By the time Jongin and Yixing arrived at the warehouse where Sehun’s photo shoot was taking place, it was already in session, to their surprise.

This time, there were two backdrops set up: a white one and a black one. Each backdrop was surrounded by a tight half-circle of camera equipment. Sehun was dressed in a navy blue button-up shirt and black dress pants as he stood in front of the white backdrop while Sunggyu haphazardly waved his roll of paper around and spewed out instructions for his cameramen to follow. They were standing right in front of the model, their giant camera lenses trained on his neck and wrists.

Meanwhile, Suji was wearing an ivory-colored, long-sleeved cocktail dress as she posed prettily in front of the black backdrop. Jongin didn’t recognize the other photo shoot director, who was wearing an olive green beret on top of his wavy brown hair, but noted that he seemed to be less hyperactive than Sunggyu was. He wasn’t screaming directions at the top of his lungs, which Suji and his cameramen were probably grateful for. Jongin knew he was appreciative of this quieter, calmer style. Sunggyu’s voice was too grating to listen to after the tenth screech that escaped his mouth, so the artist was glad that he didn’t have to deal with listening to two annoyingly loud directors during today’s photo shoot. He probably would have gone straight back home, if that had been the case. Even listening to Jongdae’s high-pitched, whiny voice would have been a better alternative.

“Wow, I guess it’s a full house today,” Yixing commented as he also looked around the crowded warehouse. “I wonder what they’re shooting for.”

“Sehun mentioned last week that it’s a jewelry photo shoot,” the artist reported while scanning for Donghae amongst the crowd of people that were hovering a few feet behind the half-circles of photographers. “He didn’t specify anything more than that though.”

“It must be something big,” Yixing inferred as the two friends walked over to join the crowd, “if they had to bring in a director for each model.”

They soon spotted Donghae, who seemed to be unusually relaxed as he softly hummed to himself and gently rocked on his heels. When he noticed the other two, he greeted them ecstatically and ushered them over to the middle so that they had a decent view of both photo shoots taking place.

“Are we late?” Yixing pointed at Sehun who was currently swarmed by several of Sunggyu’s junior assistants as they fixed his clothing and hair. “It seems like they’ve been shooting for a while now, which doesn’t usually happen until after we arrive.”

A giddy chuckle escaped Donghae’s lips as he answered, “We started on time today. I can’t remember the last time Sehun showed up on set when he was scheduled to, but thank god he didn’t stall earlier.”

“What’s going on today?” This time, Jongin was the one to ask, since he couldn’t imagine why his best friend would suddenly break his pattern. Not to mention, he was a bit curious to know who the other photo shoot director was, so he continued while gesturing to the man wearing the beret, “And who’s that?”

“That’s Lee Taemin,” Donghae first answered when he turned his head to see who Jongin was motioning at. “He’s another director that our company regularly works with. His resume is almost as extensive as Sunggyu’s, so we typically bring him in when we need Sehun and Suji to do dual shoots. We have a lot to cover today, since they’re modeling high-end rose quartz jewelry that was created and designed by one of our clients. The pieces look quite nice and I can show them to you later, if you’d like. ”

Yixing smiled and replied, “That’d be great. Right, Jongin?”

“Yeah, sure,” the artist answered dismissively. “But that doesn’t explain why Sehun wasn’t late today,” he then pointed out. “He’s still working with Sunggyu and he loves messing with the guy.”

“He really needs to stop making everything into a game,” Donghae couldn’t help but mutter under his breath. He then explained in a low voice, “The CEO of the company that contracted us for this photo shoot is here right now and Sehun is, at the very least, responsible enough to not be tardy for something important like this.”

“Did the CEO bring his entire entourage?” Yixing asked, also keeping the volume of his voice low. “There are so many people here today.”

Donghae nodded. “They’re very big on perfection, so the CEO came by to review each photo himself. He’ll be discussing the results with Sunggyu and Taemin afterwards, and if he’s not satisfied, Sehun and Suji will have to retake everything.”

“Everything?” Jongin couldn’t help but ask.

