A/N: For Heechul's house, I'm basing it off of Gu Jun Pyo's house in Boy's Over Flowers
A/N 2: The Knowing Bros. will be guest stars in this chapter.

In another part of the city, far from Leeteuk and his friends lay the Kim mansion. Grand in scale, it had a long winding driveway and a big fountain in the front. Guards were stationed at the front gate and there was a rumour they had a sensor that could pick up certain car tire treads (in the event anyone from the Park family tried to intrude).

On the surface, the house seemed quiet. At least on the outside. 

"HEECHUL!!" a female voice shouted, causing several members of the staff to jump. Standing at the top of the stairs dressed in a nice blue dress, Kim Sun-ja looked around. "Honestly, where is that boy?" She walked down the stairs and looked around. The staff were currently getting things ready for the Kim's costume party. Mrs. Kim oversaw everything: from the food, to the decor, to the invites, everything had to be perfect. As Mrs. Kim moved through house to the ballroom where the party would be held staff members swiftly moved out of the way. "Heechul!" she called out again. No reply. She let out a huff until she eventually saw the family's maid Nara talking with one of the decorators. "Nara! There you are." Mrs. Kim said as she approached the older woman. Nara saw her employer and gave a quick bow to the decorator who bowed in the women's direction before walking away. "Yes, madame?" Nara asked. "Have you seen Heechul? I can't find him anywhere." Mrs. Kim said. "I'm sure he's probably hiding somewhere. You know how he is." the older woman said.  Mrs. Kim frowned. "Of all the days-" "Don't worry madame, I'll go find him." Nara set off to go look for Heechul.

Nara shook her head at her young master's avoidance of his parents. Then again, she understood why he did it. She knew that Mr. Kim was locked in a seemingly unending feud with his rival Park Yong-in. Ever since she started working for the family, there wasn't a day that passed that she didn't hear Mr. Kim curse the Park family or hear of a fight that took place between the two groups. She always worried over the young Mr. Kim getting hurt. Thankfully, Heechul wasn't like that. In fact, he was the polar opposite of his father. Though Heechul did have quite the personality, he was very kind to her. She'd known Heechul since he was born. And while he had an attitude, he never once disrepected Nara. If anything, he saw her as a close confidant and a second mother. When she reached the end of the second floor hallway, she knocked on his door. "Heechul." she called out. No answer. "Heechul." still no answer. "He can't possibly be napping right now it's too early in the day." she thought. "You're gonna make go through this whole house to find you, aren't you?" she muttered. With a sigh, Nara took off to continue her search. 

In another part of the house, Kim Heechul currently lay on the floor of his secret hideout wrapped up in one of his comics. He was dressed in a pair of jeans and a red t-shirt. His dark hair unruly. He read the book, one of the boy's love comics he kept hidden from his parents. "Heechul!" a female voice called out. Heechul jumped at the sound. "Dammit, I was about to get to the good part." Heechul said to himself. "Well there goes my hope for a peaceful day." Letting out a sigh, Heechul got himself up off the floor and stretched. He walked over to his shelf and put the book back in amongst the mix of other books. 

Opening the door to his secret hideout and stepped into the hall. "Heechul! Kim Heechu-" "Nara, I'm right here. Calm down." Heechul said as he approached the maid. "Ah, Heechul. Finally." Nara said. "I've been looking for you everywhere." the older woman said. "Well I'm here now." Heechul said. "Let me guess: my mom needs to talk to me." Nara nodded. Heechul sighed. "Well let's get this over with." Nara chuckled and led Heechul to his parent's room. Outside his parents room, Nara straightened out Heechul's clothes and hair. Just as she reached to knock on the door, the door opened and Mrs. Kim stood there. "Heechul, there you are." "Hi, eomma." Heechul said. "I need to see you for a moment." Mrs. Kim pulled Heechul inside and shut the door. Heechul sat on his parents bed and looked around. Like many other things in the house, it was decorated and furnished with the best of everything. His parents bed had been imported and had the finest silk bedding; His mother's vanity had the finest skincare and makeup available. Everything about the room screamed opulence. It made Heechul want to puke. 

