Through the crown of the sakura tree - 27
Author: hikjang / delsogno
Fandom: DB5K
Pairings: Changmin x Junsu (MinSu), Yoochun x Junsu, Yunho x Jaejoong
Genre: Romance, Angst
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: They are not mine.
Theme music: Debussy - “La Soiree dans Grenade” - Van Cliburn
“So basically they want you to come back,” Kyuhyun sipped a bit tea, “The message I have to deliver ends here. Now on to the main thing, what do you plan to do once leaving the family forever?”
“Living like a normal person. Becoming… an architect.” Changmin looked at the fingertips of his two hands touching each other.
“A normal person?” The corner of Kyuhyun’s lips curled up. “As in, living in such a neighborhood that you’re staying at now? I could never have imagined you without all the luxury. Won’t you be missing your baby Alfa Romeo, also your baby Porsche?”
Changmin chose not to comment.
“Changmin, we’ve been close since childhood… nobody knows what situation you’re in right now better than I do.” Seeing what he’d been saying didn’t quite have any effect, Kyuhyun dropped the playful act and started getting serious. “I need not to remind you this, of what we have been taught all our life, that we can’t just think of only ourselves, right?”
“It’s not that I don’t think about the family,” Changmin said, “I’m just a normal person, if forced to do what I don’t want to, I don’t think I can contribute much. It’s not beneficial for anyone anyway.”
“You’re tactful, Minnie. I can’t speak against you. But I think it’s not your true thoughts. You’ve changed much, and no longer truthful to me,” Kyuhyun played with the funny-looking spoon in his glass. “Who caused you this way?”
“What?” Changmin wrinkled his brow.
Kyuhyun took his time by tilting his head, as if listening to the Debussy piece played in the cafe at the moment. It was “La soiree dans Grenade” by Debussy. It had just started. The slow music, sounding tentative like a pair of feet dancing the habanera rhythm, at this particular moment made the whole scene strangely suspensive.
Changmin stared at Kyuhyun.
However, what left Kyuhyun’s mouth the next moment had nothing to do with the topic they had been discussing (or so Changmin thought). “So that cutie is the famous Kim Junsu?” Kyuhyun asked.
Changmin felt irritated by the sudden change of subject and also by that Kyuhyun had just called Junsu a “cutie”.
“Yeah. Kim Junsu.”
“Didn’t know you guys were… friends,” Kyuhyun made an expressive face that further irritated his cousin.
“Yes, we are.” Changmin said confidently but it felt lame. In truth Changmin couldn’t even brand the kind of relationship he was having with Junsu.
“Aish, time really does change things. If it was just 2 years ago, there wouldn’t be anything happening in your life that I wouldn’t know about, and nothing in mine that wouldn’t you,” Kyuhyun said with a tinge of nostalgia in his voice, that got Changmin feel sad somehow too. It was true. Changmin and Kyuhyun had grown up together and had always been the best of friends, until Changmin had chosen to enroll in majors totally different from that of Kyuhyun’s.
Changmin felt he had been too unfairly sceptical. Kyuhyun would never mean harm. He should relax.
“I’m… fine, I guess.”
“Hey, why don’t you tell me about what has been going on in your life?” Kyuhyun changed his tone, sounding exuberant like the Kyuhyun Changmin had always known. “Of course, apart from the part you got kicked out of the house, which I already know of, and which is beneficial to me as maybe I can be the heir now, hoho.”
Changmin realized he had missed Kyuhyun’s trademark “hoho” laugh so much. “Bastard, you can never be the heir even if I’m not anymore.” Changmin smirked.
“You dare me?” Changmin felt Kyuhyun’s feet kicking him under the table.
“Anyway, tell me. Don’t leave out the Kim Junsu part, of how you met him. I’ve been wanting to make his acquaintance since long but never have got the chance.”
It was actually a redundant reminder because along the story, unconsciously Changmin included Junsu everywhere. Meanwhile, Kyuhyun enjoyed his glass of iced Darjeerling tea.
Kyuhyun was done with the tea when Changmin was done with his story.
