Right Here 6.1/12
TITLE: Right Here
AUTHOR: giveitupjessica
PAIRING: MinKey, JongYu, YoungTae, broken!OnKey, JongTae, InaDay
GENRE: romance, comedy, smut, blah blah blah
RATING: G-NC17 (depending on the chapter)
SUMMARY: I’m the one you kiss in the morning. I’ll send you out to the world with my loving. I ain’t gonna trip ‘cause you always gonna keep it right here.
A/N: So this extremely long chapter is dedicated to fantasydesire and patzmelody01 because I promised both of you an update yesterday and it never came. MIANHE!!! I had a meeting at work at 6 and had to cook mochiko chicken and bulgogi for it. Then we ended up going bowling afterwards. And my back was hurting all night. MIANHE!!! And I would have posted this sooner, but my friend called me last minute to go shopping. haha. But to make up for it, this chapter is super duper long! OH AND PLEASE GO AND VOTE FOR MY FIC 3 VANILLA CANDLES OVER AT shawol_haven THANKS SO MUCH!!!
CHATPER SIX PART ONE
“Thanks again Taemin-ssi,” I say as I open up my apartment door for him. He gives me a warm smile before walking inside. I close the door behind him and follow him towards the kitchen. It was funny how at ease he was in my apartment now. He used to be so uptight when he first started tutoring me, but now he acts as though he lived here as well. Not that I would complain if he did. I would love it actually, being able to see him at any time of day would be a dream come true.
“It’s nothing Youngwon-ssi,” he says as he grabs an energy drink from the fridge before turning around to face me, “You want one?”
“I’m good for now. I had a triple shot coffee a few hours ago.”
“Okay,” he walks back over to me and we do that awkward stepping to the side to let the other pass, only to keep stepping in the same direction as each other. We actually let it go on a little longer than it should before I finally grab his shoulder to keep him still. I step to my right and move him to the left. He gives an awkward laugh when I let of his arms and allow him to pass me, “So where do you want to start the review? Professor Heo says the midterm will cover chapters 4, 6, 7, and 10 right?”
“Yeah, I think that’s what he said. Hold on let me get the syllabus out, I think he put it in there,” both of our belongings were already sprawled across my dining room table as I search for the packet that we got on the first day of classes, “Ah, here it is. Yeah, that’s what it’ll cover. Leave it to our Professor to put some of the hardest chapters together on a test that counts for a good portion of our grade. Did I ever tell you how much I hate this class?”
“Yes, you say it at least ten times during our tutoring sessions actually. But I do agree with you about the hard chapters all being on this test. It’s ridiculous how much information he’s cramming into this test.”
“Watch most of our test will deal with graphing and you know how I feel about graphing.”
“It’s a waste of time and why graph on a piece of paper when we have the technology that will draw it for us.”
“My thoughts exactly!”
“I know,” I try not to stare when he brings the tip of his pencil up to his lips. He starts to tap on it as his eyes read over the notes he took in class today. I shake my head to snap myself back to reality. I didn’t need him to catch me staring at him. That would just make things worst.
It’s silence for a few minutes while we both get our things ready to study together. I honestly didn’t need any help with this material, it actually came naturally to me. I just asked him to come over so I can hang out with him solo for a few hours. I thought it was a long shot at first, but imagine my surprise then he told me that he was leaving his home and it’d be about twenty minutes before he got here.
We both jump slightly when a sudden knock sounds from the door. I scrunch my face in confusion as I stare at the piece of wood from my seat. I wonder who it could be here at this time. I check my watch and see that it’s a little past seven right now, “I’ll be right back.”
“Okay,” he replies and I walk over to the door. I’m a little surprised when I see Minho, Yoogeun, a man I don’t know, and a little boy and girl at my door, “Minho hyung, what are you doing here?”
“Youngie!” Yoogeun shouts and I open my arms for him to jump into. I stand up and turn back to Minho, the other guy, and children.
“You said you’d baby-sit for me tonight remember? I know I asked last minute, but this guy over here is dragging me to one of his friend’s house for a dinner party or something,” Minho replies, giving me a pleading look. It seems like he wants me to refuse so he doesn’t have to go whatever event he was being dragged to, but it’ll be good for him to get out.
“Please baby-sit for him,” the guy beside Minho said to me, “He really needs to get out more and it seems like the only way to make that happen is to force him.”
“Oh I totally agree. Minho hyung needs to start having a life outside of his work and Yoogeun. So I’d be more than happy to baby-sit for you.”
“Are you sure? I mean it is a Friday night, I don’t want you to cancel all your plans just so I can go out instead,” Minho says, pleading with his eyes again.
“I’m positive. I didn’t have any plans anyways. I was just going to stay in and study for a math exam I have coming up.”
“Oh you’ll never get any studying done with three kids nagging you all night,” he turns to the other man, “Donghae hyung, can I take a rain check? I can’t possibly ask Youngwon-ssi to baby-sit when he has exams coming up. Yoogeun can be a handful on his own, so I can only imagine what these three together will be like.”
“Minho, you’re not going to get out of this that easily!” the guy named Donghae responds.
