Luhan’s POV

I wasn’t really excited going to papa’s HK office, but I was expected to go because I was 2^nd eldest of the 13 and the oldest of the 6. Even if papa didn’t say it out loud, he considered me as the oldest, because I was the oldest of his legitimate marriage. Although I shared responsibility with Xiumin and Kris, it was an unspoken truth that the oldest birthright was mine. Not that I was happy about it, but it gave me control over my younger siblings and even Xiumin and Kris. But I didn’t like it sometimes, too. It was hard enough taking responsibility over 5 younger siblings, but with 12 siblings (mostly boys), patience was indeed a virtue. I had to exercise my right as oldest, otherwise, the younger ones would think it was okay to fight over food or to turn off the water’s main switch when someone was taking a bath or doing laundry. And there was the regular reports to papa, whenever they (him and mama) were out of town or out of the country. Most of the time, papa and mama were in Korea or Hong Kong. But the farthest they’ve been was to the U.S., and they were gone for almost 2 weeks.

Yes, we lived in a big house and have stuff that other people don’t have, but then again, living with 5 younger siblings and 7 half-brothers is no mean feat.

So today, I, Xiumin, Kris, Lay, Suho and Chen were going with papa to his HK office. The rest of the family went to watch skateboarding practice at the sports center near the mall. We left in 2 vans. We were in the black van heading towards papa’s office. Each of us had a backpack. Even papa. He sat in front, beside the driver and was talking on his phone. Lay and Kris were beside me, first row seats. Chen, Suho and Xiumin were the 2^nd row seats… sleeping on the way.

I put on my sunglasses and leaned back, closed my eyes and waited for sleep to come. I didn’t know how long was I out when Lay woke me up when we arrived. We followed papa up to his office. As we passed by the lobby, we were greeted by different people. Papa greeted them back telling them he was on semi-day-off and laughed. We took the elevator to the 7^th floor where his office was. Actually, the whole floor was his and his staff. People were busy, either talking on the phone or in front of their computers. As soon as they saw papa getting off the elevator, they bowed and greeted him. He waved a hand and went straight to his office, and we followed. Once inside his office, all of us went to the windows and looked outside. We could see a golf course right below papa’s window.

Papa: So, this is my Hong Kong office. Korea is pretty much like this, except I have Korean staff there.

We just nodded and one by one, we slowly sat down on the couch in front of papa’s desk. Then a middle-aged man knocked on his door and poked his head in.

Lee: Sir, you-know-who is in the building. The boss asked me to tell you because he might try to talk to you about you-know-what.

Papa: Ah… that man never stops at “No.” Okay. Thank you, Lee.

Lee: You’re welcome sir. Are these… them? (He obviously was talking about us.)

Papa: Yes, all mine. Go and ready my golf clubs, will you? I might swing a ball or two with these lot. I asked Ang to accompany my wife and the younger kids.

Lee: Ooohh… Future businessmen in the making.

Papa: Yes, they are. We’ll be out in a few. Meet us downstairs.

Lee: Okay, boss. (And he left.)

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Papa: Luhan, Kris, are you sure you’re not joining us?

Me: No papa. We’re staying by the pool… Is there one here?

Papa: Yes, by the clubhouse downstairs.

Kris: I’ll probably just sleep there anyway. Hahaha.

Papa: You two, don’t talk to just anyone. Especially since we have  not-so-welcome visitors.

Xiumin: What do you mean, papa?

Papa: It’s the Dong brothers. They’ve been trying to convince us to do business with them… Invest in real estate at their properties. But we’re just not interested because we sense there’s a questionable document on one of the properties.

Xiumin: Why are they here?

Papa: Well, as they’re friendly with my boss, they’re allowed to visit and stay at the clubhouse. But whenever they see an opportunity, they’d try to discuss the business venture.

Me: So it’s them you want us to keep clear of?

Papa: Yes. They might recognize you are mine, because they were at the party last night. They might try to sweet talk you and use you as bait. Those two are cunning.

