“So, I know that all of you are wondering why you’re here. Truth is, it’s JaeJoong’s little brothers birthday. We thought that it would be a cool idea to throw a surprise birthday party for him, and didn’t want you guys to feel left out,” YooChun lied as he addressed the Subordinates.

Ayumi hit YooChun in the arm, and turned her attention to the Subordinates as well. “The real truth is that we need help with the preparations, and we were wondering if you guys would like to help. You can leave if you like, but before any of you decide, this little project is worth extra credit.”

“Why the hell would we want to do anything for JaeJoong,” HyeSu asked coldly. “He’s an …”

“Yah,” SeulGi interjected. “Watch your mouth. You don’t know the first thing about him.”

HyeSu snorted. “I’m sure you do though. I’ve seen the way you look at him. In fact, I’m sure that everybody’s seen the way you look at him.”

SeulGi took a couple of steps forward until she was standing directly in front of HyeSu. “What’s the matter? Mad because YunHo won’t give you the time of day?”

“Moody because JaeJoong doesn’t notice your advances,” HyeSu bit back.

YooChun had to grab the back of SeulGi’s jacket and pull her backwards when she looked like she was about to hit HyeSu, and frowned. “Seriously? Can you guys be a little less selfish right now? It’s JunSu’s birthday today.” He looked at HyeSu. “If you don’t want to stay you can leave, but otherwise shut up. You don’t know anything.”

Ayumi sighed. “Look, maybe this wasn’t such a good idea.”

“Aniyo. It’s fine,” SeulGi said after regaining control of her anger. “Right, HyeSu? You can put your ego aside for a fifteen year old boy, can’t you?”

HyeSu growled when everyone stared at her expectantly. “Whatever.”

YooChun left the class after giving SeulGi one hard glare. “I’m gonna head over to Jae’s place first. I’ll catch you guys later.”

“YooChun wait.”

He stopped and turned around to face SeulGi with a long sigh. “She’s right, you know. He doesn’t even notice. How long is it going to take for you to realize that? Are you going to continue to let your infatuation with him drain you dry, or are you…”

“Shut up,” she hissed. “I don’t care if he feels the same or not,” she added, her voice softening.

“SeulGi-ah…,” he began on a short laugh. “You’re a fool.” His smile was mocking but his eyes gave off something completely different.

She smiled sadly. “This coming from the guy who has no stability in his life. Ne, YooChun, you’ve truly earned the right to call me a fool. I guess it takes one to know one, right?”

He scoffed. “Ne… I’m just as much of a fool as you are… unfortunately…,” was his reply before he turned away from her and continued down the hall. “The king of fools,” he mumbled to himself.

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

He flicked the coin up into the air and caught it effortlessly. “So the reason you’re here is because you want to complain about some old geezer that I fired?”

“That old geezer is my…”

“Husband,” he said cutting her off. “Yeah, I know. Look, Mrs. Kang, I don’t have the time to be wasting on you and your worthless little family. If you didn’t come here to discuss a way to bring me profit then we have nothing to discuss.”

“How dare you. I’m your elder. I think I deserve a little bit more respect.”

“Ne, you are, but I only show respect to those who’ve earned it.”

She stared at him in complete shock. She had never thought, in all her years, that someone could be so heartless and cold. “You’re the richest man in Korea, and you can’t give us anything? How are we suppose to eat at night?”

He sighed. “Fine. Mr. Kang can have his job back, but if I catch him stealing anything else not having a job will be the last thing that your family will have to worry about. ”

Mrs. Kang stood and bowed. “Gamsahamnida.”

“Please Mrs. Kang out. I’ve more important business to attend to,” he said to the body guards standing at his office door.

“I’ll myself out.” Without so much as another word, she was gone.

“Master Jung,” one of his servants said as he entered minutes later. “It’s nearly dinner time. Would you like anything to eat?”

