Lee Jong-suk breathed loud and fast. His eyes fell on the handsome young master who held him with an arm around his back. Before he fell uncounscious, the stranger holding him, shook him on the shoulder to wake him up. Lee Jong-Suk felt his chest tightened, he was short of breath, wheezed in pain and coughed. Although he panted to catch breath, his lung tightened even more from lack of oxygen.

„What’s wrong?“, the stranger asked him, he seemed to be worried about him although he just met him for the first time.

The deep but calm voice of the stranger soothed the pain a little bit, he was able to move his finger that he pointed to his backpack on the chair. The man looked puzzled at the backpack, he gasped as if he grasped the situation. It seemed like he finally understood what the pitiful young man laying in his arms showed him.

„Search for an asthma inhaler in his bag“, he screamed to the workers in the kitchen.

As everyone looked flabbergasted at him, he lost his calmness and yelled at them to move.

The senior butler ran, searched in the backpack and found an inhaler inside the pocket. He gave this to the young master who immediateley lifted Jong-suk a little bit up, shook the inhaler and placed the mouthpiece between Jong-suk’s lips. When the young master pressed on the spray nozzle, Jong suk inhaled the medicine coming out of the inhaler. They repeated this two more time until the young cook could breath regularly like usual. The stranger helped him to stand up straight on his feet.

A heavy atmosphere laid in the kitchen, nobody dared to speak nor move to break the silence. Jong-suk’s heart thumped hard and loud.

„Be careful. A chaebol looks nice outside but is malicious inside“, his younger brother’s warning replayed in his head over and over.

He was sure he was done for it. Now that he made this big mistake, he just gave away the opportunity to be hired by them again for any special event. It was unfortunate to lose such a good customer but he thought it can’t be helped. However, he wanted to express his gratitude to his saviour before being chased out of the villa.

Since he was the one causing this problem, he the took the first step and bowed, „I’m sorry for the trouble… and thank you“, he apologized and thanked his saviour.

The young master remained calm and scratched on his head, a smile appeared on his face. This very smile took the heavy feeling from Jong-suk’s chest away, his heart calmed down and he sighed in relieve. The workers in the room sighed too, they seemed to be relieved that their boss didn’t lose his sanity and screamed at him like most chaebol do.

The young master replied back, „I’m just happy to be any help for you… Do you feel better now?“

Jong-suk was still in shock to see the-so-called-arrogant-and-cold-chaebol that his brother warned him about, act so easy going. He was lost in thought that he forgot his surroundings for awhile. A warm hand touched him on the shoulder and brought his attention back to him. He looked clueless at the young master who touched him just now.

„Huh?“, the young cook asked.

„Are you okay?“

„Yeah…“

„Young master“, the senior butler called and came to them.

„I told you not to call me young master“, he came closer to the eldest man and whispered into his ears, „For you, it’s Choi Jin-Hyuk… Choi… J-I-N… H-Y-U-K.“

For an unknown reason, Jong-suk just memorized the name of his saviour then returned to the stove to cook the food he was supposed to prepare for his customer. Choi Jin-Hyuk looked at the young cook, his lips curved up into a smile. He turned to the butler, laid an arm around him and dragged him out of the kitchen.

Two hours later

After preparing the delicious korean foods and wonderfully decorating the table like the customer wanted, the invited guests took seat on the chairs in the big dining hall. The young master who just showered again and dressed in an expensive handmade suit, took the stairs down in an elegant way but stopped in front of the dining hall. Voices were coming from the room, at least 5 to 6 people must be there. Even thought he waited outside, he could feel the heavy tension laying in the dining room froom here. Everyone’s praises for him made him feel like vomit his stomach empty.

He sighed and wanted to enter the hall but instead turned and dissapeared outside. Wind blowed from aside, the fresh breeze made chill ran down his spine and shiver for a moment. He inhaled the fresh air but took a while before exhaling the air. The wonderful nightsky filled with shining stars took his attention. It looked dazzling and it took some of his sorrows and pain away.

