“Do you know why I sent you to the school?”

             “Oh, that reminds me, why did you send me to that school? I was doing well in my previous one.” Donghae said, slouching into the couch as he played the game on his mobile.

             “Lee Jaehyun’s son is in there.”

             “What?” Donghae tapped the pause button and looked up at the T.V screen. He was having a video call with his father who will be landing in Seoul tonight. “You mean the mushroom head boy?”

             Could it be…Lee Taemin? No wonder I find him familiar. I saw him before when I was five.

             “And what does that got to do with me?” Donghae asked, resuming his game.

             “I fax a few papers over, put them in a document and bring it to the media.”

             Donghae sighed when he heard papers coming out from the fax machine just right behind him.

             “I want him dead.”

When Taemin ended work on the Sunday evening, he stretched his arms up in the sky as he took a deep breath. Yesterday, he had a good sleep at Minyoung’s place; of course, hugging her to sleep and waking up to her face was a blessing.

             “Hyung?” Taemin answered when he felt his phone vibrating in his back pocket. “Are you coming back for dinner? I cooked.”

             “Of course, do you need anything?” Taemin asked, walking home. He was glad that his house wasn’t very far away from the café, just a ten to fifteen minutes’ walk.

             “Yes, a tray of egg please.” Jinki said.

             “Right, later.” He said and ended the call before calling Minyoung.

             “Oh Taemin! Work ended?” Minyoung’s cheerful voice rang in his ear and he smiled. “Yeah, I’m going back now. Have you eaten?”

             “Oppa is cooking now. Did your brother cook?”

             “Yup, he’s cooking too,” Taemin replied. “Minyoung,”

             “Hmm?”

             “I miss you.” And Taemin paused for a while, when did I become so good at cliché words? He cringed.

             “I miss you too.” But Taemin was satisfied with the response so he continued walking with a foolish smile on his face.

Taemin was surprised the other time when Jaehyun was on the phone, thinking that why in the world would anyone still be in contact with this drunkard.

             But this time when he was on the phone again, Taemin raised a brow. Didn’t he already make it clear to his mum that he won’t be going back? Why would they contact him again?

             “I got it, thanks, thank you so much.” Jaehyun said, before ending the call. He raised his head, before spotting Taemin’s vision on him.

             “Who was that?” Taemin asked, walking into the kitchen with the tray of eggs on his hand. Jinki thanked him, taking over the tray of eggs before the younger one goes to the living room.

             “Taemin, I want to ask you something.” Jaehyun said, gesturing Taemin over to have a seat.

             When Taemin sat beside Jaehyun, he tried hard to recall when the last time he saw his father was being this serious. And when he did, he remembered it was almost ten years ago.

             “You have a new transfer in your school today? Lee Donghae?” Jaehyun questioned, and that caught Taemin off guard when his eyes widen in shock. “How did you know?”

             Jaehyun sighed, “I’m sure you heard of Lee Minhyun when you were younger, right?”

             “I remember, that was your step-brother right?” Jinki answered from the kitchen, clearly keen in this conversation.

             …Step-brother? Taemin thought, the step-brother that had a son?

             “What the , I remembered. It’s Donghae, no wonder I find him awfully familiar when I first saw him.” Taemin exclaimed.

             “But, how did you know? Who called just now?” Taemin leaned in, obviously interested at where this conversation is heading to.

             “It’s one of my old friends, he told me that Minhyun is landing in Seoul tonight and that his son had already transferred to my son’s school.”

             “…My what? Why?” Taemin frowned. “Just be aware of him, Taemin. His father was cunning I believe his son would be the same. Minhyun was the one that started the commotion of driving me out of the company.”

              “I remember he hated your guts at that time, isn’t it, just because he wasn’t the ‘legal son’ of grandpa’s.” Jinki said as he came to the living room and sat down as well.

             “I’m surprised you remembered, Jinki.” Jaehyun sighed, if it isn’t for him, he’s quite sure that Jinki would be a remarkable man by now. “Lee Minhyun was the son that your grandpa had with another woman when he just got married with grandma. When I was 24, your grandpa brought a guy that’s of my age to us and said that he wants to bring him into the family.”

             “At that time, your grandma was so frustrated that she committed suicide.”

             Both Jinki and Taemin kept quiet, “Anyway, just beware of them.” Jaehyun sighed again. “Is the dinner ready?”