The scout nodded again, this time a bit more somberly. “Like I said, the company has a perfectionist for a CEO, so there can’t be a single flaw.”

Jongin thought that was terribly excessive, but he could also relate to the sentiment at the same time. After all, wasn’t that why he hated his artwork so much nowadays? Because it wasn’t perfect and he didn’t know how to pull himself out of this rut when he was so uninspired?

Perfectionism, while a necessity, was also a horribly draining curse.

The artist was very glad that he didn’t need to deal with other perfectionists. That was a massive headache just waiting to happen.

The three of them quietly watched as Sehun leaned against a stack of white blocks that Sunggyu’s assistant, Eunbi, had just set up at the director’s request. The rose quartz necklace shifted slightly against his chest, the gem glinting under the rays of the bright studio lights that surrounded the area. It never failed to amaze them whenever they saw how the model could pose so perfectly yet so effortlessly at the same time. Even when he wasn’t the focal point of the photo, there was something so eye-catching about Sehun’s smoldering gaze and his defined collarbones that mesmerized every person who looked at him

It was quite satisfying for Jongin to witness his best friend successfully showing off his talent and to know that he’d had a hand in bringing out Sehun’s modeling prowess in the first place. At least something good—something long-lasting and worthwhile—had come out of his artwork.

But then, his blood ran cold when Yixing suddenly called out, “Jongdae, is that you?” and his older brother turned around.

Jongdae’s face instantly paled upon seeing Jongin and Yixing staring back at him, and he hastily scurried over while whispering, “Why are you here, Jongin?!”

“What do you mean, why am I here?” the artist asked, clearly irked by his older brother’s accusatory tone. “I should be asking you that. Shouldn’t you be at work? Or was that all a farce whenever you talked about having a real, important job as some CEO’s personal secretary?”

“I am at work,” Jongdae retorted, using both hands to gesture at his jet black suit and charcoal gray tie. “This photo shoot is for the new line of rose quartz jewelry that my company is debuting this winter. We need promotional pictures of models wearing the actual jewelry and we want to make sure everything looks just right before we finalize the designs for production.”

“You two know each other?” Donghae asked with a look of surprise, glancing between the two brothers who were having an intense stare down with each other. Jongdae was the one he had been in contact with to set up this photo shoot and the scout never would have imagined that Jongdae also knew Kim Jongin. And that he knew him quite well, if this conversation indicated anything.

They simultaneously rounded on Donghae and flatly stated, “Unfortunately, yes,” before resuming their glaring match. It was as if they were trying to see who could burn holes into the other male first.

Yixing sidled up to the scout, who was taken aback by the joint amount of venom in both brothers’ voices, and sympathetically patted his back. “Don’t take it personally,” the manager advised in a low voice. “They’re not the closest of brothers, so they get a bit…testy when they’re together.”

Donghae nodded dumbly, not wanting to incur more anger from the two Kim brothers. He then shuddered as he imagined Sehun with a brother and the two always fighting with each other, even at work. The scout suddenly felt a wave of admiration for Yixing wash over him. It couldn’t be easy to deal with both Jongin and Jongdae on a daily basis.

“There’s no reason for you to be here, Jongin,” his older brother stated while pointing to the exit. “Hurry up and leave.”

Jongin drew himself up even taller so that he towered over his short brother. “I have just as much of a right to be here as you do, Jongdae. In fact, I have more of a right to be here than you do, since Sehun specifically invited me to visit him today. I don’t even know why you’re here when you’re just a glorified servant,” the artist couldn’t help but add, despite knowing how mean-spirited he sounded.

Jongdae gritted his teeth, his hands clenched tightly into fists at his side. “Well, unlike you, I haven’t been wasting my time, bumming around like a loser,” he shot back. “I have a real job and my duties require me to be here, since I’m responsible and my boss trusts me to oversee every aspect of our upcoming winter collection launch.”

If Yixing hadn’t stepped in then, telling both brothers to calm down and not make a scene in front of so many people, the artist would have wrung Jongdae’s neck for insinuating that Jongin was currently a waste of space.

