The present

Yixing sat in his living room, composing a new tune on his piano. It was Saturday, his day off. Zitao had invited him for dinner around six. After finishing the song, he had to get ready. He was just coming up with the last riff when the doorbell rang. Yixing got up and walked towards the door. He didn’t look who it was in the peeping hole, just opened the door. And the person standing there almost gave him a heart-attack.

“Yixing,” said the familiar tender voice.

“You? What in the world are you doing here?” Yixing asked.

Six months earlier, Monday

“Ugh, I hate airplanes.”

“Don’t worry, Jongin. We’re almost there,” Yixing said and smiled.

Jongin returned the smile and grabbed Yixing’s hand. “It’s a good thing I have you by my side,” he said and then leaned in to kiss Yixing’s cheek.

At first, Yixing hadn’t been used to public affections of display. It was weird, and he was scared someone would catch them, but Jongin had calmed him and said there was nothing wrong with it. There was nothing to hide. And gradually Yixing realized that it was true, there was nothing to hide.

Jongin was a Korean professional dancer, two years younger than Yixing and had lived in Beijing for the past fifteen years. Jongin had moved there with his mother after his parent’s divorce. He was incredibly talented in every type of dance. Yixing had been in awe the first time he saw him perform on stage, as one of Zitao’s backup dancers. Zitao had introduced them when they had gathered to eat dinner after his concert. They got along well and enjoyed each other companies. Both were passionate about their jobs, both were gentle souls that had been wounded by a first love, and both were lonely in the daunting city of Beijing.

After some time of being friends, Jongin had asked Yixing out on a date. Yixing didn’t know what to say at first. As much as he liked spending time with Jongin, he wasn’t sure if he liked him that way. And Yixing told Jongin that he might need time, lots of it, to fall in love with him (Yixing hoped that he would fall for him), because of some happenings in his past. Jongin had been understanding and didn’t aggravate Yixing with questions about his former life. Instead, Jongin said they should both start anew, that they should bury what had happened before, and only focus on what was to come. Jongin didn’t care how long it took until Yixing fell completely in love with him, he could wait. All these years that passed, nobody had understood Yixing and now stood Jongin in front of him, with welcoming eyes and a cheerful smile. Seeing Jongin’s determination and thoughtfulness, Yixing had accepted the invitation. It was time to give himself another chance.

Now it had been a month and a half since they started dating. Jongin and Yixing were taking it slow, very slow. They hadn’t even kissed yet, only hugged, held hands, and shared kisses on the cheeks. Because of some business, they both had to do in South Korea, they were flying together from Beijing.

“When’s your meeting now again?” Jongin asked.

“Friday in the afternoon.”

“I hope everything goes well, love.”

Yixing blushed. “Thank you, Jongin, and I hope everything goes well with your father,” he said.

“Me too,” Jongin answered as he squeezed Yixing’s hand.

Three hours later the plane landed in Seoul. Yixing and Jongin got off, grabbed their suitcases, went outside and made their way to the hotel. They would be spending two weeks in that place.

It was already night-time, but Joonmyeon was still sitting on his desk, reviewing some files for Friday’s meeting. If everything went well, he would be making an important partnership with Kim Minseok’s entertainment company. A big step for his career. He was nervous but confident in his skills. All these years of burying himself in work wouldn’t be in vain.

Chanyeol, his now assistant, walked into the office and offered Joonmyeon some coffee. “It’s gonna go well Joonmyeon. Go home, aren’t your girls waiting for you?” he said.

Joonmyeon looked up from his papers, took the coffee and smiled, “Thanks, Chan. And no, I told Hye I’ll be late.”

Chanyeol shook his head but let it go and took a seat in the chair in front of the desk while sipping his coffee. No matter how late Joonmyeon went home, Chanyeol was always there to accompany him. More than being co-workers, they had become friends.

Suddenly Joonmyeon’s phone rang. He saw it was an unknown number but picked it up anyway. It was a call from a hospital. His father had gotten into a car accident, and because he was severely injured, he was taken into surgery. Joonmyeon didn’t really care, he still despised the man who had brought him misery. You’re finally getting what you deserved, he thought. However, because the man was his father after all, in public, he needed to pretend to care.

“Oh, my god,” Joonmyeon said as he got up from his chair and hung up the phone.

