Hello, I know this story along with my other stories haven't been updated in years. But I have a lot going on. I also had a major writing block. I want to apologize to all you who waited so long. Your patience is appreciated, and I am hoping to update more often now. Hopefully twice a month to once a month.  Anywho enough about me, I’m sorry for any spelling or grammar mistakes I may have missed. I really hope you enjoy this chapter 

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Jinki couldn’t concentrate on his work. He tried to come up with a new plan for the board meeting, that was a fail. He tried working on his manuscript, but that didn’t work either. He even tried doing research on various topics, some beneficial for him, some out of plain out curiosity. But as hard as he tried he couldn’t function, his focus was on Kibum. It shouldn’t take that long to look for medicine. He thought as he stood up and walked towards his bedroom window. He slightly moved his bedroom curtain aside, with his finger. Giving himself enough space to peek outside and not get noticed.

He stood there, staring out the window silently; his gaze directed towards him. “Why hasn’t he come back inside?” He questioned as he stared at kibum; who leaned against the car, his phone in hand. He kept staring at him, wondering and worried that Kibum might be thinking about quitting. He stood there for a couple more minutes then sat back down on his desk chair. He tried working again, rereading the same paragraph from his manuscript; over and over again. But ultimately he failed once more. Not knowing what to do with himself he started to spin around in his chair. 

After a few spins he felt dizzy and stopped. Jinki leaned back in his chair and looked up at the ceiling waiting for everything to stop spinning. When he heard a soft knock on his bedroom door he immediately sat up, a smile spreading across his face when he saw Kibum. “Hi.”, was the only thing he thought to say. Jinki zoned out as he stared at him, not paying attention to a word he was saying. He was transfixed by the shy facial expression Kibum displayed, he found it amusing and cute. “Wow.”, he smiled, but his smile quickly faded when he saw the weird look Kibum just gave him. “What happened?”.

“You tell me.”, he let out a small laugh, “Are you okay?”.

“Yeah why?”.

“I never heard anyone say wow, over simple instructions to their medication.”, Kibum remained by the door.

A shy grin appeared on Jinki's face at that realization that he had actually said that word out loud. “Medicine fascinates me.”, he lied as he began to feel heat rush to his cheeks. “Did you know that Ibuprofen is a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug, also known as an NSAID?”. His face was flushed red, his whole body felt hot. “Coca- Cola was invented by a pharmacist.”, he continued to throw random facts at him. “The global pharmaceutical market is worth billions.”, Jinki stopped talking observing Kibum as he laughed. Knowing he was laughing at him, knowing he completely made the situation worse and that he further embarrassed himself. 

Kibum stopped laughing and a half smile decorated his face as he walked into the room, “You need to take this twice a day”, he handed the pill bottle over to him. “I will go get you some water.”.

“I’ll come with you.”, he got up from his chair.

“That isn’t necessary, I’ll bring it to you. You need to rest so you can get better.”.

“I already feel better.”, he grabbed him by the arm, and started to walk leading him out of the room “Let’s go.”. Halfway down the stairs Kibum got free from his hold and walked past him. Leaving Jinki standing there staring at his hand thinking he did something wrong, “Kibum.”.

“Yes.”, he answered as he stood at the foot of the stairs staring up at him.

“Nevermind.”, he decided not to tell him anything, not wanting to make things more awkward.He followed Kibum into the kitchen.

“Is there something you want to tell me?”, Kibum poured him a glass of water and walked over to him, “I don’t want any more misunderstandings.”, he handed it to him

He smiled as he took the glass of water, “Thank you and no more misunderstandings I promise.”, he placed his drink down on the counter as he opened up the pill bottle taking out a pill. “I will be more direct with you from now on.”.

“Thank you, I think” he showed a quizzical expression.
 

Jinki smiled rather amused by him. He then quickly took his pill and drank some water to help it pass down, “All done.”.

“I see.”, kibum closed the pill bottle and took the now empty glass to the dishwasher, “You should go rest now, and don’t forget to take your medicine with you.”.

“I’ll do that later,'' he pulled open a chair and sat down, as he watched Kibum. “What are you going to do?”.

“Clean.”, he answered as he started the dishwasher. He then grabbed a kitchen cloth to clean the countertops. As he started to clean, he looked up at Jinki, who simply smiled at him, “Soooo are you just going to sit there and watch me clean?”, he stared at him.

