“Jinjin…” A soft voice calls. “Jin are you awake?”

Jin hears. He slowly opens his eyes and finds himself in what looks like a private hospital room.

“How are you feeling?” She asked again. “Can you hear me?”

He turns to his side and sees a familiar face. “Taetae…” She is sitting on the side of the bed, still in her high school uniform.

“Hi~” She smiles. “Do you still feel pain or is the medicine working already?”

His left hand had the iv so he takes his right and places it on top of his abdomen. It feels numb. “Much better.” He answered, because feeling numb is definitely better than the sharp pain earlier.

The last thing he remembered is running backstage grabbing his stomach in pain and barely making it to the bathroom before throwing up.

“That’s good.” She said. “Don’t worry about the event, Namjoon took over.”

That’s right, the event.

He was addressing the crowd of guests from the podium. He was halfway through when he felt the sharp pain in his stomach, followed by a burning sensation on his chest. So he left and ran backstage. It was an important event where students and their parents gathered in the school main hall. “What about…” He suddenly remembered. “…father?”

“Uncle is–“ She stopped when there was a clicking sound on the door.

Mr. Kim walked in.

His secretary left standing in the hallway.

Jin braces for what his father had to say. He must’ve been beyond mad from the embarrassment.

She greets Mr. Kim and he acknowledges her. “I’ll excuse myself first.” Then she turns to Jin. “I’ll come back later.” To which Jin nods.

Some people would prefer privacy between family, but Jin would rather have Taeyeon stay. His father is less harsh when she’s around. She’s like a daughter his father never had.

Mr. Kim didn’t move from where he was standing. Didn’t even try to get close to the bed, to Jin.

Jin would prefer for his father to be angry at him, yell at him, show emotions, anything, just not that disappointed face. He can’t bear that.

But just in time, uncle Jo enters the room with a bag of Jin’s clothes. He stopped after seeing Mr. Kim inside.

“Take him home as soon as the iv is out.” Mr. Kim instructs uncle Jo. “Make arrangements with Dr. Han.”

“Yes sir.” Uncle Jo replied.

Mr. Kim was about to leave but before doing so, he turns to Jin and sighs. Disappointed. “You can’t even take care of yourself.”

“You can’t even take care of yourself.”

“You can’t even take care of yourself.”

“Jinjin…” A soft voice calls. “Jin are you awake?”

Jin hears. He slowly opens his eyes and finds himself in his room. He must’ve dozed off earlier after breakfast.

“How are you feeling?” She asked again. “Can you hear me?”

He turns to his side and sees a familiar face. “Taetae…” She is sitting on the side of the bed, wearing a casual elbow length chiffon dress.

“Hi~” She smiles. “Are you feeling better?”

He smiles back. “This is familiar.”

“You didn’t call me when the seniors treated you to dinner.” She starts. “Now look at what happened.”

Jin sits up on his bed. “They didn’t know, and you were with your archery club friends. I didn’t want to hog all your time.”

“Still, you should’ve declined.”

“You know it’s rude to decline seniors.”

“I’m talking about the alcohol, not the dinner.”

Everytime Jin had to eat out, Taeyeon is always there, whether it be school related or social events where his presence is needed. On social occasions, Jin tends to stir away from any alcohol as much as he can. In those times that he gets pressured, she takes the shot for him instead. When it comes to words or actions, she’s always been good at dealing with both.

Other people know he prefers wine, thinking its personal taste. Only those close to him know the exact reason why.

“It’s just that there’s not much option in the student commons.” Jin explains.

“Am I hearing excuses or are you defending the seniors?” She crosses her arms on her chest. “Or worse, both.”

Jin laughs, she knows he tends to have a problem of saying ‘no’ especially to those seniors or older than him. But knowing she is just thinking of his health, he lets her scold him, as she should. “It won’t happen again.”

“Okay then, you need to get up now. It’s lunch time.” She said, dropping both the subject and her arms then grabs his wrist to pull him out the bed.

Jin is glad. She’s always been easy to talk to.

“You’re still recovering, you can’t skip meals.” She adds.

“Yes mom.” He teases her.

“Good son.” She teases back.

“I’m sorry by the way.”

“For what?”

They are eating lunch together in the Kim’s dining room. Jin’s healthy meal is roasted vegetables mix of carrots, sweet potatoes and broccoli paired with a banana. While she is having chicken carbonara.

