Kwon Jiyong felt a surge of something the moment he brushed his skin against Lee Seunghyun’s own.

It was odd, because he never felt anything like it before. He always knew that touching Youngbae would bring him warmth because that was all he clung to in the nights he felt the world was close enough to freeze his inner flame, but with this man…

It felt like ecstasy, and Jiyong had to dig his nails into his palm to suppress the raging something when he saw Seunghyun-hyung s an arm around Lee Seunghyun’s waist to keep him in place.

The car ride was quiet. Youngbae’s eyes never left the windows as he revelled in the sights around them as they took a different road than the one they came from and Jiyong knew that he should be doing the same but his eyes wouldn’t--couldn’t move away from the man wrapped around Seunghyun-hyung’s entire body.

The other man didn’t seem too bothered, because he kept patting the maknae’s back in circular motion. Once or twice he’ll let his hand travel to the younger’s hair and down to his body once more. Perfect baritone whispered sweet nothings to the shell of the maknae’s ear as the other nuzzled into the older’s neck and it made Jiyong feel odd.

Seunghyun-hyung’s eyes then met his own and Jiyong still had some sense in him that made him avert his gaze downwards. Be respectful be respectful be respectful his head chanted like a mantra, years of training in the Institute screamed within his skull and dominated his entire body but that something still won’t leave.

It felt wrong. He didn’t know Lee Seunghyun and Seunghyun-hyung had been with the maknae even before Jiyong knew that the other existed but still…

It shouldn’t be Seunghyun-hyung, it should be me.

And it felt wrong.

So Jiyong took a deep breath, willing himself to look outside. He needed to clear his head. No, no, no, this doesn’t make any sense. He’d only seen (not even know, because he hadn’t even talked with Lee Seunghyun) him for a total of 15 minutes and he’d only known Seunghyun-hyung for a few hours. They shouldn’t have this much effect on him.

But they do.

“You look like you have questions, Jiyong-ah.” Seunghyun-hyung said, his eyes unreadable underneath those glasses and Jiyong didn’t dare to look up to him. So he took a deep breath and put his hand on top of Youngbae’s own, calming his nerves and grounding himself to reality.

“No I don’t, hyung.” His voice didn’t shake, and that was all Seunghyun-hyung needed as a confirmation.

But Jiyong has been, and will always be, a good liar.

***

The Choi estate is ginormous, this was a fact both Jiyong and Youngbae kept committing to their memories because they kept turning and turning and they still haven’t reached their destination.

Seunghyun-hyung seemed to notice Jiyong’s agitation, because he addressed him with a low whisper, trying not to wake the sleeping man in his arms. “Don’t worry, not every part of the house is as hard to access as this one. This wing is Seungri’s wing, so it’s somewhat hard to navigate around here if you are new.”

“Seungri?” Youngbae asked.

“Oh, that’s what he usually goes with. If you notice, both our names are Seunghyun and so he found it easier to go by his artist name.”

That seemed to click something within Youngbae’s mind because then he stopped his steps and looked over towards one of the many paintings surrounding the walls. If there was something that he learned from walking around the house for the past few hours, the Choi family must really really loved paintings because their walls are pretty much littered by them.

“Is he… is he V-tory?” What the hell is that?

Seunghyun-hyung had a kind smile on his face as he kept on walking. “You are very perceptive, Youngbae-ah. That’s right, this child is V-tory, or Victory if you realized, he is a very accomplished artist.” Seunghyun-hyung purred and it sounded beautiful. Jiyong already had songs written in his head that would suit this man’s voice, really.

Jiyong took a deep breath, willing himself to focus on the situation. Youngbae’s hand weren’t on his wrist and that somehow agitate Jiyong. He didn’t like feeling so anxious, and being the institute for so long, that place had become a familiar hell that he could draw comfort in as long as Youngbae is around. But this place is new and new means foreign and foreign means anxiety.

Seungri’s wing (Jiyong decided to dub this place as that) gave off a very different feeling than the other hallways they had walked to reach it. The other places had paintings of different sizes atop burgundy-colored walls but Seungri’s wing had a lot of mirrors atop of sky-blue walls.

