| Fan Fiction |
by Micah
Every time he saw Kibum, Jaejoong’s words would hit him. Kibum was in love with Changmin. Kibum was in love with Changmin? Really?
Changmin watched Kibum’s every move, analyzing the two smiles and three seconds of eye contact between him and Kibum. He tried to read those signs, to see if Jaejoong’s words were true.
But then he remembered to ask himself, why did he care? Because it bothered him that he had completely missed it. Changmin liked to think that he was aware of everything that went on around him. Yes, that was the reason. Oh! And another reason could be because Changmin wanted to know if Kibum may suddenly become so jealous that he’d either hurt Junsu…or try to put Junsu and Yoochun together. Yes, another fantastic reason!
That was all that went through Changmin’s mind throughout the whole ‘meeting’. So when it finally ended, he’d completely forgotten about his plan.
Thankfully, Kibum brought it up.
“So we’ll run another test drive and this one seems very likely to succeed since we were able to figure out the problems from the last test drive,” he explained. Yunho and Yoochun were paying close attention while Junsu looked tired.
“Are you able to estimate a day when we will be able to return?” Yoochun inquired. Clearly, Junsu did not like that question. Oddly, Changmin did not notice.
“I’m estimating less than a month’s time. My men work fast and I have the resources. Is there a reason you are so eager to return? Do you mind that I ask?” Kibum inquired with a friendly smile, as if just making casual conversation.
“For your parents? Do you want to return because of your parents?” Junsu suddenly spoke. That was when Changmin finally snapped out of it and remembered his plan.
Kibum noticed because he turned to give Changmin a secret wink. Kibum was carrying out his plan for him!
“No, my parents…died long ago,” Yoochun replied. Yunho blinked and looked down at his own hands.
“But…didn’t you say that your parents were forcing you to marry someone you didn’t love?” Junsu recalled.
“My biological parents are deceased,” Yoochun clarified. “The people who had set me up for marriage wanted to use me to gain prosperity. I have no emotional connections with them.”
“Sorry,” Junsu murmured.
Yoochun smiled at him. “There is no need to apologize.”
“Well, then, you don’t really have to return! I mean, those parents aren’t worth it and look here, you have so many of us here. We’re your friends. Jaejoong would make a really good mother, if you want!” Junsu grinned.
Changmin raised an eyebrow at that. Yunho imagined Jaejoong as a ‘mother’ and felt…weird. Kibum was amused.
“Yes, Yoochun, why not stay? Unless you have another purpose to return. Do you…have someone you love?” Kibum hinted. Changmin scratched the side of his head with an index finger and wondered why he was letting Kibum do his work for him.
“You have someone you love back home?” Junsu questioned, trying not to look hurt.
Yoochun looked down at his hands and murmured, “Yes…someone I love.”
Changmin and Kibum didn’t miss the disappointment and hurt in Junsu’s expression. He was losing hope. The problem was that Changmin didn’t feel happy, he felt…like he was the devil’s father.
Yunho looked at Yoochun, who had his head down and eyes on his own hands. Then Yunho turned to see Junsu’s expression. Why did he look that way? Was it because…because this ‘same gender relationship’ thing has made Junsu fall in love with Yoochun? What caused this phenomenon? Yunho knew that Yoochun was only interested in the opposite sex.
So…this ‘same gender relationship’ thing didn’t require both sides to be attracted to the same gender? This was so…confusing!
“Who…who is it?” Junsu continued to ask with a forced smile.
Yoochun continued to fidget with his hands as a small smile graced his lips. “Her name is Yoona. She’s…the one I was being forced to marry.”
Junsu blinked in confusion. “W…what?”
“I’m hungry, let’s go visit Jaejoong and catch dinner there,” Changmin suddenly jumped in. Kibum turned to him in shock. Why was he stopping Yoochun from continuing?
“No, wait, you were supposed to marry her? Then why did you run away? Why did Yunho have to go catch you?” Junsu exclaimed.
“She loved another, but I knew that she wouldn’t be able to run away from the marriage. So I did it. It was better for me to harm my family’s name than to have her ruin her family’s reputation. I ran away that day to avoid the marriage. I planned to disappear from the town for a while. When the searching for me would end, I had planned to return to find her, to try to help her.”
“Help her?”
“Her family refused to let her marry the man she loved because he was poor. He was poor, but he was a scholar, he was a good man. His only fault is that he loved his father too much, but his father was a gambling addict. I planned to return and help him, whatever way I could, until he could gain the Magistrate’s approval and be able to marry Yoona.”
Junsu bit his lips, eyes on Yoochun the whole time. He didn’t care if the other three were staring at him. Junsu was too busy staring at the man who still had his head down, bangs covering his eyes, a small smile on his lips as he recalled memories of the girl that he loved.
“You’re an idiot. She doesn’t love you. The best you could do for her was run away. That’s all you have to do. You shouldn’t have to go back. You shouldn’t have to go back and help her get together with another guy! You idiot!” Junsu shouted as he stood up from the couch.
Changmin wanted to stand up and calm Junsu, but Kibum grabbed onto Changmin’s hand, stopping him. Yunho watched in silence.
