The sweet tang of Choong Jae’s lips lingered on Andy’s as the young man drifted into sleep. This time without aspirin or alcohol. His once knitted eyebrows were replaced with a placid smile. Now, he was finally home.

Andy woke up in the middle of the night; his lips curling into a faint smile at the serenity he felt. Was it because he was back with his hyungs? Or was it due to him finally crossing the hurdle in his heart and accepted Choong Jae? It did not matter. The corners of Andy’s cherry lips lifted further as he pushed himself up and made his way to the toilet.

He saw a slit of light shone from underneath the door. Andy laughed lightly, remembering the days he shared the toilet with the members. He really missed his hyungs and living together with them. Before today, he dared not let himself go too deep into memories with them. Every memory with the members was laced with the pain of losing them. But now that he is back, Andy finally let himself dream again. It was a dream of a life where he will walk together with the five older men; a dream of Shinhwa being forever.

Andy paused briefly when he reached the toilet’s door. Someone was crying inside. He lifted his hand and pushed open the door, revealing a doleful figure crouching beside the sink.

Jin…he lost himself while you were gone. We did not know what to do with him…He just dazed and cried everyday…

Choong Jae tried to force himself to stop crying at the sight of Andy. It was tenderly painful as Andy watched. The tears that were made forbidden to escape still escaped, every drop manifested with the emotions that danced behind the beautiful irises. How could he believe that he was doing Choong Jae well by leaving him?

Andy moved forward and his arms went tightly around Choong Jae; his hug as fierce as his emotion. He wanted to protect Choong Jae. He wanted the man to stop hurting. He wanted him to be happy. That is all he wanted for Choong Jae.

When Choong Jae calmed down enough, Andy loosened the hug and his hand patted Choong Jae’s back soothingly.

“I’m sorry Andy.” Choong Jae whispered, his soft voice resonating in his soul mate’s ear. Andy shut his eyes.

“It’s okay Jin.” Andy replied weakly. Choong Jae finally believed him. The accusations that Choong Jae spouted the day Andy left Shinhwa were no longer cast in Choong Jae’s heart.

“I pondered a lot after you were gone,” Choong Jae continued. “I finally understood what you had been trying to tell me.”

If Andy had known earlier, he would have stopped Choong Jae before the older man speaks. He would have stopped him before Choong Jae threw him into another moment of unsettlement, shattering his resolution to his soulmate fate.

“We can’t be together because we are both male.” Choong Jae’s tears fall onto Andy’s sleeve and seeped through it, grazing the younger man’s shoulder. “Andy…please forgives my selfishness before. I only ask to be your friend now.” Andy did not answer, and Choong Jae continued, “I promise I will not ask for more, I only wanted you as a friend…”

“Thank you for understanding me.” Andy responded after being silence for several seconds. He did not let go of the man in his arms. Andy did not want Choong Jae to see his tears.

***

Andy carelessly swiped his right arm across his forehead, wiping away the perspiration as his eyes focused on the dance move of “Hey, Come On!” Minwoo was showing him. It was their break time but the young man had to double his practice in order to pick up what he had missed in the past 10 months.

“Araso?” Minwoo turned to Andy after his demonstration. Andy replied and tried to re-perform the move, but a sudden pain hit his back and he crashed into the floor.

“Andy!” The anxious voices of s entered his ears. Before Minwoo could reach him, two of his other hyungs already held him. They stayed in the position for a moment as an abrupt tension swathed around Andy.

“Andy, are you alright?” He heard Eric’s voice beside him as he tried to settle his unfocused gaze. One of the hands on his arm retracted brusquely as Eric spoke. It was Choong Jae’s. Andy softly huffed out an upset sigh as the leader helped him up.

“You hurt your back.” Eric commented, his eyes tinted with concern. The move that Andy attempted was not difficult. Only an earlier injury could have caused the fall, and it was impossible for Eric to miss that fact. Andy bit down on his lips ruefully. He never sought treatment since hurting his back. Weeks ago, money was still a scarce resource meant only for his mother’s hospital bill.

“I am bringing you to the hospital.” Eric said, one arm still holding onto Andy and the other reaching for his bag. But the leader paused abruptly, expression turning stolid and unreadable. Andy’s eyebrows dipped lightly as he tried to guess his hyung’s mind through the suddenly masked countenance.

