Since Jaejoong was in the midst of looking for a new house and also wasn’t willing to go back to his old abode despite it already rid of the termites, he decided to crash in Yunho’s apartment for the time being.

The two brothers were in the livingroom with Sumire while she watched her daily dose of sappy Korean dramas.

‘That’s so sparkly and shiny!’ Sumire started to jump excitedly in her seat.

‘What is?’ Jaejoong looked up from his paperwork and looked at the screen, ‘Oh, a rock.’

‘A rock? But why don’t the ones in school sparkle like that too?’ Sumire pouted adorably at Jaejoong.

‘Ahh- a rock is another word for a diamond, or any other precious stone. You do know what a diamond ring is right?’ Jaejoong asked Sumire.

She nodded vehemently, ‘That’s the one on the screen now right!?’

‘Correct. You give them to the person you love very much.’

‘Daddy!’ Sumire called out and Yunho looked at her questioningly, ‘ I will save up and buy you a ring with a really biggggggggg diamond!’ Sumire declared proudly.

Yunho stared wide-eyed at the child, ‘Don’t you dare. You don’t know what your words mean right now.’

‘I know what I’m saying! I love Daddy!’

‘Sumire,’ Jaejoong laughed hysterically, ‘You can only do that if you want to marry that person. You can’t marry Yunho.’

‘Oh… I’m soooooo sorry Daddy.’

The completely stunned Yunho could only nod weakly at the apology.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

‘You didn’t answer my question yesterday on when I could meet your parents.’ Jaejoong stated.

‘Jaejoong, we’re now on site at a photoshoot, so can we discuss about that later?’ You replied while hanging the clothes on hangers and placing them back on the movable rack.

‘How come I’m more excited about this than you are?’ Jaejoong pouted and walked off.

‘I’m excited too, Jaejoong,’ you thought while you looked at Jaejoong’s retreating back, ‘I really am, but there’s a time and place for everything.’

‘Number 4!’ A high-pitched voice shrieked, or rather, called out to you.

You didn’t have to turn to know that it was the ex-Number 3, Kim Junsu.

‘Oh my Gawd, hi! It’s been too long!’ Junsu gave you a friendly hug.

‘How’s things with the Styling team?’ You bubbled.

‘I’m fine. And oh my Gawd, Jaejoong really did assign me the toughest Stylist as my mentor. It’s been 3 weeks already and only now can I be released to help out on site.’

‘WHAT!? This is your first time out of the office in 3 weeks!?’ You gaped.

‘I know right!? And it’s only to help out, not facilitate with any styling,’ Junsu rolled his eyes.

‘Ex-Number 3, greetings,’ Jaejoong was beside you both now.

‘Jaejoong.’ Junsu bowed.

‘Heard your complaints there so I won’t be asking any further on how you are coping,’ Jaejoong stated.

‘Oops…’ Junsu looked down embarrassedly.

‘Junsu, here’s a word of advice. The Wardrobe is an extremely sheltered place, and believe me when I say this. In the main fashion department, there’s a lot of backstabbing and plotting going on. I know you’ll be able to handle all the shouting and screaming thanks to yours truly, but when it comes down to under handed methods, you’re completely clueless. Almost 90% of the fashion department’s staff worked in the Wardrobe before. You think they managed to get promoted just because of pure hard work? Your careless mouth will get in big trouble just like the countless of times during your days with me in my department. You better can that troublesome mouth of yours or I’m sending you back to a safer place which is behind that old desk of yours that happens to still be empty,’ Jaejoong stated.

Junsu gulped and so did you.

‘I was in a dilemma about giving you that promotion. You’re really talented and it’s easy to see that. But that mouth of yours is even more troubling than your rear end.’

Junsu burst into both light tears and laughter.

‘You complimented me for the first time, Jaejoong. Thank you. I will remember your words.’

‘You better. Oh, and if you think someone’s out to get you in trouble, tell me. I may not be your department head anymore but everyone knows that I’m the real power in the Fashion Department.’

‘I know. And thank you once more.’ Junsu bowed and ran back to his screaming superior who had been yelling his name for the past few minutes.

‘Jaejoong,’ you smiled up at him, ‘I never knew you could be so nice to Junsu.’

