Second Chances (Chapter 20b)
Title: Second Chances
Author: VampireMadonna
Pairing: Main: YunJae; Secondary: JaeMin, HoMin
Rating: PG-13
Length: Chaptered
Summary: After Changmin's death, how are Jae and Yunho going to cope with their grief and their increasing attraction to each other?
“Yunnie… Wake up!”
Something was tickling his nose. Yunho raised his hand to pushed the offensive thing away but…he couldn’t move his hand. Either of them.
His eyes snapped open in alarm, then immediately shut as the bright light filtering through the drapes burned his retinas. Opening his eyes just a crack this time, he looked up to see Jae at the foot of the bed grinning down at him. Well, he assumed it was Jae. It was hard to see his Jae behind the getup.
“What…” He cleared his throat. “What are you wearing?”
“Aren’t I pretty?” Jae struck a pose. “I figure I’ll call myself Jaerella. Or Jade. What do you think?”
Yunho’s eyes drifted over Jae…uh…Jaerella from head to toe. He wore the red wig he’d bought, the vixen he called it. Yunho was surprised, yet again, at how it suited his beautiful face perfectly. What would probably look ridiculous on anyone else was incredibly striking on Jae. His pink lips looked even more so and extra glossy. As Yunho’s eyes drifted lower, they widened when they took in Jae’s form-fitting school-girl outfit…made of leather.
What?!
It surprised him, even for Jae who he knew was more out there than anyone he’d ever met. And yet, at the same time, it was strangely…arousing. Even as the thought crossed his mind, he felt himself harden.
“I see someone approves,” Jae teased, his gaze aimed at Yunho’s crotch.
Yunho looked down as well and gasped when he saw that he was completely naked. His eyes swung to the left and right of his head and he realized that the reason he couldn’t move before was because both his wrists and ankles were restrained.
“Jae… What are you doing?” Fear crept into his voice even as his erection grew while he processed the situation he was in.
“Who me?” Jae asked innocently. “I’m not doing anything, nothing at all. You, on the other hand… You’ve been very bad, haven’t you?”
“Jae, I…”
“Shush!” Jae ordered, slapping a riding crop down on Yunho’s taught stomach, a mere six inches from his growing hardness Yunho was horrified to see. Where had the bloody thing come from? “No talking.”
Jae trailed his crop up and down the sole of Yunho’s foot, then switched to the other, going back and forth.
“I’m not angry,” he began. “I’m not mad or upset, this isn’t revenge.”
“Jae…”
The look Jae shot him had him biting his tongue to keep from talking.
“I just want you to think,” Jae continued. “You know yourself, Yunnie. You know what you like…” The fringed edge of the crop tickled it’s way up the inside of Yunho’s calves, his thighs, to his scrotum and then his shaft as Jae gently stroked him with his extended limb. “…what you want, better than anyone ever will. I want to make sure that no one ever makes you doubt yourself again.”
Jae contined to work the flexible base of the crop around Yunho’s shaft, over his sensitive tip, making him tremble as his stomach muscles quivered and his breathing quickened.
“See? You know what you like, Yunnie. Why would you ever doubt that? Why would you let her make you think otherwise?”
Jae set the crop aside and crawled his way up Yunho’s body. He moved slowly, like a panther stealthily approaching his prey. He stopped at Yunho’s middle, straddling his stomach.
As he settled himself, Yunho gasped when he felt the smooth warmth of Jae’s bare ass against the throbbing head of his cock, the heaviness of his testicles where they lay. All this time, he’d been naked underneath the outfit? Yunho gulped, pulling at his wrist restraints as his hardness thickened further.
Despite the eroticness of the situation, Jae’s expression was serious. He threaded his fingers into the wig and slid it off. “Does it make any difference now? Without the wig? Do you want me any less when I don’t look like a woman?”
Yunho shook his head, his mouth too dry to speak. Jae was equally beautiful to him, with or without the hair. He could be bald, he thought, and he’d still find him beautiful.
