Author's note

Hi everyone, 

finally a new chapter for this one. I had started this chapter last year but never got to finish it. 

I finally brought myself to and once again, I got so excited that I am uploading it straight away. I haven't edited it. 

But I will make sure I do so soon. 

This is for any of my readers still out there. 

As always, thank you. 

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Chapter 5

Everybody knows that the rumours between Victoria and Changmin probably only took the limelight due to the infamous ‘spoon incident’.  That time eagle-eyed fans had spotted Changmin’s reflection in Victoria’s spoon from a photo she had posted.

 

The reaction and responses from fans as they misinterpreted what they saw as the truth. However they were quite far from the truth. Changmin and Victoria had long returned back to their friend status. It was a dinner with Kyu line where Victoria had to cook for them because she lost a bet with Kyuhyun.

 

Even though Victoria had taken the post down quite soon after the fans caught on, it was too late. It created big enough disturbance that their company had to react to clear their name. SM Entertainment released a statement saying that there were others at the dinner.

 

But even so it did little to help with the speculation on Changmin and Victoria’s relationship. Fans just dismissed the statement with the ‘boy who cried wolf’ mentality.   

 

Yoona had also caught wind of the rumours. She added up this incident with the previous ones. This time it was even harder to deny.

 

When Minho approached her and invited her to a meal, she knew exactly what he was trying to do.

He brought up the subject over the last bites of her meal.

“That night it wasn’t just the two of them. Kyuhyun hyung and I were both there as well.” He says without any warning or prefacing. But Yoona knew exactly what he was talking about.

Yoona puts her spoon down. Settles it down really calmly. So calmly that Minho gets a little nervous.

She takes a deep breath to settle her nerves. “I can do this” Yoona thinks to herself.

She tries to answer with a smile but she couldn’t hide the bitterness behind her expression as well as she intended.

 

“You know Minho, I appreciate you trying to do this. But this is between them. You don’t have to tell me. It has nothing to do with me.”

 

Hearing this, Minho knows that no explanation would get to Yoona. So he has no other choice but to drop the subject. That night was one of the few times Yoona left her meal unfinished.

 

It takes her almost a year for her to realise that Minho was indeed telling the truth and that whatever was going on between Changmin and Victoria had supposedly ended a long time before that.

 

***

[End of July 2014]

Yoona walks into an empty practice room. She turns on the light and slowly turns around after putting her things down onto a bench.

As she turns around, in the corner of her eye she sees something move in the reflection of the mirror.

She jumps and shrieks

Changmin hops up from the floor and apologises.

“Sorry.”

“What are you doing here?” She asks, pressing her hand firmly to her chest. He holds up his phone and points to the screen. She walks closer to have a look, but she maintains a certain distance. He pulls out the earphones in his ear.

“Stuck between choosing songs to collaborate”

“Ohhh.” As much as Yoona tries to hide it, her voice is a little unsteady.  So, she has to cover it up by catching on to the question “for SMTOWN?”

“Mmm” He runs his hand through his hair and heaves a tired sigh.

“Don’t tell me that you’re struggling to think of the song for you, Kyuhyun and Minho”

Even Changmin chuckles

“That number was decided even before it was even confirmed we had a slot.”

“Right, I shouldn’t be surprised.” Yoona giggles. “Then which collaboration are you talking about?”

“The company wants us to do a collaboration with Taemin, D.O and Jaehyun from Rookies.”

“Oh.”

“Hard right?”

“Yeah…” Yoona agrees sheepishly. “Well… All the best with…” Yoona pats Changmin on the arm and pretends to start backing away.

“Hey!” Changmin catches up to her and grabs onto the hood of her jacket. “you’re not going anywhere.” And he reaches up and ruffles her hair to mess it up.

 “Hey! I washed my hair this morning.” She turns to face him directly. But of course, Changmin merely chuckles.  

“What? You look prettier now.” he says half-jokingly

“You want to die?” Yoona, on the other hand is unconvinced.

“If it makes you feel any better, you can mess up mine.” He offers and he leans his head down further so it is within her reach.

“You’ve already messed it up.” She complains, not mentioning the fact that it doesn’t make his face any less attractive. “but if you insist” she impersonates an evil laugh.

As she reaches her hand out,

“I haven’t washed my hair today.” Changmin says bluntly and bursts out laughing. Yoona retracts her hand quickly.

“Oppa! That’s gross” Yoona calls out. As Changmin looks up mid-laugh Yoona pretends to put on a frowning face. His mismatched eyes find hers and her stance softens.

“Fine, fine, fine” he says, he reaches out to fix her hair, all the while still chuckling. “I washed itlast night.” He explains

Yoona watches as Changmin fixes the last strand of stray hair that was hanging in the middle of her face. His gentle touch as he tries to tuck the hair in place tickles Yoona and she is unable to hold up her act any longer, she breaks into laughter and Changmin joins her shaking his head.

Yoona wipes her hand on the sleeve of his shirt.

“You didn’t even touch me!”

“Oh right.” And they double over. He wipes his fingers on her sleeve in return.

