In the Stars

            Gunhee smiled as he caught a glimpse of his most eccentric customer walking into the shop.  Kim Heechul was a demanding customer, but he always looked spectacular, so he was forgiven for being a little more challenging than the rest of his regular clients.  That and perhaps his long unspoken crush on the man had something to do with the fact that he could be as particular as he wanted and Gunhee didn’t mind.  Of course, he tipped damn good as well.  That always helped.

            Heechul walked over to the barber’s chair immediately, as there was no one else waiting.  He was the only scheduled client and Gunhee knew that he was going to take quite some time, so he cleared the morning schedule to accommodate him. 

            “What are we doing for you this morning, gorgeous?”

            “We need to touch up the roots, trim, and make it look fabulous for this afternoon.”

            “You hosting an event?”

            “I’m meeting my future in-laws,” Heechul informed him.

            Gunhee gave him a quizzical look as he wrapped him up in a smock to protect his clothes.  “You dating someone I haven’t heard about?”

            “Choi Siwon,” Heechul said, smirking to himself.

            “What?  Get out,” Gunhee said, lightly smacking his arm.  “When the hell did that happen?”

            “A couple weeks ago.”

            Gunhee rested his hands on his hips.  “Then you aren’t serious about meeting his parents and thinking you’ll eventually marry him.”

            “I am too!” Heechul insisted.  “I’m sick and tired of dating nobodies who don’t really care about me when I give my whole heart to them.  So this time, I’ve decided I’m just going to go after the best damn man South Korea has to offer and make him mine.  Love be damned!  I’m going to marry someone good looking, famous, and rich!  I deserve the best.  I’m not going to waste my time on men that don’t love me back anymore.”

            “But, if you are just dating Siwon for his looks, popularity, and money, aren’t you doing about the same thing as your exes did to you?” Gunhee questioned.

            Heechul crossed his arms in front of his chest.  “I don’t care.  At least I’ll be happy and I won’t get hurt anymore.”

            “Maybe you won’t get hurt, but aren’t you missing out on the best part of being in a relationship?” Gunhee questioned.

            “No!  Falling in love is the worst thing that ever happened to me.  It almost broke me.  Just ask my brother,” Heechul insisted, pouting.  “Therefore, if I find the perfect guy and there’s no love involved, I won’t get hurt.”

            Gunhee walked over to the coffee machine and poured Heechul a cup.  He was liberal with the cream and sugar, remembering his client’s taste.  He stirred the mix and walked it back over to Heechul and handed it to him.  “I think the problem isn’t that you fell in love before.  I think the problem is you fell in love with men that didn’t love you back.  No man that actually cared about how you felt would ever do the things to you that your exes did…and if you date someone who doesn’t love you and that you don’t love, you can’t be expected to be treated any better this time around.  You’re just setting yourself up for more failure.  If what you want is someone who thinks of you first, this isn’t the answer.”

            Heechul narrowed his eyes at him.  “Just color my hair.”

            Ryeowook insisted on walking into Sungmin’s office unannounced.  He absolutely refused to let the staff warn him ahead of time.  Ryeowook walked down the hall, knocked on the door firmly once, and then entered.  Sungmin was leaning back in his chair, chatting on the phone, when he glanced over at the door.  His face paled and his feet slipped from the desk.

            “You know what?  Something urgent has just come to my attention.  I have to let you go.  Bye,” he said, quickly hanging up the phone.  “Wookie!  What a surprise to see you!”

            “It shouldn’t be,” Ryeowook said, shutting the door loud.  “After lying to me for how long?  You should know that I’m going to be looking for some answers.  Now, knowing the reasons that Yesung didn’t want Kyuhyun and me to get together in the first place, I can kind of assume I know the reason he wanted to keep things quiet about the two of you, but you’re my best friend and we tell each other everything!  What the hell is your excuse?”

            “He didn’t want me to tell you for those same reasons,” Sungmin pointed out, nervously perched on the edge of his seat.

            “But you’re my best friend!” Ryeowook stressed, crossing his arms over his chest.  “We’ve been friends for years!  Don’t you kind of owe it to me to tell me when you’re dating someone?”

            “I’ve been trying to hint for so long!” Sungmin said in his own defense.  “I keep telling you about all these times I go over to Yesung’s house or go hang out with him and you don’t act the least bit suspicious at all.  Didn’t it ever dawn on you that we might be attracted to one another?”

            Ryeowook shrugged.  “I figured if you were, you’d tell me.”

            Sungmin threw his hands into the air.  “I give up!”

            “I’m still mad.”

            “I’m sure you’ll get over it,” Sungmin said, brushing it off.  “I don’t suppose you have any idea why Kyuhyun didn’t come back to Yesung’s apartment last night.”

            Ryeowook smiled to himself and sat down at the seat across the desk from Sungmin.  “I do.”

            Sungmin’s brows rose.

            “Were you going to enlighten me or am I supposed to guess?”

            “Kyuhyun and I ran into each other at the park.”

            “You ran into each other?” Sungmin asked in disbelief.  “On accident?”

            Ryeowook nodded and laughed a little.  “You know, honestly, I never really believed in the whole notion of true love before…but I’m starting to think I was wrong, because it seems to me that some kind of cosmic force is trying to bring us together and I have to confess, I’m not feeling very opposed to it at the moment.  Maybe the powers that be know what the hell they’re doing.”

            “So, wait…does that mean that Kyuhyun stayed over at your place last night?” Sungmin asked.

            Ryeowook nodded.  “He did.”

            “You finally got laid?  Oh my God!  About time!  Enough ing work, I’m leaving early today!  Let’s go out and celebrate.  I’ll buy you a drink,” Sungmin said, standing up to grab his suit jacket.

            Ryeowook rolled his eyes and shook his head.  “We didn’t have !  Are you joking?  We just met yesterday!”

            Sungmin frowned.  “Actually, you met him a few times before yesterday,” he reminded Ryeowook.

            “But not officially!  We didn’t both know who the other person was.  Yesterday was the first time we met with the knowledge of who we were meeting.”

            “What happened when you ran into each other at the park?” Sungmin asked, sitting back down.