Tell Me You Love Me

[Chapter 3]

The following day, when all the members were having dinner, Jonghun cleared his throat to get the member’s attention. “Uhm,” Jonghun said, “I have something to announce.”

All of them stopped eating and looked at the leader for a moment. “Right,” Jonghun said, appreciating their attention, “I need to tell you guys something.”

“We’ll be doing a new song?” Minhwan asked, curious.

“Or an upcoming performance?” Seunghyun interrupted.

“Is it that you don’t like the dinner?” Jaejin whined, “But I took almost an hour preparing it…”

“No,” Jonghun tried explaining, but Hongki butted in.

“We’re in love, Jonghun and I,” Hongki stated, expecting surprised gasps from the three of them, but none seemed to make any noise. Just total silence.

“Alright,” Jaejin said, and resumed eating, followed by Minhwan and Seunghyun.

Hongki was furious when he wasn’t getting the surprised calls and questions from the three of them, “Yahh! Aren’t you guys surprised? Don’t you have questions to ask? Aren’t you curious?”

“Not really,” Seunghyun replied.

“We all knew,” Jaejin said.

“Yeah, Jonghun-hyung and Hongki-hyung were kissing yesterday right? I saw it all,” Minhwan added.

Jonghun’s spoon fell from his hand, “Y-You s-saw?”

The three of them ignored the two older hyungs, while Hongki was mumbling something incoherent.

Jaejin took a piece of chicken and placed it on Minhwan’s plate, “Yahh, Minhwan, you like chicken, don’t you?”

Seunghyun stopped eating abruptly and turned to Jaejin, then to Minhwan, just to see the both of them smiling.

“Yes!” Minhwan almost jumped on his chair, “I want more chicken!”

Hongki, however, was oblivious and didn’t realize Seunghyun’s death glare. “What has gotten into you, Jaejin? Aren’t you the one always snatching chickens away from Minhwan?” Jaejin continued to argue with Hongki. Jonghun however, was looking at Seunghyun’s direction. He noticed that something was wrong and the younger guitarist had something in his mind bugging him. Jonghun decided to let the matter drop in the meantime.

When the last person left the dining table, Seunghyun picked up all the dishes to the sink since it was his turn to wash the dishes. He turned the tap and let the water run on its own as he scrubbed the plates clean. Jonghun appeared next to him a few seconds later. Putting a cup into the sink, he asked with a softer tone, “What happened between you and Jaejin?”

“Huh?”

“Between you and Jaejin, what happened?” Jonghun repeated his question.

“Nothing, really,” Seunghyun said, avoiding Jonghun’s gaze.

“You know, it’s alright to tell me,” Jonghun said, gently. “I saw it just now, you were annoyed when Jaejin was giving Minhwan that piece of chicken.”

Seunghyun’s hands stopped moving momentarily. There’s no way he’d manage to brush this off. Jonghun would never buy his lies, so he decided to tell the truth, “I think Jaejin-hyung likes Minhwan.”

Jonghun eyed Seunghyun for a moment, “You like Minhwan too, don’t you?”

Seunghyun, who was caught off guard, accidentally dropped the plate back to the sink.

Jonghun smiled, “I take that as a ‘yes’.”

Seunghyun took the plate from the sink and washed it all over again, “Minhwan’s a nice person, he deserves someone better than me. Jaejin would be a good choice for Minhwan.”

Jonghun thought for a moment and tried to find the right words to tell Seunghyun, “If you really like Minhwan, then fight for him. Is he not even worth your fight? Are you giving him up without even trying?”

Seunghyun looked at Jonghun, “H-Hyung…”

Jonghun continued in a firm yet gentle voice, “Fight for him. It’s up to Minhwan to choose. The choice is in his hands, not yours. Why do you think you’ll lose when you haven’t even started your first move?” The leader placed his hand on Seunghyun’s shoulder, “Hongki started his first move and confessed to me. I was a coward. I dare not tell him my feelings, but I was really glad when he told me that he loves me. So, Seunghyun,” he said, “don’t be like me. Be a man and fight for Minhwan.”

Seunghyun was speechless. “Hyung…”

Jonghun gave Seunghyun one last smile and said, “I’ll leave the choice to you; to fight or to give in. I’m sorry but you’ll have to excuse me right now, Hongki’s waiting for me in his room.” He winked and left Seunghyun in the kitchen.

Seunghyun stared at the running tap water, completely dumbfounded.

I’ll leave the choice to you,Seunghyun kept repeating Jonghun’s words, to fight or to give in.

Images of Minhwan smiling happily kept replaying in his mind. He wanted to preserve Minhwan’s smile forever. He wanted Minhwan to be the most cheerful person in the world. He wanted Minhwan to look at him and say the three special words, even for once.

To fight…

Seunghyun closed his eyes.

Or to give in…

TBC

A/N: Third one done~ ^^  Though it's kinda short.. Sorry. =/