“What do you mean mine?”

“I mean yours,” Jongup said while holding his wide smile. Almost as if he was enjoying the look on Youngjae’s face, “You haven’t met Youngtaek yet?” He observed as Youngjae broke eye contact first.

The other seemed to be digging deep into his mind but in the end, simply blurted. “Young...taek?”

The man in the overall jounced his head, “Yeah, how many times do I have to say his name? He’s your lookalike. Or at least your teenager twin before you got surgery,”

Now Jongup was just mocking him, Youngjae thought as he clicked his tongue, “Real funny. Who’s fault was it? Talk now, but back then you couldn’t throw a baseball properly,” quickly Jongup threw both hands up in surrender. Then in perfect timing, Himcha and Jangjun were standing by the door when they announced their arrival.

“Youngjae! Jongup! What are you two quarreling about?” Jangjun demanded an answer as he strode over wobbly with Himcha on his trail. The older remained standing as Jangjun pushed Youngjae over a little to make room for himself. Once he settled down, he targeted his seatmate, “So? I heard Youngtaek’s name. What did he do this time?” The upbeatness in his tone irritated Youngjae.

He breathed a scoff, “Aren’t you being selfish? How is it that only you benefit from your mood swings?”

“What do you mean?” Jangjun asked innocently.

Youngjae spun his upper-body the laddie’s direction before uttering, “Ever since I came back, you’ve treated me like a criminal. Other than yeses and nos you refuse to speak more than two to three words to me. And you’ve been distant. Then, your sister pissed me off saying those bastards took Seyeon. And now you’re here, using that tone as if we’re friends. I bet I’m older than your sister too, so you better start res—” his speech went in one ear and out the other when Jangjun waved him off.

“Unless you plan to hold the title as my brother in law, let’s just keep it simple and be friends,”

Annoyed, Youngjae his lips before brushing his fringes back, “How can you say that? Were you absent when they took Seyeon?”

Jangjun slammed a hand against the table to cease Youngjae from continuing, “No, but you were and that’s why they took her! If you had been there, with us, Chul wouldn’t have died and they wouldn’t have drag the love of your life out like she was a bag of rice!” Rapidly the room fell silent. Even the sound of their breathing was inaudible. With all of his strength, Youngjae bite down everything he wanted to pour out. But he knew it would do more harm than good. In the end, it was nobody else's but his fault.

As the silence calmed them down a little, Jangjun looked away and whispered, “Sorry. I know Seyeon is my sister’s friend and she is the woman you like. I just…,”

“Young master,” Himcha said on the side as he rests a hand on the boy’s shoulder. “Say no more,”

The teen shook his head and did exactly the opposite. “Seyeon has never done anything wrong. I know that,”—he took a deep breath—“I really do. But every time I see her. Or even if I hear her name. I can’t stop myself from feeling like she is the root of my sister’s headaches. My sister suffered so much because of her,” Jangjun intertwined his hands together as he locked gazes with Jongup. “Oh, sorry. Did I ruin the atmosphere? I asked Himcha to join me because you promised you'd make me something good for dinner,” Jangjun sigh, “Yonggon may be the best cook I know, but I’m tired of eating soup,”

A smile made its way onto Jongup’s face as he hummed, “I’ll cook you something,” then as he departed and went into the kitchen, Himcha laid eyes on him.

“Earlier Lady Shinhye mentioned something about going back to town. Weren’t you going to go with her?”

Youngjae’s eyes gaped in realization, “Oh, that’s right. What time is it? She said to meet up after sundown,”

Himcha bobbed his head, “It is a little after six. The sun set about half an hour ago,”

The male sprung up from his seat immediately, he drew in his breath, and grabbed hold of his jacket as he headed for the exit, “Damn it!”

Youngjae slipped his arms through the sleeves as he hurried around the corner. Fixing his neck collar, he caught a glimpse of Shinhye’s figure down by the gate. Accompanied by the twins, Youngjae could hear their chattering though he failed to make out the contents. As he approached them, the twins turned around to relay their own messages to him.

“Please bring Seyeon back, Youngjae,” Seul voiced.

“Please take care and look after Lady Shinhye too,” Sunmi said.