“And the 2009 Youth Star Winner is Contestant Number Four, Cho Jinho. This means that Contestant Number Seven Do Kyungsoo is the runner up. Kyungsoo-gun, can you please come forward to receive your prize,” the emcee announced.

Kyungsoo smiled as he stepped forward to receive his trophy as the crowd cheered and clapped. Jinho was also applauding for Kyungsoo. Next, it was Jinho’s turn to receive his award.

Finally the competitors made it backstage and began congratulating one another. Kyungsoo approached Jinho and gave him a handshake, “Hyung, chu-ka hamnida.”

“Gamsa-hamnida, Kyungsoo-ssi,” Jinho smiled. “You did pretty well yourself. I actually rooted for you to win.”

“Really?” Kyungsoo asked.

Jinho nodded.

They wanted to talk more but some other contestants came and interrupted their conversation.

……

Jinho had just passed the building’s revolving door when he spotted a solitary figure standing outside. On closer look, it was Kyungsoo.  “Kyungsoo-ah, why are you still here?”

“I was waiting for my parents to pick me up. But my mum just called to tell me that they’re unable to. Hyung, what about you? Are you finally done here?”

Jinho nodded. “I’m famished. Hey, since your parents aren’t around, do you want to have dinner together?”

Kyungsoo glanced at his stomach and he realised that he actually felt hungry. “Sure.”

……

The two boys had their dinner at a fast food restaurant. They were having a nice conversation and were laughing together.

“You want to be a chef?” Jinho exclaimed.

“Or a fashion designer,” Kyungsoo said.

“But that’s such a waste of your singing talent!”

“But I have a better talent at cooking. I can whip up a mean meal of spaghetti,” Kyungsoo boasted. “You really need to try my cooking.”

“I’ve heard you sing. I have yet to try your cooking. Let me try your food first to judge. I’m quite a fussy eater,” Jinho laughed. “But really, don’t you aim to become a singer?”

Kyungsoo shrugged. “What about you?”

“I just want to sing,” Jinho declared with an impassionate and determined tone. “Even if I have to become an indie artiste and end up doing gigs at clubs or bars, I’ll do it. But I hope to debut as an artiste.”

“You’re that ambitious!” Kyungsoo remarked.

Jinho nodded. “So what’s next for you after this competition?”

“I’m participating in the Youth Sing Competition.”

“Really? Jinho exclaimed. “I’m participating in that too.”

“This means that we’ll be rivals,” Kyungsoo laughed. “This time, I’ll do my best to beat you to be crowned the champion.”

“And I won’t let my guard down,” Jinho declared.

The two boys chatted for a while more before they exchanged numbers and parted ways for the night promising to catch up with one another.

……

The next time the two boys met was two weeks later at the Youth Sing Competition Finals. This time round it was Kyungsoo who clinched the championship. The judges had described the competition and results to be a close call. The two boys agreed to meet up for their own celebration after they are done for the day.

“Kyungsoo-ah, you did very well. Chu-ka-hae.”

“I told you I would win this round, didn’t I?”

“Yes you did.”

“Mi-an-hae,” Kyungsoo blurted out all of a sudden.

“Mweo? Why are you apologising?”

“For winning.”

“Why would you apologise for winning? You are good. And you deserve to win.”

“That you might be angry at me for winning, for not allowing you to achieve a perfect streak,” Kyungsoo muttered. “You like singing so much and take all the competitions seriously…”

“Oh gosh!” Jinho replied with a faux look of horror on his face. “I didn’t know I made you think that way.”

“You know,” Jinho continued, “I didn’t join the competition just to win…well…of course winning would be good, but it’s really for the experience of standing on a stage and performing confidently in front of an audience. And if it wasn’t for the competition, I don’t think I would have met a friend and a worthy competitor like you.”

“So you’re really not mad at me…”

“Well, I’m not a sore loser, but…losing isn’t a great feeling after all…maybe you could do something to help me cheer up…” Jinho teased.

“How can I help?” Kyungsoo asked eagerly.

“Since you said you’re good at cooking pasta, perhaps you could cook me a meal,” Jinho suggested.

“Deal,” Kyungsoo replied excitedly as his eyes lit up.

“Are you participating in any more competitions soon?”

Kyungsoo shook his head.

“So would you come watch me compete in the Every Star Competition?” Jinho asked. “If I make it to the top three, I might be able to be accepted into one of the companies as a trainee.” 

Kyungsoo nodded his head.

…..

Kyungsoo kept this promise to Jinho and prepared some pasta dishes for him. He whipped up a small casserole of lasagna and a lunchbox full of spaghetti marinara as they had a lunch picnic in a park. Kyungsoo also packed another box of salad as well.

“Wow, that’s really a lot of food for the two of us,” Jinho remarked. “You’re going to fatten me.”

Nevertheless, Jinho was really touched by the effort that Kyungsoo made and praised the younger boy’s cooking as it was really palatable. Jinho ruffled Kyungsoo’s hair as a form of thanks causing the latter to blush.

……

Jinho did go on to emerge the champion of the Every Star Competition. And he thanked a particular friend (Kyungsoo) in his victory speech for coming to support him that day. Jinho even gave Kyungsoo a hug when they met up when the day’s events for Jinho concluded.

The friendship between the two boys blossomed pretty fast. Jinho later learnt that Kyungsoo’s parents were mostly busy with work and were not at home most of the time. He had another sibling that was studying overseas. Kyungsoo himself was rather introverted and shy by nature, so he did not have many friends. But he bonded with Jinho over their mutual love for singing. And they would like to sing together whenever they had the chance. Sometimes, Jinho would start off with a song and Kyungsoo would be able to continue. He even knew how to beatbox, and was good at it. The seemingly awkward boy became all confident when he started to beatbox and sing. As for Jinho, he was accepted as a trainee into one of the entertainment companies. Training would soon start for him, and if he worked hard and showed progress, he had a chance of debuting.