“You’re right. Where are my manners.”, Jinki got up, pushed the chair back in its place as he then walked over to Kibum, taking the cloth from his hands as he then began to clean.

“That’s not what I meant”, he tried taking the cloth from back.

He held on tight to the cloth not letting him have it, “I know that’s not what you meant, but I am more than capable of cleaning too.”.
 

“You’re sick you are supposed to rest.”, he attempted to grab the cloth again but jinki pulled it away, “You aren’t allowed to work which means you aren’t allowed to clean either.”.

“I took medicine, I feel better.”, he turned his back on Kibum, hiding the cloth in the fist of his hand.

“You literally took it a few minutes ago, I doubt it works that fast. Besides, cleaning is part of my job not yours.”.

Jinki turned to face him as he put the cloth down at the counter, “Your job is to assist me not be my maid.”.

“Light cleaning is part of my job description.”, he grabbed the cloth, “I didn’t see you having a problem with it when I did the laundry.”.

“Ummmm,'' he couldn’t think of anything to say. “You’re right.”

“Now that we got that out of the way. Please leave the kitchen and let me do my job.”, he started cleaning again.
 

“I want to finish the movie.” he looked at him.

“Then go.”, Kibum walked past him as he continued to clean.

“Don’t you want to finish it?”.

“I’ve seen it before.”, he put the washcloth down and went to go get the broom.

Jinki didn't want Kibum to get mad at him for being in his way so he walked out of the kitchen. He headed towards the living room and sat down on the couch. When he got there, he grabbed the remote, the tv and proceeded to put the movie on. He watched the movie for a couple minutes feeling completely lost. “Is it even the same movie? “, he talked to himself, rewinding it a bit. He ended up rewinding it almost towards the beginning and then proceeded to watch it. He hadn’t had any downtime in a while, he considered it to be unproductive. But he was determined to finish this movie. He wanted to have something to talk to kibum about and quite frankly he was actually enjoying it. 

The movie was almost ending when Key walked into the living room, “Need anything?”.

“Sit.”, he tapped on the couch instructing him to have a seat.

Key sat on the other side of the couch, keeping a good distance from him. He sat there quietly and started to watch the movie.

Onew looked at the distance between them, it seemed to him that kibum was clearly trying to avoid him. “Take me to the coffee shop after the movie is done.”.

“You shouldn’t be drinking coffee this late at night especially when you are sick. You need to go to bed.”.

“I am not a child. I will go to bed once I am tired.”, his full attention was on Kibum now. “Besides I don’t want coffee I want some tea.”.

“I could make you some tea now.”, he stood up and started walking towards the kitchen.

“Stop.”, he turned to his side to get a better view of him. “You make really good tea but I want to go to the coffee shop.”. He wanted to get him out of the house, so he could talk to him. He didn”t want Kibum to come up with an excuse to try to avoid him. If they stayed here he knew that that would happen. “Sit, we will leave after the movie.” he looked at him a bit puzzled and took a seat, making Jinki smile. He intended to fix this awkward vibe that grew between him and kibum now.

After the movie was over he turned off the tv and looked at him. “Let’s go.”.

“You should really take a sweater.”, he stood , “I will go get it for you.”.

“I can go”.

“ No, it's my job.”, KIbum said as he headed towards the stairs.

He was starting to hate the words it's my job. Kibum had said that more than once today. He wanted to have the same relationship he had with Minho but with Kibum. When he came down with his sweater he smiled at him and put it on. “Do you want me to drive?”, he laughed, causing him to laugh too.

He grabbed the car keys and headed out, “Your joke wasn’t funny at all. “, he pressed the button unlocking the car doors
 

He smiled and followed him out. “If it wasn’t funny why did you laugh?”.

“You have no proof “, he said as he got into the car , fastened his seat belt and started it.

He smiled getting in the car as well, buckling his seatbelt. The car ride was mostly silent, Jinki kept stealing glances at Kibum, unsure if he should talk to him now or in the coffee shop. He still felt a bit uneasy around him. He felt somewhat nervous every time he was around him but at the same time he liked him and he didn't want him to go. “You shouldn’t be afraid of Minho.”, he broke the silence deciding to talk to him now, so they could better enjoy their time later.

