Kibum bounded down the corridor leading to Onew’s room once the elevator door opened. He had returned to the dorm a few hours earlier than he originally planned in order to execute a small welcome-back surprise for his best friend.

Once he was standing in front of the door to Onew's room, he looked around, making sure that no one would catch him in the middle of the suspicious act before getting to work. From his paper bag, he pulled out his “props” as well as a pair of scissors and some tape.

Carefully, he cut small strips of tape and stuck their ends together, forming a loop. He attached them to the back of a small card that read Welcome back, Jinki! ^^, and stuck it to the door, securing it in place by pressing on it firmly with his palm. He chuckled at how cute it looked against the plain door, his white teeth biting on his lower lip and eyes twinkling with mischief.

He hung the paper bag that contained the small bottle of folded stars on the doorknob.

Kibum had decided to write Jinki instead of Onew on the card in an attempt to conceal his identity. But he had drawn a tiny key on the bottom of the glass bottle in black permanent marker that was barely noticeable if you didn’t know what you were looking for. Finally, Kibum added a finishing touch to his work.  He stuck a bunny sticker that was about the size of a thumbnail directly onto Onew’s door.

It was going to take some effort to remove that.

“Done!” Kibum stepped back to admire his masterpiece and gave a self-satisfied nod at the good job done. He quickly packed up and headed back down to his room. Onew would be back in the afternoon and they had arranged to meet for a coffee right after.

Kibum wished he could be there to see the look on Onew’s face when he saw the surprise waiting for him at his door.

***

1 New Message: Key (14-08-10 11.48am) 
Are you back yet? ‘ㅂ’

Jinki tugged on his heavy luggage into the elevator, pressing the button ‘12’ before he could reach for his phone to read the message. He smiled when he saw that it was Key. 6 weeks had passed since he last saw him and they were going to meet up in just a little while. He put his phone back into his pocket when the elevator door slid open again.

As he walked down the corridor and approached his room, he felt like something was off about it. It didn’t look the way he’d left it all those weeks ago. It looks like something was stuck onto it.

“What’s this?” A surprised question escaped Jinki’s lips as his eyebrows raised.

When he was standing right in front of his door, he saw what it was. A small card that said Welcome back, Jinki! ^^ and there was a paper bag hanging from the doorknob. Puzzled, Jinki’s brows furrowed as his hands reached out to detach the card from his door and his mind wondered who could be the one behind this. Then, his eyes landed on a bunny sticker that was stuck firmly on his door, right beside the peep hole.

Bunny? Jinki wanted to laugh as his index finger the smooth texture of the sticker, making no attempt to remove it.

He took the paper bag from the knob, unlocked his door and got in, setting his bags down and flopping down onto his bed.

“Hi dear room, I’ve missed you!” Jinki inhaled the familiar smell of his room that was now mixed with mustiness from the lack of ventilation. He felt like he could fall asleep just like this, until he remembered that he was still holding on to the card from the mystery person.

Sitting up, he began to examine the card. The handwriting was unfamiliar; it was so messy that it looks almost as if it was done so intentionally. He reached into the paper bag and pulled out a glass bottle full of what looked like colourful folded stars.

Stars? Who would give these to me? He turned the bottle around in his hands, looking for any clues that might give away the identity of this mystery person.

A small hand-drawn key at the bottom of the glass bottle caught his eye.

Oh? Is it you, Key? Hmm... We'll find out! Smiling, Jinki recalled that he had yet to reply the message from Key. He quickly retrieved his phone from his pocket and replied before getting up to take a carrier bag out of his luggage. He had something for Key.

“Yes I am ^▽^ See you at the same place in 10 minutes!”

***

For once, Kibum was the one waiting in the café for the other to come. He’d come in just before lunch hour and managed to snag their usual seats by the window. Like Onew always does, Kibum orders for the both of them.

Kibum smiled to himself. He can’t wait to hear what Onew had to say about the surprise; he can't wait to see him.

Just as the waitress placed their cups of coffee down and bowed politely to Kibum, Onew walked in through the door, grinning widely and carrying a plastic carrier in one hand. Kibum felt his heart soar at the familiar sight of Onew that he missed so much.

