Author’s Note: This story is set in an alternate universe, in an imaginary town and country, and during an ambiguous time period.

Yunho had been enjoying the sit down dinners he was having with his grandparents. It felt cozy and intimate. And, as stupid as this sounded, he missed this, sitting down and eating a homecooked meal. It was not until he was here that he realized how much he missed this little mundane thing, sitting down around a dinner table to have a hot meal, and how much he had wanted it back.

He always knew he had a family and was always a part of it, but sitting down at a dining table and eating dinner at a set time in the evenings made it all feel real and, honestly, like one of those family friendly PG-13 movies.

On his first Friday back, the dinner arrangement was different from all the other nights. His father decided to join them. Yunho was not sure who invited who, but there he was, sitting across from Yunho and downing the beautiful dinner that he had helped his grandparents prepare.

He couldn’t help but wonder if that was going to become a norm. Having dinner with him every Friday. Yunho didn’t like it. Not one bit.

He did not dislike his father. He just did not know the man and did not like being around him because he felt uncomfortable. He never knew what to say. The main reason they never talked on the phone much as he got older. It was like pulling teeth. His grandparents could handle him, so he stayed quiet and ate his food.

His mind started to wander. He was not even thinking about his mom. He was thankful for that. The more he avoided thinking about her, the less he would get closer to that achy feeling of loneliness he hated. He did not want to be upset at her, nor miss her. Not now.

He was not thinking about his mom, he was thinking about school. There was Changmin and his friends who refused to leave him alone. They truly weren’t too bad. And, there was Jaejoong. It was hard to ignore him. Jaejoong was way more popular than he had originally thought. In fact, he was the most popular kid in school. And that was different from being popular in his last school, which meant a few people around the huge school knew who you were. But here in Green Meadow, being popular meant everyone, every single warm body in that school, knew who he was. While that did not surprise Yunho,  he had been the most popular kid in the sixth grade, too, it was still impressive to observe Jaejoong move around and interact with the other students. 

Jaejoong was the quintessential high school chick flick movie and TV show jock. He was a good athlete, he played hockey, he was charismatic, tall, muscular and handsome. And, let’s not forget, he came from money. Even if it was not his. His family was one of the wealthiest families in Green Meadow.

Yunho was trying his best to not acknowledge that Jaejoong lived in the same town as him or that they went to the same school. He was trying his best to act like he simply did not exist. It was hard. 

While Yunho had nothing to say to him, Jaejoong had been the one that ruined their friendship, the fact that they had a history, and a sordid one at that, made it so difficult to not think about him and keep track of his every moment. 

Jaejoong dominated his every thought. And he wasn’t having nice thoughts. In fact, he was fuming. Vexed beyond respite.

Jaejoong was always the one to start things and end things and then act like it was never his fault. He was a spoiled brat. That he remembered. It didn’t appear as if that part of his personality had changed over the years. Still, Yunho did expect things from Jaejoong. He expected remorse. He expected an apology, because he deserved one.

Yunho could not help but wonder how long it would take for Jaejoong to reach out to him, especially if those pained looks he would give him whenever their eyes would meet was any indication of his penitence.

“Yunho, baby, your dad is talking to you.”

He came out of his head. He smiled at his grandmother, looked at the awkward man and apologized. “Yes. Sorry. What is it?” 

His father gave him a weird little smile, nodded, and dropped his gaze. He had never met a more perpetually awkward man than his father. Another reason for their strained relationship. Yunho felt closer to the mailman than his own father, and he still hasn't said more than words of greetings to the mailman.

Yunho took his mother’s looks and coloring, but his father’s personality. Now he saw why his mother could not have made it work even if she had tried. And she had never lied to him, she hadn’t. She realized too late she was in over her head with him. She was fire and he was water. They did not mix. They were completely different people.

Clearing his throat, he finally muttered, “Just wanted to know how you were enjoying being back home.”

Home, huh?

“It’s been great.”

“School?”