“Excuse me?”, he glanced at him then looked ahead at the road.

“I said you shouldn’t be afraid of Minho. He has no right to fire you.”, he looked out the car window feeling anxious. “You are not going anywhere. Unless you want to quit or something.”.

“I don’t want to quit, I’ll admit I’m a bit embarrassed with the misunderstandings we had. But I really need this job.”, he sighs, “I feel a bit more relieved now. Minho scared me a bit, I for sure thought he was going to fire me.”.

“He’s just being protective of me. I don’t want you to think he is scary or mean. “, he turned to look at him with a smile. “I really like you and I’m glad you aren’t thinking of quitting.”.

Kibum gave him a small smile without saying a word.

“I said I really like you.”, he repeated, unsure if he didn’t hear him the first time. “I like that you take care of me. I think we can be really good friends.”, he looked straight at him with a smile.

“It's part of my job to take care of you.”, he glanced at him with a tint of red visible on his cheeks.

“If you say the word job one more time I am going to lose it. Yeah I know you are my assistant and I know that what you do for me is part of your job. But that doesn’t mean we can’t be friends. Besides none of my other assistants took care of me like you do.”, he noticed Key looked a bit flushed. “Your face is really red. Are you okay?”.

“Quiet, don’t look at me.”.

He ignored his request and continued looking at him, “You are blushing?”.

“Seriously shut up”.
 

“You have nothing to feel embarrassed about. You take really good care of me, and I appreciate it.”, he continued, “You are an excellent assistant and we are going to be great friends.”. Kibum again didn’t say anything and it made Jinki wonder what he was thinking. “Minho said I needed more friends. So you’re my friend whether you like it or not.”.

“You’re unbelievable”, Kibum laughed as he parked the car.

“I love this coffee shop. Minho gets all my coffee from here.”, he unbuckled his seat belt and looked at him. “You better have tea with me.”.

“No, I am getting coffee.”, he undid his seatbelt and got out of the car.

He got out of the car as well, “You can’t do that to me.”.

“I am getting coffee.”, he pressed the button locking the car as he walked towards the coffee shop.

“You’re kidding right?”, he followed him , pouting a bit, “Kibum please tell me you’re kidding.”.

“I am getting coffee.”, he said in a teasing manner as he opened the door and held it for him.

“Don’t be mean.”, he whined as he walked in waiting for him to walk in. “You order please.”, he said letting Key take the lead , “And don’t get coffee or I’ll be very jealous.”, he whispered as he walked standing close behind him.

Kibum smiled, glancing at Jinki over his shoulder, as he then looked at the girl  “Two medium matcha green teas please.”.

“That’ll be 10.99 “, the girl informed him.

“Thank you.”, Jinki whispered into his ear, still standing behind him, and handing Kibum his card.

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“Hello”. By the grogginess in tone of Heechul’s voice Jonghyun could tell he had woken him up. “I’m sorry I didn't think you were sleeping.”.

“It’s fine what happened?”, he yawned

He paced back and forth in his bedroom. If it was this hard to tell Heechul what just happened , how in the world was he going to tell Kibum and Taemin.

“Jonghyun? You there?”.

“Yeah sorry.”, he now sat in the corner of his bed, on the verge of tears. “Talk to me about anything. Just talk please.”, his voice cracked. The guilt was eating him alive, he wanted a quick escape from this heartbreak.

“You don’t sound so good. You want me to come over?”.

“No.”, was all he managed to say as the tears came. He was feeling a mix of emotions,  His guilt and shame were unavoidable. He was disgusted with himself, full of misery.

“Jonghyun, what happened? Are you okay?”.

“I’m a horrible person.”, he said in between sobs. His chest felt tight, heartache consuming him.

“You’re not a horrible person. We are all human and we make mistakes. Everything has a solution. Now tell me what happened so maybe we can fix this.”.

“This isn’t fixable. I can’t take it back.”, the guilt was ever so present it was sufficating .He couldn’t get rid of it. He knew all of this was his fault he let it go on for too long.

“What did you do?”.

“I kissed Minho.”, he sniffled as he tried to stop himself from crying. He couldn’t keep all this in anymore. “I should have never texted him or met him in the bar. What’s wrong with me? Kibum and Taemin don’t deserve this.”.

