Heechul survived the next days with his guilty conscience by acting friendly and polite towards Han Geng, but he avoided his eyes and any type of skin contact. The other's eyes watched him with disappointment and sadness. And Heechul hated when people were disappointed with him.
Friday he had to go back to Korea again to shoot Knowing Bros. He didn’t tell Han Geng that he would be back to Korea for a few days. And the other probably didn’t know his filming schedule anyway.
After the shooting of Knowing Bros, the seven men went out drinking together.
Heechul got incredibly drunk again. This seemed to happen frequently after he began participating in that movie. After what happened with Han Geng.
He leaned against Kyunghoon and grabbed Janghoon's arm. The older man looked irritated, first at Heechul then at Kyunghoon.
“Hyung, why are people so…why are they like that?!”
“How are people, Heechul?” Janghoon asked.
Heechul kept pulling at Janghoon's arm, which made the other fear for his beloved limb. At the same time, he hit Kyunghoon's chin with the back of his head. “So traitororyy-ous? Traitorous!”
Hodong had stopped chatting with Youngchul and also looked at the younger man. “Heechul-ah, what are you talking about?”
The idol let out a voiceless cry. “Why does he keep looking at me like I kicked his puppy? He doesn’t even have a puppy! He has a girlfriend! I didn’t kick his girlfriend!”
“Hyung, who and what are you talking about?!”
“You…don’t know him…I mean you do but not…like me! And he…it's my fault but he also…!” Heechul's head just rolled back against Kyunghoon's shoulder and just like that he was out cold.
The rest of the Knowing Bros members just looked at each other in confusion.
The next morning Heechul woke up to the sounds of someone being in his kitchen.
When he followed the noise, he saw Jungsoo preparing food.
“Thanks…I guess?”
“Sit down.”
“Why are you here?” Heechul did as he was told and was offered a delicious meal by Jungsoo.
“Eat and then we have to talk.” The older also filled a plate for himself.
Heechul shoved the food into his mouth. “Why are you so serious? What happened? And why do you want to talk to me?”
“Kyunghoon called me yesterday.”
“Kyunghoon? What? Why?” He put down the chopsticks and looked in Jungsoo's worried face.
“He brought you home yesterday and told me some things you told the Knowing Bros cast yesterday.”
Heechul feared for his poker face. What did he tell them? Or was it nothing too revealing like that one time with Hyukjae?
“Huh? What did he tell you?”
“Eat up and I'll tell you.”
They didn’t say anything until both of them finished their meal. Then Jungsoo calmly washed the dishes. Heechul felt like he was going mad with anxiety.
Finally, Jungsoo had put away all plates and sat down again.
“So…who is the guy of whom you neither kicked the puppy nor the girlfriend? Why are you so angry towards that man anyway?”
Heechul opened his mouth and tried to say anything but he was too shocked. “W-What are you talking about?”
The leader rolled his eyes. “Kyunghoon told me you kept whining about traitorous people and how that guy looked at you like you kicked his puppy. But he has no puppy but a girlfriend. What happened between you and him that you are so angry?”
Heechul stayed silent.
“You've been weird last week, too. Something happened in China, right?”
“I don’t want to talk about it. It doesn’t concern the group. I just made things a little complicated for myself.”
Jungsoo angrily slammed down his hand. “Heechul, it's not always about the group! For s sake, I want to help you as your friend! And you’re obviously very stressed right now and the reason seems to be whatever happened in China. I’ve had it with you always keeping things to yourself and wallowing in self-pity!”
The long-haired idol gritted his teeth. “What do you want to know?! I almost ed one of my co-stars, that's it.”
“Almost? What happened and that doesn’t sound like you would be so worked up about it…” Jungsoo's facial expression turned skeptical.
Heechul felt tears poke at the corners of his eyes. He wanted to tell someone about this mess but he himself hadn't even come to terms with the incident.
“I almost ed a male co-star and we know him quite well. We know him very well.”
The other leaned back on his chair, looking at the ceiling, probably trying to remember. “A male co-star we know very well…”
Heechul didn’t realise how the tears had started running down his face. “We worked with him together for years. We lived with him together. And he left. He left and now I ruined everything because he has a girlfriend, who is pretty, and he loves her and we got drunk and I almost slept with him…”
While Heechul rambled, Jungsoo's eyes opened comically wide. “You…what?”
“I almost slept with Hankyung!” Heechul was now screaming at him.
Suddenly it was completely silent in the whole flat. Jungsoo slowley pushed his chair back and walked over to Heechul to hug him. “Ssshhh…calm down, Heechul. Please tell me what happened. And this time from the very beginning.”
And Heechul did.
Jungsoo sighed while Heechul hid his face in his hands. His eyes were a little puffy and blood shot from crying.
“Heechul, can I be honest with you?”
A little nod.