“What is it?” Chanyeol asked.

“My father… He got into an accident. It’s bad.”

Chanyeol grabbed Joonmyeon’s shoulder, and reassured him, “It’s gonna be okay, Joonmyeon. He’s gonna be all right.”

Chanyeol and Joonmyeon walked outside the office and made their way to the car, driving off as fast as it was allowed to, towards the hospital.

It had been a terrible crash. A drunken driver had gotten in the way of Mr. Kim’s car. The culprit had passed away in the ambulance, and both the old man and the chauffeur were in a delicate state, perhaps worse for Mr. Kim.

Joonmyeon took the news ‘worriedly’ and even ‘begged’ the doctors to do everything they could to save his father. Later he called Hye and informed her of what had happened. Hye had said she could go and accompany him, but Joonmyeon told her it was already very late and Minhee, their daughter, should continue sleeping. Besides, Chanyeol was with him, and he was going to call the rest of the Kim family.

Hours later, the surgery continued. Jongdae and his family, along with Joonmyeon’s grandparents were anxiously waiting for news about Mr. Kim. A doctor and some nurses walked outside and said, “We’re running out of blood, please any of you who have AB blood type, but any other type works. Please follow the nurses.”

Joonmyeon and his family looked around. They decided only the healthy men should donate. Jongdae and his father, who had the AB-blood type, and Joonmyeon. When they asked Joonmyeon what type he had, he said he didn’t know. He had never needed to take a blood test before, neither had his father ever told him.

Once Joonmyeon returned to the others in the waiting room, he sat next to Chanyeol. Because Joonmyeon’s right sleeve had been folded, his birthmark on his arm was visible.

Chanyeol’s eyes popped up when he saw it. “It’s that a birthmark?” he asked.

Joonmyeon nodded.

“What a coincidence, I have the exact same one,” Chanyeol said and proceeded to remove his blazer and then fold up his sleeve. “It runs in my family.”

“Surely, a coincidence,” Joonmyeon said as he saw the birthmark, but didn’t give much thought to it later, or ever.

Six months earlier, Tuesday

The next day Yixing and Jongin made their way to the hospital. Jongin’s father was going to have surgery to treat his con heart defect. Even if Jongin had lived with his mother in China for the most part of his life, he still visited his father occasionally and had a close relationship with him. This time Jongin really needed to be there with his dad.

When they walked into the hospital room, they saw a young woman and a little girl, sitting next to the sickened man’s bed. Jongin rapidly went to hug his father, while Yixing stood in front of the bed unsure of what to say. Moments later, once the father and son reunion ended, Jongin introduced Yixing to his family. Jongin’s father greeted him warmly, and the woman, who was Jongin’s cousin, greeted him as well. Soon they enrolled in a conversation about how Jongin had been, how the father was feeling and what Yixing and Jongin were when someone walked into the room.

Yixing gasped when he saw the man. And that person went wide-eyed as well when he made eye contact with Yixing.

“Jongdae…” Yixing mumbled. Jongdae looked tired and disheveled, and Yixing wondered if he had spent the night there.

“Yixing,” Jongdae muttered.

The woman and the child got up and greeted Jongdae. Jongdae said hello to Jongin and his father, then he shook hands with Yixing. “Wow, it surely has been a long time Yixing. How have you been?” he asked.

Yixing nodded. “Yes, it has. I’ve been great, thank you,” he said, “You?”

“Same, and I see you’ve met my wife,” Jongdae said and smiled.

“Yeah, we did, is she your daughter?” Yixing asked as he pointed at the little girl, who was now standing beside Jongdae.

Jongdae furrowed his brows and didn’t know what to say it. It was his wife who spoke. “Oh, no, no. Little Minhee here, is Jongdae’s cousin and wife’s daughter,” she said and added, “I was just babysitting her for a while, while her mother went to buy new pacifiers.”

Yixing felt a sting in his heart but managed to say, “Oh, I see. She’s so cute.” Now that he looked carefully at her, she did resemble Hye. She had her same nose, small lips, and honey brown hair. However, the child’s eyes were not Hye’s, neither did they looked like that person’s (as Yixing had come to call Joonmyeon now). Soon, though, he ignored these thoughts that his brain urged him to come up with.

Jongin asked, “How do you two know each other?”