“What are you going to do?”.

“I have to tell them. I am not going to be able to live with myself if I don’t.”.

“You know if you tell them you may lose them both. I’m not trying to stop you, I think they deserve to know. But I want to make you aware of what could happen.”.

“I know but I just can’t keep living this way.”, Jonghyun wiped the tears off his face as he sniffled. “Both Kibum and Taemin change my life for the better. I deeply care for them both,  but kissing Minho made me realize that I don’t love either of them anymore.”.

“Damn that must have been one hell of a kiss. I am not surprised though, Minho does leave the bar with a different person almost every night.”, He gasped , “Wait, don't tell me you slept with him.”.

“No, I didn’t sleep with him and I am not planning to ever see him again.”, he exhaled, feeling distressed at the thought of hurting both Kibum and Taemin. Break ups were never easy for both people involved, in his case three. It hurt him to think they both would hate him, but being in a loveless relationship would be worse.  “Kissing Minho made me feel alive again. I was nervous, excited, I felt butterflies in my stomach. As cliche as that sounds.”, he smiled a bit as his own admission. “I haven’t had a passionate kiss like that with Kibum or Taemin in a long time. I was so wrapped up in keeping them both happy. Trying to fix arguments between us, trying to make this open relationship stupidity work. That I failed to see that the reason everything wasn’t working out anymore was because the love wasn’t there anymore.”, The guilt came creeping back in; consuming him, “I’m trash.”.
 

“No you are not. You would be if you continued being with them without loving them. That would be a ed up thing to do.”, he cursed. “The three of you agreed to be in an open relationship. Taemin and Kibum both knew about each other. I’m sure all of you were aware that at one point someone was going to end up getting hurt. What I didn’t expect was that a kiss from the bar , would help you to finally make a decision.”.

“Heechul, he isn’t a don’t call him that.”.

“I knew you liked him, the way you described that kiss. There was no doubt in my mind.”.

“I don’t like him. I would have felt the same way if that kiss was with anyone else. It just sounds so ugly that you will call him a . He takes care of himself, and he doesn’t sleep with people that are in a relationship. He seems like a nice guy.”.

“Fair enough who am I to judge.”.

“Heechul I’ll see you tomorrow at work. Thanks for listening.”, he got out of bed and walked to his drawers to grab his pajamas.
 

“I’m your friend, you don’t need to thank me. Have a goodnight and try not to get a hard-on when you dream with Minho tonight.”, he .

“Shut it!”, he ended the call. He was thankful to have a friend like Heechul who always told him things straight out, without sugar coating anything. Even though he had a vulgar mouth when he did it, he was glad to have him. He knew he wouldn’t be able to get through this break up without his support.

After putting on his pajamas and brushing his teeth he turned off the lights and went to bed or at least tried to. He tossed and turned several times, he got out of bed a couple of times to see if Kibum had come home, but he hadn’t. He layed in bed and closed his eyes hoping sleep would come, but it didn’t. Knowing he will break up with Taemin tomorrow and Kibum this weekend was keeping him up.

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Kibum found himself sitting under the tree with Jinki in the park. After their tea Jinki got the sudden urge to go to the park. He had a feeling that Jinki didn’t want to be at home. He didn’t mind it though he found his voice rather soothing. Having spent the whole day with Jinki made him realize he wasn’t some rich stuck up ert; like he thought. He was kind, sometimes a bit shy , at times outgoing. Jinki was a naturally touchy person that yearned for human contact. That was made very clear to him, by the way they sat. Jinki had left no space in between them. Their thighs were touching. If he moved a bit, Jinki would move over and close the gap between them. He wasn’t surprised that he wanted to be close to those around him physically and emotionally in a way. This man was very sheltered, a bit socially awkward. He radiated innocence. “You don’t get out much do you?”.

“No.”, he let out a small laugh. “But what does that have to do with the constellations? “.

“Nothing just making an observation.”,Key looked up at the sky, “I don’t see any?”.

“I already explained that to you, if you were paying attention you would have known.”, he looked at him with a small smile on his face. Kibum really liked his smile, it had a warm feeling to it. “So you've been observing me? What’s your conclusion?”.

“That you are very smart.”, he looked at him , “I would have said you were close to being a genius if we weren’t here looking up at the sky. Talking about constellations we can’t see.”.