As he was about to get in his own car, he spotted Lee Jong-Suk walking to the gate while talking to someone on the phone. He laughed happily as if he didn't had any sorrow to fight like he had to do everyday. His smile brought his attention to the young cook. It was like he couldn’t take his eyes from him. It wasn’t the beauty of the cook that stunned him so much but his happiness.

Jin-hyuk was rich and could afford everything in the world but he wasn’t happy. The saying „money can’t make you happy“ or moreover „you can’t buy happiness with money“ proved to be true after all. Even Jong-suk who seemed to be poor as hell was more happier than him, a chaebol. This somehow made him envy him.

Lee Jong-Suk exited the villa and took the main road. Since it was already evening and too late to cook dinner for his brothers, he decided to take the bus instead of a cab. Beside, he can save money by taking the bus. As he was a few metres away from the bus station, an expensive black car honked at him and suddenly stopped beside him. The driver opened the window of the car. As he turned to the black car, he recognized the familiar face of the driver. It was the young master.

„Get in. I’ll take you home.“

„Thanks but I’ll take the bus“, Jong-suk politely declined the offer.

Jong-suk spotted the bus driving toward the station and ran toward it. The traffic light before him turned red so he had to wait for the green light. As the light changed to green, he speeded up and finally arrived at the bus stop but the bus closed and drove away before he could reach its door. He bent over, placed his hands on his knees and wheezed to catch some air to fill in his lung.

„Damn it!“, he swore.

A black car parked again in front of him, the window went down and the driver was none other than Choi Jin-hyuk.

„Do you want to accept my offer now?“, again this question from the young master.

„I don’t want to be a burden to you. I’ll go home by myself.“

He was grateful for his life saviour but didn’t want to spend a minute with him since he felt embarrassed for showing his weak side to him. Jong-suk took a look at the board to see when the next bus would arrive. His eyes widened, he sighed and shook his hairs messy when he read that he had to wait for 2 hours for the next bus.

Today was hard enough for Jong-suk and he was really tired. All he wanted to do was to go home and rest in his warm and cozy bed but before that, he had to wait for 2 hours.

Choi Jin-hyuk pressed at the honk, „Hop in.“

Jong-suk didn’t have a choice but to take the offer so he got in the car.

„Where do you live?“

„At xxxxx Street.“

Somehow Jong-suk felt uncomfortable. It wasn’t because of the car since the seat was comfortable and you could even sleep peacefully. The reason he couldn’t loosen up was because of the very young man next to him. Somehow he felt like someone out of your reach, a rich human you don’t dare to look in the eyes or steal a glance of. Who would have thought that such an unattainable chaebol was driving him, such a poor guy who could barely make a living, home. Something like that can never happen unless he was dreaming.

He pinched on his arm. But instead of waking up from his dream, he felt pain at the place he pinched himself. This must mean: He wasn’t dreaming at all, everything was real. Many people would feel happy and special when they were in his situation but he wasn’t happy at all. He felt somehow disturbed.

„What’s wrong?“, Jin-hyuk asked him.

„No… Nothing, why?“

„I thought you’re in pain since you were making such a funny face.“

„Huh?“

It didn’t take him long to realize that Jin-hyuk was talking about the face he made when he pinched himself. This left him more embarrassed, his skin turned red like tomatoes. Jin-hyuk giggled.

„Shouldn’t you be at home eating with your family?“, Jong-suk asked him

„I don’t have to be with them.“

„I thought today is special for your family since you have a special guest coming back from the USA.“

„Ah don’t worry about it…“, he smiled at him.

The little smile somehow touched Jong-suk’s heart, it made it stop for a second then beat fast again. This very smile made the heavy feeling in the atmosphere vanish in thin air. Jong-suk could loosen up and relaxed in the seat of the car.

