“Great job tonight Minhyuk! I’m so happy to have you here in my restaurant. Take a good rest tomorrow, on Wednesday we’ll prepare the new menu for the month!”

“Thank you boss Min! I won’t let you down, I love working here. See you Wednesday!”

The old man gave Minhyuk a warm smile and waved one last time when the latter went outside of the restaurant. Boss Min was happy with a guy like Minhyuk working for him, he was very energetic but worked with a lot of attention to detail. The boy had a good feeling for taste and very original ideas for dishes. His restaurant was small, only space for 20 people, but he had standard costumers who came dining a few times every month and they loved Minhyuk. The restaurant had an open kitchen and so Minhyuk greeted everyone who came in and when there was less work in the kitchen he would go around and ask costumers if they liked the food and made small talks with them.

Boss Min developed a lot of affection for the boy, he never had children of his own and he wished he would have a son like Minhyuk in his next life. The boy only worked at his restaurant for 7 months but he hoped that Minhyuk would stay with him, so that he eventually could give him the restaurant as a present when he would retire.

Minhyuk walked home, it was a cold October night and he regretted not wearing his warmer jacket this afternoon. He did not own a car and at this time of the night [2:30] there was no public transportation he could take. Working at a restaurant had its advantages; he and the other cooking chefs would always make some extra food so that all the employees could eat during their long shifts and at the end of the nights, when every costumer was gone, they would drink a little while cleaning the whole place. On Sundays everyone would stay longer than usual and they would drink more, because Monday (and Tuesday) was closing day. However, Minhyuk would always end up being the last to leave considering there were also students working at the restaurant who needed to go to school the other day.

So Minhyuk may have been a little tipsy while walking home, but he didn’t mind because it made him feel a little less affected by the cold weather. It took him 15 minutes to walk home.

His home was just a small apartment. His bedroom, living room and kitchen were one, actually Minhyuk didn’t even own a couch, simply because there was not enough room for it. At one of the corners in his room were two kitchen counters; one with a sink and another with a cooking fire. Next to the counters there was just enough space for a fridge. His single bed was placed against the window, Minhyuk liked to look outside when he woke up and to feel the sunshine on his skin. He had put a table against the wall next to his bed. The rest of his space from his room was confiscated by his bathroom. The bathroom consisted of a sink with a small but long cabinet next to it, a toilet and a shower. Minhyuk’s apartment was tiny and he had no space for objects that could perk his place up.

He took a quick shower to wash his sweat away and to warm his body up. When he lays in bed it is already 3:00 but somehow Minhyuk can’t fall asleep even though he is tired from his workday.

It were nights like these that killed him deep inside. Minhyuk had a job he dreamed about for a long time but he had no one to share his happiness with. Above that, he also had no one to share his sadness with. His father kicked him out of the house, furious that his son refused to work for his company. But that did not made his father throw him out. When Minhyuk came home crying happy tears that he got hired in the fancy restaurant his father snapped. It didn’t take Minhyuk 2 seconds or he was already thrown outside the house with nothing.

Luckily Minhyuk had his brothers: his older brother Hyunwoo and his younger brother Changkyun. They packed some of Minhyuk’s clothes and gave him some money so he could find a place to stay. He had always been close with his brothers so their father had hurt all of them by throwing Minhyuk out. Somehow Minhyuk had the feeling that his father still cared for him because the latter knew that the brothers saw each other weekly and he never forbid his sons to see Minhyuk. But Minhyuk never let his brothers know how unhappy he was, the only time Minhyuk felt good was when working or on Wednesdays afternoon when he met his brothers for coffee. Minhyuk didn’t want his brothers to be worried about him because he knew they would go beg his father to take him back in the house.

No! I will not be weak! I’ll show him how strong I am!

Hyunwoo was mad at Minhyuk at the beginning, but still he couldn’t get it over his heart to abandon his little brother. The oldest had always known how much Minhyuk loved to cook. As a kid they would always play kitchen, they had so much plastic food and kitchen attributes. Minhyuk was addicted “cooking” in his kitchen, and his love for cooking never vanished. Hyunwoo was a little envious of his little brother, he could just live his dream live. But it was not like Hyunwoo was sad about it, he never really had a dream job in mind. Plus, becoming the CEO successor payed a lot. He already worked over a year in his father’s company and as time passed by his father would give him more independence. Hyunwoo felt so grateful when his father’s eyes lit up when he told his son how lovingly everyone talked about him at the office.

