The breakfast was tasty, but Minseok still didn’t like it. He had gotten used to Luhan’s breakfast, which was really good yet didn’t look like it was supposed to be served in a hotel. That, or his own, soggy cereal. He even preferred his cereal.

“Is something wrong?” when Minseok only pushed the food around on his place, the butler of the house, Yoon, came up. He had worked there since the dawn of time, literally having watched Minseok grow up. He had been the one watching out for Minseok so he didn’t kill himself as a kid, rather than Minhee.

Minseok sighed, looking up at the old man. Though he always put on a stoic face, he had a kind smile. “I don’t really feel like eating,” he muttered. He had no idea what to fill his days with. He wasn’t allowed to go to school until next week because of necessary ‘precautions’, whatever that meant, and he was bored out of his mind.

Then, his eyes widened just slightly. “Hey Yoon, do you know of anything that would piss my mother off?” he asked. Yoon had never said it, but the old man didn’t particularly like his mother either. But then again, when one lived in the same house as a woman like that for so long, Minseok wondered if anyone could like her.

Although Yoon’s facial expressions didn’t change, Minseok was sure he could see the corners of his lips curl upwards just slightly. “I cannot say anything, but I heard Mrs. Kim isn’t a fan of chaos. And absolutely not in her closet,” he said, before turning away and wandering off.

Minseok was left in confusion to see the back of Yoon disappear though the doors, but soon he realized what he was going to spend his day doing. Now he only needed to know where his mother’s closet was.

The next hours Minseok destroyed order completely by putting black with green clothes, jackets with skirts, shoes with belts, and so on.  He found it quite amusing really; he had grown up in this house being so accustomed to all the rules he needed to follow. Now that he was locked up in there, he could do pretty much whatever he wanted and no once could say anything on it. He decided to break all the so-called rules while he was on it.

Half past three, he decided to make a call. Minhee had blocked all contacts in his phone except for four numbers: her own, his father’s, his brother’s and the house number. It was quite sad really, because it was only then he realized how cut off from the world he really was.

“What is it?” a cold voice replied in the other end.

“Hello, my dear brother! It’s been such a long time since we last talked, and I am thrilled over the warm welcome!” Minseok grinned, yet he had a sarcastic tone to his words.

In the other end, his brother sighed. “I had hoped it would be longer,” he said truthfully.

Ignoring the cold shoulder he was given, Minseok continued. “Don’t be like that! How is abroad? I hope you’re learning stuff or something. Or enjoying the goddamn freedom because mom just robbed me of mine,” halfway though his sentence he put the fake cheerful tone off, and pure irritation shone through.

For a few seconds, it was silent in the other end. They did have an okay relationship although Minsoo didn’t really like Minseok being favoured, but even if it had grown colder in the recent years they still had a common enemy: their mother.

“… what did you do this time?”

“I got a boyfriend, Minsoo. I actually got a boyfriend but our mother deemed him too common and now she’s picking out a fitting spouse for me. I mean, this isn’t some cliché movie or the 1900’s, who even does that anymore? Nonetheless, just get your home and take over the company or whatever. Then I’m free to go.”

The two brothers had very different goals in life. Minsoo wanted to be successful. Minseok wanted a peaceful, mundane life. The problem was that they had been handed the opposite cards. The problem was mainly their mother, who had decided Minseok was best fit to take over the company, even if Minsoo was better in all fields. He was smarter, more calculating. He had a winning personality, and was an extrovert in comparison to Minseok. Minseok would probably crash everything and leave them homeless, while Minsoo would make the company even more successful and take over the world or something.

“And why do you think anything will change just because I come home? She basically threw me out of the house,” Minsoo remarked, not very impressed.

Minseok rolled his eyes at his end of the line. “Hey, didn’t you score 900 for your TOEIC or something? I was barely 800. You’re the smart one. Convince dad, I don’t know. You’re the better one of the two of us.”

Minsoo went quiet for a short while, evaluating his options. In the end, he gave in. “I guess. Finland is getting boring anyways.”

“Finland? What are you doing in Finland? Where is Finland?”

“Yeah, exactly.”

The following evening Minseok’s father returned home from a business trip, and his mother came home from Kyoto or wherever she had been. And with the two of them home, and with Minseok as well, it meant family dinner.

“So,” it had been awkwardly silent, and not even Minhee had said anything. If Minseok had one guess, he would bet she was still angry for his comments earlier that day. At least she hadn’t seen her closet yet. It made Minseok weirdly happy.

His father gave in in the end, and sighed at the tension at the table. “I see you moved home with us again, Minseok,” he said. Minseok never knew what to make out of his words. They were always said in such a tone he might have been planning your assassination or your birthday party. He was stone cold and never gave anything out, but that was what had made him so successful in the first place. Although he hadn’t been absent during Minseok’s childhood, he was still a figure that Minseok didn’t really consider father, like a normal person would. It was more distant than that, more respectful. There was always a certain distance between them, and he had an aura that instantly made Minseok aware that he needed to step carefully.

“Yeah,” Minseok muttered, stirring some of the food on his plate. “I guess I did.” His words were respectful and considerate, but still held a certain tinge of lifelessness, giving away the fact that he wasn’t very amused by his move. His father’s eyebrow perked up at this, wanting to question the answer, but Minhee broke in. It was obvious she hadn’t said anything about her earlier actions, and didn’t plan on it either. Minseok just shook his head and sipped his water uninterested.