He wanted to remind him that he had already asked. In fact, he had been calling him everyday when he did not drop by to check on him. He wondered how long he was going to carry that on. It had been a week, the idea of him being here in Green Meadow was novel. Soon they all would tire of him. And he could not wait.

He was tired of sticking out like a sore thumb.

“Great.”

“Great?” His poppa said, cutting in his roasted potatoes.

“Yes, sir. I like my classes; the teachers are very helpful and have brought me up to speed. I have made friends. It’s been good.”

His father’s face cleared a bit and he gave him that nervous smile again. Once more, he broke their eye contact as soon as they made it. “You have made friends?”

“Yeah. This kid named Changmin and—”

“Yes, he is a good boy. The Shim up by the hardware store. Good family. Good kid.” His poppa said, giving him a nod of approval.

“What about Jaejoong ?” His momma calmly said. 

He felt his throat closing.

Clearing his throat sharply, he took a sip of his drink to stall the conversation. Pursing his lips, he considered the situation and how to proceed forward. He settled on a simply response: “I haven’t really seen him.”

“You haven’t seen him? That can’t be.” His grandmother sounded perplexed.

He shook his head delicately. “It’s been six years.”

She arched an eyebrow. 

He cursed himself internally. He thought his voice was schooled and impressionable. Did he do it wrong? Apparently so. He tried to quickly come up with an explanation that would make sense or at least get the adults off his back.

“It’s a big school.”

They all ignored that obvious lie.

“You used to be close to Jaejoong.” She stopped eating to look at him. He felt like he was under a microscope. He didn’t like it.

“People grow and change.”

“You’re sixteen, pumpkin?”

“Yes, and is no longer in middle school. I…I would say I’ve grown.” He tried to sprinkle a bit of humor in his tone. No one seemed to buy the light-hearted tone he wanted to sell.  “We have just grown up to be different people.” He dropped his gaze.

“That happens,” his poppa said slowly and carefully, and his father nodded his agreement. His manman gave him a critical glance. “Well, I hope you can mend your differences to work together,” she said, fixing her napkin on her lap.

“I hardly—”

“We open up in two weeks. Next week we’re going to start getting ready for the fall attraction.”

“I am excited,” Yunho said slowly and frowned. He felt like he had missed a very important piece of information.

“Jaejoong works here every year. He is a good boy.”

His heart dropped and that feeling of the ground disintegrating and the fear that he was about to fall to his death returned.

“Ooh,” was all he could say in return. He avoided his momma’s eyes. He reached for his drink again and gulped it all down.

Great. He could never catch a break. 

“How about extracurriculars?” 

“Huh? Sorry, ma’am.” He quickly apologized to his momma. She smiled at him, her eyes kind and warm. “I mean, I missed that. Could you repeat the question, please?”

The adults laughed. 

“You should join some clubs, baby. It’ll help make your transition to a new school much easier.” And then she added, “Though it does not appear as if making friends is difficult for you.”

Yunho softly chuckled and shrugged. “I’m not really interested at the moment.”

“You can still do sports. Next year, of course. But if you’re interested, you still have a chance.” His father said. 

“I’m not really into sports.”

“Huh? Didn’t you use to—”

He did play sports when he was younger, but it was because of who his friend was. Not because he had honestly loved sports. 

“Never liked it much.”

“Alright then. Your mom said you were in a band, right?” His dad looked at him with eyes filled with uncertainty. 

Yunho shrugged. “Something like that.”

“Check the music club out, then.”

“Sure.” He wouldn’t. He simply wanted the conversation to end. 

—-----

Lunch time at school was especially hard.

All the classes he had with Changmin and the rest of his friends and Jaejoong was hard, which meant that his stress kept on mounting as his day progressed, but lunch always took the cake. 

He got to be with all of them, and his tablemates never shut up. Further, they were horrendously invasive. Even his cold shoulder and look of annoyance did nothing to hinder them. Kevin was the only person who seemed to get that he wanted his peace and quiet, but his half-hearted attempt at getting his friends to shut up never worked.

