A/N: Did you see that simple poster I made up there? Hehe. Minho is included. I wasn't expecting him to portray much actually ~ But ~ Yeah. Give me more comments! Okay, I know I've slowed down a lot when it comes to update, but I want you to know that unlike before where I just threw everything I think of as an update, now, because this story is very complicated, as much of you have said, I know that whatever I write on every chapter will have a very big impact for the future of this story. Let's take it slowly, but surely. XD

Yeojin looked at her watch. It's almost 9:30 pm but Jonghyun still was not home. Though she was used on him going really home late at times, she couldn't help but get worried because he never called him eversince this afternoon.

She understood that Jonghyun went out with Yoogeun, which made her happy since she was the one who suggested him to bond with the little kid more. She just thought that if it's not because of late night work, Jonghyun was probably in Minho's house enjoying some chat with the couple and the kid.

Few minutes later, she received her long awaited call from her husband. “Yeobo~ When are you coming home? You haven't called all day.” She whined.

“I'm sorry, Yeojin-ah...” She was surprised when she heard someone else's voice. It was, in fact, Kibum's voice on the other line. “Uh, We had some drinks together here at my unit. Knowing Jonghyun's alcohol tolerance, he couldn't really drink that much, but because he didn't want to lose to Jinki and Minho so he drank until he was knocked out.” Kibum slowly explained to her.

“What??” Yeojin suddenly became worried. “Okay, wait. I'll go there right now to pick him up.”

“No. No, Yeojin-ah. It's late and no one's gonna accompany you over here. Besides, my unit is a far from your house so... don't come anymore.”

“But who's gonna take care of him there?”

“Don't worry about him too much. When he wakes up and sobers up, I'll tell him to go home. I called to tell you not to worry so much. Based on your voice just a while ago, it's obvious that you already miss this pabo over here.” Kibum laughed.

“Yah! He isn't pabo!” Yeojin giggled but pouted. “I was whining because I thought it was him. Why did you have to use his number to call me when you have my number on your own phone?”

“Are you gonna take care of my phone bills?” Kibum chuckled as he joked. “You can sleep now, and make sure to lock the door.” Kibum reminded before hanging up on his friend.

He sighed after the call ended and looked at Jonghyun who looked so messed up lying there in his sofa. He took another call again and this time, with Jinki.

“Oh, Jonghyun, what's up?” Jinki answered on the other line.

“This is Kibum, hyung.” He said. “I'm with Jonghyun. He suddenly barged into my unit just an hour ago and now I think he's about to knock himself out for too much alcohol.”

“Alcohol?” Jinki wondered. “Too much? But he can't even finish up to one bottle.”

“I know, but I think he's having his fifth bottle now.” He reported and made another sigh. “I don't know what happened. I asked him about it but he never said anything. He has been listening to music on his iPod for an hour now, and the super weird thing is he's crying. I mean... he'll stop, and then cry again, then stop, then cry again. He really looked like a crazy person, what do I do with this idiot, hyung?” Kibum suddenly panicked while talking to Jinki.

“He's listening to what?” Kibum answered that he didn't know. “Can you go over and check?” He followed and went to remove one earphone on his ear to listen to it.

“Uhm, this is Honesty, but a kid is singing instead.” He reported but was taken aback when Jonghyun harshly took away the earphone from him and returned it to his ear. He immediately stood up and stayed away. “Aigoo~ Hyung. He looked at me like he's going to kill me after I listened to the song he's listening to.”

“Did you call Yeojin already?”

“Yes, but it seemed like she didn't know anything about what this idiot is going through. I just told her something like Jonghyun didn't want to lose from you and Minho when it comes to drinking to the point that he knocked himself out.”

“Okay. Just try talking to him. I think he finally figured it out.” Jinki said. “I think he came from Soeun's house before going there, and that one that he's listening to. It's Yoogeun singing my song. They were together and Jonghyun had fun recording Yoogeun's voice.”

