It used to be Hansol, the forbidden name that shall not be spoken under the roof of Choi house. At least according to Wonwoo and Mingyu.

That was until Wonwoo entered middle school. Around that time, Uncle Joshua and his family went on a vacation to his hometown, LA. Two weeks of Mingyu moping around for not being able to see Minghao. But what’s worse was after they came back.

Uncle Joshua’s family invited Wonwoo’s for a dinner, also Uncle Soonyoung’s family. They prepared feast, souvenirs, and stories from USA. It was actually enjoyable, Wonwoo had some fun that night. But then Minghao looked around the table with excitement in his bulging eyes and said, “Dad got me an English name!”

It’s “The8”, he said with a proud smile, to which MIngyu responded with sparkling eyes and a “wow~ cool~”

Uncle Joshua looked as proud as his son when he asked, “You want an English name too, Mingyu?”

“Yes, Uncle Joshua!”

“Hmm... Let’s see...” He rubbed his chin for a while before exclaiming, “It’s Daniel!”

“Thank you, Uncle Joshua!”

Wonwoo didn’t know why, but Uncle Joshua turned to look at him and said, “You’re Mark.” Wonwoo just smiled because he was confused. He didn’t remember asking for a new name.

It seemed that Uncle Joshua had an epiphany, he continued to give English names to everyone in the room. Seungkwan was Carter. Dad was Harry while Papa was Jerry. Dad protested because while “Jun” and “Jerry” both started with “J”, “Seungcheol” didn’t start with “H”. Joshua argued that the parents should have their names rhyme. So Uncle Soonyoung and Uncle Seokmin got Sony and Ricky. But Uncle Jeonghan’s English name was “Honey” and didn’t rhyme with “Joshua”. Wonwoo had failed to understand, but he had long accepted Uncle Joshua’s antics so it was okay.

Hansol was bestowed the name “Vernon”.

From then on, Wonwoo and MIngyu’s hated word became “Vernon”. To be exact, “Vernonie~” with the sickly sweet tone of their little brother Seungkwan’s voice.

Seungkwan had become acquainted with He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named when they were in the 3rd grade and got into the same class. Ever since, Wonwoo’s dear little brother wouldn’t stop going on and on about his new BFF.

Wonwoo thought he was being petty and it surprised him. He wasn’t the type who gets possessive; never minded sharing his food and stuffs with his brothers, didn’t complain when Papa and Dad got too occupied responding to his brothers demands. He was happy sharing with his little brothers and content with his parents giving him attention once in while when they’re not busy with everything.

But then that boy appeared, and Seungkwan, who’s catchphrase was “I love Dad, Papa, and Mingyu, but I loooooove Wonwoo!”, started to spend all afternoon playing with You-Know-Who instead of reading with Wonwoo, talking about The Unspeakable when asked about his day at school, and so on, and so on.

Wonwoo hadn’t voice his sentiment, but when Mingyu first yelled at Seungkwan for mentioning the forbidden name at one dinner, Wonwoo found out that he wasn’t alone in this (“Seungkwan let him pinch his cheeks! Unbelievable!”, said Mingyu when Wonwoo asked him later about his reason not liking their brother’s friend). For the first time he felt like he had the justification to make Seungkwan pout in irritation, and so he joined Mingyu in putting the name on the prohibited words list along with curse words (Apparently Seungkwan still loooooove him enough to reduce the frequency of talking about The Boy, Wonwoo was relieved).

Wonwoo learned to compromise when he was 15.

He came home late after study group with friends to see Mingyu sitting in the sofa, body facing the entrance but neck twisted, his unamused face directed towards the kitchen. In the kitchen was their little brother, sitting on the table and digging furiously into a cup of pudding, lips puckered until they couldn’t go forward any further. Wonwoo’s cheerful “Seungkwan, I’m home!” only managed to draw out a strained smile.

Wonwoo turned his gaze back to Mingyu and was about to open his mouth, but Mingyu beat him to it.

“It wasn’t me! He was already like this when I got home!”

MIngyu might annoy people (Seungkwan) often, but he never lied. So Wonwoo decided to focus on getting Seungkwan in a good mood. He tried everything; cuddling Seungkwan as they watched TV, telling the jokes he had been collecting, offering to make pancakes. But Seungkwan responded either with a stiff, small twitch of his lips or a “Sorry, Wonwoo, I’m not in the mood”. Mingyu tried too, but got kicked in the stomach. Wonwoo wished for Dad and Papa to come home soon, they should be able to make things better, but they were both working late that night, so the three of them went to bed with the tense atmosphere still lingering.

The next day proved that even Dad and Papa couldn’t change Seungkwan’s mood. At least Dad managed to get Seungkwan to stop scowling all the time (“Try to look cheerful for others. For yourself too. You’re gonna to get those wrinkles tattooed permanently in your cute face if you keep this up”). But still, it didn’t look like Seungkwan was going back to his jolly self soon.

“Is it Hansol?” Dad asked after he finished chewing his breakfast. Inside his heart, Wonwoo criticized his Dad for mentioning He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. You-Know-Who wasn’t going to the same middle school as Seungkwan, but they seemed as close as they had been when they attended the same school.

“No, it’s nothing to do with Vernonie,” Seungkwan answered, the scowl threatening to go back to his face. “He’s busy with his art project right now but we’re not fighting or anything. It’s... something else.”

Seungkwan wouldn’t tell his family about that something else and kept his foul mood for another whole day. So Wonwoo made his resolve.

The next day was a weekend. He went to Uncle Soonyoung’s house with Mingyu. Mingyu didn’t want to at first, not even letting Wonwoo to go alone. Completely against the idea. But Wonwoo was good with his words and Mingyu was finally convinced that this was for their brother’s sake.

Hansol (sigh) was indeed busy with his art project. Apparently that’s all he put his time and energy into these days aside from studying and doing the usual house chores. But he didn’t look annoyed to spare his time and meet Wonwoo and Mingyu, greeting them with his usual amiable smile (yes, Wonwoo admitted he had an amiable smile). They told him about Seungkwan and he said he might have an idea about the cause. He also said yes when Wonwoo and Mingyu asked him to come to their house and do something.

That was how Hansol ended up in their kitchen, with Seungkwan sitting next to him, speaking with obvious fervent in his face, but whispering so that Wonwoo and Mingyu couldn’t hear the words. Hansol nodded a lot and opened his mouth once or twice. When Seungkwan finally stopped talking, Hansol took the turn and spoke for a while, looking at Seungkwan with gentle but serious gaze while Seungkwan was looking at him the same way, then ended his inaudible words with a bright smile.

That’s it. That’s all it took to get Seungkwan’s hearty laughter to fill the room once again after what seemed like an eternity to Wonwoo. Irritation creeped inside his chest because Vernonie was all it took. He glanced at Mingyu and saw that the younger had his forehead scrunched, telling Wonwoo that Mingyu didn’t find the situation favorable either. But after a while the wrinkles ceased to exist. Wonwoo stopped feeling annoyed too. How could they stay annoyed when their little brother was smiling again?

Since then Wonwoo tried to be more open-minded about Hansol. He did tried over the years. Although, when he saw Hansol wrapped his arms over the waist of his now-in-high-school youngest brother, Wonwoo didn’t hesitate to smack the arms off with a broom.