“Happy birthday,” everyone yelled in unison as JaeJoong removed the blindfold from his brother’s eyes.

JunSu observed his surroundings. They were at the park near the house, his favorite place to go when he needed time to himself. He looked at JaeJoong who smiled. “Wow, it’s perfect, hyung, and everyone’s here too,” he said referring to all his classmates and friends.

“This is a special place for the both of us, so I figured why not throw the party here.” JaeJoong placed his hand on his brother’s back. “Even if appa isn’t here I always will be,” he said low enough so only JunSu could hear him. “Now go have fun. I spent a lot of money on all this stuff. If you don’t try out each ride by midnight you’ll be in big trouble.”

JunSu hugged him before he ran off with DongHi and the rest of his friends.

“Yah, you paid for all of this,” Boa asked in awe.

“Ne, and it’s all thanks to our classmates and the staff that it got set up in time.” He sighed satisfied. “It looks amazing.”

“I feel like a little kid again.”

JaeJoong snickered. “You’re already naïve, so it’s fitting.”

“Right, and you’re such a big boy,” she drawled sarcastically.

“You know, picking on you was a lot more fun when you didn’t talk back so much.”

Boa snorted. “You may scare a lot of other people, but you don’t scare me. Besides, you’re just a big softy that tries to be tough. One of these days I’ll drag that side out of you if I have to.”

He looked down at her when she said that, and smirked. “Maybe. My soft side rarely comes out though, so don’t think I’m an easy shell to crack. I’ve never been an easy shell to crack.”

“We’ll see,” she said excepting his challenge.

“Ne.”

“By the way, do you know how long it’ll take YunHo to get the cake and gifts,” she asked curiously, trying to keep their conversation going.

“Anxious to know what your boyfriend’s up to?” he teased.

Her cheeks darkened. “Shut up.”

“I still don’t like the idea of you two dating, but it’s what he wants. And just so you know,” he said pointing a finger at her. “… he’s the only reason I’ve lightened up on you.”

She smirked. “I know. How does it feel not being in control?”

JaeJoong frowned and opened his mouth to reply, but lost his track of thought when he saw someone familiar from the corner of his eye. His hand lowered to his side as he stared at the person who had approached them. He swallowed as he tried to find the right words to say.

“Mainhamnida… I…”

“You must really hate me,” he finally replied cutting them off with a sad smile. “Haven’t you done enough?”

“That’s not my intention. It’s not me…”

Boa watched all of the different emotions that showed themselves in JaeJoong’s eyes and on his face. Anger, sadness, and pain most of all. He looked like he was in pain more than anything else just by looking at this person. Just by looking at her.

He shoved his hands in his pockets and his chin raised. “Boa, why don’t you go join everyone else?”

“A-Are you sure?” She didn’t know what to do.

“Ne. I’ll catch up to you later.”

“Arasseo,” she mumbled as she began to walk away from them looking over her shoulder every once in a while to make sure everything was okay. She hated the uneasy feeling that settled in her gut as she made her way to the party.

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

YunHo pulled the cake out of his car and gently set it on the roof. Once the cake was safely on the roof of his car, he went to his trunk and started to pull out the gifts he had collected from JaeJoong’s house. “Aish, so much…”

“Need any help with that,” a deep voice asked from behind him and he tensed.

Turning around to face the owner of the voice, his eyes narrowed. “You have a lot of nerve showing up here, JiHoon.”

JiHoon smiled as he approached him. “Ne. I do have a lot of nerve, but I’m not here to start trouble. Just came to give you this,” he said as he hand YunHo a wrapped box. “It’s for JunSu.”

YunHo took it from him and tossed it behind him into the trunk carelessly. “Is that all?”

“How do you know that isn’t fragile?”

“I’m sure JunSu won’t care when he knows who it’s from.”

“Ouch.”

“Look, JiHoon, I’m just as protective of JaeJoong as he is of me, JunSu, and YooChun. They’re like my brothers. Just like the girls are like my sisters. There was a time when you were a part of that, but then you let the greed inside of you take control just like you always do and people got hurt. People that are important to me like you used to be.” He shook his head. “To you it was nothing but a game. To JaeJoong it was so much more then that.”

JiHoon’s eyebrow rose in amusement. “And if I said I loved her now?”

“You’d be lying. A person like you doesn’t love, they just use.” YunHo closed his trunk, leaving JiHoon’s gift in there on purpose. “YooChun,” he called out.

