“Yunho, Taehyung. Taehyung, Yunho,” Jiyong smiled as he made the introduction. Then chuckled as he saw Yunho’s eyes flared wide when he saw Taehyung. “Don’t mistake him for a girl if you don’t want to get hurt. I can attest that his karate is superb,” Jiyong said, chuckling merrily. But his chuckle died down abruptly when he noticed that he was the only one laughing. Looking at both his friends, a frown started to mar his forehead as he noticed how much the sight of Yunho had mesmerized Taehyung and vice versa. He immediately stepped between them and cleared his throat loudly to snap them out from their staring contest. But Taehyung and Yunho still stood there motionless, eyes still on each other, not even acknowledging his signal. The crease between his eyebrows got deeper and he could see the deep green color of jealousy started to edge his vision. Tersely, he ordered Suzy to show Yunho to his room. As soon as the delighted Suzy dragged Yunho away, with the fire of jealousy burned hotly in his bloodstream, he elbowed Taehyung out of his stupor.

Taehyung blinked his eyes a couple time and then asked hoarsely, “Who is that guy?”

“None of your business,” Jiyong replied sulkily. He squinted his eyes and looked at Taehyung sharply. “Don’t tell me that you’re interested in him. I won’t tell you about him.” But when Taehyung turned those fascinating eyes on him, he sighed and plopped onto the couch. “Yunho is my worst enemy turned best friend in high school. He is the one who had managed to influence and change me from the totally spoiled kid I was into the man I am today. He is also the one who taught me the meaning and value of responsibility and friendship. All my positive sides that I have today are because of him.” Giving a warning look, he added grumpily, “You’d better stay away from him. And don’t even think about hooking up with him. He’s taken.”

Taehyung only blinked his eyes once before walking away, still in a trance.

Jiyong scowled as he watched his hypnotized-like friend walked through the doorway and out from his sight. Snarling, he punched the couch cushion to vent his apprehension and frustration. Damn it all. He was so happy when he had seen Yunho waiting for him in his office this afternoon. It’s been so long since he last saw him after all. He had been so happy that he didn’t even think about the possibility of Taehyung’s attraction to him when he had insisted Yunho to stay in his house. If he knew Taehyung would react this way, he would drive Yunho away from Las Vegas as soon as he could and banned him from here until he got Taehyung safely by his side.

Sulking, he threw his head back and stared at the ceiling broodingly. He was the one who had decided to play along with this charade, and he couldn’t afford to give it up for nothing. Especially not now, not when Yunho would be a considerable threat to him. He had planned to share the joke with him, telling Yunho all about this guy named Taehyung and his mischievous yet cute side. But with the recent can’t-take-my-eyes-off-you incident, it would be a foolish and suicidal step instead. If Yunho knew… no, it wouldn’t do to tell him. This would be one secret he had to keep for himself.

He puffed out his breath as he massaged his suddenly pounding temple. His mind went back to that point, a month ago, when he had taken Taehyung skydiving.

~ Flashback ~

“Taehyung, you okay?” he asked as he saw Taehyung still sprawled there, hugging the ground, five minutes after her landing. And what a landing it was. Instead of running the moment he touched the ground to lose the impact of the dive, he had immediately fallen onto the ground and had lain there ever since. He wondered if the impact of the dive had knocked him out. Crouching beside him, he hauled his parachute aside and nudged him. “Hey, Taehyung! You’re not dead from heart attack, are you? Wasn’t it a lot of fun? Oh, you can’t speak yet, can you? With the way you’re screaming your lungs out from the moment you were out of that plane, your throat must be drier than Sahara. You know, you screamed like a girl. So high pitched, and the way your arms and legs flailed about, totally girly. You should practice screaming until you get a somewhat manly scream, like mine. Not that I would ever scream like you did.” Chuckling and shaking his head, he nudged Taehyung again. “Hey, how come you don’t say anything? Did you swallow a bug when your mouth was opened wide up there, and now it’s still lodged in your throat?” He peeked to see his eyes and chuckled as two fiery orbs were shooting daggers at him. Grinning, he shook Taehyung again. “Come on now. How much longer you want to lie there? It’s not that bad anyway. And if you just would admit it, you would see that it was the greatest fun you’ve ever had in your short little life.”

The answer he got was only a groan, followed by a threat to cut his limbs off if he didn’t stop nagging. Being him, he grinned unrepentantly and started to prod Taehyung even more, irritating the poor guy enough that he started to move his limbs to get up. And the sight of those knees knocking together when he struggled to stand upright prompted Jiyong into another burst of laughter. He tried to swallow his laughter when he noticed the warning look Taehyung sent him. But when his whole body started to shake and his stomach started to cramp, Jiyong gave up and almost rolled on the ground with laughter. “Sorry,” he said amidst his laughter, “but you may want to practice your knees. You could mak