It had been a week since the couple had decided to exchange letters. They shared a lot of things together, mostly about themselves -you could consider this as exchanging diaries- as they usually report to one another on what they had been up to during the day. Thanks to Changmin, their letters were never be found by both of their families. The plan worked out smoothly, Young Ho got to know his bride better now. Changmin, being the kind hearted soul he is, became more than just a good friend to him. They were practically brothers, even the maids and the servants were pleased by Changmin’s presence in the household. He always helped them out around the house chores and by being a good friend to their young master; he changed him into a better man. No longer do they see him all gloomy and hot tempered, but instead a grown up gentleman.

Meanwhile…. 

Rumor has it that the king was going to die very soon. To all the government servants, they were all really nervous. Some of them had already made a preposition suggesting the next heir but as for the Jung’s clan, they ‘re trying their best, plotting a few strategies under their sleeves, making their power as the strongest clan ever to remain as there are. The politician powers were distinguishably divided into two. Some of them believed that the Jung’s power would remained while another half turned their back against them, they were rooting for the next heir instead, to carry out his duty as a noble king he supposed to be. This unstable politics forced the Jung’s to strengthen their power by combining the Jung’s and the Kim’s clan, which was exactly the reason that bring Young Ho into his father chamber, first thing in one particular morning.

At Jung Myung Dae’s chamber (Young Ho’s father)

“You called for me, abeonim?” Young Ho kneeled in front of his father; he kept his eyes down on the floor. Of course the news about how unstable the politics and the palace were already known to him. He would’ve already guess that his father had already something planned out that would involved him, which was why he wasn’t that surprised when one of the maids called him to see his father. 

“Omo, can’t a father have just wanted an audience with his own son?” His father asked while continuing wiping out some dust off the leaves on the plant inside his room.

“I’m sure you didn’t call me just to have a little father-son moment with me. What is it do you wish for abeonim?” His father smirked, he just raised such a smart son, and he couldn’t be more proud than that.

“You’re right. I’m pretty sure I don’t have to explain all the things that had been going on inside the palace wall, true?” He stared right into Young Ho’s eyes. Young Ho understood what his father was referring to, it was about the news on the king’s sickness and how the politic is highly unstable at the moment. He nodded his head.

“The wall has ears, so what are you going to do about that anyway?”He threw out the question to his father.

“One of the way is to strengthen our stand is by engaging our clan with the Kim’s, you do understand what I’m referring to, aren’t you?”

“You mean my wedding with Lady Eun Hee?”

“Yes, you two will be wedded the day after tomorrow, make all the preparation necessary. You may go.”

Young Ho was startled to hear the news. He didn’t expect to be marrying already. All he ever wanted was to have some freedom without any responsibilities but it seemed like that would be too much for him to ask for right now. As soon as his father dismissed him, he went out of that room and looked for Changmin, he needed someone to talk too right now and somehow Changmin seemed like just the right one to talk too. 

He searched all over the place for Changmin, his bedroom, the practicing hall, the libraries, anywhere Changmin loved to be but to his dismay, he couldn’t found him. Finally he went to the kitchen but still there’s no sigh of him. He approached one of the servants and asked for him,

“Ahjumma, have you seen Changmin anywhere? I can’t seem to find him.” That middle age lady bowed to him before answering him.

“I’m afraid young master Young Ho, Changmin-shi had already gone out along with the other servants. They said they were getting some ingredients for the kitchen.” The middle age bowed again before excusing herself. So there’s no way of Young Ho meeting Changmin anytime soon, he felt depressed and decided to head out to cold his mind about the whole wedding thing.

Flashback…earlier that day during breakfast

Changmin’s POV

Yeah, it’s breakfast time. During my stayed at the Jung’s resident, everyone had been really nice to me. In every meal time, the servant eats in the kitchen, not together with the master, which means I also had to eat in the kitchen. But it was alright, the cooks were always giving me extra food, so I really don’t mind eating there. I got to meet some new friends here and one of them is Yesung-hyung. He really is a nice guy plus he’s one of the cook in that household, he cooked some really delicious food which is why I like to be around him. During our meal time, we talked about the young master’s wedding plan. The whole household had been informed of it so in order to hold the big occasion, all the servants were busy, we had to work on the preparation for the wedding, and that included me, somehow.

