A loud tingling sound filled the Domed Hall of the Grand Hotel, snatching away attention of all the guests along with Kyuhyun and Siwon. They all turned to glance at Mr. Lee, the host of the party, standing on a small stage and flashing an insincere smile in his guest’s direction.

“Welcome to my dear guests,” Mr. Lee’s booming voice echoed around the- now- silent Hall. “I am sure most of you have been wondering what this party is all about…”

An excited ripple went through the crowd, which was the indication enough that indeed all the guest had questioned themselves, and others as well, what occasion this party signified to.

“Today is a rather special day… a joyous one, to be honest,” Mr. Lee looked around at the curious faces gazing at him expectedly. “And I wanted to share my happiness with all of you… because today I would be joining hands with none other than Mister…” Mr. Lee gestured to the man standing near the platform, beckoning him to come up and stand beside him. “… Cho, of Cho Corp. And by joining hands I do not mean in business but rather more intimately… tonight’s party is held in honor of an engagement party between my beautiful daughter Lee Taeyeon to our handsome Cho Kyuhyun…”

A deafening silence greeted Mr. Lee’s words, everyone gazing at the smiling faces of Mr. Lee and Mr. Cho, who stood beside each other, until a dam of whisper, broke, flooding the Hall… but a few people still stood transfixed in shock.

Kyuhyun was hyper aware of several sounds of crystal glasses breaking around the circular Hall, but the particular sound that stood out was the one of breaking his own glass, that had slipped out of his hand, and he was also aware of nearly half the guests turning to glance at him curiously… he was also aware of a warm hand sitting at the small of his back… Siwon’s warm hand! But he was numb… his mind had gone numb. He slowly looked around, blinking almost lazily, and everything happening around him seemed fast forward, moving so fast that he couldn’t make out anything. His widen eyes tried to seek for some comfort… any comfort… but only gained pitiful looks from people he couldn’t care to remember names of… because everyone knew… everyone! How many times have Siwon made a fool of him in front of these very people, boasting loudly about him being gay… so, naturally everyone knew.

Numb. Shocked. Surprised… could hardly sum up what Kyuhyun was actually feeling. He might look still and calm from outside… but inside was another matter and quiet surprisingly all he felt inside was disdain, unattached… and plainly numb… and that scared him.

Kyuhyun could hear a buzz of conversation around him… heck, he could feel Siwon, standing just behind him, shouting about something urgent but Kyuhyun’s mind couldn’t comprehend a single word out of it. His eyes swept across the hall, coming to rest upon Lee Taeyeon, arguing in annoyance with her mother. Kyuhyun watched… knowing he could never do as she was doing… argument was out of order for him.

Swiftly, he watched, Taeyeon pulling away herself from her mother’s reaching arms before swirling around to march out of the Grand party… Kyuhyun watched her go… her brother, Hyukjae, soon following after her.

Like a snap, Kyuhyun was pulled out of his numb state… his eyes ballooning… Mr. Lee’s words finally registering with him completely and it wasn’t long before Kyuhyun started to hyperventilate… his head started to spin, the world whirling around him, faces among faces of people gathering around him, bidding him ‘Congratulation’, started getting on his nerves.

“Kyuhyun…,” Siwon’s loud scream of his name sounded distanced. “Kyuhyun!”

Kyuhyun felt suffocated, he felt like screaming at the top of his lungs… he wanted to shout out to his father to stop treating him like a puppet, to stop making a fool of him. He wanted to beg God to wake him up from this cruel dream… he wanted nothing better than a new life… a life where he was a nobody, not a rich pretty boy, not a genius leading a rising company of South Korea… he just wanted a normal life where he could be happy and just be himself.

Unexpectedly, Kyuhyun felt himself being inched toward the exist, vaguely aware of two large and strong hands around his arms, and silently and obediently he followed.

*=*=*=*=*=*

 “… tonight’s party is held in honor of an engagement party between my Beautiful daughter Lee Taeyeon to our handsome Cho Kyuhyun…”

Hyukjae froze, hearing those words coming out of his father’s lips. His originally small eyes popping out in surprise, he spun around to search for his sister. It wasn’t long before he was able to find the said girl, only to see their mother fussing over her and the glass of wine broken at Taeyeon’s feet… but the girl herself was just vacantly staring at their father, disbelief splashed across her features.

Suddenly, Taeyeon broke out of her trance and snatched away her arms from her mother’s hold, giving her a look of betrayal before she swirled around and dashed out of the Hall.

Hyukjae watched his sister go and on instinct his eyes snapped toward his father, only to find him giving Hyukjae ‘that’ look… the look that said it all… you would be next. Raged at his father’s doing, Hyukjae didn’t bother acknowledging Donghae’s desperate call of his name before taking the course of way his sister has followed just moments ago, highly aware of the fact that his best friend, Baekhyun, was thinking along the same line.

