It was a busy day. Christmas had just passed and people are now preparing to welcome the New Year. Yoochun sat on the windowsill while staring at the window, one hand holding a bottle of soju… the other holding a piece of paper. He was lost in thought and did not notice that someone was approaching him…

“Chun?”

Yoochun craned his neck and gave a lazy dimpled smile at his soul mate who smiled back…Jaejoong sat across Yoochun on the window sill and also stared at the city lights… the two basked on the comforting silence and the younger took another sip of the soju he was holding…

“Are you sure?”

A low chuckle was heard from the baritone and Jaejoong glanced at his soul mate whose gaze has not moved from the colorful city lights…

“Jae, you’ve asked that for the third time today…”

Jaejoong sighed and crossed his arms, “I’m sorry but you can’t stop me from being worried.”

“I want to do this Jaejoong… no, I need to do this. It’s been 7 years and with each year that I hide what I feel… a part of me slowly crumbles… I need closure so I can move on. ”

“I’ve told you a million times that he likes you, you just don’t want to believe me. But that’s not what I’m worried about though, what I’m worried about is your way of telling him.”

Yoochun emptied the bottle of soju and laid it on the floor, “it’s not that I don’t believe you Jae. I’m just not convinced.”

“That’s just the same thing!”

Yoochun stood and grabbed the empty bottles of soju lying at Jaejoong’s feet. Jaejoong followed his soul mate with his eyes, “Su is coming back tonight to celebrate the New Year with us…”

The black haired man had a weak smile on his face and replied in a soft voice, “I won’t be here tonight…”

Jaejoong angrily stood and grabbed Yoochun’s arm, “See? That’s why I’m worried! I can’t understand why you need to be away when you finally tell him how you feel! How the hell can you be sure he doesn’t feel the same way?! Besides i-if he doesn’t feel the same way, I’m sure he would not discard all the years of friendship you two share. And Junsu is not fickle minded. I’m sure he would understand you.”

The phone’s loud ringing resounded throughout their shared dorm, Yoochun lightly pushed Jaejoong’s arm away and smiled, “Answer it. It’s probably YunHo hyung…Min already called earlier.”

“Chunnie…”

Yoochun saw the worried expression on the lead singer’s face and he shook his head, “don’t feel bad, Jae hyung… this is all my choice. Now go… answer it.”

Jaejoong helplessly watched as Yoochun padded the cold floors barefooted going to the direction of his room. Once the younger closed the door, Jaejoong took the cordless phone off the hook, “Yoboseyo”

“Jae hyung!”

“J-Junsu?”

Even with the gripping feeling in his heart, Jaejoong smiled at the enthusiasm of the younger member… “Hyung! I’ll be there tonight! I miss you and Chunnie but you know I can’t celebrate Christmas there or umma would be angry and JunHo hyung would tease me nonstop.”

“Yes I know Su… it’s okay.”

“I’ll try to be there real early so I can give your presents! I was supposed to give them last Christmas but there were things that I had to do plus it was hard to look for a perfect gift for Minnie and Chunnie… you know how picky that food monster is and I can’t just give something imperfect to Chun, you know what I mean hyung right?”

“Yes I do Su… just come here okay? We’re waiting for you.”

The other line went quiet and the older thought the younger had already placed the phone down, he was about to remove the phone from his ear when he heard a whisper…”Is everything all right hyung?”

Jaejoong was unsuccessful in biting back a smile; his used to be naïve dongsaeng has become perceptive. The lead singer smiled weakly, “yeah… everything’s all right. I’m just a little out of it.”

The lead singer heard a chuckle on the other line and breathed easier… Junsu may have gotten more perceptive through the years but his trusting nature has not wavered even a bit.

“I suppose you are still in shock at the prospect of YunHo hyung and Changmin spending the New Year with us… but you should get over that shock soon hyung! We have to be happy because Dongbangshinki would finally be complete at the start of the New Year!”

It was Jaejoong’s turn to chuckle at Junsu’s enthusiasm, this boy man has always been the group’s sunshine and he always succeeds to infect everyone. “Uh Su, do you want to speak with Yoochun?”

“Hm? Nah… I’ll talk to him later.”

Alarm suddenly registered on Jaejoong‘s beautiful face, “Ah but Su--”

“Yes hyung?”

“N-nothing uh I-um we‘ll see you…”

Jaejoong can feel the younger one shrug over the phone, “okay hyung… I’ll call again. Bye bye!”

The lead singer massaged his forehead and placed the phone back to the receiver; he gave a weary glance at the composer’s door and exhaled loudly.

“If only I didn’t promise Yunnie I’d quit… I need a stick right now.”

Jaejoong grabbed his blackberry and tweeted some pictures of their apartment to take his mind off the YooSu situation…

Later that night, a few hours before the New Year

“Minnie-ah, can’t you walk a little faster? Those long legs aren’t just for decoration!”

The youngest scowled and jogged to get closer to the irritated leader, “Yunho hyung… I know you missed Jaejoong hyung but please do not take it out on poor awesome me. If you want to run to him, be my guest…”

“Tch. You perfectly know that your “umma” will have my head if I didn’t bring his “son” with me.”

“Oh right… so that means you need to follow my pace… hyung.”

YunHo gritted his teeth and allowed the maknae to lead them to the apartment, the leader grumbling along the way.