“It sounds like you’re emotionally involved.”
The younger stood up and put away some things that urgently needed to be tidied up right now. “That’s bull.”
“Heechul…you were devastated every time the contact broke off…and now you see him again after years! And the first thing that happens is that the both of you end up in bed together!” The way Jungsoo was moving his arms reminded Heechul of someone talking to a little child. A white plate went back into the kitchen cupboard. And he brushed some imaginary dirt into the sink.
“I was drunk! And he as well!”
“Idiot! You don’t almost have just because you’re drunk! We certainly didn’t try anything.”
“Why, do you want to?” If Heechul didn’t stop his big mouth Jungsoo would probably hit him. Hard. “Maybe you’re just not attractive enough.”
They ended up fighting over Jungsoo’s attractiveness.
“Okay, stop! Stop! That’s not helping us with your problem! You think Hankyung is attractive?”
Heechul rolled his eyes. “Of course. Have you seen him? But being attracted to him has nothing to do with my feelings for him.”
“The way you reacted after the whole thing and how you’re talking about him. And just the way you have always been with him…it suggests that you like him. A lot. More than a friend you just see every few years by coincidence. And different from a best friend. If you think about the whole thing now, without involving your careers: Would you like to kiss Han Geng again?”
Did he want to kiss Han Geng?
When he thought about the other it was like looking back at his whole life. Even during the years they hadn’t seen each other, there were more than a few moments when he had been thinking about his Chinese friend.
Han Geng being attractive was obvious. But he was also calm and attentive. He seldom asked for things and would understand that Heechul was busy because of his work, as it was the same for him. He could always cook for Heechul and he was the type of guy to do anything to make his lover happy.
Han Geng was the type of guy to make Heechul happy because Heechul had been in love with him for years.
“.”

His last few days with Xiaoxi had been very cold. Han Geng didn’t know how to act with her right now.
He kept thinking of Heechul and it really made him feel guilty. Not because it was Heechul but towards his girlfriend. He had really liked Xiaoxi. He still really liked her. But his heart ached when he thought about how Heechul had ignored him and how he missed his lips. Suddenly, he wished to hold Heechul in his arms instead of Xiaoxi. Before their heated encounter he had never thought about Heechul more than a friend after leaving Super Junior and now it was like years of pent up longing were crashing down on him. He even began to miss Heechul nagging about his broken Korean. Since he arrived in China he hadn’t done it. Almost as if he didn’t see it as his duty any longer. And it had never bothered Han Geng during their previous encounter. Until now.
He sighed and looked at his phone. Three messages and two missed calls from Xiaoxi, asking him to go on a date with her. An even louder sigh escaped him. He threw his phone onto his couch before getting ready for a new day on set.
They would film his character meeting his lover’s former boyfriend. And Han Geng was quite nervous. He was definitely not the type of guy to get overly jealous. To play this jealousy now was a big challenge to him.
And in addition to all this came the fact that he was to see Heechul again today.
His phone rang again.
His girlfriend.
He ignored it. Again.
When he arrived at their changing room, Heechul was already there, joking with their stylists. When the older man saw him, he smiled and greeted him.
Han Geng blinked irritated and looked behind him to see if there was another person Heechul had actually greeted. He only saw the white door.
He looked at Heechul again, who snorted and rolled his eyes. “Yeah. I meant you.”
Heechul had a new hair style – shorter and with more waves – and the Chinese man couldn’t help but feel overwhelmed by the situation and lose himself in staring at the soft looking locks. He shook his head and greeted everyone in the room.
Han Geng sat down and the stylists started working their wonders on him. Heechul asked him how his previous week had been. He stuttered out some halfhearted answer.
“Hey, I know we haven’t talked much the last few weeks but did your Korean get even worse? Do you need me to teach you again?” Heechul grabbed his chest on the left side and imitated Han Geng like he used to do, “Oh if you say that, my heart heart, it’s bad!” Then he giggled like some crazy person and slapped the younger man’s arm.
Heechul greeted him. Heechul talked to him. Heechul made fun of his Korean. Heechul touched him.
“What the is going on?!”
One of his stylists let out a tiny awkward sound at his choice of words.
Of course, Heechul didn’t understand him so he only stopped laughing.
“Can we talk? Later?” He realised Heechul was blushing when his ears suddenly had a tint of red to them. But still, the older nodded.
He turned to his manager “Do we still have time?”
“Yeah. But only about 15 minutes.”
“We’ll be back then.” He indicated for Heechul to follow him. “Now then.”
This was probably the first time since the lawsuit that he took such a serious matter into his own hands. Because almost sleeping with his once best friend was a very serious matter to him.
They passed several doors and many staff members ran past them.
Finally, they arrived at the male restrooms.
“The toilet? Seriously?!” Heechul looked at him weirdly but opened the door – only to step beside and let Han Geng go first.