“Taeyeon,” Hyukjae shouted, looking at the distanced figure of his sister, who had already ran to the opposite end of the long corridor. He sprinted after her, taking longer strides than possible and within a minute he was able to catch up with her. Snaking his hand around her arm, he made her spun around to face him. His heart clutched harshly, seeing her tear strained face… he was quick to pull the trembling girl in his embrace, desperately telling her not to worry because everything would be alright… that he would not let their father ruin her life. Hyukjae knew… and most probably so did Taeyeon… he was only saying those words to comfort her for the time being, because neither he nor anyone else could go against Mr. Lee’s words.

“Tae?” A small, emotion filled, voice made the pair of sibling to turn around, finding a forlorn looking Baekhyun and a grave looking Donghae approaching them. It didn’t take even a second before Taeyeon had herself pulled away from Hyukjae’s embrace to run in Baekhyun’s waiting arms and broke down completely. Baekhyun rubbed her back soothingly, whispering sweet nothings in her ear.

“B-baek…?” Hyukjae’s voice broke a little, as he took a step toward his best friend and sister, stretching out a hand to put on his shoulder but a subtle shook of Baekhyun’s head stopped him short.

“We can get through this… we can get through this…” Baekhyun kept chanting, but that was doing nothing to stop the sobs that were rocking Taeyeon’s small physique. Hyukjae stood there helpless, aware of a pair of warm chocolate brown eyes boring into him. Soon, Baekhyun took the initiative to take away his girlfriend to a more secluded and private area rather than the middle of a hotel corridor were every passing guest or staff member would look at them, in pure curiosity.

Hyukjae didn’t protest, as Baekhyun steered away his sister, but he didn’t made an effort to move either.

“This would be our future in the next party…” Hyukjae said, sotto voce, eyes trailing after the pair disappearing at the corner of the corridor but his words were heard by the person they were meant for.

“I won’t let that happen,” Donghae vowed with his hand coming to rest on the small of Hyukjae’s back, making the latter to swirl around to face the younger.

“You won’t be able to do anything,” Hyukjae retorted but his voice held no venom but a sign of dejection.

Donghae shook his head slightly before raising his hand to cup Hyukjae’s sullen cheeks, his thumb caressing the soft- yet boney- skin of the slightly elder boy, “Trust me, I know what to do-”

“No, you don’t,” Hyukjae all but shouted, in clear frustration. “Don’t you see what kind of manipulative person my father is? He doesn’t play fair, Donghae… you won’t stand a chance in front of him… and I would never be able to go against him… he would always win regardless of all the plans you have made… we would be the losers in the game my father would start and-”

Hyukjae’s monologue was heard and well received by Donghae but it wasn’t long before Donghae took a step closer, tugging the furiously shouting blond to cage him in his warm embrace before smashing his thin lips on Hyukjae’s plump ones to shut him up. Hyukjae’s surprise gasped played well in Donghae’s favor as he plugged his tongue inside Hyukjae’s warm cavern with a furious growl and swirled it around Hyukjae’s own pink muscle with equal fierceness. Hyukjae, who had frozen at the sudden act of other, soon found himself closing in the eyes and losing himself in the utter bliss, he might unconsciously be craving for last whole week. It wasn’t long before Hyukjae was indulging himself in the kiss initiated by Donghae and was being reduced to a mess.

After a moment longer, breathing was getting in the way of two lip locked guys, making their heads to spin with the lack of oxygen. Donghae broke off the kiss, his lips still slightly touching Hyukjae’s as they both gathered the much needed oxygen and soon their lips were back to hungrily nip and at each other but not before Donghae had muttered a soft and sincere, “Trust me.”

Suddenly, Hyukjae’s mobile went off, the loud ringing tone succeeding in breaking off both blissful boys. Hyukjae quickly fished out his smart phone and Donghae was able to make out a bold letter ‘DAD’ flashing across the wide screen before Hyukjae pulled away from his embrace to answer the call. A frown touched Hyukjae’s clear facial, hearing what his father said from the other end of the call, he tossed a small dejected look in Donghae’s direction before turning around to walk back in the direction of the Great Hall, holding the party.

And it was at that moment that Donghae realized… Hyukjae was right… his father would always win… but he internally vowed to make sure to change this fact in near future… because from that moment onward, Donghae would be the one to support a triumph smile over Mr. Lee.

*=*=*=*=*=*

Kyuhyun’s back came in contact with a hard wall, giving support to his limp body, as he stared vacantly at the opposite wall of the dimly lit corridor he had been led to. Kyuhyun felt broken internally… even if he wanted nothing more than to shout out in frustration he knew it was useless… he knew he had to abide by his father’s rules… he always had and… he always will…

“I won’t let him do that to you!” A loud exclamation, followed by a punch on the same wall Kyuhyun was leaning against, made Kyuhyun wince slightly and with a jolt of shocking surprise he realized the person that spoke was none other than Siwon… Kyuhyun had been so out of his mind that he didn’t even realize who the person was that had steered him away from that suffocating Hall.

“What does it matter to you?” Kyuhyun forced himself to say, his voice nothing but a whisper of breath and his head thrown down in clear