He slid his shades up to his head and cleared his throat. She remembered those dark eyes from somewhere.

<<**>>

“Hey, aren’t you the girl that sat next to me in the plane?”

“Why yes! I thought I recognized you from somewhere. What would you like to eat?”

“Actually, this is my first time here… so what do you recommend?”

“Well…you see…there’s no one here and I’m new…”

“So you have no idea of how to serve me food?”

She frowned. “I’ll be back, let me fix something up for you.”

A few minutes later, HyeYoung came back with fried chicken. The two talked for a great deal of time. She told him about her life and her temporary stay in Chicago, Illinois.

The only thing she left out was the story of her first love.

Jaejoong listened intently and once she was done with her life story, he began his. “HyeYoung, I have a confession to make.”

Her eyes widened. “Really? Well if it’s what I’m thinking…it’s alright.”

“Really? You don’t mind at all?”

“Of course not. I respect your preferences.”

“Huh?”

“You know…that you’re gay.”

He began to laugh. “Uh no! Believe it or not, I’m straighter than a line is. I was talking about something else.”

“Oh. Mianhae. So what is it?”

“I am not your average kind of person.”

“What?”

“I’m a singer in a famous musical group, DBSK. I was hiding my identity before because I wasn’t sure how you’d react.”

“Really? I have never heard of DBSK. But then again, I don’t really know much about all these ‘groups’ of yours.”

Jaejoong then told her of his day and why he had come to JagSal Chicken in the first place. He told her about HyunJoong, his close friend. HyeYoung’s eyes widened at hearing the name again, but she thought there must be a lot of people with the same name.

It was just a coincidence.

But then, Jaejoong said HyunJoong’s birthday was coming up…the sixth of June.

Had she heard right? That was strange; it was the same exact day as the birthday of the HyunJoong she knew.

She suddenly remembered how HyunJoong had always told her how much he wanted to become a musician. Had he actually accomplished it?

Jaejoong’s phone rang. He took it out from his pocket and answered the call. “Yeobosayo? Ah HyunJoong! You’re here? Right now? Oh ok then. I’m inside talking to--”

HyeYoung covered Jaejoong’s mouth and shook her head frantically.

Jaejoong looked at her strangely. What was she doing? “Uh ok just come in.” He closed his phone and was about to ask what was wrong with her when he heard the door open.

HyunJoong walked in wearing a long gray coat, trying to cover his face.

HyeYoung ran into the kitchen before HyunJoong could even see her.

HyunJoong smiled, “Where are the employees?”

Jaejoong replied, “Oh could you wait a minute? I…uh have to use the restroom. Stay here, don’t move.”

“Ok? I’ll wait for you then. Don’t take too long.”

Jaejoong walked into the kitchen, closing the door so HyunJoong wouldn’t hear anything. He found HyeYoung sitting on the floor with her head buried beneath her arms. He tugged her arm. “Yah, why did you do that before?”

“WH-what?”

“You know what I’m talking about—when you covered my mouth. I was talking to someone, why didn’t you want me to say your name?”

“It’s a long story.”

“We have time. Tell me.”

HyeYoung told him everything. Jaejoong connected everything together and realized she was the girl HyunJoong had always been talking about. At first, he felt a bit jealous since he had been hoping to get to know her more.

“Why can’t you tell him who you are?”

“Because he hurt me. I forgot about him anyways. If he were to know it was me, he would never leave me alone.”

Jaejoong knew more to the story than she could imagine. He knew that HyunJoong hadn’t left on purpose at all. It had all happened because of his problems with his parents.

He wanted to tell her, but just couldn’t get the words out of his mouth and instead, he hugged HyeYoung. Her tears moistened his shirt while he rubbed her back.

HyunJoong had gotten tired of waiting and he was a very impatient person. He even began to suspect that Jaejoong had gotten stuck in the toilet. When he went to the restroom however, there was no one inside. He scratched his head and looked everywhere.

The only place was the kitchen and the only thing he could think of was that Jaejoong could have wanted to cook. Jaejoong was a good cook after all; everyone he cooked for thought so.

He opened the door to find Jaejoong hugging a woman…

“What are you doing?”

Jaejoong turned around with HyeYoung to face HyunJoong.