“Yesterday was a great success for you!” Donghae clapped. Ryeowook smiled and snuggled closer to Yesung.
“I always make a good impression,” Yesung said, lifting his head arrogantly.
“Eunhyuk should learn from you,” Donghae sighed.
“He’s been over to your parents’ twelve times!”
“And he had yet to make a good impression. Every time he’s been over there, he does something wrong. Last time he accidentally made the bookshelf fall over.”
“What’s so bad about that?” Yesung asked.
“It was nailed to the wall,” Donghae explained.
“He just doesn’t have the ability I do. Mothers are easy, fathers are harder but they all bend to my charms,” Yesung grinned.
“What charms?” Heechul asked, coming down the stairs. Yesung glared at him.
“Shut up, Kim Heechul. At least Ryeowook’s mom knew I was a male.”
“Yah, I’m surprised she knew you were human!”
“Hankyung, control your lover!” Yesung demanded of Hankyung who had just walked in the door with groceries.
“What happened?” Hankyung asked Donghae.
“Yesung said he had charms, Heechul said he didn’t, Yesung said parents knew he was male, Heechul was surprised they knew he was human,” Donghae summarized for the Chinese man.
“Oh…when Heechul met my parents, they thought he was pretty. My mother took me aside and asked what gender he was so there were no conflicts,” Hankyung said thoughtfully. Heechul went over and slapped Hankyung lightly.
“I thought we were going to keep that between ourselves!” Heechul yelled. Yesung smirked and held Ryeowook closer.
“But you love me,” Hankyung smiled. Heechul flicked his forehead affectionately.
“You’re lucky I do.”
“I don’t know why Eeteuk asked us to stay with you for today and tonight. They’re coming back tomorrow and you guys took good care of yourselves yesterday,” Eunhyuk said. “Besides! Me and Donghae are younger than you are. Would Heechul listen to us if we told him not to do something?”
“It’s nice to be living back here for a bit. After we moved out I missed Hankyung’s food a lot. And I missed Minnie’s obsession with pumpkin,” Donghae smiled. Ryeowook nodded.
“Hankyung-ah, can you make us Beijing fried rice again?” Ryeowook asked.
“For my little dongsaeng,” Hankyung agreed.
“Watch who you’re calling your dongsaeng,” Yesung put a possessive arm around Ryeowook.
“But he is my dongsaeng!”
“But he’s my boyfriend.”
“This is why I’m glad we moved out,” Donghae commented. Eunhyuk nodded and poked Donghae. The two got involved in a poking war and became completely oblivious to the argument that Hankyung and Yesung were having over Ryeowook.
The poking lead to pillow fighting which led to Heechul slapping them both for being so disruptive which led to a huge pillow fight between Heechul and Eunhae. It consisted mainly of Donghae and Eunhyuk throwing pillows at a screaming Heechul faster than anyone thought possible.
Hankyung was brought into it after Heechul yelled for his help. A pillow hit Yesung in the face who immediately retaliated by picking up five pillows and launching them at a laughing Eunhyuk. Ryeowook watched all his hyungs with wide eyes, slightly thankful that he was deemed the eternal magnae.
~₪~₪~₪~₪~
“Are you sure about that bit of information?”
“Affirmative. Taekyung saw it with his own eyes.”
“What of his friends?”
“Two of them are gone on a business trip. The others are still there. Two more have joined them.”
“I see. Well you can leave them alone now. They have served their purpose.”
“Shall we dispose of them?”
“They aren’t worth it. Besides, Sungmin’s death will mean more if they are alive to hear about it.”
“That is truly sadistic boss.”
“Isn’t it? One of my better qualities. But enough. The plan is only half finished, we need more.”
~₪~₪~₪~₪~
Sungmin was gently planting bulbs into pots. He had already planted what he had called the Kyuhyun and Sungmin flowers and placed them on the coffee table. There was little space left in the apartment for more flowers but Kyuhyun had made space by getting rid of some of his plants.
