Zhoumi stared earnestly at the musician playing the violin, willing him to look at him just once. But as was Henry’s customary habit, he avoided and emotionally closed off at the slightest hint of a trouble. Henry took refuge behind the non stop rehearsals for the charity event which was convenient for Henry but not for Zhoumi. It was almost the repeat of all those years ago when Henry avoided him. But this time, instead of going the long winded way, he was going to take matters in his own hands and rattle Henry some if it was necessary. Drastic measurements are needed for desperate times. Although Henry was an adult, Zhoumi realized he was still as willful as a kid when it involved them and Zhoumi who have been gentle always, needed to take the upper hand and be firm. He understood the reason for Henry’s hurt and anger, but instead of wasting time and dwelling on it, he was in the opinion that they should use this time to forge their relationship stronger. And face whatever issues was in store for them.

It took a few seconds before the crowd came back to their senses from the dream like state they were in after listening to Henry’s last piece of music. Surrounded by ear splitting applause, Henry received them gratefully, and tried his best to avoid a certain person’s intense eyes in the front row.

Bringing his bouquet along, he joined the after-performance party and mingled with the rich and the famous due to Kyuhyun’s uncompromising insistence. That psycho of a manager was watching him with eagle eyes, just in case he was tempted to escape from all those tuxedo loving dudes and glittering ahjumma’s. Pasting a fake social smile, Henry made small talk, reminding him self, it was for a good cause, and, it also boosted his publicity well.

“There is one more person you need to meet.” Kyuhyun pushed him non too gently in front until Henry stumbled and was thankfully held by the guest. Henry was about to frown at Kyuhyun before he realized the guest was non other than Sungmin.

“Sungmin??” After tolerating all those stuck up strangers, meeting Sungmin was life saving.

“Yes, the one and only.” He said with a wide smile. He remained looking the same. It’s as if Sungmin was unaffected by the flow of time. Henry surreptitiously ignored Zhoumi’s presence next to Sungmin as he had been diligently doing for the past few days.

“It has been ages! How is it that you are here?” Henry bear hugged Sungmin, feeling buoyant with the joy of meeting a long time close friend.

“A very good friend gave me a ticket. You have transformed, Henry.” Sungmin said in awe, affectionately pinching Henry’s cheeks.

“Not a good friend. His lover generously gave him the ticket.” Kyuhyun corrected, pushing away Sungmin’s hands from Henry with as much subtlety he could master.

“A lover? Who?” Henry asked, still slow to pick up their nuances.

“He is mine.” Kyuhyun whispered proudly before taking his place next to Sungmin. Zhoumi took the opportunity to place himself beside Henry.

Henry silently stared at the both of them, quite sure Kyuhyun was playing a prank on him. But they looked dead serious and Sungmin didn’t deny. Henry never expected Sungmin of all people to be a gay. Sungmin smiled shyly and looked down, embarrassed. Feeling inexorably rude for judging his own friend, Henry gripped Sungmin’s hands in assurance. Sungmin released a deep breath of relief while Kyuhyun just rolled his eyes disinterestedly.

“I told you it doesn’t matter what he thinks.” Kyuhyun crossed his arms lazily before untangling them once again to pat Henry’s hand’s away from Sungmin.

“You can see, but no touching.” Kyuhyun smiled calmly, feeling pretty pleased with him self.

“Are you dating this jealous lunatic, Sungmin? Couldn’t you get a better man?”

“Excuse us for a while.” Zhoumi, who have been forced to be in the back ground for quite some time now had to push his way through Henry’s indifference and make his presence real obvious in order to gain Henry’s attention. He pulled Henry away, bringing him along in a firm grip at the wrist. Henry couldn’t make a sound, afraid he will catch the guest’s attention to themselves.

They reached to the end of a halfway while Henry hissed furiously. Making sure nobody was around, Zhoumi finally voiced out his piece of opinion which he miraculously held for so long.

“How long were you planning to treat me as if I’m invisible?”

“You are over thinking it. I already told you I am not interested in being nice or continuing anything with you, so-…so I prefer not talking or having unnecessary communication with you.” Henry kept looking at his surroundings restlessly, keeping his voice low.

“Hmmm….I thought about it and I don’t agree with it. We have wasted 6 years already and I don’t see a reason to waste more. Open your mind, Henry.” Zhoumi gripped Henry’s shoulders, making him stay in place.

