Lee Seunghoon is Mino's first friend.

Sure, he met kids of his age inside the orphanage, but he knew well not to be friends with them. Adoption means being away and Mino knows the pain of having someone leave him.

When he started going to school through a scholarship provided by donors in their orphanage, Mino's intelligence intimidated his classmates.

Being exempted to take an exam as he already got full marks from the previous one, he found himself sitting under a tree outside their classroom.

He was gawking at Jieun, his crush. That moment, someone threw him a pebble from up the tree.

In a blur of seconds, a skinny kid jumped down from the nearest branch.

"Why are you outside?"

"I got full marks on the last exam." He innocently answered.

The kid looked at his name tag. "Yah! I'm older than you."

"Sorry, hyung." He bowed his head. Mino doesn't really know how to handle the situation. All he wanted was to see Jieun's face.

"Are you smart?" The skinny kid asked him again.

"I'm number one in class."

"But are you smart?" He asked again.

"I don't understand." Mino told him.

The kid smiled at him. "Good. I don't make friends with smart people."

Through all that, one thing resonated to Mino. "You want to be my friend?"

"Lee Seunghoon." He extended his hand for a handshake.

"Song Mino." He said while shaking his hand.

"We're friends now." Seunghoon sat beside him and took out a lollipop from his pocket. He gave one to Mino.

"Are you also exempted from class?" He asked his new and first friend.

"No. I walked out of our class because our teacher is teaching us how to solve a math problem the wrong way." He scratched his nose.

Mino grappled with the reality that he's now friends with someone who cuts class to spite their teacher. He knew right then that this kid is trouble, and surprisingly, he's ok with it.

"Why don't you want to be friends with smart people?" His curiosity took over.

"Because I want to always outsmart my friends." He grinned, unwrapping his own sweet treat.

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Mino was still seething in anger when he reached the bistro. He went inside the mini office and saw Seunghoon frowning in front of his laptop, which he quickly closed upon seeing him.

“Jumpy?” Mino asked him.

“You looked mad.” He answered back.

“My brother confronted me about the bistro.” He ran a hand over his face and sat across his friend.

“Are we doing the right thing?” Mino asked Seunghoon.

His friend smirked and leaned back on his seat. “We’ve been through this a lot, Mino. This is the only way.”

Mino tried to convince himself until he calmed down. “My brother talked smack about you to me. Is there anything you want to tell me? Anything you want to update me with?”

Seunghoon smiled to himself. “I can’t believe your brother still has trust issues with me. He still remembers how I ran away with Jinwoo hyung’s money, but hired me to be a part of his Finance team at YGE.” He ended laughing at the thought of it.

Fresh out of college, Jinwoo trusted Seunghoon with his earnings as a model. He was supposed to invest the money in stocks and grow it, but he stole it away from him instead. His father was working overseas in Vietnam when he fell in an accident. Seunghoon ran away with Jinwoo’s money to help his father and take him home. It was an honest mistake, and he did not really mean to do it but Jinwoo’s mother already found out about it even before he got the chance to tell his friend.

Jinwoo is a forgiving man, and he accepted his apology. He never even asked him to pay for it. But they were the only ones who knew the whole story. People looked down on Seunghoon and his status of being a commoner who befriends rich kids for his sake, and eventually, he lost his job. But he’s a smart guy. He knows his strengths. He worked as a financial consultant to startup businesses until he slowly redeemed his name.

“I don’t care what they think. You’re my friend.” Mino told him.

“Because I’m smarter than you.” Seunghoon answered him with a glint in his eyes.

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“It’s been a while, Jiho.”

Jiyong welcomed Jiho inside his office at the Enterprise.

“Been busy working on some business stuff plus the incoming wedding. I think you know how hectic that is.” Jiho told him as they sat across each other.

Jiyong didn’t know. Dara was on top of everything they prepared for their wedding. And now…she seems so far away.

“How’s Project Aurora?” Jiyong decided to change the topic.

“Haesol is managing the construction well. And Mino is still heavily involved.” Jiho laughed.

“I know. I told Haesol to let him go over everything to help him focus on other things…” His mind trailed off. He doesn’t know where they stand now as brothers.

“Things will come around.” Jiho broke his silent reprieve.

“I’m counting on it