Me: Understood papa. But how do we know it’s them?

Papa: Easy, actually. Two short guys who look like twins, but they aren’t twins, and they usually wear white.

Kris: Sort of easy to spot if I’d be standing next to them. LOL.

Papa: Exactly. They’d be as tall as your waist, I think.

And we all laughed. Papa made some calls before herding us again out and down the elevator. Before proceeding to the clubhouse, he stopped by the lobby and left a message, then went through double doors on the other end of the hall. We followed him and found ourselves in the clubhouse. Papa introduced us to the clubhouse staff and they greeted us. He also scanned the place, probably for the Dong brothers. Mr. Lee met us there. He had papa’s golf clubs in hand. Papa’s assistant, Mr. Ang went with mama and the rest. He made sure mama and the rest were well taken care of, as well.

Then papa and the rest climbed the golf carts, while I and Kris made our way to the pool outside. We picked a shaded spot and sat down.

Kris: Ah, this is a vacation. (As he stretched out)

Me: You’re right. I just wish we don’t encounter the Dong brothers.

Kris: Uh-huh. I want my summer vacation spared from real estate stuff.

Me: Likewise. I’ve had enough business talk  last night. I can’t bear another right now.

Kris: I wonder how papa can handle it.

Me: Yeah. Imagine every day, he talks about land, buildings, houses and more land. Ugh… I think I’d die.

Kris: LOL. I’ll be at your funeral, don’t worry.

Me: Shut it. If I knew better, you’d die before me. Just one more mention of “Real Estate” and you’ll drop dead.

Kris: Don’t kill me now or no one will save you from the Dong brothers. Hahaha!

Me: Hahaha! I think I’m tall enough to know it’s them. They’d be as tall as my armpit. Hahaha!

Kris: Hahaha! Waist-length… Armpit length…

Me: Length?

Kris: Yeah. Why? I wanna call it “length” so as not to be obvious.

Me: Okay. Good enough reason.

And from the corner of my eye, I saw two short men with two women approaching the poolsite. I quickly nudged Kris and we snuck to the farthest umbrella-ed seats. As we hid behind a table, I recognized one of the women with the Dong brothers. It was the same girl who asked to be my date at the party. I whispered to Kris.

Me: Look! That girl, remember her?

Kris: Wait… Who? Where?

Me: That one with the Dong brothers, yellow dress.

Kris: Ah…yeah. Concierge lady. Wait… So she’s his daughter or something?

Me: Possibly. Maybe that’s why she wanted us to her at the party, so her papa will have an excuse to papa or his boss.

Kris: Cunning indeed. Using his daughter for business. I guess the other girl is her sister or cousin?

Me: Who cares? Let’s get out of here.

Kris: Where? I don’t see any way out of here except… golf carts… Ughhh

Me: No way… Ugh… But we have no choice. Let’s go. We might find papa and the others.

Kris: Aish… I hate this… but let’s go.

And we made a run for it and once in the golf cart, we drove around the course looking for papa and the boys. It took us about 20 minutes, and when we found them, we almost jumped out from the cart, but we were laughing. We felt like 5 year-old kids happy to get away from the neighbor’s dog chasing us.

Papa: What are you two doing?

Kris: Papa… We were escaping… Hahaha…

Papa: Escaping?

Me: Yes… From the Dong brothers…

Kris’ POV

I couldn’t believe papa was asking about the Dong brothers. I was suddenly disgusted with them. I felt they were selling their daughters and using them for business purposes. I couldn’t bear the fact that if we, Luhan and I, continued to flirt with the daughter, we’d also be a part of a business deal. And I could sense they’d want me or Luhan to be a lifetime partner for their daughter… betrothal… merging of families means merging of business. I almost vomited. If we continued flirting…. It would either be me or Luihan who’ll be… oh damn… I didn’t want to think about it.