“Onew-yah!” Kibum waved at him excitedly.

Onew walked over, ruffling Kibum’s hair affectionately and sat down. His heart flutters. Oh, how Kibum missed all the hair-ruffling and cute eye-smile.

“So I see you’ve decided to stop wearing your colourful helmet?” Onew chuckled while Kibum ran a hand tentatively through his hair. Onew was always teasing him about his asymmetrical hair saying that it looked like a crooked helmet. He’d gotten his hair cut over the holidays and coloured it brown. He actually looked pretty normal now, as compared to his previous hairstyle.

“Don’t start getting all self-conscious, Key. It looks good.” Onew said in a gentle tone and Kibum relaxed, even though he was careful not to let it show that Onew’s opinion about his new hairstyle mattered.

“I always look good, you know that.” Kibum answered in what he hoped was a nonchalant manner while Onew shook his head, laughing.

They sipped their coffees, catching up at length everything they had missed out in each others’ lives for the past 6 weeks. Onew told Kibum all about Moscow and showed him more photos. Kibum told Onew everything in turn, even things like how his dog tried to chase a butterfly and got itself stuck in a hole in the fence back at home in Daegu. He was, however, careful to leave out the part where he felt each day was so hard to pass without him around.

It was a light and amiable atmosphere around them, as it was most of the time. Neither one was admitting to the other that it felt so good to be in his company once more.

Onew was leaning back in this seat and his eyes were closed. Suddenly, he seemed to have remembered something and he opened his eyes, sitting up once again.

“Oh, Key! You know what I saw when I came back today? Somebody stuck a card on my door and gave me a whole bottle of folded stars to welcome me back!” Onew brought a finger to the corner of his lips, as if thinking through a list of possible suspects who could have done it.

Kibum bit back his laughter, eyes gleaming mischievously while he answered, “You mean somebody pimped your door?” keeping a look of surprise on his face.

“Yeah, I guess you could say that. I wonder who he is?” Onew said, still with that thoughtful look.
 
“He? How do you know it’s a he? It sounds like the doing of a girl to me, I mean folded stars?” Kibum hurriedly suggested, not missing a beat. It was fun trying to mislead Onew, but he wondered why Onew even thought it was a he who did it.

“Er… The handwriting is too messy for it to be a girl, I’m sure. And the whole thing just looks kind of… Weird?” Onew was looking at Kibum in the eyes and Kibum felt himself panic.

“Y-you don’t like it?” Kibum asked cautiously, feeling a bit sad.

Just then, Onew burst out laughing. “GOTCHA! I know it’s you, Key!” 

What? Kibum’s brain was short-circuiting. A moment ago Onew was saying that it looks weird, and the next moment he was roaring with laughter. The worst part was he’d guessed it right.

“But how did you know? I was careful not to leave any tracks behind!”

“Didn’t you draw the key on the bottle so I’d know it’s you?” Onew was still smiling widely.

“Yah, I didn’t think you’d see it! It’s so tiny!” Kibum pouted, sad that his surprise was revealed so soon. He hadn’t even heard who Onew had in mind that could be responsible for it.

Onew reached across the table and pinched Kibum’s cheeks lightly.

“Thank you, Kibummie. I like it a lot.”

At that, the pout on Kibum’s face was instantly transformed into a shy smile.

“Did you fold all the stars yourself? Why did you fold stars for me though? I didn’t know you knew how to do something like that.” Onew’s subsequent questioning threw Kibum off balance.

“Hey Onew, what’s that? Is it for me?” Kibum suddenly asked, pointing to the carrier bag leaning against the table leg that was about the size of his drawing canvas, desperately trying to change the subject. The truth was that he had no answer to the questions.

“Oh, yes. It isn’t easy to get something for you, you know? I could have gotten you some clothes but you know I don’t have that great a fashion sense…” His attempt was successful as Onew reached for the carrier and handed it to Kibum.

Kibum pulled the present out with much anticipation, forgetting that he was almost busted a moment ago. It was a black backpack that had colourful jewels cut in various shapes stuck on in some kind of pattern. It was so very Kibum-style, it was instant love. Kibum was still looking at the bag in his lap, fingers the polyester material with a smile playing on his lips when he realized Onew was still talking.