“It’s fine Minho hyung,” I add, “My test isn’t until Tuesday and I’ll probably spend the whole weekend studying anyways. So one night won’t be a big deal. You go and have fun. You deserve it, right Pooh?”
“NE!” he says and I glance down to see the two other kids holding onto my legs. They’re looking up at me with big smiles.
“You have blue hair!” the little boy says, “COOL!”
“Thank you and what is your name?”
“I is Dori and this is my twinnie, Jess!” he says, motioning to the little girl that’s attached to my other leg.
“Well it’s nice to meet you Dori and Jess. I’m Youngwon, but you can call me Youngie if you want.”
“Come on Minho, we better get going if we want to get there in time. Thank you again for doing this,” Donghae says to me and I shake his outstretched hand.
“Ugh, I guess I don’t have a choice at this point,” Minho lets out a long sigh, “I’d really rather just stay in and hang out with my son, but I guess I don’t get to choose what I do tonight.”
“Nope, you don’t,” I say to him, “Go out and have fun Minho hyung. Don’t worry about Pooh, Dori, and Jess.”
“Okay. Well, I’ll be by to pick them up no later than midnight.”
“Oh so Dori and Jess are spending the night as well?”
“Yeah, Yoogeunnie spent the night over at their house last weekend. Now it’s our turn to host their little slumber party. I do have their parents numbers in the bag here,” he holds up Yoogeun’s usual bag as well as another bag which I assume belongs to the other two kids.
“Okay,” I set Yoogeun on the ground so I can take the bags from Minho, “Did they eat dinner already?”
“I tried to get them to eat before we came over, but none of them were hungry and I didn’t want to force them.”
“That’s fine, I can feed them.”
“Here’s some cash, order in a pizza.”
“PIZZA!!!!” the three kids shout.
“Sounds good. Now go! Have fun tonight, no need to rush. We’ll be fine here, if I need anything I’ll just give you a call. Bye”
“Okay, we’re going. We’re going,” Minho kneels down and opens his arms. Yoogeun runs into them and gives him a big hug, “Now you behave for Youngie okay?”
“Ne!”
“Appa loves you.”
“Yoogeunnie loves you too!”
“Me too! Me too!” Jess yells and she runs into Minho’s open arms as well.
“You need to behave too okay?”
“NE!” Dori has also moved to join in with the hug. I smile when Minho gives all three kids kisses on the forehead before standing back up.
“Thanks again Youngwon-ssi,” he says to me.
“No problem. Now get!” I start to push the two men down the hall, “Come on kids, let’s go inside. You want pizza for dinner?”
“NE!” they yell in unison as I close the door behind us.
“Youngwon-ssi, what’s with all the noise?” Taemin asks as he walks out of the kitchen with a bag of chips in his hands. Shit, I totally forgot that Taemin was here to help me study. I guess I won’t be spending time with him tonight like I had wanted. Oh well, he probably has better things to do than to hang with me and three kids.
“Pooh, why don’t you and your friends go and play in the living room. I’ll be in to turn on a movie in a little bit if you want.”
“Okay! Come on Dori, Jess!” He grabs Jess’ hand who then grabs Dori’s hand as they walk into the other room.
“Hey, sorry about that,” I say as I take a few steps towards Taemin.
“Who are the kids? I remember Yoogeun from when I went to pick him up with you, but the other two don’t look familiar to me.”
“Oh those are his friends Dori and Jess, they’re twins. Minho hyung had to go to somewhere last minute and I forgot I told him I would baby-sit for him tonight. Sorry, looks like you won’t have to tutor me tonight after all. Besides, I’m sure you would rather be doing something more exciting than math reviews on a Friday night anyways.”
He glances over to the living room where the three kids currently have every last toy that Yoogeun has in my apartment all over the floor. How they could get a room to look like a tornado passed through it in a matter of minutes baffles me, “You sure you can handle that?”
“I think I’ll be able to manage. I’m sure you’d rather hang out with your boyfriend anyways,” the last sentence left a bitter taste in my mouth. I still couldn’t grasp the fact that he had a boyfriend. I wonder what his boyfriend is like.
“Oh we broke up,” Taemin says and I whip my head around to face him so fast that I think I got whip lash.
“Wh-what?”
“My boyfriend and I,” he replies, eyes still focused on the kids in front of us, “Broke up. Apparently the guy who he’s been in love with for years now, loves him as well. So far be it from me to stand in the way of love.”
“Oh I’m sorry to hear that,” I try not to smile widely as I celebrate on the inside, “Well, it’s his lost anyways. He doesn’t know what he’s let go.”
“There’s no need for you to be sorry,” Taemin turns to face me with a smile on his face and it actually looks genuine, “I’m not heart broken or anything. And I’ve kind of had my eye on another guy for awhile now, so I was going to break things off with him anyways.”
“Oh,” I try not to sound too disappointed as my heart gets shot down just when I was beginning to think I had a chance with Taemin. Of course I didn’t have a chance with him. He was gorgeous and anyone, guy or girl, would kill to be with him. So whoever he’s been eyeing is one lucky bastard. I wish I was that lucky bastard, but what could he possibly see in a blue-haired boy who he thinks is failing math?