When Taemin and Minyoung walked into the class together on Monday morning, Donghae was already slouching in his seat. He smirked, looking at how sweet the both of they looked.

             “Aww,” Donghae said when the couple walked past him. “So sweet I’m going to melt.”

             “Then melt and evaporate,” Minyoung said, rolling her eyes. Why must this kind of human being be in front of her?

             Donghae chuckled, folding his arms as he landed his attention on the brown envelope that slipped out of his bag. Almost forgot about that.

             He straightened his back and grabbed the envelope out from his bag, clutching it, he stared hardly at it.

             Since father cancelled my credit cards few weeks back…why don’t I use this and get some cash from Taemin…

             “Hey Lee Taemin,” Donghae turned around, looking at Taemin with a sneaky smile. Taemin raised his head, glancing at Donghae.            

             Donghae smiled, holding the envelope for Taemin to see, “I’ve something to show you.” He said before standing up from his seat and walked out of the class.

             Taemin was dumbfounded as he watched him leave the classroom. Minyoung glanced over, giving a what-he-want look to Taemin who shrugged in response. He stood up and patted on Minyoung’s head before following Donghae with his hands in his pockets.

             Taemin followed Donghae as both of they made their way to the rooftop. The strong wind brushed against their face and Taemin was irked by his long hair that he tied it up with the rubber band he had around his wrist. “What do you want?” he asked.

             When Donghae is finally satisfied with the position he stood at, he turned around, facing Taemin with the document. “This thing here can destroy your father. I mean, even though it’s been very long since your dad left the business world, his name is still quite…you know?”

             Taemin squinted at the sunlight, “Get to the point.” He demanded.

             “Well,” Donghae continued, “This envelope contained things that your father did, things that cannot be seen.”

             Taemin felt like something sent chills down his spine as he stood still there without making any words.

             “You don’t look like you believe me.” Donghae sighed in disappointment. “I will show you then.”

             He opened up the brown envelope and walked towards Taemin, before urging him to put his hand into it. “Gosh, I’m not sure if we are legal enough to look at this.” He snickered and pretended to look away when Taemin put his hand in.

             Besides documents, Taemin felt a stack of photos. He took a glance at Donghae, who had this cheeky look. Taemin frowned, taking out the stack of photos and examined every one of it.

             He didn’t understand. It was as if his brain short-circuited and he needed a reboot. How could this happen?

             “Don’t be too shocked, we could negotiate you know. You can buy these from me and I can promise you that I don’t have another copy.” Donghae said while enjoying his view. He was way too happy just looking at Taemin’s stunned look.

             “It’s not too much, just 5 million, USD.” He grinned, with his five fingers stretched in front of Taemin’s face.

             For a few seconds, Taemin didn’t respond. But when he did, he chuckled which eventually burst into laughter.

             “Are you serious? Maybe you’re new here so you have no idea but I’m known to be poor you see.” Taemin said. “And, 5 million dollar for these? You must be kidding. These don’t worth .” He let go of the photos, letting the wind blew it away. You thought you could threaten me with these? Think again.

When Taemin came back into the class, Minyoung wanted to ask him what Donghae told him but the latter came in right after and grabbed the long-haired lad on his shoulder before turning him around.

             “Get your dirty hands off me,” Taemin said low, making it sound like an order. “What?” Donghae squinted; why does it seem like the table is being turned around?

             Minyoung watched as the both of them looked like they were going to quarrel; she stood up and headed to Taemin’s side.

             “…Dirty hands? Taemin, I believe you saw the photos just now. I mean, your father did such things and you’re now calling me dirty? To be honest, who knows if you’re really Narsha Park’s son? Have you thought about it? Is it because you’re not her son that’s why she could heartlessly leave you alone and lonely when you were still young?” Donghae mocked, eyes widening at what he just said.

             Some of the people in class heard Donghae’s words and they started a commotion on their own with the topic of Taemin being the son of the CEO of Han’s Co.

             Taemin sighed as he swallowed. Of all things, why must it be Narsha Park?

              “I'm impressed that you know about me,” Taemin shrugged. “But I hope you get the facts right. Your father is the son of my grandpa and some unknown woman; you’re the unofficial offspring that the Lee’s don’t recognize. I’ve no idea what makes you think that you’re way superior to me.”

             The commotion in the background became louder and the topic was now about Donghae and Taemin being cousins.