“And this?” He shifted again as he unsnapped the hooks of his top, letting them fall open. “Does it matter that I don’t have breasts?” He trailed a hand down his chest to his stomach. “That I can’t have children?”
Yunho’s eyes over over Jae’s perfect, pale flesh. He remembered suckling his nipples, those pink, perky nubs that seemed to be in a constant state of arousal. His mouth watered. It had been too long since he’d tasted him.
“No,” he croaked.
Jae leaned in close till there was a breath of space between them. “I don’t ever want to hear that you let someone mess with your head the way that Hana did. You hurt me Yunho, I won’t lie, but more than anything, I hurt for you. Whether you’re with me or someone else…”
Someone else?, Yunho thought. He shook his head, wanting to tell Jae that there would never be anyone else.
“…trust that you know you and that the choices you’ve made were the right ones. Changmin wasn’t a mistake and neither am I, neither is anything else you’ve done in your life as a gay man.”
Jae took him by surprise, pressing a hard kiss to his lips while his tongue plunged deep into the inner recesses of Yunho’s mouth. Yunho pulled against his binds again, his fingers itching to touch what was so close and yet so unattainable.
Before his desires took over and completely ruined his plan, Jae ended the kiss. Swinging one leg over, and giving Yunho an ample glimpse of what he hadn’t had in ages, Jae slid off the bed to the side and stood. He re-hooked his top and straightened his clothes until he was perfect, donning his wig again and picked up his crop. He slapped the crop down on the bed beside Yunho, grinning when Yunho jumped.
“We’re gay men, Yunnie, but it doesn’t mean that we can’t have fun and play dress-up. If you want to see this outfit again, I’m game. There’s a whole world out there for us to explore.”
He moved to the foot of the bed and turned around to face his golden mirror, straightening his bangs and smoothing any errant strands.
Turning back to Yunho, he smiled, slapping the fringed end of the crop in his palm. “Now… You just lay there and think about everything I’ve said, okay? I figure we both need this day to relax.”
Yunho’s eyed widened in alarm. “Wait! You’re going to leave me here?”
Jae nodded. “Sleep, relax, think. That’s all you need to do. You’ve earned it.” Jae’s grin widened. The irony of his words weren’t lost on him. “I’m going to go have breakfast now. I’ll be back to check on you later.”
He headed towards the door but paused on the threshold. Flipping his crimson waves over his shoulder, he glanced back at Yunho. “By the way, Yunnie. I’m going to work with you tomorrow.” He winked then continued on his merry way.
The next morning, Yunho and Jae were greeted like royalty by the firm’s staff.
There was a party feel in the air. Everyone was celebrating the completion of what was arguably one of the firm’s biggest projects to date, or at least since Yunho had been at its helm.
Anticipating such, Jae had spent all night and morning baking and cooking to create a spread that topped his first introduction to the workers, which was now scattered across the tables of the break-room. There were squeals and sighs of ecstasy as his treats were consumed, which filled him with warmth just as their bellies were being filled with homemade goodness.
He was glued to Yunho’s side by the man himself, Yunho’s arm tight around his waist. It was obvious to anyone watching that the two were not just merely together, but one.
Jae laughed and chatted happily. It seemed like everyone had come to their little impromptu party, but one face was missing… He finally saw her skirting the fringes of the motley group surrounding them. Her eyes bored into Yunho’s face but Jae knew that Yunho was oblivious because he could hear him talking to someone on his other side. He saw hurt in her eyes, and more. He felt bad for her. He knew that her feelings ran deep, had guessed that her behaviour was that of a desperate woman. He could sympathize with her, pity her, but it didn’t change the fact that she’d hurt Yunho, and him by extension, and that he couldn’t forgive or forget. Not yet anyway.
As if sensing that he was watching her, her eyes met his and she seemed to freeze. Jae smiled kindly and she gave him a quick smile before turning and exiting the room. He waited five minutes before excusing himself and followed her. He knew she’d go into her office, hole up in her personal space. Knocking on the door, he pushed it open.
“Hey.”
She looked up and seemed surprised that he’d actually come to her. “Hey.”
