[Location: Seoul, South Korea]

 

‘Great job, Mi Young. You’re hardly home for couple of hours and you’ve already managed to hurt your boyfriend.’ The girl sighed as she pulled open the freezer and tipped some ice into a small plastic bag. Grabbing a paper towel, she wrapped the baggie and headed back out into the living room.

 

Kim Jaejoong was lounging on the sofa in a wifebeater and sweatpants. “Yah, Mi Young-ah, I told you that you don’t need to worry about it,” he insisted gently. “It doesn’t even hurt.” Ignoring his words, Mi Young plopped dejectedly onto the sofa beside him and pushed his hair back from his forehead. Jaejoong’s perfect, angular face was marred by a purplish-red mark above his right eye.

 

“There’s a bruise,” she mumbled sadly. “I’m so sorry.”

 

“I’m the one that snuck up on you and scared you,” he sighed, giving her a little smirk.

 

Mi Young pressed the ice pack to his head. “And I’m the one who should’ve just realized it was you and not freaked out,” she said miserably. “Are you sure it doesn’t hurt? Maybe I should get you some aspirin—” Jaejoong grabbed her wrist before she flitted away.

 

“I told you, it doesn’t hurt.” He tugged her into his lap. The girl blushed a little. “Just stay here,” he whispered. Mi Young let her eyes fall shut as he pushed a hand through her hair and trailed soft kisses down her neck. She could feel his other hand behind her, edging up beneath her tank top. Shyly, Mi Young slipped her arms around his neck and leaned in to kiss him…

 

And then her cell phone rang.

 

Jaejoong threw the phone a dirty look. “I swear to god, if that’s Junsu, I’m going to go to the airport, wait for him to get here, and then strangle him,” he growled, before returning his attention to Mi Young’s neck. Mi Young gave him a reproving look and reached for the phone.

 

“Oh, it’s Sun Mi.”

 

“Your cousin?” Jaejoong mumbled against her skin.

 

“Yeah…actually I better take this. She’s been calling me since we landed at the airport,” Mi Young said guiltily. Jaejoong grudgingly released her. Foiled again. He hadn’t had a chance to spend any time with Mi Young for the past two weeks because of how crazy their schedule had been. It seemed that every time he tried steal a kiss or minute alone with her, either his manager or one of his bandmates would drag him away or spoil the moment. One would think that if your girlfriend was your band’s personal assistant, you’d be able to see her whenever you want…but that hadn’t been the case recently.

 

He watched languidly now as Mi Young paced around the room, chatting happily with her cousin.  His eyes wandered down her slender, yet curvy figure. The skirt she was wearing showed off her long, shapely legs, and through her white tank top, he could see the y, lace-trimmed bra she was wearing. Mi Young looked up just in time to see Jaejoong sitting there with his head tilted, staring unashamedly at her chest. Turning pink, she grabbed a pillow from the couch next to her and pressed it to her bosom. “What are you DOING?” she mouthed at him reproachfully, the phone still at her ear.

 

Snapping out of his stupor, Jaejoong put on an innocent face. “Nothing.” He rubbed the back of his head and got up, heading for the kitchen. He tossed the half-melted ice pack into the sink and pulled open the fridge, wondering if there was anything left over from a week ago before they’d left for Japan.

 

“What was I thinking…” he muttered, looking at the bare shelves. Apparently Changmin had taken the request to ‘finish whatever you can from the fridge’ quite seriously before leaving. Closing the door, Jaejoong paused as he caught sight of a group photo that was stuck up with a Hello Kitty magnet. It was definitely not a picture you’d find in one of their CD photo albums. Yoochun was wearing a crazy hat with antlers and posing with a peace sign, unaware that he had stabbed Changmin in the eye moments before with one of the horns. The taller boy was beside him clutching his eye, his face contorted with pain. Right next to him, Yunho was in the process of falling off of the stool he was sitting on, and Jaejoong had Junsu in a stranglehold while the younger boy was straining to reach for the nearly-empty pitcher of beer on the counter of the bar they had been at.

 

Jaejoong shook his head at the memory of that weird night and then decided hat he should probably call the guys to check on them. He pulled out his cell phone and dialed Yunho’s number. It rang for a while and then went to his voicemail. “The guy must be sleeping.” He tried Junsu instead.

 

“Jaejoong?” Mi Young called suddenly. Jaejoong looked up to see her peeking in through the doorway. “Sorry, I didn’t know you were on the phone.”

 

“I can do it later. I was just calling the other guys, but they’re not answering.” He said, snapping the phone shut.

 

Mi Young smiled. “Are you missing them?” she teased.

