The room was dark save for the small stream of light shining in from the hallway lamp. The quiet sniffle caught Yixing's attention immediately, drawing his eyes to the blanketed lump on the bed. Yixing swallowed, his chest tightening at the thought of his strong younger brother crying to himself, and immediately laid down on the bed next to the lump.

"Sehun-ah," he started softly, hand resting on said person’s shoulder in an attempt to comfort the other. “Are you asleep?”

There was no answer, but Yixing hadn’t expected Sehun to reply him anyway. He smiled sadly. “I know how you’re feeling right now,” he continued, “but I think you should listen to what Kai has to say.” He nearly fell off the bed when the figure under the blanket suddenly jerked up, revealing a pale face with red-rimmed eyes. Yixing swallowed again and couldn’t stop himself from reaching over to hug the other but Sehun only shoved him away.

“How can you?” the younger boy exploded. “Don’t you know what this means? I would have to go to Korea with Kai – I’ll have to leave h-home and you—” Sehun broke off angrily and punched Yixing in the arm. Normally Yixing would berate him for being disrespectful, but it didn’t even occur to him to scold the other now. He knew Sehun was upset, that just when he thought they were finally going to return to being a family again, he was going to be taken away. They had stuck together for so long and the prospect of forever being in different countries was rather frightening.

“What if it was a mistake?” Yixing asked gently. “What if your parents never wanted to leave you? Kai went through the trouble of getting a DNA test done – why would he, if they really mean to abandon you?”

Sehun fell silent, but the intensity of his glare didn’t fade.

“As hurt as you are that they left you behind, think of how they must feel to have lost you,” he continued despite the nagging ache in his chest. Yixing wished he didn’t have to be the one to say these words, that he could be selfish enough to tell Sehun to stay, but he knew if he didn’t Sehun wouldn’t ever find out what happened to his real family.

Yixing drew Sehun into a tight embrace and the other automatically buried his head into the elder’s neck. “Promise you’ll listen to what Kai has to say. Promise you’ll at least visit them.”

“You’re asking too much of me, ge,” Sehun choked, and Yixing could feel the dampness in his shoulder. “… but I promise.”

***

“Excuse me, mister? We’re closing. Do you have someone to pick you up?” asked the bartender gruffly with a frown as he nudged an incoherent Luhan nursing an empty bottle of beer. The idol barely acknowledged him, choosing instead to mumble into the table. He didn’t even put up a fight when the bartender reached into his back pocket with a roll of his eyes and pulled out his mobile phone.

The bartender scrolled through the list of contacts the way he had done so many times before when he had drunken lonely customers who wouldn’t leave despite being asked repeatedly. He settled on the contact ‘Home’ and much to his relief, someone picked up almost immediately.

Fifteen minutes later, after the bartender had dragged Luhan out and left him on the sidewalk, a cab stopped in front of the pub and out stepped a worried middle-aged woman whom, obviously, threw on her clothes in a panic when she received the call, judging by the mismatched top and floral pants. Qiuyue squatted down to put her arm around the intoxicated idol’s waist and hauled him up with the help of the cab driver.

Even though he was on the verge of passing out, Luhan recognised the woman as the one and only person who discarded him when he was a child. He turned away to face the window, irritatedly brushing her hand off when she tried to wipe the perspiration off his face.

“My poor child,” he heard her whisper just before he shut his eyes. “You’ve suffered.”

The last thing he remembered when he woke up the next morning was that woman telling him things would change for the better. Luhan scowled, his head already throbbing from the aftermath of his drinking binge and the memory of his mother did not help a bit. He dragged his legs over the edge of the bed, catching sight of the glass of water and aspirins on his bedside table along with a note.

I hope you feel better.

He scrunched up the piece of paper and tossed it behind him, too tired to even invest fury at the fake concern. Loud piercing music filled the room and with a grunt, Luhan grabbed his mobile phone from the table. Zitao. He grimaced.

“What is it?” he asked brusquely, unsurprised at the panic in his manager’s voice.

“Bi Ren broke off the engagement!” Zitao exclaimed over the phone. “It’s all over the news – what happened? What did you—”

“Thanks, Zitao,” Luhan said loudly over the other. “Instead of asking if I’m okay, you’re only concerned what that would do to my supposed fame, aren’t you? I assumed you saw the Abel-Bi Ren fight on TV. Just join the ing dots.”

“Hey, I don’t need this rude—”

“Whatever, Tao.” He could hear his manager in a deep breath but he could care less. He was beginning to think Zitao only cared for him when he was rolling in riches and not as a friend.

