok, we've known each other for a long time, he's like my brother" Yixing chuckled; pulling some spices out of the cabinet that I would have never thought to add to a soup.

            "Ah, like a brother" I repeated, so this is their relationship.

            "I never really thought about it until just recently, how we could be misunderstood so easily” he glanced over at me but I wasn’t catching where he was going. “Like just now, you were misunderstanding our relationship”

            “Ah no I just…” I wanted to pretend like he was wrong but I couldn’t think of an excuse quick enough so I just accepted it.

            “It’s okay. I can see why everyone is so fond of him, he’s so awkward its cute, respectful, and too nice for his own good. I just see him a different way, I see him for his courage; everything he is he made for himself against all the odds. You probably didn’t know this but Minseok’s family owns a software company, they’re not too big but they’ve got two branches in Korea and one in China, which is how we met when he came to stay at that branch house one summer. Minseok was supposed to take over the China branch, he started studying in university but he hated it. That was the worst I’d ever seen Minseok in his entire life he didn’t ever talk anymore because he had to study so hard, he was literally a walking corpse at one point. After his father saw how much he hated it he agreed to let his illegitimate son who had graduated top of his economic department take over the China branch in his place, that’s when Minseok switched his major to computer graphics and photography.” He started to make some tea but I stopped him because I could at least do that much. “It’s almost second nature to do everything for Minseok. I was never supposed to be his friend; because my family was indebted to his I was supposed to just stay by his side to do his bidding. The branch that they started in China was actually once my grandfathers but it never did very well and once it was handed down to my father we went bankrupt. Minseok’s family bought our business and even gave my father a high job afterwards to put us back on our feet. It was hard to watch what Minseok went through because that would have been me, I’m glad he got to do what he wanted with his life”

            “Wow, if it wasn’t you telling me this I’m not sure if I’d believe all of it” I remembered that I’d done a little background check on Minseok before I hired him but all I checked for was where he graduated and I saw that he’d changed majors. “He’s so modest that you would never expect that he came from such background”

            “Minseok has been told what to do his entire life, and now that he’s free to do whatever he wants he doesn’t know what to do with himself. I think that’s why he’s getting close to that Luhan guy, he’s got a very strong presence and Minseok is attracted to that.” He filled a spoon full of the soup to let me try and I complimented him on how good it was before I tried to pry a little more out of him.

            “You think Minseok is getting close to Luhan?” I tried to sound like I was just curious but this was something I really wanted to know.

            “I came over here to talk with him about it the night that I ended up taking him to the emergency room. He was telling me that Luhan wants to take him on a date and that he thinks he should go” Yixing poured a bowl of the soup and placed it aside to cool down. “I told him that was something he needed to decide for himself and I’d back up any decision he made”

            “A date huh?” so that’s why Luhan wanted his number.

            “I personally don’t know if it’s a good idea or not, I haven’t quite figured out his entire character”

            “Luhan is a hard person to understand” I agreed, wondering what in the hell he was doing messing around with someone who seemed so fragile.

            “Well, I have to leave now. If you could just make sure he eats some so he can take his medicine and then he should be good” he gathered his things and shook my hand before leaving “Just lock the door before you leave, I’ve got a spare key so it will be fine, and thank you"

            When he was gone I immediately felt very awkward being in Minseok's apartment. I convinced myself that I wasn't intruding because Yixing had practically entrusted Minseok to me before I picked up the soup and the still warm tea, taking it down to the room Yixing had pointed out to me. I knocked hoping there would be some kind of response meaning he wasn't asleep but there was nothing so I opened to door quietly. Minseok's room was very simple and clean. His closet was open to I could see that all of his clothes were hung in an organized pattern, all on the same type of hanger facing the same way. His shoes were paired in two rows at the bottom of the closet on a wire rack.

            His bed however was full of interesting things (well including him), he had a regular blue comforter but over that he had a soft blanket with a wolf printed on it and next to him was a mountain of stuffed animals. "So you sleep like this?" I whispered in a chuckle and he stretched a little bit as he woke up.

            "Yixing?" he mumbled and I was surprised he'd done so well at pronouncing his friend's name compared to the last time he'd mistaken me as him in his sleepy state.

            "Yixing had to leave but he made you so soup. You need to eat something so you can take your medicine, there's tea too." I helped him sit up by taking one of the extra pillows next to him to prop him up.

            "Jongdae?" he rubbed his eyes as I filled the spoon and brought it over to him.

            "I brought the ingredients over" I explained that I didn't exactly just randomly show up at his house to feed him soup. He looked at me, still thoroughly confused, but took the spoon full of soup and I gave him his cup of tea to drink. "Does it make your throat feel better?"

            He nodded yes and I set the cup back down for him. "I can do it myself" he wouldn't let me feed him anymore so I handed over the bowl with a pout. I sat down on the floor, waiting for him to finish as much as he could so I could take the dishes back to clean. "Did you call me earlier?" he finally asked after forcing himself to eat a bit more. "I'm trying to remember how you knew I was sick and I think it's because I told you over the phone earlier"

            "Ah yeah I did" I tried to laugh it off so he would leave it at that but he continued to ask me what I wanted because he didn't remember. "I called you to ask you if it was okay to give Luhan your number. He asked me for it but I wanted to make sure you were okay with me giving it to him first"

            "My number? Oh!" Minseok seemed to be more awake now because he was able to realize what that meant this time.

            I tried to sit quietly but I couldn't just leave it at that. "Yixing told me that he wants to take you on a date"

            "He did..." he sounded like he might be a little angry at his friend so I felt like I should apologize later. "It’s supposed to be tomorrow night but I don't think I can go since I'm sick"

            "But did you want to go?" I asked the question that I meant to keep in my head out loud.

            He thought about the answer for a moment and then thought about whether or not he should tell me before sighing because it was too much thinking while he had a fever. "I think I do. I don't know if I feel that way towards Luhan, but despite how different we are he understands me so I feel like I should give it a try"

            I wanted to yell at him, to tell him that Luhan wasn't the only one who could understand him, to let him know that I cared even more than Luhan, but I just stood up. "I'll clean the kitchen before I leave, you get some more sleep"

            "Jongdae" he called after me just before I left his room with the dishes. "Thank you, you're a really good friend"

            Yeah, just a friend. I scoffed and shut the door behind me.