The manager sighed heavily as he looked between his two friends, who blatantly glowered at each other with murder in their eyes. Just when he thought Jongin and Jongdae’s brotherly relationship was getting slightly better, everything had to fall back to square one. Not to mention, people were openly staring at them and Yixing wished he could disappear from the embarrassment of knowing the two of them.

“Secretary Kim, what’s going on?”

Jongdae’s thin face turned even whiter, which Jongin hadn’t thought was possible, and he swung around to face a man around his height who had walked over to see what all of the commotion was about. “Oh, sir, I—I, uh, well, uh, you see, uh—”

The man then shifted his gaze to Jongin, who was reveling in watching his brother stumble spectacularly over his words, before realization dawned on him and his eyes lit up. “Oh my goodness, are you Kim Jongin, the world-famous artist?”

In the background, Jongdae groaned and slammed his palm against his forehead while Jongin robotically nodded; he had heard this question over a thousand times throughout his life. Even though he knew it was unlikely, the artist still hoped the conversation would end at that.

But things never went his way nowadays.

The man immediately bowed to Jongin, much to Jongdae’s chagrin, and then straightened back up to exclaim, “I can’t believe it! I’ve wanted to meet you for years! I’m your biggest fan!” His dark eyes sparkled brightly and a surge of energy seemed to travel throughout his small body as he hopped in place, clearly trying to restrain himself from latching onto the artist.

“Um, okay—”

“Oh, silly me, I haven’t even introduced myself!” the man barreled on, completely oblivious to the pained smile that Jongin was wearing at the moment. “I’m Kim Minseok, the CEO of Jade Enterprises. And it seems like you already know my secretary, Kim Jongdae.”

“Well, yeah, he’s my older brother.”

Minseok’s eyes widened considerably as he faced Jongdae, who looked as though he desperately wanted to escape the warehouse so that he wouldn’t have to explain the situation to his boss. “Secretary Kim, you never told me your younger brother was the esteemed Kim Jongin!”

Jongdae laughed nervously as he wrung his hands behind his back. “Uh, I guess it never crossed my mind, sir. My brother likes his privacy, so I don’t usually mention him to other people.”

“Ah, that makes sense,” the CEO agreed, energetically bobbing his head. “This is still amazing though! What are the odds that my own secretary is directly related to my favorite artist?”

The elder Kim brother let out another nervous laugh. “It’s a small world, indeed…”

Minseok turned back to Jongin who was beginning to regret ever leaving his house, even though he knew Sehun hadn’t predicted that this would happen when he had invited his best friend to the photo shoot in the first place. “Mr. Kim—is it okay if I call you Jongin?”

“Er, I mean, I guess…”

“Wonderful!” The CEO clapped his hands and beamed brightly. “You can call me Minseok!” he offered and Jongin plastered on a pinched smile as he slowly nodded.

This was even worse than seeing Sunggyu attempt to photograph Sehun and Suji against a cream-colored backdrop when their clothes that day had clashed horribly with the off-white shade. In fact, Jongin would much rather subject himself to the torture of witnessing such ineptitude than deal with an overzealous fan. Especially one who thought hiring his useless older brother was a good idea.

Just as the artist was about to turn away, Minseok said, “I was wondering, Jongin, if I could commission something from you.” His eyes crinkled into thin crescent moons while the apples of his cheeks grew rounder as he grinned widely. “As your biggest fan, it would be an absolute privilege to own a painting that you created.”

By now, Jongin’s pinched smile had just about vanished and he looked like he was in even more pain than before. He wasn’t going to pick up his paintbrush and slave over this hotshot’s request, only for the piece to turn out as a failure in the end. That was completely out of the question.

If Jongin couldn’t make art for himself right now, then there was no way he could make art for someone else. How absurd would that be?

The artist opened his mouth to reject the request, but before he could verbalize anything, both Jongdae and Yixing grabbed his arms to lead him away from Kim Minseok. For added measure, to keep Jongin from saying anything, Yixing placed a hand over the artist’s mouth once he was facing away from the CEO.