“Oh trust me they are there. I explained to you how to identify them , but you were too busy analyzing me.” he looked up at the sky. “We aren’t here for the constellations though. I came to do a bit of observing on my own.”.

“Observing who or what?”, he was a bit surprised by this revelation.
 

“People, I came to observe people.”, he confessed, “For my book. When I am stuck or have writer's block. I find that going out for a nice walk or sitting in a park helps get me a bit inspired. Look around you. Tell me what do you see?”.

Kibum looked at him, “A guy that never stops working even when he is out or is sick.”.

He laughed, “Fair enough but seriously look around, tell me what you see.”.

He does as instructed. Not many people were out since it was close to midnight. “Guy walking his dog. A couple fighting, another couple kissing. How can you get inspiration out of that?”.

“Easy,because it’s raw , it’s real. It’s love. Take the guy walking his dog for example. If you pay close attention, you can tell he is exhausted. He keeps yawning, but he is still out here walking his dog because he knows the dog needs it. If he didn’t love his dog he wouldn’t be out here, doing it. Look at the couple that was kissing, you can tell they just started dating. She is so nervous , she can’t even look him straight in the eyes. See how she keeps playing with the hem of her sweater. How he is looking at her, their hearts are fluttering with new love. And as for the couple who are arguing, that’s all part of love too. Love has a nice side and ugly side.”, he turns to look at Kibum, “Love has the power to change a person. Sometimes for the better , sometimes not so much. I think it's the most powerful force on earth.”.

Kibum liked how Jinki viewed the world, how he noticed the little details. “So I am assuming you are writing a romance novel.”.

“Yeah my second one.”.

“I understand, but how does this tie to the constellations?”.

“That’s the idea I got, a couple on their first date star gazing. I was talking about the constellations to see how I can make the situation romantic. I want to make my readers' hearts flutter.”, he confessed, “I didn’t want to do the typical cliche thing. You know where the two protagonists are stargazing or watching fireworks and one of them goes, it's beautiful. Then the other one says yeah it is while he stares at her. I wanted a better dialogue.”.

“So you were using me.”.

“It's called method writing.”, he looks at him, “Kibum can you do some method acting for me? You know so I can see how it feels?”.

“See how what feels?”He knew what he was asking but he just wanted to make sure.

“This is the first time I tried method writing.”, he looks down, by the hue of red in Jinki’s cheek he could tell he was nervous or embarrassed. “Kibum I want my writing to be more authentic. Can you act like I am your boyfriend. It will just be pretend, it will only be for a short while.”.

“Fine only because I am your assistant and I am supposed to help you.”, he gave him a small smile, “Tell me what do you want me to do?”.

“Well I don’t have much thought up. So for now just lay your head on my lap. Please.”.

“Okay.”, he does what he is told.

Jinki looks down at him and smiles, “What would you do if you were with your boyfriend?”.

“I’m not doing that with you.”.

“ All right that’s understandable.”, he looks up at the sky. “I guess I could see how I can make the constellation thing work.”.
 

Kibum watched Jinki’s protruding Adam's apple move up and down as he talked. He liked the way it looked and he found it quite y. He wasn’t listening to a thing Jinki was saying he was too busy studying the movement of his Adam's apple. It was so prominent, so masculine. He wondered why he hadn’t noticed it before, probably because he never had this view of him. He’d be lying to himself if he said he didn’t find Jinki attractive. 

Jinki starts running his hands through kibum’s hair. Completely unaware of the effect that action started to have on Kibum. Key didn’t dare to move, he remained frozen under his gaze. Heat ran up his neck as he bit his bottom lip. The way Jinki was staring at him, made him think he wanted to kiss him. This method writing, and acting thing was becoming too serious. He was tempted to kiss him as well. I mean he could if he wanted to, he was in an open relationship after all. But Jinki was his boss, there had to be some form of professionalism.

“You’re blushing again.”, he said in a low tone. “I guess you do find constellation talk romantic.”.

This man was clueless; he thought, “Jinki, it's past midnight. You should go home and rest.”, he sat up. 

“Okay.”, Jinki stood up brushing the grass of his pants. “Are you spending the night? I mean it's late.”.

“No, I need to get home to my boyfriend. I’ll just drop you off.”, he stood up dusting the grass off of him.

