Realization Chapter 7
Yoochun finally turned his head and looked at Jae with eyes full of resentment and hurt. “Yeah, something fucking happened last night, okay?”
Jae was taken aback at the anger that was directed towards him. “Y-Yoochun what-”
Yoochun whipped his face away from Jae and muttered, “It’s all your fault.”
Jae was only even more alarmed at those words, “What did I-”
“We should have never gone out last night, okay? If it wasn’t for your stupid plan things wouldn’t have turned out like this!” Yoochun was nearly screaming now.
Jaejoong turned mute and he could only gaze helplessly at the furious man in front of him.
“We both knew that he wasn’t going to accept you! What’s the point of throwing yourself at him anyway?? It’s just a waste of your and my time! I was a fool to help you!” Yoochun was breathing heavily now, his body shaking from intense emotion.
Jae felt his eyes going numb, that undeniable signal that tears were going to come. He thought he had shed all the tears he had inside after Yunho left but it seemed he was wrong. He didn’t understand why Yoochun was being like this.
Yoochun was still and he brought his hand on top of his face, hiding it behind his palm, and leaned his head back on the sofa.
“You want to know what we did last night? Fine I’ll tell you.”
Jae’s tears slid slowly down his face. He felt scared; he didn’t want to hear it all of a sudden.
Yoochun took a shaky breath, his hand still on top of his face. “So me and Changmin and Junsu all went to the club, we ordered a VIP room and I invited some friends over.”
“…”
“I thought it would be fun. Junsu doesn’t drink but he seemed to have a good time, dancing and eating and whatnot.”
“…”
“One of my friends, Minji. She went up and started talking with Junsu and I guess they hit it off pretty well.”
“…”
“I was having a pretty good time too. But I couldn’t help myself. I found myself looking over there every few minutes and they would still be together, looking into each other’s eyes…all that shit. Minji’s always has been pretty bold I guess. But I never predicted Junsu would be her type.”
Jaejoong stared at Yoochun, where was he going with all this?
“And I don’t know, something in me just snapped. I told everyone to go home and left the room to smoke. I came back and Changmin was passed out on the sofa. I looked around for Junsu and I finally found him dancing with Minji up on the second floor. I just watched them for a while and went back to the room, sat next to Changmin, and waited for Junsu to come back. I think I had like two bottles of soju while I waited…”
Yoochun finally lifted his hand off his face and looked at Jaejoong. Yoochun’s eyes were wet with tears.
Jaejoong suddenly took a sharp intake of breath. Suddenly all the things that Yoochun said during their conversation on the balcony came back to him in a rush. This isn’t real…
Jae’s voice was shaking severely as he stammered in shock, “Y-Yoochun, not you too!”
Ignoring Jae’s reaction, Yoochun went on with his story, “Junsu came back to the room around 3am. He seemed energetic even though it was so late. He told me Minji gave him her phone number before she went home and they were going to meet up Christmas evening.”
Yoochun then gave out a bark of laughter, “And then you know what he did? He thanked me and gave me a hug for introducing him to such a wonderful girl. He fucking thanked me…”
Jae slid closer to Yoochun and put his arms around him. He could feel Yoochun’s body shaking slightly.
“And to think I brought them together, ha…” Yoochun laughed dejectedly. “I wanted to stop them but I couldn’t. He just seemed so happy, you know? He hasn’t had a girlfriend after breaking up with that one girl when we first debuted. I remembered how heartbroken he was back then…and yesterday, I couldn’t do it. I wanted to grab his hand, tell him that I’ve loved him all this time…”
Yoochun’s words drifted off and he just rested his head weakly on Jaejoong’s shoulder, tears falling silently down his cheeks.
“But it’s not fair, you know? I waited so long…I had no idea things would turn out that way last night…” Yoochun’s voice was lifeless.
“You idiot…You’re so…we’re so…stupid…” Jae whispered in Yoochun’s ear before he was overcome with helpless sobs. Why is everything so fucked up right now??
***
Christmas came and went. The next few days the five boys were back in the rehearsal room, practicing like crazy for their concert on the 30th. All the way up until the 29th, the boys were handling jam-packed schedules of all-day practices, dress rehearsals, and other preparations.
But beneath their hardworking exteriors, there was a mental cold war going on between Yunho and Jaejoong, and Yoochun and Junsu. Poor Changmin was caught in the middle, not knowing anything that was happening.