“My mind is open, Zhoumi. It’s just that you are no longer the center of my universe. Other things have taken over in my mind. Now, let me go. Let’s not make a scene.” Henry was afraid that any guest could decide to take a stroll near where they are. Not to mention, Zhoumi was behaving beyond irrational.

“I said I’ll leave your apartment if you brought this subject up again, Zhoumi. I am not going to say it again.” Henry said belligerently, hating the fact that he was indeed being pushed by Zhoumi into the corner. He chanted his vow to never let his defenses down again and again. He was not going to voluntarily let his heart get broken again.

“You are just like Zhoury, Henry. Being willful just because you are too afraid.”

“And whose fault do you think I am the way I am?” Henry shot back, Zhoumi’s attack well aimed, creating a crack on his frozen emotions. He couldn’t control the fury in his voice.

“It’s me and I know sorry alone would not make it up for it. Which why I am asking you to give me a chance since it’s obvious we both have feelings for each other. You can say no as much as you want, but we both know the truth. But all you do is avoid me once again. How long are you going to run? Will you love me less because of your so called defenses? Can you even stop loving me? Or is your love so superficial that you can tune it off and whenever you want to?” Zhoumi used all the weapons he had in disposal to break Henry. Only then would Henry even consider what he is saying. Until the shields are in place, Zhoumi could stand up side down and Henry would never budge from his safe zone.

Unable to control his anger, Henry’s hand moved out on his own volition. Before his palm reached Zhoumi’s cheeks, Zhoumi managed to block it by grasping his wrist.

“Is violence your only solution?” He asked unperturbed.

“How d-dare..How dare you speak like that…When it was me who loved you all this years ago?” Hot tears unwillingly poured down. Henry bit his lips to stop them. He could taste the blood in his lips.

“You never loved me. Not until the last minute. And even then, not enough. So-“ He tried to shake off Zhoumi’s grip. “So, don’t you say anything about my love being superficial!”

‘Then why would you not give the love a second chance?” Zhoumi demanded, still composed unlike the tear stricken Henry.

“Why must I?”

“And Henry, I may have not loved you first, but in this six years, I loved you everyday with everything I am. My love for you is no lesser than yours to me. I regret for not realizing it sooner, but at the same time I can’t regret much because I have Zhoury out of it.”

Henry closed his eyes because he himself would never allow Zhoumi to regret having Zhoury. Whether he wanted it or not, it seems his heart already chose to believe Zhoumi. He was just going to let it be that way for now. He was too tired too argue with his own foolishness.

“Are you ready to listen to me now? I mean really listen?” Zhoumi asked gently, kissing Henry’s tears away. Henry remained quiet. Zhoumi laughed.

‘You are really a stubborn person. But I’m more stubborn than you, so we are fine.”  Zhoumi wiped Henry’s face with his handkerchief and gave Henry time to cool him self. They both made their leave from the crowd as if nothing happened. Henry was silent all the time until they reached home. Zhoury’s babysitter informed them that he was fast asleep. Henry quickly when to the safety of his room and changed. Sleep was long gone but he lay down on the bed anyway,

The door which, as Henry remembered locking opened.

“I locked the door!” Henry said blindly in the dark.

“Master key.” Zhoumy explained. Henry gaped, couldn’t believe Zhoumi would actually behave this way.

“I have decided that instead of letting you set the rules, I am going to. Mine is more productive anyways.” Zhoumi lay next to Henry. Henry abruptly stiffened.

“What do you think you are doing?” Why were father and son so alike?

“I think that instead of giving you space and allowing you to think screwed up thoughts, it’s much better to be near you until you learn to accept that we shouldn’t waste time and that we do indeed have a good relationship in the making.” Zhoumi yawned.

“You have a child in this house. Have you thought about how he will feel his father is sleeping next to another guy and not a woman?” Henry tried to sit, but Zhoumi hugged his waist tight. He never knew Zhoumi was the type to have close body contact when he slept.

“He knows about Kyuhyun and Sungmin. My son isn’t prejudiced. Go to sleep, Henry.”

“Why are you behaving this way, Zhoumi? This is so unlike you.” Henry was in a state of frenzied excitement. Why, he couldn’t be sure. He didn’t want to think about it more likely.