“I heard from uncle Jo that your roommate really did come here yesterday.”

“He did.”

“He went all the way to the event to ask me about you. I wasn’t planning on telling him but he used my own words against me.”

Jin knew something was up for her to just easily hand Taehyung his address like that. “What did he do?”

“Well, you see yesterday morning I asked for him to keep what happened a secret. He agreed. And I also promised him a favor in return, because you know, people don’t do anything without expecting something in return.”

True. Jin thinks, especially in the world they’re living in.

“I didn’t expect for him to ask that favor back that same day.” She said. “And you see, your roommate can be quite…”

Jin nods even before she can finish what she was saying. He knows.

“…persistent.”

Of course, she would choose a much better sounding word for it, but Jin thinks she could’ve said ‘nosy’ and he would’ve still agreed. “He likes sticking his nose on others business.”

“Maybe he just cares, you’re roommates after all.”

“Yoongi was never this nosy.”

“Well, you never got sick when Yoongi was still your roommate.”

She has a point.

Indeed it has been a while since he got sick. Still, he prefers people who respect his privacy.

“Don’t worry. I never would’ve sent him here if I didn’t have him checked.”

Jin is taken aback. “You had his background checked?”

“Did you think I was gonna trust him your address without knowing his background?” She said. “Besides, I wouldn’t want uncle to know that I sent a stranger here.”

He smiled at her. Typical Taeyeon. But then again, background check is a normal thing for people like them, in the world they’re living. “So how was the charity event?”

“It was boring without you there.”

Jin smiled. He knew she was just trying to make him feel better. “More like boring because Seongwu also wasn’t there.”

This time she smiles. “I did miss both of you last night, but you know, it was business as usual.”

“What about Namjoon?”

“He was there.” She nods. “What about him?”

“He was in a lot of photos on social media.”

“I heard his father prefers his brother over him so his mother is probably doing some publicity for recognition. Do you think the legal wife would just let the other brother shine over his son?”

Jin’s eyes widened in surprise. “Was his brother also there?”

She nods. “Like I said, his father likes the other brother too.”

“Still, isn’t he older?”

“Only by three months.”

Seems like the event was interesting after all. Jin thinks. 

Namjoon, just like almost every young person who attended the event, are being groomed to follow their parents’ footsteps. Though his case is different as he is the same age as his brother because they have different mothers. Even though Namjoon is the first son and from the legal wife, he was born out of an arranged marriage. While the other brother was born out of love from the mistress of his father, who was originally the girlfriend.

“So don’t worry. Namjoon would need to compete with his own brother first even before he’d have a chance to compete with you.” She assured. “Also, you’re still Yunho sunbae’s favorite junior.”

He smiled again. “Did sunbae ask for me?”

“He did. He was wondering why it was Namjoon who is around him and not his favorite hoobae.”

“Who is the favorite hoobae?” A voice from the hallway is heard in the dining room as well.

Jin and Taeyeon just looked at each other smiling because they knew exactly who it was.

“You guys ate without me.” Seongwu whines entering the room. “You knew I was coming.”

“Jin needs to eat on time.” She reasons with him. “Also we didn't 'ate' yet, we are still 'eating'.” Emphasizing the difference between the two words.

“You hate your hyung so much that you don’t wanna eat with him at home?” Jin asked, gesturing for him to sit down and join them. 

“Correction. I don’t hate him, I just don’t like his presence in the house.” Seongwu said as he settled in one of the chairs. “It’s much better when he’s overseas.”

“What did Kangjoon oppa ever do to you?” Taeyeon teased.

“The question should be what did he didn’t do.” Seongwu said with that sentiment in his voice.

Most parents in their social circle prefer the oldest son in the family most of the time. They are seen as the one who will follow their father's footsteps and continue whatever business or profession the family is known for. Seongwu's father is no different. And as Jin and Taeyeon know, Seongwu's older brother enjoys his parents' attention on him. Not that he is jealous of his older brother, they know he is not that type of person. But in times when their father attends events like the charity one and would only call out for the older son, Seongwu wishes his hyung would suggest to their father to take his dongsaeng too. That there is enough room for the both of them. But the older one never says anything, and just accepts everything. 

“Don’t let his looks fool you guys.” Seongwu warns by jokingly referring to his older brother known f