JiHoon opened his laptop and typed something into the search box. “Aniyo, I’m still full from lunch.” He couldn’t help the smirk that appeared on his lips as his eyes roamed over the old picture before him of the Seoul Board of Education Chairman and his two sons. “Actually, there is something you can do. Get the Kim residence on the phone. I have a birthday party to attend.”

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

“Yah, JunSu, your brother’s here to pick you up,” JunSu’s best friend, DongHi, told him while he was in the middle of eating his lunch.

“JaeJoong-oppa’s here?” one of the girls in the class squealed, and the rest squealed along with her.

Another looked up at the ceiling. “Kamsahamnida, God, for creating such a gorgeous guy.”

“Yah. What happened to my fame? I thought you guys thought I was gorgeous,” JunSu complained playfully.

“You are JunSu-shii, but you haven’t reached the y stage yet,” another said while pinching his cheek. “Your brother has.”

“Anyways,” DongHi cut in while rolling his eyes. “He told me to come and get you.”

“Kamsahamnida, DongHi,” JunSu said as he rose to his feet smiling. At first he thought that JaeJoong had forgotten about his birthday because he had tried to avoid him this morning, but he knew better. His hyung never forgot about him.

“Oh, I almost forgot. There’s some girl with him too. I think it’s his girlfriend or something… but they’ve been arguing the whole time, so I’m not sure…,” DongHi trailed off when he felt the whole atmosphere in the classroom change when the girls heard him.

“You probably should have whispered that,” JunSu mumbled.

“Ne,” was DongHi’s simple reply.

JunSu opened his mouth to try and rectify the situation, but paused when he heard a familiar voice just outside the classroom.

“Will you shut up?”

“Are you sure you have the right classroom? We’ve been to like ten, and now the girls from all those classes are stalking us.”

“They are not…,” there was a pause. “… okay they are, but that’s not my fault.”

“Not your fault? You stand out too damn much. We couldn’t even eat in peace.”

“Mainhe, for my looks getting in the way of our meal…,” was the persons reply laced with sarcasm.

“Smart .”

“Say one more word and I’m gonna choke you out. My patience is wearing very thin with you right now.” After a long pause the owner of the last voice they heard entered the classroom, a pack of cookies in his hand and one single cookie in between his lips.

“Jae,” JunSu said.

“Aish, you were taking too long, so we came to get you,” JaeJoong replied as he nibbled on his cookie.

JunSu pointed at the girl beside him who his female classmates were glaring at. “Who’s that?”

“Huh? Oh, this thing?” He poked her cheek twice. “This is Boa 5.0. She’s my assistant. Not the type that files your papers either, but the type that does all the dirty work. The kind that wipes the poop off the bottom of your shoe after you step in it.” JaeJoong said all of this with a serious expression and finished off his cookie. “She’s also an assassin.”

The class chuckled despite how stupid all of that sounded.

Boa elbowed him in the stomach and smiled warmly when he choked on the last bits of cookie he didn’t get to swallow. “Leave it to JaeJoong to have an actively retarded imagination. Truth is, I’m his Subordinate. I’m sure you all have heard of the program at Mujigae High that assists student’s with getting into the best University’s.”

“Ne…,” one of the girls replied hesitantly. “… but are you his girlfriend?”

“I’d rather jump off a cliff,” Boa replied bluntly with a smile. “… and hit the rocks at the bottom.”

“I’d gladly push you,” JaeJoong said bluntly as well.

“Besides,” Boa continued as she sent a glare JaeJoong’s way. “I already have a boyfriend.” The girls sighed in relief.

JaeJoong took a bite of another cookie. “Anyways, we came to pick you up, JunSu, because I have a surprise for you.”

JunSu’s eyebrow rose when he thought about how sneaky JaeJoong was. “Am I going to like it?”

“Ne, but we have to go or we’ll be late. You know the plan,” JaeJoong said to DongHi.

DongHi saluted him. “Mission is in progress as we speak.”

“Good.”

“Mission? Plan? Wait a minute…,” JunSu trailed off as he was dragged out of the classroom by Boa and JaeJoong. “Wait a minute. What about the gifts everyone got me?”

