“We’re done, we’re finished,” Jongwoon told Kyuhyun and Ryeowook the moment he walked into the kitchen.  “I can’t handle him anymore.  He’s too clingy and demanding.  That’s just not my thing.”

            Kyuhyun finished chewing and then washed down his food with some coffee.  “Well, good morning to you too!”

            Jongwoon gave Kyuhyun one of his ice cold looks and stalked over to the coffee maker and poured himself a cup, sniffing the aroma and frowning disapprovingly.  Kyuhyun looked at Ryeowook, raising his brows, and then went back to eating.  Ryeowook stood up and walked down to the bathroom where he knew Sungmin was and Kyuhyun could hear him knocking on the door to go comfort his friend.

            “Could you possibly be more blunt about what you don’t like?” Kyuhyun asked.  “You two were practically having on the table the other night and now you can’t stand to be anywhere near him?  That doesn’t make any sense.  Did you argue about something?”

            “I don’t know why I bother talking to you sometimes,” Jongwoon complained, putting some bread into the toaster.  “I’m not used to being smothered by someone and I tried to tell him that I didn’t like it and he’s just not listening.  He’s possessive and clingy and he wants to be around me every waking minute.  I can’t do it!”

            Kyuhyun was hesitant to say anything at first, thinking through everything he’d noticed in the last week.  Aside from when they were moving the furniture or trying to rebuild it, they seemed to get along very well.  And, in fact, Kyuhyun thought it seemed more like Jongwoon was chasing after Sungmin, not the other way around.  It made him wonder if he was really getting the whole story.

            “So, it’s all over then?” Kyuhyun asked.

            “Yep.”

            “And you won’t be mad if someone else asks him out?”

            “Someone else?  Like who?”

            “That isn’t your business, is it?  I just maybe happen to know someone else that was inquiring about him the other day and if you don’t care if he dates someone else, I’ll give him the go-ahead to talk to him, that’s all.”

            Jongwoon looked over at Kyuhyun a long time, his expressions almost blank, until he turned away to look at the toaster.  “No, I don’t care!”

            Kyuhyun grinned to himself and felt content enough to keep eating.  “Good.  I’ll text him later on and give him Minnie’s number.”

            Jongwoon never said a word but shifted from one foot to the other, back and forth, and tapped the countertop impatiently as he waited for his toast.  When it popped up, he sat down across from Kyuhyun. 

            “I already have my eye on someone else anyway.  Someone I’m close to that’s a better match for me,” he finally said in response to Kyuhyun.

            The maknae could see right through him, however, and knew that his comment was eating him up on the inside.  Clearly he had feelings for Sungmin that he refused to acknowledge.  Jongwoon was the master of bottling up his emotions but eventually the bottle would fill and it would all come bursting out.  Kyuhyun just hoped he was there when it happened.  He’d pay almost anything to see Jongwoon lose his cool and have a breakdown over Sungmin and he felt certain the time was coming soon.

            Sungmin knew that they should be relishing in their success at getting Kyuhyun and Ryeowook to actually acknowledge that he and Jongwoon were involved and that they were concerned about how that was progressing but Sungmin didn’t feel so great about it when he tried to fall asleep in his own bed last night.  It took him hours to get comfortable.  In as little as one week he’d grown accustomed to falling asleep while listening to Jongwoon’s deep breaths and snuggling up to his warm body.  Although he was still in the same room, he may as well have been in another country.  Sungmin had to fight the urge to pretend he was sleepwalking and slip into bed with him in the middle of the night.

            In the morning, they whispered their game plans to one another and then proceeded to yell at each other and slam doors throughout the apartment until they were ready to leave.  Sungmin sat in the front seat with Ryeowook, who held his hand all the way to the studio, while Jongwoon hid in the back seat.  Hyukjae arrived back home with just enough time to change and get in the van and sat down next to Kyuhyun, instantly noticing the awkward silence in the vehicle and gave Kyuhyun a questioning look. 

            Kyuhyun took out his cell phone and began typing and although Sungmin glanced over his shoulder and noticed them going back and forth with texts for a minute, he couldn’t actually see what they were saying.  Clearly, it was about him and Jongwoon.

