Kibum leaned back on the chair he was sitting on at the corner of the room, casually looking up at the ceiling with a glass of wine at hand; his mind deep at thought. He was trying to recall his meet up with Hyukjae and couldn't help but feel that something was off. The spark he was hoping to feel again with Hyukjae didn't happen like he had initially hoped. He wondered if it was because of his jetlag or if perhaps the time apart between the two of them had really erased whatever lingering feelings he might have thought he had with the latter. It troubled him that he might have made a mistake coming back to Korea afterall. 

"Yah, what's up with you?" Changmin nudged at his knee seeing the bothered expression on his face. 

Kibum adjusted his position on the chair so that he was sitting upright and gently placed the glass of wine he was holding on top of the coffee table next to him. He furrowed his eyebrows together before divulging his thoughts with Changmin. 

"Min...do you think Hyukjae and I could have been happy together if I hadn't left Korea?"

Changmin froze at the question and tried not to show how much that simple question affected him. He pressed his lips together trying not to say what he actually wanted to say and looked away. 

"You're still on that?" He inquired, annoyance evident in his voice. 

Kibum disregarded his tone and kept going. "I just- I think maybe I was looking at this all wrong." 

Changmin glanced at him carefully, trying to contain himself from jumping into any conclusions of his own. "What are you talking about?"

"Earlier with Hyukjae," Kibum paused and rubbed his tired eyes together trying to shake off the disappointment he felt. "I don't- I mean, I didn't feel anything."

"Kibum, what did you expect? It's been ten years. Did you really expect Eunhyuk hyung to still be waiting for you?"

Kibum rolled his eyes at Changmin's words. He was missing the point of his problem. 

"That's not what I'm saying," Kibum argued. "But what if I had strived harder to accomplish the same thing here in Korea, do you think Hyukjae and I could have-"

"What's the point of all this?" Changmin cut him off, no longer willing to listen to Kibum's hypothetical what ifs scenario. "And don't think I didn't notice the gibe you threw his way when he told you about Donghae. I'm here to support you in whatever it is you're looking for but not at the expense of Hyung's happiness. Talk it out with him and figure your out because I only filed for a month's worth vacation." 

Kibum sighed and knew Changmin was trying to be annoying on purpose. "Why did you even come with me in the first place? I could have handled this on my own."

"Well, excuse me for trying to be a good friend." Changmin scoffed then got under the covers of his bed and faced away from Kibum.

Even though he has no idea what just happened, Kibum had enough sense to know that he had said something wrong. Feeling bad for his poor choice of words, Kibum attempted to apologize to his friend. "Changmin-ah, that's not what I meant."

"I know what you meant."

"Then why are you upset?"

"I'm not upset." Changmin's firm stubborn response came too quickly that Kibum just knew he won't be getting any decent response from the younger, at least not until his anger passes away. Letting out a quite sigh, Kibum finished the rest of his wine and walked to the bathroom to wash his face before retiring to bed. Changmin, who had his eyes closed, opened them back up again after hearing the bathroom door closed and stared at the wall in front of him sadly.

I'm sorry Hyukkie hyung. Changmin thought to himself hoping that the silent apology would somehow reach his friend's ear. I just can't risk it.

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 Hyukjae woke up a little later than he intended. He looked at his clock by his bedside and pouted a little when he saw the time. 

"He probably left for work already." Hyukjae mumbled to himself then shook his head side to side when he realized that his first thought that morning was Donghae. He lightly slapped his cheeks trying to wake his brain up and away from whatever fantasy he was about to walk himself into. "I should really start looking for a job soon. I'm gonna go crazy staying here."

Hyukjae got up out of bed and, not expecting to have anyone around the house, walked straight out of his room with his hair sticking out everywhere and his pajama top half-buttoned, exposing just enough of his chest to see. His eyes was still a little droopy from having just woken up that walking down the stairs was a little more challenging that it had to be. Each step he took was like a heavy bag of bricks was dragging him down. Once he finally did manage to get down, he didn't bother to look at anything else but the direction of the kitchen. 

"Oh, hello Hyukjae dear." Someone called from behind him. 

"Hello." He replied automatically then froze within the next second when his brain registered the possible owner of said sweet voice. Hyukjae gulped, a little worried to confirm his theory, before he slowly turned around towards the direction of the couch and found Donghae facing away from him, dressed in his usual work suit having coffee with his parents who was (of course) dressed to the nines grinning at him. He was completely mortified seeing Sehyun and Donghwa so early in the morning looking at his messy and obvious I-just-woke-up-look then looked at the back of Donghae's head, stunned and confused as to why the hell the latter wouldn't tell him about his parents visit. 

"Well, at least someone knows how to look surprised." Sehyun commented with a light giggle then brought the cup of tea she was drinking closer to her lips. "Would you like to join us, Dear?"

Donghae hid his mouth twitch behind the cup of coffee he was pretending to drink and took a big gulp. He saw Hyukjae come through his periphal and scooched a little to the left to make room for him - not that there wasn't any room on the couch to begin with. One could easily fit at least two more people right next to him.

Once Hyukjae had sat down next to Donghae, they both shared a nervous look with each other for different reasons. 

Hyukjae was more embarrassed than nervous actually. Getting caught in his jammies by his future in-laws (even if it's just pretend) was not how he thought he would be starting his day. Donghae, on the other hand, was nervous because his mother had been insisting on doing something and he's pretty sure how Hyukjae would react to it. Heck, even he was a little nervous doing it. 

Being in the fashion industry for so long, the first thing Sehyun noticed was Hyukjae's clothing. She smiled seeing the mismatched buttons and couldn't help but come up with her own conclusions. 

"Had a good night's sleep?" She asked coyly. 

Hyukjae blinked and nervously chuckled. "Um...y-yes." He answered completey missing the teasing tone she had in her voice "Wh-What brings you here?"

"Well, with the wedding being two months away, we just wanted to check what progress you've made." She placed her tea back on the coffee table and looked back towards Donghae. "My son tells me you've gotten Heechul to help you out with the planning?"

He glanced at Donghae but the latter was just casually drinking his cup of coffee. "Y-Yes."

"Oh, good." She clapped her hands together, joy evident in her smile. "He always knows how to put on a celebration."

The entire time since Hyukjae walked down the stairs up until he sat next to Donghae, the latter had not finished "sipping" on his coffee. When he finally noticed Hyukjae's stare on him, Donghae felt the need to make unneccesarily loud slurping noises just to prove to the other that he was indeed still drinking his coffee. 

"Donghae," Donghwa called making both him and Hyukjae look his way. "Put the coffee down."

Almost choking for getting caught, Donghae at least had the decency to feel embarrass for his bad acting. He placed the mug he was holding on the coffee table and cleared his throat very loudly to try and brush off the uncomfortable feeling he felt around his presence. Hyukjae now wondered what could possibly have gotten him so flustered. 

"Anyway," Sehyun diverted. "I was just telling Donghae that with the wedding being so close that it's time for him to do our family tradition."

"Tradition?"

Donghae pursed his lips and faked a single cough. "And I was just telling Umma that it was unnecessary and we could do without it."

Hyukjae looked back and forth between Sehyun and Donghae and he could tell that there's a weird tension in the air due to both of their stubborn nature. Donghwa, as usual, remained seated next to his wife, just casually reading the newspaper. 

"Um...what-what traditions are you talking about?" Hyukjae asked hoping to break the tension.

Sehyun scowled and gave Donghae an exasperated look. "You haven't even told him?"

"I told you, Umma. He wouldn't want to do it. I don't