“You okay?” he asked, honestly concerned.
She nodded. “Fine.” She looked at him a moment before continuing. “Did you want something?”
“Actually…” Jae slowly paced the length of her office, idly trailing his fingers along shelf after shelf of crystal figurines. “You collect these, huh?”
“Yes. Ever since I was a child. You were saying?”
Jae picked up a particular figurine that caught his eye. It was a jade horse rearing back on its hind legs, its rider holding the reins firmly with one hand while the other was raised signaling to charge. Turning back to Hana, he stared her straight in the eye.
“I don’t play games so I’m just going to be honest with you.” He watched her closely, gauging her expression. “I know what you did. Yunho told me…everything.”
A shutter came down over her eyes as if she was trying to block her thoughts. “Did he?”
Jae nodded. “He did. I have to say I’m disappointed. We’re supposed to be friends but…friends don’t stab each other in the back like that and friends don’t wreck their friends’ homes.”
She gulped. “Jae…”
“But then I realized I only had myself to blame. How could I have missed it? It was so obvious but I just didn’t see.” He paused for dramatic effect. “You’re in love with him.”
Hana’s eyes widened and her shield shattered. “What? No, I…”
Jae nodded again. “Yes, you are. You probably have been for quite a while. I can’t blame you, Yunho is quite a catch, but… I couldn’t help but wonder, were you just waiting for Min to die before you made your move? Is that it? Was his dying husband keeping you from your goal of being the next Mr., well Mrs., Jung?”
Hana’s head whipped back as if she’d been slapped. “That’s disgusting.”
For a third time, Jae nodded. “Agreed, it is disgusting, but it doesn’t make it any less true, does it? All this time you’ve been watching him agonizing over his husband’s illness. You probably felt sorry for him, wanted to comfort him, and maybe it developed into more than that. Or maybe you loved him even before Min got sick, I don’t know. I don’t think you wanted Min to die, you’re not evil, but since he was going to die anyway, why couldn’t you take advantage of the situation? Why shouldn’t you? Did my strutting into the picture disrupt your plans?”
Hana’s face flooded with hot color. Slowly, she stood, her eyes hardening. “And what about you, Jae? How does it feel to be fucking your dead best friend’s husband?”
Jae smiled secretively. “Really good, actually.” He wasn’t surprised she’d gone on the offensive. He would’ve done the same.
Hana laughed harshly. “You’re a fucking hypocrite. Here you are on your high-horse berating me for making the best of an opportunity that presented itself and you did the exact same thing. You’re no different, no better, so don’t you dare look down on me, hun.”
Jae ignored the slight doubt that niggled at him. More than once he’d asked that of himself, if he’d taken advantage of the situation, but then he would remember that he’d never made a single move on Yunho, never revealed even a hint of his true feelings for him, and Yunho had been the one to come to him, not the other way around.
“But that’s where we differ, hun,” he said emphasizing the endearment. “I didn’t have to lift a finger to get what I have. I came here to take care of my dying friend and before he died, my friend asked me to look after his husband and I’m doing a damn good job of it.”
Hana rolled her eyes. “I bet,” she scoffed.
“You weren’t the one who he clung to the day of Min’s funeral, the one who had to put him back together when the proud, tall man you see everyday splintered into fragments of himself and was reduced to a whimpering child. You weren’t the one who had to watch him sit and stare out the window, not eating, not drinking, not moving, not living, day in and day out. You think those months that he didn’t come into the office were a walk in the park for me? A trip to Disneyland? They were hell, complete and utter torture. I felt like a failure, like I was failing Min, and on top of that I had my own grief to deal with so don’t you speak of what you know nothing about. You don’t know a damn thing about what we’ve been through.”
Jae took a deep breath, forcing back his tumultuous emotions. He hadn’t intended to grind her into pieces but damn if he wasn’t tempted. How dare she accuse him of using Min’s death to his advantage? He missed Min every day, would for the rest of his life. It hurt just to think about him.
