Ryeowook

“Two-hundred and fifty thousand?!”

I screech at the top of my lungs. Tears are threatening to fall from my eyes but I grip my fist hard in an attempt to stop myself from crying. This is insane. $250, 000! Where the am I going to get that amount of money in such a short period of time?! God.

Henry is looking at me, all wide-eyed and hopeful and I want to just beat the out of him. How could he…. God. I cannot do this. I really cannot. I get up from my couch and head over to the full-length window in my apartment. It’s not a big apartment, just a very small one I managed to find at a very cheap price near the city. I take a deep breath and pressed my temples. Why is this always happening?

“Henry, where am I going to get the money this time?” I croaked, my voice already uneven. “I already owe so many people money and now…”

“Hyung…”

I shake my head. “No, I don’t want to hear any of your excuses, Henry. I’m done with your bull, do you hear me?! I feel like I’ve been bailing you out from jail all my life now! My money, all my savings are gone just to bail you out from trouble. I almost have nothing left, Henry! I’ve sacrificed so much for you and you never change!”

I choke up and start sobbing into my palms, the stress of everything hitting me hard. I hear a chair being pushed back and look up to see Henry, looking at me with a blank look on his face. My dongsaeng’s once innocent eyes are red and soulless as he glares at me.

“ you!” Henry spat. “You and your ing sacrifice! You’ve done nothing for me! You left me to deal with mum and dad and even when they died you didn’t come back! Don’t talk about sacrifices when you weren’t in my life when I needed you the most!”

Red-faced, eyebrows narrowed and with his lips in a thin frustrated line, Henry strongly kicks a nearby furniture which is a glass table and the ends of the glass table falls down shattering in a million pieces. My younger brother picks his bag from one of the chairs and stomps out of my apartment, slamming the door behind him. I take a breath again and this time, collapse onto the couch, feeling all my blood draining out of my body. I am exhausted. Physically and mentally. I am just a bundle of feelings right now and everything hurts so bad, I cannot think straight. Covering my face with my palms again, I start sobbing hoping that small miracles exists, hoping that time could rewind itself, wishing that I could do anything, just about anything to save my brother.

***

Kyuhyun

“ing hell.”

I shove the piles of papers in front of me, sending all them onto the ground. Stupid ! How dare he?! For years, years, I have been giving it my all, spending my every second and minute in this very office working my ing off. I sacrificed so much, gave up so much to be where I am today and it only became a ing sick joke! s, they really are. Family are so screwed up, I really rather not have any. Grabbing my phone, I dial for my assistant and demand him into my room. In a matter of seconds, my pale-looking assistant is knocking onto the door and stepping into the room with terrified eyes.

“This is sickening!” I yell and hold up a piece of paper. “Have you seen this!?”

“I- I-Yes, Kyuhyun. I have.” He admit, avoiding eye contact.

I threw the paper and hit the table with my fist. “So why didn’t you tell me about this sooner?!”

My assistant jumped in shocked. “I d-did! On-Only you were t-too busy to hear me out.”

I scoff. God knows why I hire this idiot anyway. And it’s been five freaking years, clearly he should know me better. I frown at him and Sungmin adjusts his bowtie uncomfortably, knowing that I’m clearly mad at him and he knows better than to get me mad.

For five years, I’ve been working in the Cho family business, Cho Industry as vice-president and you would think that it’s about time I get ing promoted. But nope. Not going to happen unless, unless I quote, “get a ing spouse and prove that he is a family man in front of the media.” ing hell. My own father wrote that to me! And if I failed to find a spouse in two ing week, the CEO spot will be given to my stupid cousin who is currently studying overseas. This is not fair. This is completely cruel! And what’s more, my own father!

“Is this all about my stupid scandals!?” I roared. “, that was years ago! I haven’t stepped into a club or slept with anyone in months now!”

“I…. May-maybe you should talk to the CEO about this, Kyuhyun.” Sungmin suggested.