“You’re so weird.”
“You will not insult me with your disgrace of the Korean language.”
“Learn Chinese then!”
“Learn Korean first!”
They grinned at each other.
“Okay look, Heechul, I have no idea what happened. Why are we talking again?” Han Geng never had been one to beat about the bush.
“Frankly, I realised I was being an . I just didn’t know how to deal with me being attracted to you.”
“Come again?!”
“Well, what do you think why I wanted and almost got to fu-“
The door of the restroom opened and for some reason Han Geng pushed Heechul in one of the bathroom stalls at the same time.
Heechul glared at him an rolled his eyes. “What the are you doing? Do you want to reenact some cheap scene?” Heechul’s angry whisper was just quiet enough to not be heard by the person in the restroom.
“You talked about this, how was I supposed to react? Do you want the whole Chinese film industry to know about us almost sleeping together?” The Chinese man tightened his grip on Heechul’s shoulder.
They heard the guy washing his hands and leaving the room.
Han Geng sighed relieved after the door snapped shut. He also released Heechul.
He ran his hand through his hair with a stressed look on his face while he rested his other hand on the wall beside the older’s head.
Heechul rolled his eyes once more and muttered, “This is like every BL manhwa on Lezhin” before kissing Han Geng.

He knew it was wrong.
He wanted to enjoy the following weeks together with Han Geng. As his friend. Because the other had a girlfriend.
But what was he to do when this handsome Chinese man pushed him into a place with so little room after talking about them ing?
What he didn’t expect was Han Geng responding to the kiss after not even one second. His hands grabbed Heechul’s face and he even deepened the kiss.
In his surprise Heechul tried to get away from the other, but the younger’s lips chased his until he was pressed against the wall of the bathroom stall. The wall creaked under the weight of two grown men pressing against it.
The Korean star had kissed a lot of people in his life in various situations, but he could still feel his ears getting hot as he heard his own moan echoing from the white tiles of the small restroom when Han Geng pushed his thigh between his.
Han Geng’s lips slowly detached themselves from his lips and Heechul pushed the other away.
“Hankyung, we can’t start this all over again!”
Han Geng nooded and released his hold on Heechul. He also glanced at his watch. “Oh !” He took the Korean’s hand and pulled him towards the exit. “The director will kill us.”
Before they arrived on set, Han Geng tugged at Heechul’s sleeve and looked at him with big puppy eyes which the older probably hadn’t seen since their debut days.
“Let’s talk. Later?”
Heechul nodded and Han Geng rubbed his hand with his thumb.
The Korean idol began to wonder when he became the protagonist in a romantic drama. He was now on set of a Chinese movie, hot and bothered, with his heart in his throat.
The staff was still preparing some probs and correcting the lightning. Everything was beginning to look like a normal day on set, except for the two idols who were dreading having a conversation later on.
Later, during their break, Heechul used the time to take a few minutes to call Leeteuk.
The phone rang 5 times until Leeteuk picked up. “Jungsoo!“
“I‘m already afraid of the reason why you‘re calling me, Heechul.“
“Aish! You’re an sometimes! I finally come to you with my worries and you’re still complaining!“
Leeteuk let out a long and obviously fake sigh. “Yeah because you’re in China right now and we already learned that you don’t know the saying „What happens in China stays in China“.“
“It‘s Vegas. And you. It’s not like you wouldn‘t think with your .“
“Nevermind. Tell me what’s going on.“
For a moment Heechul pondered whether he should just end the call. But unfortunately, he needed to talk to someone. “We kissed again.“
“Did he break up with his girlfriend?“
“I…I didn‘t ask. It was me who kissed him in the first place.“
This time it was a real sigh. “Heechul, why are you doing this to yourself?“
“We said we‘ll talk. Later. Jungsoo…I‘m pretty sure he feels something as well.“
“Say whaaat?“
“You need to stop trying to use modern slangs. You‘re embarrassing yourself.“
“Shut up. Well, then talk. Both of you need to figure out what you’re expecting from all of this. This cannot continue. Otherwise you will have your heart broken by the end of this movie.“
“But what am I supposed to tell him? What if he‘s not interested, and I tell him that I‘m ing in love with him?“
For a second Heechul wondered when he became such a mess. This thing with Han Geng was driving him insane.
“Try to let him speak first? Honestly I don‘t know. I‘ve never been in such a situation. Maybe ask him why he almost slept with you. Try to get him to talk first. It sounds mean, I know, but in the end he‘s the one with the girlfriend.“
He wanted to defend Han Geng but some girl from the staff told him it was only five minutes until they would continue filming.
“I‘m sorry, Jungsoo, they‘re telling me to hurry.“
“Don‘t worry too much, Heechul. Whatever happens, when you come back to Korea, we‘re here for you. Even though I hope your movie has a happy ending.“