The 11PM show in the radio starts playing a song about an empty street that feels so empty. Mino yawns and stretches his stiff body, deciding to speed up his journey back home and overtaking a classic black Rolls-Royce at the sharp turn from the main road towards his residential area. 

Seconds later his phone beeps with a text: "Hi, Mino, do you stay at Pyeongchang-dong? This is Kim Jinwoo. Sorry, I forgot to text you after you saved your number. ”

Mino grips his phone in his hand in shock and thinks about his reply for a while. In the end, he just dials Jinwoo's number. “Hello, Jinwoo-hyung?”

“Yeah?”

“How did you know where I stay?”

“Oh, your car just overtook mine. I recognized your car plate.”

Mino glances at the rearview mirror and spots the Rolls-Royce from earlier turning slowly into the road. 

Jinwoo continues, “Since you’re driving, I think it’s better if I hang up - “

"No no, I'm already in front of my house." Mino pulls over in front of a tall gate, which opens slowly with a click of a remote control button. 

“Oh, so you live here. My place is just up the hill."

"Ah - really?" Mino stares at the car slowly driving past him and he automatically asks, "Wanna come over for coffee?" He smacks himself internally afterwards, thinking that he shouldn't treat Jinwoo like he treats his other friends. Why will Kim Jinwoo go to his house and hang out? Probably his own house is a million times better and and maybe he only drinks rare coffee beans farmed by a special tribe in Amazon. To his surprise, the black car comes to a stop and Jinwoo replies calmly. "Sure, why not. Can my chauffeur park in front of your house?"

Mino says, maybe a little too quickly, “Just send him home, it's already late. I can drive you back later."

"Okay. Hang on, sorry." Jinwoo hangs up, instructs his driver to drive back to the residence and steps out into the cold night. Mino quickly stretches across his car to open the passenger door from the inside.

"Song Mino, for the third time today, you don’t have to do that," Jinwoo remarks as he gets inside the Maserati and leans back in the comfortable leather seat.

Smiling shyly, Mino steps on the accelerator and starts driving to the direction of his underground parking garage. "Sorry." He parks in between two sports cars, before leading Jinwoo to the lift going up to the third floor. The doors open to reveal a spacious but sparsely decorated area, with high ceiling and clear glass windows overlooking a softly lit garden and revealing the other wing of the house. The clean lines and open layout scream modern architecture.

They walk through a corridor until they reach a wooden double-door. Mino opens it and Jinwoo immediately lifts his eyebrows at the eccentric and colourful bedroom decoration, a contrast from the minimalistic and simple decoration of the rest of the house. Toys are lining up the shelf on the wall and cartoon characters are everywhere, from the duvet, the sofa and even the bedroom slippers that Mino is changing into.

"You have very unique taste." Jinwoo comments, taking off his coat and suit jacket and untucking his white dress shirt. He changes into a pair of Spongebob bedroom slippers. "Where did you buy the paintings from?" He asks, pointing at the quirky art pieces on the wall.

The owner of the bedroom grins sheepishly. "Oh, I painted them." Mino takes off his own coat and drapes it beside Jinwoo's on the sofa.

"They're pretty cool." Jinwoo approaches the painting nearest to him with great interest. He admires the broad , the blend of colours, the way the ceiling lights are reflected by the three dimensional blotches of dried paint. "Oil on canvas? It's quite old school though. Maybe you can try pencil sketches."

"You do paintings too?"

"Nope." Jinwoo walks over to another painting of what seems like a misaligned chess board. "But I can appreciate art. My cousin is the artistic one, but his pieces are all inspired by sea creatures."

Mino bursts out laughing. "So he paints crabs and make coral reef clay statues?"

"Yeah. I’m not joking. He’s good, though, I have to give it to him."

"Oh, wait, hyung," Mino exclaims, "Are you thirsty? Want any drinks? Sorry, I get easily distracted when I talk about art - “ He jogs over to his minibar.

"It's fine. Hmm, do you have apple juice? Actually any fruity stuff will do.”

Mino takes out two dark purple jars from his fridge and sits cross-legged on his sofa. “I’ve got grape Snapples here!”

“Oh, great, thanks.” Jinwoo turns around and sits on the sofa opposite Mino. “Late night in the office today?” He takes big gulps of his drink.

“Yeah, I have to work overtime for the next few weeks, I think,” Mino sighs and pops his jar open. “You too?”

“Sadly yes. My grandma is starting to give me more responsibility.”

“The pains of being an adult.” Mino whines. Sitting face to face like this, he instantly realizes that this is the first time he gets to see Jinwoo’s face clearly. The entire day, they have been sitting beside each other in the restaurant and in his car, and Mino has not had any chance to actually look at the other. 