And as they walk further, the walls gradually changed into a warm glow of sunset. It made Youngbae smile, because Jiyong knew that Youngbae loved sunset the most. He always had a longing smile whenever he saw the red that colored the sky as the bell chimes throughout the institute. It made Jiyong smile as well.

They finally stopped in front of a very grand wooden door. It looked very luxurious and like everything, it made Jiyong nervous. But Seunghyun-hyung kicked the door effortlessly and revealed the most beautiful room Jiyong had ever seen.

The room was made of glass. It had floor to ceiling windows as far as eyes could see. It looked like a greenhouse he had once saw in one of the encyclopedia he read in the institute. But instead of plants, the room was littered with canvases with variety of sizes. Paints are scattered around the floor, giving the wooden floor blotches of dry paint with array of colors. Unfinished paintings drew Youngbae’s attention and he strayed over to the biggest canvas in the room.

But Jiyong followed Seunghyun-hyung as he went over to the corner of the room, where a single bed with pure white sheets and jet black blanket just lie there. It looked out of place in a room made of glass, really.

Seunghyun-hyung sat on the bed and coaxed the maknae out of his arms. The other moaned and groaned but when he found his blanket, he snuggled into it and fall onto the bed almost immediately. The sight of white and black reminded Jiyong of a cuddly animal he once saw in his text books, something he couldn’t quite remember.

Jiyong thought it was cute, really.

“Do you have questions, Jiyong-ah?” Seunghyun-hyung asked, snapping him out of his reverie with a curious expression on his face. Jiyong nodded once. “How old is he?” Seunghyun-hyung chuckled. “I guess he is seventeen years old.” It sounded… mysterious. Jiyong could hear the underlying amusement lurking in each syllable he uttered and it didn’t sit well with him. This man is hiding something and Jiyong was determined to find out what.

Suddenly, Jiyong noticed that he could hear people talking quite a few distance away from them. Seunghyun-hyung had an inquisitive look on his face before gesturing Jiyong to follow him. Jiyong wasted no time to follow, not wanting to be left alone in an unfamiliar place, but he spared a glance towards the sleeping maknae and resolved that he wanted to know him better.

They went back to the place where Youngbae had stopped following them, back to the largest unfinished painting that sit nicely on its weasel. There was a beautiful woman next to Youngbae, smiling fondly at the painting in front of them. She had flowing brown hair, pale skin, and a sharp angular face that reminded Jiyong of Seunghyun-hyung.

My son or my daughter will receive you…

Choi Dongwook’s words chimed in his head and Jiyong arrived to a conclusion. This must be the daughter of Choi family.

“Ah,” she said as Seunghyun-hyung entered her line of vision. “Seunghyunie! You look as handsome as I last saw you!” She bounced on her heels towards Seunghyun-hyung’s place and placed her hands on top of the other’s cheeks. The man seemed familiar with such gesture as he only bent down let his sister see him better and smiled. “I didn’t know you’d be here, noona.”

“As if I’d ever go home and not visit this place. Tory’s whitehouse is my favorite place in the entire house other than the bordello.” She had a charming smile on her face, voice calm and chiming like tolling bells. Jiyong didn’t hear much of woman’s voice back in the institute, and the ones he heard were never as kind, so he reveled at the sound of a woman’s voice.

Mezzo, just a little more and she could be a soprano, Jiyong imagined himself back in the cozy room playing with a piano. Things he could only read and hum becoming a much more beautiful melody and—

“You are as beautiful as Father described you are, Jiyong-ah.” She was suddenly in front of him, smiling at him with a curiously kind smile and Jiyong didn’t know what to do. “No, even better. If the color red had a definition, you would definitely be it.” She remarked, more to herself than to Jiyong because he didn’t really understand her meaning by saying that. But then she offered a hand with a wide smile on her face. “My name is Choi Hyeyoon, I am the eldest child of the Choi family. It’s nice to finally meet you, Jiyong-ah.”

“How did you—“

“My father told me about you two. But since I live in Seoul, I wasn’t able to reach this place in time for you guys to arrive and since Seunghyun is home, he was the one to receive you instead.” Her eyes were sharp, but kind, and yet still it made Jiyong uncomfortable. Does everyone in the Choi family have the same piercing gaze? He wasn’t sure if he would feel good being with people like that.