But I couldn’t stop my mind from wondering what if…? If I was betrothed to someone? To Dong’s daughter? Will we be married right away? Where will we live? Aish… I was having a headache thinking about it. But if I thought about Luhan betrothed… well, that’s a different story. It was interesting. LOL. I imagine our family going to the Dong residence for the engagement. Hahaha! It was funny to imagine Luhan wearing a suit and tie and waiting at the altar. LOL. Luhan with a wife. Hahaha!

I didn’t realize I was laughing out loud,  Luhan looked at me like I was a murderer. LOL. I stopped laughing but didn’t tell him why.  Papa and the others were staring at me. I just told them. I was laughing because of our “escape.” They nodded at me. I was tempted to tell them what I imagine, but it’ll have to wait until later, when papa was not around. Possibly better if all 13 of us were present, so Luhan will have a “decent” audience. LOL.

Because of the Dong brothers, Luhan and I ended up watching papa and the others playing golf. I don’t know, but I didn’t understand that game much. I tried paying attention to the  game, but I felt sleepy. If they had been playing basketball, I’d have joined. And probably Luhan too I followed Xiumin as he trailed behind papa. He was starting to get bored too. Lay, Chen and Suho were enjoying themselves whacking the golf ball.

I thought it would’ve been more fun if we watched skateboard practice with the others. But I knew papa won’t allow us to stay there when he wanted us to stay with him. I whispered to Xiumin and he agreed with me. But we doubted papa to want to play basketball. LOL. Maybe we could try persuade him sometime, but not now.

After their game, we made our way back to the clubhouse in 3 golf carts.

We returned to the hotel after lunch. Papa didn’t want to stay at their office to avoid the Dong brothers. The others were not back yet. Probably, they had lunch at the mall, what with Sehun and Tao with them. Oh yeah… And Baekhyun. Those 3, in my opinion, are the brattiest of the 13. Yeah, we have a little sister, but she’s not bratty at all. But those 3… I can’t even describe how bratty they were. Always getting what they want. Kai wasn’t bratty, although he seems to get what he wants, too.

Papa had Xiumin call mama to ask her how much longer they’ll be out, then he went in his study and told us to inform him when the rest came back. So Xiumin called mama while lounged in the living room of the suite. I sat on the floor with Lay. Chen was flipping the channels and Suho trying to eavesdrop on Xiumin. Luhan stretched himself on the couch and covered his eyes with sunglasses. I figured he was drifting off to sleep. It was a good thing we didn’t encounter the Dong brothers on our way back to the clubhouse. Papa made us go directly to the parking lot and wait inside the van, while he went back to his office to inform his staff we’d be going. Then we ate lunch at a nearby restaurant before heading back to the hotel. We didn’t go to the mall anymore because papa still had some business to attend to.

Xiumin ended the phone call with sigh. When asked why, he just shrugged while mentioning “Sehun and shopping.” So, the others won’t be back til an hour later. We texted them to buy something for us since we wouldn’t be able to come with them. Baekhyun replied for everyone and told us that mama was in-charge, so we’d get something for sure. Chen finally settled on watching a variety show and we endured watching a whole hour of it. Yes, endured. It wasn’t really funny, but we had no choice. We were only actually waiting for when the others would return. Papa didn’t come out of his study the whole hour, but Xiumin went to tell him that mama and the others would be back in an hour after shopping.

Papa’s assistant, Mr. Ang, rang the doorbell. Chen got the door and we saw the others with shopping bags. Mr. Ang went in and had 3 shopping bags also, and mama was behind him, followed by Xiao Yi, Tao, and Sehun. Kai, Soo, Baek and Yeol made up the rear. All of them had shopping bags. Mama handed one shopping bag to Luhan, one to Xiumin, and one to Chen. Mr. Ang handed all 3 shopping bags to me. Then mama said the other 2 were for Lay and Suho, so I asked which ones before I gave it to them. Papa heard then from his study, and he came out. He asked Mr. Ang to come in his office.