Meanwhile, Jinwoo is thinking the same way. And actually, upon closer scrutiny, Mino’s facial features start to clearly resemble someone very familiar…

Jinwoo puts down his half empty drink jar on the table with a thud. His palms turn clammy and his heart starts racing uncomfortably. No, no, it can’t be - 

“Hyung, you okay? Are you allergic to grapes?” Mino leans forward with worry.

With unfocused eyes, Jinwoo asks nervously, “No, wait, Song Mino, are you - are you by any chance related to the Kwon family?”

“The one owning Kwon Industries? No, I’m not. Why?”

Jinwoo’s hands falls limply on his sides in relief. Calm down, Jinwoo, it’s not him. He is miles away in New York. 

“Jinwoo-hyung?”

“It’s just - you look extremely similar to a person I know.”

“Ah, I look like someone from the Kwon family? Hahaha,” Mino laughs and puts his legs back up on the sofa. “That’s funny. I thought my looks are quite unique. See my nose? No one else has it, not even my parents!”

No, you’re wrong. Someone else has the exact same nose. And jawline. And cheekbones.

Jinwoo nods weakly while trying in vain to suppress his thoughts from wandering to the past.

***

Jinwoo is still tossing and turning in bed, eyes bloodshot from lack of sleep and his brain muddled from thinking too much. He rubs his eyes when the doors to his room are flung open.

“Hyung, it’s past 8! What the hell? You just woke up? Don’t you have work today?” Taehyun storms in and starts making a fuss. "Or did you spend a fantastic night with Kang Seungyoon and only come back at dawn?”

Jinwoo sighs and drag himself out of bed. “What are you doing here?”

“It’s Wednesday! We always leave home together on Wednesday mornings, hyung! What’s wrong with you today? You look so off.” Taehyun walks to the bathroom, following his cousin who is now brushing his teeth and washing his face lazily. “Move faster! I don’t wanna be late for my morning lecture!”

“You can leave first.”

“Hyung!” Taehyun shrieks in frustration, while Jinwoo starts stripping his pyjamas to take a quick shower. “Seriously, you should tell me what’s going on. You haven’t been telling me anything since your lunch date and at midnight, Bobby drove back alone and told me you were at someone’s house.”

Jinwoo maintains his silence, focusing instead on swiftly rinsing off his shampoo and body scrubs.

“Okay, fine! I’m gonna tell grandma that your date didn’t go well and probably Kang Seungyoon is an - “

“What? No! Tae, don’t!” Jinwoo shouts hysterically and rushes out of the shower, wrapping a big towel around his body and shuffling quickly to the dressing room to find a hairdryer. “She might kill Seungyoon!”

“So he’s okay?”

“Yeah, he’s perfectly alright. His friends are alright too.”

“Wait, he brought friends to a blind date? What a loser!” Taehyun comments snidely, while picking out a set of tailored suits, shirt and pants for his cousin. He pairs them with Jinwoo’s favourite classic Patek Philippe watch and Mont Blanc cufflinks.

Jinwoo mumbles a thanks and starts dressing up for work. The clock is approaching half past nine and Taehyun walks around impatiently. “I think he was intimidated,” Jinwoo finally says, grabbing his coat and briefcase before heading out, followed closely by Taehyun. At the entrance hall, Jinhwan hands him a pack of pastries and sandwiches with a tumbler of apple-pear smoothie for breakfast.

When they are both safely seated in a Range Rover, Taehyun continues asking, “Wait, so yesterday you went to his place after getting off work? He lives nearby? Which house?”

Jinwoo leans back and takes a sip of his smoothie. He feels slightly better. Very slightly. “Nah, I went to his friend’s place. Song Mino, the heir of S Hotels. That’s his house,” He points outside the car window.

“I can only see the gate!” Taehyun whines. “So is that it? You’re stressed because you’re torn between him and Seungyoon?”

“No! Good God, stop speculating.” 

“Then tell me what happened!”

“So Seungyoon brought two friends and one of them is the Mino dude. Then, last night, when I was hanging out with him, I realized all of a sudden that he - he kinda looked like - “

“Our grandma?” Taehyun holds his laughter at the ridiculousness of the possibility.

“No - his face is very similar to Kwon Jiyong.”

Taehyun turns pale. “No .”

“Yeah, that’s my thought exactly.”

“What are you gonna do then?”

Jinwoo shrugs. “Nothing. They’re not related. Mino doesn’t even know who Jiyong is. I’ll just hang out with them as usual.”

“But will you be okay?”

“Why wouldn’t I?” Jinwoo says as confidently as he can possibly muster. “Oh, I should probably drop Kang Seungyoon a text. He owes me an apology after almost leaving me stranded at S Hotels."

Taehyun flips his hair. "I have a feeling I won't click well with this Seungyoon dude."