Breathing deeply, he walked towards her desk until he could go no further, then leaned forward. “The biggest difference, however, is that Yunho came to me. I did not lie, deceive or manipulate my way into his life or his bed. He was the one that made the first move, and the second, and the third. Actually, he makes all the moves in our relationship and he’s damn good at it, if I do say so myself. So you see, I did nothing to betray my friendship with Min, to dishonor his memory or his marriage, unlike you, who twisted Yunho up so badly that he questioned the very life he’d built for himself, down to the marriage he cherished and the husband he still mourns. Were you so desperate that forcing him to question his sexuality was the only way you could get him to even look at you? To take notice of your…womanly charms and that obnoxious perfume you bathe in every day? You know what? I take back what I said earlier. You don’t love him. No one who loves him or even cares about him could do what you did and stand there all righteous as if the end justified the means. I for one would never ruin someone else’s life for my own gain. I may have my faults but I’m not ugly inside.”
He reached out and trailed his fingers down her cheek, dropping his hand when she jerked away. “It’s a pity that beneath this lovely exterior, there’s nothing but rot at the very core.”
Turning away, he walked back to the shelf and replaced the figurine.
“You probably thought that when I found out, I’d come in here and make a lot of noise, breaking things and throwing a bitch fit. Or perhaps you thought that by the time I found out you’d have Yunho wrapped around your little finger and let him deal with the ‘angry ex’, hmm? Well, sorry, no such luck. I’m not into making spectacles, I leave that for bitches like you. No, scratch that. You aren’t even a bitch. Real bitches come at you face to face, only cowards and wannabes sneak around in the shadows, conniving til they get what they want with no thought for who they hurt. It’s a pity…” He gave her a lingering head to toe sweep. “We could’ve been really good friends. I could’ve helped you achieve that class you seem so eager to attain but still keep falling just short of reaching. Oh well, your loss.”
He opened the door and spun in the frame to deliver his parting shot. “I know I don’t need to tell you to keep your distance from Yunho but I will anyway. Unless it’s for work purposes and during business hours, you don’t need to see or talk to him and if some emergency arises where you do, you have a phone: use it. Don’t text, call. No, I don’t go through his phone, I don’t need to, but calling is a lot more professional than sending texts, don’t you think? I agree.”
Jae regarded her one last time. He really did feel sorry for her. She was young, although older than him therefore old enough to know better, and she’d done a stupid thing but she had to know that her actions had repercussions. She was getting off lightly considering. The crowd he hung out with back home would’ve tarred and feathered her for her ‘crimes’, it just wasn’t his style. But just in case…
“I’m letting you off easy because I’m a nice guy but don’t for a second think that I’m not capable of what you expected. I am and then some and next time, and there better not be a next time but if there is, I will come upon you with the wrath of a thousand furies and there’ll be nothing but ashes left when I’m through with you. This, I solemnly swear.”
Turning on his heel, he quietly shut the door behind him and strode back down the hall. He paused around the corner to take a deep breath, expelling the anxiety he hadn’t felt while he’d put on his ‘show’ for her. Being vicious and vindictive didn’t come naturally to him but he felt like he had to go to her level for her to really understand the true meaning of his words.
Shaking it off, he took his time walking back to the break-room. When he got there, he stopped in the doorway and looked at Yunho. He was the center of attention, like a gentle king granting his people an audience. He was smiling as he laughed and joked with his employees, his peers, and seeing him happy and stress free had Jae smiling in turn. It had been a while since he’d seen him so at peace.
Yunho looked up just then and their eyes met. He raised a brow in question and Jae simply smiled wider. He stepped into the room and immediately he was pulled into the circle of friendship around Yunho, compliments assailing his ears as his culinary skills were gushed over once again.
Yunho pulled him to his side and he let himself be pulled, leaning into him, absorbing his warmth, breathing in his scent.
They’d weathered another storm, had come through it together.
He hoped it was the last, at least for a little while…
A/N: Okay, so Jae didn't go all Rambo on her ass but I hope you enjoyed it nonetheless ^^
Comments are love and remember, anonymous readers, I can still see youuuuuuu!