I get on my feet, blood boiling with rage. “Oh trust me, I ing will.”

***

Ryeowook

“Oh honey, come on in, you look like a mess.”

Sungmin pulls me into a tight hug and drags me into his apartment and settles down onto his couch. He rubs my back and immediately, I feel a little calmer. I’ve been crying for hours now and a person can only handle so much. I decided to call my best friend, childhood best friend mind you, and ask if I could talk to him. Sungmin is still in his suit and bowtie, forever the stylist freak he is, so he must have just came home from work.

“I’m so sorry to bother you, Minnie.” I sniffled. “But everything’s just a mess now.”

Sungmin shakes his head, looking at me with deep empathy. “It’s okay, Wookie, you know you’re never a burden. Is everything alright? Why are you crying like this?”

“It’s Henry.”

And just like that, Sungmin knows. Sungmin sighs out and pulls me closer, giving me a tighter hug knowing that I’d need it. Sungmin and I have been best friends ever since middle school and we moved onto the same high school together. During high school, we often spend our time in the music room, playing the piano and learning piece after piece. It was both our dreams to learn music and god must have heard our wishes every time we had a sleepover each night because one day, both Sungmin and I were given a full music scholarship in America. We went to college in America and then Sungmin moved onto the business working field while I decided to work as a music teacher at a small music school. All throughout, through bad haircuts, stupid ex-boyfriends, harsh past and tons of schoolwork, we were unseparatable. Sungmin is my other half, he really is.

Sungmin is always perfect. From his fashion sense to his family background. He is the complete opposite of me. He is the only son and his mother and father are truly deeply in love with one another even at such an old age already, it is really so sweet. Sungmin spends most weekends with them, going on trips, running errands together. They truly are a happy family and Sungmin sometimes invites me over and whenever I get to spend time with his family, a part of me envies him so much. I never had that. A happy family, what does that even mean? My dad and mum divorced when I was seven. My dad sleeps around a lot, so much that I won’t be surprise if someone comes up to me and say that they’re my step-siblings.

Henry is my step-brother and he is five years younger than me. His mother is some Taiwanese model who refused to look after him and demanded that my father take him. I don’t know how or why since I was still young but my parents got back together again and at ten, I was introduced to Henry. We grew up together in an ugly environment and even if he was a step-brother, I loved Henry wholeheartedly. I loved having a brother to play with and I was just ecstatic. My mother, on the other hand, hated Henry and she made sure his life was a living hell for him. I protected him, so much that my mother even started to hate me. A lot of things happened from then on. Things that I rather just keep to myself.

To an extent, to a great extent, I can understand why Henry is like this. Henry keeps getting in trouble again and again, whether it is dealing drugs or stealing something or just making a public nuisance. He keeps getting into trouble that I think the whole police department in Korea knows my phone number by heart. At first, it was just phone calls and warnings but soon, it got to jail and bailing fees. In the end, I had to take up an extra job on weekends just to earn money to bail him out of trouble. And you would think that it’d be enough but…. It’s not. And it will never be.

“What are you bailing him out from this time?”

“Drug possession again.” I take a deep breathe. “I don’t know what to do, Minnie. I’ve had enough of his bull but despite me being mad, he’s still my brother. The thought of him going to jail makes me… No, I just can’t let that happen. He’s my baby brother.”

“A baby brother who has gone down the wrong road, Wookie.” Sungmin brought up. “Wook, you know I love Henry, I watched him grow too but ever since we left for America, he’s been different. He’s changed and he maybe your brother but he’s doing illegal things. The more you keep bailing him out of trouble, the more he’s going to get into them.”

“Maybe prison is what he needs to realize what he’s doing is wrong.”

I close my eyes, hating how every word Sungmin had just said was true. “It’s just…. He’ll hate me even more now, Minnie.”

There was silence in the apartment as I let the words linger around me. I want to cry, sob my eyes out but there’s no more tears in me left to squeeze out. I’m drai