YooChun jogged over to them, sighing when he saw JiHoon. “Great. That’s just what we need. Drama.” He picked up the cake.

“Don’t worry about it. JiHoon was just leaving,” YunHo said as he picked the gifts up off of the ground.

YooChun nodded a goodbye in JiHoon’s direction and went on his way. He wasn’t in the mood to deal with anymore problems.

“Bye,” YunHo uttered before making his own way back to the party.

JiHoon’s smirk vanished as he watched them walk away.

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

“Yah, I’m gonna go find JaeJoong,” SeulGi told Ayumi while popping a piece of sushi into .

“Mkay,” Ayumi said.

As SeulGi started to walk around the park in search of JaeJoong, her mind began to wonder. She wondered what his response would be if she confessed to him, and she smiled at all the different scenario’s that popped up in her head. As she tried to see how many different ways she could come up with to confess to him, she saw a black Mercedes drive by. The person in the passengers seat rolled down the window as the car passed by.

“HyoJoo,” SeulGi yelled as she ran after the car, but it only sped up. “HyoJoo.”

JaeJoong. Eyes wide, she her heel and ran in the direction that the car had come from. Where are you JaeJoong?

She eventually reached the entrance to the park and there he was, seated at a picnic table, his head lowered and his hands clasped together in his lap. As she approached him, she tried to think of something to say that would comfort him, but nothing came to mind. “Jae…,” she trailed off as she placed her hand on his shoulder.

He sat completely still and didn’t respond to her touch. She wasn’t even sure he was breathing… but then when she wrapped her arms around his neck from behind she felt something wet hit her hand.

“I… feel like I can’t breathe…,” he whispered.

SeulGi tried not to cry. It made her sad how depressed he was sometimes due to all the pressure he had on him, and she knew that tomorrow he would pretend like none of it even mattered again. He would go back to being the cold-hearted person that she knew he wasn’t. And that was when he was the most difficult to read. Kim JaeJoong had the best poker face she’d ever seen.

So, for now, while she had the chance, she continued to hug him and rested her chin on his shoulder.

He surprised her when he lifted his hand to rest it on hers, and said her name lightly.

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

That night JunSu blew out the candles on his cake, and smiled while he watched MiSu and his brother cut the cake. But even through the mist of everyone’s happiness there were four people who couldn’t take their eyes off of a certain person. Little did he know that they could see right through his tough charade. They knew that for the moment his smile was fake and for his brother.

It was amazing how a small situation could ruin the night for one person, but it’s also amazing how that person who’s in pain the most can still manage to smile so that his loved ones don’t worry about him.

And even out of the four that continued to keep an eye on him, there were only three that knew he probably wouldn’t be a part of their lives forever and they tried to make the best of their time with him.

However, that one person who had no idea about what was to come in the future watched him, concerned. She found herself forgetting about the boy next to her as she concentrated on the one directly in front of her. The exact boy who irritated her to the very core, but could make her blush just by looking at her. The same boy who she had judged upon their first meeting, but now that she had seen another side of him she found herself intrigued. She found herself wanting to know more about him… and it irritated her…

… that she was jealous of how close one of her superior’s was to him.

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

JiHoon stopped at the stop light and glanced over at HyoJoo. She looked back at him, her eyes red and puffy from crying. "Did you talk to him?"

"He wouldn't listen," she replied quietly.

He sighed and placed his hand on top of hers which was resting on her knee. "That world isn't for us anymore. Maybe one of these days he'll understand, but I don't think it'll be anytime soon."

"I know." She squeezed his hand lovingly.

"I love you."

HyoJoo's lips curved into a gentle smile. "I know. I love you too." It was now almost one o'clock in the morning. They had gone to dinner after he'd stopped by the office and hadn't uttered a single word to eachother the whole time.

"I love the both of you," he corrected as he placed his hand on her stomach.

She linked her fingers with his and he kissed the back of her hand.

JiHoon stepped on the gas when the light turned green, and the last thing he heard was HyoJoo screaming before the side of their car was rammed.

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

A/N: If there are any silent readers out there you better comment, or else I’ll choke you the F-OUT. DX Lmao. Just kidding. XD Maybe... <.< comments much appreciated though. ;o

P.S: This chapter is a little shorter, because it’s like a short part two. No worries. Chapter seven will make up for it. ;D