Three weeks later, Jaejoong was officially moving in, one door down from Yunho. He was relieved for more than one reason.

Professionally, he was ecstatic to finally find someone willing enough to move into the apartment that had been vacant for over two years. They’d tried showing the property to many potential buyers, only to have the deal called off just on the last stages of the contract being signed. Why, you ask? Simple: the three loud, bratty university students lived right next door. Ugh, Yunho was a little sorry and worried about Jaejoong living next to such a rowdy bunch, he himself was often out for work or other means, but he wasn’t sure about Jaejoong’s schedule. When Yunho had hesitantly tried to warn Jaejoong – against the rules of selling properties - Jaejoong had just laughed it off, saying “Oh, please, I can handle a bunch of noisy kids.” And he’d not tried anymore to change his mind about buying. After all, Yunho did want him to move in close to him…which bought him to the second reason behind his joy of having the deal done and dusted.

Personally, Yunho, had gotten to know Jaejoong a little more over the course of the two weeks, not enough for them to be sharing diaries yet, but a little more than they knew each other two weeks ago. And he was not sure how to feel about the revelation that Jaejoong behaved an awful lot like Yunho always imagined JJ to do so. He’d even entertained the thought of them both being the same person for a short period of time, before laughing at his own stupidity.

But, however confusing his feelings about JJ and Jaejoong were, he couldn’t deny the fact that he would have probably gone out of his way to convince Jaejoong to move in next to him. As y as it was, Yunho had developed an inevitably humongous crush on Jaejoong, and so his subconscious was always being an and trying to get closer and closer to Jaejoong. Never mind the fact that he often humiliated himself in the process.

Where had his grace and charisma disappeared to?

Jaejoong had already all his belonging to his new apartment, all that was left was for him to bring himself over. For a single person, Yunho thought Jaejoong sure had a shed load of stuff with him.

He’d been determined to finish the painting and all things interior in less than two weeks, and to Yunho’s surprise, the man had achieved that. Of course, he had cheated by bringing an army of people to help him out, but at least he’d completed all the tasks within two weeks. Yunho had to admit, the flat looked amazing.  There was nothing overly expensive there, but Jaejoong clearly had a skill for interior design. The colour theme was perfectly matched with the furniture, even the most unimportant thing had been made to seem pretty, simply by placing it in certain angles.

On one particular afternoon, while Yunho was lazing on his balcony trying to figure out the brain activity stimulation game that JJ had sent him – which he was slightly offended by! What? Did JJ think he was dumb! Humph, he’d show that no-good, scribbling mess what Jung Yunho was made of! He was so focussed on the game in his hand, lips pursed and eyebrows furrowed in concentration, that he almost threw the game over the railing when he heard the screaming.

“How dare you even suggest that!?” the yelling had been followed by crashing sounds coming from the open balcony door of the newly occupied flat.

What the hell? Was Jaejoong being attacked or something? Hey, that conclusion wasn’t that crazy considering his noisy neighbours who usually took it personally upon themselves to make enough noise for the entire hallway of dwellers, were actually away on some University course fieldtrip.

Yunho had gotten to the scene as soon as he could, the door having been left open, and was more than surprised to see Jaejoong…hugging mixer? Ok, so that’s not what he’d expected upon arrival. There was yet another woman with Jaejoong, this one seemingly a little younger than Ahyoung, smacking his arm with a wooden spoon as she demanded he give her the appliance.

“NO!” Just then, Jaejoong met Yunho’s eyes and immediately bolted towards him. Before Yunho could even open his mouth to ask what the hell was going on, Jaejoong was hiding behind him, the mixer digging into Yunho’s spine.

“KIM JAEJOONG!” The woman put her hands on her hips, glaring at the head of the man sticking over Yunho’s shoulder.

“You are not taking her away from” Jaejoong warned like someone was threatening to take away his child.

After a lot more shouting and running around of the two, Jaejoong being chased by his sister – as she was introduced later – throughout the entire apartment, they’d finally been too tired to continue. Apparently, the mixer was Jaejoong’s most favourite kitchen tool because it had been the first thing he’d used in the kitchen, and had been successful in making something edible. He’d looked at Yunho with pleading eyes, asking him to convince his sister to not try and take it away from him. After some more prodding from the two men in the room, Jaejoong’s sister had finally given in, but not before informing her brother that he was going to go shopping for new appliances, still.

