Should we meet for a drink and discuss the little ones? I think some teamwork is in order.

            That was the text message that began to bridge the gap between the Kyuhyun camp and the Ryeowook camp.  Yesung already suspected that Ryeowook was still smitten with Kyuhyun but having an inside informant never hurt, especially since he was bound to lose more sleep if it wasn’t resolved soon.  Although Yesung made it abundantly clear to Kyuhyun when he agreed to bunk with him for five nights that there would be absolutely no computer operating between the hours of midnight and eight am and no television if Yesung was sleeping, it did not prevent Kyuhyun from keeping him awake all night with his constant tossing and turning.  And that was only one night!  If this kept up, he’d be a zombie by the day of the performance.

            In order to keep the fan girls at bay, he agreed to meet Sungmin at a bar about fifteen minutes away.  No disguise seemed to allow him to sneak out of the building completely undetected, however, even when his hair was back to its natural black color and he wore nothing out of the ordinary, just a black pair of jeans and a maroon dress shirt.  Even his glasses were plain black.  But the moment he tried to sneak out the entrance without an entourage in sight, fans began to run up to him, screaming. 

            The security came out of the woodwork and escorted him to his car, which the valet had running and waiting for him.  He hopped in and sped away, watching the rearview mirror periodically to ensure that he wasn’t being tailed. 

            The bar knew he was coming ahead of time.  He was a frequent customer and they usually sat him in a more private area for his visits.  Yesung was a bit more reserved than the rest of the members and preferred some semblance of living a normal life when he wasn’t performing or meeting fans.  As time went by, he noticed an improvement but until he said good-bye to being an entertainer, he would never really have a normal life.  The hard part was, he wasn’t sure if normal would cut it anymore either.  He loved what he did; he just didn’t like every aspect about it.

            He sat down at a bar table in the back and the waiter brought him his usual.  He was only seated for a minute when Sungmin walked over, looking about as inconspicuous as he could manage with platinum blond hair and black eyeliner, wearing a black shirt with grey pants.  It was a good look on him.  He’d come a long way in the years they’d known one another.  Sungmin was still one of the most feminine men he knew but he generally left the pink attire at home now and the new, y version of Sungmin was far more popular with the fans.  It was popular with everyone.

            “Hey, Min.”

            “Hello,” Sungmin smiled brightly, hanging his coat up on the rack beside them and sitting down just as the waiter began to head their way.

            “Moscato or Riesling tonight?” he asked.

            Sungmin gave him a surprised look.  “I can’t believe you remember something like that.”

            Yesung shrugged.  “You usually ordered one or the other.”

            Sungmin turned to the waiter.  “A glass of your Riesling, please.”

            “Certainly, sir,” he said, leaving them alone again.

            “Whew!  Did I ever have a hard time sneaking away from Wookie without answering a billion questions!  He’s been a little clingy since this whole thing began,” he complained.

            “I can’t say the same for Kyu but trust me when I say that he’s got his own set of irritating qualities and, much as I think of him as a brother, they’re beginning to wear on me a little.”

            “So, we’re in agreement about what has to be done, I assume, since you agreed to meet me here,” Sungmin said, resting his arms on the table and leaning forward.

            “I would have come either way.  If I don’t get out of the hotel for a few hours and away from the drama, I might lose my mind.  But, if you’re asking where I stand on the KyuWook dilemma, I’m in favor of seeing progress, one way or the other.  It’s high time that they have a heart to heart and either decide to be friends or get back together.”

            “Wookie is definitely still in love with Kyuhyun, whether or not he wants to admit it.  I think there’s still a little anger over Kyuhyun leaving him but I don’t think he plans on making him suffer the rest of his life because of it,” Sungmin explained, as the waiter set down his drink.  “Thank you.”

            “You’re very welcome, sir.”

            Yesung waited until the coast was clear before continuing, leaning forward in his seat as he spoke.  “Kyu has been very clear with me that he wants Ryeowook back but as far as I can tell, he’s still a long way from admitting it to him.”

            “He said that?” Sungmin asked excitedly, watching his volume so no one would overhear their conversation.  “He admitted he wants Wookie?”

            Yesung nodded, sipping his bottle of beer.

            “That’s great!” Sungmin said, his hand settling over his heart for a moment.  “I was worried that it might not be mutual.”

            “It’s mutual all right.  So, if you’re right about Ryeowook being ready to reunite with Kyuhyun, all it becomes is a waiting game.”

            “I don’t like waiting,” Sungmin confessed.

            “If it didn’t bother me that my friend has been living a pathetic, lonely life for the last several years and is utterly miserable, then I could care less how long it took.  But I have to see Kyuhyun on nearly a daily basis, so there isn’t a reprieve in sight unless he and Ryeowook do get back together.”

            Sungmin laughed, nodding his head.  “Yeah, I don’t see either of them enough to feel the effects of it, I guess.”

            “Well, perhaps you should come back to the city,” Yesung suggested, “and quit hiding out in the countryside.”

            Sungmin looked straight into Yesung’s eyes.  “Unlike some of you, I don’t excel at any one particular thing well enough to make a living out of it.  My voice isn’t good enough for solo work, I can’t write music, I’m not particularly good at dancing, I’m an awful actor, and although I was popular enough as a deejay, that just wasn’t what I wanted to do the rest of my life.”

            Yesung meant the comment to be innocent enough but when Sungmin didn’t take it in his usual light-hearted nature, he began to question if Sungmin wasn’t a little unhappy himself.

            “What do you want to do?”

            Sungmin shook his head and let his fingers fiddle with the stem of his glass.  “I wish I had an answer to that question but I was so happy back when we were all performing together, I never thought of anything else because I was already content with my life.”

            “You don’t think you can have some of that back?  At least if you came back to Seoul you could be near most of us,” he pointed out, watching Sungmin’s nervous reaction to having the spotlight put on him instead.

            He bit his lip and then drank down a third of his glass before trying to change the subject.  “Why are we talking about me, anyway?  We’re here to talk about Wook and Kyuhyun’s problems, not mine.”

            “Is our conversation restricted to talking about just them?  I don’t get to catch up with you or anything?” he questioned.

            “Well, you can, but let’s tackle one thing at a time,” Sungmin decided, smiling weakly.

            “Very well,” he agreed.  “I’m assuming that you have some kind of plan.”

            “I do,” Sungmin said, leaning forward, “but nothing too specific.”

            “Go on.”

            “Well, I know that although Wook isn’t really worried that Kyuhyun loves you or anything, I think he is a little upset that you’re closer to him than he is.”

            Yesung nodded.  “I can see that.”

            “And on the flip side, I know