“Actually, this happens to be very me, Henry. I had 6 years to think about it. This apparently is my personality that only you can bring out. Because our feelings of mutual love.”

Henry’s ears heated up with the words of mutual love. Who says that now days?

“Go to sleep, Zhoumi.” Henry said in an effort to prevent more cheesy words. Sleeping together just this one day shouldn’t be a problem. He would be firm about it tomorrow.  Henry was still awake a few hours later as he was too conscious of Zhoumi’s presence next to him, not to mention his still tight hold on his waist. He tried to move Zhoumi’s hands away but he only tightened.

He was such a weakling for softening up this fast. But at least, Zhoumi didn’t know how Henry really felt now. Henry was still hoping that he will be able to regain back his senses in the morning light. With such uplifting thoughts, Henry too went to sleep.

“Rise and shine, Henry.” Henry heard his name being called out. Mentally, he knew he was free for another week. Who was waking him up then? And why? His eyes remained close. He willed the other person to go away. And opened his eyes wide open when Zhoumi planted a wet kiss on his lips.

“If I knew you wanted my kiss, I wouldn’t have wasted my time calling you out.” In the morning light, Zhoumi looked too vibrant for anybody’s good. Henry frowned and turned the other way, intending to continue to sleep. He would have happily continued to do so if it wasn’t for Zhoumi’s sudden really tight cuddling. That managed to get Henry out of the bed faster than anything.

“Wh-what the!” Henry cried out in frustration. Couldn’t he even get a decent sleep here?

“Can you please, please leave the room. If you haven’t noticed, I am trying to sleep.” He tried to sleep standing.

“Well, sleeping late does not work in my agenda to seal our relationship. I have to go to work and I can’t meet you until dinner. So, it’s important we have breakfast as a family.” Zhoumi stretched himself happily, finding sleep to be the most amazing thing when he slept next to Henry.

Breakfast..Family..What? Henry’s sleepy brain had a tough time interpreting those words. And then he was wide awake.

“I told you..” He was interrupted by Zhoumi’s too cheerful smile.

‘I know what you told me. Too bad, I’m not going to listen to it. Go and wash up. I’ll have to get Zhoury ready for school and make breakfast.”

After living in the US, instead of having the heavy meals for breakfast, he preferred coffee and toast. Henry was sipping at his coffee, depressed.Good bye sleep. Zhoury’s state was no better than Henry’s. His head almost hit the plate if it was not for Henry’s quick reflex.

‘Yah! Wake up already!” Henry grumpily told Zhoury. It managed to open Zhoury’s one eye. Henry involuntarily smiled. His eyes hurt though when he saw Zhoumi got dressed and looked sinfully handsome early in the morning it self. His looks should be made illegal, that’s for sure.

Zhoumi passed a key to Henry. He just raised his eye brows.

“It’s my car key. Please fetch Zhoury after school today. I told my mum he will be spending most of this week with you, here.”

Henry wanted to jump off from somewhere really high. “Are you crazy? Do you think I have no other activities than babysitting Zhoury?”

“I confirmed it with Kyuhyun already. He said he will let me know if you have other schedules.” Zhoumi pulled Zhoury’s chair back, and carried him.

“How about my social life and..- and I may have other things I want to do.” Henry didn’t have a social life but there was no reason for Zhoumi to know.

“Don’t you like me?” Zhoury asked, his eyes unblinking. Henry narrowed his, sure that this was a trick.

“Don’t do the puppy eyes. No….” Damn! He was losing it. Father and son were both creating havoc in his life and they didn’t care one bit about the effects of it

“Papa said we are going to be a family from now on wards. Don’t you want to be a family with us?” Zhoury smiled sweetly. Henry then knew this was how some people fell into trap despite knowing better.

‘No, but I’ll take care of you just for today. Got it? Only today!” Henry made sure his voice was unwavering. He didn’t want them to get the wrong idea.

“Yes, of course.” Zhoumi’s peaceful smile was deceiving but Henry didn’t want to argue in the morning it self. He let it pass. Just for now. Only for today.

So sorry for taking the longest time to update! After exams, my body needed to recharge and it took its time before going into my writer's mode. Thank you for all those who voted during the poll and also for waiting patiently for the next chapter. Mianhe again! The results for the poll ended up with Kyumin. For KyuWook lovers, i'm really sorry. I think the story will be complete in the next chappie. ^^