Once again, Jongdae didn’t know what to say. So, it was Yixing who answered, “Oh, you know, old high-school buddies,” Yixing lied and laughed nervously. And Jongdae just nodded along.

Joonmyeon was tired. He had spent all night awake, waiting with his relatives for news about his father. The doctors had eventually managed to save his father, after 14 hours of surgery. Now Joonmyeon was back at home laying on his bed, trying to get some sleep before going back to the hospital. Thankfully, Hye and Minhee had gone to see his father, so, he could enjoy a quiet slumber back at home.

A couple hours later he woke up from a nightmare, the same dream that had been haunting him for the past five years. The dream in which he sees a raven-haired young man, walking away from him, while he cried desperately and said to the young man to please stay with him. Although Joonmyeon tried to convince himself to forget everything, the human subconscious couldn’t be tricked. Joonmyeon got off the bed, took a shower, changed into new fresh clothes and made his way back to the hospital.

It was only Hye, Minhee, and his grandmother, who sat in the waiting room.

“Daddy!” the little girl happily shouted and pointed at Joonmyeon. She left her mother’s embrace and ran towards Joonmyeon.

Joonmyeon squatted down and welcomed the two-year-old child in a warm hug. “Hi, Minhee! I missed you,” he said.

As Joonmyeon and Minhee were having a moment, a doctor walked inside. He asked Joonmyeon to please follow him, he needed to talk to him about something urgent. Joonmyeon let go of Minhee and told her he’ll be right back.

The doctor took Joonmyeon to his office, they sat down in front of each other.

“Mr. Kim is difficult for me to say this,” the doctor said.

“Is something wrong with my father?”

“No, no, no he’s recovering fine. Hopefully, in a couple of days, he’ll wake up... But it’s about you and him.”

“What about us?” Joonmyeon asked.

“Mr. Kim, your father’s blood type is AB,” the doctor said.

“I know.”

“When the nurses tested your blood, it shows that you have… You have O-blood type,” the doctor said and closed his eyes while showing an apologetic expression.

Joonmyeon didn’t understand what that meant for him, neither the physician’s current face. “What’s wrong with that?”

The doctor sighed. “Mr. Kim your father has AB-blood type… This means he has a copy of two dominant alleles. It doesn’t matter what kind of blood his wife had, his children can only be born having AB, A or B blood types. O-blood type is a double recessive allele… The child needs to inherit an O-allele from both parents to have O-blood type. There are some exceptions, of course, especially here, but it’s exceedingly rare…I’m sorry, but I thought you needed to know.”

It was a lot of biology for someone who hadn’t studied it since high school. “I’m sorry, but what are you saying?” Joonmyeon asked confused.

“What I’m trying to say is that… Is not possible for a person with AB-blood type to have a child with O-blood type. You should have AB, A or B blood type… I guess your mother must have been an O-blood type and your real father as well… But like I said, there are a few cases in which this could happen so I might be wrong.”

Joonmyeon was astonished. Could that horrible man not be his father at all? Was that the truth? “Is there a safe way to confirm this?”

“Yes, with a DNA paternity test. But it has a 97 to 99.99 percent probability.”

“How long does it take?”

“Usually three to four days.”

“Can we do it now?” Joonmyeon asked.

“Mr. Kim, are you sure? Like I said, I might be wrong-”

“Doctor Choi, I’m very sure I want to confirm whether my father and I are related,” Joonmyeon said firmly.

Six months earlier, Wednesday

It was the evening when Jongin and Yixing were meeting with Yixing’s old friends for dinner. Thankfully, Jongin’s father’s surgery had gone very well, and the man was recovering safely.

The couple walked hand in hand inside the restaurant. A waiter greeted them and guided the pair to their table. A tall blond man was sitting there, waiting for them.

“Yifan! It’s been a long time,” Yixing said once they arrived.

Yifan got up and hugged Yixing. Afterward, Yixing introduced Jongin to Yifan. The trio sat down and began reading the menu while having some small talk.

“Where’s Kyungsoo?” Yixing asked.

“Oh, he went to-ah he’s coming right there,” Yifan said and pointed in front of them.

Yixing and Jongin turned around to the see Kyungsoo approaching the table. Jongin’s eyes widened, and his mouth opened a little. Yixing got up his seat and went to greet and hug Kyungsoo as well. Then he said, “Kyungsoo, this is Jongin, my boyfriend.”