“Sir, if you could just give me a moment with my brother, that would be greatly appreciated.” Jongdae smiled sweetly, although the panic in his eyes betrayed his otherwise calm exterior.

“We’ll be right back,” Yixing added, keeping his hand firmly planted on Jongin’s mouth.

Minseok nodded, slightly confused by what was happening, but still beaming cheerfully. “Yes, of course! Go right ahead.”

Once the trio was at the back of the warehouse, far enough from everyone else so that they wouldn’t be overheard, Yixing finally took his hand away from Jongin’s face and the artist coughed as he tried to breathe properly. “What was that for?!” he hissed as soon as his windpipe was clear.

Jongdae sent his younger brother a sharp glare as he ordered, “Don’t you dare say what I think you’re about to say.”

“I’ll say whatever I want—”

“No, you won’t,” his older brother cut in harshly. “If I lose my job because of you, because you selfishly refuse to make something for my boss, I swear I will make your life a living nightmare,” he threatened.

“Now, now, there’s no need to be so antagonistic,” Yixing scolded the elder Kim brother. He then turned to Jongin, who was fuming at Jongdae’s audacity to order him around like a child, and said, “But I agree.”

“What?!”

“This is a great opportunity for you, Jongin. I’ve let you squander away every offer you’ve gotten for almost a year now, but I’m not letting this chance slip away from us,” the Chinese male stated firmly. “As your manager, I will handle this.”

“But Yixing—”

Before the artist could protest any further, Yixing walked back to Minseok, who had been eagerly watching the trio the entire time. “Hi, I’m Zhang Yixing. I work as Jongin’s manager,” he introduced himself, smiling warmly while shaking the shorter male’s hand.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Zhang! I’m Kim Minseok, the CEO of Jade Enterprises.”

While this was happening, Jongdae held back his younger brother to keep him from interfering. Jongin thrashed wildly in his grasp, trying to escape. However, Jongdae was stronger than he looked and managed to keep his younger brother in place, even though it took every bit of strength in his small body to do so.

Yixing reached into his pants pocket for a pad of paper that he carried around with him at all times, mostly out of habit at this point since Jongin had stopped painting and drawing. He neatly ripped off the top page and handed it to Minseok, who took it while looking at him questioningly. “This lists all of Jongin’s commission prices and guidelines,” the manager explained. “Although he doesn’t approve every single request that he receives, Jongin does take on most of them. After you’ve sent in a proper commission request, we’ll review it and then let you know if he can fulfill it.”

“That sounds lovely. Thank you so much for this, Mr. Zhang,” Minseok breathed out as he hungrily read the paper from top to bottom. “I do hope Jongin will accept my request. I’ve been a huge fan of his work since the very beginning and I've always dreamed of owning a piece of artwork from him that was made especially for me.”

“It would be a huge honor to make something for you, Mr. Kim,” the manager said, slightly bowing to Minseok. “And thank you for taking care of Jongdae at work,” Yixing sincerely added. “We appreciate any guidance you can give him.”

“Oh, of course! Secretary Kim has been such a blessing since joining the company. I’m very pleased with his work ethic and productivity.”

Despite being relatively far away, Jongdae’s ears perked up when he caught bits and pieces of his boss praising him. His younger brother rolled his eyes in exasperation, wondering what Jongdae had done to trick Minseok into thinking he was actually competent.

When the CEO left to rejoin his employees and watch the photo shoots again, Jongin was finally released from Jongdae’s grasp and he would have thrown every curse word he knew at his older brother if they weren’t currently in a public space. But since they were and the artist didn’t want Sehun to get in trouble for inviting him over, Jongdae was luckily spared from the colorful tongue-lashing that would have otherwise awaited him and the elder Kim brother made his way back to the crowd to resume his job of overseeing Sehun and Suji’s photo shoots.

Yixing returned to Jongin’s side and kept his right hand firmly clasped onto the artist’s left arm, to keep him from escaping or confronting Kim Minseok to reject his request for a commissioned piece of art. However, that didn’t stop Jongin from glaring at his manager and his older brother for the rest of the photo shoot.

He knew he should have stayed at home today.

♈♈♈