When Kyuhyun looked up, there was a look in his eyes that made Changmin feel he had just fallen into some sort of trap. It was no longer playful, but was there a glint that was… dangerous in there. Changmin felt he wouldn’t like what Kyuhyun was going to say next.
“So… he didn’t like you first, he was kind of… aloof? You were attracted by his talents and his wits, but feeling also that he liked you? You decided you wanted nothing more from him than to get him to play some music at Yuri’s birthday party, but then along came Park Yoochun? Also Choi Siwon? You then discovered there was more in Kim Junsu than you thought and it had quite an effect on you? Finally when you left the House you ran to his place? And learnt some more things during your stay?”
Changmin didn’t like how Kyuhyun summarized the relationship he had with Junsu. Kyuhyun had made it sound too simple, when there were a lot of other layers to that. Of course, there were too parts that Changmin deliberatly omitted from the told version, such as that he and Junsu had had intercourse, and a large parts of Junsu’s philosophy on life. Those were private and Changmin thought it wouldn’t be good telling anyone.
But, there was some other thing here that irked Changmin. This was the first time since long that Changmin had reflected thoroughly, chronologically upon the relationship with Junsu. And the more he did it, the more he felt… there was something here. What something? Something how? He didn’t know how to properly describe it. He just felt it was something that he should have realized a long time ago but which had never really occurred to him. Something… something… Changmin felt it creeping in and part of him dreaded its arrival.
He looked up and met Kyuhyun’s sharp eyes.
“Yes?” Kyuhyun mouthed, ghostly.
It all dawned on Changmin.
Of course it was familiar… now that he reflected on it, he realized. Everything about Junsu, the ambivalences and contradictions of his personality, the admirers he had around him, the weird but daring ideas he gave Changmin, the way he led Changmin into his world and became to Changmin a sort of mentor… all of these laid in a set of psychological laws that Changmin was expert at.
The laws of seduction.
You shower the victim with attention. You then confuse them with abiguities. You impress them with unthinkable ideas and audacity. You give them promises of pleasure. You appear surrounded by admirers. You let your occasional absences be felt. You master the art of indirectness.
Why did it only occur to Changmin now, when Changmin used to use these very principles to draw people to him?
But come to think of it, even Changmin had never been a full practitioner because he never went to the end of it - Changmin never practiced the last and most deadly part of the Laws.
You lead the victim in your circle, isolate him, and then convert him to be like you.
Changmin felt nauseated.
He directed his eyes, full of lost feelings, to meet those dark orbs of Kyuhyun. How could Kyuhyun see it clearer than Changmin? Changmin remembered, when they were young they were always together, and Changmin being prodigious at telling the essence of the world, always told Kyuhyun about his observations. But, nobody, even the best scholar on human thoughts, could have his sight completely clear when dealing with his own feelings. Especially romantic feelings. So there was Kyuhyun, who learnt Changmin’s methods, who would always use those methods to see for Changmin and tell Changmin things he couldn’t himself see.
But Changmin felt it impossible that Junsu could be trying to get close to him for anything. It was… impossible.
Kyuhyun caught that look of incredulity in Changmin’s eyes.
Kyuhyun plucked the daisy out of its place in the flower vase in the middle of the table; the sound of which, thought almost inaudible, starled Changmin. Kyuhyun played with the red petals between his white fingers.
“I saw that Prendergast painting on Junsu’s wall just now. Such a masterpiece. I like it so much. So you brought it with you to Junsu’s place too?
“But actually, my favorite among those you have in your collection is that one by van Gogh, the watercolor ‘Sunflowers’. How much did that bidder offer for it last time? Was it 2 million? Or 3? Ah, they should have known any number would be useless. The heir of the Shim family doesn’t need their money… he only cares about art, he would never sell art for money…
“Right?”
Each of Kyuhyun’s soft words echoed in Changmin’s head like hammers. Changmin felt the world around him going dark.
Kyuhyun had drawled upon “money”. True, Changmin would not give his precious paintings to anyone for money. Because when he did, like he had just given Junsu the “Sunflowers”, he would do it with such earnest that he even forgot the hefty monetary value of the work of art.
The painting was worth a fortune. And more than that.
Was that what Junsu wanted from Changmin? Was it what this mind manipulation game all about?