Sungmin smiled happily has he placed an amaryllis bulb in its place. Kyuhyun had bought him five different flowers that he had chosen out of Kyuhyun’s massive collection. He picked up the bulb of an orchid and placed it into the dark wet soil.
There was something relaxing about planting flowers. He enjoyed it and it helped him think better. No wonder Kyuhyun had so many. He had moved his lilies to the spare room and created a shelf for Sungmin to put his flowers on.
Right now there were simply pots filled with soil but Sungmin knew that one day, there would be flowers sprouting from the earth. He smiled as he placed a tulip bulb into his last pot. His slender fingers tucked the earth around the spherical shape. Sungmin smiled and picked up the three plants he had just planted. He walked to the coffee table and picked up the two pots he had placed there earlier.
He felt very satisfied with his work and he put the plants down on the shelf and stepped back, wondering how to arrange them. He pulled the Kyuhyun flower and Sungmin flower to the middle. He put the amaryllis beside the Kyuhyun flower and he put the orchid beside the Sungmin flower. He decided to put the tulip behind the Sungmin and Kyuhyun flowers.
Feeling that his shelf looked a little bare, he walked over to the window ledge and picked up a window box that was overflowing with ivy. He brought it back to his shelf and placed the box behind his plants and arranged the ivy so the long tendrils fell from behind his plants and gently grazed the floor beneath.
Sungmin smiled at the result and flopped down on the sofa behind him in order to get a little rest. Gardening was tiring and he wasn’t even outside. He smiled at the apartment around him. He felt as though he could live here forever. A heavy breeze blew through the open window, making the curtains blow wildly and get twisted in a wall lamp.
Sighing, Sungmin got up off the chair and went to untangle the curtains from the light. He reached up and tugged on the curtain. It didn’t come loose from the lamp. He tugged harder and the curtain got even more tangled.
He couldn’t reach the knot, it was too high. He looked around for something he could use. The small end table was low enough. Sungmin brought it over and climbed on top of it. He managed to untangle the knot and he let the curtain down.
As he was climbing down, his foot hit the drawer that had come slightly opened and he fell off of the table. After making sure that he hadn’t broken anything, he looked around to see papers had fallen out of the drawer.
He started collecting them and putting them into a pile. He was about to put them away when the first page caught his eye. He knew that going through somebody else’s things without their permission was considered rude but his curiosity was too strong. It was a letter addressed to Kyuhyun from his mother.
Kyuhyunnie,
Please don’t destroy this letter when you get it. Because you ran away, things have been in chaos. The company needs someone to take control and run it. I cannot do it because I have never been taught that way. We need you back home, Kyuhyun. Your sister won’t run the company and I agree that she shouldn’t have to do it. You are our only hope, my son. Leave your flowers, they won’t help you in life. Stop fooling around, Kyuhyun and come home. You’re a man and it’s high time you acted like one. Your soon-to-be wife is anxious about you. Give her no more reasons to be.
Love from, your umma
Sungmin’s eyes widened. Kyuhyun had run away from home? Sungmin quickly spread out the papers and found four more letters. He quickly checked the dates on the top. The one he had just read was from a year ago. The newest letter was from four months ago. Sungmin took a breath and read.
Kyuhyunnie,
Where are you? Why are you still sitting in your apartment? You should be here at Cho Corporations, running the place. Are you still playing around with your flowers? Grow up, my son. Flowers, although pretty, will not take you very far in life. Do you want to dishonour the memory of your father by running away like you did? A disgrace, Kyuhyun that is what you have become. It was such an embarrassment to the family; I cannot believe you ran away like that. Come home, Kyuhyun. Your place is here. Your wedding is in three weeks. I expect to see you at that altar. Do not disappoint me, my son. You came home for your birthday, you can come for your wedding.