“Yeah, you should meet him sometime.”
“POOH! GET YOUR FINGER OUT OF YOUR NOSE!” I pretend like I didn’t hear what he just said in hopes of him dropping the subject. I don’t want to meet his guy whatsoever.
“I think you’d really like him. He’s cute, funny, smart, and has an amazing sense of style.”
“NO THAT DOESN’T MEAN TO PUT IT IN YOUR MOUTH!” I rush over to him and take his finger that was just in his nose out of his mouth. Why was Taemin talking to me about this guy? Isn’t he getting the hint that I DON’T want to meet this new guy he’s been crushing on? I walk Yoogeun over to the bathroom and hold him up while he washes his hands in the sink.
“Miss,” Jess says as she tugs on Taemin’s hand and I try to stifle my laugh. Did she really think that Taemin is a girl? Well he does have some feminine features, but he looks like a man to me. But I could be biased since I like him so much.
“Um…” he replies and crouches down to her level.
“Miss,” she says again.
“I’m not a Miss. I’m a boy just like your brother, Youngwon-ssi, and Yoogeun.”
She cocks her head to the side in confusion, but quickly brushes off his comment, “Miss lady man, I needs to potty.”
“Blue-hair man!” I look down to see Dori is standing beside me.
“Yes?”
“Do you has ice cream? I wants ice cream!”
“Miss lady man I needs to potty!” Jess yells, hand still tugging on Taemin. He looks over at me with confusion all over his face and I laugh. I guess he’s not used to baby-sitting kids. This will definitely be an interesting night. I would tell him to just go on home, but I want to spend more time with him. Plus he’s cute when he’s all nervous and doesn’t know what to do.
“Blue hair man! I is talking to you! I wants ice cream!”
*~*
“I can’t believe I’m letting you drag me to this singles party your friend is having,” I say, driving us through town to a his friend’s house, “What’s the different between a regular party and a singles party anyways? Are couples absolutely not allowed or something?”
“Geez Minho way to ruin the night before it even starts,” Donghae replies, “Why can’t you just go with this huh? Just relax and have fun with your night off.”
“I can’t just go with this because I told you that I already like someone. So why do I need to go to some party when I’m already kind of talking to someone?”
“Yoogeun’s teacher right?”
“Yes.”
“How is that going?”
“We went out to dinner after the open house at the school.”
“Oh a date? Nice and why am I only now hearing about this?”
“I wouldn’t call it a date since Yoogeun was there as well. It was just dinner with the teacher.”
“The teacher who you have a crush on. So how did it go? Is there going to be a second date? Did you get his number? Do you think he likes you back? How does Yoogeun like him, I know that his opinion means a lot to you too.”
“Whoa, when did we start playing 20 questions?”
“Well you can’t leave me hanging after dropping something like that on me. You gotta give me details. So talk!”
I let out a short laugh before answering his questions, “There’s nothing really to tell. Like I said, it wasn’t a date. Yoogeun was hungry and invited Key along and he accepted. We went out for burgers and had a nice time. Yoogeun loves him.”
“Did you get his number?”
“No.”
“Why not?!”
“I’m not going to hit on a guy while I’m with my son Donghae. There’s something just creepy about doing that.”
“What’s creepy about asking someone for their number?”
“It’s not the asking that’s creepy, it’s the whole doing it in front of my son that creeps me out. I mean I shouldn’t be trying to advance my love life while my son is sitting next to me covered in ketchup and trying to climb onto the table.”
“Whatever. Excuses, excuses, excuses,” he scoffs at me. I just glare at him as I pull into the driveway of the house. It looks like quite a few people were already here. I really can’t believe I let myself be talked into this. Not to mention I was feeling guilty that I made Youngwon cancel his plans tonight to not only take care of my son, but his two little friends as well. They were going to keep him on his feet that’s for sure. I silently pray that he calls me the minute we step foot through the door so I could leave. I’m sure Donghae would be able to find a ride home on his own. This was his idea anyways, “Come on Minho, let’s go. Who knows you might actually have fun.”
I let out a sigh and follow him out of the car and up to the house. I had a feeling that I was going to have anything but fun tonight. The house isn’t as crowded as I thought it would be once we step foot inside.
“Donghae!” a guy who was standing at the door greets merrily as he claps my friend on his back.
“Hey Leeteuk hyung! How goes it?”
“It’s going good. Better than the last one we had. I think we’ll definitely be having some successes tonight,” he looks around Donghae at me and smiles, “This must be your friend Minho.”
“Yeah, Minho this is Leeteuk hyung,” I shake the outstretched hand and nod at him, “Him and his roommate Yesung hyung put this party together. They actually do a lot of parties like this for their friends. They like to think of themselves as cupids.”
“We prefer the term love pursuers. Well we pursue love for others, but you get the point. We see possible connections and bring them together in hopes of love developing between the two. A few of our friends have found their soulmates because of these parties. So hopefully you two will have some success tonight as well.”