I knew how those two relationships were progressing so I assumed that Young Ho would be alright with the whole thing. Well, I am the one who responsible to fixed their relationship. Last night when I met Lady Eun Hee, she was really happy to receive the letter; I noticed she became a lot more talkative compared to the first time I met her. She sometimes shared the letter content with me. No fend but I somehow had a feeling that she kinda likes me. But I could be wrong; at least I hope that I am wrong. I certainly didn’t want to be the third wheel in their relationship. And what’s wrong with Young Ho lately??? He kept on following me around, almost like a lost puppy following its’ master. He kinda of remind me to Mangdongie. Gosh! I hope she’s alright, Yunho better be taking care of her, or else he really going to get it from me…

Well despite all those thing, I guess those two had became friend, hopefully love is on the way for those two….

Anyway, as soon as I was done with my breakfast, Yesung-hyung asked me to accompany him to the market to get some vegetables; they were planning on making a fresh batch of kimchi for the occasion. Usually he would go with the other servants but unfortunately everyone else was busy with everything else. Well, lucky for him, I got nothing else better to do so I decided to help him out.

At the market…

Oh god, how much more does he actually need this, the wagon was almost full with many kinds of ingredient, is he trying to feed the whole people in this region, because if he is he probably need more help than just mine. The weight on the wagon was getting more and more, honestly when will we stopped???

“Hyung…don’t you think we have enough of everything already?” He looked back at me and scanned the ingredient in the wagon that I was pulling behind me.

“Just a little more Changmin then we’ll be off home soon. Hang in there alright dongseang?” He gave me his assuring smile, somehow I doubt it.

And my instinct was true, we ended up shopping for another one hour before finally got back home.

Just as soon as we arrived, he made me helped him in the kitchen, cutting of the vegetables, washing them and finally mixed all the ingredients together. The kimchi turned out to be really well, the color was right, the taste was good. As a reward for my hard word today, hyung fed me a nice large bowl of fresh kimchi to me and nothing rewarded best hard work than a great taste of food. As I began worshipping my food, an ahjumma approached me, telling me that Young Ho had been looking all over for me today.  

Aish! Now what does he wants??

As much as I would like to search for him back, asking him for what did he wanted from me, I couldn’t resist the temptation from the food.

Soon Young Ho, soon.

As soon as I finished eating, I’ll go and looked for you.

Somewhere out in the capital….

Here I am, running around the road, searching for Young Ho. He was out the entire day, and by now it was way pass dinner time and yet he still haven’t come back. Turned out to be I took my time longer than I should, blame that on Yesung-hyung for cooking such a good food, there’s no way I’m wasting any of it. Anyway, I got worried so I decided to look for him.

“Young Ho!”

 “Young Ho! Where are you?”

“Young Ho!” I kept on running around the road until an arrow hit just right in front of me, it nearly hit my leg but thank god I still got my reflexes, so I dodged it. I tried to find where the arrow came from but there was certainly nobody else there than just me. That guy had probably already made a run for it. I studied the arrow and saw there was a piece of red paper attached to it.

A message, really? Who would send a message using an arrow? This is so like a threat to me. Nevertheless, I read the message, and it was definitely for me.

다리에서 만나요, 우리는 작품을 가지고

meet me at the bridge, we have a work to do

Is it from them? So Kyu Bok and the other found out that I was still alive. Great, now what do they want from me? Did they found out that I’ve been taking into the Jung’s household? I got to meet them, somehow I sensed that something bad is going to happen soon.

Somewhere near the bridge...

A man was waiting there with a head covering most of his face, but judging by his height and body size, that’s definitely Kyu Bok. He probably heard my footsteps so he turned to face me and lifted his head a bit, revealing his eyes. I could see a smile was pestered on his face. He got closer to me and hugged me.

“Yoon Shik, I’m so glad that you’re still alive. You have no idea how sad I was when I though you’re already dead.”I let go of his hug and looked at him questioning.

“So how did you found out that I’m alive?”

“A little bird told me. Anyway, it’s good that the Jung took you in, this would make the mission this time a lot more easier now that we have an inside. You are going to help us out right?” He looked at me with the same hopeful eyes he’s been giving to me ever since I joined these missions. I thought about it for awhile, but then it would be nice if I somehow figured out what they were going to do.

“So what’s it about this time?” I didn’t say that I’ll agree to it, I just simply want to know.

“You must have heard about the wedding, right?” He asked.

