The reunion was Hyosung’s plan.

She had just returned from UK with her family, and the moment she had arrived, she called everyone up, giving them no chance to excuse themselves, not taking no for an answer. She had always been imposing like that, bossy and sweet. Even though they didn’t admit it out loudly, except Sungjong who was the closes to her, they all liked their hyper noona very much.

It seemed to Sungjong that the last time he had sat down at a decent family dinner was a lifetime ago. He was however very apprehensive about this family dinner.

From last time though, there were new additions to the table, like Hyosung’s husband, Yongguk and their 3 year old son, Zelo. And then there was the loss of their father.

For now, Sungjong was feeling calm enough – after all, Hyosung had always been his favorite sibling. Until of course she went abroad to study, dumping Sungjong on his two brothers. He couldn’t forget how much it had pained him to see his beloved noona leave; he felt that she was the only one in the entire Universe who understood him. And then she even got married without telling him – it had broken him badly. His noona was his best friend, confidante, and more of his mom that her own mother.

His brothers weren’t sympathetic about his wishes; in fact, they didn’t even care that he had his dreams. His mother didn’t even bother to listen to him because what he says doesn’t matter to her. To their mother, Hyosung was the perfect daughter and Hoya was her golden son and to top it all, Sungyeol was her all-time favorite. But as for him – he was the shadow of the three – a mistake that should have not happened even from the start. The ‘mistake’ that was carrying the heaviest burden in the family.

“How have you been Sungjong?” Hyosung asked him cheerfully. She had a soft look in her eyes and even though he wanted to, he couldn’t be completely mad at her. She still seemed like his hyper older sister. At least she was back.

“Fine,” he said nonchalantly.

“He’s probably still moping about Dongwoo,” Sungyeol said from the other end of the table. As the words sunk in, Sungjong stiffened – it was like a stab to the heart. He felt his pulse fluttering.

“Sungyeol.” Hyosung glared at him reproachfully, but he only laughed.

“Look noona, Sungjong is an idiot. Who loses their fiancé to their older brother?”

“Shut up Sungyeol!” Hyosung chided but Sungjong had heard enough. He felt his temperature flaring as his face burned. The dull throbbing pain in his heart rose sharply, causing him to hide his face in his hands. He almost didn’t hear Sungyeol mumbling, “I was only joking.” He felt mad at the world.

“I don’t want to hear a single -” Hyosung was cut off by the entrance of two people. Sungjong looked up, only to find his vision blurring. If anything could now increase his pain, it was the very sight in front of his eyes – his own brother, and his once fiancé, hand in hand.

“This is for our cute nephew, there you go Zelo!” Hoya handed the 3 year old toddler a large packet and ruffled his hair while Dongwoo beamed at him. Zelo tipped a little under the huge present and Hyosung, relieved him of his burden. Passing the present to Sungyeol, she introduced Hoya and Dongwoo to Yongguk, whom Sungjong didn’t like one bit. He felt that Yongguk was too bad-tempered to be with Hyosung and hoped Zelo was nothing like his dad. But it didn’t look like his prayer would be answered since Zelo already worshipped his dad.

Finally, they all sat down at the table.

“Hey Sungjong,” Hoya said, not looking at him straight. Sungjong, who was staring at his empty plate, nodded.

“Hi,” he heard Dongwoo say faintly but he didn’t respond. His heart was about to burst with the agony and anger he was trying to keep down. It didn’t help that Hoya and Dongwoo still had their hands locked together. Hyosung tried to distract him by talking about his job and his current love affair which is definitely non-existent and on the other side Sungyeol was chiding him on getting married with his oh-so beloved career, but all Sungjong heard was Dongwoo’s laughter, resonating with Hoya’s. No matter where he looked, he could see Hoya and Dongwoo – their looks, their eyes, their smiles. That candid smile that Dongwoo showered Hoya with could have been his; he could have easily been in Hoya’s place; he could have introduced Dongwoo to Hyosung.

At that thought, the dams broke and tear threatened to flood his eyes. He felt as if the whole word was plotting against him; his own brother definitely was. It tore him apart to think how he could have everything in the world, he could have been a model, he could have had Dongwoo by his side forever – and yet here he was, all his dreams tarnished.

As he saw Hoya’s arm wrapping tightly around Dongwoo, he couldn’t stand it anymore. He stood up abruptly, and before anyone could say anything or their mother could even sit down, he stormed out of the room. He stormed out from the place he used to call as his home before.

At 24, he was supposed be building his way to his dreams – but here he was, betrayed by family, burdened by a responsibility he was not prepared for. He hated it. The masses would view him as a young successful entrepreneur that loved his job very much, making him on top of the ladder in a very short span of time but what they do not know was he loathed his job so much. Ironic that his career has stolen everything from him but it was the only thing that kept him tied to the living world.

The angry thoughts clouded his mind as he drove across the crowded roads, his horn blaring. He barely saw where he was going and a few times, he narrowly avoided hitting cars.

But his luck didn’t last long as he drove at high speed through an intersection and by the time he had seen the man crossing the street, it was too late. He braked, biting his lips hardly and groaned as he felt the impact of his car hitting the man.