The doors swung open revealing an angry looking Dawon.

Inseong merely smirked as the other man rushed him and pinned him to the wall, Dawon's hands clamped tightly on the neck of his shirt. 

"What the did you do?" Dawon hissed. 

"Nothing," Inseong replied calmly, meeting the other's gaze head-on. 

"Stop playing with me!" Dawon pushed his shoulders before letting go. The anger was wafting off of him in waves and although it somehow irked him, Inseong knew that meeting anger with anger would result in blood - not to mention some property damage on his part - so he chose to bite his tongue and let the other guy pace in the living room.

"Look," Inseong held up his hands as he sat down, "I don't even know what you're talking about... what is this thing I supposedly did?" 

Dawon remained silent but the air around him had significantly felt lighter. The young man's anger has lessened and it would do no good if Inseong would push him. He let the question hang over them until the younger man stopped in his tracks and fixed him with a distraught expression. 

"They found him," 

Inseong nodded. "Ahhh... I see," 

To be honest, Inseong felt that Youngbin had always had people watching him since he ran away. No matter what, Youngbin is still the son of SF group's President - a very valuable target - even though he wasn't the named successor any longer. Come to think of it, by introducing Chani into the game, there would be less attention on Youngbin as the threats would be directed on the other... Still, if someone knew how to play their cards right...

"So... what now?" Inseong asked. 

Dawon plopped down on the couch, cradling his head with both hands. "Ugh! I don't know anymore!" he answered. 

"Inseong! I'm here!" a voice called out from the entrance.

"!" Inseong shot upwards, a panicked look on his face. 

"Inseong-ah, Oh! Hello, Dawon!" Jaeyoon came into view, hands full of groceries and strode inside the apartment with such ease as if he has done so quite a few times already. If Dawon was shocked, he did a very good job of hiding it. He merely waved back at the newcomer with a knowing smile. 

Jaeyoon disappeared into the kitchen and returned a few minutes later carrying a can of soda which he offered to Dawon. They exchanged a few words before Jaeyoon walked up to him and gave him a peck on the cheek. Inseong blushed making Jaeyoon laugh out loud. 

"I'm sorry, Inseong. I have to go and help out at the club tonight. I know I told you that we'll go out today but-" Jaeyoon said, giving his hand a squeeze. 

"It's fine," Inseong replied. "Dawon and I have something to discuss anyway," 

Jaeyoon nodded and glanced at Dawon who was now inspecting the label on the can of soda as if all the questions of the universe can be answered by it. 

"I'll make it up to you tomorrow okay?" Jaeyoon whispered, cupping Inseong's face between his hands then brushing their lips lightly against each other. 

Inseong felt blood rushing to his cheeks and shot a quick look at their visitor. Thankfully, the can of soda seemed very interesting to their visitor. Jaeyoon said his goodbyes to Dawon and left. 

"So... I didn't think you and hi-"

"Okay, stop. I'll tell you about it some other day. Or maybe Jaeyoon will, I don't know! but please can we just focus on your issue first? Why did you come here looking like you'll murder me?" Inseong interrupted, sitting next to Dawon. 

"Yes... right..." It took a few moments before Dawon answered again. "Well, I just thought that you know... maybe you tipped them off since it's SF Group we're talking about here," 

"Are you kidding me?" the implications of the statement made Inseong a little mad. "Is that really how you think of me? We've worked together before, you and i. I'm sure you know how much I don't really need all the money," he continued. 

"Okay, okay! I'm sorry... I'm just... I don't know... you know how it is... people like Youngbin - they have huge targets painted on their backs the moment they were born... and just..."

"I know," Inseong sighed. "I understand where you're coming from but you have to believe me. I didn't do anything. I've been busy these past few days,"

"Busy with Jaeyoon?" Dawon quipped, earning him a hard smack on the head. 

But it made him smile and somehow, he felt that whatever this is, everything is going to be fine. He still wouldn't trust Dawon - at least not 100% - but he knows the man wouldn't do something stupid at least. 

"You know, that kidnapping may just have been orchestrated by his own father?" Inseong mused out loud. 

"You think so?"

Inseong looked up at the ceiling. "I don't know but think about it. He wasn't injured was he? They just drugged him... he was held captive for like what, 15 hours, and yet SF Group didn't receive any demands from the kidnappers..."

"What kind of father would do that to his own son though?" Dawon countered. 

"The same one who tells his kid to dress up and attend a party and then proceeds to introduce another long-lost son as the next CEO in the same event?" Inseong answered. 

Dawon hummed in reply. "By the way, the thing I was asking you to check... is it finished?" he continued. 

Inseong stood up, a huge smiled plastered on his face. "Of course," he disappeared into the other room for awhile and returned moments later carrying a brown envelope and a laptop. 

"It wasn't easy but, you know me," Inseong smirked, sliding the envelope towards Dawon while he booted up the laptop.

Dawon opened the envelope and spilled its contents on the table. There were a ton of paper but what he was most interested in are the pictures. 

"Wow, his father wasn't joking around was he?" Dawon murmured after a while. 