“The agency wanted to sue you for breach of contract,” Zitao said finally and this time it caught Luhan’s attention. He wanted to laugh. Shoot a man while he was down, why not? “Qiuyue bought you out of the agency.”

He sat up straighter. “What?” he sputtered.

Zitao continued as if he hadn’t heard Luhan. “Instead of being angry at the whole world, why don’t you take a step back and see the amount of everyone is doing for you. I… I only wanted what’s best for you too. I’m hanging up.”

Luhan dropped his phone, barely noticing it crash hazardously on the floor. His contract… was worth millions. Exactly how much did Qiuyue pay? He stared, frozen, at the ball of paper he had tossed on the bed earlier, and as if a switch had gone off in his head, Luhan stood up so abruptly his head spun.

He didn’t have to search long. Qiuyue and Yixing were in the dining room with a strange man and then his mother was shaking hands with the stranger. The stranger brushed against Luhan’s shoulder when he left and that was when both Qiuyue and Yixing noticed his presence.

“Who is that man?” he asked sharply. “What’s going on?”

When it was clear Qiuyue wasn’t about to answer, Yixing sighed quietly and placed a hand on the older woman’s shoulder. “We sold the Book Attic.”

His jaw dropped in shock. The Book Attic…? The one thing his father left behind before he died? “How could you!” Luhan exploded. “After all his hard work?”

Yixing flinched but instead of backing down, he merely took a step forward to shield Qiuyue and glared hard at the idol. “We know better than you how hard he has worked on it,” he hissed. “Do you think we would have sold it if we didn’t need the money? Don’t you see? Everything Ma does is for you.”

***

“What do you want?” he snarled when the door to his bedroom opened. The minute he saw it was Yixing, he immediately tensed and schooled his features into a neutral expression.

“Lunch,” the younger man said shortly, holding up the tray before crossing the room to place it on the desk. “Ma left for an appointment so if you want to shout at me… go ahead.”

Luhan’s gaze ran over Yixing in surprise, taking note of the clenched fists at his sides. True, he wasn’t exactly pleased with how the other had yelled at him and yes, he might have thrown a bit of a temper, but he felt properly chastised. Yixing was right. He was beginning to think the younger man was never wrong.

“I’m not… going to shout at you,” he said sullenly. “I just felt a bit… lost.”

He sensed the moment of hesitation before Yixing sat down next to him on the edge of the bed. “I’m sorry,” Yixing said softly. “For yelling at you earlier… and for yelling at you yesterday. Are you… okay?”

Luhan tried to reason with himself that his stomach was clenching because he hadn’t had anything to eat. It had absolutely nothing to do with Yixing sitting so closely next to him and it had absolutely nothing to do with the stupid hope blooming in his chest. He shrugged at Yixing’s question.

“As okay as I can be as someone with nothing left,” he murmured. There was probably no way to salvage his career now but at least he didn’t have Bi Ren to worry about.

Yixing shot him a weird look and Luhan swore his heart did not flop over when the other cautiously took his hand. “Who says you have nothing left?” he scolded lightly. “You still have a family.”

It was his only opening. Despite what Yixing said to him yesterday, Luhan knew he had to give it one last shot. What more could he lose, right?

“And what if… what if I want you to be more than just a foster brother?” Luhan said quietly, intertwining their fingers together just tight enough so Yixing couldn’t pull away. “I know I’ve done a lot of disappointing things and I… barely have anything left to give you, but… will you give me a chance?”

Yixing was silent for a long time, during which Luhan held his breath. He didn’t think there would come a day where he’d behave like this, to find a person’s opinion of him matter so much.

“I’ll think about it,” Yixing said, but before Luhan could be crushed with the disappointment of Yixing’s rejection, the younger man gently brushed his lips against his cheek, blinding him with the dazzling smile on his face. “Now eat your lunch before Ma reprimands me for letting you starve.”

***

His heart was still pounding hard in his chest when Yixing left the house for work. He couldn’t believe his audacity. Yixing tentatively touched his lips and blushed, grateful that nobody could see him now. He still cared a great deal for the other even after ranting at him.

“Ge.”

Yixing paused in his tracks and looked up, the silly smile on his lips fading when he saw both Sehun and Kai in front of him. His questioning gaze flickered from Kai to his younger brother. Did the talk go well...?  Sehun ducked his head and stared at the ground.

“I’m going to Korea.”

A/N: Sorry for the long hiatus! The fic should be ending in 1-2 chapters' time.