Minhyuk didn’t sleep much at night, his thoughts were screaming through his head, torturing him until the early hours. At one point his mind just went blank and all he did was stare at the ceiling, almost feeling apathetic. Around 7:00 Minhyuk just stood up, he only drank a glass of water, his body was so stressed out that he had no appetite at all. Yesterday he stayed late at his house, talking and drinking with his brothers so Minhyuk still hadn’t packed anything yet. Hyunwoo gave him some boxes to put his stuff in, but said he would help him out after Minhyuk’s appointment with their father.

Minhyuk sighed, he tried to keep a positive mind, repeating the mantra that it will probably be not as terrible as he thinks it will be. You’re overthinking everything, Minhyuk, it’s not healthy!

So Minhyuk tried to distract his mind by packing everything, which actually was not much. Minhyuk did not have much clothes, considering he didn’t have the opportunity to take some clothes with him when he was thrown out. It was something Minhyuk was happy about; he finally would have his fancy clothes back and he could finally buy that high quality cooking apron he always wanted. Most of his clothes were cheap and already ruined by little holes or losing their original color, so Minhyuk could throw half of his clothing in the trash, knowing he would have much more clothes waiting for him at home.

It’s not that bad, you’ll see.

Minhyuk took a shower so that after it he could pack all his stuff in the bathroom, which were some facial cleaning bottles, soap, shampoo, conditioner and facial masks. Again, not much. He ended up with only needing 6 boxes for all his stuff.

He still had an hour left so he just did some cleaning and wrote a letter for Kwangsoo, thanking him and hoping he would not suffer too much and find hope and love again.

…

Hyunwoo knew nothing, Minhyuk whined during the whole car ride to the company. At one point Hyunwoo snapped and started nagging Minhyuk. The oldest brother never snapped, so Minhyuk realized that he was nervous too.

“Minhyuk, just keep on breathing. You are back with us and we have always been the strongest when we are together. Don’t worry about whatever dad wants of you because Changkyun and I will help you through it. I promise.”

Those words meant a lot to Minhyuk, and Minhyuk realized how matured his older brother got in the past years. But even though he became an employee at their dad’s company, he still remained the big protective brother and Minhyuk was thankful for that. He still felt nervous but Minhyuk knew his brother meant what he said; he and Changkyun would be there for him, they have always been there for each other.

They arrived at the company, it was a long time ago Minhyuk had seen it. Not that he knew every detail of that place, considering Minhyuk never had much interest in the company. He had been inside the company many times but never paid much attention to how it looked or who worked there, compared to Hyunwoo who introduced himself to everyone and would give everyone a warm smile. By now he probably already had everyone around his finger.

“I have a meeting in 10minutes so Jimin will bring you to our father’s office.” Hyunwoo waved at the woman sitting at the entrance desk, who stood up and walked their way. Jimin was very slim but had chubby cheeks which gave her a cute vibe even though she wore a fancy work-dress.

“Nice to see you again Minhyuk, your father is waiting for you. Sir Im, room 011 is ready so you can go prepare for the meeting.”

Minhyuk bit on his lip to withhold a laugh. Sir im. Right now Jimin did not only have chubby cheeks but they also became red while speaking to Hyunwoo. Minhyuk made himself a mental note to tease his older brother later about making everyone blush at work.

“Minhyuk, my meeting will be done around 11:00, so I’ll wait for you here. Call me if anything happens.”

Minhyuk just nods and stares at the back of his brother as he walks towards a door where probably the meeting rooms are.

“You and your brother don’t look the same, but you both became really handsome. I bet the youngest also grew a lot bigger.” Jimin smiled and made a gesture to Minhyuk to follow her towards the elevators. The office of Minhyuk’s dad was on the 8^th floor of the building, the highest floor of the building, so a lot of people came into the elevator in the meantime. Every time someone walked in and spotted Minhyuk they would bow 90 degrees.

How would they even remember who I am, do all the employees have a picture of my family that they need to memorize or what?

Eventually they arrived at the 8^th floor and Minhyuk had the feeling it was already 10:30 or something, but when he looked at his watch it was just a little past ten. He hoped the talk with his dad would be over soon.

“There you go, Minhyuk. It’s just the door at the end of the hallway. Have a nice day and I hope to see you again sometime. Take care.” Minhyuk just turned around, smiled and waved at Jimin while the elevator doors closed.

For a few minutes Minhyuk just stared at the door at the end of the hallway, it would take around 15 footsteps to get at the door but his feet were glued against the floor. Minhyuk’s mind started to debate rather to run away and become a gigolo or something, but then he remembered Hyunwoo’s words.

We are the strongest together.

No, he could not let his fear take over to push him away from his family. Minhyuk refuses to let his brothers down, not again. Never again!

Minhyuk doesn’t even realize it when he is knocking on the door of his father’s office, not feeling prepared at all for what’s coming.

“Come in.” When Minhyuk opened the door he saw his father. The man was standing straight next to his desk, he looked lost even though he was in his own office and Minhyuk was little relieved he was not the only one who felt nervous.

“Dad.” Minhyuk bowed, and when he stood straight again he felt his father’s hands on his shoulders.

“I’m glad you came back Minhyuk, you may not believe it, but I really am.” Minhyuk noticed how his father’s pronunciation was a little shaky. “Sit down, we got something to talk about.” Minhyuk nodded and sat down, feeling his heart beat in his throat. He swallowed nervously and wished for this moment to be over as soon as possible.