Yunho had learned a valuable lesson. Don’t mess with Jaejoong’s kitchen or his culinary toys.

That had been a crazy day. As his sister had left, Yunho had spent hours with Jaejoong listening to his excited plans of how he was going to decorate each wall and corner of the apartment to his liking. Listening to him talking so animatedly about the interior deco of his living quarters, Yunho had felt a little self-conscious. He’d not touched his house for…well, he didn’t remember when he’d renovated. In fact when he’d shyly mentioned the state of his own apartment, Jaejoong had bounded towards him, clapping his hands as he begged to be put in charge of designing the changes, should Yunho choose to renovate anytime.

Though, Yunho was a little confused on why Jaejoong kept refusing to come to his apartment when it was lunch time or something, considering Jae’s own flat was nowhere near ready for cooking, at that time. Funny enough, Jae still hadn’t come to his home. Yunho just assumed it was something to do with Taepoong. After all, he still remembered the look he’d thrown the picture of the dog, perhaps he was allergic?

***

JJ. Jaejoong. Yunho was so confused, he was afraid to go home that day.

It was yet another Friday and Jaejoong was finally coming to his sparkly new flat. Yunho was excited, he honestly was. But he couldn’t help the butterflies ramming on the walls of his belly. And it wasn’t just because his crush was moving in next to him.

No.

The problem, was that Jae had invited Yunho over for his first day at his new place. Not just as a friendly companion, Jaejoong had asked him on a date. A date! Jaejoong wanted them to have a dinner date that evening.

Yunho was terrified. He hadn’t been on a date or even interested in someone ever since…ever since she passed away, seven years ago. Seven years is a long time. He knew it was time for him to move on, and he liked Jae too. So what was the problem? Why was he so nervous about going home? He wished he could answer that straight.

The second big thing on his mind that afternoon, as he stressed about his date with his cute new neighbour, was JJ’s most recent token. He had been so shocked when opening the envelope, that his assistant had thought he’d received some kind of death threat, from the look on his face! He couldn’t believe his eyes. There, written in the centre of a hello kitty note paper was a mobile number followed by “Call me at 9, xx”. It was so clearly written, that Yunho had no doubt about its meaning. There weren’t even the usual squiggles that went along with JJ’s letters. And of course, the usual “Forever Grateful, JJ”, signed at the bottom.

As he scanned the number over and over again, his mind running in different directions, he realised something. JJ had definitely seen him. He knew who Yunho was, while he was still in the dark. What did that mean, though? Had JJ been one of his many clients? Had they already talked?

On the one hand, Yunho was thrilled to finally have a means of communication with JJ after trying so hard to track the man down, only to fail miserably. On the other hand, it was a bad time. What if, like Yunho had thought, JJ had seen him and liked him? And if that was the case, then could it be possible that JJ knew about Jaejoong? Was he jealous? Had he been wrong to assume JJ was a harmless well-wisher? What if he was dangerous…had Yunho accidently put Jaejoong in danger?

So many questions were whirling around his head that he was starting to panic. It wasn’t really his fault, either. The timing was too close to be considered a coincidence.

If all of that wasn’t enough, there was also that voice in his head screaming “Traitor” at him. There was no denying that he did have some feelings for JJ. The nature of those feelings may not have been clear at that moment in time, but they definitely were there. Yunho didn’t like the thought of cheating on someone – if that could even apply to this situation. His feelings about JJ and Jaejoong were so complicated that he found it difficult to even extricate one from the other at some points.

He was beyond stressed.

The third problem, which wasn’t really a problem, but more of an annoyance, was that Yunho’s and now Jaejoong’s neighbours were coming home from their trip on the same day. Although it wasn’t a big issue, he couldn’t help adding it to the pile of things to worry about.

Argh! He was going to lose his mind if he didn’t stop this madness.

Taking a deep breath, he pocketed the hello kitty printed paper and went out of his office. He needed to talk to someone.

“What’s up with you?” his assistant asked as he unceremoniously dropped down on the chair in front of her desk, groaning loudly as he put his head on the table.

“I have issues.” He mumbled, not lifting his head.