             Minyoung raised a brow, she didn’t know about this, and she puffed her cheeks at just how many more things Taemin didn’t tell her.

             Donghae’s usual cheeky look became so defeated right now; he nodded his head, pointing his finger in Taemin’s face as he grabbed his bag. “I’ll make you regret messing with me, Lee Taemin.” He fumed.

Upon reaching Minyoung’s house, Taemin let go of her hand and pulled her in for a hug.

             “I’ll see you tomorrow then.” He said in her ear. “Yeah,” Minyoung breathed.

             The long-haired lad smile, giving her a kiss on her forehead, “Go in.”

             Minyoung stood still; she was looking at Taemin with an expression that he couldn’t comprehend. “Minyoung…” Taemin sighed, grabbing her on her shoulders. “You know you can ask me anything, don’t look at me like that.”

             Minyoung sighed, “I just…there’s just a lot of things that I don’t know about you. Like today, you didn’t even tell me Donghae was your cousin.”

             Taemin swallowed, “I’ve seen him before when I was young, and I find him familiar when I first saw him. But only till last night that my father told me about it.”

             “You could have told me you find him familiar or something. I mean, I’m your girlfriend but it’s like I know nothing about you, Taemin.” Minyoung emphasized. She was getting tired of it, of not knowing things about him.

             He sighed, pulling Minyoung into another hug but this time Minyoung pushed him away. “Taemin! Please, you have to talk to me.” She pleaded, but Taemin just gazed at her, until he reached out for the vibrating phone in his pocket. “Sorry,” he said, turning around to pick up the call.

             Minyoung sighed, shaking her head as she turned around and went into her house. All Taemin heard was the door being slammed before he turned around and realized that Minyoung was gone. He sighed into the call as he started walking away.

             “Yes thank you so much Ga-in noona, I’ll be there in twenty.” He said and ended the call.

             Taemin took a deep breath after slotting his phone into his back pocket. Looking up at cloudy sky, it was turning dark. He put his hands in his pockets as he walked, why did he feel like something will go wrong today?

When Ga-in put the familiar brown envelope on the desk, Taemin took it with a smile, “How are you?”

             “I’m good, what about you? Are you still schooling?” Ga-in asked, she remembered that it has been a while since she last saw Taemin. He seemed to have grown taller and… “You’re getting handsome.” She laughed.

             Taemin grinned, “Don’t let Jokwon hyung hear that.” He winked. “Thanks for this. I’m grateful.” He said, keeping the brown envelope in his bag. “Don’t worry; you’re like my little brother. It’s okay.”

             The long-haired lad left the building after bidding goodbye. He heaved a sigh of relief, feeling glad that he knew someone from the publishing agency that he could get help from.

 Donghae’s usual cheeky look became so defeated right now; he nodded his head, pointing his finger in Taemin’s face as he grabbed his bag. “I’ll make you regret messing with me, Lee Taemin.” He fumed.

              After Donghae left the classroom, Taemin urged Minyoung to return to her seat when the teacher of that period came in. ‘Noona, I’m sorry to have asked help from you but it’s important for me. If a guy named Lee Donghae came and handed something for publishing, give me a call.’ Taemin typed in his phone before sending the message to the contact named ‘Ga-in Noona’.

             ‘No idea what trouble you got yourself in now kid but, noted.’ Taemin had a small smile on his face when he saw the reply.

When Taemin reached home, it was almost 5 o’clock in the evening. Usually, his dad would be at home, and usually, he will be making a mess in the living room.

             But today, things just seemed very out of place. Taemin sighed, shaking his head as he pushed the thoughts away to the back of his mind. He lay on his bed; he just wanted to have a good nap. But when his phone started vibrating in his pocket, he groaned.

             “Taemin! Come to the SGH now, something happened to dad!” was what he heard coming from his brother. Immediately, he shot up from his bed and took a look at his phone, ensuring that it was really from his brother. “What??” Taemin squinted at particularly nothing but he wasn’t sure if what he heard was correct.

             “Just come quickly!” All he knows was that he never heard his brother being this agitated before. Quickly, he grabbed his wallet from his bag and ran out of the house.

             The street was filled with people today and it was hard to run past them. Taemin took a look at his watch as he flagged for a cab. “To the Seoul General Hospital, quick!” He told the driver as soon as he gets in.