“In the end I didn't find out anything about Donghae...” Sungmin sighed to himself, “that guy sure does know how to change someone's focus.”

“Who?”

Sungmin jumped at the voice. Standing behind him by the door was his mother.

“Mom, don't do that,” Sungmin sighed with relief, “you could have killed me.”

She approached him with a lot of curiousity, “who were you talking about?”

Sungmin shook his head, “just a friend.”

She folded her arms and took a seat on his bed, “I hear you and Kyuhyun went to your grandmothers birthday party together.”

Sungmin nodded.

“How is he?” She asked, patting out the bed sheets.

“Good,” Sungmin answered, trying to lock eyes with her.

“Does he...” she started, but stopped herself, “never mind. How's his mom?”

“She's fine, I saw her a while back as well. None of the two of them were hostile,” Sungmin explained, he ventured to take a seat beside her. Leaning his head on her shoulders, he asked, “mom, did you want to know if they are still angry at you?”

She shook her head, “there was nothing to be angry at me for.”

Sungmin nodded. Falling deep into thought, Sungmin furrowed his brow and mustered up all his courage before continuing his questioning.

“Mom...”

She looked at him and patted his head, “hm?”

“Would you be mad at me if I... wasn't normal?” He asked, looking her in the eyes.

“What do you mean?”

He got up and looked her straight in the eyes, “if I wasn't the same as everyone else.”

She laughed and caressed his cheek, it was as if he was a child all over again, “honey, no one knows a child better than their mothers.”

It was now Sungmin's turn to be confused, “what?”

“Your feelings towards Kyuhyun,” she teased, “I'm not blind to them.”

Sungmin was surprised at first, but brushed it off because he realized his mom was always a sharp and smart woman.

“You have my personality, Min,” she stated while patting his head, “that weak but never-give-up attitude. Keep an eye out.”

“For what?” Sungmin asked.

“People. Just keep an eye out, tell Kyuhyun that too.” As soon as she finished warning her son, she got up off the bed and headed out the door. Who did she want him to keep an eye out for?

–

Yesung approached Kyuhyun and Kibum, who were sitting together in the corner of a cafe. “Both of you are too head strong.”

“Who? Me?” Kibum asked innocently.

“No, Bum, not you,” Yesung laughed as he took a seat.

Kyuhyun peered up from his book to meet gazes with Yesung, lifting his brows provokingly.

“What? They'll know sooner or later,” Yesung sighed, he called the waitress over to order a drink, “don't look at me like that, it's scary.”

“Yeah, Kyu, you're scary enough as it is,” Kibum teased. “Hyung, are you talking about Kyu and Sungmin?”

Yesung nodded.

“They do fight a lot recently, they're a lot different from before,” Kibum added with his hand at his chin, “both of them have changed a bit.”

Yesung chuckled at the cute dongsaeng who was trying to sort things out without knowing the whole story, “as I was saying,” Yesung focused back to Kyuhyun, “both of you are just too strong willed.”

“What do you mean?” Kyuhyun finally asked, setting down his book.

“You are both thinking the same things, but neither of you are willing to surrender to the other. No, surrender is a bad word, give in maybe? No, that doesn't sound any better,” Yesung struggled to find a better word to describe their situation.

Kyuhyun picked his book up and continued reading, “it's impossible, hyung.”

“What's impossible?” Donghae and Eunhyuk asked, arriving at the cafe with the others. They held a lot of shopping bags together, they had obviously been out together for the day.

“No idea,” Kibum shrugged, “something to do with Sungmin and Kyu.”

Eunhyuk took the seat Donghae pulled over for him, “those two have been acting pretty weird lately.”

Kyuhyun glanced up from his book, “hey, I'm right here.”

“Oh, hey Kyu, didn't see you there,” Donghae teased as he pulled a seat up next to Eunhyuk.

Eunhyuk shrugged and turned to Donghae, “you want something to drink? I'll go order it.”

As Eunhyuk and Donghae were deciding what to drink, Yesung continued his conversation with Kyuhyun. “I talked to him a while ago.”

“Really?” Kyuhyun shrugged.

“Yes, really,” Yesung replied, scooting closer to Kyuhyun, “he's not going to lose to you. That kid, no matter how small and weak he looks, is stronger than anyone else here.”

Kyuhyun smiled, “yeah, I know.”

“I have a feeling,” Donghae suddenly interrupted after Eunhyuk left to order their drinks, “a feeling that if Sungmin and Kyu were to compete, Kyu would lose.”

Kibum nodded in agreement as he picked up his cup for a sip, “definitely. Kyu gives in easy when it comes to people he cares about. Take us for instance.”

“I'm not going to give in,” Kyuhyun stated sternly, “I can't give in, not this time. If I let my guard down, they'll catch me and swallow me whole.” Kyuhyun was looking directly into Yesung's eyes, a sign of fear and struggle. “They'll get to him too.”

“Who?” Kibum asked, sitting on the edge of his seat.

Kyuhyun shook his head.

“Damnit, Kyu. You never tell us anything, this is big stuff! What if they really do catch you? Who's gonna save you? We won't know a single damned thing.” Kibum scolded as calmly as he could. Donghae moved closer to pat him on the back.

“He's right, Kyu. We need to know about this kind of stuff, we worry too, you know,” Donghae added as he tried to calm Kibum down.

Eunhyuk returned with the drinks and sat down, “it's true, we won't be able to help you if we don't know, do you know how helpless that makes us feel?”

Kyuhyun searched Yesung for help but Yesung merely turned away and drank out of his cup with a shrug.

“I can't win,” Kyuhyun shrugged, “not against these three babies.”

Eunhyuk threw a crunched up napkin at Kyuhyun, “for your information, all of us are definitely older than you are, maknae!”

“You proved Kibum's point,” Yesung laughed, setting his cup down.

Kyuhyun lowered his head while nodding, “I know, I know.”