"It's amazing, isn't it... Almost like a plot from some drama," Inseong said. 

"Well, anyway, thanks for this," Dawon said, gathering the files on the table and putting them once again in the envelope.

"Oh? You're not gonna keep it?" Inseong asked. 

"Nah, Youngbin's living with me right now, remember? He might find it accidentally and well, things would get messy," Dawon replied. 

Inseong nodded "I'll take care of it for you then."

"Thank you. Well, I should probably go now. I know you have things to prepare for Jaeyoon tom-"

A pillow was suddenly smacked to his face, muffling the rest of the sentence. "Go away!" Inseong shouted playfully. 

"Bye," Dawon called out again and left.  

------------------------------------

There was no sign of Youngbin when he arrived home, not even a note or a text. He was about to call Inseong for help when the front door opened and the guy he's looking for entered.

"Oh, you're home early," Youngbin said as soon as he stepped inside. 

"Where have you been?" Dawon asked rather sternly

Youngbin threw him a bemused look, "Chulmin showed me the apartment. It was really good. and the price is reasonable too." Youngbin replied animatedly.

"I'll meet with the landlord tomorrow and see when I'll be able to m-"

"Stay with me," Dawon blurted out.

Youngbin looked at him curiously. 

"I'm serious. just... Stay here... with me..." Dawon continued

Youngbin chuckled. "So you can have someone to clean up after you? No, thank you," he answered. 

"Look, I appreciate the offer. I know you're serious but, I want to do this... for myself." Youngbin continued when Dawon didn't respond. 

The older guy approached him then and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Dawon, I know you're just concerned but I need to do this. I have to learn how to depend on myself." 

He held Youngbin's eyes and saw how serious he is. 

"Okay. But you have to check in with me every day, deal?"

---

Are you sure about this?" Jaeyoon asked as Dawon led the way towards Youngbin's new place.

"Yup!" the guy replied rather cheerfully.

"Are we there yet?" Inseong piped, lagging a few paces behind them.  He placed two black bags on the floor while adjusting his backpack.

"Just a few more steps!," Dawon answered. They have walked four floors up the building as the elevator was under renovation. 

The building was fairly new and has six floors in total. The fourth floor, according to Dawon, is where the bigger lofts were located and that Youngbin was lucky enough to get one of the places for a reasonable price. 

"Are you really sure about this though?" Jaeyoon asked once more as they finally reached their destination. 

"God, how many times am I going to answer that question?" Dawon countered, opening the door.

Even without opening the lights, Youngbin's place was well lit. It was located at the far end of the floor with big windows along two sides of the wall. There was a worn out couch and two chairs around a small coffee table. 

Jaeyoon proceeded towards the small kitchen, placing the plastic bags he was carrying near the sink.

"And what if he brings home a girl? What then?" Jaeyoon said, turning towards Dawon. 

"He won't," Dawon replied. 

"Wow, I'm amazed by how confident you answered that," Inseong said from the couch. The two bags he was carrying were now opened on top of the coffee table.  

Inside were some of the latest home security technology that isn't even available on the market yet - with cameras as small as a fly and almost impossible to spot.  

Dawon and Jaeyoon wandered over where he was but were wise enough to not touch anything. "Let's get to work then!" Inseong said happily as he started pulling out some of the things. 

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________-

While Inseong was setting up the cameras strategically around the apartment, Jaeyoon and Dawon were busy in the kitchen. Dawon managed to "persuade" Chulmin to let him borrow the keys to Youngbin's apartment under the guise that they would throw him a surprise housewarming party and the said party would already start in two hours. 

Jaeyoon was humming a tune while plating some of the foods that they brought, while Dawon hovered behind him.  

"Just spit it out already!" Jaeyoon said in a sing-song voice and without even looking at the other guy. 

Dawon smirked. "So... you and Inseong?" he started. 

"Yes. and?" Jaeyoon replied, looking up from what he was doing and immediately finding Inseong. He couldn't help the smile that appeared on his face, watching the man work with so much focus.  

"God, do you know you look so lame right now?" Dawon said, shaking his head. 

"Oh, please. You're just jealous," Jaeyoon replied, resuming his task. "Come here and help me with these!" 

---

 

Youngbin bid goodbye to Chulmin on the fourth floor as that's where his apartment is located.

He opened the door and entered, flicking the switch just beside the door. 

"Surprise!"

Youngbin almost jumped but seeing as Dawon was in front of him wearing a birthday hat and carrying a cake with Inseong and Jaeyoon at the back standing rather awkwardly, he can't help but smile. A knock came from the other side of the door and sure enough, Chulmin was there together with Mina and they greeted him. 

There was a moment in the middle of the party when Youngbin felt genuinely happy and contented - something he hasn't felt in quite a long time - and he knew it was because of these people who are now lounging half drunk in his barely furnished apartment, laughing at the most random things.  

Dawon turned to him then and asked him if he was alright. Youngbin smiled as he nodded.

He didn't want to speak up, afraid that it would ruin the moment.