Mr. Lee was staring at the picture frame on his desk, deep in thoughts about the last phone call he received. The little boy in the picture was smiling, his eyes twinkling brightly. The arms from his father were wrapped around him, giving the little boy a big hug. And even though the sun was already going down on the picture, you could still see it had been a hot summer day. A sad smile appeared on Mr. Lee’s face, he couldn’t remember the last time he saw this heart-warming smile on Jooheon’s face.

The picture was from 15 years ago, when Jooheon was only three years old. It was a sunny day and Mr. Lee had the idea of taking the afternoon of and making a walk next to the river with his family. He could still close his eyes and feel the sun from that day, and how Jooheon would wiggle after his older half-brothers. He could still hear their mother warning them to not go too close to the water.

His wife.

It surprised Mr. Lee how it still hurt a lot after all this time. The woman he so dearly loved, leaving him and her child behind. He never got the answer why she did it, Mr. Lee also didn’t know where she was. But he stopped searching for her a long time ago. The picture on the desk was the last picture his wife made before they left to go home. He never saw it coming. She smiled so brightly that day.

Mr. Lee marked the day after not only as the day his wife left them, but also as the day Jooheon’s smile fade away.

Jooheon was always bright and open, he was much easier and more sensitive compared to his half-brothers. But Mr. Lee knew he never got over his mother leaving, and he knew Jooheon was blaming him for all of it. Jooheon had blamed everyone around him at the time, losing his love for his father, but also for his older brothers.

Mr. Lee would almost think Jooheon had no love left in his heart anymore, but he knew how much his son cared for his two best friends. It somehow still gave him some hope.

The phone call he received was quite the surprise, but it also confirmed his suspicions. Minhyuk’s little brother called, the boy sounded nervous and apologized around ten times for calling. The boy was worried about his brother, something Mr. Lee was too. Changkyun told him about how he noticed how his brother changed so drastically and that he demanded to know what Jooheon got into his mind.

Mr. Lee had noticed too how Minhyuk became less bright and seemed to be more down. It made his blood boil, to know that his son was demolishing such a good soul. The phone call from Minhyuk’s little brother made him realize how bad the situation was.

Mr. Lee’s thoughts got interrupted by his secretary.

“Mr. Lee, your son had arrived.”

“Let him in.” Mr. Lee smiled at his secretary and gave one last glance at the picture frame on his desk, wondering if the boy’s smile would ever return.

Jooheon rubbed his eyes and a groan escaped from his mouth. It was 14:00, but he had no intention of getting out of bed. He was still very annoyed by yesterday evening.

That little brat.

Jooheon still couldn’t believe Changkyun had the guts to throw a drink in Jooheon’s face, and if that wasn’t enough, he also kissed one of his best friends. Of course, his best friend didn’t mind. That manwhore.

Jooheon rolled his eyes and sighed. He wondered if the oldest brother was also a pain in the like the younger two.

And just when Jooheon thought his day couldn’t get any tier, his phone starts to buzz. He looks at the screen and lets out another groan when he sees it’s his dad.

“Yes?” Jooheon says annoyingly.

The tone in which Jooheon’s father speaks makes Jooheon realize that he isn’t the only one being annoyed today.

What did I do know again?!

…

Jooheon walks into the building, ignoring the lady at the front desk and walks straight to the elevator, pushing the 20^th floor button. His plans for not leaving his bed today got canceled when his dad demanded Jooheon to come to his office in one hour.

Somehow it made Jooheon slightly nervous because he had no clue what to expect from his father. When the elevator door opened there was another surprise, one of his brothers was waiting for the elevator.

It had always been a surprise when he saw one of his brothers. Jooheon would never know when they came, nor did he truly care. Most of the time Jooheon wouldn’t even know when they were in Korea, they never paid a visit at home and his dad also never mentioned them. So Jooheon was sure they came more then he knew. But it was not like he wanted to catch up with them, because of the age difference they never really had a tight bond.

His older brother smirked. “I heard you were selling drugs now, congrats.” He just walked past Jooheon in the elevator and pushed the button, Jooheon didn’t even stare back and just walked towards the office door of his dad.

Jooheon never felt much love for his brothers, according to him there wasn’t even any of it. They had never been there for him, they bullied him multiple times by saying he was the reason his mother left him, that he was useless and just a failed child. His older brothers always felt superior, coming from a rich family on mother’s and father’s side.

Jooheon was still annoyed so he just walked in to the office without knocking and sat down on the chair.

“You called me.”

There was a silence and his dad was staring at Jooheon, Jooheon staring back at him. Finally, his dad started talking, speaking his words very slowly in a way that made red flags appear in Jooheon’s mind.

“We had an agreement, you’ll marry him and I would forgive you. You should be ashamed, you are the kind of person that extinguishes a sunshine like Minhyuk.”