End 27
Fandom: DB5K
Pairings: Changmin x Junsu (MinSu), Yoochun x Junsu, Yunho x Jaejoong
Genre: Romance, Angst
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: They are not mine.
Theme music: Debussy - “La Soiree dans Grenade” - Van Cliburn
“So basically they want you to come back,” Kyuhyun sipped a bit tea, “The message I have to deliver ends here. Now on to the main thing, what do you plan to do once leaving the family forever?”
“Living like a normal person. Becoming… an architect.” Changmin looked at the fingertips of his two hands touching each other.
“A normal person?” The corner of Kyuhyun’s lips curled up. “As in, living in such a neighborhood that you’re staying at now? I could never have imagined you without all the luxury. Won’t you be missing your baby Alfa Romeo, also your baby Porsche?”
Changmin chose not to comment.
“Changmin, we’ve been close since childhood… nobody knows what situation you’re in right now better than I do.” Seeing what he’d been saying didn’t quite have any effect, Kyuhyun dropped the playful act and started getting serious. “I need not to remind you this, of what we have been taught all our life, that we can’t just think of only ourselves, right?”
“It’s not that I don’t think about the family,” Changmin said, “I’m just a normal person, if forced to do what I don’t want to, I don’t think I can contribute much. It’s not beneficial for anyone anyway.”
“You’re tactful, Minnie. I can’t speak against you. But I think it’s not your true thoughts. You’ve changed much, and no longer truthful to me,” Kyuhyun played with the funny-looking spoon in his glass. “Who caused you this way?”
“What?” Changmin wrinkled his brow.
Kyuhyun took his time by tilting his head, as if listening to the Debussy piece played in the cafe at the moment. It was “La soiree dans Grenade” by Debussy. It had just started. The slow music, sounding tentative like a pair of feet dancing the habanera rhythm, at this particular moment made the whole scene strangely suspensive.
Changmin stared at Kyuhyun.
However, what left Kyuhyun’s mouth the next moment had nothing to do with the topic they had been discussing (or so Changmin thought). “So that cutie is the famous Kim Junsu?” Kyuhyun asked.
Changmin felt irritated by the sudden change of subject and also by that Kyuhyun had just called Junsu a “cutie”.
“Yeah. Kim Junsu.”
“Didn’t know you guys were… friends,” Kyuhyun made an expressive face that further irritated his cousin.
“Yes, we are.” Changmin said confidently but it felt lame. In truth Changmin couldn’t even brand the kind of relationship he was having with Junsu.
“Aish, time really does change things. If it was just 2 years ago, there wouldn’t be anything happening in your life that I wouldn’t know about, and nothing in mine that wouldn’t you,” Kyuhyun said with a tinge of nostalgia in his voice, that got Changmin feel sad somehow too. It was true. Changmin and Kyuhyun had grown up together and had always been the best of friends, until Changmin had chosen to enroll in majors totally different from that of Kyuhyun’s.
Changmin felt he had been too unfairly sceptical. Kyuhyun would never mean harm. He should relax.
“I’m… fine, I guess.”
“Hey, why don’t you tell me about what has been going on in your life?” Kyuhyun changed his tone, sounding exuberant like the Kyuhyun Changmin had always known. “Of course, apart from the part you got kicked out of the house, which I already know of, and which is beneficial to me as maybe I can be the heir now, hoho.”
Changmin realized he had missed Kyuhyun’s trademark “hoho” laugh so much. “Bastard, you can never be the heir even if I’m not anymore.” Changmin smirked.
“You dare me?” Changmin felt Kyuhyun’s feet kicking him under the table.
“Anyway, tell me. Don’t leave out the Kim Junsu part, of how you met him. I’ve been wanting to make his acquaintance since long but never have got the chance.”
It was actually a redundant reminder because along the story, unconsciously Changmin included Junsu everywhere. Meanwhile, Kyuhyun enjoyed his glass of iced Darjeerling tea.
Kyuhyun was done with the tea when Changmin was done with his story.
When Kyuhyun looked up, there was a look in his eyes that made Changmin feel he had just fallen into some sort of trap. It was no longer playful, but was there a glint that was… dangerous in there. Changmin felt he wouldn’t like what Kyuhyun was going to say next.
