My eternal thanks to Brittany_sj, tvxqprincess, and vangbby for reviewing! ^_^

Also, some of you may have noticed that I switched the pictures from the forward and chapter two – and that’s because I just thought it looked better that way. -__-

And I’m just going to alternate each chapter with THE picture of Jae Hwa and other pictures of Soohyun. That is, unless someone makes me a banner. XD

Now – ON VIZ ZE CHAPTAH!!

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“Oppa?” I spoke after all of the doors in the dorm had been shut.

“What?” He mumbled, his voice muffled by my neck.

“Something just occurred to me…”

“What?” He leaned his head back and pushed my hair behind my ear so that he could get a good look at my face.

“If someone stole Jo-shi’s phone, then how was he able to text and call you?”

Soohyun had a blank expression when I told him about this observation. He opened his mouth to speak, but no sound came out, and then he closed his mouth again and looked confused. “…That’s a good point,” he stated. He made a small grunting sound as he leaned over me and tried to grab his phone from the table.

“I’ll get it,” I told him, standing up and grabbing his phone. I flopped down next to him and handed it to him. He held it in his hand for a moment, staring at the screen with a torn expression. “Would you like for me to leave while you talk to him?” I asked.

He sighed and shook his head, “No. Please, just…” He pursed his lips together and then looked at me. I noticed him holding out his hand slightly, palm upturned.

I smiled and took his hand with one of mine, and then reached up to massage small circles on his neck with my other hand. “It’ll be alright, oppa,” I assured him. He sighed and hit speed dial-two. ‘I wonder who he has on speed dial one?’ I wondered.

He listened for a few moments and then perked up a little bit when Jo-shi answered. “Yah, hyung!” He greeted, smiling a little bit. “I was just wondering… If somebody stole your phone, then how did you call and text me from your phone?” I could hear talking on the other end, and Soohyun’s eyes widened in surprise. “You’re kidding,” he muttered, frowning. I could hear a cry of indignation on the other end of the conversation, which made him sigh and release my hand to rub his forehead, “Sorry, hyung… I know that you wouldn’t joke about something like this…” I could hear Jo-shi saying something else, and Soohyun nodded. “Uh-huh… I just wanted to ask about that. Gomawo, hyung,” he sighed and hung up, and then held the phone limply in his hands.

“… Oppa, what happened?” I asked, but Soohyun shook his head.

“It’s stupid…” He grumbled staring blankly at the floor.

“Oppa…” I cooed, reaching over and slipping his phone from his hands and putting it on the table. I debated my next action for a moment before I put my hand on his cheek and turned his face towards me. “Oppa, what happened?” He stared at me for a few seconds before his eyes closed and he sighed again. But his sigh was different this time – the other times he seemed to be stressed, but this time he breathed out as a means of calming himself.

His shoulders relaxed completely for the first time since Jo-shi called him and he leaned into my touch, reaching up and placing one of his hands over the one that I had on his neck and the other that I had on his cheeks. “Hyung has a satellite phone, so it can be tracked if he loses it,” he muttered, opening his eyes a little bit, “And he says he dropped it in some café. Well…” Soohyun sighed and tightened his grip on my hands. “Well, he went back to get it and couldn’t find it. So, he contacted the company and they tracked it to a computer lounge not that far away. It was hooked up to one of the computers there. He assumed that someone had copied the information from his phone, and his suspicions were confirmed when a reporter brought it up at a 2AM press conference this morning,” Soohyun scowled, and I shifted my hand to his cheek.

“Oppa,” I murmured and leaned over to wrap my arms around his neck tightly. “Everything will be alright,” I whispered.

He sighed and relaxed again, wrapping his arms around me and hugging me closer. “Gomawo, Jae Hwa,” he sighed, “Gomawo…”

We were quiet again, just sitting there in a tight hug. Then, another thought occurred to me. “Oppa, you could look at the bright side!” I leaned back and smiled at him.

“Bright side?” He pouted, “There’s a bright side?”

“2AM is popular – they’re going to want to know more about this alleged ‘affair’,” I told him, moving my hands and using air-quotations when I said ‘affair’.

Soohyun continued to pout, but then his eyes lit up. “You’re right!” He grinned. “Hand me my computer!” He told me while smiling and reaching for it. I giggled at his newfound enthusiasm, glad to see my Soohyun again. He the computer and bounced his leg with anticipation as the screen loaded. He started typing rapidly and hit the ‘enter’ button, and his mouth fell open a few seconds later.

“What? What is it?” I asked, leaning towards him – I hate it when people read over my shoulder, so I was fighting my temptation to be a hypocrite. Soohyun grinned and turned the screen to face me, and pointed at the number of search hits. “Wow…” I muttered.

