Heechul stood leaning against the passenger side door of Kyuhyun’s car, parked illegally in front of the small airport which no one ever seemed to care about, holding the shiny red box with lacy gold ribbon around it.  He’d toned his look down considerably—black jeans, deep red dress shirt, black blazer, and a pair of dark sunglasses—but if you’re driving a car this nice, you’re bound to attract too much attention.  And then when a woman as breath-taking as your cousin strolls out of the airport doors, her pouty pinks lips smiling when her eyes connect with yours, and heads your direction, everyone notices.

            He tossed the box through the window onto the seat and walked over to meet her.  They both stopped when they were right in front of each other and he grasped the handle of her suitcase and took it from her.  She took one step forward, closing the distance between them, and wrapped her arms around his neck.  He hugged her back with his free hand, tilting the side of his head against hers briefly before she pulled away again.

            “Bon jour!” she greeted him with a laugh.

            Heechul shook his head and turned around, walking back to the car with her.

            “Did you tell Kyuhyun I was coming?”              

            “Hell, no!  He’s going to have a heart attack when he sees you.”

            Heechul opened the door for her and she carefully sat down, taking care that her skirt didn’t ride up too far as she settled in and he closed the door and set her bag in the trunk before heading to the driver’s side.  He opened the door and reached down for the box, tossing it into her lap, and sat down.

            “Is this my present?” she asked, picking it up and tugging at the ribbon with her manicured nails. 

            “It is indeed,” he said, starting the car and racing out of the airport, eager to be away from the curious gazes of strangers. 

            After she did away with the ribbon, she opened the box and looked down at the necklace, the silver pendant.  “It is rather pretty, even if you said it was cheap,” she said, holding it up and unclasping it.

            “Here, it’s a red light anyway,” he said, taking the necklace from her and turning in his seat.  Ahra grasped the back of her straight, shoulder-length hair and pulled it up out of his way as he drew it around her neck and clasped it.  “There.”

            “You’re so sweet,” she said, leaning over and kissing his cheek.  “Thank you.”

            The cars behind him began to honk, as the light had changed while he was in the middle of putting it on her, and he stuck his hand out the window and flicked them off before moving again.

            Ahra brought the mirror down and looked at the necklace, the little Eiffel Tower sitting just above her collar bone.  “I can’t believe that was already a year ago,” she said.  “Time flies so quickly.”

            “It feels like five years already,” he grumbled. 

            “And yet you’re the one who didn’t want me to come and threatened to leave if I showed up just two days ago.  You must have missed me after all,” she said, turning to look at him.

            “I always miss you, which is exactly why I avoid seeing you,” he complained.

            “That sounds like something Kyu would say in some bogus attempt to pacify me,” she accused.  “I think you can do better than that.”

            “I love how you make light of this,” he said, shaking his head.  “You already know that the feelings I have for you are completely inappropriate and yet instead of making life easier by keeping your distance, you resort to teasing me and throwing it back in my face.  You like to tempt me in your evil way, like a she-devil or a siren, luring me to my doom.  Forgive me for having conflicting thoughts about seeing you.  When I’m not having bitter reflections about it, I’m fantasizing about you.  Does that make you feel better?”

            “Yes, that’s much better,” she said, patting his shoulder playfully.

            “There’s something wrong with you.  There’s something even more wrong with me and that only makes matters worse,” he rambled.

            “God you’re grumpy!  You didn’t sleep again last night, did you?”

            “I usually sleep right now,” he reminded her.  “I skipped sleeping to pick you up because you know no one else is going to come get you, except maybe Leeteuk.  Everyone else in the house is going to curse me for asking you to come.”

            “Honey, you didn’t exactly ask me,” she said.

            “Shut it,” he said.  “You wouldn’t come if you didn’t want to.  Since when do you listen when I tell you to do something?”

            She let the comment slide.  “So, tell me why Kyu is singing again?”

            “About a week ago, Donghae and Eunhyuk told a guy they knew from in town to apply for their cooking position, since they loved his food.  Turns out, for one, that they love everything he makes.  In Kyuhyun’s case, he seems to love the food and the cook.  That’s what most of us seem to think, anyway.”

            “So he was singing for him?”

            Heechul nodded, glancing over at her.  “Do you remember the types of guys your brother dated before Sungmin?  Well, physically he kind of resembles Kyu’s preference but his personality is very unique.  Even when Kyu’s trying to be mean or piss him off, Wookie just has a distinct way of dealing with him.  Your brother is spending more time downstairs, he’s leaving the house, he’s singing!”

            “Wookie?”

            “Short for Ryeowook.  And they’re on a first name basis when the kid’s not working.”

            “Hmmm…” she said, thinking to herself.  It always irritated Heechul when she didn’t share her thoughts but he refused to start a fight with her this early on.  He’d missed her too much to try to push her away yet.  “Are you really sure that he’s in love?”

            “No, of course not.  He gets all kind of pissed off when I hang on Wookie though and I thought you’d do an excellent job of stirring up your brother by giving him the same treatment.  If I can’t make Kyu jealous, I know you getting close to him will manage to disturb him.”

            “Always does.”

            “As I said on the phone though, sometimes when he does start to buddy up to someone new it comes to a screeching halt when he feels that he has too much emotional stake in them.  He only wants to be close to a point.  He’s afraid of being rejected or forgotten again.”

            “And then there are the scars.”

            “I told Wookie about the accident and the scars already.”

            She gave him a curious look.

            “This time if Kyu tries to push him away, he’ll know why.”

            “This coming from the expert,” she only said, shaking her head and looking away.

            “You know I couldn’t stay anymore.  I don’t have any willpower.  Do you see how fast I caved and asked you to come?”

            “I see someone who left me alone in Paris.”

            “You should be thankful that I did.”

            “You love me one moment, guilt trip me the next, hate me after that, and then drool over me.  All these emotions and all I’ve done to deserve them is exist,” she accused him.

            “You’re the cruelest woman I know.  You know that I’m completely heartbroken and yet you feel the need to bring it up, over and over, so these wounds always stay fresh instead of healing.  I’m never going to be able to move on.”

            Ahra stared out the passenger window, no longer willing to talk about it, but when he reached over and wrapped her hand in his, she didn’t pull away.  She should have.  It would have been far easier if she hated him and never wanted to see him again.  But instead she missed him and that made it so much worse.  If only the pain could be his alone.

            Kyuhyun cursed himself when he realized that he’d played his game until four in the morning.  He was too tired to wait for breakfast but he also knew that he’d never wake up for it.  So it was nearly noon when he rolled out of bed and headed downstairs.  To his surprise, Ryeowook was all alone in the kitchen.  It was Tuesday, after all, and Sungmin was lurking in the house somewhere.  He’d already heard Kkoming barking. 

            And Heechul wasn’t hanging on the new cook for a change.  Nor was he sleeping like usual.  Last night his cousin had been acting strange: he couldn’t follow the conversation at dinner, he sighed loudly after drifting off in thought, and his moods seemed to switch from anger to frantic to peaceful.  He’d hoped to speak to him and check that everything was going well and when he wasn’t in his guest room, he expected to find him sitting in the kitchen bothering his cook.  But once he walked through the door and found himself alone with Ryeowo