Jongwoon was in a hurry to get home and he harassed Ryeowook until he finally just grabbed his bag and got into the van with him.  He felt his only hope was to rush home and pray that Kyuhyun and Sungmin had simply gone back to the apartment but when he found it empty, all his hope was lost.  He tried calling and texting Sungmin multiple times, all the while bitterly laughing at himself for now being in the position he often left his exes in, playing the part of a desperate lover.  He sat on the couch, incapable of doing anything more than replaying where he may have gone wrong in his head, over and over.

            After nearly an hour, Ryeowook headed for the door and put on his coat.

            “Where are you going?”

            “I’m meeting up with my boyfriend,” Ryeowook said as he slipped on his shoes.

            “Your boyfriend?” Jongwoon repeated in surprise.

            Ryeowook nodded with a grin on his face.  “You didn’t know?  We’ve been together a long time now.”

            Jongwoon ran his hand through his hair in frustration, cursing silently to himself.  “No, I had no idea that you were dating someone but it’s all beginning to make sense now.  This whole thing was a waste of time.”

            “You don’t look very good, Jongwoon.  Do you want me to cancel and stay with you?”

            “No,” he said, leaning back into the couch and closing his eyes.  “There isn’t anything you can do for me.”

            “Okay, if you’re sure…”

            “I’m sure.”

            “Goodnight then.”

            Ryeowook walked out the door and left Jongwoon home alone.  He just remained there on the couch, listening to the silence.  They didn’t even have a ticking clock to concentrate on—everything was digital—so he was forced to walk over to the window and place his forehead against the cold glass to listen to the winter wind blow past.  He had no idea how long he stood there like that when he heard the door lock click and the door open and close. 

            Hyukjae was the only roommate that was unaccounted for, so he didn’t bother to check.  If Hyukjae began to ask him what had happened after he left the dressing room, he didn’t think he’d be able to hold himself together.

            “What are you looking at?”

            Jongwoon jumped at the sound of Sungmin’s voice and he pivoted around to face him, so shocked that he couldn’t speak.  Sungmin was slipping off his shoes and then headed his direction, walking past Jongwoon and stopping at the window to look out of it.

            “It’s begun to snow,” he only said, turning back around to face Jongwoon.

            Jongwoon took a deep breath to steady himself.  “I thought you were with Kyuhyun.”

            “We went out for a drink but then he said he had to meet up with someone and I came back here,” Sungmin said, leaning against the window ledge. 

            “I thought you were out on a date with him.”

            “A date?” Sungmin repeated back, scrunching up his face in confusion.  “Why would I be on a date with Kyuhyun when we’re trying to get him together with Wookie?”

            “You weren’t on a date?”

            “No,” Sungmin said, shaking his head.

            Jongwoon suddenly stepped forward and wrapped his arms tight around Sungmin, resting his chin on his shoulder as he tried to calm himself down.  Sungmin also hugged him back and began to rub his hands up and down his back. 

            “Is something wrong?”

            “No, not anymore.”

            They stood there holding on to one another for several minutes, neither of them saying anything.  Finally Sungmin broke the silence.  “Please tell me what’s wrong.”

            Jongwoon pulled back and brought his hands up to Sungmin’s face, gazing into his eyes.  “I’m in love with you…and it’s driving me crazy.”

            Sungmin’s eyes began to glaze over with water and he had to bite his bottom lip to keep from letting his tears fall. 

            “I should have told you before, when I first realized it, but I was afraid that everything between us was just my imagination,” he continued, breathing unevenly as he spoke.

            Sungmin tipped forward and closed his eyes, pressing his lips against Jongwoon’s.  It only took a few seconds for Jongwoon to recover from the surprise and he grasped Sungmin by the shoulders and pulled him against his chest.  He angled his head to the side and moved his lips, slowly taking his time.  They had kissed so many times already but this was the first time it felt real and Jongwoon wanted to savor the moment.

            Eventually, Jongwoon pulled away to take several deep breaths, and Sungmin began to touch his hair, moving the damp strands from his forehead.  “It was wrong of them to tell you that Kyuhyun and I were dating.  I surprised you even bought into that.”

