Syae Ri looked at him with teary, sincere eyes. Junsu breathed in.

“Kwaenchannayo.” He said.

Junsu took Syae Ri in his arms and trapped her in a tight embrace.

“Syae Ri-sshi, kwaenchannayo.” He said again, breaking off from for just an inch. “Saranghaeyo…”

He inched his face closer. He closed his eyes. He puckered his lips…

“HYUNNGGGG~!!!”

The shocked voice of Changmin reverberated around the Kim House, waking the dreaming Junsu up from his fantasy and back into dark reality.

“Yah! What the hell? Why so noisy?” Junsu asked irately in between yawns.

“Yah, hyung! What the hell? Are you gay?” Changmin whined annoyingly.

Junsu jumped up from the couch as soon as he heard that damned question.

“B-bwo?” he squeaked. “What the hell? Why do you people keep asking that? I’m not, okay? AIGOO!”

“Bwo? Someone else asked you that too?” Changmin asked. “Who?”

Junsu frowned, not exactly wanting to remember that memory. “It’s, uhm… Aigoo. Don’t ask. Why the hell did you just say that for, huh?”

”Aish! You were puckering your lips. You were about to kiss me!”

“Aaarrrgggssshhh~!!!” Junsu mumbled as he slumped back down on the couch and buried his face into the pillow.

“Yah! You were dreaming again, aren’t you?”

”Whatsitooya?”

“Aigoo, hyung!”

Changmin nudged, hit and shook Junsu, trying to make him get up but the older guy was stubborn as a mule.

“Aish!” Changmin exclaimed.

“You should stop that, sunbae. You’ll never gonna get my oppa to get up from there.” Junsu’s youngest sister, Hee Soo, said as she appeared in the living carrying a beady-eyed gecko in her hands.

“Is he sulking again?” Changmin asked.

“Yes, he’s been like that ever since he came home last night. Even umma’s nagging couldn’t get to him. My guess is that it’s a girl-related problem. No girl has had the mistake of looking at him, thank goodness.”

“Yah, dongsaeng!” Junsu quickly yelled as he raised his head lazily from the pillow and glared at his younger sister. “Just because your love life with your Heechul is going smoothly doesn’t mean you can ridicule mine!”

“Whatever, oppa!” Hee Soo said, rolling her eyes. She then went to the door and headed outside, still carrying that gecko with her.

“Heechul? Who’s Heechul?” Changmin asked curiously.

“You know that scary-looking lizard she’s carrying?” Junsu replied glumly. “That’s Heechul.”

“Aigoo. Oppa’s coming up with lame comebacks again.” Ji Soo said as she entered the living room, inciting a bright smile on the face of the tallest guy there.

“Ji Soo-ah, annyeong~!” Changmin greeted.

“Oh, Changmin-sshi, annyeong! What brings you here?”

“Oh, to ask help from hyung. Umma’s birthday is coming up and I need to find a present.”

“Oh, so you’re hoping oppa will help you?” Ji Soo asked as she looked at Junsu lying face down on the couch. “Aigoo. Good luck on convincing him.”

”Yeah, that’s right.” Changmin said as he turned his attention back to his hyung. “Yah, hyung!”

“Libmeeawoone!” the still stubborn guy mumbled.

“Aigoo! But hyung!”

“Aish! I’m not in the mood.” Junsu said, raising his head slightly. “Why don’t you just ask Ji Soo-ah?” he added half-teasingly, half- whiningly.

“Bwo? Me?” Ji Soo said.

“Yeah, you! You don’t have anything else to do so just go with him.” Junsu mumbled like a drunkard before sinking back down into his own underworld.

“Aish, hyung!” Changmin mumbled as he hopelessly shook Junsu again.

“Uh, Changmin-sshi.” Ji Soo said and Changmin instantly turned to face her. “I can go with you if you want.”

“Really?” he asked half-blushing red as a baboon’s and half-wanting to scream to the heavens.

Ji Soo nodded.

♥;♥;♥;♥

Changmin swallowed nervously as he and Ji Soo walked around the mall. Every male and female pairing he saw were holding hands and he argued with himself if he should also take Ji Soo’s hand.

“Pabo!” he thought to himself. “That would surely freak her out. We’re not a couple… at least, not yet, I hope. Kekekeke.”

“Changmin-sshi” Ji Soo called and he instantly reverted back to his “normal” self.

“Yes?”

“What are you planning to give to your umma?” she asked.

“Oh, I, uh, I haven’t really thought about that yet.” He said.

Changmin stopped in front of a teddy bear store and surveyed the huge teddy bears on display.

“Yah. Changmin-sshi,” Ji Soo said, appearing at his side. “You’re not planning to give a teddy bear to your umma, are you?”

Changmin smiled. He WAS planning to give a teddy bear to someone but it was definitely not his mother.

“No,” he said. “I was just looking at them… Find anything cute there?” he added the last part simply and inconspicuously.

“Those,” Ji Soo said, pointing to a medium-sized brown cuddly bear and a huge white huggable one. “They’re cute.”

Changmin smiled more. “So… If you have a boyfriend then you’ll want him to give those to you as a gift?”