I checked my shopping bag. Mama bought a pair of jeans and a hoodie. I thank ed her. Lay had a new hoodie and whirt, while Chen had 2 shirts and a wristlet. Tao handed me a smaller box. I opened it and found a silver wristlet too. The others got the same as well. The Sehun said it was our HK souvenir and he had each one engraved with our names on it. And we checked ours, and saw that it had our names engraved indeed. Mama didn’t bother to buy for herself and papa. We were the tourists, she said. LOL.

When Mr. Ang went out, papa was with him. He excused himself and went on his way. Papa asked us to listen, because he had some news to tell. Everyone found a seat and listened.

Papa: Okay, so we were supposed to stay here 7 days, but unfortunately or fortunately, we won’t be. I’d like to think I t’s fortunate than unfortunate. Firstly, Mr. Ang wasn’t able find a large enough apartment for us all. Secondly, I got an update from my boss about our new properties in Florida. Before we open them to the public, he asked us to survey or check the whole place. Actually, those are 4 beach houses and 3 of us were asked to go and check them out. So, I suggested to bring the whole family for a month-long vacation in one of the houses. The other 2 will be going with their families, too.

Everyone got excited. Everyone started talking at once. As one of the oldest children, I waited for papa to ask us to say something. But he continued:

Papa: And because of this, we should be preparing to go there now. And if possible, within this week. If not, early next week. One more thing, you… Xiumin, Kris, Lay, Chanyeol, Chen, Kyungsoo and Kai, would need to ask your mothers approval or permission to stay in Florida for a month. You very well know that even if I have custody over you, it is but right to inform your mothers. It’s n ot full custody after all. They might want you to spend your summer vacation with them.

I thought, if papa had custody, then I didn’t really have to ask permission or approval from mama. I’d just need to inform her. But it wouldn’t be wise to break papa’s law. He probably had an agreement with our mothers that in cases or situations like this, I better tell my mom right away or else I’ll be left behind. I don’t know where I’ll spend that one month if I don’t get the approval. Knowing papa, I’d probably be sent to a military camp or something like that. Or maybe even business school or cooking school. I shuddered at the thought. I’d rather sweep the streets than attend cooking classes. Yeah, I know how to fry an egg or cook rice and instant noodles. LOL. But aside from that, I don’t think I’d take the risk cooking… if Kyungsoo or Lay is not there. Xiumin cooks better than me. Luhan… Dear god, Luhan. You’d be lucky to be alive after he fries and egg. Well, not because he can’t cook, but because the kitchen will have caught fire. LOL. So if Luhan cooks, someone has to be there with him.

I took my phone and quickly sent out a message to my mom. The problem now was when mama will reply. God knows how busy she was. She was glad to have me in her life, but she was also glad to give custody of me to papa. I didn’t have any brothers or sisters from her. She was a busy woman. I think of all papa’s other women, and my mama was the only one who’s remained friends with papa. The others were pretty civil, but mama could joke to papa how she was stupid enough to flirt with him and have me. And papa was the same to her, although a bit more reserved now. Maybe because I was older and they’d look like immature people if they talked about their 18 year-old son that way.

 Papa added that he’d be booking a flight back to Beijing for tomorrow, so we’d have to pack our bags again. This time, he and my stepmother or “mama: (because I also consider her my mom) would go home with us. A rare occurrence. I rather looked forward to it, because it was a once in a blue moon occurrence. Then he asked us, the older children to supervise the packing, because it was inevitable that the younger ones would play than finish packing. Papa also added that before dinner, we should’ve packed everything already, except our clothes for the travel tomorrow. So any clothes we’ll wear for dinner or to sleep shouldn’t be hanging outside.