“Oh okay,” I glance between the two. I had no idea this was that big of a deal. I thought it was just a party where we can meet other people and perhaps get some numbers and dates or something. I wasn’t expecting this party to revolve around relationships develop, “So do we just go around and mingle?”
“Oh Donghae didn’t explain this to you?” I shake my head, “Well this party is a little different. We try to know our attendees as well as we can and match them up with one another. We put in a lot of effort to match people up together.”
“But this is the first time you’re meeting me. So I don’t see how you can match me up with someone here,” I motion to the room.
“Oh Donghae told me all about you. Normally we don’t have strangers come to our parties, but we’ve known him for so long that we made and exception. Plus I think you’ll like the person we matched you with. Oh and before I forget, here are your cards,” he hands us cardboard papers that are in the shapes of puzzle pieces, “Your date tonight has the matching piece. Now go and find them and remember to have fun!”
“Come on Minho!” Donghae grabs my arms and pulls me towards the crowd of people, “Let’s find your date!”
“Hyung, are you serious about this? What did you even tell them about me? I don’t want to do this anymore. I want to go home!” I know I’m acting like a little kid, but now I’m even more nervous about this whole thing. I thought I’d come here and meet some people and just make small talk, not that I’d end up having an actual blind date for the evening. Not to mention a blind date that two people who I have never met chose for me. I knew this was a bad idea.
“Will you quit being a KJ Minho. I swear you’re acting worst than Yoogeun. Try to have a good time will you? People can sense your bad mood, don’t ruin it for everyone,” he leaves me standing by myself when he spots someone he knows across the room. Great, now I’m alone at this party hanging out near the refreshments table. Can I look anymore like a loser? I eye the spread on the table, well I guess I can be the fat kid as well at the party. I don’t bother grabbing a plate as I start to munch on the snacks that were laid out. Maybe if I just stay here, no one will notice me and I’ll be able to leave in like a half hour or something.
I reach over to grab a cup right when someone else reaches out to grab the same cup. Our hands land on it at the same time and I look up to see the last person I was expecting to run into tonight. What a cliché way for us to meet up again.
He retracts his hand first and smiles at me, “I wasn’t expecting to run into you here Minho-ssi.”
“Likewise Key-ssi,” I grab two cups from the stack, “What do you want to drink?”
“I’ll have what you’re having,” I walk over to his side of the table and pour us each a glass of the fruit punch that was sitting in the middle of the table. I’m sure it’s spiked, so I’ll make sure to pace myself. I was the designated driver tonight, so I can’t be drinking much. After this I’ll probably stick with water or soda.
“So what are you doing here? Well besides the obvious, although I didn’t take you for a singles party type of guy,” I say after handing him one of the glasses.
“I’m not, I was forced to come here against my will by my ex best friend Dongwoon.”
“Same here, except it was my co-worker slash former friend Donghae that brought me. I really didn’t want to come in the first place. I would rather be hanging out with Yoogeun, watching Finding Nemo for the 80th time.”
“I’d rather be doing that too. But Dongwoon insists that it’s time that I get back on the horse and start dating again.”
“That’s what Donghae keeps telling me. He says that my life is too focused on work and Yoogeun that I forget to make time for myself.”
“I don’t see anything wrong with that. I mean you’re a parent, you can’t just completely forget about that.”
“My thoughts exactly.”
We stand there in silence, sipping our drinks for what seems like an hour before he says something, “So have you found your ‘date’ for the night?” he asks me, holding up his own puzzle piece.
“No, I’m not even going to bother. I was actually going to sneak out of here in a little bit.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, this really isn’t my thing. And I’m sure Donghae could find himself a read of his own,” I motion over to my friend who was currently the center of a growing crowd. He was obviously having a good time, no need for me to end it.
“Mind if I tag along with you?” he asks me and I turn to him, eyes wide, “Don’t give me that look. This isn’t my scene either. Remember, I was forced to come here against my will like you were.”
“True,” I stop and look around us, “You think we’ve been here long enough?”
“I think we were here long enough five minutes ago,” he downs his drink and grabs my hand, “Let’s get out of here.”
“Oh okay,” I drink the rest of punch as well and try to conceal the blush that’s surely spreading across my face. He starts to tug me in the direction of the door and we try to make sure neither of the people we came with see us leave. I move in front of him once we’re outside, leading us towards my car. I only drop his hand when I open up the passenger side door for him, “So where do you want to go?”
“I don’t care. I just wanted to get out of there,” he says as he relaxes back in his seat.
“You hungry?”
“Starving.”
“I know a good little mom and pop diner we can go to.”
“Sounds good to me.”
I look over at him and give him a smile that he quickly returns. So I wonder if we can call this our first date. Yoogeun isn’t here and we were at a singles party, but left together. Then again I’m not sure if he likes me like that or if he’s even into guys. I guess I can just see how the night goes and kind of gauge his actions. Either way, this is so much better than being at that party. My hand brushes his as I shift into the next gear. He doesn’t immediately pull it away, so that had to be a good sign. SO. MUCH. BETTER.
A/N: Sorry if this part is kind of shitty, it gets better. TRUST ME! ONTO PART TWO!