“…one you always carry looks kind of worn out so I thought I’d get you a new one. Do you like it?”

There it was again, his meticulous observation of everything about Kibum. Onew didn’t even see Kibum that often, yet he saw so much more than others around him did. It made Kibum’s heart skip a beat to know that the present was chosen with so much thought.

Onew looked hopeful, like he was waiting for Kibum’s verdict about the present.

“Is there anything you don’t notice about me, Onew-yah?” Kibum asked jokingly, and then said, “I love it.”

He continued to the bag adoringly before putting it carefully back into the plastic carrier. Onew was apparently satisfied that Kibum had approved of his taste and just smiled to his question.

“I’ll carry it every day!” Kibum said happily.

"Erm the bag can't really be considered a Russian souvenir, so..." Onew said as he pushed a box that was about the size of a mug across the table. 

Kibum opened it and found a miniature model of the colourful St. Basil's Cathedral. It was more beautiful than he remembered from the picture Onew sent him, and it was in his hands.

***

“Don’t you think you’re way too attached to this Onew dude?” A deep voice spoke right beside his ear, causing Kibum to whip his head in the direction of the voice in shock.

“What the hell, Minho? Don’t sneak up on me like that!” Kibum said when he saw a tall boy with big doe eyes standing behind him who was peeking over his shoulder at his phone screen.

 “So easily scared as usual, Kibum-ah. And you haven’t answered my question~” Minho sing-songed and sat down in the empty seat beside Kibum. Council meeting had just ended and they were waiting for the main committee to finalise some details for the upcoming school anniversary before they could leave.

Kibum rolled his eyes. “Yes, I am way too attached to him because he is my best friend, is this the first time you’re hearing it? And call him Jinki. Onew is for my use only.”

He was dishing out his diva attitude at Minho but he didn’t care. That was to get back at him for scaring the daylights out of him a moment earlier.

However, Minho doesn’t seem the least bit fazed by it. Having known Kibum for over a year, he was probably used to it by now.

“Aigoo, for your use only? Sounds more like some kind of secret pet name for your lover, if you ask me.” Minho continued to tease Kibum while the latter’s face turned bright pink.

“Onew is not my lover!” Kibum exclaimed a little too loudly as a few other councilors idling in the room turned in their direction at the commotion. Oh . Thankfully none of them knew who ‘Onew’ was, well except Jonghyun, but he was in the middle of a discussion with the main committee members and didn’t seem to have heard. Anyway, Kibum didn't think it mattered if he did.

“Okay, okay, if you say so! Relax!” Minho raised both his hands in front of himself defensively, as if worried that Kibum was going to do him physical harm.

“I do not fancy Onew.” Kibum said again, this time it came out softer and with less conviction.

“I was just teasing you, come on! Anyway they’re done. Let’s go now, aren’t you meeting Jinki?” Minho said as he got up from his seat. They had to bring the logistics back to Kibum’s room for safekeeping and Minho had offered to help him with the load.

It was already evening. Kibum had asked Onew earlier on to wait outside his room so they could go out and have dinner together when Kibum was done with his meeting.

“Hyung, Minho. He is hyung to you.”

“Oh? And he’s not to you? Kibum, we’re of the same age.”

“Yes, but I can call him by just Onew, okay? You can’t.” Kibum shot the most stuck-up smile he has at Minho and stuck his tongue out, taking that he’d won the argument from Minho’s shake of his head.

The pair chatted along the way back, until an Onew who was leaning against Kibum’s room door, iPod plugged into his ears and looking at his feet came into view. Kibum immediately felt himself smile and he quickened his pace, beckoning Minho to hurry up as well.

As if sensing somebody approaching, Onew looked up and pulled the earphones out of his ears, smiling widely when he saw that it was Kibum. He walked towards Kibum, automatically taking over the load in his hands so that Kibum could open the door. Onew smiled in the direction of Minho, to which the taller boy smiled and nodded in response.

“Onew-yah, wait here just a moment okay?” Kibum took the things back from Onew’s hands and went into his room with Minho, searching for a space to set the boxes of stuff down.

