The side of his lip curled into a bitter grin as he slammed down another empty glass onto the table. His hand hovered over to the bottle of soju by his side and pouring the rest of it's contents into his glass as if an automatic reaction. Whispers and mumbles were filled throughout the small room, but Jaejoong couldn't see anything else but the alcohol. His world had gone numb, completely frozen. He didn't care about the people at this point. He kept his place there, continuing to drink like any normal person. It didn’t matter, after all JYJ was done and eventually Jaejoong was forgotten. It was almost as if there was no JYJ in the beginning. Junsu had continued his solo career, with the stage name XIA. When he wasn’t promoting his music, he acted in musicals. He was a worldwide phenomenon, recognized for his undeniable talent. On the other hand, Yoochun continued as a composer and an actor. He was a highly wanted composer, his songs being all over the place and with his acting career being fairly successful, he was casted very often and achieved high ratings with each project he did. The other two members of “Dong Bang Shin Ki” were at their peak and promoting their music all over the world and well Jaejoong was in a bar, simply drinking his life away. 

In front of him, there was a picture of five smiling faces. His tired eyes slowly moved his line of vision to the picture frame and pulled it closer, analyzing the those faces - the moment so fresh in his memory, the colours were vivid. The smile on his face had become so unfamiliar. It was now replaced with tears and frowns. He couldn’t recognize his own self, the Jaejoong who had used to be deemed as “beautiful” was now gone. A lone tear fell from his face, hearing the harmonization of five in his head over and over again.

“Exactly why did I choose this path?” He ran his long fingers through his hair. It was his decision, so why was he not happy? Angry at himself, he grabbed the nearest glass and used all his power to slam it against the wood surface. The glass pieces shattered, some piercing through his hand. He winced slightly, feeling the pain but it was nothing compared to the hurt he received mentally. The blood gushed out of his skin, but he didn’t feel it at all. He felt numb, like nothing was even worth it anymore. With a sigh, he grabbed another glass and chugged it down. 

“Hyung, I think it’s time you stopped.” A very familiar voice chuckled from the entrance of the bar as it made it’s way closer to Jaejoong.  He could hear another pair of footsteps following behind and immediately assumed that it had been the two other members trying to get him to stop drinking. This wasn’t the first they had tried to get him out of a long trip to the bar.  He felt a tight squeeze on his shoulder as the other hand proceeding in putting the alcohol away. 

“Yoochun please.” He grabbed the arm that was place onto his shoulder and stood up, turning to face him. He expected to see Junsu’s disappointed face, frowning at the sight of seeing his hyung in such distress but to his surprise there was an additional two people. His eyes widened at the figures of the two who he hadn’t seen in such a long time. 

“Changmin, Yunho.. Wh- what are you doing here?” He stuttered and stepped back, not too sure if his eyesight was fooling him.  

“And what are you doing?” Yunho pointed out his hand which was completely covered in a bright red liquid. He subtly moved it behind his back before the younger man pulled it back out. 

“You should be more careful, if you hurt you hand you can’t make me food anymore.” The youngest teased, as he stuck out his lower lip. Jaejoong bit his lip, and laughed at the long missed image of Changmin pouting. 

“Let’s go clean it up.” Yunho began dragging him to the washroom, he looked back to the other members for help but they stood there trying to hold back their laughter at the subtle YunJae moment that they had just witnessed. Unconsciously, his lips formed into a small smile and he  finally realized that this wasn’t just an illusion. 

This is what he missed, the friendship, the harmony, the laughter, the tears, his best friends, no his family. The people that meant so much to him, that made his day so much brighter then it had used to be. He looked back at the man in front of who was now holding out his hand under running water and grinned for the first time in so long. He walked closer to him, inhaling the intoxicating scent he missed so much and wrapped his arms around him. “Thank you, so much.” He whispered almost quiet, closing his eyes.