AUTHOR: giveitupjessica
PAIRING: MinKey, JongYu, YoungTae, broken!OnKey, JongTae, InaDay
GENRE: romance, comedy, smut, blah blah blah
RATING: G-NC17 (depending on the chapter)
SUMMARY: I’m the one you kiss in the morning. I’ll send you out to the world with my loving. I ain’t gonna trip ‘cause you always gonna keep it right here.
A/N: So this extremely long chapter is dedicated to fantasydesire and patzmelody01 because I promised both of you an update yesterday and it never came. MIANHE!!! I had a meeting at work at 6 and had to cook mochiko chicken and bulgogi for it. Then we ended up going bowling afterwards. And my back was hurting all night. MIANHE!!! And I would have posted this sooner, but my friend called me last minute to go shopping. haha. But to make up for it, this chapter is super duper long! OH AND PLEASE GO AND VOTE FOR MY FIC 3 VANILLA CANDLES OVER AT shawol_haven THANKS SO MUCH!!!
CHATPER SIX PART ONE
“Thanks again Taemin-ssi,” I say as I open up my apartment door for him. He gives me a warm smile before walking inside. I close the door behind him and follow him towards the kitchen. It was funny how at ease he was in my apartment now. He used to be so uptight when he first started tutoring me, but now he acts as though he lived here as well. Not that I would complain if he did. I would love it actually, being able to see him at any time of day would be a dream come true.
“It’s nothing Youngwon-ssi,” he says as he grabs an energy drink from the fridge before turning around to face me, “You want one?”
“I’m good for now. I had a triple shot coffee a few hours ago.”
“Okay,” he walks back over to me and we do that awkward stepping to the side to let the other pass, only to keep stepping in the same direction as each other. We actually let it go on a little longer than it should before I finally grab his shoulder to keep him still. I step to my right and move him to the left. He gives an awkward laugh when I let of his arms and allow him to pass me, “So where do you want to start the review? Professor Heo says the midterm will cover chapters 4, 6, 7, and 10 right?”
“Yeah, I think that’s what he said. Hold on let me get the syllabus out, I think he put it in there,” both of our belongings were already sprawled across my dining room table as I search for the packet that we got on the first day of classes, “Ah, here it is. Yeah, that’s what it’ll cover. Leave it to our Professor to put some of the hardest chapters together on a test that counts for a good portion of our grade. Did I ever tell you how much I hate this class?”
“Yes, you say it at least ten times during our tutoring sessions actually. But I do agree with you about the hard chapters all being on this test. It’s ridiculous how much information he’s cramming into this test.”
“Watch most of our test will deal with graphing and you know how I feel about graphing.”
“It’s a waste of time and why graph on a piece of paper when we have the technology that will draw it for us.”
“My thoughts exactly!”
“I know,” I try not to stare when he brings the tip of his pencil up to his lips. He starts to tap on it as his eyes read over the notes he took in class today. I shake my head to snap myself back to reality. I didn’t need him to catch me staring at him. That would just make things worst.
It’s silence for a few minutes while we both get our things ready to study together. I honestly didn’t need any help with this material, it actually came naturally to me. I just asked him to come over so I can hang out with him solo for a few hours. I thought it was a long shot at first, but imagine my surprise then he told me that he was leaving his home and it’d be about twenty minutes before he got here.
We both jump slightly when a sudden knock sounds from the door. I scrunch my face in confusion as I stare at the piece of wood from my seat. I wonder who it could be here at this time. I check my watch and see that it’s a little past seven right now, “I’ll be right back.”
“Okay,” he replies and I walk over to the door. I’m a little surprised when I see Minho, Yoogeun, a man I don’t know, and a little boy and girl at my door, “Minho hyung, what are you doing here?”
“Youngie!” Yoogeun shouts and I open my arms for him to jump into. I stand up and turn back to Minho, the other guy, and children.
“You said you’d baby-sit for me tonight remember? I know I asked last minute, but this guy over here is dragging me to one of his friend’s house for a dinner party or something,” Minho replies, giving me a pleading look. It seems like he wants me to refuse so he doesn’t have to go whatever event he was being dragged to, but it’ll be good for him to get out.
“Please baby-sit for him,” the guy beside Minho said to me, “He really needs to get out more and it seems like the only way to make that happen is to force him.”
“Oh I totally agree. Minho hyung needs to start having a life outside of his work and Yoogeun. So I’d be more than happy to baby-sit for you.”
“Are you sure? I mean it is a Friday night, I don’t want you to cancel all your plans just so I can go out instead,” Minho says, pleading with his eyes again.
“I’m positive. I didn’t have any plans anyways. I was just going to stay in and study for a math exam I have coming up.”
“Oh you’ll never get any studying done with three kids nagging you all night,” he turns to the other man, “Donghae hyung, can I take a rain check? I can’t possibly ask Youngwon-ssi to baby-sit when he has exams coming up. Yoogeun can be a handful on his own, so I can only imagine what these three together will be like.”
“Minho, you’re not going to get out of this that easily!” the guy named Donghae responds.
