| Fan Fiction |
by Micah
Yunho’s eyes were now on his hands. “Yes, Jaejoong would thank me.”
Jaejoong would only feel ‘gratitude’ towards Yunho. He certainly wouldn’t feel ‘love’.
The two turned their heads when they heard the knock at the door.
Kibum’s eyes widened when he saw Changmin’s angry stare. When Yunho saw Changmin, he felt the familiar urge to ask about Jaejoong, but he restrained.
“Hi, Changmin, you’re early today,” Yunho smiled at him.
“Yes, too early,” Kibum mumbled quietly, eyes wary.
“Yunho, do you mind if I talk to Kibum…in private?” the tall man in the tuxedo requested.
Yunho knew something was wrong, but didn’t question it. He nodded and stood up to walk out of the office. Changmin closed the door behind him.
Kibum rebuilt his façade and leaned back casually into his chair.
“What was that?” Changmin demanded.
“What was what?” Kibum played stupid.
“You made Yunho believe that Jaejoong and I are a pair.”
“Aren’t you?” the shorter man tilted his head as he looked up at his angry opponent.
“I specifically told you yesterday that Jaejoong and I are only friends, only friends,” Changmin emphasized. “Did you not hear me or do you not remember?”
“I heard you and I remember,” the shorter man replied in monotone.
“Then why?” Changmin demanded. He stared into the other man’s eyes and it finally dawned on him. After tossing and turning in his bed all night, he finally figured it out. His eyes widened and he felt his knees go weak. “You’re trying to make Yunho let go of Jaejoong. If I’m not wrong, then you’ve probably already approached Yoochun and manipulated him into believing that he only loves Yoona.”
“Isn’t it a pain sometimes to be too smart?” Kibum murmured, maintaining eye contact with the standing man.
“You’re trying to cut off all reasons for Yunho and Yoochun to want to stay!”
“True,” the man in the seat easily replied. “I told you that I would stop the experiment if Yunho and Yoochun both say that they do not wish to return to their era. I did not say that I would not manipulate their decisions.”
Changmin’s eyes grew angry. He was so angry, so angry that Kibum was not the protagonist that Changmin had thought he was, had wanted him to be.
“Are you that heartless? Junsu loves Yoochun! Yunho loves Jaejoong! I have a guess that Jaejoong loves Yunho too! But you’re trying to break them apart! I thought you had good intentions, I thought that you wanted to help me. But I was wrong…”
“Very wrong,” Kibum agreed. His calm tone was a contrast to Changmin’s angry one.
Kibum had looked into the eyes of people he’d used, of people he’d betrayed before. He just couldn’t figure out why it was so much harder when he looked into Changmin’s eyes. He couldn’t figure out why he found himself afraid to look into Changmin’s eyes.
The dry chuckle from Changmin felt like a squeeze to his heart, but Kibum didn’t show it. It scared him too, but he wouldn’t show that either.
“I’m so stupid. I thought you were helping me, but you were using me. You were helping yourself,” Changmin mumbled as he ran a hand through his neatly combed hair. “Now I understand. Everything clicks. You’re not the person we all thought you were.”
“I never said I was,” Kibum retorted, same cool tone.
That kidnapping skit in the parking lot, the coincident in letting Yoochun find out that you had experimented with Time Travel…you wanted us to come beg you for help. You didn’t want to go to Yunho and Yoochun and beg them to let you use them in your experiment. You didn’t want to let them control you; you wanted them to feel like they were the ones depending on you.”
“I do not depend on people,” Kibum stated the obvious. It was a rule. No exceptions.
“That explains why you didn’t have helpers that night we did the test drive,” Changmin recalled. Then he remembered all the other times throughout the experiment when Kibum would actually have assistants…but every time, those assistants would be different people. “You refuse to depend on anyone; you refuse to trust anyone.”
“Do you feel smart to be able to figure that out?” his voice dripped sarcasm.
“Why? Did something happen when you were a child?” Changmin inquired. He wanted to know; he wanted to heal whatever wound Kibum had. He wished there was a reason to why Kibum wasn’t the protagonist that he wanted him to be.
“It’s none of your business, Mr. Shim,” he suddenly spoke in an icy tone.
“It doesn’t have to be like this Kibum. We’re all friends to you.”
“I don’t need friends.”
“Because being someone’s friend allows the person to control your emotions. Friends are there for you to depend on, for you to trust,” Changmin paused. In a disappointed voice, he added, “But you’ve given that up long ago.”
Kibum couldn’t stand it anymore. He turned his head to look away, unable to look into Changmin’s eyes. The guy could almost read him like a book, and so easily too. This frightened Kibum.
“I’m not going to end my experiment for anyone.”