“Yeah, so?” I crossed my arms around me, I didn’t like where this is heading to. Young Ho and Eun Hee are both my friends, I don’t want to hurt them in any way.

“Here’s the thing, if the wedding ever be able to take place the Jung’s power would be more powerful than ever, so we absolutely can’t let this happen.”
“So what? You’re planning to stop this? How?” He smirked hearing my question. Of course, how else would he plan this mission to be?

“You’re planning on killing them aren’t you?” I asked him, still keeping my composer while inside, I was pissed off, wanting to beat the out of him.

“It won’t necessarily be both of them. Either one of them is fine, but I was hoping to kill that Jung’s kid, we don’t actually hold any grudge against the Kim’s daughter. Plus she’s pretty isn’t she? I heard you met her few of times already.” He smirked, !!! He’s been spying on me, how come I didn’t see this coming.

“You know what to do Yoon Shik-ah.” He whispered those words to me before he went off to somewhere else which I couldn’t care less.

<<<<<<>>>>>> 

“Young Ho!!”

 “Young Ho! Where are you?” I continued searching for him. About the meeting I had earlier with Kyu Bok, I decided to put it aside; I need to find Young Ho first before I could think of anything else at the moment. Finally after hours of looking for him, I finally found him drunk, with red cheek and nose while sleeping at one of the table at a liquor store. Prefect and here I thought he was being kidnap or something. I’m glad he was alright thought.

I approached the table he was at and sat right next to him. The ahjumma that was yelling at him earlier seemed to go away as soon as I gave her some money, she probably was asking him to pay up for the liquor he drank. Great! There goes my money, I’ll make sure Young Ho paid doubled the amount of money he owed me plus extra fee for carrying him home. He still sobered up but somehow he was stupidly smiled at me as he stared at my face, and here goes his drunken talk with me…

“Changmin-ah…you’re cute.” While pinching my cheeks..

“where’ve you been all day??..I…I was looking all…*hiccup…all over the place….*another hiccup… for you…I*hiccup.. I’m lonely…”

Aish, this guy is really drunk, I should probably start carrying him home now, he caused too much scene already.

“Come on Young Ho, let’s get you back home alright..” I pulled him by his arm and started dragging him along with me, I bowed to the few other customers who were looking suspiciously at us.

Finally, we made it into an empty road, no wonder, it was already late anyway. Everyone would already be in bed by now. Then Young Ho made one of his unexpected move, he launched his body to me, while hugged me tight, close to his body while soaking his face at my neck, I felt hot liquid was wetting it. Is he crying? As much as I felt awkward at the moment, I didn’t push him away. Somehow I felt he needed this.

“Changmin-ah, what do I do? I’m getting married to a friend. I don’t want that. If I’m going to marry, I wished I marry to someone I love. Not to someone I like.” He continued sobbing onto me. I patted his head a little, allowed him to let it all out.

“Young Ho-ah, you don’t love her one bit? I thought the relationship on both of you was going on pretty well?” I started asking him.

“I don’t love her Changmin-ah. I only like her because you tell me too. But I don’t think I would be able to marry her. Not the day after tomorrow. I just couldn’t.” Probably out of pity, I decided to comfort him.

“There, there Young Ho, don’t worry. We figure something out alright. We still got tomorrow don’t we? I’ll tell you what, we’ll have a sword practicing tomorrow morning, I’ll let you vent out all your anger on me, then maybe we can think of something else, how does that sound like?” Gosh! Suddenly I felt like a mother coaxing her sulking child. I felt he was slowly sunken in my embrace, probably he was getting sleepy.

“Don’t bother, I think I had already fallen in love with someone already, you.” My mind went blanked out for a moment, what did he said?? He fell for me???? Am I hearing things now? Then he cupped my face and looked me in the eyes.

“Shim Changmin, saranghae.”He leaned in and almost kissed me, well almost.

KNOCK!!!

I hit him right on his neck, giving just the right amount pressure, enough to knock him out of conscious. I rather dealing with unconscious Young Ho than the drunken one, here he started mumbling weird things already, I sure hope he won’t be remembering anything from tonight. There’s no way I’m cheating behind Yunho, despite these two has the same face.

That night I ended up taking care of him. Carrying him back home, taking him into his futon, putting a wet towel on his forehead because somehow his body was burning that night. I didn’t realized what the time was already but finally he cooled down after a several hours later. I think it was then I fall asleep, right next to his futon, with only my head rest on the futon, pillowing my head while the rest of my body was on the floor. My body was feeling really tired that day so I ended up having a weird dream that night.