“That is a bright side!” He laughed, putting down his laptop quickly and yanking me into another embrace. “PJ, you’re a genius!” He moved to press his lips against my cheek, but was off by an inch or two and his lips brushed against the corner of my mouth - and I think time froze for both of us. His eyes were just as wide as mine were, and we stared at each other like a deer caught in the headlights.

“Um…” I giggled nervously and tried to move from his arms, trying not to giggle like a madwoman and pulling my hair in front of my reddening neck and ears. “Oppa, I -” I stopped when he moved my hair out of the way and gently pulled my face closer to his. We were an inch apart, and I was in a daze from his hot breath on my face. He hesitated a moment before brushing his lips against mine for a second, just as I had done to him while he slept.

And just as I had restrained myself from kissing him deeper earlier, I restrained myself again. My breath hitched and I tensed, but I had frozen in place and couldn’t move to kiss him.

“M-mianhe,” he stumbled over an apology and stood up quickly, making me fall forward slightly. “Mianhe, Jae Hwa , that was very rude of me -” He cleared his throat and reached up to tug at the collar of his shirt, but made the awkward realization that he was only wearing a tank top on his torso.

“It’s fine, oppa,” I told him, playing with my hair so that I could disguise my ears, which were turning a blazing red, and the burning was spreading to my neck. He shifted nervously and bowed quickly before exiting the room.

A thought occurred to me, “Oppa!” I called after him.

He poked his head around the corner, “Bwoh?”

“What happened to my shirt?”

“Oh, that,” he walked to the side so that he could lean casually against the doorframe and shove his hands in his pockets. “After you fainted we called a doctor to come and see you. She said it was a result of stress and overheating – trust me, she did it!” His eyes widened with fear and held up his hands, “It’s over on that chair,” he pointed to one of the chairs which had my shirt draped over the armrest.

“Oh…” I muttered, blushing, “Gomawo.”

Soohyun shuffled nervously before clearing his throat again and nodding towards me with a nervous smile, then darted out of my sight once more.

I sighed and shook my head, “Bapo…” I mumbled and stood up to go and get my shirt. ‘If I fainted from overheating, then why were you holding me so close?’ I wanted to ask him. I sighed and shook my head, pulling my shirt over my head. ‘I suppose there’s no point in asking about it now,’ I thought, moving to the kitchen to check the time.

--

Seven months.

Seven.

Months.

On the plus side, it didn’t take long for the “scandal” to blow over. Jo-shi asserted that he was straight, and even got a “real” girlfriend on an episode of Mnet Scandal. But Soohyun…

Although people had long since stopped talking about it, I assumed that there were people annoyed by the question that was left hanging – was he straight or gay?

He tried to throw attention away from himself by admitting on SGB that Dong Ho and changed for the worse since their debut, and Dong Ho had even said that it was all a misunderstanding and that people were blowing it out of proportion.

So, it’s now mid-September and safe to assume that the entire thing has blown over completely. However, U-Kiss’ manager thinks that it’s best they assert his “uality.”

--

“No,” Soohyun stated coldly, flipping the channel on the television and not even looking at U-Kiss’ manager.

“Soohyun-ah, this will be good for -”

“It won’t work,” Soohyun declared, flipping the channel again.

“Hyung, I was watching that!” Dong Ho whined.

“No you weren’t,” Soohyun said, not even looking at Dong Ho. Instead, he just glared at the television since it would be a bad idea to glare at their manager.

“Soohyun-ah, you’re acting like a child,” Alexander said, rolling his eyes and putting his feet up on the coffee table.

“Feet off the table!” Jae Hwa yelled from the kitchen.

Alexander jumped in surprise and put his feet down. “…How does she do that?” He leaned over and whispered to Kevin who was sitting next to him on the couch.

“I gave up on trying to figure it out a long time ago,” Kevin muttered in response, eating a handful of popcorn.

“Kevin, you’d better not get any crumbs on the carpet! If you do, I’ll make you clean it up!” Jae Hwa yelled.

“I’m not!” He whined. “She’s worse than my umma…” He grumbled, leaning backwards and crossing his arms.

“You just got told,” Kiseop snickered.

“Kiseop, don’t -”

“Don’t tease my dongsaeng, I know!” Kiseop groaned, rolling his eyes.

“And don’t -”

“Don’t roll my eyes!” He groaned, slouching back into his seat, just like Kevin.

U-Kiss’ manager slowly looked around the room at all of the boys. “She keeps a tight leash on you boys?”

Dong Ho looked up with bright eyes, “Noona has been helping me with my homework!” He declared. “I don’t know why she sticks around babysitting us when she could go to univ -” Dong Ho froze when he saw Soohyun about to smack him on the back of the head and threw his arms up to shield himself.

“Oppa, don’t hurt Dong Ho-ah!”  Soohyun sighed and slumped back into the couch.

He raised the remote to change the channel again, but Kibum appeared out of nowhere and swiped it from his hand. “Yah!”

