Kyuhyun wasn’t home when Ryeowook woke up and there was every reason to believe he hadn’t bothered coming home at all.  Thankfully, Victoria had put him at ease the day before when she explained that everything was still going very well between her and Nichkhun and that they really were just going out to eat, otherwise his mind might have wandered into dangerous territory by now.  Still, he was worried that he’d gotten in an accident on the way home.

            He pulled out his cell phone and debated whether or not to call him when his phone began to vibrate.  Ryeowook slowly opened his phone and found it was a text from Donghae.

            Why is the maknae sleeping on our couch?

            Ryeowook let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding.  He’d been in this position once before, when Kyuhyun and three of the other members hadn’t come home on time from their radio program only to find out they’d been in a terrible accident and Kyuhyun almost died.  Every time that Kyuhyun was late and he wasn’t sure why, he had a mini panic attack until he got ahold of him or he came home.  No matter how much time went by, it didn’t seem to fade.

            I think he’s avoiding me.  Sorry.

            It was the only answer that made sense at this point.  Why else would he go upstairs to sleep when he had a perfectly comfortable mattress in his own room to sleep on instead?  If he really wanted to prove himself right, he’d just go upstairs to hang out with Donghae and see how long it took Kyuhyun to head downstairs and lock himself in his room. But he didn’t want to depress himself any more than he already was.

            What’s his problem now?

            I don’t know.  If you find out, let me know.

            Eventually, Kyuhyun was going to be stuck dealing with him, since KRY was going to be performing a couple songs live on a television show later that day.  He could play the avoidance game as long as he wanted but it really wasn’t going to stick.  They were in three groups together.  If they weren’t performing with one, they were recording with the other, or shooting pictures with the third.  This was the primary reason that trying to distance himself from Kyuhyun would never actually work unless one of them quit singing.  There was no way to actually accomplish it, unlike Sungmin’s conviction that it could be done.

            But wait…

            Was it possible that Sungmin had said something to Kyuhyun?  No, that was unlikely.  Sungmin could be stubborn at times but he wasn’t deceitful and would never force Ryeowook into doing something without his consent.  He pushed the idea from his mind immediately.  Still, what reason did Kyuhyun have? 

            Perhaps he’d come to the conclusion on his own.  In fact, wasn’t Kyuhyun acting perfectly normal until after they’d slept in his bed together?  Had he said or done something in his sleep to give away his feelings?  That made more sense.  But if that was true, wouldn’t Kyuhyun just assume he was having a crazy dream?  They’d slept together on countless occasions and it certainly wasn’t strange to find themselves all tangled up in each other’s arms.  They had no clue what they did in their sleep and therefore thought nothing of it.  It was awkward the first couple times but these days, Kyuhyun would just joke around about it.  Even better, sometimes he’d just wrap his arms around Ryeowook tighter and go back to sleep.

            Okay, so this was clearly the reason that Sungmin thought he’d never get over loving Kyuhyun.  But he already knew and accepted that as his sorry fate in life but he wasn’t going to complain.  This was nearly enough to make him completely happy. 

            Instead of hanging out at home all day, depressed about Kyuhyun, Ryeowook left the apartment and did some much needed grocery shopping.  He then went to the gym to work out for a couple hours before coming home to start getting ready for the program later and by then he could hear Kyuhyun playing music in his bedroom.  Knowing better, he didn’t disrupt him.

            At the appointed time, Ryeowook walked downstairs to meet up with the others.  He was the first to get to the van and Jongwoon and Kyuhyun walked down together.  Kyuhyun immediately went to the back seat and Jongwoon sat down beside Ryeowook before closing the door.

            The ride was silent at first and Ryeowook just watched out the window.  The driver kept looking back at them, as if he was trying to figure out what was going on.  Finally, Jongwoon broke the silence but almost immediately, Ryeowook wished he hadn’t.

            “So, how was your date with Victoria last night?”

            “It wasn’t a date; we were just having dinner together.”

            “And?”

            “The food was very tasty.”

            “I think you really ought to put your games down a little more often and get out of the house every now and then.  It’s good for you to interact with people more.  Don’t you agree, Wookie?  You’re always pretty social.”

            “Well, it isn’t for everyone.  Kyuhyun’s old enough to do what he wants, isn’t he?” Ryeowook said, throwing Jongwoon’s words from the other day back in his face.

            “I think if I make too big a habit of hanging out with other people’s girlfriends, I’m going to get into some trouble,” Kyuhyun only responded.

            “Then you’ll have to find a girlfriend of your own,” Jongwoon suggested.  “Perhaps Victoria has some nice friends to set you up with.”

            “I don’t think I need anymore high-maintenance people in my life,” Kyuhyun muttered.

