The supermarket was overheated – ridiculous, to have heat on in this weather. The cotton graphic tee he had been wearing clung uncomfortably to his back.

He wasn’t in the mood for shopping anyway. Earlier, his physician in charge had assigned a group work and his team members were not exactly those who wanted to work together. Let just say the group discussion went far from excellent. But his kitchen had dried up for the past few days forced him to stock up his groceries.

Jaejoong steered his trolley past the toiletries, wines, sweets and washing products, and turned into canned food aisle.  Hands fumbling with his phone, trying to text his housemate.

I wouldn’t be home for dinner.

The medical resident examined the rows of canned food without enthusiasm. It was probably his nth trip to the market yet he still couldn’t memorize the arrangement since the management thought it was a good idea to rearrange the aisle every two months. Crazy, Jaejoong whispered.

A woman passed by him, and Jaejoong pulled his trolley out of the way. He reached for five canned tuna and added into his trolley. As he pushed his trolley out from the canned aisle, he saw the same woman again. She wore a short denim dress and her bare legs were tanned and smooth. Jaejoong’s mind was sent back to when he was still a kid and his sisters were crazy enough to dress him in girl’s clothing.

He pushed his trolley round a corner and walked past the tinned fruit to the dairy section. He added three tubs of strawberry yogurt, two pint of milk and half a pound of butter in his trolley. Butter was bothering him somewhat, the way it wasn’t fitting into the groceries plan, the way he had to buy another pound of butter because his urge to bake suddenly comes. He was still working on the butter situation.

Jaejoong rounded the corner and wheeled into the next aisle— and there the woman was again, putting her tin of lychee into a trolley that a man was steering.

A trolley that Jung Yunho was steering.

Jung Yunho; who could make girls swoon just by his words, who could turn peoples’ thoughts on love, who could write any genres and make it come out perfectly. Who was the best novelist Jaejoong could’ve asked for to meet.

When he was fifteen, his mum shook the whole household when she scolded Jaejoong for returning late at night in a row. For a lifetime, he vowed to himself that was the scariest moment of his life. But then again he was not sure. Sweats started to form on the back of his neck. Jaejoong had never felt this nervous before. Even when he seated the final exam in high school. Even when he confessed to the girl he adored during college years. Even when his mum hauled him over the coals. Those memories had tainted his life a bit, but never did his heart beat so fast.

Jaejoong had a bad habit of meeting someone new and moreover if he had liked the person very much before from a far. His sweats will form vigorously on the back of his neck. The situation was never comfortable. It left him rather agitated.

His thought sent him over him over the edge. The next thing he knew that he crashed on the woman without realizing it. The collision caused the raven’s eyes flew open.

“I—I’m sorry,” he stuttered while helping the woman stand on her feet again. He met eyes with the woman; and both of them stared in recognition.

“Jaejoong?”

“Jihye?”

Both of them fell silent and then began laughing. Jaejoong grabbed the ice cream tub she had been holding and checking it for dents. Just when he was about to hand it back to her, a sturdy hand beat him.

“It’s okay. She doesn’t really need it.”

Jaejoong froze on his spot. This couldn’t be real. This couldn’t be actual happening. His heart pounded as he stared at the hand touching him.  

“Oppa!”

The raven was confused. They were fighting on the ice cream tub on his hand. What did he do to be included in this mess?

“That is your fifth tub this month. That is not healthy.”

“You’re not my nutritionist,” Jihye stomped her foot like a kid.

“We’re not arguing over this again. You’re going to put that down or I’ll not pay for all these,” Yunho threaten her as he pointed to the trolley full with lots of food which Jaejoong was sure mostly chosen by Jihye.

It took her quite a while but she ended up putting it back. “Fine,” Jihye muttered sourly. Once she turned back to Jaejoong, her face lighten up, “Hey Jae, we should hangout after this.” 

The medical resident cleared his throat as he looked over to Yunho before turning over to Jihye. How did Jihye be acquainted with Yunho? Yunho’s paying for her little groceries, friends don’t do that. Even though Yoochun had known him since kindergarten, they don’t casually throw money on each other faces unless Yoochun wanted to bribe him which was another story. But look at that pile of stuffs. Wow.

Are they possibly an item? They looked good together, stocking the kitchen of their newly-wed apartment, or maybe some penthouse. Yunho’s a rich guy, sure he would afford any high end fully furnished penthouse somewhere in Seoul.

‘Jaejoong, why are you thinking about this  ...?’

Jae.

Jaejoong.

Kim Jaejoong.

“Earth to Jaejoong!”

“Eh?”

“You never get rid of your spacing habit, haven’t you?” Jihye’s mouth was agape as she was struck in immense astonishment.

“No—not really,” he mumbled slightly.

“So what about my hanging out idea ... it will be fun, I promise. You, me and oppa.”

“I have a meeting with my editor after this Jihye—”

Jaejoong gave a single nod, head slightly tilted at the situation. “As much I would love catch up with you, I don’t think it would be a great idea either. I just get off work and sort of exhausted.”

 “Ah, I see. Okay ...” Her face sunken.

A sigh escaped from Jaejoong’s plump lips as he glanced over at Jihye, “Maybe some other time?”

It amazed Jaejoong how Jihye was reacting to him like a lamp. If he flickers the wrong button, it wouldn’t light up but then if he tries again and flickers the right one, she will be bright as the sun. Terrifying.

“Yeah, I like that.”

- - -

The train pulled up to his stop. Jaejoong managed to squeeze himself out through the busy crowd. The last fifty minutes standing while holding a full shopper bag was not exactly a pleasant experience. He knew he should have taken the cab with the entire load he was carrying around but it was in the middle of the month and his pocket was desiccated as fallen leaves in autumn.

According to the estate agent, it would take five minutes from the subway station to his apartment. When in reality, it would take him five minutes when he run through the red lights, run through the wall and run 100m like Usain Bolt.

After twenty minutes of walking, Jaejoong finally reached his apartment block. Once he got himself in front of the apartment door, he rang the bell without thinking twice. The mahogany door was opened, revealing a confused Yoochun who was wearing Jaejoong’s Hello Kitty apron.

“I thought you said you’re not coming home for dinner.”

“The groceries didn’t take too long.”

Jaejoong slipped on the frilly slippers and stepped onto the apartment. He handed the recycle shopper bag to the lad. “Can you settle the groceries for me? I’m going to soak myself in the tub for a while,” Jaejoong pondered off.

The dinner later on was the most fulfilling meal he had after a long time. Since he was having day shifts for the past two weeks, he didn’t have gotten a chance to have a decent meal. His lunch time was insufficient and he usually came home late at night too tired to eat. Most of the time, it was more practical to eat on the go.

“How was work?”

And so it was that Jaejoong spent the rest of his night recounting the day to Yoochun, about his teammates, about the lunch he ate, about how kind the doorman was to carry his shopper bag until the elevator, only to leave the part where he met Jihye and Yunho along the way in the air; as if nothing ever happened.

Because he believed that Yoochun didn’t deserve to have another heart break. Not when he was this fine. Not when he already got over her long ago.

- - -

A/N: check out the prologue! I did some changes. don't forget to drop your comments below ;))