Yay for weekly update! This chapter is a little long though... OTL 

Hyunwoo slid in the black platinum card onto the slot on the door. The small light on the steel handle lock quickly changed from red to green, signaling that the wooden double doors were open.

What was he thinking? He shook his head in disbelief that he actually went to Yoseob’s apartment because Dongwoon begged him to. The maknae was not someone to take in lightly, Hyunwoo believed that his determination and his endless brotherly love for his Yoseob Hyung could even move the mountains; if Dongwoon could beg Hyunwoo to come, he was sure the young man could achieve anything he wanted to.

Hyunwoo sighed as he remembered all the determined calls and text messages asking him to visit Yoseob in the younger man’s apartment because Yoseob Hyung is sick, Hyung-nim and he won’t see anyone except for you, please Hyung-nim. It was not his fault that Yoseob was sick and why would the idol be so stubborn as to not let anyone inside his apartment? Wasn’t he some idol with an inhumane and strict agency just like those on the news? The ones where these poor souls were put to work no matter if their health conditions. How could this kid be so pampered and spoiled?

The security of the luxurious apartment building had been cautiously told to let Hyunwoo in. The older man was given a spare black platinum card to open the apartment door and activate the private elevator, because Yoseob was too sick to even get up from the bed. He was even explicitly informed of the back door route for privacy purposes and provided a spacious space to park his car in the parking lot. Dongwoon had meticulously arranged everything for Hyunwoo to come and visit, and he should agree that the maknae was one hell of a great planner of things.

Hyunwoo’s phone rang and he saw Dongwoon’s name flashing on the screen. Hyunwoo sighed again and tapped the screen of his phone to answer, “Yes, Dongwoonah?”

“Hyung-nim? Hyung-nim, are you there yet? Can you go inside the building? Did you get the parking lot I have allocated for you? Did the security guard give you a hard time? Can you find Yoseob Hyung’s apartment? It’s the one on the top floor with huge wooden double doors.”

Hyunwoo raised his eyebrows at the rambling young man on the phone, “Yes…yes…yes…yes…no…yes…I know.” 

“Huh? What?” Dongwoon sounded confused.

“I was answering all of your questions, Dongwoonah.” Hyunwoo said calmly. The small light on the steel handle lock had turned red again.

Dongwoon was silent for a while on the other line, digesting Hyunwoo’s answer. “Um, Hyung-nim, I cannot really track my questions in the order of your answers… So anyway, are you there yet?”

Hyunwoo chuckled softly, “Yes, I’m here. I was about to enter when you called, now the door was automatically locked again.”

“O – o – oh, okay! Okay…” Dongwoon stammered, obviously excited at Hyunwoo’s answer.

“You think I won’t come, don’t you?”

“Of course not! We knew you would come! We believe in you!”

Hyunwoo laughed this time, soft but fully amused, “Thank you, Dongwoonah… and Kiwangie. I am actually in front of his door now, and the small lock indicator has turned from green to red now.”

“Oh! Oh! Ohh, okay. Okay, Hyung-nim. Go inside quickly. Thank you, Hyung-nim.” Dongwoon sounded apologetic, both from hindering Hyunwoo from entering the apartment and for all the troubles he had caused Hyunwoo.

“It’s okay. Send my regards to Kikwangie.” After a curt bye, Hyunwoo pocketed back his phone and stared at the steel lock. He inhaled deeply and exhaled loudly, before sliding in the platinum card into the key slot and then the small light turned green again.

Hyunwoo prepared himself for the worst and pushed open the double doors. 

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When Hyunwoo was greeted with a clean, spotless and modern penthouse, he was torn between being amazed because the place looked absolutely nice and homey or disappointed because it did not look near as hazardous as he thought it would be.

There was a wooden table at the foyer, with a bowl of keys and a small vase of daisies. It was nothing out of the ordinary until the foyer opened up to a high-ceilinged, huge-windowed, naturally bright space in front of him. The apartment was huge – the security guard called it a penthouse – and it was shockingly luxurious for an idol to live in.