 

Jaejoong caught her and pulled her close. “Actually, right now…all I’m missing is you…and dinner.” Jaejoong’s stomach growled, right on cue. He looked down at his girlfriend embarrassedly. “There’s no food in the house, by the way. Wanna go out?”

 

Mi Young didn’t answer right away. “Um, actually…why don’t we order take out?”

 

“Sure. That sounds good. It’ll give us more time to get things figured out for our vacation. We can book our plane seats and get started on packing…” Jaejoong slowed down as he noticed the discomfited look on Mi Young’s face. He tipped her face up. “What’s wrong?”

 

“Actually…about the vacation…there’s something I need to talk to you about but…you won’t get upset, will you?”

 

“Yah. Why would I be upset with you? I’m not that kind of slimy, selfish boyfriend. Whatever it is that’s come up, I’ll understand,” he promised, pecking her on the forehead.

 

Mi Young averted her gaze as she tried to think of the best way to formulate what she was about to say. She’d always been puzzled about how on earth she had ended up with a y celebrity boyfriend. As if that by itself wasn’t shocking enough, the fact that he was so considerate and loving was a bit unexpected too. Jaejoong had always made it dead clear that would do anything for her. And that was what she was depending on at that moment…hoping he would forgive her for what she was about to inform him of. “Well…you see…”

 

________________________

 

[Location: Fairfax, ia - USA]

 

Most people’s first order of business when they arrived at home after a long plane trip might be to shower, or eat, or spend time with their loved ones.

 

Park Yoochun’s first order of business was none of those things. The first thing he did when he walked into his mom and brother’s house was to go straight upstairs, change out of his clothes, and crawl into bed. And that was where he stayed for the next 15 hours, fast asleep. He would have stayed there longer too if his mother hadn’t decided that 15 hours was too long for a boy to be without food.

 

“Umma, I don’t really think it’s a good idea waking him up,” Yoohwan, warned her. As his brother, Yoohwan knew just how hopeless it was trying to negotiate anything with his celebrity hyung if he was forced to be awake when he didn’t want to be. Nevertheless, his mother brushed aside his advice and opened the door to Yoochun’s bedroom. She cautiously went to sit by her sleeping son. Smiling at his sweet, angelic face, she patted his cheek.

 

“Yoochunnie,” she cooed. “Get up, darling. It isn’t good for you if you sleep like this. You should come and eat something.”

 

Yoohwan flinched from the doorway as his brother began stir. First Yoochun twitched. Then his eyes flickered open. Suddenly he flopped over, half-pushing his blanket off, and he sat up slowly, staring balefully at his mother. He looked more like a zombie than a well-loved celebrity. But his scary appearance was the least of his mother’s concerns.

 

“Yoochunnie! What is this?!” she hissed. “Are you under there? Is this how you sleep in Korea? Don’t you have any shame? You should wear CLOTHES when you sleep!”

 

“I’m not . I’m wearing my boxers,” he deadpanned. Then he yanked the blankets up over his head and rolled over, intent on returning to his slumber.

 

His mother grimaced. “Alright. I’ll give you one more hour, and then you’d better be awake. I want you to come downstairs and eat something!” She paused at the doorway before leaving. “And I don’t know how you dress at home in Korea, but don’t come downstairs in your underwear!” Yoochun gave no indication of hearing her. His umma shut the door behind her and looked sternly Yoohwan. “You wear clothes when you sleep, don’t you?” Yoohwan blinked at her and then nodded slowly. “Good.” She swiftly headed back downstairs, muttering under her breath about ‘indecency’ and ‘borderline nudists.’

 

Back inside in the room, Yoochun was just about to doze off again when his cell phone gave loud blip. A text message.  He cracked open an eye and silently contemplated checking it. Slowly, he reached up and got it. The message was from Jaejoong. Yoochun had called all the guys earlier before he had dropped off for his record-breaking nap, but he hadn’t been able to reach any of them. Yoochun flicked open the phone and squinted at the text curiously.

 

‘Chunnie,’ it read, ‘My vacation is ruined. Everything is ruined. I’ll call you tomorrow or the day after.  –Jae.’ Yoochun hardly batted an eyelid as he snapped the phone shut. Jaejoong could be so melodramatic sometimes. The last time he’d heard his hyung griping like this, it had turned out to be over a soufflé he’d made that Junsu accidentally deflated when his soccer ball knocked against the dish. Rolling his eyes to himself, Yoochun buried himself deeply in his blankets. ‘Whatever it is, Jaejoong hyung will get over it. In the end, our vacations are going to be like they always are…nice, quiet, and uneventful.’

 

If only Yoochun knew how direly wrong he was.