Yoochun finally raised his head to see Junsu. “What?”
“You don’t have to go back! You think you’re being all heroic, defying your parents and then going back to help her? What are you expecting? She’ll see how great you are and get together with you?”
“Why are you so angry?” Yoochun demanded, standing up to meet Junsu’s eyes.
“Because you’re an idiot! Oh, Mr. Sacrificial, so amazing! Puke! Barf! Eww!” Junsu made disgusted faces with every word.
“Now you’re just being immature!”
“So? At least I’m not being an idiot!”
“How am I an idiot?” Yoochun defended.
“How are you NOT an idiot? You’re putting yourself through pain, sacrificing yourself for someone who doesn’t love you!”
“I’m putting myself through pain, sacrificing myself for someone I love! That’s what matters!”
“Idiot!”
“Stop it!”
Changmin tried to stand up again, feeling the need to stop them. He couldn’t stand seeing Junsu like this. But Kibum still held onto his hand, keeping him in his seat. Yunho had no idea what to do.
“Bull! Those people who say ‘Oh, I’ll be happy if the one I love is happy, even if we’re not together,’ those people need to be kicked in the butt!”
“It’s called being selfless! You wouldn’t know because you’re so selfish!” Yoochun countered. “It’s called true love! You wouldn’t know what it is!”
“You don’t know what true love is either! You don’t know. I don’t know. No one knows! So people need to stop acting like they know!” Junsu shouted.
“What is wrong with you today? Why do you keep picking fights?”
“What is wrong with you? Why do you want to go back to your time simply for a girl who doesn’t love you? Sacrificing for love is old school! Look ahead! Move forward and go find the one that you’re meant to love! Stop being stuck in the past!”
Changmin looked from Junsu to Yoochun. He looked down at the smaller hand that was holding onto his own. He looked up at the owner of the smaller hand. Kibum had his eyes on Yoochun.
This was the scene Changmin had imagined. Junsu was supposed to find out, but he wasn’t supposed to react like this. Kibum was not supposed to be the one stirring up trouble in Changmin’s place. Changmin was not supposed to feel this guilty from the pain on Junsu’s expression…because Junsu wasn’t supposed to hurt this much.
Changmin had underestimated Junsu’s feelings for Yoochun, he’s underestimated Kibum’s role in this, and he’d underestimated himself.
“Who are you to be telling me this?” Yoochun countered. “When it comes to being friends, Yunho is above you on the list. You are not my sibling and definitely not my parent. You have no right to be telling me how to run my love life!”
“Fine, then I shouldn’t be wasting my time caring about you! I hope Kibum sends you back, as soon as possible!”
Junsu ran out of the mansion and Yoochun was left to stand in the center of the large living room. Changmin, Kibum, and Yunho remained sitting, staring up at the frowning Yoochun.
“What just happened?” Yunho finally broke the silence.
“I don’t know,” Yoochun grumbled before running upstairs to his new room.
◙◙◙◙◙
“What just happened?” Changmin demanded roughly when he and Kibum were alone in Kibum’s office.
“You were a witness,” Kibum reminded.
“You did that on purpose. You wanted Junsu to find out about Yoochun’s fiancée,” the taller man spoke the obvious.
“I did it for you,” Kibum spoke softly, eyes on Changmin.
Changmin felt his anger (or whatever it was) disperse. He began to feel guilty for practically shouting at Kibum. Then he felt his heart beat faster than normal at the unreadable emotion in Kibum’s eyes.
“I…”
“It is what you had planned, isn’t it? It’s better to let Junsu see it now than later. It will hurt less and if Yoochun is kept in the unknown, he won’t feel any obligations. Now is your chance to go comfort Junsu,” Kibum said.
Changmin blinked. Did Kibum really mean that? Did it hurt him to have to help Changmin separate Yoochun and Junsu? Did it hurt him to tell Changmin to go comfort Junsu?
“Kibum…”
“I still have work to do. Good-bye, Mr. Shim,” the shorter man spoke in a firm voice.
Changmin sighed. “Thank you,” was all he could think of to say before walking out of the office.
He was close to the stairs when he realized that he did not have his cell phone on him. He had a vague memory of setting the cell phone on the coffee table in the living room…but it’s possible that he’d dropped it in Kibum’s office. So he walked back to the office, even though he was 80% sure that his cell phone was in the living room.
The door was still slightly open, just like he had left it. But when Changmin walked in, Kibum was no longer there. The odd thing was, Changmin had not heard Kibum walk out and…the stairs weren’t too far from the office. Could the shorter man have walked out without Changmin noticing?
Changmin walked around the large office. What if he ended up finding a heart-broken prodigy crying in a corner of the office? Okay, that didn’t fit Kibum, but you never know. Love does wonders.
“Kibum?” Changmin tried. No answer, no sobs or shuffling.
The tall man stopped at the expensive desk and saw a gold pen lying in the middle of it. He imagined Kibum’s hand holding the pen and couldn’t help but look down at his own hand (the one Kibum had been holding during Junsu and Yoochun’s argument).
Changmin stood there, looking dazed as he stared at his hand and recalled the softness of Kibum’s hand.
“Changmin?”