YongHwa, seated on the passenger seat of his Porsche, was deep in thoughts, asking himself if he should head over to Hyun’s house then while MinHyuk fiddled with the driver’s seat adjustments to accommodate him.

He was going about making a mental list of the reasons to substantiate and bolster his decision to go whilst sparing consideration for the late hour of the day then and was feeling most conflicted. Given his slightly intoxicated state, he did not think it appropriate for them to have this heavy discussion especially with the residual physical attraction still present after seeing her in her mini white dress. The last thing he wanted was for the visit to be mistaken for a booty call. On the other hand, the need to know what she had wanted to say to him, promised him another sleepless night.

His thoughts were eventually interrupted by the loud engine ignition of his sports car which reminded him that he had not informed JongHyun and JungShin that he had left for home with MinHyuk. So, he took out his mobile to send a quick text message to the other two boys on the CN chat.

Still undecided and feeling vexed, yet not wanting to let his emotions show, he leaned his head back and shut his eyes for a bit when Minhyuk asked while driving, “Hyung, did you see Hyunnie at Octagon earlier?”

Immediately YongHwa’s eyebrows came to a knit and frowned upon hearing that question. He could not help but berate himself mentally for not seizing the chance to steal her away to one of the VIP rooms earlier and returned the question with a frustrated non-word “Mm…”   

Not exactly sure what to interpret of that sound of a reply coupled with the intent of wanting a better understanding of their situation before his meeting for a variety show that Yuri is a guest of, MinHyuk pushed on for more answers. “And you going home with me means that you both have yet to sort out your issues or are you not done with your whole avoidance act?”

Trying to convince himself that he did not let the earlier chance to speak with Hyun slip, Yonghwa let out a loud sigh and muttered in a strained voice, “That place was not conducive for us to talk about our issues without revealing to most of the K-pop World that we tore a part off each other and are our wounds. I don't think we want or should afford this kind of publicity.”

Sensing his pain, MinHyuk decided not to continue his pursuit for answers and the rest of their short car ride back home was as silent as the night could get.

Just when they were walking off to their respective apartment block from the basement car park, Minhyuk turned to look at a hunched, spiritually deflated YongHwa and said, “Hyung, do both yourselves a favour, walk over to the block on the extreme left and sort this out with Hyun. Be it good or bad, it is better than being in this limbo state." With a nod of the head and a forced smile, YongHwa bid him goodnight.

Just like that, instead of heading home, YongHwa was standing in front of Hyun’s apartment minutes later, depressing the doorbell several times but they was unanswered. Thinking that she had either returned to her parent’s apartment or mayhap was not ready to want to see him, he made his way home, features all drawn together in tiredness and despair.

***

JongHyun stopped his car at the driveway of YongHwa’s apartment block and turned to Hyun and said, “Hyun, Hyung is home and is in no better emotional state than you, if not worse. I am going to leave it to you to decide if tonight will be the night for you both to resolve your issues or you can both ruin each other further by reliving the hurt every day until it hopefully fades with time.” JongHyun just had it in him to always be spot on and said the most blatantly blunt and honest thing.

Hyun responded with a nod and exited his car, before turning around and taking quick resolute strides towards the lobby leading to YongHwa’s apartment.

She did not bother to ring the doorbell as she did not want to allow the chance for escape from her to be possible. Hence, she did the next best thing… she punched in his security code on the numeral lock pad and let herself into his apartment.

The apartment was pitch dark except for the glow of mellow yellow light visible from the gap of his room door that was left ajar.

She walked towards the direction of the bedroom following the sound of Luther Vandross’s smooth baritone voice, crooning a classic love song in the background as wafts of the familiar Sandalwood scented candle surrounded her senses, calming her somewhat. Expecting to find YongHwa in his room, she pushed open his room door and entered looking in the direction of his bed, only to find that it was empty.

Looking at the closed bathroom door at the other side of the room, she walked up and pressed her ears on the door. She never knew that the audible sound of a shower running could be so welcoming until then… because it meant that he was home and her chance to get his full, uninterrupted attention was present and now.

**   

YongHwa was done washing the shower gel off his body and had deliberately turned up the water temperature to allow the warmer than usual water pelt down his body to soothe his aching muscles from that day’s gym work out, for a bit.

Feeling the tight knots loosened, he turned off the faucets and opened the shower screen glass door to exit.

Steam poured out of the shower area and misted up the bathroom. YongHwa walked towards the vanity counter, stark and had just reached for a towel from the towel rack when the sound of his bathroom door opening startled him and he instinctively turned his back towards the bathroom door while haphazardly wrapping the bath towel around his waist.

Thinking that it was Bruce, he roared in annoyance while busily tending to the protection of his modesty, “What do I need to do to get some god damn privacy! Can’t you wait for me to come out from the bathroom? I am for goodness sa…” YongHwa turned around and froze at the sight of Hyun standing in his bathroom, failing to finish his sentence even.

Hyun dropped her gaze unabashedly to follow the water droplets course down his notably leaner, more defined abs before returning to lock eyes with his unyieldingly. She heard every word he had just said and determined to not let any excuse of how scantily clad he was then provide him with a reason to walk away from her, she reached for the zip of the dress she had on and responded, “To be fair, I suppose I can be as as you if it means that we can cut the discussion on the inappr