“Kyungsoo…” Jongin said as he held up his hand.

And Kyungsoo’s eyes widened as well once he saw Jongin’s frame clearly. “Hi… Pleased to meet you,” he said and shook Jongin’s hand.

“Do you two know each other?” Yifan asked.

“Well, I’m kinda of a celebrity, Yifan,” Kyungsoo said and then laughed.

“Yeah… Celebrity,” Jongin said.

Yixing smiled at them. And the group spent the rest of the night talking and catching up with their lives.

Joonmyeon and his family returned home in the afternoon. Mr. Kim was recovering fine but was still unconscious. The Kim family decided that someone would take turns to stay with the injured man. Since Joonmyeon needed to prepare for Friday’s meeting, he asked for two days off and then on the weekend he would be the one to take care of his father. Now Hye and Joonmyeon had just lulled to sleep little Minhee in her room. They walked to the kitchen and prepared some tea before bed. Joonmyeon and Hye sat at the dining table.

“How’s Gwanjin?” Joonmyeon asked.

Hye took a sip from her cup and said, “Oh you know, the usual. He’s still frustrated about everything… Minhee is growing up.”

Joonmyeon nodded, understanding. It was a frustrating situation.

Gwanjin had returned from the U.S. one year after Hye’s and Joonmyeon’s wedding. The man hadn’t stopped loving Hye and asked her to be with him. Hye, who was still harboring her feelings towards him, told him everything, that she and Joonmyeon were just married for convenience sakes and that she never once had she stopped caring about him. However, Hye didn’t plan on getting a divorce, and neither did Joonmyeon. Hye had finally gotten her family’s approval, and she knew it would disappoint her family if she did separate, while Joonmyeon well, he was just following his father’s orders. So, she told Gwanjin, that despite it was selfish and immoral, the only way for them to be together was to be in an affair. Gwanjin had been reluctant at first, but love makes us commit disastrous mistakes, and eventually, he gave in.

When Hye had told Joonmyeon about her affair, she asked for Joonmyeon’s forgiveness, after all, they were husband and wife. Joonmyeon had soothed her and said he didn’t care at all and lastly told her that ‘At least one of us deserves to be happy in this façade.’ Joonmyeon had even met Gwanjin. He reassured that everything Hye had said about their marriage was true and that despite everything, they should be happy.

A year passed, and Hye had gotten pregnant with Minhee. The child was, of course, Gwanjin’s daughter, but because of their current situation, she would be raised as Joonmyeon’s daughter. When Joonmyeon told his family, everyone were happy, especially his grandparents who will see their first great-grandchild. Even Joonmyeon’s father had seemed pleased with the news.

This was how Hye, Gwanjin, and Joonmyeon ended in that mess. At first, it was easy for Hye and Gwanjin to spent time with their daughter, but as the child began growing it became harder and harder. She was talking now, and eventually, it would be impossible that Minhee and Gwanjin met because she would be aware that Joonmyeon was her father and Gwanjin was just a stranger. Besides, there was a risk the child would say something about Hye’s extramarital affair if they continued meeting with her.

And that’s how this whole situation was frustrating. Joonmyeon had come to care a lot about Minhee, but he just didn’t see her as his daughter. He was aware she was not his. And Joonmyeon felt sorry that he was lying to the child and that she wouldn’t be able to grow with her real father.

“I know, and I feel sorry for him,” Joonmyeon said.

“Yeah, me too.”

Six months earlier, Friday

Joonmyeon had been nervous. Kim Minseok seemed a scary man and difficult to convince. But once they started talking Joonmyeon realized how wrong he was. Their meeting went extremely well, and they managed to come to an agreement that benefited both parties. It was a great accomplishment for Joonmyeon.

“Well, Joonmyeon I hope our partnership pleases us both,” Minseok said as he followed Joonmyeon to one of the elevators.

“Yes, I hope so too Minseok,” Joonmyeon said and smiled. Just as the elevator’s doors opened his phone rang. He said goodbye to Kim Minseok and made his way down the lobby, answering the call. Just as Joonmyeon’s elevator’s doors closed, the elevator to the left arrived, it’s door opened, and a raven-haired man got off.

“Oh, Mr. Zhang! Always on time,” Kim Minseok said as he shook hands with Yixing and guided him to his office room.