“So… he didn’t like you first, he was kind of… aloof? You were attracted by his talents and his wits, but feeling also that he liked you? You decided you wanted nothing more from him than to get him to play some music at Yuri’s birthday party, but then along came Park Yoochun? Also Choi Siwon? You then discovered there was more in Kim Junsu than you thought and it had quite an effect on you? Finally when you left the House you ran to his place? And learnt some more things during your stay?”
Changmin didn’t like how Kyuhyun summarized the relationship he had with Junsu. Kyuhyun had made it sound too simple, when there were a lot of other layers to that. Of course, there were too parts that Changmin deliberatly omitted from the told version, such as that he and Junsu had had intercourse, and a large parts of Junsu’s philosophy on life. Those were private and Changmin thought it wouldn’t be good telling anyone.
But, there was some other thing here that irked Changmin. This was the first time since long that Changmin had reflected thoroughly, chronologically upon the relationship with Junsu. And the more he did it, the more he felt… there was something here. What something? Something how? He didn’t know how to properly describe it. He just felt it was something that he should have realized a long time ago but which had never really occurred to him. Something… something… Changmin felt it creeping in and part of him dreaded its arrival.
He looked up and met Kyuhyun’s sharp eyes.
“Yes?” Kyuhyun mouthed, ghostly.
It all dawned on Changmin.
Of course it was familiar… now that he reflected on it, he realized. Everything about Junsu, the ambivalences and contradictions of his personality, the admirers he had around him, the weird but daring ideas he gave Changmin, the way he led Changmin into his world and became to Changmin a sort of mentor… all of these laid in a set of psychological laws that Changmin was expert at.
The laws of seduction.
You shower the victim with attention. You then confuse them with abiguities. You impress them with unthinkable ideas and audacity. You give them promises of pleasure. You appear surrounded by admirers. You let your occasional absences be felt. You master the art of indirectness.
Why did it only occur to Changmin now, when Changmin used to use these very principles to draw people to him?
But come to think of it, even Changmin had never been a full practitioner because he never went to the end of it - Changmin never practiced the last and most deadly part of the Laws.
You lead the victim in your circle, isolate him, and then convert him to be like you.
Changmin felt nauseated.
He directed his eyes, full of lost feelings, to meet those dark orbs of Kyuhyun. How could Kyuhyun see it clearer than Changmin? Changmin remembered, when they were young they were always together, and Changmin being prodigious at telling the essence of the world, always told Kyuhyun about his observations. But, nobody, even the best scholar on human thoughts, could have his sight completely clear when dealing with his own feelings. Especially romantic feelings. So there was Kyuhyun, who learnt Changmin’s methods, who would always use those methods to see for Changmin and tell Changmin things he couldn’t himself see.
But Changmin felt it impossible that Junsu could be trying to get close to him for anything. It was… impossible.
Kyuhyun caught that look of incredulity in Changmin’s eyes.
Kyuhyun plucked the daisy out of its place in the flower vase in the middle of the table; the sound of which, thought almost inaudible, starled Changmin. Kyuhyun played with the red petals between his white fingers.
“I saw that Prendergast painting on Junsu’s wall just now. Such a masterpiece. I like it so much. So you brought it with you to Junsu’s place too?
“But actually, my favorite among those you have in your collection is that one by van Gogh, the watercolor ‘Sunflowers’. How much did that bidder offer for it last time? Was it 2 million? Or 3? Ah, they should have known any number would be useless. The heir of the Shim family doesn’t need their money… he only cares about art, he would never sell art for money…
“Right?”
Each of Kyuhyun’s soft words echoed in Changmin’s head like hammers. Changmin felt the world around him going dark.
Kyuhyun had drawled upon “money”. True, Changmin would not give his precious paintings to anyone for money. Because when he did, like he had just given Junsu the “Sunflowers”, he would do it with such earnest that he even forgot the hefty monetary value of the work of art.
The painting was worth a fortune. And more than that.
Was that what Junsu wanted from Changmin? Was it what this mind manipulation game all about?
End 27