11

Jaejoong POV

September was coming up, which meant that Jaeki’s birthday was coming soon. We had both been very busy the past couple of weeks so we hadn’t had a lot of time together. Since her birthday was in two weeks, and it just so happened that her birthday was also our 100^th day of being together, I wanted to do some thing special.

I know she had already told her parents about us, but as I dialed her house number to speak with her mother, I couldn’t help but feel nervous. I mean, what if they didn’t like me? After all, I was ten years her senior.

“Hello?” A woman, whom I assumed was Jaeki’s mother, answered the phone.

“A-ah, hello. Is this Mrs Lee?” I asked.

“Yes, this is Mrs Lee speaking. May I ask who I am speaking to?”

“Good afternoon, Mrs Lee. I am Kim Jaejoong. I was just wondering if I could ask a favor of you?”

“Oh, Jaejoong-ssi! No need to be so formal! I’ve heard a lot about you from Jaeki! Yes, yes, what is it that you need?”

“You can just call me Jaejoong, Mrs Lee. Well, as you know, Jaeki’s birthday is coming up soon, and coincidentally, her birthday is also our 100^th day of being a couple. Since it’s such a special day, I would like to surprise her, for which I need your help.”

“Oh really? Sure! Why not? You seem to genuinely care for her a lot, and I’m glad she has someone like you in her life. She was very depressed after the incident, but her best friend, Jimin, introduced her to DBSK and since then, she’s managed to return to her normal self. You may not know this, Jaejoong, but if not for you and your band, my daughter might have been lost forever in the darkness. I am truly grateful to you. Whatever it is that you need me to do, I will do it. Just please, make sure that you never hurt Jaeki.” Mrs Lee’s voice rang with sincerity.

Incident?

I had no idea what she was referring to, but I had a hunch that it had something to do with that Minhyun guy, whoever he was.

After arranging everything with Mrs Lee, I called Jaeki’s manager and asked him to get her a day off on her birthday. I was so excited after everything had been planned out that I couldn’t wait for the next two weeks to be over.

End Jaejoong POV

~Jaeki’s birthday~

It was my birthday today and I had the day off. I spent the whole day out with Jimin and some other friends, whom I haven’t seen for a long time. I was glad to have finally met up with them, but there was one thing which had been bothering me.

Jaejoong hadn’t contacted me at all in the last three days.

I think he’d forgotten that it was my birthday today, which really… … I mean, I understand that he’s one of South Korea’s top stars and he’s very, very busy, but even a short text message would’ve been nice. Also, I noticed that lately, we’d been… Not as close… It was my fault, really. I couldn’t forget that dream and even though I trusted Jaejoong and I believed he wouldn’t ever do that to me, I couldn’t help but distance myself a little.

I’d been thinking, and I decided that I really wanted to tell him about Minhyun. I mean, I couldn’t keep it a secret forever, and I wanted Jaejoong to know, so that there wouldn’t be any misunderstandings in the future. I just couldn’t decide when or how to tell him…

Anyway, I was kind of disappointed that he didn’t even text me today. Sometimes, he’d just text or call me for no reason at all, and today, when there actually is a reason, he just doesn’t? I guess I would just have to stop thinking about it and enjoy the home-cooked meal that my mother had prepared. I hadn’t had much quality time with my family since before my debut, so I was looking forward to tonight.

I was sitting on a stool by the window in my room, looking through the photos I had taken with my friends when someone rang our doorbell. I was confused, because I didn’t think we were expecting any guests. I decided to just ignore it, thinking it was just a salesman or something.

“Jaewon-ah! Answer the door, would you?” My mother yelled out to my sister from the kitchen.

Shortly after that, I heard a high-pitched scream and the loud bang of the door being slammed shut echoed throughout the house. I sat up straight immediately and five seconds later, my sister barged into my room.

“J-j-jae…..” she stuttered.

“What? What is it?” I thought she was trying to call my name, and I couldn’t understand why she was stuttering.

Before she could say anything though, my mother came into my room and dragged my sister out. I was beyond confused by that point, but I was too tired to actually care. If there was something wrong, surely my mother would sort it out. Instead, I placed my headphones over my ears and set my iPod on shuffle, continuing to scroll through the photos on my phone.

Jaejoong POV

I arrived at Jaeki’s apartment just before 7pm, as I had told Mrs Lee. I rang the doorbell and waited for a short while before the door opened. A girl who looked very much like Jaeki opened the door. She must have been Jaeki’s younger sister. The moment she saw me, her widened and fell open, in shock, I guess. Then, she screamed, so loudly that I actually cringed, and slammed the door in my face.

Well that’s nice… My girlfriend’s sister just slammed the door in my face.

I waited outside for a couple of minutes until Mrs Lee answered the door.

“Jaejoong! I’m so sorry for Jaewon’s behavior, she doesn’t know about you and Jaeki. I guess we really should have told her earlier, but we kept delaying it because we weren’t sure if she’d accidentally tell one of her friends. Come in, come in!” Mrs Lee welcomed me, an apologetic look on her face.

When I entered the house, Jaeki’s sister, Jaewon, suddenly appeared right in front of me.

“You’re Hero. Kim Jaejoong. From DBSK.” She stated.

“Yeah, I know. And you’re Lee Jaewon. Lee Jaeki’s sister.” I replied in the same tone while smiling.

“I didn’t believe Jaeki-unni when she told me she was friends with you,” she admitted, “how do you know my name?”

I chuckled lightly before replying, “well, I think it’s only right that I know the name of my girlfriend’s younger sister, don’t you agree?”

Her eyes grew wide, again, and she half-yelled in shock, “your girlfriend? You’re dating my sister? Oh my God. Oh my GOD! My sister is dating only THE most beautiful guy in the world. Oh my God. I can’t believe I just said that…”

I was laughing full out by then, this really was Jaeki’s sister, they were so much alike. It was a little awkward though. I mean, ‘only the most beautiful guy in the world’ and all… Well, I guess it IS true hahahahaha~

After I had greeted Mr Lee, I headed to Jaeki’s room. Her door was closed, so I slipped in quietly, so that she wouldn’t notice. Luckily, she was listening to music and she was facing away from the door, so she didn’t hear or see me. I made my way across the room carefully, feeling my pocket to make sure the small velvet box was still there.

Then, when I was right behind her, I placed my hands over her eyes and whispered softly, “guess who~”