The institute had taught him to never look at someone with clear aura of superiority in the eyes, so he averted his gaze down as he took the lady’s hand. But she immediately had her other hand tilting up Jiyong’s chin. “Don’t do that, Jiyong-ah, please look at me when I’m talking.” She pleaded and Jiyong could hear the tingle of sadness in her voice. Jiyong then found the most enticing brown eyes he had ever seen.

It was deep, murky, but it seemed out of place—like it should have been another color, but Jiyong really couldn’t place it…

“Don’t too much, noona.” Seunghyun-hyung’s deep voice brought him back to reality, snapping him out of a trance that he didn’t seem to realize he had been in. Hyeyoon-noona let his hands go and went over to hug the much taller younger brother. “But I always love teasing my dongsaengs? Oh come on, Seunghyunie, don’t you think that Jiyong-ah and Youngbae-ah are very cute too?”

“They are, but we are making them uncomfortable.”

Hyeyoon-noona looked at them both with a smile on her face, as if welcoming them both. It made Jiyong feel… accepted. They threw around those words like Jiyong and Youngbae has always been a part of their family. ‘My dongsaengs’ ‘our maknae’ it’s exhilarating and it’s new. Jiyong didn’t like new things, but he managed, he always does.

“Well, I’m sure it’s been a long day for the two of you. Why don’t you freshen up a little? I’ll see you at dinner.” She gave them a small wave before she gracefully went over towards the corner of the room, cooing in an utterly soft voice as she went towards the sleeping maknae.

Seunghyun-hyung shook his head fondly, but then he cleared his throat and again their attention were on him. “Come, I’ll show you to your rooms.”

***

Their room was heaven.

Compared to what they have in the institute, this room was literal heaven. Their room had fireplace, sofas, bookshelves filled with books about music and dancing, another bookshelf filled music CDs, and a complete radio sets that were connected to a lot of speakers. It also had two beds, floor to ceiling windows, and it was colored maroon red with hints of sunset orange—Jiyong and Youngbae’s favorite colors combined into one.

“I took the liberty of having two beds in here, because I think you two wouldn’t want to have separate rooms. But if you don’t want to share a room you can always move to another room you like. The rooms in this wing are pretty much identical to one another so you have a lot to choose from.” Youngbae shook his head, because he really didn’t want to sleep separately from Jiyong in an unfamiliar place and judging from Jiyong’s frantic head-shaking, he knew that the other felt the same way. His hand found Jiyong’s wrist and everything was fine again.

Seunghyun-hyung smiled. “Then I will leave it to you guys. The bathroom is over there if you want to shower—“ he pointed towards a wooden door in the corner of the room. “—or something. This family usually have dinner at seven thirty, so you should go to the dining room by then. The map around this house is over there, in your drawers.

Clothes for you guys are all prepared as well. I forgot which one is Jiyong’s and which one is Youngbae’s, but they’re there. And over there is a door to a studio, you guys should check that out.” He had a mischievous smile on his face as he pointed to a white door between the bookshelves.

“Well, I guess that’s all. Welcome to the Choi family.” Seunghyun-hyung had a smile on his face as he waved them goodbye. Then Jiyong and Youngbae looked at one another in confusion, but then when they were truly alone they looked around, went over to their beds, and started to jump. They jumped, yelled, and screamed that they are free free free!!!

They made it out of Institute together. They made it out of hell together. And it mattered so much, so very much.

It wasn’t like they trusted these strangers immediately, but the Choi family felt as if they really wanted them and it mattered.

Youngbae thought back to the conversation he had with Hyeyoon-noona back in the room made of glass—

--

“Beautiful, isn’t she?”

The sweet voice startled Youngbae, but the owner of said voice wasn’t even looking at him. She was looking straight at the unfinished painting of a beautiful woman dressed in a beautiful dark blue dress with a dainty flower crown on top of her head. She had the most breathtaking smile Youngbae had ever seen. So he nodded, agreeing with the lady’s remark.

“I always love seeing Hyori-eomma through Seungri’s eyes. She always looked like the most beautiful woman no matter how many pretty women he has drawn.” She had a fond smile on her face, eyes tracing the uncolored flower crown. “Calming presence, warm eyes, beautiful smile—you must be Dong Youngbae… am I right?”