“It’s fine Minho hyung,” I add, “My test isn’t until Tuesday and I’ll probably spend the whole weekend studying anyways. So one night won’t be a big deal. You go and have fun. You deserve it, right Pooh?”
“NE!” he says and I glance down to see the two other kids holding onto my legs. They’re looking up at me with big smiles.
“You have blue hair!” the little boy says, “COOL!”
“Thank you and what is your name?”
“I is Dori and this is my twinnie, Jess!” he says, motioning to the little girl that’s attached to my other leg.
“Well it’s nice to meet you Dori and Jess. I’m Youngwon, but you can call me Youngie if you want.”
“Come on Minho, we better get going if we want to get there in time. Thank you again for doing this,” Donghae says to me and I shake his outstretched hand.
“Ugh, I guess I don’t have a choice at this point,” Minho lets out a long sigh, “I’d really rather just stay in and hang out with my son, but I guess I don’t get to choose what I do tonight.”
“Nope, you don’t,” I say to him, “Go out and have fun Minho hyung. Don’t worry about Pooh, Dori, and Jess.”
“Okay. Well, I’ll be by to pick them up no later than midnight.”
“Oh so Dori and Jess are spending the night as well?”
“Yeah, Yoogeunnie spent the night over at their house last weekend. Now it’s our turn to host their little slumber party. I do have their parents numbers in the bag here,” he holds up Yoogeun’s usual bag as well as another bag which I assume belongs to the other two kids.
“Okay,” I set Yoogeun on the ground so I can take the bags from Minho, “Did they eat dinner already?”
“I tried to get them to eat before we came over, but none of them were hungry and I didn’t want to force them.”
“That’s fine, I can feed them.”
“Here’s some cash, order in a pizza.”
“PIZZA!!!!” the three kids shout.
“Sounds good. Now go! Have fun tonight, no need to rush. We’ll be fine here, if I need anything I’ll just give you a call. Bye”
“Okay, we’re going. We’re going,” Minho kneels down and opens his arms. Yoogeun runs into them and gives him a big hug, “Now you behave for Youngie okay?”
“Ne!”
“Appa loves you.”
“Yoogeunnie loves you too!”
“Me too! Me too!” Jess yells and she runs into Minho’s open arms as well.
“You need to behave too okay?”
“NE!” Dori has also moved to join in with the hug. I smile when Minho gives all three kids kisses on the forehead before standing back up.
“Thanks again Youngwon-ssi,” he says to me.
“No problem. Now get!” I start to push the two men down the hall, “Come on kids, let’s go inside. You want pizza for dinner?”
“NE!” they yell in unison as I close the door behind us.
“Youngwon-ssi, what’s with all the noise?” Taemin asks as he walks out of the kitchen with a bag of chips in his hands. Shit, I totally forgot that Taemin was here to help me study. I guess I won’t be spending time with him tonight like I had wanted. Oh well, he probably has better things to do than to hang with me and three kids.
“Pooh, why don’t you and your friends go and play in the living room. I’ll be in to turn on a movie in a little bit if you want.”
“Okay! Come on Dori, Jess!” He grabs Jess’ hand who then grabs Dori’s hand as they walk into the other room.
“Hey, sorry about that,” I say as I take a few steps towards Taemin.
“Who are the kids? I remember Yoogeun from when I went to pick him up with you, but the other two don’t look familiar to me.”
“Oh those are his friends Dori and Jess, they’re twins. Minho hyung had to go to somewhere last minute and I forgot I told him I would baby-sit for him tonight. Sorry, looks like you won’t have to tutor me tonight after all. Besides, I’m sure you would rather be doing something more exciting than math reviews on a Friday night anyways.”
He glances over to the living room where the three kids currently have every last toy that Yoogeun has in my apartment all over the floor. How they could get a room to look like a tornado passed through it in a matter of minutes baffles me, “You sure you can handle that?”
“I think I’ll be able to manage. I’m sure you’d rather hang out with your boyfriend anyways,” the last sentence left a bitter taste in my mouth. I still couldn’t grasp the fact that he had a boyfriend. I wonder what his boyfriend is like.
“Oh we broke up,” Taemin says and I whip my head around to face him so fast that I think I got whip lash.
“Wh-what?”
“My boyfriend and I,” he replies, eyes still focused on the kids in front of us, “Broke up. Apparently the guy who he’s been in love with for years now, loves him as well. So far be it from me to stand in the way of love.”
“Oh I’m sorry to hear that,” I try not to smile widely as I celebrate on the inside, “Well, it’s his lost anyways. He doesn’t know what he’s let go.”
“There’s no need for you to be sorry,” Taemin turns to face me with a smile on his face and it actually looks genuine, “I’m not heart broken or anything. And I’ve kind of had my eye on another guy for awhile now, so I was going to break things off with him anyways.”
“Oh,” I try not to sound too disappointed as my heart gets shot down just when I was beginning to think I had a chance with Taemin. Of course I didn’t have a chance with him. He was gorgeous and anyone, guy or girl, would kill to be with him. So whoever he’s been eyeing is one lucky bastard. I wish I was that lucky bastard, but what could he possibly see in a blue-haired boy who he thinks is failing math?