Minhyuk never knew how Changkyun felt about this event. It was something they had in common; keeping their thoughts to themselves. Their older brother would always just throw out what was on his mind, unlike Minhyuk and Changkyun. The only difference was that Minhyuk acted like a ray of sunshine and that, even though his life was not perfect, he still enjoyed little things in life. Changkyun acted a little cold and uninterested, but the boy was witty and had a dry sense of humor that would crack everybody up. And Minhyuk knew that not everyone could be a social butterfly like him.

Or at least that was what he used to be.

Minhyuk realized he never had any real friends when they ditched him because he would just be a chef at a restaurant, because he was dumb not to join his older brother in his dad’s company. Minhyuk did make friends at work but he was too ashamed to ask them to hang out at his place and, considering he really needed to watch his money, Minhyuk never went out a lot. Minhyuk’s father put his children in a private school, so all his children ended up being befriended with children of other rich families. Minhyuk regretted being so social to everyone, he may have had a lot of friends and he never missed an invitation to a party but he ended up with no one beside him. Changkyun on the other hand, he may be more introvert but he had one close friend, Hyungwon. Even Hyunwoo and Minhyuk saw him as a part of their family and Minhyuk was 100% sure Hyungwon would never let his little brother down.

Eventually Minhyuk fell asleep and if it wasn’t for someone nocking at his door he would’ve slept until the afternoon.

...

“Minhyuk! Are you asleep? Can you open up please? Sorry.” Minhyuk let out a deep grown and collected all of his energy to get out of bed. He heard a big laugh at the door. “Take your time Minhyuk, I forgot you were a long sleeper on your days off.”

After a minute the door was open and Minhyuk let the person in. It was Kwangsoo, the owner of the apartment. Minhyuk rubbed in his eyes and filled a glass with water for him to drink, hoping it would get rid of his morning breath.

“Sir Kwangsoo, is there something wrong? I know I still need to pay €50 for the rent from last month but I’ll get my paycheck in two days so please be patient with me. You know I always pay everything but last month I ripped my work attire and it happened so many times before so I thought I buy some better quality clothes this time so it won’t happen again. Sir, you can count on me that everything is under control. I still have my job and I normally don’t spend much so please believe my word.”

Minhyuk felt sweat form on his forehead and he couldn’t manage to look Kwangsoo right in the eye, the man never made a fuss about Minhyuk paying a part of the rent later but Minhyuk thought that maybe the man had enough. Maybe he got afraid that someday Minhyuk wouldn’t  be able to pay the rent.

“I knew this would be hard to do.” Kwangsoo sighed and looked pitiful at Minhyuk. “You’re such a lovable person and I don’t know a lot about you but you deserve much more than this.” These words made Minhyuk cringe a little on the inside. How would he even know I deserve better. What does that old man even know about Minhyuk, or his life. But Minhyuk also became anxious by Kwangsoo’s words. He doesn’t look like someone who’s about to nag him about paying late.

“I will just come to the point Minhyuk. Somin and I are getting a divorce and I refuse to live with her for a second longer than needed. I’m so so sorry Minhyuk, but this is the only place I own. Considering there was no specific time indication in the contract you signed I can throw you out at any time. But please, believe me when I say I am really hurt doing this.”

There was not much Minhyuk could do about the situation, and that’s literally what he did, after Kwangsoo’s visit all he could do was standing in this small room that was no longer his. Minhyuk was standing there, frozen and his foot glued on the floor.

Two days,

he got ing two days to find another place to live.

So Minhyuk waited nervously for three hours. He searched online for different places but he could not find anything for a low price like the apartment he had now. The only places he found were old crack apartments.

And suddenly a little voice in Minhyuk started to scream into his thoughts, it was the voice Minhyuk tried to suppress for such a long time.

Father please, I need you!

Tears started to fall down on Minhyuk's face. 

I'm not strong enough. 

Hey everyone! 

So here's my first chapter of the story. I try to give quite some details about the story and I already wanted to give a little insight into the other character's their lives (like Hyunwoo and Changkyun). The story will mainly focus on Minhyuk and Jooheon but I think some side stories would also be nice. (I only have a few ideas of what I want to write into the story so I'm not 100% sure about how much of the story will be spend on side-characters). 

But please let me know what you think of this first chapter! Hehe, I'm a little nervous :3  And like I already stated in the intro, I'm not a native English speaker so let me know if things are unclear or if there are questions that popped up while reading this (ask them so I can focus on answering them in the next chapters). 

Thank you for reading this! ♥ ♥