“It embarrassed me deeply.” Minhyuk felt his whole body shiver. This is it Minhyuk, stay strong, you can handle it. “Being a chef? Tsss, I was so hurt back then. If your mother was still alive she would have kicked me out for how I reacted. But my feelings were too strong back then. I got time to think about it, so did you.”

His dad looked into Minhyuk’s eyes and smiled. “I think we both changed our point of view the past months. Right?”

Minhyuk just nodded, having no clue were the conversation was going to. “I changed in a way that I accepted you never had interest in our company and probably never will. And I guess you changed in a way that you should be careful in the future or you could lose it all, right?”

That’s a threat Minhyuk, you’re like a bird in a cage now. He just nodded, feeling his heartbeat in his head now. Minhyuk felt like all the pressure had knocked out his brain. Am I getting a panic attack? .

“Yesterday you got a little feeling back of your old lifestyle. Isn’t it great? I mean it must be a thousand times better than living in that little crack apartment.” It didn’t even surprised Minhyuk that his dad knew where he had lived for the past months, his dad always found a way to get the information he wanted.

“Listen Minhyuk, you embarrassed me deeply. Like I said I am truly glad you’re back but this is the last shot you get at making it back into the family and live a decent life with no shortcomings. Understood? You can cook all you want, I don’t care, but this is your one and only chance to make things right again.”

Minhyuk’s hands were all sweaty, even his forehead started to become wet and Minhyuk just nodded, it was the only thing his body was able to do. He stared into his father’s eyes but his perception was all blurry and Minhyuk felt like nothing was getting processed in his brain.

“There is one thing you have to do for me, or better said, for the company. It’s probably none of your interests but I’m planning on expanding our company abroad, preferably in China and Japan. I have the perfect connection who could help me with it but, you see, even though he is a good friend I do not trust him fully. The thing you have to do is something I proposed and the other party already accepted it. So what it means is that you have no right to dismiss this, however, if you do, I’ll make sure you lose everything. Even your beloved chef job. Understood? SPEAK UP!”

Minhyuk was afraid, he felt his whole body went to shock and tears were already filling his eyes. Minhyuk may not have been interested in running a company but he was not stupid. He knew what it meant if two companies wanted to work together but they didn’t trust each other.

They become family.

His father always said marriage was holy and that you should choose for the one you love, not for the one who owns the most.

Guess you really ing pissed him off, Minhyuk. Great!

Minhyuk just tried to calm his breath down and tried to blink his tears away.

Stay calm, you could be overreacting Minhyuk!

But it didn’t help, his brain was still knocked out and his body felt numb and tired. Minhyuk just wanted this to be over asap, so he just gathered his energy to answer his father and to pray it was not what he thought it was.

“Yes father, I understood. I will do whatever you want me to.”

“Good.” And it was the first time during their meeting that his dad truly smiled. “You are going to live together with someone in about a month, and eventually you’ll marry him somewhere this year. That’s it.”

It was just one sentence but every word hit Minhyuk very slowly, but oh so painfully hard.

Marriage?!  He knew it! There was nothing Minhyuk could do anymore, all his energy disappeared and tears just rolled down his cheeks, sobbing sounds escaping from his mouth. His father would not allow him to marry someone he loved, it was his revenge for embarrassing him. Minhyuk didn’t want to take part in the company but that didn’t stop his father to use his son as a pawn to get some profit.

It broke Minhyuk hearing that he has to live together with that person in a month. Minhyuk felt like he got scammed; he just got back to his home, reunited with his brothers and he would have to say goodbye again to all off it soon. It’s so unfair! Wasn’t the deal that he would be back with his family again?!

But that was not all. Marry him. Him. H-I-M. Minhyuk never even had a serious relationship with a girl, how the hell would he be able to marry a man. It was not like he was homophobic, and he was not embarrassed to check out other male classmates during PE class, but he never really dated anyone. He was so anxious, he didn’t even know what kind of person he would marry.

Well Minhyuk he also got forced. What if he is ing homophobic?!?!

All these worries were screaming through his mind and his tears didn’t seem to stop running from his eyes.

“Stop it Minhyuk. It’s not that bad. The boy was okay with it in no time, he even suggested to live together. Now wipe your tears away and go home. Take some rest and don’t lose too much sleep about it, you’ll meet him Saturday so try to look healthy. The last thing you want is for this to be ruined.”

Minhyuk couldn’t stop the tears from falling, he couldn’t stop his body from shivering. All he could do was try to hide his face in his hands and clenching his teeth to avoid a hysterical outburst.

A silent falls inside the office, only lightly sniffs coming from Minhyuk. His dad’s voice breaks the silence after a few minutes.

“It’s done. You can go now.” The words were ice cold, with no sign of pity or empathy. Minhyuk realized that his dad really didn’t give a that he just gave his son away to some random dude.

Minhyuk’s heart was beating like crazy and his head felt like it just had hit a wall. Minhyuk felt like suffocating and at this moment he wouldn’t even mind if he would just drop dead on the office floor.

Because it was done. His whole life was done, over and ruined.

He got up as quickly as he could and just walked out, there were no words left to speak.

Done. Everything was done.

Hello there, most beautiful people in the world!   [I'm such a cheeseball,  but sorry not sorry]

How are you all doing? Thank you for reading and supporting this story *kissy*  I hope you have fun reading it, and like always let me know if something isn't "right" or you are bored reading this or so! 

Also, I updated the foreword because LittleSnowflake requested a cover image for the story so I added it! Check it out pls!!! :D 
THANK YOU SWEETHEART ♥ What a cute mochi you are ♥