            Hyukjae tapped Kyuhyun’s knee and sighed loudly.  “Well, I had a good night!”

            “You ever going to introduce us to the mystery woman?” Kyuhyun asked.

            “I don’t know,” he said, stretching his arms into the air.  “She might dump me when she meets my annoying roommates.”

            “Well, one look at me and who could blame her?” Kyuhyun teased.  “I am irresistible.”

            Hyukjae laughed.  “Ah, do you ever like to joke!” 

            They went on and on the whole ride and only stopped when they were ready to start rehearsing the dance to their two newest singles.  They had a performance in the evening and everyone wanted to be sure that they had it down perfectly.

            In the middle of a break, Sungmin was about to walk over to Ryeowook to talk when Jongwoon put his arm around him and started chatting him up instead.  The moment he saw Jongwoon’s easy smiles and watched him hugging Ryeowook, he knew what was happening. 

            They’d discussed this plan in the morning and he knew that Jongwoon was only pretending to flirt with the youngster to make Kyuhyun jealous but somehow actually watching him pull Ryeowook into his arms and whisper into his ear, laughing and smiling, was too much for Sungmin.  Ryeowook didn’t seem to notice or at least he wasn’t concerned by Jongwoon’s playfulness.  Clearly he knew that there was no romantic intent but someone who didn’t know better would think otherwise. 

            From off to his side, he could see Kyuhyun chatting up Siwon.  Suddenly he looked over at Ryeowook and Jongwoon and the smile wiped off his face immediately.  He stopped paying attention to Siwon’s rambling and stared at them.  Sungmin looked back himself and watched as Jongwoon began to tickle the younger, making him laugh hysterically.  Ryeowook doubled over and Jongwoon wrapped his arms around him and pulled him close.  Too close.

            Sungmin had to turn around as tears began to well in his eyes.  This wasn’t the way he’d foreseen things turning out and although he knew that Jongwoon had no actual interest in Ryeowook, it bothered him to watch their exchanges.

            Kyuhyun walked up over to Sungmin and pulled him close, so that his face was almost in Kyuhyun’s chest.  “That ing bastard!  I get it now,” Kyuhyun said, shaking his head.  “He’s trying to make you jealous.”

            Sungmin couldn’t speak without a trembling voice.  “I know he’s just doing it because he’s mad at me.  I can take it.”  His words might be a lie but his feelings were completely real.

            Kyuhyun sighed and pulled Sungmin along with him until they were in the hallway.  “That’s where you and I differ.  You’re just sitting here letting him get to you—that doesn’t do you any good—what you need to do is get revenge.”

            Sungmin sniffled, trying to hold in his tears, and gave Kyuhyun a questioning look.

            “Which couple has the best damn fan base in Super Junior?” Kyuhyun asked.

            “EunHae.”

            “Okay, fine.  They work harder at it.  Who has the second best fan base?”

            “KyuMin.”

            “That’s ing right,” he said, smacking Sungmin on the shoulder.  “You want to just sit here crying about it or do you want to show up that ten times over?”

            “Revenge!” Sungmin said, jumping up in his excitement as he said it, his watery eyes nearly a thing of the past.  “What do you want me to do?  We can go back in there and do it right now!”

            “Oh, no, no, no,” said Kyuhyun, glancing through the small window in the door.  “We’re not going to do something this grand at practice; we’re doing it tonight at the concert, in front of the members, the fans, and the cameras.  The whole world’s going to see this and he’s going to have to sit and watch without doing a god damn thing about it.  This is me, we’re talking about.  I don’t do revenge half-assed.”

            Sungmin flung his arms around Kyuhyun.  “You’re my favorite person in the whole wide world!”

            “I’m your best ing friend at the moment.”

            “I thought you would side with Jongwoon,” he said, still hugging him tight.

            “No,” he said, narrowing his eyes at Jongwoon as he watched him hanging on Ryeowook.  “I’m all about teaching him a lesson.  He needs to learn his place and this is going to be so much better than beating the out of him, which is still option two, just in case.”