“Hey! I told you my hair is clean”

“Oh right” he says teasingly mocking her

“Childish.”

“Says you.”

“what’s wrong with us today?” she says after a momentary stand-off.

“I don’t know you started.”

“No, I think you did.”

“Ok. Let’s stop it.”

“fine.” Yoona agrees chuckling one last time. As their laughter subsides, Changmin finally remembers what he was here for. An idea strikes him.

“Hey, can you tell me what you think about these songs?” he asks 

Yoona considers for a moment, forgetting her original intentions of practicing. 

“OK.” 

They find a comfortable spot along the wall and sit on the floor. The floorboards are hard and cold, but it does not even bother them, after all this is what they are used to. Changmin pulls out his headphones and looks across at Yoona, who is two arm lengths away.

He holds up the earbud and asks

“How are you going to listen from there?”

“Oh.” She says and shuffles closer, still leaving a little gap between them. She takes the ear bud from him, their fingers accidentally touch but he seems unfazed – scrolling through his phone.

“So I had a few options…that the others all agreed on” he explains. "But we haven't been able to decide on the one." 

They sit side by side listening to different demos and rearrangements of songs and for a moment, it felt like old times when they allowed themselves to be this close.

“which one do you like so far?”

“The third one sounded nice. But it seems a little overused recently.”

"That's what we thought as well."

She notices one last song unplayed on his playlist and points at his phone  

“how about that last one?”

 “This is just a rearranged instrumental though. I haven’t had the chance to make a demo”

“You’re making it seem like you’ve never sang in front of me” Yoona pokes fun at him.

Indeed, he had sang for her many times, most the times, live - where he was singing in front of her (much to Yoona's delight - though she doesn't admit). But the last time was a little different. It was when he had to help her practice her lines for magic castle – his lines. She remembered clearly that it was late at night – she was in Korea while he was stuck in Japan and he helped her over the phone to practice. She was too nervous to sing to him at first but he had eased her nerves by teaching her line by line. But she remembers, being able to listen to his singing over the phone was an enjoyable experience to say the least, it calmed her nerves and she felt ... at home. In the end she was not so stressed about her Christmas performance even though her nerves caught up with her during the live, she was thankful for the effort. That was over half a year ago.   

He takes off his earphone and Yoona passes him the other earbud. He heads over to the audio system to plug in his phone and the microphone.

“I need to read the lyrics off my phone though.” He says as he takes a seat in a chair near the audio system.

“Fine by me” Yoona shrugs.

He pauses before he starts to play the song.

“aren’t you going to come over?” he prods his head towards the empty chair.

Yoona is a little confused.

“I can hear you from here though.” But despite her reasoning, she joins him on a chair adjacent from him.

The music begins. As soon as he starts singing, his beautiful voice serenading her, echoing around the room, she feels the butterflies in her stomach come alive.

At first Yoona is too afraid to look directly at him, so she stares at his reflection in the mirror across from them.

“You give me strength to stand alone again

To face the world

Out on my own again

You put me high upon a pedestal

Yoona turns her head to watch him from his side, she watches as he transitions so easily into a high note, his voice so gentle, as if it was a caress to the ears. She feels a fluttering feeling in her chest as he continues with the song.  

so high that I could almost see eternity

You needed me

You needed me

 Changmin looks up from his phone after singing the final few lyrics and he catches Yoona quickly looking away, as if she hadn’t been staring in a daze. Her flustered reaction makes him smile amusedly to himself.

“what do you think of that one?”

“I got goosebumps.” She says as curls up her fingers in front of her to show him. Of course she wasn’t going to tell him about the fluttering of her heart or the butterflies.

“Really?” he asks amusedly in disbelief – partly due to her exaggerated reaction.

“really” She says holding her impressed expression and nodding reassuringly. “that’ll be the one.”

“if you say so, I’ll get back to the others.”

Yoona nods in agreement.

“Do you mind if I play the other songs again?”

Changmin passes her the phone and heads to return the microphone.

Just as she was scrolling up the list of songs, Changmin’s phone buzzes in her hand and it is the notification that shocks her.

[I love you.] received just now  

Looking at the contact, it was, as Yoona had suspected it was from Victoria. Yoona can feel the warmth spreading through her, it starts from her limbs and her heartbeat starts rushing.

“Um…” Yoona starts.

“what’s wrong?” Changmin turns quickly to see her looking up at him with a troubled expression.

“You got a text” she stands up and hands the phone to him.

“Who’s it from?” HE asks curiously but she doesn’t answer him. He finds the message and the contact. He frowns confusedly at his phone as if it had malfunctioned.

“Hey, I think I better go, I need to practice for um…” she says as she starts backing out of the room.

“Wait.” He says, he takes Yoona by the wrist and leads her out of the room.

“Wait, where are we going?”

“There’s someone we need to talk to.” He doesn’t explain further, but a dreadful feeling in Yoona tells her it may be Victoria. It is not something she wants to face right now.  

As they reach the stairs to go up, Yoona stops him.

“Oppa.”

“Changmin!” a voice from above the stairwell calls for him.

