Three

                          First Quarter Half Moon                           

“Going live in 3, 2, 1 –“

Snap!

He knows the drill too well – make the words as clear as possible, avoid looking down at the written script, accentuate on words that need to be relayed to the viewers and appear as good-looking and liberal on the display. No doubt, Minho is born for the small screen.

Taemin wonders while looking at the television where his friend’s handsome presence still lingers why Choi decided to be a reporter when he could have been an actor or a celebrity that is sure to dig more money and popularity. He needs no any intelligence to tell that Minho will make it big in the celebrity world without an effort.

Not only Taemin was watching Choi Minho report live from the Senate about the case of a congressman withheld with the charges of fraud. Everyone was sitting on their designated office cubicles and looking at the screen where the dashing reporter flawlessly talks, even making the senior news anchors on the studio stare intently at the television. They were all mesmerized, yes, but everybody has this silent understanding of the loss and grief the newsperson had gone through. It was as if their hearts are all ready to forgive Minho in united empathizing if ever he makes a slip of the tongue or any fact misstatement. Fortunately, the man was still going with his report smoothly.

The youngest Lee in the office can’t help but smile at his co-workers’ reactions – it seems that time stopped for them as his best friend talks. But he understands them since he feels the same way. Heck, he was the one who was the most affected when Minho went to the office yesterday when Taemin just finished his day shift, only to tell their boss that he is ready to work again. Taemin cannot deny that he is worried for Minho’s welfare -- it hasn’t even been a month since the unfortunate event passed, but there is his friend, reporting 17 kilometres away from him as if nothing happened.

And that’s what vexes the younger man – he knows that there is something that happened. Even with the short time he spent with his hyung, he knows the man too well. He still hasn’t questioned his friend about what happened that night when he fetched him scared to the bones at a bus stop, or that strange call he received about looking at the moon. Something went inside Minho’s system (or out) since he changed drastically after that night. Maybe it’s the death of her girlfriend finally rubbing to his reality… but no. He already went through that phase, I can very much tell that. It’s not grief or longing I see in him – it’s something that resembles fear and apprehension. And it precisely showed through him after that night. I can see it in his eyes.

He looked back at the screen where Minho is already at the end of his report, answering the queries asked by one of the senior news anchor in the studio. Transmitted by the camera, signals and lights, he can see the strange glint in his friend’s eyes and he still don’t know what it is, but he is sure that it daunted him very much.

“Mr Lee,” the deep voice was followed with a folder sliding into his desk.

Looking around the office, it seems that Minho’s report is already over and everyone was pretty much relieved to how it turned out. After that, he looked at his right where his boss is standing, arms are resting on his cubicle wall.

“Yes, sir?” Taemin replied.

“Edit that article on 5. After that, ask Jiyong to help you. See that guy with the blonde hair? Yeah, that’s him. Ask him to come with you since your cameraman called in sick,” his boss said while still looking at the blonde boy who just disappeared in the storage room, arranging the multi-devices.

“No problem sir. What would I be covering?” he asked.

His boss started to stand up straight and smiled at him. The short and fat man started to walk away saying, “Just a flood relief operation in Dokpo. No biggie. Leave at 6.”

Taemin nodded at his boss’ direction even if he wasn’t looking. He started to open the article he’s about to work on until the previous man turned around and added,

“Oh, and also, 250 count. Okay?” Lee raised his head to the older man and nodded again. He can’t help but sigh at what he has now. At this state, he surely won’t be able to talk to Minho since he’ll be covering for the night shift.

After this, after all of this, he chanted to himself and promised to talk with his best friend after all of his work ends.

_______________

Minho is sure that the person right in front of him is him.

But his belief is slowly faltering when he continues to look at the large mirror on his brother’s living room. The reflection in front of him does not resemble his state from the past few days. Here he is now – eyes clear, dark circles around his eyes strangely gone, cheeks not sunken, hair looking healthy and brownish skin radiating. No, he shouldn’t be looking like this after all what happened. Oddly, Minho can’t help but continue to look at the man in front of him, mesmerisation and scepticism floating on his mind.

Finally, he decided to tear his gaze away from the full-length mirror and dragged his feet towards the kitchen where a plate of omelettes and hotdogs, two cups of rice and a freshly-squeezed orange juice are already laid on the counter by his older brother. He sat at the high chair and started eating the meal prepared by his hyung.

He was really grateful to his brother for comforting him during his stay, but it is inevitable for Minho to still feel depressed and alone after what happened to his lover. It went from bad to something so dreadful to the point he can’t think or sleep properly when he met Key, making him paranoid every time. Somehow, he was relieved that Key’s voice no longer echoes on his mind for the past few days but he can’t help but sense that there will be a time that he’ll meet the lunar creature again, even if sometimes he tries to convince himself that he was only dreaming. It's just the calm before the storm, he believed. The tall guy knows that there is something more to come. So that’s why he decided to go back to work and distract his mind from the disturbing thoughts while the peace from lunar creature’s absence is still there.

Ring, ring, ring

The house phone continues to ring, making Minho to put his fork down, get off the chair and walk back again to the living room. He made sure to avoid contact with the large mirror as he picked up the phone on its 6^th ring, landing his body on the cashmere sofa like a boneless man.

“Hey, Minho!” the voice on the other line said. Minho can hear honks of cars and the smooth rumble of the engine.

“Neh hyung,” he replied.

“You just woke up?”

“N-no. I was up an hour ago,” he said.

“I made you some breakfast, you know. Have you eaten it?” his brother asked.

“Yeah. I'm actually in the middle of eating it when you called. It’s delicious,” Minho said while looking back at the kitchen where his unfinished breakfast lay.

