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Yunho stubbed his cigarette and stepped into the living room, shrugging off the cool air as he closed the balcony door. He looked up at the clock and frowned. It was past 3am, yet there was still no news from Jaejoong. The latter promised to call him once he touched down in Seoul, which was supposed to be over two hours ago.
Just then, Yunho’s phone pinged with a notification. It was the fromm app.
“I’ve reached Seoul. I ate the nutrition supplements that my wife prepared for me so I’m totally not tired~”
“The plane was delayed twice so I had to wait a long time T_T”
Yunho let out a weary chuckle at the mention of wife. Jaejoong had assured him that this was just his way of fielding questions about his love life, but sometimes, the insecure part of Yunho thinks that just maybe, Jaejoong loves his fans more than he loves Yunho.
Although, to be fair, Yunho is amazed at how Jaejoong is almost always able to sieve through and pick out his messages from the countless thousands that he’s receiving.
“Jaejoong-ah, I’m glad to know that you’re back in Seoul. Rest well. Goodnight.”
Within 30 seconds, there was an incoming call from Jaejoong.
“Yunho-yah, it’s so late! Why haven’t you slept?”
“I couldn’t sleep knowing you were still up in the air. And now I can’t sleep because I’m a little sad that you texted the fans before me.”
Jaejoong’s signature giggle floated through the line. It was a sound that Yunho would never tire of hearing.
“I didn’t want to bother you. Don’t you have a schedule tomorrow? Oh, right, it’s past 12. Happy birthday Yunho-yah. I love you to the moon and back. And welcome to the 40s club!”
“It always seemed like a milestone whenever the first digit of my age changed, but this year, it just feels like any other year. Thank you, baby. I love growing old together with you. But I’m afraid your eyesight will deteriorate and you won’t be able to pick out my fromm messages anymore.”
“Hey, don’t pour salt on my wounds. My left eyesight has really been getting worse. Ugh.. Anyway, speaking of fromm, is it okay if I check in there again for a while? I feel like I left without saying a proper goodbye. Call you again tomorrow? You should get some sleep.”
“Alright, go say goodnight to your girlfriends and wives.” Yunho tried to sound casual and pass it off as a joke, but some of his jealousy still seeped through.
“Still jealous? You know that you’ll always be my number one. Goodnight, my love. Sleep tight.”
Yunho does know, but there’s just something about the 3am air that allows all these toxic thoughts to surface. And maybe it’s his birthday, so he’s extra clingy. All Yunho wants to do now is to wrap his arms around Jaejoong and fall asleep to the rhythm of his heart.
But he can’t. So he turns to the next best thing, and opens the fromm app.
“Oh, it’s 26 minutes.”
“2626~ it’s a cute number.”
Yunho’s heart swelled with love at this small gesture. Even through a public app, Jaejoong never failed to show his love for Yunho in his own adorable ways.
Half an hour later, Yunho’s phone pinged with a KakaoTalk notification.
“Yunho-yah, I’ve washed up and am getting ready for bed. I’m hoping that you’ve fallen asleep and will only see this in the morning, but if you’re still up and want to talk, I’m all ears.”
Yunho hates that Jaejoong can read him like an open book even through a phone screen, but his lips can’t stop curling up.
“Can’t sleep. Miss you.”
“Can we just text? I need to preserve my voice for the fanmeet tomorrow.”
“Miss you too.”
“Let’s go have a proper birthday celebration once we have some free time!”
“I miss our Mokpo trip~”
“The one where our eagle-eyed fans caught a photo of me carrying your jacket?”
“We have to be more careful next time~”
“I’ll see when I can squeeze out a few days amidst my album preparations.”
“I forgot about that photo! Thanks for the reminder 😱”
“Anyway, it’s been so many days since you logged in to Lysn.”
“Your last conversation about bread was cute though. I’ve saved the list as a reference for when I next visit Tokyo 😋”
Yunho’s heart warmed. He knew that Jaejoong subscribed to his chats on Lysn just because he was doing the same with Jaejoong’s fromm, but he didn’t think that Jaejoong would be reading all those messages in detail. His chats had a more serious tone as compared to Jaejoong’s—talking about his activities and exchanging formalities like saying ‘happy birthday’ and ‘cheer up’. He tried to make it special by always recommending a song before he logged out. These were all details that Jaejoong already knew.
He was typing his reply halfway when another message came in.
“Changmin went to a pharmacy the other day and they were playing Mirotic 🥹”
“Ah. The good old days 🙂”
“How did you know? Are you subscribed to Minnie’s chat?”
“Yeppp 😅”
“The app was recommending me the TVXQ bundle when I tried to purchase yours. You know how I can’t say no to good offers.”
“But most of the time Minnie’s chats are so boring. Always talking about soccer 🥱”
Yunho chuckled. Even though Jaejoong was acting nonchalant, he always had a soft spot for their youngest, and was always looking out for him, even though they don’t keep in contact often.
“I’ll tell Minnie that you said he’s boring when we meet for rehearsals ;)”
“By the way, how’s Junsu? He’s doing musical after musical. That must be tiring.”
“Nooo! Don’t tell Changmin that.”
“Do you seriously not want him to talk to me for the next 6 months? 😭”
“And you know you can just call or text Junsu, right? He won’t bite.”
Yunho typed his reply, deleted it, and tried again.
“I know.. But I don’t really have anything to say to him.”
“Just wanted to know if he’s doing okay.”
“He’s more than okay, so don’t worry, birthday boy 🙂”
“Anyway! Did you see the japchae I made with the basket of vegetables a fan gave me? It was so fresh and delicious!”
“It must have been delicious because of your cooking ^^ Are there leftovers?”
“Hah! I knew you’d ask. I already passed your portion to Jin-i noona, she’ll be delivering it to you with Umma’s kimchi.”
“Great~ ^^ My kimchi stock is running low.”
“Don’t tell anyone, but I think your mom’s kimchi is better than mine’s.”
“🤣 I think everyone in the family knows. That’s not really a secret anymore, Yunho-yah.”
Yunho rolled on his back, laughing as he imagined Jaejoong doing the same. He’s amazed at how Jaejoong always knew his exact feelings, and always knew what to say to make him feel better. It took them a long time to get to where they are today, and Yunho has always been grateful for Jaejoong’s presence in his life.
“I regret setting the dress code of J-Party to feline.”
“There were So. Much. Leopard. Prints.”
“And tiger stripes 😭”
“My eyes were seeing patches of black the whole night, even when I slept.”
“Your idea of denim and black is so much cooler.”
“Of course ^^ you even wore that combination on your second day of the Seoul J-Party.”
“I want to say that it was deliberate, but you’d know if I’m lying.”
“It was a happy coincidence!”
“It means our hearts were connected ❤️”
When the sun rises, Yunho would have to don the persona of being the hardworking, passionate, U-Know Yunho. But for now, in this pocket of space suspended between dusk and dawn, he wanted to stretch this moment out a little longer.
This moment where he was just Jung Yunho, a man whose whole world is Kim Jaejoong.