“A boyfriend?” she asked incredulously. “I don’t need a guy to do that kind of stuff for me. I can buy those for myself if I really wanted to.”

Changmin looked at Ji Soo and noticed a sudden change in her expression.

“Well, I didn’t mean it that way.” He said. “Isn’t it that, in relationships, these kinds of gifts are symbols for the guy’s affection?”

“I wouldn’t know and, frankly, I really don’t care. Let’s just save it for those lovey-dovey couples.”

Ji Soo scoffed and walked away from the store. Changmin followed her.

“Ji Soo-ah,” Changmin said. “May I ask, is something wrong? You seem bitter about relationship stuff.”

“Oh, d-do I?” she asked. “Mianhe, I just don’t like talking about it. It’s nothing… Uhm, aren’t we gonna look for a gift?”

“Uh… yeah.” Changmin said softly.

♥;♥;♥;♥

“Omo! Oppa doesn’t resemble a panda.” Ji Soo said, half-chuckling, when she heard Changmin’s comment.

“Aigoo! He does!” He did so earlier. He really looked like a giant panda.”

Ji Soo laughed. “Aigoo. Oppa already has the ‘duck- problem’ and now you’re adding ‘giant panda resemblance’?”

Changmin laughed too. They went on joking about Junsu as Changmin walked her home.

“So, Changmin-sshi, are those okay?” Ji Soo asked,

He looked down on what he had bought: an inspirational book and a red scented candle – all on Ji Soo’s suggestion.

Changmin smiled. “Yes. I’m sure umma would love these.”

“That’s good. Tell her happy birthday for me, Changmin-sshi.”

“I will but, aigoo,” he muttered. “’Changmin-sshi, Changmin-sshi’? Drop the formality will you, Ji Soo-ah. Call me something else.”

“Okay then, ahjussi.” She joked.

“Aish! That’s worse.” Changmin whined.

They both broke into laughter.

“Araso, araso. Changmin-AH, then.” JI Soo said.

“Finally!” Changmin said half-heartedly, having another term in mind.

“Oh, here’s our house.” Ji Soo said as their house loom in front of them. “Aigoo, umma’s already there. I better go inside.”

“Ji Soo-ah, wait.” Changmin quickly said before she can go farther. “Uh, about today, kamsahamnida.”

She smiled brightly. “It was noth – Ah!”

Ji Soo moved one step towards Changmin but then tripped. He instantly caught her in his arms just in time.

“Woops. Mianhe.” She said as she looked up to realize her face was just an inch or two from his.

“Oh, it’s, uh, okay.” He said nervously, aware of how close they were.

Changmin felt his heart accelerate. He was panicking inside. He was never this close to her before… but he did not want to end this moment so soon.

“Kwaenchannayo?” he asked, nearing breathlessness.

Ji Soo looked at him in the eyes and nodded. She felt nervous. Slowly, Ji Soo moved away.

“Yeah, kwaenchanna.” She repeated, looking away from him.

“Uh, that’s good. Uh, Ji Soo-ah, again, thank you for today. For your help, I mean.”

Ji Soo regained her composure and looked back at him.

“No problem.” She said with a bright smile playing on her lips. “I, uh, better go.”

Before Ji Soo can turn around Changmin called her again.

“Wait,” he said. Changmin felt his heart jumping like a wild animal. Somehow, he felt this was THE chance, the only chance.

Without willing himself to do so, Changmin moved forward and pressed his palm against Ji Soo’s cheek. His lips caught hers. Changmin lost all control as soon as his lips touched her soft ones. He placed his free arm on her back and pressed her closer. He kissed her passionately.

Ji Soo felt rigid with shock. She didn’t expect something like this would happen. Her heart beat crazily like it never had before. She tried to breathe but she can only inhale his sweet scent.

Ji Soo was torn apart. Half of her wanted to stay this way with him while the other half said this was a bad idea. Siding with what she thought as her better judgment, she broke off from him.

Changmin looked at her with a confused expression. Ji Soo seemed shocked and her eyes were starting to glisten.

“J-Ji Soo-ah, what’s wrong?” he asked softly.

“I-I better go inside.”

With that, she pushed Changmin away from her and hurriedly ran towards their house.

Ji Soo pushed open the door and slammed it shut behind her.

“Unnie!” Hee Soo greeted but she was just ignored by the older girl. Ji Soo bolted up the stairs and fled inside her room.

“Omo! What’s wrong with unnie?” Hee Soo asked no one in particular.

“JI Soo-ah, Ji Soo-ah!” their mother called out but Ji Soo did not call back.

Their mother sighed, certain that her oldest daughter would be locking herself in her room all night. She looked at Junsu who was still sulking on the couch, then looked back up the stairs. “Aigoo… Not Ji Soo too.”

♥;♥;♥;♥

Ji Soo wiped a tear on her cheek as she leaned on the door. She didn’t know why she was crying. Hell! She doesn’t even have a reason to cry about.

She tried to stop herself but it only led to more tears. Ji Soo sat down on the floor, reluctantly letting the unwanted tears fall.

Outside, Changmin still stood on his spot, dumbfounded and confused.

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