“Oh okay, sorry for disturbing,” his brother laughed and suddenly cursed. He’s probably driving, Minho thought.

“No problem. You’re off to work, right? You shouldn’t be making a call while driving,” he said.

Another laugh came off from the other line. “Alright, alright. My dongsaeng is lecturing me! Eat whatever you want there, okay? And don’t go out without telling me. Take care, Minho.”

Minho kept silent after his brother talked, making his hyung worry. “Yah, dongsaeng? You still there?”

“—yung…”

“What? Minho? What did you say?”

“Thank you, Siwon-hyung,” the younger one finally managed to clearly state. Minho didn’t even wait for his brother’s reply as he ended the call and went back to the kitchen to finish his breakfast.

___________________

“Make sure that you have a good reason for making me go to the rooftop of a deserted building.”

The man with the raven hair and pale skin just laughed at his friend's ‘taunting’ remark. He patted the space of the seat next to him, urging the older man to come and sit. As to what he expected, the man complied with his request, followed with a string of curses directed at him. If Minho was cursing at any other person, that one would be crying right now. But Lee Taemin is already immune to his friend’s sharp tongue, and so is Minho to Taemin’s biting comebacks.

“You look good,” he said to his hyung.

Minho was in the act of brushing the dirt off the cement chair when he raised his eyebrow and looked at the boy with amusement, “Falling for me already? I never knew that you were—“

“Shut up,” Taemin shoved a paper bag to Minho’s stomach, making the older one wince in pain as he sat beside him.

“What’s thi—oh, cheese bread. Thanks, little dirt.” He smiled and opened the bag, placing the whole bread in his mouth.

“Well at least learn to share.” With that, Taemin grabbed a piece of bread from the bag and munched on it.

But then, Taemin remembers the reason why he called his friend to go here at his old elementary school. He needs to know what happened that night, what happened to Minho. Worry flooded his mind every night when his hyung no longer calls him. He used to call the younger once a day, even after what happened. Taemin was sure that if he hadn’t called his hyung today, he wouldn’t hear anything from him for the rest of the week.

He finally turned his gaze towards his friend but unfortunately, his plans went down the drain. Taemin can’t help but be hypnotized at what he is seeing now: his hyung is in total peace. The sunset's glow illuminates his light bronze skin, making the outline of his face glow from the young one's point of view. He notices that Minho's hair is lightly moving with the warm breeze as if it was the most natural thing in the world. And of course those lips, those slightly upturned lips that anyone could have missed if they make a mistake of not looking closely. He’s not even in this rooftop or this building -- Choi Minho is already far away, calm and happy.

What, Taemin said to himself. He doesn’t even know what he is questioning about at the moment. As scary as the sudden change he saw in his friend, the younger one just smiled and turned his stare back to where Minho is also looking.

The world around them continued to turn on mute as they went on eating Minho’s favourite bread while looking at the setting sun. The sky was in swirl of colors, shades of purple and pink and added with a dash of orange, the sun soundlessly bidding goodbye.

It was silent at the rooftop and the two men do not have any plan to break the peace that they both know will only last for this indefinite time.

“For now, for now.”

Coincidentally, both boys uttered rhythmically in their heads the same thing for the rest of the afternoon.

Minho is trying to get his life back.

The chapter may seem passive but -- okay, I'll stop now. 

I'm so happy that this story got featured on Too Much 2min! I never thought that you guys will like this. Thank you!

So that's why for the first time in my history of posting stories, I made an outline. Haha. When I write, I only think of either the ending or the start and continue with the flow, whatever I feel like writing. But with this, I already planned out the chapter plots. I hope that you'll find it good!

Here are my comment replies. You can find your names here:

aflatoxin, I'm glad you liked Key's cameo! Well, that event where Minho asked Taemin to go with him at the toilet actually happened to me and my sister in real life after watching a Discovery Channel horror episode. I swear -- it was scary. Thank you for commenting! Jeszica, aww thank you so much. It really means a lot to me when you said that this is awesome. I hope you liked the update! lee_xuan, I'm glad that your oh my gosh was a good thing, haha! I hope you liked this though... I love you, too! LeeYuRi, I am much honoured to receive a comment like yours but I have to say to you that this is not the most well-written story on AFF. I know many authors way better than me and I'm sure it won't be long that you'll stumble across a fic which is very well written! :) But still, thank you for saying that! I hope you liked this chapter! lucidream, thank you so much for that sweet comment! I'm happy to say that I already planned the fic out. I just hope that you and the other readers will like it, too! Taemin's role in this story will be very important. I can't give away anything more than that though. :) (I love your name, btw) Thank you again! jabbers23, you sweet thing! I'm grateful that you told me that this got featured or else, I wouldn't have known! Thanks! I'm relieved that you find this mysterious since I was trying hard to make it seem so. Thank you again, dear! darkangel265, yes. Key is a creature but he takes the human form. As for Onew and Jonghyun, I'm not sure if they'll be appearing here...But if I can, then I will! Thanks for commenting! I hope you liked this chapter! TiaraL, thanks hun! I'm glad that fate made you stumble on this story, haha. Impeccable vocabulary? Seamless writing? Wow, thank you so much! I'm not sure about that though -- I still have a lot of things to improve on... How about this chapter? D'you like it? It seems blank but... I'll shut up. Haha! Thank you so much again! I hope you'll continue to follow this! :) schaver, I'm also glad that you found this one or else I wouldn't have you as my reader! Haha! Thanks for saying that this is awesome. I hope you liked this chapter. I hope you'll stay with me until this story ends! :)

And for my subscribers and silent readers, I would like to say "thank you" for taking time to check or read this story. I hope you find it okay. Please tell me what you think about it and let's be friends! :)

04:25AM, 09/03/2012