It was during one of the nights at Kyungsoo’s home after dinner that Jinho raised the question of Kyungsoo becoming a singer.

“Kyungsoo-ah, why don’t you audition at my company? With your skills, you might have a chance of being selected,” Jinho suggested.

Kyungsoo just shook his head. “I’ve no intention of becoming a singer.”

“Come on, give it a try,” Jinho encouraged. “Who knows we might be able to debut as a duo. We can see each other everyday.”

“Do you want to see me everyday?” Kyungsoo teased.

“Uh…uh…” Jinho stammered.

“It’ll be nice to be able to see you everyday,” Kyungsoo admitted.

“So does it mean that you’ll give being a singer a shot?” Jinho asked.

“Actually I’ve already planned on going Le Cordon Bleu to do a course when I’m done with high school. It’s some culinary institute in France.”

“Oh!’

Kyungsoo smiled as he could sense the disappointment in Jinho. “Let’s eat before the food turns cold.”

They ate in silence for a while when Jinho suddenly popped a question, “Wouldn’t you be lonely in France?”

“I guess. But it’s not like I have many friends here. Neither am I close to my family.”

‘What about me. Am I not close enough to you?” Jinho asked.

“You are…but I’m probably just another friend to you right?”

“You’re not…”

“Oh…”

“Don’t get me wrong. I mean, I like you more than just a friend.”

“Oh…”

“That is why I would like to be with you everyday. I don’t want you to be lonely.”

“Oh…”

“Kyungsoo-ah, is ‘Oh’ the only thing which you could say?”

“What do you want to me to say?”

“I don’t know…” Jinho sighed.

“I like you too, but isn’t that wrong?” Kyungsoo asked. “Isn’t it too fast?”

Jinho leaned in closer to Kyungsoo and then kissed Kyungsoo’s lips causing Kyungsoo’s to shut his eyes tight and his heart to flutter.

Jinho quickly withdrew his lips from Kyungsoo and muttered an apology. “Sorry, I lost it.”

Kyungsoo shook his head. “It’s okay. It was nice.”

There stared at each other awkwardly and silently when Jinho broke the silence again, “Will you let me be there for you whenever you’re lonely? Can I date you? Can I be someone special to you?”

“Aren’t we already dating?” Kyungsoo asked.

“Huh?” Jinho was taken aback by a moment before he broke out into a laugh. “If you consider us so…”

Jinho then pressed his lips against Kyungsoo’s as his tongue fought to gain entrance. Kyungsoo parted his lips as he allowed Jinho to enter him. Their tongues rolled about clumsily.

When their lips finally parted from the other, Kyungsoo blushed as he apologised shyly. “I’m not very good at this. This is my first kiss.”

Jinho gave Kyungsoo a hug as he whispered into Kyungsoo’s ear, “Truth be told, this is my first time as well.”

And both of them broke out into a laugh.

……

It was not too long after that Kyungsoo and Jinho became a couple. Kyungsoo became a much happier person as a result of Jinho. He felt less lonely, but because of that Kyungsoo became very attached to Jinho. Not that Jinho minded initially, but once he started his trainee life, time became a luxury for Jinho. Before he started training, he used to spend time with Kyungsoo once in every two or three days. But it later became once in every four to five days. Even though he was tired, he would still meet Kyungsoo up to spend time with him. But as the training intensified, he only had the weekends to meet up with Kyungsoo. It was a tough balancing act for Jinho – he had to juggle between school, training and a relationship. He was getting worn out – but he had to persevere if he wanted to become a singer. He knew Kyungsoo was feeling lonely and insecure and he would always hug and tell Kyungsoo how much he (Jinho) treasures him and he would encourage Kyungsoo to go out and get to know more friends.

Kyungsoo tried his best to be understanding towards Jinho as he knew Jinho’s dream and passion in life. He liked cooking for Jinho as Jinho appreciated his cooking and would always finish the food happily. But Kyungsoo had been feeling increasingly insecure recently. Jinho looked pretty listless and tired out. He rarely smiled. His appetite was not as good as before and he would not finish his food muttering something about dieting. Kyungsoo grew worried for Jinho’s health. He also felt lonely but he tried to reassure himself that Jinho still cared about him. Several times, he wanted to flood Jinho with text messages, but he tried to refrain himself from doing so as he knew it would be a nuisance to Jinho – since it was already bad enough that Jinho would respond to a text message a few hours later. Sure, Jinho had encouraged him to widen his social circle, but it was a difficult task for a withdrawn person like him. Kyungsoo was trying his best, but he was unsure if that was good enough and it created a lot of doubts within him.

Perhaps it was best that they broke up, Kyungsoo had thought over this many times. Jinho would go on to become a star while he would leave Korea for a while to pursue his interest. They would be separated and it would only be a matter of time when their feelings would drift apart.

Kyungsoo sighed as he put down the handphone after a call from Jinho. They would not be able to meet up this weekend. Jinho had some intensive training to do.

As Kyungsoo closed his eyes to sleep, he could only hope that Jinho's to make it up to him (Kyungsoo) would realise soon.  

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I know that this is not the most interesting chapter, perhaps a little anti-climatic. But hey, let me diffuse all the angst and tension a little. Just take this chapter as Kyungsoo recounting his past to Kai. 

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My other fan fics

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KyuMin: 60 Days 

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