“Oh I messed up your hair. Let me fix it.”.

“No , it's fine. Let’s just go.”, he said walking towards the car.

“Wait for me.”, Jinki ran after him.

Damn it this man was adorable, he thought. How can he go from y and masculine to this. He looked over at Jinki. Who displayed that cute contagious friendly sunshine smile the Kibum was starting to get fond of.

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Minho sat in the living room waiting for Jinki to return and Jonghyun to answer his text. The tv was mindless background noise to him. He kept on grabbing his phone to see if Jinki had texted him. He found it odd that he was out so late at night. He was worried about his friend, he didn’t want him to get hurt. But he was starting to think that was unavoidable now. He had already started to see a change in Jinki. He started to watch movies which he never had an interest in before, and now he was out this late. He knew the source of those changes was Kibum. He somehow managed to wake something up in the introverted writer.

He saw the car’s headlights through the window, which meant Onew was home. He wondered if his friend was still mad at him. He hoped not especially since he was coming from a place of concern.

“Glad to see you listened to me and came back home.”, Onew said as he locked the front door.

“I didn’t want you mad at me, but I guess it’s a little too late for that.”, he pouted a bit hoping he would go easy on him. Jinki rarely got mad but when he did, Minho didn’t like it.

“I’m not mad, just disappointed.”, he walked over to the couch where Minho was seated and sat beside him.

“Sorry, I know I said I wasn’t going to get involved but I was looking out for you. I didn’t want you to get hurt.”.

“I don’t like Kibum.”, he looked down, “We are just friends.”.

Minho didn’t believe that one bit, he was sure Jinki had a crush or some sort of attraction towards Kibum. “I have nothing against Kibum. He is a very helpful person and well I don’t know him but.”.

“Minho.”, Jinki looks at him surprised, “What do you mean by you don’t know him much?. You hired him, interviewed him for this position.”.

“Actually, I didn’t interview him. I met him while getting you your coffee.”, he confessed, “I only had a few conversations with him. You probably know him better than I do.”, he looks around, “Talking about Kibum where is he? It’s Laundry day.”.

“He already did it. He said he had to go home to his boyfriend.”.

Minho noticed the distaste in Jinki’s voice when he said that. The way that his soft facial features disappeared, he looked tense with anger or jealousy. “I see.”He placed his hand in Jinki’s lap in hopes that it will somehow make him feel better. He knew it was too late for his friend to not end up hurt. He had already formed some sort of attachment to kibum. He didn’t know whether his naive friend had realized it yet or he just wasn’t ready to admit it to him and himself. But Minho hoped that his small gesture would let Jinki know that he will always be there for him.

Jinki smiled up at Minho as he reached over and gave him a hug, “Let's never fight again okay?”.

Minho hugged him back, “That wasn’t even a fight.”, he laughed a bit as he let go of him. “I do promise you though that I will not discipline Kibum. Everything that has to do with Kibum you will handle on your own.”.

“Thank you.”,he beamed with happiness, “But did you really hire him without an interview?”.

“Yeah, the candidates I had interviewed for the position. Didn’t seem trustworthy to me, I had an odd feeling about them. But Kibum I trusted him right away. He returned my wallet to me, with everything in it. I had left it in the coffee , and he ran out to give it to me. Not many people would have done that.”.

“Wow he’s amazing. It's like fate brought him to us.”.

“It isn’t that amazing he did what every decent human being should do.”, this definitely confirmed it to him, Jinki was developing feelings. “Fate or not. Let me do one more thing when it comes to Kibum. Let me get him a background check. He could do it this weekend , you know so we could be on the safe side.”.

“Okay.”, he nodded, “If we get him to do the background check can we go with him.”.

“No he doesn’t need us there. He could go on his own. I just need to get the paperwork for him.”, he ruffled his hair, “After this he’s all yours, I won’t get involved is a promise.”.

“Don’t say it like that!”, he looked flushed as he pushed Minho slightly.

It was the first time he had ever seen his friend like that and he wished he could be happy for him. But this was doomed from the start, Kibum had a boyfriend and Jinki was set to get married by the end of the upcoming year. Only if Kibum didn’t have a boyfriend, he thought. Maybe then it would be enough to make Jinki finally stand up for himself.To make him untie those invisible shackles his family had on him so he could truly be free. Onew always told him love was the strongest force in the world. Too bad that the love that could save Jinki from his prison was one-sided.
 