‘It’s just that he always brings out the inner in me before I could go around being a tiny bit nice to him,’ Jaejoong shrugged.

‘Oh,’ you pouted sadly, ‘Is the Fashion Department really that scary?’

‘I’ve been at the top of it and I’ve seen it all. You don’t know how hard it was just to seat stably on it. I was met with fierce opposition when I got the high position of Executive Fashion Editor. It was unheard of for a newcomer freshly out of grad school at the age of 23 to just sit up there. There were a few forerunners who had been competing fiercely for that position and I just cut into the queue to grab it because I had Yunnie’s backing. I do not regret taking that job though. I knew I was more capable than anyone else in running the whole Fashion Department. I was sabotaged and got my pay docked because of all those underhanded scheming. My staff boycotted me during my first week. It was pure hell. They didn’t turn up for meetings. I never gave up though. Do you have Blitz’s issue 164?’

‘I have every single issue,’ you replied softly.

‘In the second week, I fired 3/4 of the fashion team. I did that also because they went on strike, which was something extremely unbefitting of the level of supposed professionalism from Blitz’s staff. After issue 164 was published, our magazine saw an increase in subscriptions by 8%.’

‘Amazing…’ you muttered.

‘During my first month of work, I stayed up an entire week without sleep to plan, coordinate, produce and write 44 out of the 60 articles for our magazine’s fashion section. And only after the success of that very issue then did I finally get the respect I deserved.’

‘Jaejoong…’ you whispered and touched Jaejoong’s arm to calm him down when you saw his clenched fists.

‘I was on a ing drip in the ing hospital but I still ing wrote like no tomorrow. I actually begged the nurses to let me use the computer. I. ing. Begged. I, Kim Jaejoong, ing threw away my ing pride for the first time. I was in charge of the fashion department so I had to get all the work done. If my workers don’t work, then I, as the leader have to step in.’

You pulled Jaejoong into a hug.

Funny thing was, you were the one with watery eyes.

‘But now that I was the target no more, people now eyed the various job vacancies because I fired so many of the old staff. They up really badly to me and to be honest, I couldn’t tell who was genuinely on my side and willing to work for the better good of the company and who just wanted to climb the career ladder by polishing my shoes.’

You kept quiet while fighting back your tears.

‘Now I have a confession to make.’

You looked up at the sad looking Jaejoong but nodded.

‘About the promotions… you were picked once again to enter the Feature’s Writing Team. I declined on your behalf. I decided to promote you in my department instead because you’ve been outstanding so far… but I have to add that it’s also partly because of my guilt for rejecting your transfer… Am I being selfish here?’

You stared at Jaejoong for a while trying to absorb his words.

‘No… and thank you for being selfish. I kind of threw away my writing dreams after I met you,’ you blushed.

‘We’re both crazy,’ Jaejoong laughed.

‘Yeah,’ you nodded, ‘Well, let’s get back to work.’

‘Okay,’ you both broke the hug and resumed the photoshoot on site duties.

‘Jaejoong…’ you began while packing up the clothes.

‘Hmm?’

‘I actually called my parents up last night,’ you replied in a soft voice, ‘They said they’re free this Sunday night.’

Jaejoong smiled and planted a chaste kiss on your lips, ‘Okay, we’ll head there then.’

‘Okay,’ you nodded.

Jaejoong was now inspecting the clothes on the rack for damages.

‘Jaejoong?’ You began with a small voice.

Jaejoong paused and turned to face you.

‘I love you,’ you didn't know why you just suddenly blurted that out.

He just stared blankly at you.

And you did the same.

Then it hit you.

He never said he loved you before.

You looked up expectantly at him.

But Jaejoong was already running off.

Strange guy…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A small bouquet of 3 fresh red roses was shoved into your hands.

‘What’s the meaning now?’ You laughed at Jaejoong’s actions.

‘I had always wanted to do this,’ Jaejoong giggled before regaining his composure, ‘Kimchi.’

‘Yes?’

‘3 roses means… I love you.’

You whacked Jaejoong’s arm and blushed hard.

‘You closet romantic,’ you muttered coyly, ‘How many more ‘rose number’ stunts have you got left?’ You questioned.

‘Many, many more but I’ll stop here. It’s getting boring,’ Jaejoong rolled his eyes.

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