Chapter 12

One of the Girls

“So how did they make you come here?” Yuri asked.  Yoona and Donghae were already gone.  They said they had somewhere to go which the girls have encouraged. While the other girls were in the living room, playing.  She and Jaejoong were in the kitchen, she was tasked to prepare more food and he volunteered to help her. 

“Sooyoung supposedly bumped into me just outside,” he said as he was julienning some carrots.  They both know the reason was absurd.  What would he be doing just outside of their house?

“Right.  You are outside looking like that,” Yuri said and gave his length a look. 

“Hey, what’s wrong with what I’m wearing?”

“We both know you’re a damn fashionista.  You would not be caught wearing just jeans and white shirt outside of your house.”

“One need not dress too much when he’s got a face like mine,” he said nonchalantly which made Yuri roll her eyes.

“We both know you’re lying so come on spill.  It’s not like I’m going to bite you.”

“If I’m not going to tell you, will you bite me?” 

It was out of the blue that Yuri deadpanned.  She looked at him.  Was he flirting with her? 

“What are you talking about?” she said, trying to hide the blush that was creeping up her cheeks.  The memory of the moment of the last time the two of them in kitchen came back to her.

Jaejoong laughed.  “Kwon Yuri, are you blushing?”

“Hell, no?” she said.  There was no point in denying it.  She was all red.  Besides, it’s Kim Jaejoong, the one she just cried on when it was too much for her to handle just earlier.

He moved closer to her and pinched her cheeks.  “You’re cute.”

“Hey, stop it,” she said and brushed off his hands off her cheeks.  “You haven’t answered my question yet.”

“Fine,” Jaejoong said.  “I left the nest.”

Yuri stared at him, trying to decide whether to take it as a joke or not.  “You moved out of your house?  What are you, some kind of a teenage emo?”

“I’m having a situation right now,” Jaejoong said.  “And besides, grownups run away from home from time to time.”

Yuri didn’t say a thing.  She has no right to judge him when she was the one who knocked on his door earlier and cried the moment he opened the door.  She still found it absurd that he would move out of his house though.

“We broke up,” he said. 

 “You guys… haven’t finished yet?” Taeyeon who just walked in, asked.

“Almost,” she answered.  “The living room is not wrecked yet?”

“Ha!  Funny, Ms. Kwon.  Anyways, the girls decided to sleepover,” she informed them.  “Are you joining?”

She looked up and saw that Taeyeon was actually asking Jaejoong.  “He can’t.”

“You don’t want me to join you?” Jaejoong asked her, almost disappointed. 

“We’re not imposing,” she said smiling.  The truth is she was nervous when Jaejoong would still keep hanging out with her friends.  Who knows what he might spill?

“Anyway, I can’t.  I’m the only guy around…”

“That is not a problem at all!” Taeyeon exclaimed.  “Most of the girls here are lesbians,” Taeyeon eyed her suggestively, “one is engaged to your friend, Seohyun’s no harm and Hyoyeon… well, we’re just going to tie her up if she gets wild.  How does that sound?”

“Okay then,” Jaejoong smiled at her, looking like he just got bullied into saying yes.  Taeyeon skipped out of the kitchen and was heard singing, “Oh yes, he would.”

Jaejoong never imagined he would ever be in a slumber party with eight grown up girls.  He was wearing a tight pink shirt and a pair of very short shorts which were owned by Yuri.  He couldn’t remember saying yes to the clothes but somehow he was pushed to Yuri’s room to change.    

“Looks good on you,” Jessica said as soon as he came out of the room.  They were all wearing pajamas, nothing y, like they were some grade school girls.  Some of them took pictures of him while he was trying to hide as much as he could. 

They were all huddled in the living room.  A half empty bottle of Jack Daniels and a pint of ice cream were on the small table and there were chips scattered.

“Oh my god,” Tiffany screamed.  “Don’t tell me you did it on your first date!”

