In My Next Life (A KaiSoo Fanfic)

Chapter Four

"Yellow Wildflowers"

Jihoon was always the first person Kyungsoo would go to for love advice. However, what made the connection between them strong, and particularly disturbing at the same time, was that they practically needed each other's approval on guys they were attracted to. There were several occasions when they attempted to go on dates and not tell each other even the tiniest detail. But, as it turned out, that didn't work too well. Within a week, they ended up dumping whatever guy they thought they liked because the other hadn't met him. 

From then on, in order to spare themselves from the stress, they made a pact to introduce each other before they put the boyfriend label on any guy. Jihoon, quite contrary from Kyungsoo, was more of a harsh critic himself, but it was only because he had known Kyungsoo for almost fifteen years and knew better than anyone the kind of person he deserved to be with. Words, for Jihoon, couldn't accurately describe the kind of man Kyungsoo should be with, but he sure did know one thing--it was not Jongin.

Jihoon hated Jongin. From the moment he met him, which wasn't until two months after Kyungsoo officially declared their relationship as real, he knew Jongin was a bad egg, a bad egg who would only drag his best friend down with him. And the constant calls from Kyungsoo at ten, eleven, and sometimes even twelve at night saying that Jongin ditched him for work were only a thin pillar of the pyramid of reasons Jihoon detested Jongin, the fact that he refused to tell his own family about him being on top. 

But the fact that Kyungsoo let it go on for over a year was what maddened him the most. How could he be so in love with someone who clearly didn't harbor enough respect for him to introduce him to his parents or at least make more time for him? Jihoon kept a sock in his mouth, though. After all, it had been a while since he saw his best friend as happy as he was when he was with Jongin and he was no position to take that away from him. Seeing him with scum like Jongin did make him grateful to have an amazing boyfriend like Soonyoung, though, and that was always a plus.

"You should let me help you," Jihoon said, standing by the elder's side as he put the final touches on lunch.

Kyungsoo turned to him and smiled gratefully. "For the millionth time," he said as he chortled airily, "I'm fine. I can do this on my own, I don't need your help. You and Soonyoung are the guests, anyway, and in my family that means you shouldn't be lifting a finger unless it's for the remote."

"Yeah, and also in your family, if you're homosexual, you should be disowned," Jihoon retaliated for the sole purpose of making a point but causing Kyungsoo to stop immediately nonetheless.

"They didn't disown me," he said. "They just threw me out and banned me from ever showing my face around them again."

"Practically disowning," the younger replied, shrugging and not seeing the difference.

"Look," Kyungsoo said, wanting to forget about the current subject, "let's just not talk about how my entire family hates me and talk about something happy." Jihoon rolled his eyes but nodded in agreement anyway, knowing that if he dug too deep there would even more excruciating consequences. "Wait, didn't you tell me you were going to meet Soonyoung's sisters or something last weekend?" he asked, glancing at Jihoon as he brought some of the food over to the table.

"Yeah, we went," Jihoon said, deciding to give up on offering help and sit instead.

"Well, how was it?" he asked. "What were they like? Were they nice?"

"Yeah, they were very nice." Jihoon nodded. "Besides the fact that they criticized my every feature from my height all the way to my hairstyle choices, I think we'll get along just swell." Kyungsoo laughed at his sarcasm, shaking his head a little as he carried the last of the side dishes over to the table. However, right as he was about to call Soonyoung over from the living room, he heard someone knock a few times on his door from the outside and scrunched his face up slightly in confusion before striding over to see who it could be.