“In other news,” she said with a big smile on her face. He wondered if her skin wouldn’t rip in she smiled brighter. “Minseok is getting married!”

All the water Minseok had had in his mouth was now sprayed on his mother. He had spit it all out in the surprise, and was now looking terrified at her. He had had his suspicions that she would actually go through with it, but he hadn’t expected it to go this fast. He looked at her, and she looked shocked back.

“I am sorry?” he talked on outbreath, not even managing to use his voice in surprise. Maybe he should report this to the police. It had to be against the human rights or something. Behind his mother Yoon stood with his usual stoic face, but Minseok’s actions had a smile threatening to break though. At least something good came out of the situation.

“Kim Minseok, what do you think you are doing?” his mother was furious, her voice dripping with venom.

But Minseok wasn’t having any of that today. He was just as mad himself, and he had long since realized she couldn’t do anything to him. Throw him out? She’d go against her own plan. Disinherit him? No way.

“What am I doing? What are you doing. You’re trying to marry me to some random person! You’re crazy! Get you head out of the 1800’s!”

Yoon was now trying his hardest not to smile where he stood beside Minseok’s mother, and his mother on her side looked like she was about to faint any second. But instead of answering Minseok back, she turned to his father.

“Dear, do you see how he’s talking to me?” she exclaimed.

Minseok had never been scolded by his dad, but seeing how his parents always were on the same team and meant the same he honestly expected to be so now. However, his father just raised an eyebrow, his gaze shifting between Minseok and Minhee.

“Minhee, what have you done now?” he asked tired, like his mother did stuff like this all the time.

Minhee furred her eyebrows, surprised by the impartiality of her husband.

“I did not do anything!” she replied. “Minseok is getting older and he needs a spouse, so I simply picked one for him.”

At this statement, Minseok closed his eyes and counted to ten in his head, not to throw a tantrum at the dinner table. When he escaped that house, he was never going to look back, he was certain.

His father nodded slowly, but directed his eyes to Minseok instead, as he put his hands in his palms, leaning his elbows on the table. “You probably know, but for the past week I’ve been away for a business trip, right?”

Minseok nodded, not really understanding where the conversation was heading. Of course he knew his father had been away on a business trip – how could he have not?

“I met with one of our business partners and his family – he has a son, Joonmyeon. You might remember him?”

Once again a nod, although he still had no idea what his father wanted. Now his mother, still dripping wet and seemingly shaken, also stopped fussing and went silent.

“He is really talented, managing a lot of the business even if he is a year younger than you. Nonetheless, I had a pleasant talk with him. He mentioned you had met earlier as well. He seemed quite fond of you, which is a good thing for our business. Though, I am still pondering a little bit about the reasons you met. He told me you have opened a coffee shop with some of your friends. Is this true?”

Minseok could feel this was not going his way at all, but his mother’s face lit up in triumph. “…yes.”

His father nodded thoughtfully. “I see,” he went silent for a couple of seconds, before he looked up again. Minhee looked like she wanted to say something, but his face kept her from saying anything. It slowly changed, but no one could see if it worked in Minseok or Minhee’s direction. Although it all seemed to be have kept a secret from his father, everyone in the staff had caught up on the fight between mother and son. Pretty much everyone sided with Minseok though, even if they didn’t show it. Only Yoon was present now, but if one looked closely they could even see his tenseness, wanting Minseok’s father - the person with the real power, to side with the son.

“Now, why did you do this?”

Minseok realized he had to answer the questions faster than slower. He didn’t have the time to think through everything now, like he usually did. He honestly felt like he was playing a game of 20 Questions. “I wanted to do something by myself, with my friends. We stumbled upon an opportunity and didn’t want to turn it down, so… here I am. Well, not anymore, I guess.”

“Oh? And why so?”

“Mom didn’t want me to and asked Luhan – my boyf- I mean, my friend, to write me off as the owner.”

At this his mother didn’t seem to be able to contain herself anymore, and spoke up. “But dear! I only want what’s best for our child. He can’t possibly be succ-” she didn’t even get to finish her sentence before Minseok’s father silenced her with a look.

“I am talking to Minseok now,” he said sternly, and she nodded.

“Now,” he returned his gaze to Minseok again. “I got an interesting phone call from someone today. I usually don’t answer calls from anyone, but this person seemed rather… passionate. His name was Kim Jong-something. Jongun? Jonghyun? I’m pretty sure it wasn’t Jongin.”

“Dae,” Minseok acted on reflexes, realizing who called. “Kim Jongdae, that’s his name.” Jongdae had called. The idiot had actually went and called his father. Who even did that? He couldn’t even imagine how much worse the situation was probably made now. No one bothered his father ever, and having some random pastry chef call about his son? That probably didn’t help. Minseok felt himself sink into a hole of despair as he watched the events unfold.

A/N: I decided to split the last chapter into two, realizing it hit 5k words. I'll post the final chapter sometime during today (it's 2 a.m. so I'm a little bit tired). 

Other than that, I need your help with something. This is nearly over and I have a lot of ideas I want to try out, although they're not all figured out yet. I want to do all of them, but I have no clue where to start. So if you could help me with giving your opinion on which ideas are the most interesting by reading shortly about them, I would be very happy! You can find the collection of stories here.