Both Changmin and Yoona look up, trying to identify the voice. Then Kyuhyun appears in front of them. His eyes land on Changmin’s hand that is wrapped around Yoona’s wrist. Yoona shrugs free from them.

“Oh Kyu”

“Kyuhyun Oppa” Yoona greets.

“Oh Yoona, how come you guys were together?” Kyuhyun asks

“I was…we were…”

“Did you get a text as well?” Changmin jumps in and asks Kyuhyun.

Though for him saving her from answering the question, Yoona is lost as to why he would be asking such a question.

“This one?” Kyuhyun holds up his phone to show Changmin and Yoona.

Changmin sighs and nods. Yoona tries to avert her gaze elsewhere.

“A game”

“what kind of game is this?” There is a hint of frustration in Changmin’s voice. Even Yoona picks up on it.

“Oh right, she’s on a show today. That’s why I came down to find you and explain to you.”

“Is Zhoumi upstairs?”

“Yeah, he received it first, but things got weird when I received it too. Luckily Ryeowook got it too” Kyuhyun pretends to wipe sweat off his forehead. “Otherwise Zhoumi would have killed me.”  

 “why would Zhoumi kill you?” Yoona suddenly butts in.

“Oh you haven’t heard?”

“Yeah, she doesn’t know that’s why I was trying to get Zhoumi to explain to her.”

“Wait, what’s happening?”

“Zhoumi and Victoria have been dating for about half a year.”

There is an awkward silence.

“oh. Right.” Is all she could manage. “that’s nice.” Dumbfounded, she avoids looking at Changmin or Kyuhyun.

She gets a call on her phone, and she is forever grateful that Yuri has called at the perfect time. She uses it as an excuse to leave. When she disappears downstairs, Kyuhyun jumps straight to the point.

“You guys were together?”

Changmin closes his eyes for a moment and turns to head back down the stairs to the practice room.

Kyuhyun follows.

“You haven’t answered.”

“she was helping me with picking out a song for the SMTOWN collaboration.”
“I thought we decided on that.”

“Not our one, the one with the Taemin, DO and Jaehyun.”

“Ohhh.” Kyuhyun thinks for a moment. “did she see the text?”

Changmin heaves a sigh before answering.

“She saw it first-hand.”

“And… why does it matter to you that Yoona needs to know the truth?”

He doesn’t answer until he sits down in the spot against the wall, where they had been listening to music before.

He glances at the empty spot beside him.

Kyuhyun follows him, sitting to his right instead. He is still waiting for an answer.

“there’s been too many misunderstandings between us.”

“And it bothers you so much because…”  Kyuhyun keeps asking

Changmin takes out his phone again and plugs in his earphones. He rests his head against the wall and closes his eyes.

“Fine, don’t face it.”

But Changmin hears him even through the instrumental of ‘You needed me’.

Yoona finds out a week later through an article about the broadcast of the show F(X) that confirmed what Kyuhyun had explained.

***

[present day]

Yoona hears a knock on the door of her apartment, it is the lady who lives in the neighbouring apartment.

She passes her a parcel box addressed to Yoona. Yoona takes it and thanks her for bringing it over. Turns out it had been delivered to the wrong address.

She looks at the label carefully, and to her surprise the sender says “Changmin”. In a rush she quickly shuts the door and grabs her cutting knife to open it.

When she opens the box, she double checks it.

When it strikes her, she gasps in disbelief. Picking up her phone she quickly dials his number.

***

Changmin stares at the unwrapped present in front of him. The vibration of his phone pulls him out of his deep thoughts.

[Oppa] Yoona greets

[you didn’t like your present?] Changmin tries to ask.

[what do you mean?] She starts to giggle  

[didn’t you send back the present?]

[Don’t you realise? We’ve picked the same present for each other]

As the fact dawns on Changmin, he frowns and bites his lips.

{what?]

[yeah, you bought the same gift I did for you] Changmin can picture the amused expression on Yoona's face, as if she was right in front of him. 

[you’re kidding] and they both start laughing at each other

[what made you choose this one?] Changmin curiously. 
[I don’t know...] she starts wondering, butterflies starting to awaken in her stomach [I guess... just thought of you when I saw it.] She says quite honestly.

[I wanted to get something to remind you of the trip] He says without waiting for her to ask. There is that fluttering feeling in her chest again, as she hears his response.   But she tries to ignore it.

[and that’s how we got the same present] She concludes
[Wow]

[But Oppa, I thought you’d be able to work it out. You thought I sent the gift back? Wrapped?]

It was true, Changmin was always known for his intelligence, but somehow, he overlooked such a simple fact. Perhaps he had anticipated her reaction too much, he cared too much about the present.

[I think I’m getting old] he jokes.

[well you are…] she tries to poke fun at him by reminding him of his age

[let’s make it a competition, to see who finishes it first. Loser needs to shout dinner.]

[What makes you think you’ll win?]

[I never said that] He denies. Yoona knows him too well, judging by his confidence.

[fine. I’ll show you.] Yoona takes on the challenge.