Due to my speed, proof-reading will be skipped! 1 or 2 more chapters before finally switching POV again! Thank you to those who are still with the story despite the slow author xD

Andy’s mind went blank the moment Choong Jae’s face entered his sight.

“Junjin…” The words escaped his mouth without his command; soft and hush as he leaned nearer to the man. Instinct, he supposed. His mind had given up on guiding him this very moment. Not that it did a good job before anyway, not when Choong Jae was concerned, Andy thought. The proximity between the soul mates decreased at the younger man’s will.

The older one twisted his head to avoid eye contact; the faint action causing a sharp sting in Andy’s chest, triggering the younger one’s mind to start functioning again. The sting transformed into a drone, numbing pain when Andy noticed Choong Jae was trying to keep their physical distance. The soul mate’s back was glued to the wall as he had been backing away while Andy was inching forward. Andy straightened his back, reluctantly giving back to Choong Jae his much desired personal space.

He stood up and brushed his hand against the crinkles of his shirt to smooth them. He wasn’t going to apologise. He was feeling indignant. Andy raised his head and studied his surroundings. They were just a few flights of stairs from their dorm. Fuzzy images of the previous night returned as Andy searched his mind on a quest to identify what led the two of them to be alone here.

“You never like anyone of us kissing you.” Andy was stupefied at his sudden comprehension that his frequent avoidance of skin-ship was because of Choong Jae. An unintentional well-timed call from Eric hyung saved him. Eric informed that they had planned a belated welcome back party for Andy. A simple get together at a pub. Andy was enjoying his hyungs’ company until a couple of fans approached the band.

“Omo! It is Shinhwa!” The girls shrieked.

“Dongwan oppa, Junjin oppa, Hyesung oppa…” one of the overly excited fans traced her finger in the air from the left most member inwards, naming each of them in a dreamy tone. “Minwoo oppa, Eric oppa –” She fell silent at the young man beside Eric. Her puzzled expression was duplicated on the faces of her friends. The short pause seemed like eternity, and it was only broken when one of them finally concluded in a cheery voice, “You must be Shinhwa’s manager! Please take good care of our oppa!” With that, she did a 90 degree bow to Andy.

“Shinhwa is six.” Choong Jae’s voice filled with finality drove Andy back to the present. Andy raised his gaze to the man and Choong Jae held it this time. He was not wearing the expression of his soul mate, but that of a fellow member with a resolution to drill into the maknae’s head.

The band had suffered like him in the past year. Choong Jae had suffered.

“Thank you Jin.” Andy said with a smile. He was so consumed in convincing Eric he was alright that he had forgotten there was another member whose attention for him was as much as the leader. He succeeded in duping Eric the night before, but his real sentiment to the episode was an open book for Choong Jae.

“Are both of you crazy?!” A third voice boomed, causing the maknaes to jump. “Were you outside the entire night?” Dongwan jogged down the stairs towards his two members. The health conscious hyung was about to leave for his routine morning run.

“Morning Hyung.” Andy greeted, but Dongwan wasn’t impressed and returned Andy’s greeting with an annoyed frown.  “Do you know you can easily catch a cold in this weather?” The older one turned to Choong Jae, “Jin, you are not even in a jacket!”

Andy only noticed the cold now. He turned over rapidly to Choong Jae upon hearing Dongwan’s statement, and his heart was consumed by a different kind of pain. One contrasting his earlier indignant; whereby a warm feeling clings onto the end. Choong Jae’s jacket was sprawled on the ground where his head was the night before. Andy hurriedly bent over, grabbed the piece of clothing and wrapped it around the rightful owner. He saw a pink glow appearing on Choong Jae’s face before the older man grabbed one of his arms.

“Hyung…” Choong Jae said with coyness. “Can you help me up? I think I have put my leg to sleep.” He extended his other hand to Dongwan without looking at Andy. Dongwan hurried over to help, administering his kind of punishment to the maknaes at the same time. By the second flight of stairs, Andy already made a mental note to treat sasaeng fans better.

Dongwan left shortly after the two men placed Choong Jae on the couch. Andy’s eyes followed the hyung until the thud of the closing door denoted a conclusion to the lecture. He turned around at Choong Jae’s laughter.

“Can you imagine two hours of that?! How did those fans survived him?” Choong Jae burst out, his eyes like two crescent moons and his hands pressed hard against his tummy. Andy smiled warmly, admiring the man. It wasn’t often that Choong Jae laughed so freely when it was just the two of them.

“Thank you Jin.” Andy placed himself at the other end of the same couch. From the corner of his eyes, he saw Choong Jae stopped laughing at turned to him. Maybe he only realised now that it was just the two of them.

“Thank you for taking care of me when I was making myself drunk and hiding from Eric hyung yesterday.” He turned to Choong Jae, “Thank you for letting me used your jacket as a pillow.”

“Uhm…” Choong Jae was obviously becoming self-conscious. “It’s nothing.”

Just like how he saved Andy the day before, Eric made his grand entrance with a loud yawn, saving the second maknae. “Andy, Jin…where were the both of you yesterday?” He advances to the couch, gave both of them a kiss on the cheeks before settling himself comfortably, head on Andy’s lap and feet on Choong Jae’s.

Andy ran his fingers through the leader’s hair. He was still bothered by something. “Hyung…” Eric opened his eyes and looked at Andy imploringly. Andy hesitated, “why didn’t you accompany me to the hospital yesterday?”

Eric was taken aback. But he recovered quickly with a poker face before giving Andy a sweet smile, “I had something to do.”  If Andy hadn’t known the leader so well, he would have been deceived by that smile. Eric sat up and turned 180 degree, kissing Choong Jae’s cheek a second time before resting his head on Choong Jae’s laps and his feet on Andy’s.

“Jin-ah…if you want us to be friends, we got to start treating each other like how we treat the hyungs.” Andy's own words floated across his mind.

Eric obviously have a greater role to play. He always does in my stories. =)

The pub incident where a fan thought Andy was their manager really did happened. I think he mentioned it in one episode of New X-Man. Not too sure. But the maknae said he tried to show he was okay but drank a lot that night.