The call Joonmyeon had gotten was about the DNA paternity test. He went to the laboratory to get his results, and what they said surely caught him off guard. Boiling rage invaded his whole being, yet on the outside, he pretended to be disappointed, sad and even disbelieving.

He went to the hospital. His grandmother told him his father had finally woken up. Joonmyeon walked straight to the man’s hospital room. He saw him lying in the hospital bed, breathing through a respirator, defenseless, weak and frail. He got closer to the man’s bed, and Mr. Kim glanced at Joonmyeon, their eyes meet.

“I see you can’t talk,” Joonmyeon said, “Maybe it’s for the better.”

He took out the documents from his briefcase and held it up so the injured man could see.

“DNA Test Report,” Joonmyeon began reading the paper, “Combined Paternity Index… Zero. Probability of paternity… Zero percent,” he huffed, “The alleged father is… Excluded as the biological father of the… Tested… Child.” Joonmyeon said and then laughed.

Mr. Kim’s eyes widened.

“Aren’t you just lovely...You knew, didn’t, you? For twenty-seven years, you’ve known… That’s why you were always distant, that’s why you never mentioned my mother, that’s why you never once visited her on the cemetery...right?!” Joonmyeon shouted and then laughed again, but it sounded more like a cry.

“I’ve been miserable for the past seven years because of you! You destroyed my, and Yixing’s life, you destroyed us with your ing lies! And for what? What is it that you gained from us being unhappy?”

Then he began shedding tears of impotence. “I lost the love of my life, the rightful love of my life because of you!” He sobbed. “I’m done with you, I’m done with everything… I… I hope you root in hell,” he finished and bolted out of the room.

Yixing returned to the hotel room after his meeting. When he got inside, he saw Jongin sitting in one of the armchairs, looking pensive. “Hey you,” Yixing said and smiled, his dimple showing.

Jongin looked up from what he was seeing and met Yixing’s eyes. He walked to stand in front of Yixing and hugged him tightly. “Yixing, you’re back,” Jongin said as he held Yixing carefully.

Yixing chuckled, “Of course I am,” he said as he held Jongin and buried his face in Jongin’s neck.

“Everything went well?” Jongin asked.

“Splendid, I’ve worked with Minseok in China before, so we’re already acquainted.”

“That’s good… Hey, Yixing can I ask for something?”

“Sure!”

“Could I… Can I kiss you? Or peck your lips…” Jongin said nervously.

Yixing’s heart skipped a beat. Was he ready for doing that? Sure, he and Jongin were dating for almost a little over a month now. It was bound to happen someday, but did he really liked Jongin? Or did he liked more the idea of being with Jongin and falling in love with someone who would make him finally forget that person? He wasn’t sure, and he was afraid he would hurt Jongin in case he didn’t feel anything. But then again, there was only one way to find out what it felt like.

Yixing moved his head from Jongin’s neck and stared at him in the eyes. Slowly he closed his eyes, and Jongin began leaning down to him.

As Jongin kissed Yixing, he couldn’t help thinking, those lips didn’t taste like Kyungsoo’s.

When Joonmyeon returned home, he immediately began packing. He needed to get away from there as soon as possible. Joonmyeon needed to search for that one person he wanted to hold the most right now.

Hye walked to Joonmyeon’s room, and said, “Joonmyeon? What are you doing?”

Joonmyeon stopped storing his clothes on the suitcases and looked at her, “Hye, I’m putting an end to our façade.”

Hye went numb.

“I know you feel you’d disappoint your family if we divorce, but they won’t… Jongdae is going to inherit everything because I’m not a Kim, Hye… That man is not my real father.”

Hye’s jaw dropped.

“And you shouldn’t be afraid of saying the truth, Hye. You should be happy with Gwanjin and Minhee… You guys are the real family,” he said and smiled broadly. “Minhee is still young, it’ll be hard, but eventually she won’t remember any of this.”

Hye returned the smiled with glistening eyes. She walked towards Joonmyeon and hugged him. “I hope you’ll finally be happy as well, Joonmyeon,” she said.

As Joonmyeon hugged her back, he said, “I hope so too.”

The present

After seeing him begging, almost to the borders of tears, to please hear him out, Yixing had let Joonmyeon walk inside his apartment. They sat down, and Joonmyeon began telling everything that had happened to him six months ago, and Yixing couldn’t believe the words Joonmyeon uttered. It was all too good to be true.

