Choi Seunghyun is as intimidating as he is devastatingly handsome and Dong Youngbae couldn’t help but feel wary as soon as the other entered his line of vision.

He stood in the entrance of the huge stone-walled mansion wearing a gray tartan-patterned suit and a matching gray dress-shirt. Straightening his glasses, Choi Seunghyun then leaned lazily to his left foot, gloved hand gently holding the silver serpent ornament on his cane and Youngbae thought he was the only thing commanding his attention even when he was faced with a castle just like the ones he’d seen in picture books back in the institute.

Youngbae’s hand immediately went to Jiyong’s wrist, a lifeline he always hold on to when they faced the unknown. Jiyong visibly relaxed when Youngbae’s warm hand encased his pulsing wrist and Youngbae felt his stomach calm down somewhat.

“Welcome to the Choi estate,” he says, and Youngbae could see how Jiyong visibly shudder. The man’s voice was low, deep, and it resounded with confidence and charisma. A perfect low baritone; Jiyong would say to Youngbae when they are alone later. “My name is Choi Seunghyun, the second child of this household. My father has informed me about your arrival, please come in.” His words are brief and delivered in a way that didn’t make them feel welcomed at all. Youngbae didn’t quite know what to say or what to do, so he stayed on his place. Jiyong was a step ahead of him, already on his way to follow the man, but he stopped as soon as he realized that Youngbae didn’t move.

Choi Seunghyun seemed to notice that none of them were following him, so he let out a soft exhale. “Please follow me, Jiyong-ah, Youngbae-ah.” The sound of their name being called startled them both, this man knew them too? “I’m sure you have a lot of questions. Why don’t you come in so I can answer some of them for you?” Although his voice was lower, Youngbae noticed just how similar it sounded to Choi Dongwook’s gentle remarks full of mysteries none of them could ever hope to decipher.

Once they entered the house, they were met with the most luxurious place Youngbae had ever seen in his entire existence. They were in a hallway with burgundy-colored walls and the carpet was black with golden embroidery on them. The walls, though, weren’t empty. It was filled with a lot of paintings and photographs of various sizes, it looked chaotic but somehow orderly. But what caught Youngbae’s attention was the picture that dominated almost an entire wall by itself.

It was a photograph of the man guiding them, Choi Seunghyun, staring into a mirror. But he had silvery white hair instead of the jet black they saw. He wore a scaly green suit with black dress-shirt, black trousers, and sleek black shoes. He was holding the very cane he is holding right now. There was no doubt that the man in the picture is the same man as the man guiding them, but his eyes were different.

It was a stark bright yellow, slit like a snake’s.

“You have good tastes, Youngbae.” Low voice chimed from behind him, but he tried his best not to look startled. “This is probably one of my most favorite of paintings in this house.” Jiyong didn’t look like he was impressed. Visual arts weren’t really his forte and music has been the only thing that kept him (them) sane for the longest time. But Youngbae knew beauty when he saw one and this photograph was exactly—

Painting?

“This is… a painting?” It looked realistic. Too realistic for it to be a painting. The colors are all precise, so lifelike and the colors are too complex for it to come from paints. Choi Seunghyun had a fond smile on his face. “It is. See here?” He pointed at the small inscription of ‘V-tory’ written in gold and silver ink. “My favorite artist.” Choi Seunghyun chuckled, more to himself than to Youngbae and Jiyong. “Come, you two, I dislike standing for too long.” He entered a room on the left of the painting and they both followed him in quickened steps, not wanting to get left behind in an unfamiliar place.

The room inside was as luxurious as the hallways, but it was cozy. It had a fireplace, a flat TV, lining bookshelves, a couple of sofas and armchairs, and a familiar musical instrument Jiyong once showed him back in the institute’s library. It’s—

“A piano…” Jiyong’s voice was breathy whisper, but the awe and the amazement were there and it felt as if something heavy was lifted off Youngbae’s chest. Youngbae let go of his wrist and Jiyong wandered over to the piano, pushing the white parts one by one and reveling at each sounds it produced. Youngbae’s eyes went over to the painting hung above the piano.

The room itself was dim, only lit by the crackling fire by the fireplace and a few yellow-colored standing lamps. But the painting had a lamp above it, lighting it in such a somber way that Youngbae felt his heart twist.