End Changmin’s POV 

Changmin’s dream

Changmin opened his eyes and found out that he was back in the hospital. He could fell the IV drip attached on his right arm and the beeping sound from the machine next to him. He looked around the room and saw Yunho, sleeping right next to him with the same position he was in besides Young Ho, only the rest of Yunho body was on the chair while his head was resting on his bed. Changmin smiled seeing Yunho again, back in his white doctor coat, breathing peacefully while sound asleep. Changmin touched Yunho’s hair gently, he didn’t want to wake the older boy up. Then everything turned bright.

Changmin was waking up….    

Next morning…[Young Ho’s Bedroom]

Young Ho woke up feeling the worse hangover he ever had. He studied his surrounding for awhile before his brain finally registered where he was, he was right in his futon, in his night rope with a sleeping Changmin right next at his bed side. He felt touched looking Changmin’s tired face, he must had stayed up all night looking after him. There was a bowl of cool water along with a wet towel near him. Young Ho faced palmed himself, suddenly the image from last night came flashing into his mind, along with his confession to Changmin. He ruffled his already messy hair and let out a frustrated sigh, a little loud, stirring Changmin from his sleep.

After rubbing his eyes a few times, Changmin finally came to his senses.

“Oh so you awaken already? How’s the hangover?” Changmin got up into a sitting position right next to him. Young Ho couldn’t help but feeling awkward at the moment, he was wondering how he’ll going to face him from now on after that embarrassing confession of his.

“My head feels like killing me, and my neck hurt really bad.” He let out a bitter smile, still refused to look at Changmin in the eyes. Changmin understood the older and got up from his seat.

“I’ll go and get the medicine for you.” He almost left the room when Young Ho called him back.

“Changmin-ah…”there was a silence for a moment there

“I’m sorry about last night. I must have made you felt weird, sorry about that.” Changmin smiled warmly at him.

“Don’t sweat it, I don’t take it seriously anyway. We should get you sober up today, you got to look your best tomorrow. I’ll get the maid to prepare something warm for you to eat.” Changmin excused himself and made his way to the kitchen.

At the Jung’s kitchen

“Ahjumma, young master has already woken up; you should prepare something for him to eat.” Changmin requested to one of those cooks.

“Deh, will there be anything else, Changmin-shi?” Changmin shook his head then the ahjumma started to chop the ingredient necessary.

“Ahjumma I forgot, what do you usually gave to people when they’re having a bad hangover?” Changmin asked after awhile of watching the middle aged lady cooked in the kitchen.    

“Hangover? Oh…I think we usually gave them the bitter tea. Do you want some too?” She took a glance at Changmin while still concentrating on her cooking. Changmin nodded his head to it. Then the lady left the ingredient on the stove for awhile to search for the tea leaves at one of the cabinets. She returned with a troubled expression on her face.

“Changmin-ah, I’m afraid we run out of it. Do you need it really badly? If you do, I think you need to go to the herb store.” Changmin didn’t resist to that request so he made his way to the store.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Hehe^^ another update, so tell me what do you think??? I wanted to make a double update but seems like the other chapter hasn't completely finish, so I might need some time, plus I'm having a writer block at the moment. chomal... jwesonghamnida

The spoiler for the last one on the previous chapter will be explain on the next chapter,....I think...

ChangMiRuu@ Yeah, Min being a cupid, I always found that to be cute. Me too, I want to make more Homin moment ^^ And about that blood...I'll explain everything in the next update, sorry for being a dragger, the plot is still being constructed at the moment, please be patient....^^ I'll update it as soon as I can...

suzukikasami@ Yup, I'm updating, sorry for the wait. I'm still cracking my mind about the next update please be patient^^

rilakumaA@ Yes dear, Changmin love Yunho not Young Ho, but as you can see there's a little bit twist over here, somehow Young Ho fell for Changmin^^ of course who could resist him ^^ Yeah, Changmin should be able to get back right? or else how would I make the homin moment? but that would be too early to reveal...I'll update what happen next and I think somehow that should explain more...please be patient^^

erverosa@ Thank you very much dear for the compliment, I'll work hard for the next update  9(*^*)9

chinatsura@ I'll try my best in updating, thank you very much for the comment dear, I appreciate it.

Many thanks to erverosa and chinatsura for subscribing....