Jooheon bit on the inside of his cheek and squeezed his hands tightly in his chair, trying to hold in his outburst of irritation.

Of course it’s again about ing Minhyuk!

“I don’t need any words from you, Jooheon. The only thing I want to see is improvement. There will be a company party next week on Friday, the Im family is also invited. If Minhyuk looks still like trash then I whoop your in front of everybody and I’ll make sure you’re going to have a rough time. Understood?”

Jooheon just nodded, knowing that speaking would only make his father’s mood worse.

“But because I am so good I will also make an appealing deal; if you treat Minhyuk better I will let you work on Sundays at the company. I will make sure you’ll learn everything about it and that you’ll be ready to start working in it. Consider it a good offer, your brothers had to work their way up, I didn’t just give them the highest position in one go. But if you prove yourself you will start higher than they did.”

It was indeed very appealing for Jooheon, who didn’t want to work his way up for five years like his brothers had to. He knew his father was a man of his words so Jooheon was sure that if he worked hard enough he would stick to it.

“Looking at your face it seems you already made up your mind. You’re good to go son.”

They just gave each other a nod and Jooheon walked out of the office, somehow glad he didn’t had to spend much time talking with his dad.

…

When Jooheon came home Minhyuk was already at work, so he ordered some pizza and ate in front of the TV. He didn’t really take in what was happening on the screen, Jooheon was way too busy thinking about how to fix this situation.

Jooheon had no intention in treating Minhyuk like a prince, but he also really wanted to work in his dad’s company. After long thinking Jooheon knew what to do.

Minhyuk had always been scared of him,

so wouldn’t it be better if he became more scared?

A dark smile appeared on Jooheon’s face while he could finally enjoy his pizza and his TV-show.

This will be easy.

Changkyun woke up with the biggest headache ever, he barely could open his eyes because the light was way too bright for him.

“Is your face flinching from a hangover or are you finally realizing you lost your goddamn mind?” Changkyun opened his eyes a little bit and perceived his best friends face very close to his. Hyungwon had a mocking smile on his face and somehow seemed to be very much alive considering Changkyun was sure Hyungwon drank more than him.

“Headache. Urgh.” Hyungwon grinned and gave a bottle of water and a few pills to Changkyun.

“Here, this will make you feel better. Let’s eat some food that will help our hangover and shower.”

One and a half hour later both boys were dressed in comfy clothing and were finished eating.

“Changkyun, do you still remember everything that happened yesterday?” Hyungwon asked with a little bit of worry in his voice.

“I’m hundred percent sure I drank, a lot. And I danced, which was crazy. But I had a good time even though I feel like I’m dying right now.” Changkyun smiled at Hyungwon who seemed a little uneasy.

“Yeah, you sure had a good time, right?” Changkyun looked up at Hyungwon, wondering why his friend acted so strangely.

“Maybe a little bit too much?” Changkyun asked, trying to figure out Hyungwon’s mind.

“A lot too much if you ask me. You really don’t remember. Tell me, did you forget what happened yesterday at the club?” Hyungwon’s face was now truly shocked and Changkyun became nervous because of it.

Changkyun started to think, he still remembered how they got to the club and that they ordered beer. After, Wonho and Kihyun joined them and they drank those sweet but deadly cocktails. They danced a lot, but Changkyun realized everything is more blur after that. He knew something happened with Jooheon, he was sure he talked to him. An image appears in his mind of how he threw his drink in Jooheon’s face and he becomes shocked at suddenly remembering that. But he was also sure Kihyun, Wonho and Hyungwon weren’t there when it happened so Hyungwon was probably not talking about that.

Eventually after lots of thinking Changkyun just nodded his head in a “yes” motion and looked questionable at his best friend.

Hyungwon gasped.

“ing idiot, oh my god. Really? I’m shocked you didn’t remember because you sure were enjoying it a lot!”

Changkyun eyes became big and his heart beat started to raise, he really tried hard to think about what could’ve happened but nothing pops up in his mind.

“You kissed Wonho, idiot!”

Changkyun’s gasps and his eyes become wide and shocked.

Oh, now he remembers.

The microwave made his peeping sound, indicating the hot chocolate was warmed up. Minhyuk took it out and started to carefully sip on the hot mug. It was morning and Jooheon was at school, so Minhyuk was alone in their apartment. The past days his mind was in a war again. Going from heat craving to disgust and hating himself.

He was sitting on the kitchen chair, staring outside the window into the cold, gray air. Jooheon had ed him up badly this time. Minhyuk had felt really empty and lonely when both him and Jooheon were ignoring each other. But past Tuesday changed how Minhyuk felt and it was somehow disturbing Minhyuk deeply that he thought this way.