“But it doesn’t have to be Yoochun and Yunho…”
“No, it has to be. I couldn’t find anything different about their physical being, but there has to be something special about them. I just don’t have the technology to find the abnormality, but I know there is something special about their structure. It has to be them. Any other normal person would die from the intensity of being struck by lightning. They survived it.”
“Stop drowning yourself in your work! Friends are more important…”
“I only have my work and it is all I can depend on.”
“You can depend on me…” Changmin paused and quickly said, “…and everyone else.”
Kibum still refused to look up. He’d always been able to look people in the eye without showing any emotion. Why was it so hard this time? Why did the disgust in Changmin’s eyes bother him so much?
“Forget it, Mr. Shim. I’m not stopping for anyone.”
“Then you leave me no choice. I’ll tell Yunho…”
“You can tell Yunho the truth. You can bring Yunho and Jaejoong together, but there’s still Yoochun. I told Yoochun about Junsu’s infatuation and Yoochun told me that he could never accept homosexuality. He loves Yoona.”
“He doesn’t have a future with Yoona. At least if he stayed, he’ll have a chance with Junsu!”
“Do you really want Yoochun to stand in front of Junsu and tell him that he will never love Junsu the way he loves Yoona?” Kibum challenged. “Wouldn’t that hurt more than to let Junsu continue to think that Yoochun doesn’t know? Wouldn’t Junsu want Yoochun to at least see him as a friend and not someone to avoid?”
Changmin was speechless. He felt so…numb and hurt right now.
“Kibum…”
“Yoochun has said that he wants to go through with this. You and Junsu would be selfish to go behind his back and convince me to abandon the experiment.”
“And are you not selfish?”
“I am selfish,” Kibum easily sliced into Changmin’s accusation, finally working up the courage to meet Changmin’s eyes.
“I won’t let you do this. I’ll convince them…”
“Then do it,” Kibum dared. “Just remember: it’s always easier to convince someone that the one they love does NOT return their affection. It’s a lot harder to convince them otherwise.”
◙◙◙◙◙
Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Utterly stupid.
How come Changmin didn’t see this coming? He’d always wondered why Kibum had set up that kidnapping scene in the parking lot. He’d always wondered why Kibum didn’t simply approach Yoochun and Yunho and asked them to assist him in his experiment. Now he understood.
It was just who Kim Kibum really was. He was a selfish jerk who didn’t believe in trust or compassion, who didn’t believe in friendship or love. But could Changmin really blame him for building a metal wall between himself and the rest of the world?
Changmin’s eyes wandered back to the computer screen. He’d been locked in his office and scanning the internet for the past two hours.
Kibum’s parents had died when he was young. He’d been thrown into the business world, a battle field. There had been a fiasco at that time, Changmin remembered. Shareholders, the people who were supposedly friends of Kibum’s parents, had tried to take over the companies that the Kim family owned. Kibum had fought through them, protecting his parents’ properties. He did it on his own and it all followed immediately after his parents’ death. He was only a young teenage who had just lost his parents too.
Changmin stopped reading the article and leaned back into his chair.
What could he do?
He could confront Yunho and verify if Jaejoong returned Yunho’s feelings. If they were in love with each other, then Changmin could easily bring them together. Yunho would stay with Jaejoong. Yunho didn’t have a reason to return to his era…except for Yoochun. Would Yunho let Yoochun return on his own? Would he choose his friendship with Yoochun over his love for Jaejoong?
Yoochun was the obstacle, the mountain in the middle of the road.
Did Yoochun really love Yoona? Did he love Junsu? Would he ever be able to love Junsu? Should Changmin tell Junsu about Kibum’s plan and they could work together to change Yoochun’s mind?
Grinding his teeth and running both hands through his hair, Changmin released a roar of anguish. What was he supposed to do?
That was when his phone chose to ring.
“Hello?”
“Changmin? Where are you?”
“I’m…at work.”
“Oh,” Junsu paused on the other line. Changmin knew why he was calling. “Changmin, it’s six-thirty.”
“I know, I’m sorry. I didn’t go to Kibum’s house today. I…have a lot of work,” he lied. Changmin was supposed to be at Junsu’s house at six every day to tell him and Jaejoong about his daily visits to Kibum’s mansion.
“Oh, okay. I won’t bother you then.”
“Wait, Junsu,” Changmin stopped him from hanging up. It was on the tip of his tongue. He could tell Junsu about Kibum’s true identity, that he was using Yoochun and Yunho. Changmin could tell Junsu that Kibum was manipulating Yoochun’s thoughts; give Junsu hope that he could convince Yoochun to stay.
But Changmin didn’t want to.
“What is it?”