Our Song

            Kyuhyun looked ridiculously y.  If his mother wasn’t with, Ryeowook would have made his husband pull over onto some abandoned side road and made love to him in the back seat.  And he sure as hell stood out like a sore thumb in this area, but that was part of the appeal.  There wasn’t a chance in hell that he was going to be overlooked walking into the bakery with his little mother and him.  As is, the area was small enough to know most people and they recognized Ryeowook when he came home and usually stared at him, star struck.  There wasn’t much hope they’d overlook Kyuhyun’s presence. 

            Even Ryeowook’s mother kept looking over at Kyuhyun since he’d come out from changing clothes and having his hair and makeup done by Ryeowook.  It was almost annoying to know that his husband drew that much attention from people while off the stage, but he nearly started laughing when one young woman who started staring in the parking lot nearly collided with a pole in her daze.

            Kyuhyun’s long legs reached the door fastest and he opened the door, waving in Ryeowook’s mother and then him, gently touching his back as he followed him in.  The small bakery was busy and noisy, but one after another, eyes began to slowly turn their way as people looked over and noticed them and gradually nudged their companions or whispered to them. 

            “Auntie, what are we getting here?” Kyuhyun asked, peering over the crowd at the display cases of pastries.

            “Ryeowook has a favorite bread they make here during the holidays,” she said, pointing over to a shelf on the side.  “It’s called sour cream apple cardamom bread.”

            “Sounds good,” Kyuhyun said.

            “Everything sound’s good to you,” Ryeowook grinned, elbowing his husband.

            “We’d better get two,” Kyuhyun warned Mrs. Kim.

            “We were already going to get two because my husband can eat one on his own,” she told him.

            “Three it is then,” Kyuhyun informed them.  “And if you don’t stop me, I might just buy out the rest of the bakery while I’m at it.”

            “That’s all we’re getting while we’re here,” Ryeowook warned.

            “Then you should distract me from looking at all the sweets,” Kyuhyun said, turning to look at his husband, eyeing him expectantly.

            Ryeowook didn’t like where this conversation was going and wrapped his arm around his mother’s.  “Isn’t it nice they’re playing Christmas music?  It really puts me in the holiday spirit!”

            “This one is foreign though.  I don’t know the words,” she pointed out.

            Ryeowook listened to it for a moment and then realized his folly. 

            “It’s our song!” Kyuhyun cried out.

            “Oh God!” grumbled Ryeowook, covering his eyes with his free hand. 

            “Let’s sing it!” Kyuhyun insisted.

            Ryeowook knew exactly what would happen if they began singing in the little bakery, with people already gawking because they clearly recognized them as celebrities.  “Kyu, I—”

            “Kokoro fukaku…himeta omoi…kanaeraresoumo nai.  Kanarazu konya nara…iesouna ki ga a, ooooh…silent night, oh, yeah, holy night…” he sang until the musical interlude.  “Boy, it just seems wrong not to have Jongwoon here with us, doesn’t it?  We should have sung it with him last weekend when he was in town.  We could have recorded it!”

            “What were we thinking,” Ryeowook said, humoring him and hoping that starting a conversation would stop him from continuing singing the song once the singing started back up again.  But he should have known better, because he’s a vocalist just like his husband and lives to sing.  Moreover, it was because Kyuhyun loved this song so much to begin with that he wanted to sing it in concert, so there was almost no chance of getting him to stop now.  And, as their taste in music was almost identical, he rather loved the song himself.

            “Next year,” Kyuhyun vowed, listening for the singing to start again, oblivious to the fact that Ryeowook’s mother was just as blown away by his voice as the rest of the crowd and was staring up at him as he started back up again.  “Mada kienokoru…kimi e no omoi…yoru e to furitsuzuku—sing it Wook!”

            Ryeowook closed his eyes and smiled, but sang anyway.  After all, he really couldn’t resist either his husband or singing a song he loved.  “Machikado niwa Christmas tree…giniro no kirameki, aaaah…silent night, whoa, yeah, holy night!”

            And then Kyuhyun rejoined him for the rest of the song, “Ame wa yofukesugi ni…yuki e to kawaru darou…silent night, holy night…Kitto kimi wa konai…hitorikiri no Christmas Eve…silent night, holy night…”

             Ryeowook and Kyuhyun were staring into each other’s eyes as the song was ending, smiling at each other.  For his own part, Ryeowook had so many fond memories of singing that song together with Kyuhyun, even before they’d voted to sing it at their concerts.  Then again, for him, Christmas time was always special.  Sacred.  Christmas Eve was the anniversary of a night that had changed his entire life, after all.

            “Oh, that was from your concert last year, wasn’t it?  What’s it called?” Ryeowook’s mother asked, looking up at them, seemingly oblivious to the look of love being exchanged between them.

             Kyuhyun gazed down at her affectionately.  “Christmas Eve.”

            “Mmm,” she said, nodding.  “It’s very pretty, but I wish there was a Korean version of it.”

            “If I only knew Japanese, I would translate it for you,” Kyuhyun said, snapping his fingers and reaching the front of the line, asking for the three loaves of bread and pulling out his wallet to pay for the purchase.

            Ryeowook’s mother turned to her son.  “You know I’ve always loved your voice best and I always will…but he has an incredible voice!”

            “I know,” Ryeowook said, wrapping his arm around his mother’s shoulders.  “Which is why he’s the other main vocalist.  You’ve never noticed before?”

            “Yes, but hearing him live…”

            “You’ve been to our concerts before,” Ryeowook reminded her.

            “Yes, but having him sing without speakers blaring and other members singing and fans screaming in my ear,” she explained.  “Now I get what all the hype is about.”

            “He has a beautiful voice.  It’s one of the first things that caught my attention about him,” Ryeowook confessed. 

            Kyuhyun turned back to face them, holding up the three loaves of bread in victory and weaved his way back through the crowd that had gathered around him, still the center of attention from most people in the room, although the place was crowded in general with people trying to gather goods for the holid