My Other Half [Jaehyungparkian] (suspended)

Chapter Seven - 1

If the fight they experienced seemed left behind, Younghyun was still convinced their relationship was not as normal as it should be. Not that Jaehyung was still avoiding him, because he did not, nor did he seemed cold or doing grudgingly their rehearsal... not at all, more like the contrary, but something was different.

Jaehyung had the same enthusiasm as the one he sported when they first met, he slowly began to talk again to Younghyun the way he used to, yet more teasing and sarcastic as he grew more comfortable. Nevertheless, the ghost of his phobia kept haunting each of their work session.

Jaehyung was pushing himself as hard as possible, but none of the attempts was successful.

He worked with Sungjin and received specific support twice a week from a vocal trainer. He never actually sang with him, but the woman gave him different tips, from regular stress fright management to breathing techniques.

If the oldest determination did not waver, Younghyun, however, felt himself lacking Something.

He believed he fulfilled his commitment perfectly. He followed all the orders he received from the management, went to all the classes they scheduled for him, respected his diet and stopped interacting with his female counterpart as is customary. He could not say he particularly enjoyed it, but he did not mind.

As per their wish, he also memorised each detail of Jaehyung's behaviour, from the way he talked, intonation rising when he was happy to the way he kept putting back his glasses up his nose bridge, even when they were not falling. His smile, his eyes, his half-closed eyelids when he was laughing, his high pitched voice when he was whining or the sweet deeper one when he was explaining something, his oblivious attitude when he was focused on a task and the genuine gentleness in his face when he was meeting someone... yeah he knew all of this pretty well by now.

Even though he was not sure to understand their goal when they asked him to do it, it turned out easier than he thought it would be; Almost too easy. The slight warmth he felt when he was with Jaehyung might not be completely foreign to his tendency to enjoy this task more than any other.

The ringtone from his phone called him back on earth. On the screen, Jaebum's famous eye-smile greeted him.

"Jaebum-ah?" he said as he picked the call.

"Younghyun? I don't have much time, but we will hold our first concert on Friday, I'd be glad if you could come. I'll give you a ticket of course." Jaebum's voice quickly said in the receiver.

"No hello, no greeting, what is that? Did the fame got to your head already?"

"Younghyun!" Jaebum scolded him a bit, guilt in his voice. "I'm sorry, you know I don't mean it like that..."

"I'm just kidding, you should be used to it by know. Also, I know you're busy now." He heard a grunt from the other side of the line and contained his chuckle. "I will be there, for sure. I would have even without your call, I already asked for a ticket."

Younghyun could almost see Jaebum's shy smile when only silence answered his confession. Even if he had now a lot to do, he surely kept a close eye on his best friend's activity.

"Thank you," Jaebum replied, seemingly unfazed, but Younghyun knew better. "We're performing at the stadium at..."

"I know, your posters are quite hard to miss..." Younghyun joked without letting his friend going further, "especially the one on the company's building I see every morning."

"I'll send you two tickets then, so you can come with a friend. That is if you have any since I will be on the stage," Jaebum teased jokingly.

Younghyun wanted to reply that he did have friends, but opted out of it. It was not a secret that he had never been the friendly sociable type of guy in the agency. He had lost touch with his old friends when he left Canada to enter the agency and beside Jaebum, he did not go along well with the trainees. In fact, Jaehyung was the first one he spent so much time with for at least a year. Could he ask Jaehyung though? After everything, he did not want to mess up. Or hope.

"Think about it. See you there, Younghyun~" Jaebum said and hung up right away.

Younghyun looked at his phone and fidgeted it for a moment. The concert was in two days and now that Jaebum implanted the idea in his mind, Younghyun really wanted to go with Jaehyung. He fidgeted with his phone, weighing up the pros and cons of calling the singer now. He felt stupid, worse than a teenager worrying for their first date when he did not even know if he could truly call Jaehyung a friend. Yet, this was a good opportunity to get closer to Jaehyung – professionally, of course – and to study about their sunbae too, maybe even to build a real friendship. Nothing else, Younghyun repeated to himself as he scrolled through his contacts.

"Brian?"Jaehyung picked up after the second ring.

"Oh, Jae!" Younghyun exclaimed, taken aback, "How are you?"

"I'm good, how about you?"

"Me too."

The silence took place and Younghyun felt awkward. It was no big deal, but here he was making it sound so unusual.

"You rarely call, is there something wrong?" Jaehyung asked slightly worried.

"Nothing's wrong!" Younghyun reassured quickly, pleased to receive so easily the latter's attention. "I just received a call from Jaebum. Do you remember him?"

"Oh, of course, I see him on TV pretty often, too. How is he doing?"

"Good. Well... he invited me for his concert on Friday, and now I have two tickets so I wondered if maybe... you'd want to come or something... only if you have no plans and it doesn't bother you of course," Younghyun clumsily explained with the confidence of three years old toddler.

"Sure! I'd be happy to come with you," Jaehyung agreed, sounding surprisingly eager for someone who did not listen to this kind of music too often. Younghyun did not expect it to be so easy. A rush of pleasant warmth ran through his veins as per usual with Jaehyung. He felt unexpectedly good.

"For real? Nice!"

"You have your acting lessons tomorrow, right?"

"I do."

"Okay, so see you on Friday, Brian," Jaehyung said.

Younghyun did not answer immediately but he noticed the call hanging, Jaehyung visibly waiting for an answer.

"Oh yeah, see you on Friday!"

When they hang up, Younghyun could not stop smiling. He and Jaehyung were truly becoming closer. True friends, maybe or maybe something else, but they were going somewhere, Younghyun thought. He felt different, happier than he had been lately, whipped, he accused himself. He could not deny it, suddenly, he felt complete.

.oO0°*°0Oo.

Sorry I was taken by work a lot lately and couldn't find the strength to write Oo

I hope you like to follow Brian's whipped self XD

I have a few more things planned for this chapter, so I'll try to update soon!