„Since they know I hate such event, they wouldn’t wait for me.“

„Do you often ditch such important dinner?“

„Yeah, especially when the special guest’s me.“

„What…“, Jong-suk’s heart thumped hard against his chest when he understood that the special guest was Jin-Hyuk. Many thought crossed in his mind. Suddenly he worried about his payment he should get on his account tomorrow. Would they still pay him much like agreed even if they knew that their precious son they didn’t see for more than 8 years ran away to drive a stranger like him home?

„Ah, I need the money so badly“, the young cook cried in his head.

While Jong-suk panicked and sweated like crazy because of his hard earned money, Choi Jin-hyuk laughed as if he didn’t have anything to worry about.

„Ah, I almost forgot. I tasted a little bit of your food and it was delicious. Could you cook for my inauguration as the director in our company?“, he waited at the red light then drove in the next corner. „Can you prepare something like fingerfood?“

Jong-suk felt happy for this chance. He needed money anyway for an important wish he always wanted to come true. This would give him the opportunity to finally make his wish come to reality.

„Yeah, I would be glad to help you for the event. When should it be?“

„At Friday. The event is on 7 p.m but you have to be there on 2 p.m.“

„At Friday?“

Jong-suk just remembered that his younger brother Lee woo-bin is celebrating his birthday on the same day. Woo-bin invited just the two of them at 6:30 p.m to eat in an expensive restaurant. Woo- bin took the day and the next day off especially for his birthday so he would be really mad if he canceled the invitation. Even if he needed money right now, his younger brother was important than everything and he wanted to make him happy. It could be tight but when he finished at 6 p.m. and drove to the restaurant, he could make it in time. Woo-bin won’t be angry if he was late for 15 minutes.

Jin-hyuk finally arrived at the destination, Jong-suk’s home.

„Just park here“, the place Jong-suk told him to let him out was some metres away from his house.

„Why here? I can park in front of your house.“

„No, don’t do it. I… I don’t want my brothers to find out who brought me home.“

„Why not?“

The reason my brothers shouldn’t know about him was because they despised chaebols. Every one of them had their reason for avoiding such people. Woo-bin hated them because of a case he failed to dissolve. They were so close to arrest a chaebol but his higher ups closed the case since they were scared of the family and some of them were paid a huge amount of money. Yoo Ah-in loathedchaebols because a rich family who should be in jail right now, payed a huge sum of money to the judge to bail themselve out of a trial although everybody knew they were guilty. Song Jong-ki didn’t like them because a chaebol once treated the hospital staff harshly. Because of them many of the staff were fired from the hospital.

Since chaebols caused their hatred and made them lose hope in humanity, it would bring a stir if he bring him home.

„Just let me out here…“

Jin-hyuk drove at the roadside and parked there.

„Thanks for driving me home. Be careful on your way back“, he walked toward his house and rang at the doorbell.

The door got open, Yoo Ah-in stood before him and blocked the way. He leaned against the doorframe with his arms crossed over his chest.

„You’re late“, was the first thing he said to him.

„Sorry, the bus connection was bad and I had to wait forever for the bus“, was his excuse.

Ah-in let him enter the house but before he could close the door, someone held the door firmly. Choi Jin-hyuk panted a little bit, it seemed he ran so he was out of breath.

„Lee Jong-suk’s shi forgot this“, he placed the thing in Ah-in’s palm.

Ah-in opened his hand. It was the inhaler.

„I forgot to give him his inhaler back“, he said then dashed back to his car that he parked in front of the house.

Yoo-ah ihn eyed him suspiciously from his head to his toes till he drove away. He recognized from the expensive car and neat cloths that he must be a chaebol. It made him boil from anger that his precious older brother had a connection with someone he despised from the bottom of his heart. He slammed the door close then went to Jong-suk who climbed the stairs up. Jong-ki and Woo-bin came out of the living room to them.

„Did something happen?“

The eldest brother stopped on one of the steps and turned back to him. „Not really.“

Ah-in went to him then placed the inhaler in his palm, „You forgot this. The young man came back to give me your inhaler.“

When the two other brothers realized the inhaler, they were in full alert and curious to know the reason for him to bring out the inhaler out of his backpack. They knew something happened since he needed his spray.

