Author’s POV

Luhan stared at the telephone that had been ringing for over a minute now. Its annoying sound penetrated his skull, gave him a nasty headache. He wondered if it would break if thrown against the wall. Suddenly a loud yell from his father’s study room came. “Han! Answer the damn phone!” his father yelled so it could be heard all around the house. Luhan rolled his eyes. Yeah, like he’d listen to his father. In that moment, the phone got silent and Luhan turned his head back to it, giving it a glare. Who even invented you? Who on this earth would want something like you? Luhan created a small frown on his forehead, a tiny wrinkle that he rarely showed. It was his worried wrinkle that had appeared. What if that just now had been his mother who’d called and she wanted to talk to him? Luhan imagined her voice in his head as she lectured him, saying that Mirae was a nice girl whom he needed to protect. Luhan ignored the reflex to vomit, or he tried. A few seconds later he felt the impulse overwhelm him. He made a run for the bathroom and threw up in the toilet. When he was done, Luhan leaned on the clinker wall, breathing heavily as he tried to relax again. Why’s this happening to me? Why am I so worried about this?

“I’m in control here. No one controls me, but me. I’m in charge of my own faith. My own life.” Luhan chanted, raising his voice more and more. His hand flew up to his face, hitting it hard. He stared forward, into the clinker wall. What’s going on with me? Am I slipping? No, I can’t be slipping. I’m fine. Luhan kept those thoughts going in his head as he went out to check his phone. He knew Kris and Tao would fly here from China today, that they’d wait for him in the airport. Luhan glanced in the mirror and saw a red mark on his cheek, glowing like it had lights around it. Luhan growled. “I’m not slipping I said!” he shouted, throwing the nearest object into the mirror - his cologne. The bottle shatter against the glass, cracked it and fell on the floor to shatter itself. Luhan stared at the crack in the mirror. He tsked. “ it.” He grabbed one of his many caps and his phone and then headed down to the hallway. In a bowl by the door where the whole family had their keys, Luhan spotted the keys to the new house. It took less than four seconds for him to decide, reach down for the keys then walk out the door. With his mother away and his father not giving a about what he did, Luhan knew very well that he could break any rules. Starting by using the new house.

Luhan sat down in his red Jaguar and drove off to the airport where he waited impatiently for his friends who’d taken the plane to Seoul earlier in the morning. From time to time he looked up to see if he could find his friends, but they hadn’t made their way out yet as it seemed. Luhan glanced on his phone to look at the time, then his eyes got stuck on the date. It was exactly two weeks left until the wedding today and Mirae would be home any day now, both to finish her last exams that she’d missed and their mothers would fix the last wedding preparations. Luhan groaned under his breath. He hadn’t heard a single word from his mother about his fiancée. He didn’t like that. What if Mirae had told his mother about their deal, about all the threats and what he’d made her do before she went to China? Luhan gritted his teeth at the mere thought of Mirae and his mother sitting on their balcony back in Beijing, talking about him and laughing at him. He slammed his hand in the steering wheel. He could feel the blood streaming to the spot and saw his hand turn a light pinkish colour. “...” he muttered to himself.

“Yeah, ing is nice.” Luhan turned his head to meet Tao’s face resting on the car door. Luhan rolled his eyes, though felt quite happy about seeing his friends again. Naturally, he hid those emotions.

“Agreed. But you wouldn’t know Mr .” Luhan retorted. He heard Kris’ chuckle behind him and understood that he’d jumped inside. “What the took you so damn long?” Luhan asked while Tao jumped in next to Kris and they drove off.

“Tao had to do his makeup before we went out. He wanted to look pretty in front of you,” Kris dully replied. Luhan heard Tao hit him and Kris hit Tao back.

“Firstly, I’m not a . Secondly, I didn’t do my makeup! I hooked up with a girl on the toilet. I’d rate her a six at the most but that’s being nice, which I’m not. So, five,” Tao carelessly said and snorted.

“She was not a five. More like a minus three. Didn’t you see how small her were?” Kris argued. Tao opened his mouth but Luhan had already had enough.

“Gee, will Mr and Mrs Wu stop fighting?” Luhan questioned with a teasing tone. He felt a slap in the back of his head, probably from Tao.

“Shut up,” Tao mumbled. “So... Where are we going and is your fiancée in casa?”

“Nope, she’s not home.” Luhan parked the car outside the new house. “Wanna see the new house on the inside? I thought we could stay here, because then we can drink as much as we want without anyone giving a .” Kris and Tao agreed. Luhan jumped out of the car and took the lead up to the house with the others following close behind. They went inside the house where Mr Lu’s people had added more furniture the last couple of days. “T