the nag.

Public streets near Park Yoochun’s house; 9:42 PM

“Jaejoo—Jae. Jae—KIM JAEJOONG, wait up!”

Minseo mentally cursed her high heeled sandals as struggled to keep up with Jaejoong’s long strides through the neighborhood. Jaejoong left the interiors of Yoochun’s house thirty minutes into the party; Minseo apologized to the guests and excused herself to catch up to her obviously angry boyfriend.

“Jaejoong…my feet hurt from too much walking, so can we please stop?” Jaejoong stopped and turned to face Minseo. Yes, she thought. Kim Jaejoong never could stand to walk away from his hurt girlfriend, and she, being the girlfriend, knew it.

“Why in the world do you wear those horrendous heels, anyway? You’re already taller than all the women in the party without it!” And with a huff, he quickly went back to walking.

…not the kind of reaction she was hoping for.

This outburst from Jaejoong angered Minseo. What was he angry about, anyway? Just a few minutes ago, they were laughing along to a joke someone had made—and then, BOOM, he went off without any prior warning.

“What is your problem, Jaejoong-ah? I don’t even know why you’re mad!”

Jaejoong turned to look at his girlfriend once again and clenched his fists. Why was he mad, she asked? Any man in his place, Jaejoong thought, would be mad—and would have every right to be so!

“You wanna know why I’m mad? You really wanna know?” She continuously nodded with a look of irritation and worry in her eyes. “Fine, then I’ll tell you.”

Taking a deep long breath of air, Jaejoong quickly said, “You called Yoochun oppa.”

“What?”

“You called Yoochun oppa. You called him oppa but you don’t call me oppa!”

“That’s it? That’s why you walked away all of a sudden, out of that party, because I called Yoochun-oppa oppa?”

“See? YOU DID IT AGAIN!” The look on Jaejoong’s face was murderous.

“Jae—”

“—And you’re not even calling me oppa! And I’m your boyfriend!” He said, then added in an afterthought, “And I’m even Yoochun’s hyung!”

“Jae—”

“I don’t get it! I was just about to introduce you to him and then you go—Oppa!—to him without even thinking about what I’d feel! Lee Minseo, did you even stop and think of me?”

“Jae—”

“I agreed that you don’t need to call me oppa, only because I thought there really isn’t anyone apart from your cousins that you called oppa—and don’t even tell me Yoochun’s your cousin, because I’ve met all of your cousins when we went to that family reunion of yours months ago!—only to see you get all happy and surprised to see Yoochun and call him oppa, oppa, oppa!”

“Jae—!” There was already an irritated edge in Minseo’s voice as she called out her boyfriend’s name yet again, but he still wouldn’t listen and continued to talk.

“You know what, if you didn’t like me at all, you could’ve just said no when I asked you to date me! That way, I wouldn’t have looked like an idiot in front of everyone when my girlfriend—who doesn’t even call me oppa—calls someone oppa in front of me! How could—”

“YAH! KIM JAEJOONG! WILL YOU PLEASE JUST LISTEN FIRST?!”

Jaejoong closed his open mouth and nodded to let her proceed, even though he looked skeptical at whatever it was that she was about to say. She glared at him, as if daring him to speak, but he only sighed and let her speak.

“Yoochun-oppa is my oppa.”

“What?! That reason won’t work with me, Lee Minseo! I told you, I met all your cousins from that reunion—”

“I TOLD YOU TO LISTEN FIRST!” Minseo shouted again, which led to Jaejoong shutting up again. He wasn’t used to this shouting version of Minseo yet. She always seemed to be a little more graceful than this.

Minseo sighed and continued. “Like I said, he’s my oppa. He’s not a relative, yes, but he’s myoppa. We were neighbors when we were little, and—LISTEN FIRST—” she said loudly, as Jaejoong opened his mouth to say something again. “—and I had no brothers, so this irritable girl with an ugly older brother kept saying how lucky she was that she had one and that she felt sorry for me for not having one. She said that that over and over and over again, and kept laughing at my face because I didn’t have an oppa. Then Yoochun-oppa came to my rescue and told that bully of a girl that I did have an oppa, and that he was my oppa…and he was cooler and a lot more handsome that her oppa, so she couldn’t really say anything and just stood there with open. After that, she never bothered me again.”

She cleared after the long speech. “So…Yoochun-oppa has been my oppa ever since then.”

It took a while before Jaejoong finished processing the story. His mouth was unconsciously kept a little open while he was thinking, as if he still couldn’t believe what he had just heard.

“And don’t even think of asking me not to call him oppa,” Minseo warned just as Jaejoong was about to ask her that very thing. “I’ve been calling him that since I was a little girl. He’s been a better oppa than any of my cousins ever were, so he’s earned that name fair and square.”

He closed his mouth and nodded reluctantly.

*

Coffee shop; 3:12 PM, the next day

“I hate you.”

“Huh?”

“I really hate you.”

Yoochun blinked and stared at Jaejoong with raised eyebrows. “…What? H-hyung, what did I do?” asked Yoochun. It was such a sudden outburst that the younger man didn’t know how else to react.

Jaejoong took a few minutes before answering in a very casual voice, “Just because you’re you.”