“You do like him, don’t you?” Minho’s voice broke the silence, as he put the box in his arms down at the foot of Kibum’s bed.

“What?!” Kibum almost fell forward when he heard Minho’s question, his heart began to race. Luckily Minho caught him in time and put the box in Kibum’s arms down neatly as well.

“N-n-no.” Kibum stuttered.

“Are you even kidding me? You should have seen your own face at the sight of him, Kibum-ah. Like he’s the most precious thing in the world. I can see it in your eyes.” Minho said with an easy smile on his face and continued, “And just see how flustered you are whenever we talk about him.”

“No, I…don’t. Urgh, I don’t know.” Kibum was defeated. The truth was that he didn’t know. He hasn’t felt this way for a long time. He had thought that maybe his heart and mind agreed for once and he was in love, but the feelings he had towards Onew now are not the same as those he had held for Jonghyun. So what does everything mean?

“Are you guys alright in there?” Onew’s voice came from outside the room.

“We’re fine, Jinki-hyung! Just a minute!” Minho answered promptly and grabbed Kibum’s arm.

“Let’s go, Kibum. Just… Think about it. If you like him, you should know what to do. And if not, then I’d tell you to distance yourself for a bit and stop leading him on. That guy’s got it bad for you.” Minho started again, this time all serious.

“He what?!” Kibum’s eyes were bulging out of its sockets, he couldn’t wrap his mind around all that Minho has said.

“You must be blind to not see it, Kibum. Now let’s just go before he starts to think I’m doing something funny with his honeybun in here.” Minho chuckled and pulled Kibum with him out of the room.

“I’ll get going first, Kibum, Jinki-hyung. My appa is waiting for me.” Minho excused himself and went off quickly.

“Everything okay?” Onew looked at Kibum who was feeling a little dazed. There was too much to digest in one sitting but Kibum forced himself to stay composed.

“N-ne. Let’s go, Onew.” He said weakly, wanting to tug on Onew’s arm out of habit but unable to bring himself to do so at that moment.

“Hey, I think I left my phone in my room. Could you go on down and wait for me by reception? I’ll be right there.” Onew suddenly said after patting his pockets, ruffling Kibum’s hair before turning towards the stairs and took it two steps at a time.

Kibum walked into the waiting elevator, Minho’s words replaying in his mind.

“That guy’s got it bad for you.” 

How could I have never noticed? Was Minho talking nonsense? How could he tell, just by spending about 3 minutes in our company? Kibum wanted to doubt what Minho had said, but he knew that when it came to people, his friend was seldom wrong. Moreover, Onew was really not short of loving towards him, what with all the attention he pays to the smallest details about him and how he showers him with so much care and gentleness.

Kibum walked out of the elevator, lost in his own thoughts. He likes Onew, he knows he does. But love was a different thing.

He wished feelings were clear-cut, just black and white, and yes or no. He wished somebody could just tell him what was right, decode his feelings for him and tell him exactly what to do.

***

Jinki locked his door once again after retrieving his phone from the desk where he’d carelessly left it, and brisk walked to the elevators. Trust him to be so absent minded to even forget his phone.

When the doors of the elevator reopened again, Jinki expected to see Key waiting for him by the reception desk, but there was no one, other than the manager on duty who was dozing off behind the desk. He wandered ahead, thinking perhaps Key had gotten out of the dormitory building himself when he heard his voice, low and quivering slightly.

“What do you want?”

It sounded like he was trying to keep himself calm. A bad feeling loomed over Jinki as he half ran towards the source of the voice. It seemed to come from a small alley just around the dorm’s entrance.

Jinki walked cautiously, the backs of some people were coming into view as he paused at the mouth of the alley. He was shocked when he saw that there were many, too many, of them standing in front of Key. Perhaps eight or ten girls he recognized were from his year had Key backed into the wall at the side of the alley. Most of them had their arms folded, but all had a look of pure menace in their eyes as they regarded Key.

Then Jinki saw, just as one of the girls who looked like the ringleader began to speak, the source of Key’s fear.