“Yoochun, do you want to share a sandwich with me?” Junsu went up to Yoochun during their short lunch break in the backroom. He offered out one piece of his turkey sandwich and smiled a little shyly. “My mom packed my lunch and sent it in for me today…oh! And she wanted me to say hi to you. Because she didn’t get to see you on Christmas day…”
Yoochun just looked up from the magazine he was reading, glanced at Junsu once, and looked down again. “I’m not hungry.”
Junsu sighed a little and replied, “You don’t eat much nowadays…you need your strength for the concert.”
Yoochun just shrugged and kept flipping the pages of his magazine.
Junsu bit his lip and his tear drop shaped eyes slanted downwards like a kicked puppy. These past few days, ever since Christmas Eve, Yoochun had been acting really cold to him. Though Junsu was usually slow at picking up on these kinds of things, he could notice that his best friend’s attitude had changed 180 degrees. He was no longer the kind and considerate Yoochun he always knew.
Junsu sat down next to Yoochun on the couch. “Yoochun…are you sure there isn’t something I did to make you mad at me?” Junsu had asked Yoochun this same question yesterday, getting a curt “no” from Yoochun in return. But if Yoochun really wasn’t mad, there would be no reason for him to act this way!
Yoochun didn’t even look up from his magazine this time, “I already told you. There’s nothing wrong.” After a pause he added, “Hey can you go eat somewhere else? I kinda need my own space right now.”
Junsu got up from the couch without another word. He left his sandwich on the table in front of Yoochun and left.
When Junsu left the room Yoochun closed his magazine and leaned back into the couch with a sigh. He knew he was being immature but he couldn’t help it.
He threw his magazine to the side. He couldn’t even remember a single damn thing he read.
***
“No, that’s wrong. Do it again.”
Meanwhile in the rehearsal room, Yunho was drilling Jaejoong on one of the trickier choreography sections in one of their songs. It was a part Jaejoong found particularly difficult, more so than the other members. He thought he had been improving but these past few days, he was making more mistakes than ever. It didn’t help that Yunho was yelling at him like some kind of drill sergeant, and not letting him take a lunch break.
Jaejoong dragged his tired body back to the middle of the rehearsal floor, in front of Yunho’s narrowed eyes, and tried the tricky dance step again. Arms up, sweeping motion, leg twist…ahh damn…
“Come on Jaejoong. Don’t even think about taking a break until you stop making stupid mistakes.” Yunho’s words were menacing and seemed foreign to Jaejoong’s ears. Yunho had always worked the team pretty hard but he had done it in an encouraging way…not like this.
Jaejoong tried again. And again. And again. Every time he messed up, Yunho’s harsh words struck his heart like a dagger. “What’s wrong with you”, “Are you even trying??”, “Do it again!”, all these words spun around Jaejoong’s head and made his exhausted body even more tired.
Jaejoong stopped to wipe the sweat from his brow. His breaths were coming in deep heaves and he felt like his heart hurt so much. Whether it was from the strenuous exercise or from heartbreak…Jaejoong couldn’t really tell.
Jaejoong put the last of his energy and moved his body in one spurt of motion. He thought he was doing okay but in the last moment he twisted his body too much and he fell to the floor with a crash.
“Oww…” Jaejoong muttered to himself, tears forming in his eyes. He rubbed at his elbow. It was all red and scratched from the fall.
At that moment, Changmin walked into the room. He saw what was going on and looked at Jaejoong worriedly.
“Hyung,” Changmin turned to Yunho. “Maybe you should let up on Jaejoong hyung a bit.”
Yunho muttered, “What’s it to you.”
Yunho turned to look down at Jaejoong.
“You’re pathetic,” With no hesitation, Yunho threw one last insult at Jaejoong’s crumpled body on the floor and he left the rehearsal room.
Changmin ran to Jaejoong hyung and helped him get up. “Wow what’s up with Yunho hyung?”
Jaejoong shrugged and thanked him with a smile but inside he was trying to hold back his tears of frustration.
Jaejoong grit his teeth. He knew why Yunho was being like this. But it still hurt like crazy.
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A/N Yoochun's crush is revealed! (though half of you saw it coming kkkk) as always, thank you all for reading!! and comments are LOVE!