PART. 5

Sungmin sat alone under a tree, with Nathan sleeping, covered with a blanket near him. Seeing Kyuhyun back with Siwon, he beckoned them to come closer.

Kyuhyun's heart felt somersaults. Sungmin was very brave. Compared to him, Kyuhyun felt like nothing.

Nevertheless, he approached him. Siwon immediately bowed and kissed Sungmin's cheek. "Hey, pretty," he said. "Welcome home."

Sungmin smiled. "I have to congratulate you." He replied. "Cho Siwon who can not be arrested is finally caught as well."

Siwon chuckled, nodding. "Arrested, snared, and labeled," he said.

"I want to meet Heechul." Sungmin told him. "I promise I won’t tell him you're a slacker."

Siwon smiled with his characteristic grin. "I think he's already suspicious about that," he replied. "I'll go look for him." After that, he tapped Kyuhyun's shoulder once and walked away.

"Sit down, Kyuhyun," Sungmin said.

He sat cross-legged on the fragrant grass.

"You and Ryeowook look good together." Sungmin expressed his opinion, perhaps trying to sound soft.

Kyuhyun got to know Sungmin all his life and he knew right then the direction of this conversation. "It's impossible," he said. "Forget it."

"Forget what?" Sungmin asked innocently.

"You know exactly what I mean," Kyuhyun replied.

Sungmin smiled. "All right, so I think it would be great if you and Ryeowook fell in love and then get married. Nathan will have a great family –he will be a Cho. I can imagine you all smiling at the Christmas card picture –Our Family Wishes You A Merry Christmas." He said cheerfully.

"Nathan could be a Cho," Kyuhyun said. "All you have to do is letting me adopt him instead of Ryeowook."

Sungmin sighed. "It would be simpler if you marry Ryeowook and you two adopt Nathan together."

"I have an ex-wife who betrayed me." Kyuhyun argued, though he did not mean it that way. "I don’t need another one like that."

Sungmin reached out his hand. After a moment of hesitation, like an idiot who pulled out all his argument he had just said, especially in front of  a dying man, for God's sake Kyuhyun greeted that hand.

"I always thought Tae Hee was a ," he said. "To be honest, I wanna know what you see from her."

Kyuhyun chuckled. He expected something else from Sungmin, though he did not know what it was. "I have the same thoughts about you and Yesung," he said.

Sungmin squeezed his hand, then let go. An ordinary gesture but Kyuhyun felt this was like the beginning to a door of a dark cave that was wide open in front of him.

"They were dating, you know." Sungmin said. "I mean, Yesung and Tae Hee. When they’re still in college. I think their relationship was pretty close."

Kyuhyun remembered it. It was like that, he had to admit it, just for himself, one more reason why he never liked Sungmin's husband. "Well," he said. "I know. They will keep us away from all this grief if they marry each other and leave you and me for granted."

"But they did not." Sungmin considered it. His gaze fixed on Nathan, part of his small body covered with a blanket. "I called Changmin this afternoon, about the documents –the adoption process and your appointment as the holder of my assets, and he said it would be ready by Monday.”

Changmin and Victoria lived in Seonjae, with their seven-year-old son whose name was Max, shopping for their newly constructed new home furniture on the edge of the town.

"There's still time to change your decision," Kyuhyun said.

"I will not change my decision, Kyuhyun," Sungmin said without preamble. "So stop asking me to do it. I've been thinking about all of this and I want it all done before I –well –before I... , I need your understanding."

Just then Siwon came back with Heechul.

Kyuhyun stood up.

Siwon introduced the two men.

The wedding made Heechul even more beautiful, Kyuhyun thought, but then, he realized that it was supposed to be. He was naturally beautiful –dark hair, slender, and extraordinarily clever in words.

After he and Sungmin talked to each other and Siwon started talking as if everything was normal, Heechul looked at Kyuhyun and pulled him aside. "Are you ready for this Monday meeting?" He asked.

"What meeting?" He left his cell phone in the car and had not been gone to the office all day.

"Leeteuk and Henry are coming from Seoul." Heechul told him quietly. Cho Leeteuk, Henry's and Victoria’s father, who was also a president and CEO of ChoKorp. "Also most of the board of directors. That's it, Kyuhyun. They want the last vote to open the company to the public."

Of course they wanted to do it. Leeteuk –actually still a distant cousin– was like a father to Kyuhyun, but when it came to dealing with a company, he was firm.

Kyuhyun cursed softly. "What about your job?" He asked, trying to find a foothold.

Heechul touched his arm. "I'll be fine," he said. "I might be able to keep working or doing business myself. You're the one I'm worried about."

He sighed. "Did Siwon tell you how he would deal with them?"

"You have to ask him yourself." Heechul said.

An alarm sounded in Kyuhyun's head, as if shocked by an electric shock. He turned to Siwon, and Siwon immediately understood his gaze. "," he said huskily.