The painting is of a woman playing a piano. Her hair was silvery white and her dress long and flowing like silken clouds. It was painted in such detail that Youngbae couldn’t help but feel as if the painting was lying to him. If it weren’t for the fact that the woman was painted with blurred face, Youngbae would have thought without a doubt that it was picture and not a painting.

“Beautiful, isn’t she?” Choi Seunghyun remarked behind him, leaning on the piano as he traced the head of his cane. “Yes, but she…” Youngbae cut himself off before he could say anything that may insult the man. But Choi Seunghyun quirked a curious eyebrow and Youngbae had to gulp down his nervousness and continue. “She doesn’t have a face…”

Choi Seunghyun had a somber contemplative look on his face before he smiled a sad smile. “The artist never met the model. This painting is something he created out of my descriptions…” He then went over to the armchair by the fireplace and gestured them to sit down. Youngbae noted the gold and silver inscription in the bottom corner of the painting before going over to the sofa.

Jiyong sat next to him, eyes still lingering at the piano behind them. But then Choi Seunghyun cleared his throat and brought their attention back to him almost immediately.

“I know you two have questions. Please ask them now.”

Youngbae and Jiyong shared a look with one another. Of course there are a lot of things they want to ask! Today had been like a whirlwind. Just last night they were wondering if they would ever live without fearing people would hear them sing and now they were sitting in a room with a piano in it. Jiyong took a deep breath, his hand on top of Youngbae’s as if trying to get some extra warmth from him. “We… do you know us?”

Choi Seunghyun nodded. “How?” Jiyong asked. “My father told me about you two. He asked me to receive you two in the estate last night and I said yes.”

“So you don’t really know us?”

“I don’t personally know you, no, but I do know that I’m significantly older than the two of you.” He looked utterly amused and Youngbae really couldn’t place why. “I guess you have new dongsaengs, then.” He tried to crack a joke, and Jiyong snapped his head to his direction. Youngbae tried to keep an amicable smile, but his nervousness showed through his trembling hands and Jiyong must feel it also.

But Choi Seunghyun had laughed a warm laughter, one that made his eyes crinkle and his voice got a notch higher in delight. “I love being a hyung, feel free to call me yours. Being a maknae was hard work when your sister won’t stop doting on you.” Youngbae’s eyes lit up. He… he joked back. It felt like acceptance, it felt like a promise that this man won’t ever hurt them. So he braved himself once more. “I guess Jiyong will be your new maknae then, I’m older than him by a few months.” Jiyong let out an indignant whine, but it felt like their usual jokes—it felt like their brotherly jabs, only another person had joined in.

Choi Seunghyun—no, Seunghyun-hyung—let out a small laughter before shaking his head. He felt Jiyong’s fingers clenching on his hand, obviously feeling fear over rejection, but he said nothing. Nasty feeling started to spread in his heart, but he tried to project calm so as not to agitate Jiyong any further. “No no, even when Jiyong is younger than you he still won’t be the maknae of the Choi family.” He said, laughter slipping in between his words. “You guys are both hyungs now, because the maknae is—“ the chiming sound of bells coming from Seunghyun-hyung’s pocket interrupted their conversation. Youngbae and Jiyong shared a look before focusing their gaze onto their new brother.

“Choi Seunghyun speaking. You are?”

The speaker from the other line babbled, his words are spoken in broken syllables and Youngbae concluded that the other must be a foreigner. He had seen foreigners before back in the institute. They loved cheap labor and they always took those who are already deemed adults and yet still haven’t left the institute away. Jiyong’s grip on his fingers tightened, but his face showed nothing.

But the look on Seunghyun-hyung’s face subtly changed over the course of the caller’s explanation. At first he looked alarmed, but then it changed to a fond smile. “Oh, I see. Thank you for telling me, Xiaoming. Give my regards to Zhiqian too. I will be there as soon as possible.” He pocketed his phone and heave a long exhale.

“Let’s go, we are going out.”

“We?” Jiyong perked, half-nervous half-excited. ‘Out’ is such a hopeful word for them since a long time ago and Youngbae honestly felt excited, even when they just had a long drive here, he was already itching to go out again.

Because the outside world was something he and Jiyong coveted so much that at times, it hurt.

“Yes, we. I think I know part of the reason why Father brought you two into our family. Did he say anything about it?”