The walls were painted white and the sunlight bounced off them to light up the whole penthouse. The kitchen was covered in light brown marbles, with a matching wooden dining table and chairs in the middle of the space. The living room was down further – with soft-looking and comfortable yellow sofas and a thousand of throw pillows on them – facing the high-ceilinged windows to a breathtaking view of a morning and busy Seoul.

There was not much furniture in the penthouse, it was simple and efficient but every single chair or table or vase in the room screamed high-quality. There were a few doors, which Hyunwoo suspected were bedrooms and bathrooms, but he was not sure which one was Yoseob’s bedroom. He knocked on each door until a muffled scream was heard behind one of the biggest doors.

“Go away! I told you I’m not going anywhere today!” There was a thud on the door and Hyunwoo jerked back. The kid was throwing tantrums and things. Oh, he was going to straight this kid up.

Hyunwoo pushed the steel handle down and opened the door. Just like the rest of the penthouse, Yoseob’s room was unnecessarily spacious with a king-sized white bed in the middle, facing a wall lined with high-ceilinged windows (which was now drawn shut to block the morning light), where another wall had two doors (which Hyunwoo suspected to be the bathroom and a closet or something, he would not know because he had never been to a luxurious penthouse before). A lump of messy colorful and cartoony comforter was visible on the bed and Hyunwoo padded softly on the soft, furry carpet to the curtains. 

Swiftly, Hyunwoo drew the curtains open, blinding bright lights flooded into the room, and the lump on the bed groaned in pure irritation. The older man smirked at that sound and went to the bed, unapologetically throwing the colorful-cartoony comforter aside, revealing an extremely annoyed young man hugging tightly onto his teddy, eyes closed tighter.

Hyunwoo smiled a little when he spotted the humongous bear he won at the night festival. But no, he could not soften towards the adorable selfish curling on himself on the bed. Hyunwoo grabbed the teddy and was about to pull it away when Yoseob screamed, loud and clear, “Don’t take my Hyunnie!”

Hyunwoo stopped midway and froze, he asked, “Hyunnie?”  

Now it was Yoseob’s turn to stop midway in his tantrum-throwing and froze when he heard a voice that sounded too similar to Ahjussi. He slowly opened his eyes, peeking a little at a time, hoping this was just another nightmare and when he opened his eyes, no one was going to be there to humiliate him and his Hyunnie.

“Yah, what do you call the bear?”

It was definitely not a dream, the voice sounded too real to be a delusion. Yoseob quickly opened his eyes and squinted a little because of the bright lights. “Why do you have to open the curtain!” Yoseob demanded childishly.

Hyunwoo was not taking the bait of distraction, “What did you call the bear?”

Yoseob squirmed uncomfortably on the king-sized bed, “Ted – teddy…?”

Hyunwoo narrowed his gaze on the still squirming Yoseob, “No, it’s not teddy. What do you call the bear?”

Yoseob did not move and Hyunwoo was as still as a statue, they kept staring at each other without saying anything. Hyunwoo repeated his question, “What do you call the bear, Yoseobah?”

Yoseob pursed his lips and shook his head, face flaming with embarrassment. But he whispered the name anyway, “Hyun… Hyunnie…”

“That’s me, right?”

Yoseob nodded his head gently and tightened his grip on Hyunnie, burying his face on the soft brown fur. There was a satisfied smirk on Hyunwoo’s face at the soft voice, he adjusted the tie he was wearing and stood straight beside the bed, shoving his hands on the pockets of his black dress pants.

Hyunwoo cleared his throat awkwardly to hide the satisfied smile on his face, “I like the name. It is supposed to be named after me, I won it for you.”

Yoseob nodded again softly, unable to lift his eyes to meet Hyunwoo’s. His face was burning in embarrassment but still, he grinned happily when Hyunwoo approved of his bear’s name.