Chapter 21
Author: VampireMadonna
Pairing: Main: YunJae; Secondary: JaeMin, HoMin
Rating: PG-13
Length: Chaptered
Summary: After Changmin's death, how are Jae and Yunho going to cope with their grief and their increasing attraction to each other?
“Yunnie… Wake up!”
Something was tickling his nose. Yunho raised his hand to pushed the offensive thing away but…he couldn’t move his hand. Either of them.
His eyes snapped open in alarm, then immediately shut as the bright light filtering through the drapes burned his retinas. Opening his eyes just a crack this time, he looked up to see Jae at the foot of the bed grinning down at him. Well, he assumed it was Jae. It was hard to see his Jae behind the getup.
“What…” He cleared his throat. “What are you wearing?”
“Aren’t I pretty?” Jae struck a pose. “I figure I’ll call myself Jaerella. Or Jade. What do you think?”
Yunho’s eyes drifted over Jae…uh…Jaerella from head to toe. He wore the red wig he’d bought, the vixen he called it. Yunho was surprised, yet again, at how it suited his beautiful face perfectly. What would probably look ridiculous on anyone else was incredibly striking on Jae. His pink lips looked even more so and extra glossy. As Yunho’s eyes drifted lower, they widened when they took in Jae’s form-fitting school-girl outfit…made of leather.
What?!
It surprised him, even for Jae who he knew was more out there than anyone he’d ever met. And yet, at the same time, it was strangely…arousing. Even as the thought crossed his mind, he felt himself harden.
“I see someone approves,” Jae teased, his gaze aimed at Yunho’s crotch.
Yunho looked down as well and gasped when he saw that he was completely naked. His eyes swung to the left and right of his head and he realized that the reason he couldn’t move before was because both his wrists and ankles were restrained.
“Jae… What are you doing?” Fear crept into his voice even as his erection grew while he processed the situation he was in.
“Who me?” Jae asked innocently. “I’m not doing anything, nothing at all. You, on the other hand… You’ve been very bad, haven’t you?”
“Jae, I…”
“Shush!” Jae ordered, slapping a riding crop down on Yunho’s taught stomach, a mere six inches from his growing hardness Yunho was horrified to see. Where had the bloody thing come from? “No talking.”
Jae trailed his crop up and down the sole of Yunho’s foot, then switched to the other, going back and forth.
“I’m not angry,” he began. “I’m not mad or upset, this isn’t revenge.”
“Jae…”
The look Jae shot him had him biting his tongue to keep from talking.
“I just want you to think,” Jae continued. “You know yourself, Yunnie. You know what you like…” The fringed edge of the crop tickled it’s way up the inside of Yunho’s calves, his thighs, to his scrotum and then his shaft as Jae gently stroked him with his extended limb. “…what you want, better than anyone ever will. I want to make sure that no one ever makes you doubt yourself again.”
Jae contined to work the flexible base of the crop around Yunho’s shaft, over his sensitive tip, making him tremble as his stomach muscles quivered and his breathing quickened.
“See? You know what you like, Yunnie. Why would you ever doubt that? Why would you let her make you think otherwise?”
Jae set the crop aside and crawled his way up Yunho’s body. He moved slowly, like a panther stealthily approaching his prey. He stopped at Yunho’s middle, straddling his stomach.
As he settled himself, Yunho gasped when he felt the smooth warmth of Jae’s bare ass against the throbbing head of his cock, the heaviness of his testicles where they lay. All this time, he’d been naked underneath the outfit? Yunho gulped, pulling at his wrist restraints as his hardness thickened further.
Despite the eroticness of the situation, Jae’s expression was serious. He threaded his fingers into the wig and slid it off. “Does it make any difference now? Without the wig? Do you want me any less when I don’t look like a woman?”
Yunho shook his head, his mouth too dry to speak. Jae was equally beautiful to him, with or without the hair. He could be bald, he thought, and he’d still find him beautiful.