            “Did you see yourselves tonight?”

            “Well…” Sungmin said, nodding without looking him in the eye.  “He thought that you were just trying to make me jealous and I think, because he was also jealous that you were touching Wookie, he was a little more wicked than usual.  It was funny; I could barely stop myself from laughing.”

            “You’re so cruel to me.  You don’t even know how many times I called you.”

            Sungmin pulled his phone out of his back pocket and sure enough, it was still off.  Jongwoon pulled it away from him before he had the chance to turn it on.  The thought of it taking his attention away for even just a few minutes was too much for him at the moment. 

            “You call me cruel but I’ve loved you for a very long time now and watched as you dated one guy after another,” Sungmin said, playing with the fabric of Jongwoon’s shirt with his fingers, unable to look straight at him as he spoke about it.

            “I had no clue, you know.”    

            “I know you didn’t.”

            “I wish I’d known.  The first time I ever even let the idea sink into my head was when Hyukjae teased you about us spending so much time together while we were planning how to make the maknaes fall in love.  I never realized that what we often did together seemed so involved,” Jongwoon said.  “So when you mentioned that sharing a room would look like we were dating, I became curious.”

            Sungmin smiled and his face turned red as he looked down at his feet.  He was still so shy sometimes, thought Jongwoon, grinning to himself.  He felt some relief that Sungmin was too hung up on him to date anyone else.  He liked the idea of being the one to teach him.  Just as he was about to pull Sungmin close again and kiss him, a sobering thought hit him.

            “I feel like a failure,” he said, suddenly remembering.  “I can only imagine what Kyuhyun will think when he finds out!  Ryeowook just told me that he was leaving to meet up with his boyfriend right before you showed up.”

            Sungmin’s brows furrowed.  “That’s impossible, I just saw him in the parking lot as I was dropped off and he and Kyuhyun were headed out somewhere together.”

            “Wookie and Kyu?” he asked.

            “Yeah,” confirmed Sungmin.  “They both got into Kyuhyun’s car.”

            “Wait,” Jongwoon said, beginning to put two and two together.  “You don’t think he was serious and they’ve been dating this whole time, do you?”

            “I don’t know and right now I really don’t care,” Sungmin said, wrapping his arms around Jongwoon, pulling him close.  “I’m too focused on my own happiness to care about it.  I’ve wanted to be with you for so long!”

            “Fine with me, I don’t even want to mention either of them the rest of the night.  I’m so frustrated with this whole thing.  I’m never going to interfere in anyone’s love life ever again,” Jongwoon said, tilting his head and bringing his lips to Sungmin’s neck, playfully nipping his ear. 

            Jongwoon and Sungmin slowly made their way to their bedroom, kissing and teasing each other as they blindly navigated down the hall.  When they reached the door, Jongwoon backed Sungmin against it and pressed against him, pushing his hips against Sungmin’s so he could feel the full extent of what he was doing to him. 

            He began to the black dress shirt that he still wore from their performance and slowly slid it down his arms and let it fall to the floor for one of their roommates to trip over later.  He backed away for only a moment to pull his own shirt over his head, flinging it over his shoulder, and turned the door handle.  He backed Sungmin into the room before kicking the door closed behind them and finally picking Sungmin up off his feet and setting him down on his back on the bed.

            Jongwoon began to unbuckle his belt and ped his pants.  “I do have one confession to make though.”

            “What’s that?” Sungmin asked, swallowing nervously as he watched Jongwoon remove the rest of his clothes.

            “I hid the screws to your bed so that you’d have to sleep with me.”

            Sungmin was finally able to tear his eyes away in order to look Jongwoon in the eye.  “You did?”

            Jongwoon bent over Sungmin and began to rid him of the rest of his own clothes as he brought his lips down to his chest, making him moan at the new sensations coming over him. 

            “I did,” he said against Sungmin’s skin.  “I’ve been obsessively thinking about everything I want to do to you all week.  You have no clue what you do to me…but I’m going to show you…”