Heechul's voice softened. "He's tired of all these quarrels," he said.

Kyuhyun walked towards Siwon –who was looking at him now– and stopped. Now was not the time to rebel, but Kyuhyun still felt betrayed. Siwon had plenty of time to tell him about the decision when they put Brenn into Donghae’s trailer. Siwon even promised that he and Donghae would be there for him, helping him through difficult times. But what was this?

"." Kyuhyun repeated and sounded louder this time.

"Is there something wrong?" Sungmin asked.

"Nothing." Kyuhyun said while looking at Siwon.

"Are you coming this Monday afternoon to sign the papers?"

"Monday afternoon." Kyuhyun promised. Then he turned, without saying any words and walked away.

***

Ryeowook stood leaning against a tree and pressing one side of his ear with one finger, talking through his cell phone. It was not easy, with carnivals and whole town picnicking all around him. Very noisy.

"Kibum, listen to me–"

"I want a new agent!" Kim Kibum shouted. The man found it hard to accept his last epic novel can not penetrate the best-selling list. Ryeowook sold it for a considerable amount of money with the power of Kibum’s Pulitzer award, and the publisher was not that happy. "The sales are bad enough when you work in Seoul." Kibum revealed. "Now I have to deal with someone who's in Seonjae, Incheon?"

"Kibum, please–"

"You're fired, Ryeowook!"

Ryeowook closed his eyes.

Kibum severed his phone in a slamming voice.

Tears streamed through Ryeowook's eyelashes.

"Is your another lover tired of waiting for the spoils and decides to leave now?" Came a familiar voice in Ryeowook's ear.

Ryeowook opened his eyes. Sure enough, there stood Kyuhyun, with his hands clasped in his pockets of his grass-stained pants. His hair was a bit tangled because he kept going down his hand through his hair. Behind him, the wheel lamps of the rink wheel mixed between pink, green, and blue.

He put his cell phone in his bag, walked towards the man, released his favorite white scarf and hit Kyuhyun with it. "You know what, crazy bastard Cho Kyuhyun? I've done enough with your cynical comment and your rotten satire!"

Kyuhyun's eyes widened as Ryeowook hit him with a scarf. It was the most extraordinary pair of caramel eyes, the man's eyes, glowing beautifully.

Then unexpectedly, Kyuhyun laughed.

"Are you drunk?" Ryeowook asked, suspicious.

"No," Kyuhyun said. "But I wish I was drunk..." because you looked so damn beautiful tonight. Of course he did not say his last thought. That little man would find it funny if he suddenly said so. Then he decided to ask. "Who made you cry, Kim Ryeowook?"

The question made Ryeowook jolt. He looked down, saw the white scarf in his hands fell to the ground and he looked down to take it back. Unfortunately, so did Kyuhyun at the same time, and their heads hit each other.

"Ouch," Kyuhyun moaned, putting a hand on his head as he straightened his back. The man looked and sounded like a child so Ryeowook, who was rubbing his head, laughed out loud.

Kyuhyun's eyes softened slightly, and Ryeowook sensed a small punch right on his heart.

"Who made you cry?" He asked again.

Ryeowook sighed, wrapping the white scarf back to his neck. "It's nothing." He said. "I just feel my emotions going up and down lately."

"Is not it so with all of us?" Kyuhyun muttered.

"But nothing exceeds Sungmin." Ryeowook replied. A gust of cold wind made him hug his own body.

"Do you feel cold?" Kyuhyun asked.

"I'm fine," Ryeowook said.

"You seem to appreciate a good joke."

Ryeowook squinted his eyes. "Huh?"

"Sungmin thought you and I should be married," Kyuhyun told him. "And we will adopt Nathan together. Isn’t that crazy? "

"Very crazy!" Ryeowook replied quickly. Now, why was it so painful that Kyuhyun thought the idea of ​​marrying him was funny enough to be a joke?

Kyuhyun's eyes turned serious now, intense. Ryeowook wondered if there was a barbecue sauce attached to his face, and while he weighed that possibility, Kyuhyun surprised him with a kiss on the lips.

Electricity ran through his body, like a light bulb.

Kyuhyun's lips pressed slightly on his lips, it was no more than a sigh.

Ryeowook stepped back, blinking and gasping for air.

"Sorry." Said Kyuhyun.

"You really are blessed with a talent for doing bad, you know that?"

The man grinned. "That's what most people say about me."

Ryeowook trembled. If Kyuhyun noticed his flushed face, Ryeowook decided he'll blame the cold of the night. "Just pretend it never happened!" He said.

"You're good enough at it, aren’t you?"

Five seconds ago he kissed him. Sweetly. Soft. Make his toes bend. Now he scoffed at him again.

"Good enough at what?" He demanded.                       

"Pretend that nothing happened. Like your affair with Yesung