Love from, your umma
Kyuhyun,
I am ashamed of you. You cannot live your life this way! You bride, your fiancé was crying all night when you wrote that you would and could not come back. How dare you break this arrangement that we’ve had since you were in high school? It is utterly disgraceful to do so! You have lowered your family in the eyes of society by what you have done. When you did not appear, a lifetime of friendship was forgotten and now we are enemies with our once close friends because of you. I hope you’re satisfied, Kyuhyun. You have created enmity between our once close bonds.
From, your umma
Kyuhyun,
Are you trying to disgrace us? Everything you have done seems to be to spite us. You go to work in a grocery store, you’ve thrown away your nice clothes and you’ve become a hermit to society! We did not raise you to act like this! In the eyes of everyone, we are sinking. We were once a prominent family and now we are nothing! The eyes of everyone are looking down on us and when Lim Minhee saw you working at a grocery store and asked me what you were doing there I thought I would die of shame. That is not a respectable profession! You are the heir to the Cho fortune. You were to become the next president of the company!
From, your umma
Mr. Cho Kyuhyun,
I am writing to inform you that you no longer have a place in our family. You have been too much of a disappointment and a great humiliation. You no longer deserve the destiny we set out for you. I have no son any longer, Mr. Cho. I intend to keep it that way. I do not want the name of our family tarnished. We no longer have a use for you. We would also appreciate it if you did repay the money you stole. Do not keep in touch. You have been disowned.
Mrs. Cho Youngmi
Sungmin gaped at the letters. Kyuhyun had left his home voluntarily, gave up a fortune, lived how he wanted and was disowned. And he thought that he had had problems. He couldn’t believe how insensitive he was. Of course Kyuhyun had a past, he was just too caught up in his own world to realize this.
Sungmin could see the similarities between Jiwon and Cho Youngmi, Kyuhyun’s mother. Both of them were concerned about image. They both verbally abused the ones they blamed, although Jiwon did physically abuse people as well. He felt saddened that Kyuhyun had to bear all this. He heard a key turn in the lock and he felt tears start to fall.
Kyuhyun walked through the door and he saw Sungmin standing at the end of the hallway, his eyes sad. As Kyuhyun got closer, he realized that his hyung was crying. Before he could react, Sungmin had run towards him and hugged him tightly.
“Minnie, what’s wrong? Are you hurt? Are you sick? Please tell me what’s wrong,” Kyuhyun pleaded. His heart was beating a million times a minute.
“I’m sorry,” Sungmin whispered. “I’m so sorry.”
“What is it?” Kyuhyun asked, fear tightening his throat. Sungmin lifted his head and gazed into Kyuhyun’s kind, caring eyes.
“I read your letters. I’m sorry for what happened to you. I’m sorry for being so inconsiderate. I should have known that you had a past too. I shouldn’t have poured my problems onto you. I shouldn’t have read your letters, I-” A swift kiss cut off Sungmin’s words. He melted into the touch, his body singing with emotions.
“It’s okay, Minnie. Shh, don’t cry, it’s okay,” Kyuhyun whispered against Sungmin’s lips. He was so relieved that Sungmin wasn’t hurt or sick that he didn’t register what his boyfriend had said until a few moments had passed. He realized that Sungmin would probably want an explanation but he wouldn’t mind giving it. He pulled away slightly from the elder male and touched his forehead to his hyung’s.
“Kyu….would you mind if I asked you what happened?” Sungmin murmured breathlessly. Kyuhyun shook his head gently. He took Sungmin’s hand and led him to the living room where they sat on the sofa. Kyuhyun opened his mouth to begin talking but the words caught in his throat when Sungmin lay down and put his head on Kyuhyun’s lap. Kyuhyun managed to find his voice again after a few seconds.
“A few years ago, I lived in the really rich part of the city. My father headed Cho Corporations, a business company that you might have heard of. They work in the trade market, selling goods and buying them. We were a very well off family but unhappy.