“And this?” He shifted again as he unsnapped the hooks of his top, letting them fall open. “Does it matter that I don’t have breasts?” He trailed a hand down his chest to his stomach. “That I can’t have children?”
Yunho’s eyes over over Jae’s perfect, pale flesh. He remembered suckling his nipples, those pink, perky nubs that seemed to be in a constant state of arousal. His mouth watered. It had been too long since he’d tasted him.
“No,” he croaked.
Jae leaned in close till there was a breath of space between them. “I don’t ever want to hear that you let someone mess with your head the way that Hana did. You hurt me Yunho, I won’t lie, but more than anything, I hurt for you. Whether you’re with me or someone else…”
Someone else?, Yunho thought. He shook his head, wanting to tell Jae that there would never be anyone else.
“…trust that you know you and that the choices you’ve made were the right ones. Changmin wasn’t a mistake and neither am I, neither is anything else you’ve done in your life as a gay man.”
Jae took him by surprise, pressing a hard kiss to his lips while his tongue plunged deep into the inner recesses of Yunho’s mouth. Yunho pulled against his binds again, his fingers itching to touch what was so close and yet so unattainable.
Before his desires took over and completely ruined his plan, Jae ended the kiss. Swinging one leg over, and giving Yunho an ample glimpse of what he hadn’t had in ages, Jae slid off the bed to the side and stood. He re-hooked his top and straightened his clothes until he was perfect, donning his wig again and picked up his crop. He slapped the crop down on the bed beside Yunho, grinning when Yunho jumped.
“We’re gay men, Yunnie, but it doesn’t mean that we can’t have fun and play dress-up. If you want to see this outfit again, I’m game. There’s a whole world out there for us to explore.”
He moved to the foot of the bed and turned around to face his golden mirror, straightening his bangs and smoothing any errant strands.
Turning back to Yunho, he smiled, slapping the fringed end of the crop in his palm. “Now… You just lay there and think about everything I’ve said, okay? I figure we both need this day to relax.”
Yunho’s eyed widened in alarm. “Wait! You’re going to leave me here?”
Jae nodded. “Sleep, relax, think. That’s all you need to do. You’ve earned it.” Jae’s grin widened. The irony of his words weren’t lost on him. “I’m going to go have breakfast now. I’ll be back to check on you later.”
He headed towards the door but paused on the threshold. Flipping his crimson waves over his shoulder, he glanced back at Yunho. “By the way, Yunnie. I’m going to work with you tomorrow.” He winked then continued on his merry way.
The next morning, Yunho and Jae were greeted like royalty by the firm’s staff.
There was a party feel in the air. Everyone was celebrating the completion of what was arguably one of the firm’s biggest projects to date, or at least since Yunho had been at its helm.
Anticipating such, Jae had spent all night and morning baking and cooking to create a spread that topped his first introduction to the workers, which was now scattered across the tables of the break-room. There were squeals and sighs of ecstasy as his treats were consumed, which filled him with warmth just as their bellies were being filled with homemade goodness.
He was glued to Yunho’s side by the man himself, Yunho’s arm tight around his waist. It was obvious to anyone watching that the two were not just merely together, but one.
Jae laughed and chatted happily. It seemed like everyone had come to their little impromptu party, but one face was missing… He finally saw her skirting the fringes of the motley group surrounding them. Her eyes bored into Yunho’s face but Jae knew that Yunho was oblivious because he could hear him talking to someone on his other side. He saw hurt in her eyes, and more. He felt bad for her. He knew that her feelings ran deep, had guessed that her behaviour was that of a desperate woman. He could sympathize with her, pity her, but it didn’t change the fact that she’d hurt Yunho, and him by extension, and that he couldn’t forgive or forget. Not yet anyway.
As if sensing that he was watching her, her eyes met his and she seemed to freeze. Jae smiled kindly and she gave him a quick smile before turning and exiting the room. He waited five minutes before excusing himself and followed her. He knew she’d go into her office, hole up in her personal space. Knocking on the door, he pushed it open.
“Hey.”
She looked up and seemed surprised that he’d actually come to her. “Hey.”