Hyunwoo pulled on the bear again, tenderly this time so Yoseob would sit up on the bed. Yoseob was tiny and Hyunwoo had no difficulty whatsoever on the task. But then something was definitely wrong when Yoseob quickly bolted to one of the doors on the wall and hurled into the toilet bowl. The retching sound was frightening as Yoseob was busy puking his guts out. Hyunwoo quickly went to the bathroom and dampened a towel. He squatted beside Yoseob and rubbed the younger man’s neck and back comfortingly.

When Yoseob had finished his puking episode, he flushed the toilet bowl and laid his head on Hyunwoo’s shoulder as the older man wiped away the sweat from Yoseob’s forehead and cleaned up Yoseob’s dry lips with the wet towel.

“, I’m sorry, I didn’t know that you would… I’m sorry.” Hyunwoo settled Yoseob down on the bathroom floor as the younger man tried to stop panting. Yoseob shook his head, it’s okay, don’t worry about it.

“Okay. Do you want to go back to bed and lie down?” Hyunwoo asked.

Yoseob shook his head no.

“Do you want to go to the doctor?”

Yoseob shook his head no.

“Do you want to puke somemore?”

Yoseob shook his head no.

“Um, okay. Lunch?”

Yoseob nodded gently.

Hyunwoo leaned Yoseob onto the bathroom wall and provided his back to Yoseob, “Hop on, I’ll carry you to the living room. You need some fresh air.” Yoseob smiled a little before weakly climbing onto Hyunwoo’s back and wrapped his arms around Hyunwoo’s strong shoulder. He rested his head on the older man’s warm back and inhaled the scent that was decidedly Hyunwoo.

“You seem to be getting on my back a lot these days,” Hyunwoo chuckled as he walked out of the bathroom to the living room. “Have you seen the doctor?”

Yoseob nodded silently, “There’s medicine in the cupboard.”

“Where is your manager?” Hyunwoo looked around for any presence of other people in the penthouse but saw none.

Yoseob exhaled tiredly, “He has family matters to attend so he went back to Jeju for a few days.”

“And you kicked Dongwoon out for taking care of you. Smart moves.” Hyunwoo said sarcastically as he set Yoseob down gently on the sofa. He bolted to the kitchen to get Yoseob some hot tea. On the stove he saw a pot of egg porridge and another pot of chicken soup. “Who cooked?”

Yoseob turned around and saw Hyunwoo walking towards him with a steaming cup in his hands, “Kikwang did. Before I kicked him and Dongwoon out.”

Hyunwoo handed Yoseob the hot tea and shook his head in disbelief, “You heartless selfish . How can you do that to them? They are here to take care of you. Dongwoon even begged me to come because you refused to see anyone.”

Yoseob took a sip of the warm liquid down his parched throat, “I just feel really bad for them. They have been taking care of me since the first day, so I just wanted them to have time for themselves. I’m not that heartless.” Yoseob sneered at the older man.

“Why are you so weak? You get sick so easily…” Hyunwoo trailed off as he went back to the marble-covered kitchen and scooped a bowl of porridge and chicken soup, and placed them on a tray. Yoseob continued to shock him by being so thoughtful of other people.

Yoseob scoffed and answered, “This is your fault, Ahjussi. I was in the rain with you, remember?”

Doojoon was back with the tray of food as he said incredulously, “That was weeks ago and you had my jacket! I am supposed to be the one who is sick, cycling in the rain from your place to mine in the thunderstorm! I was freezing to death. Why are you blaming me? This is ridiculous.”

“Is that your favorite sentence?” Yoseob asked.

“What?”

“This is ridiculous.” Yoseob said. “Is that your favorite sentence?”

Hyunwoo was stunned for a moment, he raised his eyebrows, “No. But it’s always ridiculous with you. Which idol lives in a luxurious penthouse anyway, that is ridiculous.” The older man shoved a spoonful of egg porridge into Yoseob’s mouth.

Yoseob chewed industriously, not feeling any awkwardness as if they had been feeding each other for forever, “Haven’t you heard of the Yang family?”

