“...and then I told her, “no, that isn't a noodle, that's an earthworm, and she actually believed me.” Jinki said, telling a story about how he once made his mom believe that he had put a worm in her soup.

“Really? She believed you?” Jonghyun asked, his eyes almost popping out of their sockets. “What kind of noodles did you eat?” He asked in disbelief, sending both him and Jinki into a fit of laughter. 

It was around 3 in the afternoon, and Jonghyun and Jinki were currently sitting on Jinki's couch, drinking coffee and talking. 

It was a radical difference from the gloomy atmosphere they had had yesterday, but neither of them minded the change. In fact, they tried to completely avoid the topic of illnesses or death. 

“Hey, do you have anything to do tonight?” Jonghyun asked. Jinki looked at him questioningly. 

“I...don't think so, why?” Jinki asked, his curiosity having been poked. 

“In that case, I want to invite you to dinner at my house.” Jonghyun said. 

“At your house?” Jinki asked. Jonghyun nodded. “With you and your siblings?” Jonghyun nodded again. “And they're totally okay with you inviting a stranger for dinner?” Jinki asked. 

“Well, I haven't exactly asked them yet, but I'm sure they won't mind. In fact, I certain they will absolutely love you. And you aren't a stranger, I mean, you know me.” Jonghyun said, encouragingly. 

“Okay then, I guess it can't hurt.” Jinki said, making Jonghyun smile. 

“Great.” 

And a few hours later, they were standing outside a small house. 

“Yeah, my house is not nearly a big as yours, sorry.” Jonghyun said, scratching his neck awkwardly. 

“I think it's lovely.” Jinki said, smiling at him. Jonghyun returned the smile. 

When they walked in, their senses were hit with the smell of food cooking, and the interior of the house was generally nice and cozy. 

Suddenly a girl came out of what appeared to be a kitchen. 

“Hi Jonghyun.” She said, then turned her eyes to Jinki. “And you must be the Jinki that my brother has talked about so much.” She said, putting her hand out for Jinki to shake. 

“Yes, I'm Jinki.” He said, a little surprised that this girl, apparently one of Jonghyun's sisters, knew who he was. 

“I'm Gwiboon, by the way.” She said. “Minjung and Taemin are in the living room watching TV.” Gwiboon then said, directed at Jonghyun. Then she slipped back into the kitchen. 

Jonghyun and Jinki then walked into the living room. On the couch laid two people, a boy and a girl. 

“Minnie, Tae, come here for a second.” Jonghyun called, making the two people on the couch, Minjung and Taemin apparently, scramble of. 

“I'm assuming you're Jinki.” Minjung said. She had the same dark hair as her sister, but was significantly taller. Jinki nodded. 

“I'm Minjung, and this is Taemin.” She said, pointing at her brother. Both of them shook Jinki's hand. 

The 4 of them started talking, before Gwiboon yelled that the food was ready. The dinner started up a bit awkwardly, with the 3 sibling doing most of the talking. But Jonghyun seemed to try and get Jinki involved as much as possible, which made the older very happy. 

After dinner, Jonghyun offered to help Gwiboon do the dishes, and asked Minjung and Taemin to entertain Jinki while he was gone. Before long, they had started a game of cards, and seemed to be having fun. Jonghyun kept on looking over at Jinki every few minutes to check on him. 

“You really care about him, don't you?” Gwiboon asked him, having noticed the way her older brother looked at their guest. 

“I mean, he's a nice person.” Jonghyun simply said, making his sister smile. 

“The way you're looking at him tells a different story though.” She said, leaving the conversation there. Jonghyun tried not to think too much about what she had said, all the while his eyes continued to look at Jinki every once in awhile. 

When the clock was around 9:15, Jinki decided that it was time for him to go home. Jonghyun called a taxi for him to drive him home. 

“Thank you for a wonderful evening, it was really nice.” Jinki said. 

“I really enjoyed it too, and I can tell that the others really liked you too.” Jonghyun said. 

They exchanged the last goodnight’s when Jinki's taxi arrived. And then Jinki was on his way back, back to his apartment, and back to reality. The reality that he probably wouldn't get to spend many more nights like that, having fun and being totally carefree.

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An: I thought it was time to get KeyMinTae involved, since I have tagged this story with them, but they haven't had big parts to play yet. So here they are. They might appear again later, but since this story is mostly focused on JongYu, I can't promise when it'll be. 

Merry December 10th❤️