“Yeah, you should meet him sometime.”
“POOH! GET YOUR FINGER OUT OF YOUR NOSE!” I pretend like I didn’t hear what he just said in hopes of him dropping the subject. I don’t want to meet his guy whatsoever.
“I think you’d really like him. He’s cute, funny, smart, and has an amazing sense of style.”
“NO THAT DOESN’T MEAN TO PUT IT IN YOUR MOUTH!” I rush over to him and take his finger that was just in his nose out of his mouth. Why was Taemin talking to me about this guy? Isn’t he getting the hint that I DON’T want to meet this new guy he’s been crushing on? I walk Yoogeun over to the bathroom and hold him up while he washes his hands in the sink.
“Miss,” Jess says as she tugs on Taemin’s hand and I try to stifle my laugh. Did she really think that Taemin is a girl? Well he does have some feminine features, but he looks like a man to me. But I could be biased since I like him so much.
“Um…” he replies and crouches down to her level.
“Miss,” she says again.
“I’m not a Miss. I’m a boy just like your brother, Youngwon-ssi, and Yoogeun.”
She cocks her head to the side in confusion, but quickly brushes off his comment, “Miss lady man, I needs to potty.”
“Blue-hair man!” I look down to see Dori is standing beside me.
“Yes?”
“Do you has ice cream? I wants ice cream!”
“Miss lady man I needs to potty!” Jess yells, hand still tugging on Taemin. He looks over at me with confusion all over his face and I laugh. I guess he’s not used to baby-sitting kids. This will definitely be an interesting night. I would tell him to just go on home, but I want to spend more time with him. Plus he’s cute when he’s all nervous and doesn’t know what to do.
“Blue hair man! I is talking to you! I wants ice cream!”
*~*
“I can’t believe I’m letting you drag me to this singles party your friend is having,” I say, driving us through town to a his friend’s house, “What’s the different between a regular party and a singles party anyways? Are couples absolutely not allowed or something?”
“Geez Minho way to ruin the night before it even starts,” Donghae replies, “Why can’t you just go with this huh? Just relax and have fun with your night off.”
“I can’t just go with this because I told you that I already like someone. So why do I need to go to some party when I’m already kind of talking to someone?”
“Yoogeun’s teacher right?”
“Yes.”
“How is that going?”
“We went out to dinner after the open house at the school.”
“Oh a date? Nice and why am I only now hearing about this?”
“I wouldn’t call it a date since Yoogeun was there as well. It was just dinner with the teacher.”
“The teacher who you have a crush on. So how did it go? Is there going to be a second date? Did you get his number? Do you think he likes you back? How does Yoogeun like him, I know that his opinion means a lot to you too.”
“Whoa, when did we start playing 20 questions?”
“Well you can’t leave me hanging after dropping something like that on me. You gotta give me details. So talk!”
I let out a short laugh before answering his questions, “There’s nothing really to tell. Like I said, it wasn’t a date. Yoogeun was hungry and invited Key along and he accepted. We went out for burgers and had a nice time. Yoogeun loves him.”
“Did you get his number?”
“No.”
“Why not?!”
“I’m not going to hit on a guy while I’m with my son Donghae. There’s something just creepy about doing that.”
“What’s creepy about asking someone for their number?”
“It’s not the asking that’s creepy, it’s the whole doing it in front of my son that creeps me out. I mean I shouldn’t be trying to advance my love life while my son is sitting next to me covered in ketchup and trying to climb onto the table.”
“Whatever. Excuses, excuses, excuses,” he scoffs at me. I just glare at him as I pull into the driveway of the house. It looks like quite a few people were already here. I really can’t believe I let myself be talked into this. Not to mention I was feeling guilty that I made Youngwon cancel his plans tonight to not only take care of my son, but his two little friends as well. They were going to keep him on his feet that’s for sure. I silently pray that he calls me the minute we step foot through the door so I could leave. I’m sure Donghae would be able to find a ride home on his own. This was his idea anyways, “Come on Minho, let’s go. Who knows you might actually have fun.”
I let out a sigh and follow him out of the car and up to the house. I had a feeling that I was going to have anything but fun tonight. The house isn’t as crowded as I thought it would be once we step foot inside.
“Donghae!” a guy who was standing at the door greets merrily as he claps my friend on his back.
“Hey Leeteuk hyung! How goes it?”
“It’s going good. Better than the last one we had. I think we’ll definitely be having some successes tonight,” he looks around Donghae at me and smiles, “This must be your friend Minho.”
“Yeah, Minho this is Leeteuk hyung,” I shake the outstretched hand and nod at him, “Him and his roommate Yesung hyung put this party together. They actually do a lot of parties like this for their friends. They like to think of themselves as cupids.”
“We prefer the term love pursuers. Well we pursue love for others, but you get the point. We see possible connections and bring them together in hopes of love developing between the two. A few of our friends have found their soulmates because of these parties. So hopefully you two will have some success tonight as well.”