“You okay?” he asked, honestly concerned.
She nodded. “Fine.” She looked at him a moment before continuing. “Did you want something?”
“Actually…” Jae slowly paced the length of her office, idly trailing his fingers along shelf after shelf of crystal figurines. “You collect these, huh?”
“Yes. Ever since I was a child. You were saying?”
Jae picked up a particular figurine that caught his eye. It was a jade horse rearing back on its hind legs, its rider holding the reins firmly with one hand while the other was raised signaling to charge. Turning back to Hana, he stared her straight in the eye.
“I don’t play games so I’m just going to be honest with you.” He watched her closely, gauging her expression. “I know what you did. Yunho told me…everything.”
A shutter came down over her eyes as if she was trying to block her thoughts. “Did he?”
Jae nodded. “He did. I have to say I’m disappointed. We’re supposed to be friends but…friends don’t stab each other in the back like that and friends don’t wreck their friends’ homes.”
She gulped. “Jae…”
“But then I realized I only had myself to blame. How could I have missed it? It was so obvious but I just didn’t see.” He paused for dramatic effect. “You’re in love with him.”
Hana’s eyes widened and her shield shattered. “What? No, I…”
Jae nodded again. “Yes, you are. You probably have been for quite a while. I can’t blame you, Yunho is quite a catch, but… I couldn’t help but wonder, were you just waiting for Min to die before you made your move? Is that it? Was his dying husband keeping you from your goal of being the next Mr., well Mrs., Jung?”
Hana’s head whipped back as if she’d been slapped. “That’s disgusting.”
For a third time, Jae nodded. “Agreed, it is disgusting, but it doesn’t make it any less true, does it? All this time you’ve been watching him agonizing over his husband’s illness. You probably felt sorry for him, wanted to comfort him, and maybe it developed into more than that. Or maybe you loved him even before Min got sick, I don’t know. I don’t think you wanted Min to die, you’re not evil, but since he was going to die anyway, why couldn’t you take advantage of the situation? Why shouldn’t you? Did my strutting into the picture disrupt your plans?”
Hana’s face flooded with hot color. Slowly, she stood, her eyes hardening. “And what about you, Jae? How does it feel to be fucking your dead best friend’s husband?”
Jae smiled secretively. “Really good, actually.” He wasn’t surprised she’d gone on the offensive. He would’ve done the same.
Hana laughed harshly. “You’re a fucking hypocrite. Here you are on your high-horse berating me for making the best of an opportunity that presented itself and you did the exact same thing. You’re no different, no better, so don’t you dare look down on me, hun.”
Jae ignored the slight doubt that niggled at him. More than once he’d asked that of himself, if he’d taken advantage of the situation, but then he would remember that he’d never made a single move on Yunho, never revealed even a hint of his true feelings for him, and Yunho had been the one to come to him, not the other way around.
“But that’s where we differ, hun,” he said emphasizing the endearment. “I didn’t have to lift a finger to get what I have. I came here to take care of my dying friend and before he died, my friend asked me to look after his husband and I’m doing a damn good job of it.”
Hana rolled her eyes. “I bet,” she scoffed.
“You weren’t the one who he clung to the day of Min’s funeral, the one who had to put him back together when the proud, tall man you see everyday splintered into fragments of himself and was reduced to a whimpering child. You weren’t the one who had to watch him sit and stare out the window, not eating, not drinking, not moving, not living, day in and day out. You think those months that he didn’t come into the office were a walk in the park for me? A trip to Disneyland? They were hell, complete and utter torture. I felt like a failure, like I was failing Min, and on top of that I had my own grief to deal with so don’t you speak of what you know nothing about. You don’t know a damn thing about what we’ve been through.”
Jae took a deep breath, forcing back his tumultuous emotions. He hadn’t intended to grind her into pieces but damn if he wasn’t tempted. How dare she accuse him of using Min’s death to his advantage? He missed Min every day, would for the rest of his life. It hurt just to think about him.