“So tell me how did your date go?”, he immediately changed the subject.

“Honestly I don’t know. At first I thought it went great but now I am kinda having my doubts.”.

“What happened?”.

“For starters he arrived very late. I waited for him for a very long time. He must have thought I was desperate.”.
 

“I don’t think so, I think it showed you are genuinely interested.”.
 

“Maybe I don’t know.”, Minho shrugged, “We talked for a little bit. He had no interest in sleeping with me but we did share a kiss. Now he won’t answer my text.”.

“I think he likes you and that’s why he kissed you.”.

“Then why doesn’t he answer my text?”.

“Because he wants an actual relationship with you and not just a one night stand. Which he probably thinks is all you want from him.”.

“I don’t think he wants a relationship with me, Trust me.”.

“Why are you so sure?”, he pinched Minho’s cheek. “You are attractive, kind, the whole package.”.

“His status is a bit complicated at the moment.” He gently pushed his hand away, not knowing if Jinki understood him. “I don’t think I will be seeing him again. Which is kinda a shame, because he was an amazing kisser.”.
 

“Text him again and invite him over for dinner on Monday. I will tell Kibum to cook up an amazing dinner for the four of us.”.
 

“That sounds like a double date to me.”, he  .

“It’s not. Kibum is an amazing cook. How can I tell him to make dinner and not invite him to eat. That’s barbaric.”, he got up from the couch and stretched, “It’s late I need to take my medicine and go to bed. Please text him again, invite him to dinner.”.

“Okay.”, he got up from the couch. “I will invite him to dinner if he ever replies to my message.”.

“Thank you.”, Onew smiled at him as he walked to the kitchen.

“Do you want me to give you your medicine? You know to satisfy your feeding kink.”, he , following him into the kitchen.

“Shut up!”, he started getting red.

Minho was very amused by this, he had never seen Jinki get so flustered before. “You wouldn’t be satisfied if I gave it to you. You would probably want Kibum to do it.”.

“I’m not listening to you.”, he took his water and medicine and headed upstairs, “Good night.”.

“Night”, Minho laughed at Jinki's cute reaction. He grabbed a water bottle for himself and headed upstairs. Once he was in his bedroom, he checked his phone one more time hoping he somehow missed the vibration and Jonghyun had texted him back. When he saw he hadn’t received anything, he just tossed his phone on to his bed. Then walked to the bathroom so he could get ready for a good night rest. 

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Taemin had a terrible morning. Jonghyun had called him this morning saying they had to meet for lunch today. Taemin knew what was coming. By the tone in Jonghyun's voice and the classic, we need to talk line. He was positive Jonghyun was going to break up with him. Taemin wasn’t ready for that, heck he didn’t want that. Jonghyun was the best thing in his life right now. He was his light in this horrible lonely entrapment he created for himself. The entrapment he couldn’t escape because his family needed the money. As his lunch break approached he decided to text Jonghyun. Telling him he couldn’t meet him for lunch today , because he had a meeting. Of course it was a lie he just wasn’t ready to have this end. He would rather share him with Kibum than not him at all.

He didn’t know what to do, he felt like crying. He couldn’t concentrate on his work, he couldn’t eat. But he decided to stay in his office and try to push through it. When his work day ended he got in his car and started to drive home. He knew if his relationship with Jonghyun ended he would truly be alone. No one to look after him, no one to spend his days off with.

When he got home he parked his car and walked over to the elevator . He was so wrapped up to noticed Jongin was in the elevator with him. When he spoke to him, he got startled.

“Sorry , I didn’t mean to startle you.”, Kai apologized.

“It’s fine.”, he forced a smile.

“As I was saying I am actually glad I found you. I got some of your favorite wine. You know the one you said you liked so much, when Kyungsoo had that Christmas party.”, he looked down, Taemin could tell he was nervous, “I know you said no already but I really want to celebrate your promotion. I cooked us a very nice dinner.”.