“Enough of you around with Jonghyun, you should really learn to be smarter, boy! Maybe I should give your pretty little face a few scratches so that you can’t go around with those senior boys anymore, hmm?”

“I am not-” Key’s words were cut off abruptly when he also saw what Jinki saw.

The blade of a penknife glimmered in the girl’s hands, as she began to raise it, ready to strike.

“KEY, LOOK OUT!” Without even thinking, Jinki dashed forward, pushing the surrounding girls away and enveloping Key in his arms, shielding his body from the oncoming danger of the sharp blade.

An electrifying pain shot through Jinki's right shoulder, and he felt it radiating through his arm, all the way to his fingers, to his neck and down his back. He bit on his lip roughly, trying to ignore the burning sensation as his other hand clamped down over his right shoulder, where he felt warm blood ooze out from between his fingers.

He saw Key’s eyes flying open with the impact of their bodies and staring at his face in sheer terror. There was a collective intake of breath from the crowd and the girl who was wielding the penknife gasped as she realized who she’d stabbed. Jinki doesn’t even need to look at their faces to know that they were all friends of Jessica. That was weird, considering Key had claimed to have cut off all contacts with Jonghyun for awhile now.

“J-J-Jinki?” Her eyes were wide and fell open, her hands shaking by the side as the penknife fell to the floor.

“Get. Lost. And don’t ever let me see you people finding trouble for him again.” Jinki’s voice was dangerously low as he enunciated each word through tightly clenched teeth, glaring at all of them. The girls didn’t need to be told a second time as they all fled within seconds at the look of sheer fury in Jinki’s eyes, not forgetting to pick up the penknife on the floor first.

“Are you okay, Key?” Jinki asked weakly when the girls evacuated. His knees buckled and his grip on Key loosened. He was falling away from Key's body like a limp leaf. Before he could hit the floor, Key’s arms came around him in a surprisingly strong grip and held him up with much effort.

“Onew! I’m fine! You’re the one who got stabbed, oh my god, are you okay? How are you feeling? Oh my god, oh my god, you’re bleeding so much, oh my god… Come on, I’ll bring you to the clinic. Oh my god, Onew, I’m so sorry…” Key was sobbing as he put Jinki’s left arm over his shoulders and his other arm circled around Jinki’s waist to support him.

“Please be okay, Onew, please be okay. I beg you, I’m so sorry, please just be okay…” Key couldn’t stop chanting the same words to himself.

“Hey, hey, I’m okay, Key. Don’t cry.” Jinki said with some difficulty. He didn’t want to see Key crying, and he wanted to reach out stop those tears from falling. Yet all he felt was pain in half of his body and he could only lean onto the younger boy as they hobbled towards the direction of the university’s clinic.

***

“The cut is deep, but not too deep, thankfully, or else he could possibly be paralyzed, seeing as how close the wound is to his spine. I’ve cleaned the wound and bandaged it properly, he should be fine soon.” The nurse in the clinic said to a worried Kibum after examining Onew’s wound.

He still felt that they should report the case, but Onew was insistent not to. They had to come up with a stupid story in the end to explain for the wound to which the nurse didn’t look particularly convinced by, but did not press them further.

"Why are they still causing trouble for you?" Onew asked in a weak voice. 

"I don't know, really. I haven't talked to Jonghyun for months now, not counting the times in Council." Kibum said with some anger through his tears.

“We should report it, Onew. They can’t just do this kind of thing and get away with it!” Kibum's arm still tightly held Onew close to himself, afraid that if he let go the older boy would just slip away forever. 

“No, Key. It’s okay, just leave it, they won’t be troubling you anymore now.” Onew answered.

“I’m not worried about that, Onew! What they did, it should be punished! What if they got you somewhere fatal? Huh? What am I going to do then? How am I supposed to live if you died saving me?” Kibum couldn’t stop crying. He couldn’t imagine what could have happened if Onew had been stabbed elsewhere more vital. More importantly, he couldn’t imagine life without Onew permanently and that fear had been so near and so real a moment ago, he was convinced he wouldn’t be able to take it if it really did happen.