“Tell me something I don’t know.” She patted his head.

“JJ sent me his phone number and asked me to call him.” He sat upright, straight o business now. He needed advice and he was going to get it.

“Oh! That-that’s good, isn’t it? I mean you’ve been wanting to-”

“That’s the problem! I don’t know if it’s a good thing or not.”

“Ok. I feel like you’re not telling me the whole story.” She closed her laptop, moving everything away so that they were facing each other with nothing in the way. “Spill.” She ordered.

“I am glad to have JJ’s number, but it’s a little confusing. I know I’m overthinking it because Jaejoong asked me on a date and I’m nervous as hell about that. Bu there are so many things running through my head that I feel like I can’t even-”

“Yunho.”

“I know that JJ isn’t some creepy stalker but my brain keeps telling me to be cautious. I mean, I don’t even know anything about him. But then again, the same could be said about Jaejoong. What if they’re both collaborating and plotting-”

“Yunho.”

“I want to call him. But what will I tell Jaejoong? What if he gets mad? What if he thinks I’m two-timing!? OMG! Am I two-timing? Can anyone really pro-”

“YUNHO.”

“I really, really like JaeJae! I don’t want be a two-timing douche! He’s going to kick me out and hate my guts! What am I going to do? I can’t even-”

…there was a bread stick in his mouth.

“Ok. Now you chew on that and zip it!” his assistant all but glared at him, daring him to make so much as another meep.

“Clearly, you’re having a crisis.” Yunho sadly nodded his head to that, pouting.

“Oh stop pouting. I’m going to give you my honest opinion, but honestly, sweetie you’re jumping to some crazy conclusions there. Calm down. Eat your bread stick, and listen.” She stopped for a minute to make sure she had his full attention before continuing.

“First of all, I’m really glad Jaejoong asked you out, because god knows you’re too unsure about things to make that step first. Second, YOU ARE NOT IN A RELATIONSHIP WITH JJ! Ok?”

Nodding.

“Good. Here’s the deal. You like Jaejoong, and he obviously likes you in return. He’s a sweetheart, and you both have amazing chemistry. I mean, heck. You’ve known each other for what? Three weeks? Did you know that a lot of the guys here are jealous of how good you’re interactions with Jaejoong are? That kind of attraction between two people takes time to build, and you two have it handed to you on a golden platter! Are you going to throw it away?”

Shaking head

“Exactly. Now about, JJ. I understand that you don’t know Jaejoong that well either, but at least he’s present so you can actually do that. You can ask him questions, get to know his likes and dislikes. But JJ…? He’s a faceless stranger, honey. I know he’s helped you a lot, and you’re not the only one that adores him. I, myself am a fan. But at the end of the day, you don’t know anything about him other than what he has told you.”

More nodding.

“You can call him if you want. And you can also tell Jaejoong about him, I’m pretty sure he won’t be unreasonable. But what I definitely don’t think you should do, is throw away any chances of being with Jaejoong because of someone who may or may not be who you think they are.”

“…”

“You can talk now.”

“Umm. Wow.” He didn’t really know what to say to that.

“Did that help your inner troubles at all?”

“Yeah. I think it did.” He was finally able to smile, the weight lifted off his shoulders.

“Great! Now get away from my desk, I have work to do.” She pulled her laptop in front of her, ignoring his presence.

“Thanks Anna! You’re the best” he leaned over the table to kiss her cheek, stealing another bread stick on his way.

“Idiot.” She muttered after him, smiling affectionately.

***

Do you have any idea how hard it is to pick an outfit for a date? No? Yes?

Well, how about if you haven’t been on a date for seven years? Exactly!

Yunho had his entire wardrobe – which wasn’t that big, he discovered – scattered around his bedroom. Jeans, trousers, shirts, -shirt, jumpers, scarves, jackets, suits…but no idea how to put a suitable outfit together.

After aimlessly looking through the same things over and over again, he finally decided to go with plain white denims and a black shirt. It was warm, and cosy. He’d thought about dressing up in a suit, before face-palming. He wasn’t going to a meeting, dammit! Now was the time he could have really used the help of the grease-ball known as Micky. This was just typical of them. Annoyingly noisy and nosy when not wanted, but nowhere to be seen when their help was required. He had a full-on pout while getting ready, only stopping when he was standing in front of Jaejoong’s door.