"Now Heechul, I-" his mother paused before she got up from her vanity and headed to the bedroom doors again. She opened them to reveal Nara hadn't moved from her spot. "Nara, good you're still here. I need you again." The older woman gave a small smile. "Yes, madame." Nara walked into the room. She headed over to the vanity and helped Mrs. Kim with her costume. "Now Heechul, you know the party is on Saturday, right?" Mrs. Kim asked. "Yes. What about it?" Heechul asked. "Well I just hope you have your costume picked out." Mrs. Kim said as Nana helped adjust the bodice of her costume. His mom was going to dress as Cleopatra while his dad would be Julius Caesar. Heechul sighed. He knew he was going to be asked about this eventually. Mrs. Kim frowned. "Heechul-ah. I told you about this weeks ago." "But, mom-" "Heechul. I don't know why you're acting this way. You love parties." she said. "Yeah. If they're small." Heechul replied. "I don't see why I have to go. No one I know is going." It was true. Every party his parents held were usually full of people Heechul didn't know or care about. 

"Your friends will be there." Mrs. Kim said. "What friends? Dad scares them all away."  Heechul thought to himself. Mrs. Kim saw the look on Heechul's face. "Well, Seunghyun will be there." she said. "Seunghyun will be there anyway." Heechul sighed dramatically. "Kim Heechul. You are going to attend this party. No questions asked. I want you to have a costume by Saturday. Understood?" Mrs. Kim demanded. Heechul knew when his mother used that tone she was serious. "Yes, Eomma." Heechul answered. "Good." Mrs. Kim replied. 

"Are we done now?" he asked. "Yes, yes. We're done." Mrs. Kim said. Heechul got up and headed  for the doors. He looked back and saw Nara giving him a sympathetic smile.

Back in his room, Heechul was unhappy. After his conversation with his mother, he'd gone back to his room to fume. Once he'd calmed down, he tried to distract himself by dancing to girl group songs. When that didn't work, he decided to call his friend Momo to see if he could come visit, only to remember that she was in Japan visiting family and wouldn't be back until next week. He then threw himself onto his bed and huffed. Having had enough of that, he decided to to get out of the house before he threw another temper tantrum.

And that's how he ended up at the Knowledgeable Brothers Ramyun Shop, doing his best not to have a fit.

"Uh, Heechul-ah?" a male voice broke Heechul's angry mental ranting. Heechul looked up to see Min Kyung-hoon, his longtime friend standing with a worried look on his face. 

"What do you want?" he snapped. "Can't you see I'm in a bad mood?" "It's just you've been here for almost half an hour and you've barely touched your food." Kyung-hoon said. Heechul looked down at the bowl of black bean noodles and sighed. "I'm not hungry," he huffed. "But you called me saying you needed something to eat." "Yeah well I lied. I just needed to get out of my house."

Kyung-hoon set his tray full of dirty dishes on a table and sat down. "Let me guess, problem with your dad again?" he asked. "No this time it's my mom." Heechul said. "My family is throwing one of their costumes parties and my mom said my attendance there is "absolutely mandatory."" Heechul mimicked his mother's tone.

Kyung-hoon frowned. He hated seeing his friend upset. While he hadn't grown up like Heechul had, he still tried to be there for his friend.

Heechul sighed and let his head hit the table. "You know, it's bad enough that Hankyung left without telling me, now I have to go to a party that my parents are throwing with people I don't like or care about and I know my dad will bring guys that he wants to hook me up with." Heecul sighed loudly. 

"I'm Kim Heechul, damn it! Men think I'm attractive, I'm prettier than most women. I shouldn't have to go through this! he exclaimed. 

"Uh, speaking of You-know-who, have you heard from him?" Kyung-hoon asked. 

Heechul glanced up at Kyung-hoon. "No. It's been a year." he said. "I've texted him, messaged him, called him, nothing. It's like I don't even exist anymore!" It was true. When his ex boyfriend Hankyung left Korea to go back to China, Heechul was devastated. He'd stayed locked in his room for days trying to contact Hankyung, to no avail. It was almost like the Chinese man had forgotten all about him.

"Yah, Heechul-ah. Are you still pouting?" an older man's voice asked. The younger men looked to see Kang Ho-dong and the rest of the 'Knowledgeable Brothers' come to their table. "Ho-dong ssi, don't be mean." Soo-geun said. "Well he always does this everytime he has a problem: he comes in, wants food, doesn't eat it, and just spends all his time pouting. It's not good for business." Ho-dong said.

"By the way, whose idea was it to open up a ramyun shop anyway? And since when do any of you know how to cook?" Heechul asked. 