“I’ll be okay, Key, really. It’s their last year in the university now; I don’t think we should destroy their future by reporting on them. I’m sure they’ve learnt their mistake. Anyway, you’re fine, and that’s enough for me…” 

Kibum really couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Onew was actually trying to protect the future of a bunch of people who’d just tried to kill him?!

He wanted to open his mouth to protest again, but decided against it when he saw the look of pain on Onew’s face. His lips were pale and beats of sweat formed on his head. He’d saved his life, and if he doesn’t want to pursue the matter, then so be it.

“Can we leave now?” Onew asked the nurse politely, to which she nodded in reply. He looked much better now after being tended to. Kibum could only relax after seeing that pain gone from his face. He quickly went to help him up and kept his grip on Onew’s arm as they made their way back to the dorm.

He just realized that they never did get any dinner, but after the scare of the night, Kibum didn’t feel that hungry anymore. He helped Onew back into his room and made him lie down, telling him to get some sleep.

“But it’s like 9pm?” Onew said and pouted, “And I’m hungry.”

Kibum smiled a little then, and said “Alright then, just lie down now. I’ll go and get some food real quick, okay?”

Onew nodded as Kibum grabbed his keys and went out of the door.

When Kibum got back, he saw that Onew did fall asleep after all. He set the packets of food down on his desk and glanced at the sleeping face. He would have been the one bleeding and hurting, possibly in worse places, tonight if Onew hadn’t appeared in time and saved him from harm.

Just what would I do without you? Why are you so silly? Do you know, Onew- yah? I don’t think I can live without you… 
At the thought of that, Kibum felt his eyes well up again. 
 
He thought about Minho’s words once more, and he looked at Onew. His sleeping face was so peaceful that Kibum felt himself relax. Minho says you really like me, Onew. Do you really? Do I love you? I wish I could be sure…

Kibum brought a hand up to caress Onew’s face as he squatted by the bed side before gently tapping him awake.

“Hey, food is here.” Kibum smiled the sweetest smile to the awakening Onew, feeling ever thankful that he’d met someone like him.

***

The wound on his shoulder recovered quickly, not without much of Key’s help. Since that incident, Key had been taking care of him so well, helping him to change the dressing of the wound on a daily basis, sometimes staying over to make sure he’d gotten to sleep alright. Jinki never felt better than he had with this much attention given to him from Key.

It's been awhile since that thought came to him. And as the days passed, Jinki felt like maybe he should do something. Something real, after all the effort he’d made with this. He should do something to make it more than notes on paper.

After playing the tune for umpteenth times in the music room today, working to perfect it, he knew he couldn’t just let this die.

More importantly, after making that discovery, he couldn’t just leave things as they are between them. He wanted to do something more. Even if he had to die from the heartbreak from rejection, he had to know he died trying.

Jinki was playing with that glass bottle of folded stars one night, tipping it to balance on one point of its base and twirling it around when the bottle fell on his desk. The loose stopper came off from the impact and the little colourful stars spilled out from the mouth of the bottle. 

“Oh gosh, klutz for life is me.” He muttered as he tried to gather the stars, sweeping them all together to the center of his desk with his palm. 
For some reason unknown to himself, he poured the remaining stars in the bottle onto his desk and began to count them. 

“38, 39… Oh, why are you so special?” Jinki was almost done counting when he saw that there was one star that stood out from the rest. Every other star was all folded with colourful foil paper. There were blue, green, pink, yellow, and even silver ones. But this one was folded with paper that had cartoon prints instead. 

Holding it carefully between two fingers, he was scrutinizing it, trying to see what cartoon character it was printed on the paper when he noticed a small pink splotch that looked like ink. 

Curious, he decided to unfold the star, wishfully thinking if perhaps Key might have written something for him inside. 

Okay, we’re just having a look, don’t get your hopes up… There might be nothing at all… Jinki tried to psycho himself that there won’t be anything written so he wouldn’t feel overly disappointed if the paper was indeed blank. 

When he was finally done unfolding the star, he saw, on the underside of the paper, a line written in pink ink, “Wishing on the 50^th star, I wish that you would be a part of my life forever. I am glad that once upon my life journey, I met you.”   
                                                                                                                                                                                     
He picked up his phone and began to call the one person he knew could help him on this.