Not knowing what else to get, he’d brought him an elephant plushie. What? Don’t judge! Jaejoong had mentioned that he liked elephants, and who didn’t like a plushie? They were cute and cuddly! This one in particular had huge black eyes, with equally big ears coloured a light pink on the inside. The rest of the toy was grey and fuzzy. Yunho had been half-tempted to keep it for himself and get Jae a bottle of Champagne or something…it was that cute. And besides, Jae obviously didn’t like other people trying to fulfil his culinary needs, so there was no point in getting a kettle or something. Did people even do that?

Oh, who cares? The elephant was cute.

“Are you going to stand there, goofily smiling at what I presume is my elephant, or do you intend to come in?”

Yunho looked up to the smiling face of Jae. When had he subconsciously started calling him Jae, instead of Jaejoong?

He couldn’t help his smile getting wider. Jae was wearing a black and white, leopard print jumper. What was it with him and jumpers? He should have gotten him one of those instead. It was paired with simple, tight black jeans. And of course, it wouldn’t be Jae without his cute accessories to finish the already adorable outfit. His fringe was moved to the side, but his hair was still as silky and bouncy as always. It always left Yunho’s fingers itching to run through the strands.

“As much as I’d like to stand here and stare at you, I think that can be better achieved inside.” He offered the toy to Jae who eagerly accepted it, immediately hugging it to his chest. Yes! He did like it.

Yunho was pleased to find that there was no need for awkwardness at all. Conversation came naturally, what with Jae’s natural ability to jump from topic to topic. They talked about everything and anything. Jae refused to allow Yunho anywhere near his kitchen table, ordering him to sit at the counter while he chopped and stirred, all the while making jokes and laughing. It was relaxing.

As the dinner was slowly simmering on the pot, Yunho’s mouth started to water. And he finally understood Jae’s obsession with his kitchen utensils. If the food he made smelled that good, then god help him, how would it taste? He, himself, wasn’t a horrible cook, nor was he worthy of an award, but damn. If Jae cooked like that, he might end up paying him to be his personal chef, before the food-monster next-door beat him to it.

Speak of the devil. Sounded like the idiots had returned from their trip, if the sudden level of noise was anything to go by.

Jae perked up at the sound, looking toward the wall separating his flat from theirs. A smile, slowly replaced the confusion on his face as he turned towards Yunho, who was grimacing. Jae giggled at him.

“Ah, our dreaded neighbours?”

“Yes. Please don’t do anything to alert them that you’re making delicious food in here!” Yunho whined, gaining himself heartfelt laughter from Jae.

“Don’t worry. No brats are going to ruin my plans for tonight.” He turned around. What he said was light-hearted, but Yunho noticed a little tension creep up on Jae’s features just before he turned his face around. Should he be worried about something?

Apparently not, because less than a minute later, Jae was back to joking around. By the time dinner was served, Yunho had really built an appetite. Both from laughing so much and because the food smelled like heaven.

But he was a fool to think they’d gotten away with it.

The doorbell started to ring repeatedly.

“Ugh!” Yunho groaned dramatically. As Jae got up to answer the door, he immediately latched onto his arm.

“You can’t answer the door!” he whisper shouted.

“Why not?” Jae whispered back conspiratorially.

“Because it’s the food monster.”

“…”

“Please don’t answer the door.”

“Um, ok. If you say so.” Jae reluctantly sat back down.

Before they could do anything, instead of the doorbell ringing, the rascal was now banging on the door with his full might.

“Yah! I know you’re in there! Open the door!” although the sound coming through the door was faint, they could still clearly make out the words.

They both looked at each other. Neither wanted to really have their moment interrupted, but it was pretty obvious that the door would sooner break than stop banging.

Just as Jae opened the door, he almost got a punch to the face.

“Hi shorty! Welcome to the neighbourhood! Can I come? I smell food.” The lanky not-yet-a-man fired one after another. His eyes were roaming inside the flat, looking for the food, instead of facing the owner.

“And you are?”

“Max! Your delightful neighbour. Can I come in?” he eagerly asked. He’d obviously just had a shower.

Jae just stared at the kid up and down, before lifting an eyebrow.

“No.”

“WH-what?”