“DongHi’s taking care of that,” Boa replied. “Don’t worry so much. Today’s your birthday. Just let us handle everything.”

JaeJoong nodded and smiled. “My dongsaeng just turned fourteen today. Where does the year go?”

“Oh no,” JunSu whined. “He’s getting emotional.”

Boa rolled her eyes.

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

He ran his fingers up his wife’s back and buried them in her hair, gently caressing her scalp with his fingertips. “Wake up.”

She shifted slightly. “Mmm… what time is it?”

“Two in the afternoon sleepy head.”

“I guess that’s what happens when you go to sleep at five in the morning,” she said while yawning. “What are you still doing here, JiHoon?”

“I took the day off. Appa didn’t need me in the office anyway. I also cancelled your plans.”

She lifted up a bit and leaned on her elbow. “You what?”

“Well, I thought we could give JunSu a visit. After all, it’s his birthday.”

Her face paled and she didn’t reply at first.

“Prepare yourself, dear,” he said as he pressed his lips to her forehead. “JaeJoong will be there.” He rose from his seat on the bed and started to take his clothes off. “I’m going to jump in the shower first.”

“When are the two of you going to grow up,” she snapped. “This isn’t funny, JiHoon. It’s cruel.”

JiHoon smiled as he began to take his pants off. “You say that, but, HyoJoo, we have to at least try.”  Without another word he walked into the bathroom and closed the door behind him.

HyoJoo sat up and tossed her legs over the edge of the bed. She pulled the drawer in her nightstand out and dug underneath a stack of papers until her fingers grasped the object she had been looking for. Flipping the object over, it revealed her and her old friends standing by the beach and smiling.

“HyoJoo-ah, what are you doing out here by yourself?” He took his jacket off and hooked it on her shoulders. “You’ll catch a cold and then I’ll have to take care of you again.”

“My hero. You never fail to come to my rescue, Joongie.” She pushed her arms into the sleeves of his leather jacket and sighed at how warm it was. “What are you doing out here, anyway? You’re the host of the party.”

“A host can’t be a host if he doesn’t have his date with him,” he replied boldly. “Being dateless makes him look bad.”

HyoJoo smiled up at him. “Oh really? Ever heard of flying solo?”

He laughed, defeated. “Aniyo. Maybe you could teach me.”

“Never,” she said and stuck her tongue out at him playfully.

“HyoJoo.” His expression was slightly serious now. “I… came out here because I’d rather spend time with you than be at the party.” He paused to take a deep breath. “I should probably get all of this out before I lose my courage…”

She stared at him curiously.

“We’ve been friends for a long time.” His cheeks reddened, and he buried his hands in his pockets not sure what to do with them. “… and I already know that you probably don’t feel the same but… I like you… a lot… more than a friend…”

She didn’t know what to say at first, but the moment of silence was short-lived when something finally slipped from between her lips. “Oh…”

“Ne…,” he replied awkwardly as he looked away from her. “I… should probably go.” He turned to leave but was stopped when she grabbed his hand and squeezed it affectionately.

“Then… isn’t this the part where you kiss me and make me feel like your princess?”

His mouth hung slightly open when he turned around to look at her as he tried to form the right words, but all that escaped was…

“What?”

Her face felt like it was on fire. “I said…”

He didn’t need to be told twice and crushed his lips against hers.

At first she didn’t know what to think about how he’d reacted, but then she relaxed when he slowed down. The way his lips moved against hers was slow and passionate. He took his time almost as if he wanted to become familiar with every inch of her. Chills coursed through her body as she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him closer. She had never felt better than she did now in his arms.

HyoJoo pulled her knees up to her chest and buried her face in them while gripping the picture. When your young everything feels like it can last forever, but then as time goes by reality hits and you begin to realize that dreams don’t last forever. Even when it’s the greatest time of your life.

“JaeJoong…” she whispered to herself as the tears fell from her eyes.

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

A/N: And JunSu's birthday bash commences... but will it be a happy one :)... or a sad one ):?? Stay tuned. XD R&R!!!!!!!