"Mine." Ho-dong said. "No, it was mine." Soo-geun said. "I asked you to go into business with me and when I gave you the idea of opening a ramyun shop, you shot it down saying it was stupid. Then you called me two weeks later saying you changed your mind saying it would make us a lot of money; then you made us join you in working in it." Ho-dong smirked.

"I wanted to open up a basketball memorabilia museum." Seo Jang-hoon, the tallest of the group said. Ho-dong sighed. "For the last time, Jang hoon-ah, just because you want to relive your glory days, doesn't mean everyone else wants to. Besides we hear enough from you about it as it is." Ho-dong said. The former basketball player frowned.

Heechul let his head fall on the table again. "Can we please get back to my problems now?" he asked. "Heechul, look. We know you're still upset about your breakup, but look at it this way, this is a chance for you to start over and find someone new." Sang-min said. 

"You're really gonna take romantic advice from someone who's been divorced and in debt?" Young-chul asked. "Well I don't see any of you trying to do anything to help. And I'll have you know Young-chul, I finished paying off my debt months ago. And also stop mentioning my divorce!" Sang-min exclaimed.

"Maybe Sang-min is right." Ho-Dong said. The others looked at him in surprise. "He is?" they asked. "I am?" Sang-min asked. "You need to stop feeling sorry for yourself and move on. So your boyfriend broke up with you. So what? There's plenty of men out there for you. To be honest, I'm kind of happy you broke up with him. I always thought he was weird. I barely understood him even when he did speak Korean."

The others sighed. "How is that supposed to help him?" Sang-min asked. "It's called tough love." Ho-dong said. "I'll never get what your wife sees in you." "At least I have one." Ho-dong shot back. "Can you two please not do this right now?" Young-chul asked.

"Forget it. None of you are helping." Heechul said. "I'm just going to have to accept the fact that I'm doomed to be alone forever." He sighed dramatically and lay his head on the table. 

"Well I guess that takes care of that. We've done all we could. Back to work." Ho-dong said, Yong-chul, Soo-geun, and Jang-hoon followed. "Wait. We're just giving up? We're not gonna try to help some more?" Sang-min asked as his friends walked through the door into the kitchen. "He's a lost cause. Ho-dong said "And besides we're running a restaurant, not a therapy session." He said. Sang-min watched as Ho-dong walked through the kitchen door out of sight. He frowned and sighed in annoyance as Heechul sulked. "Sorry we weren't much help, Heechul." Sang-min said. The older man left,  leaving Heechul and Kyung-hoon alone again.

Kyung-hoon looked at Heechul again; he could see the sorrow in the older man's eyes. "Heechul," he said. Heechul looked up at Kyung-hoon, his eyes now tired. 

"I know I'm not the best with advice, but you shouldn't give up on yourself so easily. So things with you and Hankyung didn't work out. If he doesn't want to contact you, he's not worth it." Kyung-hoon said. 

"Ya, who's side are you on?" Heechul asked. "Yours. But I'm just saying, maybe it's time to let Hankyung go. If he really still loved you, he would have contacted you by now." Heechul frowned. He knew Kyung-hoon was right. He didn't want to admit it, even if it did hurt. 

"One day, you'll meet someone who will love you heart and soul; your one true soulmate." Heechul looked at his friend with sad eyes. "You really think so?" he asked. "I know so." Kyung-hoon said. 

Just then the door to the kitchen burst open startling both boys. "Yah, Kyung-hoon! Get back in here! Those dishes aren't gonna wash themselves!" Ho-Dong exclaimed. Kyung-hoon sighed. "I'll be right there." Kyung-hoon got up and looked at Heechul one last time. "Just give it time, Heechul-ah. You'll find your soulmate and he'll be better than Hankyung." Kyung-hoon grabbed his tray and headed back to the kitchen.

Heechul looked down at his bowl of Jjangmyeon and sighed. "Maybe Kyung-hoon is right." he thought. "Maybe it is time I let Hankyung go." Taking one last look at his food, he pulled out some money and placed it on the table. As much as he didn't want to, he knew that if he was going to meet this so-called soulmate, he had no choice but to go to his parent's party. First he had to go buy a new costume.

"He left without eating again!" Ho-Dong said once Heechul left. "At least he remembered to leave money this time." Sang-min said. "This is not good for our business!" "Just let it go, Ho-Dong." Yong-chul said calmly. Ho-dong frowned and turned back to the kitchen, mumbling under his breath.