Seungcheol shifted nervously in his seat. He was a confident man, even though he was young he was talented and strong, and he knew the company had faith in its young staff. But he had never had to do anything like this before. How could he sit across from two parents and explain that he wanted to keep their child away from them? How could he try to convince them that he knew what was best for their child? Their own flesh and blood. But when he’d turned up at the apartment early that morning and found Minghao sobbing on the couch in Junhui’s arms he knew he had to do everything he could to get them to let the boy stay. It was no longer about the company, or his own professional prestige, or money or fame or success. It was about Minghao’s happiness.

On the advice of Mingyu Seungcheol had told the boys to stay at the apartment. They would meet with the parents first and try to plead their case but both Seungcheol and Mingyu knew that if Minghao’s parents refused and wanted to take him home they couldn’t do anything about it. Plan B was to delay their debut, again, in hopes of Minghao coming back to them when he was an adult. It wasn’t ideal but they knew they couldn’t split the four boys up now. Not after all the progress they had made. Mingyu was already fielding calls from companies interested in Minghao and Junhui for more modelling work, Soonyoung was a choreography machine, and little Chan was the most talented kid Seungcheol had ever met. They had to stay together. This was the dream team.

There was a knock at the door and Mingyu got up and opened it with a deep and polite bow. Two people walked in, neat and pleasant looking, well dressed and composed. Mingyu offered them a seat and greeted them in the little Mandarin he knew and they made their own polite greetings. The interepreter introduced everyone and then they began to speak.

“Where is our son?” Mr Xu asked as his eyes darted around the room. He was composed but Seungcheol could tell he was keeping his emotions tightly in check. His wife reached out and gripped his hand tight. “He’s coming. I just wanted to have some time to explain to you how well he is doing here. He’s talented and charming and we can make his dreams come true Mr and Mrs Xu. He’s very happy.” Seungcheol babbled a little nervously and waited for the interpreter to relay his words.

“Happy? How do you think we have felt wondering if our son is alive? Waiting for news, waiting for him to come home, waiting for police to turn up on our doorstep with a notification.” Mr Xu was clearly the more emotional one as Mrs Xu sat stone faced. Finally she spoke as well. “Happiness is irrelevant. Minghao has a home waiting for him.