“Yes, I am.” Youngbae nodded, earning a grin from the beautiful lady. “Father is always so spot-on with his descriptions. My name is Choi Hyeyoon, nice to meet you my cute new dongsaeng!” She ruffled Youngbae’s short hair and for that second, Youngbae felt just how kind her touches were…

Even when it felt cold against his skin.

--

—and took a deep breath. He glanced at Jiyong, who was already on the sofa in front of the fireplace reading a book about composing music, and smiled.

They escaped hell. Nothing could ever be worse than the institute, nothing at all.

***

Youngbae and jiyong decided to leave their room an hour early to anticipate being late because they were lost in the huge mansion.

In all actuality, the mansion itself has a straightforward design, but there were so many rooms that has the same function as one another. In their wing alone there were eight bedrooms and two living rooms. The other wings had a lot of rooms also, but there were places like recreational room and library and pretty much everything.

They tried to reach the dining room (there were two of them, and they had gone to the one that was near their wing to find it look distinctively unused), with Youngbae taking in the various paintings that decorated every wall in the hallway. He began to notice that not all of them were made by V-tory. There were some abstract art and scenery art that wasn’t signed by the gold-silver ink so he concluded that they were made by someone else.

“You’ve always liked visual art.” Jiyong said with such nonchalance that people would have assumed that he really didn’t expect an answer. But Youngbae had known him for far too long to not notice the subtle narrowing of his eyes. “I like music too, Jiyong. I’m just not as invested in it as you are.”

“You love singing.”

“I do, it kept me sane all these years. But—“

“—are you thinking, Father?”

It sounded faint, but it made him and Jiyong stop dead in their tracks.

“Now, now,” Seunghyun-hyung’s voice was low and placating behind the door they were standing next to. “I was under the impression that you like them, noona.”

“Liking them does not mean I understand our Father’s thoughts, Seunghyun.” Hyeyoon-noona’s voice was calm, bordering on coldness. What are they talking about?

“You know that once Seungri wakes up he’d be dead afraid of Jiyong. And Youngbae too since their scents are so intermingled together… is that what you want?”

Youngbae immediately looked over at Jiyong as the other’s eyes widened considerably. What was that? What are they talking about?!

There was a (loud) fond sigh before Choi Dongwook fondly answered his daughter’s question with a remark that supposedly had nothing to do with her question. “Sometimes I wonder what I did in the previous life to deserve you, my sweet Hyeyoonie.” He sounded so reverent and Youngbae was somehow jealous. Nobody ever thought that way of him and he so very much want someone to say that to him.

“You are so very much like my beautiful Sandara. I’m sure that if she’s here she would say the very same thing you did. And of course she would have loved our Little Seunghyun very much…” There was a silence and they had no way of knowing if it was an amicable silence or not between the three members of the Choi family. “But if there is something that Sandara knows from the bottom of her heart, is that everything I do, I do for this family. I’m not asking you to not question my thoughts about Little Seunghyun’s predicament, but I’m asking you to trust my intentions.” His voice was low and full of determination, just like when he said that he decided to pick the two of them.

Seunghyun-hyung cleared his throat after a long silence. “Noona, please trust him,” His voice was low and so whispery that Youngbae had to strain his ears on the door to hear what he was saying. “Nothing we do worked for Seungri’s condition, so maybe Jiyong and Youngbae can do something we cannot…”

“I never want my precious little Tory to ever see a—“

“Jiyong is different. Youngbae is different. They are not that bastard and they will never hurt Seungri and Hyori-eomma ever. No one will ever hurt them again…”

Another silence, then—

“Let’s just hope that it will never happen.” Youngbae could hear footsteps reaching for the door, so he pulled Jiyong with him to a safe distance and acted as if they were just walking from the direction of their wing. When the door opened, Youngbae faked a surprise and took a slight step back. “Hyeyoon-noona!”

She reflexively turned to look at them and Jiyong’s hold on his wrist tightened.

Because her eyes were stark yellow and slit like a snake’s.

Just who- what on earth is the Choi family…?