Breathing deeply, he walked towards her desk until he could go no further, then leaned forward. “The biggest difference, however, is that Yunho came to me. I did not lie, deceive or manipulate my way into his life or his bed. He was the one that made the first move, and the second, and the third. Actually, he makes all the moves in our relationship and he’s damn good at it, if I do say so myself. So you see, I did nothing to betray my friendship with Min, to dishonor his memory or his marriage, unlike you, who twisted Yunho up so badly that he questioned the very life he’d built for himself, down to the marriage he cherished and the husband he still mourns. Were you so desperate that forcing him to question his sexuality was the only way you could get him to even look at you? To take notice of your…womanly charms and that obnoxious perfume you bathe in every day? You know what? I take back what I said earlier. You don’t love him. No one who loves him or even cares about him could do what you did and stand there all righteous as if the end justified the means. I for one would never ruin someone else’s life for my own gain. I may have my faults but I’m not ugly inside.”
He reached out and trailed his fingers down her cheek, dropping his hand when she jerked away. “It’s a pity that beneath this lovely exterior, there’s nothing but rot at the very core.”
Turning away, he walked back to the shelf and replaced the figurine.
“You probably thought that when I found out, I’d come in here and make a lot of noise, breaking things and throwing a bitch fit. Or perhaps you thought that by the time I found out you’d have Yunho wrapped around your little finger and let him deal with the ‘angry ex’, hmm? Well, sorry, no such luck. I’m not into making spectacles, I leave that for bitches like you. No, scratch that. You aren’t even a bitch. Real bitches come at you face to face, only cowards and wannabes sneak around in the shadows, conniving til they get what they want with no thought for who they hurt. It’s a pity…” He gave her a lingering head to toe sweep. “We could’ve been really good friends. I could’ve helped you achieve that class you seem so eager to attain but still keep falling just short of reaching. Oh well, your loss.”
He opened the door and spun in the frame to deliver his parting shot. “I know I don’t need to tell you to keep your distance from Yunho but I will anyway. Unless it’s for work purposes and during business hours, you don’t need to see or talk to him and if some emergency arises where you do, you have a phone: use it. Don’t text, call. No, I don’t go through his phone, I don’t need to, but calling is a lot more professional than sending texts, don’t you think? I agree.”
Jae regarded her one last time. He really did feel sorry for her. She was young, although older than him therefore old enough to know better, and she’d done a stupid thing but she had to know that her actions had repercussions. She was getting off lightly considering. The crowd he hung out with back home would’ve tarred and feathered her for her ‘crimes’, it just wasn’t his style. But just in case…
“I’m letting you off easy because I’m a nice guy but don’t for a second think that I’m not capable of what you expected. I am and then some and next time, and there better not be a next time but if there is, I will come upon you with the wrath of a thousand furies and there’ll be nothing but ashes left when I’m through with you. This, I solemnly swear.”
Turning on his heel, he quietly shut the door behind him and strode back down the hall. He paused around the corner to take a deep breath, expelling the anxiety he hadn’t felt while he’d put on his ‘show’ for her. Being vicious and vindictive didn’t come naturally to him but he felt like he had to go to her level for her to really understand the true meaning of his words.
Shaking it off, he took his time walking back to the break-room. When he got there, he stopped in the doorway and looked at Yunho. He was the center of attention, like a gentle king granting his people an audience. He was smiling as he laughed and joked with his employees, his peers, and seeing him happy and stress free had Jae smiling in turn. It had been a while since he’d seen him so at peace.
Yunho looked up just then and their eyes met. He raised a brow in question and Jae simply smiled wider. He stepped into the room and immediately he was pulled into the circle of friendship around Yunho, compliments assailing his ears as his culinary skills were gushed over once again.
Yunho pulled him to his side and he let himself be pulled, leaning into him, absorbing his warmth, breathing in his scent.
They’d weathered another storm, had come through it together.
He hoped it was the last, at least for a little while…
A/N: Okay, so Jae didn't go all Rambo on her ass but I hope you enjoyed it nonetheless ^^
Comments are love and remember, anonymous readers, I can still see youuuuuuu!
Chapter 21