Hyunwoo shook his head as he blew on a spoonful of chicken soup for Yoseob.

“Which planet are you from, Ahjussi. Everyone knows the Yang family.” Yoseob scoffed, drinking cautiously the warm chicken broth from the spoon.

Hyunwoo took a tissue and wiped away any remaining porridge from Yoseob’s lips, “Well, not everyone then because I don’t know the Yang family… Wait, aren’t you a Yang? You are Yang Yoseob, aren’t you?”

It was amusing Yoseob to no end watching a confused Hyunwoo. The younger man smiled a little and nodded, “My parents own a company that deals with natural resources mining and then suddenly we are one of the wealthiest families in South Korea. I wanted out of the lifestyle, so I chose to be an entertainer instead. But because of one thing and another, my family owns 75% of the share in my agency and so yeah… the privilege and all.” Yoseob shrugged nonchalantly, waving away at the penthouse, taking a small sip of his warm tea.

“Aren’t idols supposed to be poor and stuff?” Hyunwoo asked innocently which brought Yoseob to laughter. “No, Ahjussi. Some idols are extremely rich because of what they do. There is Jaejoong Hyung, he owns a super cool apartment, a lot of really expensive cars, small businesses and all, there is Hyori Noona which has this really nice apartment and stuff, the Girl’s Generation members… a lot of idols are really successful nowadays. Have you heard of the Korean wave? K-wave and K-pop?”

Hyunwoo tilted his head in confusion, “Yes to K-pop, but um… what’s a K-wave?”

Yoseob chuckled and took another spoonful of porridge into his mouth. He was feeling mighty better with Ahjussi around, “K-wave is how the idols get recognized overseas. The Korean entertainment scene is taking over the world like a giant strong wave from the ocean.”

Hyunwoo hummed in understanding and nodded his head subtly because he was absolutely, totally, clueless about this kind of stuff. He shoveled the last spoon of chicken broth into Yoseob’s mouth and got up to wash the dishes in the kitchen. “Where is your medicine, Kid?”

Yoseob wordlessly pointed to a pink hanging cupboard and Hyunwoo walked back with a bag of medicine and a cup of warm water for Yoseob.

“Why are you wearing a tie?” Yoseob asked.

“Drink up, kid. You need more fluid to avoid dehydration.” Hyunwoo urged Yoseob to finish his water and continued, “I was supposed to be in the office in…” He looked at his forever-accurate watch, “two hours ago.”

There was a glimmer of happiness in Yoseob’s eyes that Hyunwoo did not miss, “Don’t be too happy, Kid. I’ll be on my way to the office once you are settled for a nap.”

“Are we napping now?” Yoseob asked hopefully.

Hyunwoo raised his eyebrows, “You are napping now, I’m going back to the office now.”

Yoseob opened up his arms and whined childishly, “Carry me back?”

Hyunwoo narrowed his eyes, feigning annoyance while in fact he found Yoseob too adorable for his own good. He squatted in front of the sofa as Yoseob, again, climbed onto his back.

As mischievous as Yoseob could be, he did not let go of Hyunwoo even when the older man was ready to put him back to bed. Yoseob clung like a baby koala. “Yah… Yah, let go. Yah…”

Yoseob shook his head profusely, not wanting to let go.

“Aish, I’m serious. Let go. Are you really sick? How can you be so strong even when you are this sick? Yah, let go and take your nap.”

“Nap with me.” Yoseob whined.

“What are you? Three? Aish, let me go, you are so bothersome.”

“No! Nap with me! Ahjussiiii….”

“Aish, I need to get back to the office. God, you are so noisy – “ Hyunwoo struggled to release himself from Yoseob’s deathly grasp.  

“Ahjusssiiiii….” Yoseob’s shrill voice filled the air.

“Yah, Yang Yoseob. I’m not playing this game with you.”

“But I’m not playing game either.” Hyunwoo could hear Yoseob’s pout.