Yunho couldn’t hear very well what they were saying, but Jae leaned into the tall boy…was he whispering something to him. Suddenly, Max’s eyes widened and he stuttered “Bu-b-but Yunho hyung is there!” He pointed towards him accusingly. But whatever Jae said to him after that had him pouting and crossing his arms across his chest, glaring at Yunho over Jae’s head.

And that was the end of that. Jaejoong shut the door. No more was heard from Max. Yunho couldn’t believe it when they started eating and the door still hadn’t been knocked down by a raving, hungry boy.

“How did you do that? You have to share your secret.” Jae smiled in return, tapping his nose.

***

Yunho was looking around at the different pictures on the walls – most of which Jae had taken himself. Had he forgotten to mention that Jae was a wilderness slash nature photographer? Some of the scenes that had been captured by the lens were truly breath-taking. Yunho wondered what kind of tales Jae had to share with him.

“Yunnie” Jae called him to the living room. He’d not been allowed to enter the kitchen at all after their meal, allowing him to explore the wonderful home Jae had made.

He loved the nickname, by the way.

“So what’s on the agenda for this late evening?” Yunho teased as he sat next to Jae on the couch. Jae was sitting with one foot under him, twiddling his thumbs. He seemed nervous.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” Yunho his cheek, smiling at him reassuringly.

He took a deep breath before answering.

“There’s something I’ve been meaning to tell you. Well, actually no, there’s two things…” he trailed off, avoiding Yunho’s gaze.

Yunho sat up straight, a little worried now. What was the matter? Jae was really nervous. Yunho nodded at him, smiling, encouraging him to continue. But inside, he was sacred. Had he made the wrong decision by choosing Jae over JJ? He mentally chastised himself for that thought. It wasn’t fair to make a judgement like that without giving Jae a chance to explain himself.

“You see. Umm…god this is a lot harder to say than I thought it’d be.” he nervously laughed.

“Hey. It’s ok. You can tell me.”

Jae looked at him with so much hope in his eyes, that Yunho felt bad. Had he done something to make Jae not trust him with his secrets?

“Don’t say anything, ok? Just listen.” While Yunho nodded, a little unsure, Jae slowly reached towards the hem of his jumper.

“Uh, this isn’t the part where you tell me you’re a stripper…is it?”

“…”

“Bad joke. Sorry. I’ll shut up. Continue please.” Although he came across as calm, his heart was beating so hard he thought he’d go deaf.

Jae quickly pulled the jumper over his head, revealing porcelain white skin…with only one blemish.  There was a scare on his chest, just where the heart would be…

Suddenly Yunho felt sick.  He was hoping against hope that he was wrong.

“Don’t freak out! Please.” Jae held Yunho’s hand, squeezing his fingers.

“Is that…I mean, you’ve…” he couldn’t finish any sentence properly. All he could see was her face. Her last words. Please god, make him be wrong. Please make this to be some stupid joke.

“Yunho, please calm down. Listen to me…let me explain. Please?” Jae was almost begging now.

“Wh-w-when?”

“Yunho”

“When?” Yunho demanded more forceful this time, though his voice was still just above a whisper.

“S-seven years ago.”

No. This cannot be happening.

“Yunho, please let me explain.”

“Explain what? I think I know what’s happening.”

“Yun-”

“No. Don’t.” He slowly pulled his hands out of Jae’s, feeling his whole body turn cold. The laughter of less than an hour ago, completely forgotten. He wasn’t sure how he was able to come to that conclusion so quick, but as soon as he’d seen the scar. He’d just know. Something had clicked. Now he was regretting coming.

“Just answer one question.”

“Ok.” Jae whispered, dejectedly. 

“Seven years ago you’ve had a he-h-hear-heart surgery. Who was the donor?” he couldn’t look at him in the eyes. He just couldn’t.

“Yu-”

“Just-just answer the question, please.”

After a deafening silence, a complete contrast to just a while ago, Jaejoong slowly, almost sobbed out, “Your…you-she was your fi-fiancé.”

As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Yunho had bolted. It happened fast, taking Jaejoong a couple of seconds to realise he was alone in the room. The door banged closed.

“Oh, poo.” Jaejoong slumped on the couch. 

AN: Don't forget to comment and upvote!! xx