“Well, he did mention something about how his son didn’t feel loved…” something then clicked within Youngbae’s mind. “Was he… was he talking about you, hyung?” He tested the term in his tongue, it felt foreign but the smile he received in return was enough to satiate his anxiety. “No, he wasn’t,” there was another look of contemplative sadness, but he shook his head once and stood up from his seat. “He was talking about someone else. Come, you two, let’s go meet your new dongsaeng.”

***

The vehicle they were riding looked and felt expensive that Youngbae had to convince himself that he wasn’t dreaming. And judging from the reaction Jiyong gave, it felt that way for him too.

They were sitting in a long vehicle that let them sit across Seunghyun-hyung, who was currently explaining to them about the Choi family as they made their way to somewhere to pick up the—their maknae. It was exhilarating to consider themselves a part of a family, it was exhilarating to hear Seunghyun-hyung talk as if both Youngbae and Jiyong are a part of Choi family as well.

They learned of Choi Dongwook, the CEO of Chansan Enterprise who had helped Korean economy after the War with their large export activity. They learned of Choi Sandara, Seunghyun-hyung’s beloved mother who had died years ago because of an illness spread during the War. They learned of Lee Hyori, the famed architect who had helped Korea by designing a lot of the buildings that had been destroyed in the War for free. They learned of Choi Hyeyoon, who followed in her father’s footsteps and dabbled in business as well. But before he could finish his explanation, the car had stopped in front of what seemed to be an abandoned warehouse.

Seunghyun-hyung took out a deadbolt from under his seat and gave it to Youngbae, who stared at it confusedly. “Come, let’s go.” They exited their car and went over to the warehouse. What they saw inside was something that the long years in the institute never prepared them for because now Jiyong wasn’t sure if he had expected something like this the moment he was adopted into one of the most influential family in Korea. And Youngbae was definitely sure that rich people are goddamn weird, a thought he already have even back in the institute.

But nothing prepared them for this scene before them.

Seunghyun-hyung let out a long exhale, expression tight and yet Jiyong could literally see that this wasn’t the first time that it happened. He and Youngbae stood by the door awkwardly as they saw a blond man dangling upside down with his foot tied up to the ceiling. He was groaning in his sleep, murmuring about one thing and another as he flailed his hands around.

Seunghyun-hyung knelt in front of the blond as he slapped the other’s cheeks with both his hands. “Maknae-ah, wake up. Xiaoming and Zhiqian called me.” The blond seemed to wake up, he put his hands on Seunghyun-hyung’s cheeks and greeted him with something Jiyong never expected to hear from a grown adult male of the Choi family.

“Yeobotaeyeooo~”

Jiyong snapped his head to Youngbae’s direction so fast he could have twisted it, but seeing that Youngbae was already looking at him made Jiyong sure that the other didn’t expect a full-blown aegyo greeting from a man whose abs are so clearly-defined, either. Seunghyun-hyung didn’t even bat an eyelash as the man brought their faces closer and gave him an eskimo kiss. “Oppa~ it’s me~”

“I know it’s you,” Seunghyun-hyung replied curtly. “Now go to sleep, okay? I’ll wake you up later. Youngbae, Jiyong, could you bring the deadbolt I had over here? The chain’s pretty rusted so I guess it won’t be too hard to—“ Youngbae threw the deadbolt he’d been holding for the last five minutes with a deadly precision to Seunghyun-hyung’s hand. “—cut it off. Here you go.” The eldest hyung caught the blond man with little to no effort, as if he’d been accustomed to catch the sleeping man a million times. And maybe, he had, Jiyong wouldn’t know.

The blond man snuggled to Seunghyun-hyung’s chest, muttering something intelligible under his breath as he made himself comfortable on the other man’s chest. Seunghyun-hyung exhaled a deep breath as he positioned himself to carry the boy bridal-style. “Needy brat,” he sighed, clearly exasperated and yet fond all the same. “Jiyong, Youngbae,” Seunghyun-hyung called, a strange proud smile dancing on his thin lips and Jiyong sworethat it was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen. “This is the maknae of the Choi family. His name is Lee Seunghyun.”

And that was how Kwon Jiyong and Dong Youngbae met the man who would bring a thousand colors in their lives, the tumultuous maelstrom that is Lee Seunghyun.