The older man was supposed to go back in the office but he would absolutely die if he heard another whine coming out of Yoseob’s mouth. His ears would bleed and that would be the end of his thirty-two years of life. “Aish. Fine. Okay.”

“Okay?” Yoseob asked hesitantly, he was thinking of more whines and pleas, but that was easy enough to get Hyunwoo to stay.

Hyunwoo turned his neck slightly and glared at the doe-eyed young man, “Yes, okay. I’ll nap with you, for a while.”

The grin on Yoseob’s face could not be brighter or wider, the young man felt that his face would split into two. Yoseob slowly released himself from Hyunwoo’s back and hopped on the bed, while the older man loosened his tie and popped open the top button of his crisp white shirt.

They both settled on the bed; Hyunwoo on his back, watching the busy Seoul scenery through a clean, spotless high-ceilinged window opposite the huge bed, while Yoseob was on his side, facing Hyunwoo. They were lying on the bed, side by side, with no touching involved, both of them thinking of different things going on in their own complicated lives.

“Ahjussi, do you go to noraebang often?” Yoseob suddenly quipped.

“Huh? Why?” Hyunwoo asked back, confused to the random question.

Yoseob shrugged, “Nothing… just… you sound like you sing often. So you must go singing often with your friends then?”

“No.” Hyunwoo answered, “I’m just a great bathroom singer. That’s all.”

Yoseob laughed at the answer, guiltily relieved that Hyunwoo did not go out often with his friends. It was a bad thought, but Yoseob did not give a . Instead he moved closer and draped himself all over Ahjussi.

“Aish… What are you doing… You are so troublesome. Get back to your original position.” Hyunwoo complaint incessantly but Yoseob was determined to not let go. The young man shook his head and refused to let Hyunwoo alone.

“I’m sorry.” Yoseob suddenly apologized.

“Why?”

“Because I took your jacket on the rain and was troublesome.” Yoseob said apologetically.

That stopped Hyunwoo from his half-hearted struggles, there was something utterly sad about the way Yoseob spoke, and Hyunwoo finally let Yoseob rearrange their positions so that the young man would be comfortable.  

“Ahjussi, you are so comfortable… like Appa…” Yoseob mumbled incoherently and Hyunwoo sighed out a smile, frowning at the sleepy boy on him. Soon enough, Yoseob’s breathing started to slow down and Hyunwoo knew the medicine had kicked in and the young man was already deep in sleep.

He looked at his forever-accurate watch and realized that he was almost three hours late to the office, but instead of panicking away, he placed his hands around Yoseob’s body and pulled the young man higher so that Yoseob’s head was directly under Hyunwoo’s chin.

Just a few minutes, Hyunwoo thought, a few minutes of this. The older man held Yoseob like he was precious and watched as the morning turned into afternoon through the high-ceilinged windows.

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Hyunwoo placed a glass of water, a plate of butter muffin, and two pills on the bedside drawer. He looked at the still sleeping Yoseob, hugging the big Hyunnie tightly. Struggling free without waking Yoseob up proved to be absolutely difficult because who knew the boy had some death grips on him. But Hyunwoo was a senior agent for something, he could struggle away from anything.

He had freshened up in the bathroom (which was ridiculously huge and luxurious for just one Yang Yoseob), buttoned up his shirt and tightened his tie. He was ready for office and some scolding from Team Leader Jung.

Hyunwoo padded slowly out of the bedroom, into the living room, slipped his shoes in the foyer and finally out of the apartment. He felt exhausted, like he just finished a year-worth of working around the world, spying on some underground organization.

On the table was a note Hyunwoo had left for Yoseob:

Make sure to drink the water first before eating the muffin. Don’t forget to take your medicine.  I have cooked a fresh Samgaetang for you. Eat that. Call Dongwoon and Kikwang. They are worried about you. Get well soon.

As Hyunwoo drove away from the parking lot, he chuckled darkly and shook his head. He had definitely gone insane.

This was ridiculous.