“And that’s what happened Yixing. That man is not my father. We’re not related, neither are you and me,” Joonmyeon said. From the envelope Joonmyeon had been holding the entire time, he took out many documents and put them on the living room table.

“Here’s the DNA test report. And my and Hye’s divorce papers. We’ve been divorced for three months,” he said holding the documents. “These are mine and Minhee’s DNA test report to show we are not related… And this is a copy of the paper that she has been recognized by her real father… And the last one, as you can see it's that I’ve changed my name to Shin Joonmyeon, my mother’s maiden name.”

As Yixing scrolled through the documents, his heart beat erratically. And his eyes glistened. Just like that time all those years ago, he realized that these documents were valid. It was the truth, he and Joonmyeon weren’t related. They hadn’t been and were never half-brothers. It had all been a lie.

“Ever since I’ve been free, I wanted to come running after you. And I know I shouldn’t have come because Luhan told me you’ve been seeing someone else now…” Joonmyeon said and began shedding tears as he stared at Yixing.

“I wanted to let you be happy, I wanted to let you go… I’m sorry for being selfish and barging into your life once again after we agreed to forget everything. But you needed to know,” Joonmyeon said. “You needed to know that there was never anything wrong with what we felt, that it was meant to be and that I… I never forgot, never had, never will…I’ll always love you,” he finished, looked down and silently cried.

“Jongin… The guy I was with, he found someone else… Or well his true love actually.”

Joonmyeon looked up, hopeful.

“I was actually in Seoul with him six months ago, and that’s when he found his long-lost love. Eventually, when we returned to Beijing, he said nothing felt the same anymore. His feelings for Kyungsoo resurfaced… And he apologized for leaving me, but there is nothing that compares to first love, not even a momentary crush,” Yixing said. He smiled.

“And I wasn’t heartbroken. I was glad for Jongin. That’s when I realized that-that I could’ve pretended all I wanted, but I was never going to love Jongin, or anyone else. Because I’ve always loved ‘that person’ although it hurt me, although it was futile, wrong. And despite it had been over since a long time ago, and would have forever been.”

Tears formed at the corner of Yixing’s eyes.

“I was, I am still in love with ‘that person’…’That person’ who is sitting right next to me, Joonmyeon,” Yixing said, and his voice broke at the end because he let his tears finally fall unrestrained.

Joonmyeon moved closer to Yixing and carefully raised his arms to embrace Yixing. Yixing didn’t hesitate, no, he let himself be held by those arms he had missed so much.

Fourteen years, it took fourteen years for the servant boy and wealthy heir, who once fell for each other, to finally be together.

The waves touched his feet, and he felt a warm summer breeze cooling his skin. It was dusk, and the sun was setting on the horizon. Suddenly, he felt arms back hugging him, holding his waist and lips kissing his neck.

“Hello there Mr. Shin-Zhang,” whispered Yixing in Joonmyeon’s ear.

Joonmyeon raised his hands to hold Yixing’s hands, and he turned his head sideways to see him. He smiled when he saw Yixing’s dimple up-close. “Mr. Zhang-Shin, I was expecting you earlier,” he said.

Joonmyeon turned around to stand face to face with Yixing, still in his husband’s embrace. The waves touched their feet.

“I was doing the finishing touches to your present,” Yixing said.

Joonmyeon moved closer to Yixing and asked, “Oh really? Will you tell me what it is now?”

“Soon,” Yixing said and leaned in to close their distance in a slow, tender kiss.

The sun had fully settled once Yixing and Joonmyeon started to walk back to their house. Yixing placed his hands on Joonmyeon’s eyes and guided him to through the porch, into the living room.

“Here it is. Open your eyes,” Yixing said.

When Joonmyeon opened his eyes, he saw it. And he just smiled widely. On a painting stand was a picture of him and Yixing on their wedding day, from a couple months ago, holding hands and standing next to each other. To their sides stood Joonmyeon’s mother and Shuang.

Joonmyeon held Yixing’s hand and looked at him. He leaned closer, so his nose and Yixing’s nose touched. “It’s wonderful. Thank you,” he whispered, “I love you, Xing,” he said between their lips.

“I love you, Myeon.”