So, after he said it, Xiumin and Luhan herded the younger kids back to our makeshift room. I just followed them. Any rule-breaking, Luhan would attend to that, unless papa wasn’t present. Suho was more father-like, but he was the compassionate and diplomatic of us oldest kids. I can say I was a bit immature myself sometimes… well, more times than Luhan, Xiumin or Suho put together. I could pull a prank with Chen better than anyone else. Even between Yeol Baekhyun or Luhan. Maybe because of my height. LOL. I dare where no one else will. Actually, height wasn’t a factor. I just said it because it sounded cool. Hahaha.

Luhan started ordering everyone around to pack our suitcases. Xiumin just echoed his words and started putting stuff in his suitcase. I plugged in my earphones and packed my suitcase, elbowing Yeol in the process because his was in the way. When he kicked me back, I slapped his in return. Good thing Luhan was busy packing his own stuf f, or both me and Yeol would’ve been kicked in the . LOL. There really wasn’t much to pack because most of the stuff we had out were towels and the shopping bags. I took out my souvenirs from the shopping bags and placed them in my suitcase. The paper bags I folded and placed in the pocket of the suitcase. The rest also finished packing in a short span of time. After we were done, like a rehearsed dance step, we all sank to the cushions and laid down. I unplugged my earphones. Nobody spoke for a while. And of course, almost as usual, Sehun spoke first.

Sehun: Wow! A month-long vacation in Florida. That’s exactly on the other side of the world. How awesome is that

All of us hummed in unison in agreement to what he said. Probably because it may not have sunk in yet. Sehun kept on talking about what could possibly  be the difference between Beijing and Florida… Well, except for the language and people. He wondered aloud if we’d have a chance to go to Maui and see sharks. Chen snickered and mumbled about sharks eating Sehun if he didn’t shut up. Sehun shot Chen a murderous look. Luhan just said one word. “Enough.” And the two stopped talking at once. Nobody talked again..

Mama knocked on the door to our makeshift rom. I t was actually open, but I think she thought we were all asleep because all 13 of us were lying down. She was calling us to prepare for dinner in a few, so all of us scrambled up and got our stuff ready.

Dinner was at the Italian restaurant we ate at when we first arrived in HK. It was by request. Baekhyun and Kai’s request. The maître ’d remembered us and arranged tables and chairs in one area of the restaurant. We were lucky there were a few people dining at that hour, because we didn’t have a reservation. The maître ’d also mentioned that dinnertime was the busiest time of day at the restaurant.

After dinner, papa instructed us to take the younger kids back to the hotel and to go to sleep early for we had an early flight the next morning. He and mama went for a nightcap. We walked back to the hotel, because we wanted to see the HK streets by night and since it was our last day/night here.

Luhan was the unspoken oldest brother among us 3, even if Xiumin was older by a month, but we didn’t really feel threatened about it. In fact, we were secretly relieved. Hehehe. Because Luhan was “oldest,” the youngest kids were his responsibility. He held Xiao Yi’s hand and asking me and Xiumin to watch Kai, Tao and Sehun as we walked back to the hotel. I brought up the rear with Chen and Kyungsoo. I pushed Tao ahead of me, so he was walking alongside Suho, Lay and Sehun. Kai, Baekhyun and Xiumin were leading our group. Luhan,. Xiao Yi and Yeol were behind them. Instead of going the shortcut, we went round the block, so we were able to pass by and see other sites/places/ Indeed, we passed by more trinket sidewalk shops and even bookstores. Lay bought a map and a book about the history of Hong Kong. He said the map would serve as a souveninr of our short stay in HK, and added that the wristlet that Sehun bought (with mom’s money, LOL), was the high-class version. Hahaha.

When we arrived at the hotel, each had a little bag or box of trinkets that we packed in Xiao Yi’s backpack, because she didn’t have that much stuff in there. And Luhan offered to carry her bag the next day, but Xiao Yi said she could carry it, no big deal. Then we prepared for bed. Papa and mama re hour after. We said our goodnight and turned the lights off.

Before I drifted off to sleep, I thought about Luhan getting married, instead of Florida. LOL.