It was a normal Friday evening as Dongwan busied himself in the kitchen. He had just started on his new job not long ago, and gotten his first project income. It wasn’t a particularly huge sum of money, but he was happy doing what he loved. Humming a familiar melody that his mother had sung to him when he was a child, he meticulously prepared the ingredients for dinner. There was a celebration to be held just two hours later with a group of close friends.

A series of rapid knocking on the door broke his trail of thoughts just a few moments later. Putting down the knife, he shook his head and walked towards the door.

“You forgot to bring the keys again?” Dongwan raised his eyebrows and leaned against the door frame, looking disapprovingly at the teenage boy with dishevelled hair. Giving a sheepish grin, the boy scratched his head embarrassingly and panted a little from the little exercise.

“I’m sorry, Hyung. It won’t happen again.” The boy raised up three fingers in mock of the boy scouts’ salute and swore with such sincerity one could see his eyes shining. Pulling the boy in, Dongwan closed the door behind him before taking the huge bag on the boy’s shoulders.

“You’ve sworn for the fiftieth time already. I don’t think I should believe you for the fifty-first time.” Dongwan pointed out, and the boy gave a pitiful look.

“Hyung!!” The boy went after him and whined a little, knowing that Dongwan will not stay annoyed at him with this trick.

“Really, Jin! What am I supposed to do with you? What if I am not around? Are you going to sit outside the house until night just to get in?” Dongwan chided softly, nagging a little at the boy.

“Well…”Jin was caught off-guard for a while, as he thought of an answer to the question. Suddenly, he brightened up, “I know! I can go to Syung’s house! He wouldn’t mind!”

“Leave your boyfriend out of this.” Dongwan’s eyes narrowed and pursed his lips, “Until you get into a university in two years’ time, you are not to stay overnight in his house, alright?”

“Okay, Okay.” Jin rose his arms up in surrender, “Jeez…Hyung, you need to lighten up.”

“You talk too much. Now, come and help me out with all these unless you want your boyfriend to be eating raw food.”

“COMING RIGHT AWAY!”

“Dongwan hyung?” Andy called out softly, seeing that the man was deep in thoughts. The man seemed a little startled, sensing that someone had called him. Turning his head to the source of voice, Dongwan smiled a little at Andy.

“Are you alright, Hyung? You look a little tired. Maybe I should just go to your place next time…”Andy trailed off. Dongwan did look very tired, and it concerned Andy so much. Perhaps it was because he was back in the city, or perhaps it was because…

“Yeah, yeah. I’m fine. I just had some insomnia problems since last week.” Dongwan forced a smile out and tried to reassure Andy. He was comforted by the thought though, that someone still cared for him the way a family member would, minus Eric.

“Okay…If you find it difficult to travel here, I can just go to your place.” Pausing a little and thinking that he might have said something wrong, he quickly added, “I mean, it is really a little far away from the city and you know me, I love to have some fun, especially traveling!”

“You can come to stay at my place sometime, its fine. Just remember to inform your family before you come, I don’t want a hoard of bodyguards appearing around my house during midnight.” Dongwan warned.

“I’ll be sure to do that.” Andy promised and gave a toothy grin. Thinking about how much trouble he used to give his hyungs, he was a little sorry, yet there was nothing that he could do about it. It was not his fault that he was born into such a family, it was a god given thing. After all, one could not defy a god’s wish, could he?

“Have you finished your work?” An emotionless voice cut in to break the silence. Both men turned to look at the uninvited guest, Andy with an expression as though he had been caught slacking at work, while Dongwan seemed to be amused.

“I’m…I’m entertaining the client!” Andy stammered a little and quickly gestured to Dongwan, who chuckled softly at Andy’s antics. He always loved being around Andy, and treated him as though he was his little brother. Andy was a precious one, and even more, his antics, and the way he acted seemed to be like a particular…someone.

“I judge that you have already told him what you found then?” Hyesung rose an eyebrow and challenged Andy, arms crossed as he lit a cigarette. Dongwan scrunched his nose upon seeing that, frowning as he gave Hyesung a disapproving look.

“Put that out.” Dongwan demanded, and Hyesung gave him a long and hard stare while taking a long puff, before conceding in the end at snuffed out the cigarette. A wave of relief washed over Dongwan, he didn’t know the reason, yet he felt so much better. Perhaps…perhaps it was in his subconscious to want Hyesung to remain as he was, even if he knew that the both of them had changed ever since then.

“Aren’t you going to tell him?” Hyesung spoke again, and Andy bit his lips before saying, “Oh yes, Hyung. I managed to get into the system finally. However, as weird as it seems, there seemed to be not much information about the case. All that is stated is that Lee Minwoo had died at the age of 25, and it was ruled off as a suicide.”

“How can it be? If he was a major star, surely the public would have demanded some explanation?” Dongwan mused.

“Is there an explanation needed for suicide? You just choose to die whenever you want to.” Hyesung shrugged and commented bitterly. Dongwan stilled hearing that, and the next moment, he found himself grabbing Hyesung’s collar, “Take back what you said.”

“Erm, Dongwan Hyung…” Andy called out meekly, trying to break the tense atmosphere to no avail.

“Take back what you said.” Dongwan snarled and spat out each word. Both men bore into each other’s eyes before Hyesung finally sighed, “Fine. I take it back.”

Releasing Hyesung’s collar and dropping back into his seat, Dongwan’s face was really purple with fury, and even Andy squirmed in his seat. Dongwan was not one to get angry so easily, and when he was angry, Andy knew not to aggravate him even further. What’s more, it was evidently Hyesung’s fault this time round.

“But…there were evidences of information being erased off, Dongwan hyung.” Andy finally broke the silence, trying to lead him back to the topic. As both eyes shot up, Andy heaved a sigh of relief, knowing that this “battle” was over temporarily.