C H A P T E R 1 6: Lee Jinki.

“Ki—” Kibum froze for a simple millisecond when he heard Jonghyun’s voice through the door opening. His hold around the other guy loosened as he turned towards the door with a little smile playing around his lips. “—Jonghyun?”

“Um, Kibum, I think he left again,” the other muttered – there was an unsecure tone in his voice as if he wasn’t sure it was a good or a bad thing. “That might have been the boy was about to tell me about just now?” the voice turned assumed all of a sudden.  

Jonghyun left just like that? “Y—Yes, but I don’t understand why he just left like this, I really wanted you to meet him.”

“Don’t worry; I will still be staying in the city for a little week, there will be plenty of time for me to meet him. Now, what do you think about we go downstairs and find something to eat? Then you can tell me about the boy in the meantime—Uh, do you think they have chicken?” Kibum chuckled by his stupid remark – He would always be joking about his likings towards chicken when Kibum would feel troubled by something.

Lee Jinki –He lived in Daegu with his soon-to-be wife – who was pregnant in her last month – and he was Kibum’s only cousin as well as relative. He had taken some day off from his busy program to visit Kibum, for the second time since he had woken up after the accidents (the first time was the day after he had woken up – the nurses had contacted him, as the only relative, and he had hurried to Seoul minutes later).

*

Downstairs and with a supply of chicken sandwiches the two cousins found a place to sit. Jinki eagerly started to munch one of his many sandwiches, while Kibum sat and rested his head in his hand as he listened to the other’s chewing and waited for him to start speaking. “So this boy – Jonghyun was his name right? – he had a really interesting look at his face.”

Kibum frowned confused. “What do you mean with interesting?”

Interesting – was that a good or a bad thing? He had often caught himself – when he was lying in his bed and trying to sleep – in wondering how Jonghyun maybe would look like. He knew – from all the times they had been hugging each other and holding hands – that he was fit and had a delightful soft skin, but nothing more than that did he knew.

“I don’t know how to explain it,” – a break pasted and Kibum heard the elder take another bite of his sandwich – “but he looked kind of disappointed.”  

“Disappointed?” Kibum repeated questioning.

“Yeah, I think he likes—” Kibum cut him off before he got to finish the sentence, already knowing what he was about to say. “—He doesn’t.”

“Huh? How do you know?”

“Be—because he told me, when he figured out that I liked him,” Kibum admitted. “He isn’t interested in boys; he just wanted to stay friends.”

“Hm, I don’t know Kibum,” Jinki stated, sounding somewhat unconvinced by his words.

Kibum shrugged it off. If his cousin didn’t believe him, he just doesn’t believe him. “H—Hyung, I was just thinking, how does he looks like? Is—is he good-looking?” Kibum asked embarrassed – he just had to know – and turned his head away to hide the blush, which faintly creep onto his face.

He heard a quiet half strangled laugh. “Hm, I don’t know if I should tell you, maybe you would get disappointed?”  

“W—What? Why would I be disappointed? Are you kidding me? Is it that bad?” Kibum really had no idea if the older was kidding him or if he was being seriously. It was first when he heard another laugh leave his cousin mouth that he realized that of course he was kidding him—he always was.

“Of course it isn’t bad. I just don’t think that I am the right person to ask how he looks like, I barely got a proper look at him,” Jinki admitted, and after another bite he then added, with a thoughtfully voice: “Maybe you should just ask him yourself?”

“H—Huh? Ask him… myself?”

A silence went.

“…I am nodding by the way, if you didn’t notice.”

“…Ha-ha,” Kibum sarcastically stated. “You are an idiot.”

* * *

In the meanwhile Jonghyun had returned to his room, looking like a hurt puppy as he right away throw himself onto his bed, in a sulking manner.

He felt Taemin sending him a confused intense look, probably considering if he should say something or not – and the decision was made: “That was fast; it barely felt like you were gone in a minute.”  

“…Because I wasn’t even gone for a minute, Taeminnie,” Jonghyun mumbled with his head buried in his pillow. “He had an apparently long-awaited visitor and I didn’t felt like disturbing them.”

“Oh…”

“Yeah oh,” Jonghyun repeated the younger’s word from earlier.

“…”

“…”

“…So, about Minho?”