„I know something happened but you don’t want us to worry that’s why you won’t talk about it…“, he wanted to continue the conversation but choosed to change the subject. „Just don’t get yourself too close to that man.“

Jong-suk knew from Ah-in’s silence that he was angry at him for hiding something from him. He just hated it to be left out of his life.

Jong-ki followed Ah-in in the living room, leaving only Woo-bin and Jong-suk in the floor. Jong-suk noticed woo-bin was about to talk about something but he left in the bathroom to avoid his question.

The burn scar he suffered in his childhood ached a little bit. He took off his sweatshirt then touched at the scar on his back. As the pain soothed a little bit, he cleaned his face with cold water to cool his hot body. As he looked in the mirror, suddenly a warm hand softly touched at the scar. He jumped out of his skin from fear. When he recognized the man standing behind him to be woo-bin, his thumping heart calmed down and he sighed in relief.

„Don’t always scare me like that.“

„It hurts, right?“, Woo-bin’s soft voice spoke to him.

„Not really. You know it only hurts at cold days“, he replied.

All the sudden strong arms wrapped around his chest, Woo-bin hugged him carefully from behind as if he was afraid he would break him if he used too much strength in the hug.

„I’m sorry for not being able to save you at that time.“

„Stop being unreasonable. You were too young to help me back then.“

„Still, I shouldn’t have leave you alone…“ the arms wrapped aroung his chest tighened. Jong suk felt Woo-bin's warmth raising his own body temperature. He sensed how desperate and sad his brother was for letting him getting hurt like that.

„I promise, from now I'll protect you from any danger“, the younger one promised with such a gentle voice but with a serious expression.

His lips curved up into a smile, „Look at who’s talking. You the younger brother wants to protect the older brother."

„What’s wrong with me protecting you?“, he sulked.

Jong-suk took Woo-bin's hand and placed it over his chest. Woo-bin felt his heart, it beated surprisely fast and loud than usual. This made the younger one speechless for awhile. He couldn't believe his words could touch his brother's heart so much. 

"See how fast my heart beat?", he giggled, "I bet you could make every girl's heart skipping a beat with such flirting speech."

Woo-bin didn't like it to hear his brother talking about girls at such a lovely moment but he was also happy that his sweet talking made his brother blush so much.

His cheek touched Jong-suk’s cheek, this gentle touch made Jong-suk shudder all over his body.

Now he laughed without letting a sound out. „You don’t have to protect me“, he turned to him and pinched at his nose, „Since nothing like that will ever happen again". He smiled to assure him that he was alright.

The two brothers stared at each others, Jong-suk could clearly see the fire of desire burning in Woo-bin’s eyes. It seemed like the younger brother was thirsty for  a passionate kiss and wanted to quench his thirst here and now. A weird feeling laid in the air, it felt like something would happen between them if they didn’t part from each others.

Jong-suk felt the urge to break the silence, he musn’t let the unthinkable happen between them. As he saw Woo-bin coming closer to him, he suddenly pushed him back. Woo-bin realized his purpose for getting too close to him, he stepped back on his own and turned his back on him. Both of them remained quiet till the younger one let out a heavy sigh.

„I just don’t want to see you suffer again. If only you could forget what happebed at that night, I would be finally at ease“, he said before exiting the bathroom.

Jong-suk put on a sad expression, „How could I forget that night when you keep blaming yourself whenever you see the injury on my body“, Jong-suk whispered. He touched at the scar on his back, „that’s why I need money. A plastic surgeon can remove that scar that bring nothing than painfull memories for us... This is the only path I can take to make you forget our horrible past.“

Sorry that it took so long for this chapter. I didn't have any time left for writing since I had to take so many exams. This chapter is a little bit boring but next chapter'll be exciting. The chaebol Choi Jin-Hyuk was in "the Heirs" too. He was Kim Won, the older half brother of Kim Tan (Lee Mon Ho). 

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