“My mother was a socialite. She loved parties, cotillions, anything where she could gossip and show off. My sister pretended to like it and I think to some extent, she did. My father was never around much, he was always working. My mom was always socializing and I simply waited until I was noticed.
“When I turned nineteen, everything changed. My father died of over exhaustion. I was nineteen and it fell upon me to look after the company. For a while I did, managing the finances, paying off the debts and my mother would be constantly reminding me, ‘Bring honour to our name’.
“Whatever I did wasn’t good enough for her. She always took over or said that she could do it better then did it herself. Then I got fed up. I had had enough of her running the company through me. She could run it herself. But I remained quiet.
“The last straw for me was the day I got home and my mother told me that I was getting married to this girl I had never met in my whole life. I had no idea she existed until that second. My mother didn’t care, she just wanted a suitable match for me. I was tired of my life. I had had enough.
“So I began to make preparations to leave. I bought an apartment and furnished my house and had some of my old stuff moved there. When my mom saw the moving van, I told her I was giving my old things away.. She didn’t care. When I saved enough money to live on for two years, I left. I walked out of the house, caught a taxi and came to my new home.
“For a few months, I lived happily. I was free at the age of nineteen and ready to do what I wanted. I got a job at the grocery store and it paid well enough to keep me going. But I was lonely. So I began filling the apartment with plants and flowers to keep it occupied. I decorated every ledge I could and put a fountain on the balcony. I even started a small flower shop out of my house because it got too crowded in here at one point.
“Things were going pretty well until I got a letter from my mother. She had gotten a call from one of her friends who had met up with one of my customers from the flower shop. My mother wrote to me the minute she found out I was a florist.”
“There’s nothing bad about being a florist,” Sungmin murmured, thinking of Siwon.
“You haven’t met my mother. If it doesn’t pay more than 1,000,000 won a day, it’s not a good profession. My mother told me to come home and help the company because it was ‘failing’. I ignored her. She sent me another letter which I tore up, telling me that my fiancé was worried. I wore no engagement ring. I didn’t care.
“I went back for my twentieth birthday and it was an okay celebration except when my mother wanted to take a picture but I had no father to take it with. So my uncle stepped in and then he told the photographer that he was my father and the picture has the caption ‘Kyuhyun’s 20thBirthday – Love from your umma and appa’ and my mother, my uncle, and I have our arms around each other and my sister is posing in front. That photo makes me sick.
“I went back to my apartment and my mother didn’t try to stop me. Then I got a letter saying that my wedding was in a few weeks. I was stunned. I hadn’t even said yes and they were going on with it? I didn’t go. I didn’t want to be married to someone I would never love. That is sickening.
“I missed my wedding. My mother wasn’t too pleased. She sent me a letter, calling me a disgrace and telling me that I caused a feud between the two families. I wanted her forgiveness but at the same time, I didn’t. When she found out I was working in a grocery store she sent another letter, telling me of her displeasure.
“When she got a letter from the bank, telling her that I had become an elite member, she blew her top. She was certain that I was somehow stealing money from her. She never thought that I might have earned it. She sent me a letter asking me to pay her back. I sent one back to her, saying that I earned it all. She threatened me with her lawyers, I threatened her with mine. Finally, she sent me one letter saying I was disowned and that she still wanted the money. I guess she wanted me to go crawling back to her. I will never do that,” Kyuhyun finished.
Sungmin lay there in silence for a minute.
“We are very similar. I’m sorry you had to go through all that. Someone as nice and kind as you are doesn’t deserve that. But I’m glad you’re free from your bindings,” Sungmin sat up and kissed Kyuhyun softly.
“I’m glad of that too. And I also have you. My life is perfect,” Kyuhyun smiled. He kissed Sungmin on the forehead. Sungmin smiled. He wrapped his arms around Kyuhyun’s neck and hugged him tightly.
~₪~₪~₪~₪~
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