Taemin could feel his phone vibrate in his pocket, he took it out and opened the text message from Jonghyun. He was asking if they could meet again. “I would love to have dinner with you.”, he answered Jongin, as he texted Jonghyun. Telling him they wouldn’t be able to meet because he was having dinner at Kai’s. He hoped that it would make Jonghyun somewhat jealous, and hoped that it would make him realize that he didn’t want to lose Taemin. But Jonghyun quickly replied with Okay, have fun. That was not the response Taemin was expecting, he was devastated .

“Thank you, you won’t regret it. “, kai smiled walking out of the elevator when it opened.

“I’m going to leave my stuff at home. I’ll be over in a couple minutes.”, he walked out of the elevator and headed home. When he got home he dropped his belongings on the floor. Not in the mood to pick them up. He walked to his bedroom to grab something else to wear. He didn’t want to wear his work suit to dinner. As he changed out of his work clothes, he started to have doubts about having dinner with Kai. He really wasn’t in the mood for conversation. He just wanted to get drunk and forget.

So after he got dressed he texted kai telling him he couldn’t make it to dinner that something came up. He then quickly exited his home and walked to the elevator, before Kai went looking for him. He was in a terrible mood and he knew he wouldn’t be good company to his cheerful neighbor. 

When he got to his car he saw that Kai had already replied to him. He thanked him for the invitation again , and promised to reschedule dinner soon. He looked for a bar that will still be open this late at night. When he found one he put the address in the GPS and took off. 

He had never been to a Bar before. He always went to those bars that were inside family restaurants. So when he entered he was a bit jumpy. He walked to where the bartender was and took a seat in one of the stools.

“What are you having?”, the bartender asked.

“A shot of Bourbon please”, he ordered, wanting to start out small. Seconds later the bartender comes back placing a drink in front of him and leaving. Taemin got it and downed the shot, a bit surprised.

“Not what you were expecting?”, a very handsome man asked him, “You drank my drink you know?”, he laughed.

Taemin got red with embarrassment , “I’m so sorry.”.

The bartender came back with taemin’s drink, “Here you go. That will be 11 dollars.”.

Taemin reached for his card.

“It’s okay.”, the handsome stranger placed his hand on taemin’s hand, “Charge it to my card. “, he told the bartender.

The bartender nodded and left.

“Thank you, and I am so sorry about your drink. You can have mine.”, Taemin offered, “I did dranked yours after all.”.
 

The attractive stranger smiled at him and down the shot, “No wonder you didn’t like my drink. You are more of a bourbon man I see.”.

“Wasn’t your drink a bourbon too just a bit stronger?”, Taemin asked genuinely curious.

“No, my drink was whisky. Not as smooth as a bourbon. Bourbon is a type of whisky, but not all whisky is bourbon.”.

“I didn’t understand you at all.”, he laughed a bit, “I don’t usually drink these types of drinks. I am more of a wine person. My name’s Taemin , what’s yours?”.

“Minho”, he smiled at him, scooting his stool closer to Taemin’s, “So tell me Taemin, if you're a wine person. What brings you to this bar?”.
 

“I had a terrible day today and I wanted to forget.”.

“Been there.”, he leaned over closer to Taemin, “Sorry to tell you but a drink may not help you get over a bad day. Sometimes it makes it worse.”.
 

Taemin could feel the heat crawling up his body. Minho smelled really good and it was very clear to him that he was flirting with him. “You think you can help me get over my bad day?”. He flirted back, Minho was attractive and well he was in an open relationship for now, so it was allowed.

“I’ll gladly help you.”, he got up from the stool. Waving at the bartender so he could give him his card. “If you want to go somewhere a bit more private.”.

Taemin knew exactly what that meant, he was a bit hesitant when Jonghyun popped into his mind.

Minho got his card from the bartender and put it away, “If this isn’t your thing I completely get it. I am not forcing you to come with me.”.

“It's not that, I want to”.

“Boyfriend trouble?”, he asked as he sat down.

“Not exactly, I am in an open relationship. So that isn’t the problem. “, Taemin got up and grabbed Minho by the hand, “Lets go.”.

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So that does it for this Chapter. I really appreciate all of you for taking the time to read it. I want to again apologize for taking too long to update. And thanks again for those of you who waited patiently for this. I feel horrible that I wasn’t able to update sooner. Please comment or like it so I can know you want me to continue this. Plus I enjoy reading all your comments. Thanks again and for those interested please check out my other stories. I will be updating them soon. The Curse should be my next updated story..Thanks again