“Eh?!” Kibum was surprised and looked at Jonghyun again who was currently opening another bottle of alcohol. “He- He knows already? H-how?!”

“I don't know. I wasn't there.” Jinki simply answered. “Come on, just try talking to him. Knowing Jonghyun, he's going to just spill it out once you start bothering him about it.”

Kibum decided to hang up the phone after a while and tried what his hyung told him. “Jonghyun hyung.” Calling someone 'hyung' isn't really a requirement on their friendship. All of them could always drop the formalities at any time, but now, Kibum decided to call him that.

Jonghyun didn't answer. He slowly then made his way beside Jonghyun on the couch – being very conscious since he was afraid that Jonghyun would just suddenly hit his face with the bottle. Luckily, as he sat down beside him, Jonghyun was just behaved.

“Is there something wrong? You were drinking for an hour but you haven't said a thing.” Kibum said gently – as much as possible trying hard not to irritate Jonghyun, but the latter didn't say anything at all. “Jonghyun hyung..” He called once more. No answer still. “Hyung...” He kept on calling but Jonghyun never said anything.

“YAH KIM JONGHYUN!!!” Kibum shouted and pulled the wire of his earphones. He was the one who suddenly lost his patience.

“YAH!” Jonghyun shotued back.

“Stop sulking and talk to me, you pabo!!”

Jonghyun sighed and chuckled bitterly, “Right. I'm a pabo. I'm so stupid.” He said in his drunken and weak voice. “I am so stupid to actually be unaware of my son all these years.” He chuckled again, and looked at Kibum – smile slowly fading away, “Yah. You know about it, too, right? That Jung Yoogeun is actually my son?”

“I just knew few days ago. We didn't tell you because we wanted to figure it out yourself.” He honestly told him. “It won't be so good of us to suddenly barge into your lives, though I know we're friends.”

“And I stupidly didn't have any clue. I wasn't aware until … I heard... their conversation... Ha... Isn't it funny?? Yoogeun... is my son... Haha.” He laughed, though there wasn't anything funny in the conversation. “And he calls that his appa.” He said pertaining to Minho. “That son of a .”

“Your mouth, Kim Jonghyun.”

“Isn't he a son of a ?” Jonghyun repeated as if he didn't care about anything. “That son of a kept my son away from me for five years. That son of a btch snatched away the chance for me to be with Yoogeun right from the start. That son of a made me look like the most stupid person in the world.”

“I know you're angry, and I understand where all the hate is coming from, but Kim Jonghyun, I think you should try viewing this into a completely different perspective. This is not entirely Minho's fault.” Kibum tried explaining calmly.

“Then? Who would I blame?” Jonghyun lied back down on the couch and kicked the table causing the bottle to drop and broke into pieces. Kibum was surprised but tries as much as possible not to yell again. “Oh right, that selfish woman!” He shouted – this time, pertaining to Soeun. “She kept the reality from me so she could be with that son of a . That woman hurt me intentionally. They planned about this right from the start.”

“I don't know. Your mind is completely close at the moment. I don't think anything can be settled with this conversation.” As Kibum was about to stand up, Jonghyun talked again.

“I would take Yoogeun away from them.” Jonghyun said firmly. “I will take my son. I will do everything to get him for myself. I have the right to have him.”

“Then what about Yeojin?”

Jonghyun stopped – and suddenly thought about his wife. He knew she has to know about it – but suddenly started to become afraid to face her after this. He sighed, and again, tears silently fell from his eyes.

Kibum stood up and sighed. “Don't feel too bitter about what happened in the past. If it wasn't that way, then you wouldn't meet Yeojin. You wouldn't be as happy as you were when you married her. There might be some great reasons why it happened, and one of them, is Yeojin. Stop drinking. You know there's an extra room so you can use that to sleep properly. Fix yourself and be prepared coz tomorrow, you should face Yeojin with all courage.”

… and yes, Jonghyun knew Kibum was right.

Chapter 18 - Though Reality Hurts