What made the interaction especially taxing was that, as the days passed by, Yunho hated that he was getting used to it all. Their incessant chatter, their horrible jokes, and gossip. And gossip they did about everything and everyone.

If he had been back home, he would have just gotten up and moved to a different table, but here, it felt wrong. Even the thought felt rude. They were annoying, but they really were not all that monstrous. Just a bit too invasive and slightly irritating.

“You know he is not too bad.”

“What?” Yunho swallowed his chewed up food and blinked at Soel.

She smiled kindly at him. “Jaejoong. I mean.” She shrugged. “I think it is mean to think that just because they are popular that they are mean bullies and are ghastly.” She said the last word with an accent and high pitch.

He blinked some more at her before he frowned. “Come again?”

Her eyes widened in alarm and she quickly said, “I never said you thought that, but—!”

“What?”

He hated that he had been caught looking at Jaejoong and his obnoxiously loud friends for a fraction of a second. However, he had already made peace with the fact that Jaejoong stayed on his mind 24/7 and his eye-sight whenever they were in the same room. 

He had to be ready to act if Jaejoong decided to man up and own up to his errors.

She smiled at him. “I’m sure you know that Jaejoong is a nice guy. I have never had a bad interaction with him. Now…” She scrunched up her features. “Some of his friends are just….not it.”

“I don’t know what you could mean by that.” He didn’t want to show that he was interested, but he was. He didn’t want to be interested in Jaejoong and his friends, but he couldn’t help himself.

Kimberli stopped trying to win whatever argument she was having with Changmin and Kevin. She turned around and faced the two and said, “Not all of them. Just cumhead Jaehyun.”

Yunho arched an eyebrow of curiosity. “Sorry?”

Kimberli quickly surveyed Jaejoong’s lunch table. “He is absent today. But it shouldn’t be too hard for you to spot him. His existence is unneeded.”

Yunho tried to stop his smile from forming. “I’m glad I don’t know him, then?”

“Yes, you should be,” Kimberli said matter-of-fact.

Soel laughed. “Hush, Kim dear.”

Yunho couldn’t hold back his curiosity anymore. He tried to sound as disinterested as possible as he asked, “What did he do? Now I am intrigued?”

Soel warned him with her eyes. He ignored her. Instead, he gave Kimberli a pleasant look. Urging her with his eyes to go ahead and tell him the whole story.

“It happened freshman year.”

Soel groaned and rolled her eyes. “Why must you hold a grudge against a guy that doesn’t even know you exist simply because he was a terrible boyfriend —- to a girl that doesn’t even know you exist!”

She gave Soel a crossed look. “What he did to that girl was horrible!”

Soel tutted. “That’s how jocks are, babe. It is none of our business.”

“As a woman, it is all of our business when one of our sisters is hurt.”

Kevin and Changmin laughed. 

“Here she goes.” Soel  rolled her eyes.

“Shut up, Kevin, This is why you’re single,” Kimberli said in a mean voice.

“Ouch!” he laughed, covering his chest as if her words had been bullets that pierced through his heart. “And this is why you’re single.”

She literally growled at him. “Only because I want to be. I am a girl and beautiful.”

He laughed. “If that helps you sleep at night.”

Yunho watched as Kimberli grabbed her cartoon of milk, ready to spill the content on Kervin’s jovial head.

“Okay! Why don’t we stop? We’re friends.”

Yunho changed his mind and did not want to hear more of the story. 

“No, we’re not, Yunho. The only reason why we even sit at the same table during lunch and talk to each other is because you’ve forced your way here and into my life, you ingrate!” Kimberli fired back. Kevin didn’t appear fazed, he simply gave her a just response and continued on enjoying his lunch.

Yunho watched stunned as the friends continued their heated back and forth banter. 

Unfortunately for Yunho, he had already gone too far. Soel was looking at him as if he was an exciting chemistry experiment she couldn’t wait to start working on.