Jooheon’s sudden touch on the couch made everything go in slow-motion in Minhyuk’s perception. At the moment he really thought Jooheon was planning on doing something with Minhyuk. It made Minhyuk’s body go into a state of paralysis and pure anxiety.

But when nothing happened the feelings of anxiety started decrease. Even though his body stayed in his paralyzed state, highly focused on every touch and sending warnings to his mind, Minhyuk felt a little bit more at ease when he was more convinced Jooheon was not planning on touching him or forcing him into things he didn’t want to.

The change of his emotions made room for the feeling Minhyuk longed for; heat. He had been aware of Jooheon’s body for all the time he was laying under him, but now his mind shifted to another focus on Jooheon’s body.

Minhyuk could feel Jooheon’s hands holding his wrists in place, his hands were big and strong. He noticed how muscular Jooheon’s arms were, not as much as Hyunwoo’s but also firm and Minhyuk spotted a vein running through Jooheon’s underarm. Jooheon also had big thighs and even though he weighed more than Minhyuk, his body was not squeezing him too much. There was a lot of tension in Minhyuk’s mind because at one point the thought appeared that maybe it wouldn’t be that bad if Jooheon had continued with whatever he wanted to do. But another voice in his head warned him about how Jooheon was a selfish and how Minhyuk didn’t want any of that. Minhyuk would just end up being a toy to Jooheon and his life would be a hell.

But if there would be warmth in it, would it really be that bad?

The whole time tears were running out of Minhyuk’s eyes, first from all the fear and panic, next from all the weird thoughts he was having. Jooheon finally got up when it became way too much for Minhyuk to handle, and once Jooheon was out of reach distance he quickly stood up and ran to the bedroom. Throwing himself in bed and sobbing until he fell asleep.

…

The day after Minhyuk made up his mind; he had to stop looking this vulnerable and start to toughen up. Minhyuk could not let Jooheon see his weakness, knowing he could take advantage of it.

But Jooheon didn’t make it easy for him. There were lots of moments when Jooheon brushed next to Minhyuk and touched him. Jooheon even startled Minhyuk one night during dinner when he grabbed Minhyuk’s hand. After that one time it became a habit, and Jooheon always tried to say something which made Minhyuk shocked and/or flustered.

Minhyuk hated himself more and more every day because he noticed how his mood changed into something better, he had felt so depressed the last few weeks but it somehow got better now he got more attention from Jooheon.

On Saturday evening Minhyuk came home after work, Jooheon was sitting on the couch watching TV.

“Come next to me.” Jooheon looked strongly into Minhyuk’s eyes and tapped the place next to him on the couch. Minhyuk just did what he’s told and took a seat next to Jooheon.

His body went into paralysis when he suddenly felt Jooheon’s hand on his thigh, squeezing it softly and rubbing it. Jooheon hand slowly moved to Minhyuk’s inner thigh and Minhyuk couldn’t help it when he suddenly felt heat spreading all over his body.

“Next Friday is the company party. We go together and we’ll dance a lot and have fun. Understood?”

Jooheon mouth was pressed against Minhyuk’s ear and it made the latter’s body shiver. But Minhyuk knew Jooheon was waiting for an answer so he nodded quickly, feeling Jooheon smile against his ear.

“Good husband.”

They kept on sitting like that, Jooheon rubbing Minhyuk’s thigh. It made Minhyuk go crazy and he didn’t know if he wanted to beat the out of Jooheon or if he just wanted Jooheon to touch him everywhere.

Jooheon surprised Minhyuk by laying his head down on Minhyuk’s lap.

An electric shock went straight through Minhyuk’s body and he felt how his cheeks became burning red. His heart beat started to increase and Minhyuk really tried to breathe deeply in order to stop it from increasing but it didn’t work. But that was not his biggest problem, he suddenly felt a knocking sensation down his grown.

And all that because Jooheon started to teasingly bite into Minhyuk’s thigh.

Knowing exactly how it ed-up Minhyuk.

I actually had like a timeline of events I wanted to happen and when, but the past chapter I switched some stuff, like the side-story where Changkyun threw himself on Wonho (who wouldn’t tho?). Normally I had a slower built-up for that. But just like Changkyun I got no chill, so I just jumped right in. So right now I’m rearranging some events for a better storyflow, and I still need to fill some gaps. But no worries, I’ll get there.

I'm not really that satisfied with this chapter but I'll make it up to you all... next week. As in; this will be the only update this week. Sorryyy!! I just have work and other stuff planned and I have a deadline for my thesis introduction (no, I did not procrastinate!). But I'll be back on Monday! 

Anyywaay! I hope ya’ll have a lovely week, and I hope every plant on earth dies because my nose is itchy, my eyes are itchy and even my skin is itchy ♥ ♥