“I need to plan for the production of the next album.” Eric said to no one in particular. “Jin, bring Andy to the hospital.” He instructed the second maknae before mumbling a faint “thanks” and exiting the room. The silence that descended could be sliced with a knife, as the five remaining members gaped at the door swinging shut. There was no precedence of Eric leaving Andy’s side when the younger one was sick or injured. Not since the members know the two of them.

Andy was the last to recover from the shock. He was still pondering about Eric’s action when they were already in the hospital. That was until Choong Jae called him. He turned over and smile faintly at his soul mate. “Yes Jinnie?” Choong Jae appeared hesitant.

“Your number is called.” Choong Jae said reservedly after a short while. Andy nodded and proceeded to the room with his queue number flashing above.

“Andy…” Choong Jae called suddenly, just before Andy push open the door and enter the consultation ward. Andy turned over and looked at his soul mate. “Do you love Eric hyung?” He heard Choong Jae asked. Andy nodded, mind still preoccupied with finding an excuse for Eric to leave him in the afternoon.

After some examination by the doctor, Andy was finally able to exit the consultation ward. The first thing he noticed when he stepped out was his soul mate sitting on a bench, engrossed in thoughts. Andy studied Choong Jae while approaching the older man. Still the familiar sad eyes filled with too many considerations, still the vulnerable soul hidden behind a strong façade. A soft sigh escaped when Andy was beside Choong Jae and the older one failed to notice him. He brought his face close to Choong Jae... ...And Andy did something he never expect himself to.

Choong Jae pulled back instantaneously, shifting his body away and raising his head in horror. Andy watched the shock in his soul mate’s eyes, aware that that his eyes were a mirror to Choong jae’s. Why? Because he had kissed the older man’s cheek when leaning forward.

The initial shock in Choong Jae’s eyes transformed into diffidence after he finally gathered the situation. His mouth hung stupidly as he stared at Andy. Andy chuckled cutely. Choong jae’s expression helped him relax.

“Jin-ah, you do know that happens to anyone caught off guard in Shinhwa right?”

“But…” The red was rising quickly in Choong Jae’s cheeks. Andy took the time to admire the adorability of his nervous soul mate. “But you..I…” Choong Jae was struggling with his words.

“Jin-ah…if you want us to be friends, we got to start treating each other like how we treat the hyungs.”

“But...but you never like anyone of us kissing you.” Choong Jae finally blurted.

Andy stupefied. It was true. But he had not realised this habit of his. It was subconscious that he avoided kisses and excessive skinship from the older members, but now this was brought up, the reason behind was scarily lucid.

“I…” Now it was Andy who was lost for words. Eventually, all these i-hate-skinship behaviours were results of not wanting Choong Jae to witness them. It was all for Choong Jae’s sake. The ringing of his phone saved him from replying his soul mate.

The following morning…

Andy groaned at the light throbbing in his head. The still confuse man forced open his right eyes to study his incommodious surrounding. His heart skipped a beat when he realised that he was not in his dorm. To add on, his head was resting on the floor and his stomach sprawled on a very stiff body which he knew wasn’t Eric hyung. He had sprawl all over his closest hyung every time he got drunk. Eric let him. But this person was too taut to be his hyung. It suddenly struck Andy that he was being a heavy load and putting the man’s leg to sleep. He quickly pushed himself up and apologised to the unidentified person.

As he turned around, Choong Jae embarrassed face greeted him.

Rushing this out before I missed my goal to publish it this week! Sorry for another chapter that I didn't really get to amend much from my draft.

And I am also sorry for the misleading "spoiler" that really isn't a spoiler =P But u get a peak into Junjin's feeling and shock in that spoiler which u wouldn't really get the full impact in Andy's POV (because he was still shocked by Eric's action). So this is the missing part in Junjin's Pov from Andy's return to the accident and part of the reason for his distraction in this story.

P.S: I forget to mention in the last chapter Eric kissing Andy in the scene he came b to Shinhwa was mentioned in winwin.

 P.S.S: What happen between the call  in the hospital and the situation Andy got himself into at the end of this chapter will be explained in the next one :)