            “What?  You didn’t enjoy yourself?”

            Ryeowook made the mistake of looking back at Kyuhyun, who’s eyes narrowed when he noticed him.  “You know what I did enjoy?”

            “Hmmm?”

            “How she kisses.”

            Ryeowook’s eyes went wide.  Jongwoon actually spun around to face Kyuhyun.  “You serious?  You kissed Victoria?”

            “Actually, she kissed me…but she said I was a better kisser than Ryeowook.”

            Ryeowook turned back to face the driver, his cheeks on fire.  He couldn’t look at Kyuhyun and he certainly didn’t want to talk about either of them kissing Victoria anymore.  She must have told him, he realized.  Why would she do that?  And why had she kissed Kyuhyun when she swore to him that she was still happy dating Nichkhun?  He’d have to ask her about it later but now certainly wasn’t the time. 

            Nothing else Kyuhyun or Jongwoon said seemed to register.  His mind was in a haze until he walked onto the stage and Ryeowook the Singer took over.  Thankfully they were only singing a couple songs and this wasn’t a concert, because he had no clue how they could perform for a couple hours without problems.  But for two songs, they just stuck Jongwoon in between them and sang, both of them taking turns hogging their hyung and trying to steal him away from the other.  After a while, even Jongwoon looked a little weary of the attention and practically ran from the stage after they were done.

            They easily avoided each other on the way back home and each went into their own rooms without saying anything to one another.  Ryeowook was angry without understanding who was making him the maddest, Kyuhyun or Victoria or himself.  He was still tossing and turning in bed when his cell phone message alert went off.  He opened his phone.

            Does Nichkhun know that you kissed Victoria at the award show?

            I didn’t tell him but he clearly saw what the rest of you did and didn’t seem to object.  Does he know that you kissed her last night?

            She kissed me!!!

            Somehow I don’t think that will matter to him.

            Several minutes went by and still Kyuhyun hadn’t text him back.  Perhaps he didn’t care to respond anymore but that didn’t explain why he bothered to text him in the first place.  If Kyuhyun was really trying to avoid him, why make any effort to communicate at all?  And there was one other thing that didn’t make complete sense.  If his earlier assumption that he’d done something to out himself to Kyuhyun about being in love with him was correct, and Kyuhyun was trying to distance himself from him, wouldn’t his reason for bringing up the kiss with Victoria be to make him jealous?  But, the way he spoke about it actually sounded more like he was mad about Ryeowook kissing her.  It made no sense.

            Kyuhyun threw the cell phone on the bed in frustration and paced the floor.  Why was he so angry, he wondered?  Was it because Ryeowook didn’t deny kissing Victoria?  As she’d implied yesterday, why would it matter to him if Ryeowook really kissed her at the MAMA’s.  He wasn’t in love with her, so it wasn’t jealousy.  Was it because he never thought Ryeowook would do something as naughty as kiss her, knowing she was already taken?

            None of this made any sense…unless for some strange reason, Victoria was right. 

            Was it possible that he was gay?  And was this whole problem not about his friend doing something sneaky behind Nichkhun’s back but behind his own?  That would mean that he wasn’t jealous of Ryeowook kissing Victoria but of Victoria kissing Ryeowook. 

            Just the image of them kissing—which he had unfortunately seen on a website after the concert—angered him.  This whole situation was ridiculous.  There was no reason for him to be upset. 

            Kyuhyun opened the door to his room and walked into the hall.  He stood outside of Ryeowook’s door for a moment, silently debating whether or not he should go in and talk to him face to face.  Perhaps he should have talked to Ryeowook about knowing that he liked him.

            He reached out to grasp the door knob.

            “You have some really disturbing codependency issues, don’t you?”

            Kyuhyun looked to his right and saw Jongwoon watching him from the kitchen doorway. 

            “Go back to bed, Kyuhyun.  You’ll ruin everything you’ve been working towards if you go in there now.”

            Kyuhyun nodded and stormed back into his room, angrier still.  He picked his phone back up and looked down at the blank message screen, debating what to write next.

            You’re never allowed to do that again—I refuse to share with you—keep your hands to yourself or our friendship is over.

            It was late, so he wasn’t surprised when message didn’t come back immediately.  He knew that he was in a temper and acting unreasonable but he didn’t care.  If this was the only way to make himself feel better, so be it.  Thankfully, only a minute later, his message alert went off and he opened his phone.

            I promise I will never kiss Wookie again without your permission.

            I’m never going to give it.

            Finally somewhat satisfied, Kyuhyun stretched out on the bed but he knew that there was almost no chance he’d fall asleep anytime soon.  Now that he had this new possible revelation about himself to explore, his mind refused to rest.