“You’ve had it for long enough,” Kibum told him. “The reason that we’re all here is to spend some time together – and to address your issue,” Kibum pointed at him with the remote.

“It’s not an issue!” Soohyun yelled at Kibum, standing up and glaring down at him. Everyone stared at Soohyun with wide eyes and open mouths, especially Kibum. They all knew that the whole “affair” issue was a touchy subject for him, but he hadn’t yelled at any of them about it.

“Oppa,” they all turned to see Jae Hwa standing in the doorway with her arms crossed over her chest.

Soohyun sighed and buried his hand in his hair. “Mianhe, Kibum-ah,” he sighed, flopping onto the couch and leaning his head back. He groaned and draped his arm over his eyes.

“No problem, hyung,” Kibum shrugged, although the more observant members and their manager could see that he was still a bit shaky after being yelled at by their normally cheerful and goofy hyung, who was now looking very stressed from his seat on the couch.

Jae Hwa sighed, drawing the attention of the group, and walked over to Soohyun. He moved his arm a little bit and peeked at her when she sat on the armrest next to him. He scooted over to make some room for her, but there was hardly a foot. She slid down and he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into his lap.

“I’m not gay,” he muttered, resting his chin on her head.

She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and rubbed the back of his neck. “I know, oppa,” she cooed, “I know.”

U-Kiss’ manager watched this intimate exchange between the two with shock, but when he glanced around the room at the rest of the group, they all acted as if it was nothing new. Dong Ho continued studying on the floor and the rest of the group continued watching whatever the hell Alexander wanted since he had taken the remote from Kibum.

--

Less than an hour later, Jae Hwa was sitting by the door, pulling her shoes on.

“Leaving already, Jae Hwa-shi?” Their manager asked.

“I need to get a few things from the store for dinner,” she told him, standing up.

Soohyun was almost immediately beside him, grinning at her. “I can help!” Their manager glanced between the two and then over his shoulder. Again, the rest of the boys seemed unperturbed.

“Thank you, oppa!” She smiled at him as he rushed over to put his shoes on.

Once they were out of the door, U-Kiss’ manager turned to face his clients. “Those two are very close.” All of the boys looked up from what they were doing, confused.

“Jae Hwa and Soohyun?”Alexander quirked one of his eyebrows and crossed one of his arms over his chest, swiftly moving the remote out of the way when Eli lunged for it.

“They’re always like that,” Kibum shrugged, not looking up from the book he was reading.

“Really?”

“Manager-hyung, what’re you thinking?” Kiseop asked. Alexander muted the television and they all turned to face him.

“Do any of you know why Soohyun doesn’t want to go on Mnet Scandal?”

Kibum scoffed, “Because the public will watch it and think he’s gay.”

“How do you know that?”

“Because,” Eli rolled his eyes and stopped trying to wrestle the remote from Alexander. “He obviously only cares about Jae Hwa. Put him on a date with some other girl and he’ll be so uninterested, everybody watching will think he doesn’t like girls.”

“It’s almost funny whenever you walk into a room where the two of them have been sitting alone. The is so – ow!” He was cut off by Alexander smacking him in the back of the head and gesturing the remote at Dong Ho.

“I’m sixteen now, hyung,” Dong Ho declared, not looking up from his studying. “Jae Hwa gave me "The Talk" on my birthday.”

“What?”

“When she tried to give me a birthday present, I just asked her to answer a question.”

“What question?” Kevin blurted out.

“I asked her to explain why she and Soohyun-hyung always looked uncomfortable when we walked into a room where they had been alone. She explained the whole thing,” he told them, copying something from his textbook.

“Would you say she’s been distracting Soohyun-ah?” He asked them. They all looked amongst each other and all shook their heads no.

“If anything, Jae Hwa is the only reason Soohyun is still performing. Whenever those rumors started, she was the only person who believed him when he denied them. Hell, even we doubted him for a little while – but not her. Not once,” Kiseop shrugged and winced when Kevin squealed in his ear with joy as Alexander shoved the remote into his hands and stood up.

“Those two are, like, soul mates,” Eli commented, this time fighting with Kevin over the remote since he had failed with Alexander. He started losing patience and starting arguing with Kevin in English – around them, everyone acted like it was perfectly normal.

“Manager-hyung,” Alexander grunted as he stood up and stretched, “If you’re considering firing Jae Hwa because she’s ‘distracting’ us -”

“Bwoh?”  All of the boys dropped what they were doing and whirled around to face him.

“You can’t do that!” Dong Ho cried, scrambling to his feet.

“Boys, boys, boys!” Their manager laughed, holding his hands up. “I’m not going to fire Jae Hwa-shi.”

“You’re not?” Eli said, frozen in a compromising position over Kevin, trying to wrestle the remote from his hand.

“No, of course not! In fact, I have an idea…”

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And thus ends another chapter! Please leave reviews – I type this chapters between my classes, and would like some kind of reward for juggling recreational writing with college!