“Oh okay,” I glance between the two. I had no idea this was that big of a deal. I thought it was just a party where we can meet other people and perhaps get some numbers and dates or something. I wasn’t expecting this party to revolve around relationships develop, “So do we just go around and mingle?”
“Oh Donghae didn’t explain this to you?” I shake my head, “Well this party is a little different. We try to know our attendees as well as we can and match them up with one another. We put in a lot of effort to match people up together.”
“But this is the first time you’re meeting me. So I don’t see how you can match me up with someone here,” I motion to the room.
“Oh Donghae told me all about you. Normally we don’t have strangers come to our parties, but we’ve known him for so long that we made and exception. Plus I think you’ll like the person we matched you with. Oh and before I forget, here are your cards,” he hands us cardboard papers that are in the shapes of puzzle pieces, “Your date tonight has the matching piece. Now go and find them and remember to have fun!”
“Come on Minho!” Donghae grabs my arms and pulls me towards the crowd of people, “Let’s find your date!”
“Hyung, are you serious about this? What did you even tell them about me? I don’t want to do this anymore. I want to go home!” I know I’m acting like a little kid, but now I’m even more nervous about this whole thing. I thought I’d come here and meet some people and just make small talk, not that I’d end up having an actual blind date for the evening. Not to mention a blind date that two people who I have never met chose for me. I knew this was a bad idea.
“Will you quit being a KJ Minho. I swear you’re acting worst than Yoogeun. Try to have a good time will you? People can sense your bad mood, don’t ruin it for everyone,” he leaves me standing by myself when he spots someone he knows across the room. Great, now I’m alone at this party hanging out near the refreshments table. Can I look anymore like a loser? I eye the spread on the table, well I guess I can be the fat kid as well at the party. I don’t bother grabbing a plate as I start to munch on the snacks that were laid out. Maybe if I just stay here, no one will notice me and I’ll be able to leave in like a half hour or something.
I reach over to grab a cup right when someone else reaches out to grab the same cup. Our hands land on it at the same time and I look up to see the last person I was expecting to run into tonight. What a cliché way for us to meet up again.
He retracts his hand first and smiles at me, “I wasn’t expecting to run into you here Minho-ssi.”
“Likewise Key-ssi,” I grab two cups from the stack, “What do you want to drink?”
“I’ll have what you’re having,” I walk over to his side of the table and pour us each a glass of the fruit punch that was sitting in the middle of the table. I’m sure it’s spiked, so I’ll make sure to pace myself. I was the designated driver tonight, so I can’t be drinking much. After this I’ll probably stick with water or soda.
“So what are you doing here? Well besides the obvious, although I didn’t take you for a singles party type of guy,” I say after handing him one of the glasses.
“I’m not, I was forced to come here against my will by my ex best friend Dongwoon.”
“Same here, except it was my co-worker slash former friend Donghae that brought me. I really didn’t want to come in the first place. I would rather be hanging out with Yoogeun, watching Finding Nemo for the 80th time.”
“I’d rather be doing that too. But Dongwoon insists that it’s time that I get back on the horse and start dating again.”
“That’s what Donghae keeps telling me. He says that my life is too focused on work and Yoogeun that I forget to make time for myself.”
“I don’t see anything wrong with that. I mean you’re a parent, you can’t just completely forget about that.”
“My thoughts exactly.”
We stand there in silence, sipping our drinks for what seems like an hour before he says something, “So have you found your ‘date’ for the night?” he asks me, holding up his own puzzle piece.
“No, I’m not even going to bother. I was actually going to sneak out of here in a little bit.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, this really isn’t my thing. And I’m sure Donghae could find himself a read of his own,” I motion over to my friend who was currently the center of a growing crowd. He was obviously having a good time, no need for me to end it.
“Mind if I tag along with you?” he asks me and I turn to him, eyes wide, “Don’t give me that look. This isn’t my scene either. Remember, I was forced to come here against my will like you were.”
“True,” I stop and look around us, “You think we’ve been here long enough?”
“I think we were here long enough five minutes ago,” he downs his drink and grabs my hand, “Let’s get out of here.”
“Oh okay,” I drink the rest of punch as well and try to conceal the blush that’s surely spreading across my face. He starts to tug me in the direction of the door and we try to make sure neither of the people we came with see us leave. I move in front of him once we’re outside, leading us towards my car. I only drop his hand when I open up the passenger side door for him, “So where do you want to go?”
“I don’t care. I just wanted to get out of there,” he says as he relaxes back in his seat.
“You hungry?”
“Starving.”
“I know a good little mom and pop diner we can go to.”
“Sounds good to me.”
I look over at him and give him a smile that he quickly returns. So I wonder if we can call this our first date. Yoogeun isn’t here and we were at a singles party, but left together. Then again I’m not sure if he likes me like that or if he’s even into guys. I guess I can just see how the night goes and kind of gauge his actions. Either way, this is so much better than being at that party. My hand brushes his as I shift into the next gear. He doesn’t immediately pull it away, so that had to be a good sign. SO. MUCH. BETTER.
A/N: Sorry if this part is kind of shitty, it gets better. TRUST ME! ONTO PART TWO!