Had his body been made up entirely of water, Jonghyun would have had to have been chipped off, with ice-sculpting instruments, from the spot of carpet on which he now stood, unmoving. He had to make a conscious effort to prevent his jaw from dropping, rudely, as a stared at Mrs. Jung's grandson.

The first thing that he became aware of was the almost prophetic words that Kibum had told him the previous night, assuring him that there would be another encounter with "mystery man". In momentary stunned stupidity, Jonghyun wondered if Kibum had somehow arranged the man's visit with his grandmother.

"Jonghyun, I'd like you to meet my grandson, Choi Minho. Minho, this is Kim Jonghyun, a very nice boy who works here on the weekends."

Mrs. Jung was absolutely oblivious to the partial paralysis that was now afflicting Jonghyun. Of all the people that she could have had as her grandson, it was him.

Jonghyun's mind was racing and, conversely, his heart had stopped, as he shook hands with Minho. Why only now? Mrs. Jung had never even mentioned that she had a grandson living nearby!

It was with the utmost mortification that Jonghyun took note of how sweaty his palms had been when he had shook hands with Minho.

"Minho recently moved here, by himself, to train with his football team," Mrs. Jung explained, as if psychically reading into Jonghyun's unasked question. "He's going to be a famous soccer player, some day," the old woman smiled, proudly, allowing herself a moment to brag of her grandson's accomplishments.

"Halmeoni...!" Minho blushed. "I'm hoping to be scouted, " Minho made a modest save, smiling at beached-fish Jonghyun.

"Cool!" Jonghyun spouted, mustering all of the courage and poise that he could, to make the most intelligent response that he could think of at the moment.

"Why don't you join us, for a while, Jonghyun?" Mrs. Jung offered, kindly.

Still looking like he was a dying fish trapped in a merciless ring of dry, hot rock, Jonghyun processed the invitation. Conveniently, he had been just about to take a thirty minute afternoon-break, and he would be glad to spend it with Mrs. Jung and her grandson. Naturally, he shared none of this reasoning aloud.

"Okay!" Jonghyun graced the two with his social grace and profoundly literate speech, once again. (Notice the sarcasm?)

He sat down, nearly knocking Minho's glass of water off of the table in his extreme nervousness.

"I'm sorry!" Jonghyun nearly yelled, a milestone number of two words of apology leaving his lips. It was the most that he had spoken since meeting Minho.

"No worries," Minho chuckled, amused by the jittery Jonghyun. 

The three talked for the duration of Jonghyun's break- or rather, Mrs. Jung and Minho talked, with Jonghyun putting in a few words here and there. He still hadn't gotten over the fact that he was in presence of "Mr. Dark-And-Handsome" Minho.

Throughout the rest of the day, Jonghyun couldn't erase thoughts of Minho from his mind, and it sure didn't help that the young man had been in the sitting area, visiting with his grandmother... for the entire day. Jonghyun would catch a glimpse of Minho every time that he passed by the room, (which was quite often) , and would blush, even if Minho hadn't looked at him.

He was still lost in his thoughts of the striking young man, when he began his trek back home, until a familiar voice called out for him to...

"Wait!"

Jonghyun swivelled around, feeling as if his heart was going to pound right out of his chest. In the short time that he had known the other boy, Jonghyun had come to memorize the sound of his voice, and began to panic when he identified Minho, even before the younger man caught up to him.

A very self-conscious Jonghyun began to speculate about why it was, exactly that Minho wanted to talk to him. What if he hadn't given him the correct amount of change last night? What if Minho had been offended by Jonghyun's lack of participation in conversation? What if Minho wanted to lodge a complaint about the coffee that he had been served the previous night, because it tasted terrible? If that was the case, then it was all Kibum's fault...

"Jonghyun, right? I recognized you from the café¹ last night..."

Jonghyun braced himself for the venemous rant that he knew was going to follow. Why had Kibum been unable to prepare something as simple as a large black coffee? All he had to do was pour the already-brewed liquid into a styrofoam cup, for heaven's sake! Jonghyun regretted not having given the order to Taemin...

"...and I was wondering if you'd like to hang out with me, sometime."

What?

Jonghyun mentally out. Minho wanted to hang out with him? Impossible. There had to be an alterior motive to his offer. Minho didn't strike Jonghyun as the manipulative type, but he simply couldn't believe that someone, other than Jinki, Kibum or Taemin actually wanted to go out of their way to spend time with him. After all, he was just plain old Kim Jonghyun, with no money and no free time to spend hanging out.

