"I did. I had lunch with Jisook-ssi last Wednesday. Yes, Mom. I'm hanging up."

Jungsoo scoffed, gripping the steering wheel strongly. The thought of introducing Heechul properly to his whole family, especially his mom, had been lingering on his mind these days. He was so frustrated to be dictated by his mom about his love life. The last meeting with Jisook was full of pretense from both sides, Jungsoo was aware.

"Dammit."

He loosened his tie harshly and got off of his car. The security staff who recognized him bowed right away. As expected from the Park Jungsoo, he had to put on his best attitude towards anyone despite his inside was raging.

"Good evening, Mr. Kang, Mr. Oh."

The two guards beamed and greeted back with the same respect, "Good evening, Mr. Park. Mr. Kim is probably done in any minute now."

They chit-chatted for awhile until Heechul came out of the building bringing lots of stuff with him. Jungsoo instinctively ran to help him and walked to his car with Heechul tailing behind him. He put Heechul's belongings on the middle passenger seats while the owner settled himself in the front.

"Cherry, wait a bit. My coat is left at the security station, I'm gonna get it and say goodbye to your staff. I'll be back."

Heechul nodded, smiling. He was about to fish his phone out when he felt something pointy on his seat. He tried to reach out to get the thing underneath and found something that was enough to make his mood slump. A lipstick. It was no way this makeup was Jungsoo's. His heart twitched painfully because he suddenly felt betrayed by him. When he wanted to start putting his trust on Jungsoo, this had to be happening. Clutching the lipstick tightly, he had to dry away his tears. 

No, he badly wanted to put his trust on Jungsoo. No, there had to be a good explanation about this; he needed to ask Jungsoo himself. He slipped the red lipstick to his coat and acted as if nothing had happened.

Jungsoo came a moment later and Heechul was dismayed when suddenly Jungsoo frowned, "What's wrong, Chul?"

He thought he had put on his best facade, but Jungsoo probably could sense better.

"Nothing. I'm just tired."

---

Something was off; Jungsoo knew it. He had to wait until the get together was over to confront Heechul about this matter.

"Baby, are you sure you're alright?" Jungsoo said worriedly. Heechul put a half-hearted smile while unbuckling his seat belt. As much as he wanted to pretend everything was fine; it was not—easier said than done. He couldn't erase all the wild thoughts bothering him all this time and unconsciously, he barely uttered any words on the way to the bar.

"I'm fine, Jungsoo."

Putting his best mask, Heechul thought that his lover would fall into his acting and let it slipped. Who was he kidding?

"We'll talk later, Heechul."

Jungsoo leaned closer, intending to peck Heechul's lips but to his surprise, Heechul dodged it. It seemed that Heechul was also shocked by his ill gesture as his face showed pure uneasiness. It was frustrating. The more he tried to analyze, the more it puzzled him. With their faces inches apart, Jungsoo whispered right in front of him, "See? Don't tell me everything is fine when it's clearly not."

][-ooo-][

The lively music welcomed them as soon as they entered the bar. Gleaming lights blinding their eyes as they tried to scan the room, looking for their table. Kangin had come back from his long business trip and Heechul suggested to make a mini welcome party. Jungsoo initially wanted to be left out as he thought he wasn't a part of their circle. Yet, his boyfriend insisted for him to join. It wasn't that he and Kangin were in a bad term, but obviously, they didn't feel comfortable around each other either. Jungsoo held Heechul's hand naturally and thankfully the latter didn't seem to object. Instead, he felt that Heechul squeezed his hand tighter than usual.

"They're there!" Heechul exclaimed. They strode over to a large booth beside the main bar and all people, having been sitting there, rose instantly upon seeing newcomers. 

Jungsoo recognized most of them, Kangin, Shindong, Donghae, and even Hyukjae, well, he wasn't surprised to see his brother there because he would definitely tag along with his boyfriend. Yet, there were also faces he never saw before, to be exact two of them. One of them was a brown-haired man, with a pretty toned body, wearing an ID card from Heechul's office. It was safe to assume that he was Heechul's subordinate. The other one, however, was very unfamiliar. A tall, fair-skinned boy with big dark eyes, staring at him menacingly since they arrived. The aura he emitted clashed with his.

"Hyung! God, I miss my bratty cousin so much!" Kangin said and enveloped Heechul in a big, bear hug. Perhaps, the cousin indeed missed the designer a lot that his embrace was so tight, Heechul couldn't breathe. When they separated, Kangin eyed Jungsoo and he was reluctant to join them. However it may seem, he was an outsider.

"I see that you've been able to charm my cousin."

"I may say it wasn't easy."

Kangin smirked and approached Jungsoo. The initial worry was washed away when he, too, was being hugged by the bulky man. His ease didn't last long, though, when Kangin whispered on his ear, "Let's talk later, Mr. Park."

All Jungsoo could do was to smile. He reciprocated the hug, giving a sign of affirmation to Kangin's invitation. He joined Heechul on the table and his gaze immediately landed on the tall boy. His jaws clenched when he saw the boy got all touchy with his boyfriend and Heechul seemed not minding it at all. He cleared his throat purposefully and Hyukjae understood right away. His brother murmured something to Donghae's ear that made the younger suddenly became jittery.

"Ahh, it seems that we have to do an introduction first because there are some of us who haven't met each other, right?" Donghae nervously suggested. There were some nods following after and each of them began to introduce themselves. Jungsoo learned that the one who wore the office ID was called Sungmin. He could only beam when the staff said he often saw Jungsoo at the office. After Hyukjae and Donghae's turn, it was the boy that had a mental war with him since the beginning.

"I'm Kyuhyun. I'm working as a consultant at C programming company. I first knew Kangin-hyung and Heechul-hyung when we were still in college."

Jungsoo furrowed his eyebrows. The fact that he had known Heechul longer than he concerned him. Kyuhyun was someone from the past that possibly knew a lot of Heechul's story while he was still learning. After Heechul's turn, it was his.

"I'm Park Jungsoo. People usually call me Leeteuk or Jungsoo. Either is fine. I run a hotel business with my brother Hyukjae and I think that's all."

"Tch. A show off."

"Pardon?" Jungsoo said through gritted teeth, looking straight to the brave soul—Kyuhyun. The man only smirked before gulping down his alcohol.

"May I ask who you are to Heechul-hyung?"

It was almost impossible to make Jungsoo show his annoyance and this guy was so close to doing it. He mentally cheered when Heechul suddenly linked his arm to his and proudly said, "He's my boyfriend, Kyu."

The sour expression Kyuhyun was wearing was too transparent in Jungsoo's opinion. Whoever this man was to Heechul, he needed to know.

][-ooo-][

"For Kangin's coming home, cheers!"

"Cheers!"

"For our new friends, cheers!"

"Cheers!"

"For Shindong's going out before being a groom!"

"Cheers!"

"For Hyukjae's mole on his left cheek, cheers!"

The drinking frenzy continued on and on with the reason for their toasts getting more and more random. There were barely people who