After several minutes of climbing the endless stairs (they refused to use the elevator in case people would see them and both cannot risk it so they ended up climbing to the 24^th floor), YunHo leaned on the wall breathing heavily and sweating profusely. The maknae smiled innocently at the leader, “you need help hyung? I can carry you.”

“Shut up! Just knock on that door!”

Changmin grinned and followed his hyung’s order but it was not until the maknae’s patience had started to grow thin when the door opened.

“Umma? I mean Jaejoong hyung? I think you got the occasion wrong… we‘re celebrating the coming of the New Year, Halloween ended a month ago.”

Jaejoong scowled and punched the maknae lightly on the shoulder earning a playful jab as reply. YunHo gasped when he saw the weary looking Jaejoong, “BooJae! What happened to you?”

The lead singer scowled, “YooSu happened.”

YunHo walked towards his lover and hugged him tight, “what did those two do this time?”

The youngest smirked and crossed his arms, ‘knowing those two… nothing. And that exactly is the problem.”

Jaejoong sighed and motioned for the two to get inside the apartment, “actually this time Yoochun did something and because of that I’m worried.”

Changmin rushed inside the apartment followed by Jaejoong, leaving YunHo to close the door behind him. The youngest made himself comfortable on the couch, grabbing a bag of chips along the way. The leader wove his hand around the lead singer’s waist and the latter leaned snuggled closer to the lover he missed.

“So… Yoochun hyung did something… then why are you worried? Shouldn’t you be glad he even attempted at all?”

“I’m glad that he finally decided to confess but what I’m worried about is how he plans to do it.”

YunHo sighed and tightened his hold on Jaejoong’s waist, “I’m guessing Yoochun doesn’t believe that Su loves him back.”

Jaejoong nodded and exhaled loudly, “I’ve been trying to talk to him but he just won’t listen! I don’t know what to do anymore…”

Changmin opened the bag of chips with a pop, “I think it would be better to leave those two alone. You both know how stubborn Chun hyung is so anything we say will just fall on deaf ears so let’s just wait for the outcome. Hopefully Su hyung would know what to do.”

“And the wise one has spoken…” YunHo grinned and the maknae stuck his tongue out making the lead singer laugh.

“Finally you laughed Jae hyung! I was worried the food would taste awful if you kept on frowning”

“Thank you Minnie-ah… I hope things would work out for those two…”

Jaejoong moved out of YunHo’s arms for the meantime and smiled warmly, “I’ll start on cooking for tonight’s celebration.”

“Noooo you don’t. Get some rest first.”

Changmin popped another chip into his mouth and nodded, ‘Yunho hyung is right… go have some sleep first Jae hyung. It won’t be nice if you sleep while cooking. My beloved food might be affected.”

“I’ll come with you.”

The maknae immediately rushed to get a hold of YunHo’s shirt hem, “No! I can’t risk you both going in there together. Go on Jae hyung… YunHo hyung stays with me and my potato chips.”

Both YunHo and Jaejoong pouted but the youngest seemed unfazed, “those won’t work on me. You both could go at it after the new year celebration when the food has been done.”

Jaejoong was about to get into his room when the door beside him opened revealing a warmly dressed Yoochun. “Jae, why do you look like a zombie?”

The lead singer crossed his arms and glared at his soul mate, “YOU are asking me WHY???”

Yoochun looked at the leader with wide questioning eyes and got a shrug as an answer, Jaejoong huffed and stomped inside his room and slammed the door.

“Did I say anything wrong?”

YunHo gave a nonchalant shrug. Yoochun then stared at the door of his soul mate thinking what he might have done or said wrong so he could apologize. Sighing, he shook his head and turned to the direction of the door,

“Running away Yoochun hyung?” Changmin munched on the chips and smirked.

“Shut up Min. I’m not running away.”

“Suuuuuure….” *munch* “You just happened to be out of the apartment on the day you leave a confession letter to the person you loved for the past 7 years or possibly more.”

Yoochun gritted his teeth and walked past YunHo towards the door, “you just don’t understand.”

“Oh I do hyung… I just don’t agree with it.”

Yoochun wore the cap he was holding and wound the scarf on his neck to hide more than half of his face, “I’ll be back later.”

“Be careful out there Chun”

“Hyung!!! Bring me anything to eat when you come back!!!”

The baritone singer grumbled but nodded and walked out of the door. YunHo sat beside the maknae and narrowed his eyes, “what was that earlier? I thought you said we should leave them alone.”

“I just voiced out my observation. I wasn’t meddling.”

YunHo rolled his eyes and tried to grab the chips from Changmin’s hand except the youngest was faster. “Get your own hyung.”

“Aish…”

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Yoochun was walking in the street, kicking stones that were on his way and ignoring the thick snow that had situated on the sides of the street. He was thinking about the maknae’s words before he left their apartment. He hates to admit it but Changmin is right, he was running away.

He knows it wasn’t right to run away but he was scared. Yes, the handsome and charismatic composer is scared of being rejected by the person he had loved all these years. Yoochun sighed and sat on the bench close to a large tree. The baritone singer chuckled and stared at a familiar sight on the sky.

 “Ah… everyone’s accompanying me and giving me hope and courage hm? Well then, I‘m not sure what‘s going to happen later but I will keep my hopes up until the set time…hm, come to think of it… How did Changmin know about the confession letter? Ah never mind, I can’t decipher how his mind works anyway.”

Yoochun made himself as comfortable as he can despite the cold, reveling at the beauty all around him.