"Y-you mean like friends?" Jonghyun spluttered, knowing that he sounded like a dunce.

"Of course!" Minho smiled. Then the radiance of his smile ebbed away, slightly. "If you don't want to, though, that's fine. You just seem like a pretty cool guy."

Jonghyun mentally kicked himself, then whacked himself in the head with his text book-laden school bag, for good measure. Now Minho thought that Jonghyun didn't like him!

"Way to go, Kim," Jonghyun chastised himself, bitterly.

"I'd love to hang out with you!" Jonghyun made a quick save, regretting his choice of words, instantly. He sounded like a fairy tale princess from a children's movie.

"Really?" Minho's face lit up again. "Great! How about we just exchange cell numbers, and I'll give you a ring?"

Jonghyun froze. He didn't have a cell phone. He could hardly afford the cost of his land-line. Somehow, as trustworthy and unjudgmental as Minho seemed to be, the little part of Jonghyun that had been injured, during childhood, by all the children who's parents warned them against becoming his friend because he was poor, came to life and protested loudly about letting Minho know about his situation. With Jonghyun's other friends not being "allowed" to know about his situation, it was more of a matter involving pride. He was sure that they wouldn't stop being friends with him, simply because he hadn't much money, but he wasn't able to bring himself to accept the charity that he knew they would offer, if they knew that he was in need. With Minho, however, Jonghyun had just begun to tread along the path of new friendship, not to mention the fact that (he had now come to realize), he had a crush on the younger man. 

He just didn't want to risk anything.

"Umm... well, my phone's broken and the repairman said that it'll take a while to fix it," Jonghyun invented, wildly.

He sincerely hoped that Minho wouldn't ask any detailed questions, such as which phone company he had joined, or what plan he had.

"H-how about I just give you my home phone number?"

"Sure! That'd be great!" Minho grinned, taking out a few slips of paper from his pockets, and a pen.

"I'll see you around, then?" Minho said, handing Jonghyun his written cell number.

"Yeah," Jonghyun managed a smile, trying to keep his hands from shaking as he accepted the piece of paper.

 After the exchange, both boys went their seperate ways, Minho getting into his black sports car, with a wave and a smile at Jonghyun, while the latter headed toward his run-down shack of an apartment. 

He couldn't stop his heart from fluttering as he recalled that Minho had told him that he was "a pretty cool guy".

Note:

This is seriously the most enjoyable thing to write that I've ever done ^^ I am having wayyy too much fun with this ^_^"

What I was hoping to convey, with Jonghyun's feelings of self-consciousness Minho asked for his phone number, was the lasting effects that bullying can have on someone. I've been fortunate enough to never really have been bullied, but I've been a junior high/highschool student, and I've had a few rude remarks thrown my way that were not at all based on who I am as a person. I'm sure that most of us have had similar experiences and that some may even have been full out bullied. Some may even be the ones who bullied. In my story, things that other children said to Jonghyun when he was younger have affected him even in adulthood. From what I've seen and from my own experiences, rude remarks and teasing that many think are a "normal" part of childhood make permanent impressions on those who fall victim. Sorry for getting all preachy here ^^", but I just want to mention that if any of you have little brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, or even children of you own and you know that they are bullying some one, please try and intervene and tell them that it isn't right. I think that bullying manifests itself when people keep quiet about it, and it's very easy to stop bullying during childhood. That way, when the person gets older, they hopefully will see the negative effects of such behavior, and maybe, we might have a bully-free world, some day!! ^_^

Sorry for getting a little off topic there heheh^_^' I think I go a little carried away ^^

Hope you enjoy this chapter, and hopefully... I might have a couple more up today!!! Yay!! Oh, and in the next one, I'm planning to insert a poll (I'm not exactly sure how , but I'll figure it out ^^") So get ready to vote!!

Oh boy, I almost forgot my subscript!!

Sorry-heaven's preserve us if my author's note ends up being longer than the chapter ^^'

(1) The café where Jonghyun works doesn't really have a name ^^' I couldn't think of one... If anyone had any suggestions, please leave a comment, I'll pick the name I like best, and I'll put the name in my story, and of course credit you for your contribution :)

Okay. I think I'm done with my monster author's note. *cough*justshutupAngela!!*cough*

Thanks for reading ^_^

x Angela