Love is All Around

            “How long would you like me to stay?”

            “You can’t ask me that,” Ryeowook said in a soft voice.  “That isn’t a fair question.”

            “Why not?”

            “Because I don’t want you to leave at all.”

Three weeks later…

            Kyuhyun was still getting dressed after his shower when his cellphone started to ring.  He jogged into the bedroom to answer it.  He glanced down at the caller ID.  It was his business partner, Yesung.

            “Hello, hyung!” Kyuhyun greeted him enthusiastically.

            “Don’t hello, hyung me!  Where the hell are you?” Yesung asked.

            “Japan.  Where I told you I was going,” Kyuhyun reminded him.

            “You’ve been gone for almost a month without bothering to call me once.  I was starting to worry that something happened to you,” Yesung lectured.

            “Something did happen to me,” Kyuhyun cheerfully announced, walking back to the bathroom with the phone. 

            “What’s that?”

            “I have a boyfriend!”

            “So, it worked out after all, huh?” Yesung questioned, all the anger in his voice gone.

            “Yes, it did,” Kyuhyun said, fixing his hair in the mirror as best he could while on the phone.

            “Congratulations.  I gave up on you looking for a permanent partner long ago.  He must really be something to catch your interest and have you flying back to Japan for him.”

            “He is,” Kyuhyun admitted. 

            “Have you been working on any new programs while there?”

            “Of course!  He does have a job, so I have free time whenever he’s at the bar working.  I’m putting the finishing touches on some new software now.  Should be ready in the next week or two.  How are things at the office?”

            “Now you bother asking?”

            “I have complete faith in you to keep order while I’m not there.”  Yesung had a bit of an ego and Kyuhyun knew that complimenting his abilities would keep him off his back about taking a long vacation.  But he deserved one.  He’d never bothered taking vacations before and Yesung took a couple every year. 

            “Everything is running smooth, but it would be nice to have you back next week for a stretch.  We have some business associates coming into town from China.”

            Kyuhyun sighed.  He knew this day was eventually coming.  “Will Monday work?”

            “Should be enough time to get you prepped for it.  They’re coming in Wednesday afternoon,” Yesung informed him.  “They’ll be here until early the following week.  Then we meet with our financial advisors late the next week.”

            “Okay,” Kyuhyun grumbled.

            “Try not to sound like I just kicked you.  It’s only Tuesday.  You wouldn’t have to come back until maybe Saturday night or Sunday morning.  That’s still several days!  And you could always bring him back with you.  Or is that too serious for you?”

            “I would bring him back in a heartbeat, but he left Korea because he hates it here,” Kyuhyun informed him, heading back into Ryeowook’s bedroom and lying down on the bed.

            “Well, maybe about three or four weeks after you get back, you could return for a long weekend or something,” Yesung suggested.

            “That’s very generous of you, hyung.”

            Yesung sighed heavily at Kyuhyun’s obvious lack of enthusiasm.  “By the way, before you come back, I have something I need to fess up to.”

            “What’s that?”

            “I’m dating your former buddy,” Yesung informed him.

            “Sungmin?” Kyuhyun asked, looking at the phone in disbelief.

            “Yes,” Yesung patiently responded.  “And he’s not got the greatest opinion of you, of course.  You’re just an that uses people for .”

            “Well…that’s not an entirely undeserved criticism, I suppose.”

            “Therefore, I don’t mind it if you make yourself a little more scarce around the office.  I kind of like him,” Yesung confessed.  “And my God is he good in bed!”

            Kyuhyun nodded his head, forgetting his partner couldn’t see him.  “There was a reason I kept him around for as long as I did.”

            “You don’t mind, do you?” Yesung asked.

            “You ask now?”

            “Better late than never.  Besides, you didn’t bother to ing call me.  Remember?”

            “No, I don’t care!  I just told you I have a boyfriend,” Kyuhyun reminded him.  “And I wouldn’t be going out with him if I wasn’t completely hooked on him because this whole two different countries bull isn’t going to be easy.”

            “Just making sure,” Yesung said.  “Well, I am going to email you a few things I’d like you to look over before you come in on Monday, whether you wait to view them until you fly in or do them while the boyfriend’s at work is up to you.  Did you happen to drop in on the Tokyo office while you’ve been there?”

            “Just did last Friday.”

            “How did that go?”

            “Fine, once they got over the initial shock of seeing me.  Everything seems to be running smooth.  I looked over some of their work and took our Korean connections out for a long lunch to discuss business.”

            “Good.  I’ll ask you more about it when you get back,” Yesung said, interrupting his talk with Kyuhyun to chat with his secretary for a moment.  “I need to let you go.  I have an appointment to get to.”

            “Sure.  I’ll see you on Monday, hyung.”

            “Bye, Kyu.”

            Kyuhyun hung up and stared at it in his phone.  How was he going to break the news to Ryeowook that it was finally time for him to head home?  They both knew that this day was coming, but they’d been pretending it didn’t exist for a long time. 

            Ryeowook was currently at work, but he was the early off for the evening.  They were planning to go out to dinner and then catch a late movie after Ryeowook got off of work.  Kyuhyun decided a couple other stops at the bakery and liquor store might also help him to break the news later and left the apartment early to run some errands before heading to the bar to retrieve his little bartending boyfriend.

            The bar was moderately busy with Ryeowook chatting and pouring drinks for his customers as Kyuhyun walked into the building.  If it were possible, he felt that Ryeowook looked even ier now that he was taken.  Perhaps it was the confidence that being in a relationship gave a person.  Or maybe it was the fact that they were having at least once or twice a day and his lover felt completely satiated for a change.  Whatever the reason, Ryeowook seemed to glow and it caught the attention of everyone, much to Kyuhyun’s discomfort.  Ryeowook was getting asked out more than ever. 

            Even as Kyuhyun was walking up to the bar, he overheard the guy Ryeowook was serving ask, “I hear you’re off soon.  Want to head out to the club with me?”

            “No thanks.  My boyfriend and I are going out,” he informed the young man.

            At that, Kyuhyun walked up to the bar, stood up on the foot rest, and leaned over the bar, smiling at his boyfriend.  Ryeowook walked over to him, clearly amused, and stopped in front of Kyuhyun.  “Well…hello!”

            “Hello, love,” Kyuhyun said, leaning forward and kissing Ryeowook on the lips.

            Ryeowook playfully shoved Kyuhyun’s chest and he jumped back down to the floor. 

            “You can’t behave until h