They were currently talking about Sooyoung and his friend’s, Changmin, life.  It amused him to hear these stories.  He and his friends never talked about those things.  There was one time when Junsu attempted to do so but was shut up by Changmin.

“What’s wrong with that?  We are getting married soon, so?” Sooyoung said.

“You didn’t know that when you first met,” Jessica said.

“It doesn’t matter now.  Anyway, don’t tell me you girls haven’t done that before, doing it on the first date…” When not one of the girls spoke, Sooyoung widened her eyes.  “No way!  Jessica?” she asked Jessica who shook her head.  “Fine, I was and wasn’t getting any at that time.”

“You shouldn’t jump at the first guy you see,” Sunny said.  Sooyoung just rolled her eyes and muttered “lesbian”.

 “Heard that,” Sunny said eying the Sooyoung.

“Enough about me.  You guys should spill, too,” Sooyoung said, trying to keep the attention from what she just spilled.  “What about you Jae?  Changmin told me that you’re a mysterious one and that you never had a girlfriend for a long time.”

Alarm bells starting ringing in Yuri’s head.  Jaejoong just told her that he and Yunho just broke up and she knew that he’s gay.  “Soo, I don’t think we should ask him too personal questions.”

“It’s okay,” Jaejoong said to her surprise.  “I’m sitting around you all, aren’t I?”

She gave him a worried look which was returned with a reassuring nod.  She didn’t want him to remember that he was just from a break up when he was already laughing and enjoying a while ago.

“Well you see, I didn’t like having a girlfriend.”

After a moment of awkwardness upon discovering that Kim Jaejoong was, in fact, gay, the girls got over it and even bombarded him with questions about having a boyfriend.  Some found it amusing that they thought he and Yuri had a thing going on.  The night went on with more food, drinks and talks, and it was the first night Jaejoong had ever felt that he enjoying a room full of women. 

Morning came and Yuri woke up to a very silent home.  She knew her friends slept over and whenever Tiffany would wake at four, the time she’d usually go to work, no matter hangover she was, the whole house would come bustling with people complaining how loud she was.  It was already eight in the morning and it was impossible that the other girls aren’t awake yet.

 When she came out, she spotted Jaejoong at the kitchen counter stirring his coffee while reading a folded newspaper with his other hand.  He was wearing a white shirt again but she was sure that it wasn’t the same one he wore last night.  He looked so damn fresh.

“Good morning,” she greeted and went to get herself a cup of coffee for herself.

“Good morning to you, too,” he said as he set down the paper.  “I didn’t know your friends set out very early in the morning.”

“What?” She was sure she heard him wrong.  It would be so much of a chore to get Taeyeon and Jessica out of bed, early is not even in their vocabulary. 

“They were out of this house even before five and made arrangements.”

“What arrangements?”  She was very suspicious.  Her friends love meddling on things even if they were not welcomed at all.

“I can’t believe you let him have Yoona’s room,” Yuri said through the phone.  She was in her room, pacing back for while talking to Taeyeon on the phone.  She can’t bear being around Jaejoong.

“Yuri, he’s homeless.  He needs a home and he’s your friend,” came the reason.

“He’s not homeless and he can stay at the most expensive hotel for a month and it wouldn’t hurt his fortune.”  She was very careful not to let Jaejoong hear her through the walls.

“That’s beyond cruel.  How can you be his friend?”

“He’s my friend, not yours.”

Taeyeon just laughed at the other line.  “Possessive, huh?  Anyway, it’s already done.  Besides, everyone likes him so why not let him stay even just for a while?  He said that he’ll be back to his home when he has fixed his love life.”

Yuri stopped, her eyes fixed on the white wall of her room.  Of course, Jaejoong would want to get back with Yunho.  Whatever they fought over would be soon fixed and he’d be out here before she knows it.  She bit back the little sob that threatened to come out at that realization.  How easily did she settle with his presence, how easily did he break into her life.

“Yuri, are you still there?” Taeyeon, from the other line, asked.  She must have been silent for a few seconds.