“Good morning,” greeted the woman behind the counter with a smile as soon as Jongin entered the flower shop. It was a small flower shop on the edge of town, not far away from the cemetery, run by an old couple. The assortment wasn’t huge because they grow all flowers themselves. Yet, for some reason, Jongin preferred this little shop to the famous and expensive ones in the middle of Seoul. Maybe it was the charm of an old house at the end of the road. To enter the shop, you had to walk past the small but colorful garden. Maybe it was the fresh air in the mountain, or maybe Jongin simply enjoyed the long walk to this place.

“The usual?” The old woman asked, and Jongin nodded.

“Would you like some coffee while waiting? I just made some.”

“Yes,” replied Jongin.

“Please, take a seat,” the woman gestured with her hand.

“Thank you,” Jongin said, sitting down at the metal and rusted table. It was small, old, and retro, just like this shop. Jongin looked out of the window, breathing in the flowers’ scents in the air. Soo would have loved this place. It was like a coffee shop and a flower shop in one, plus it was in the mountains. Soo had loved the countryside.

“Grandpa, can you bring us some coffee?” The woman called for her husband, and he answered with a loud “Ok” from the back room.

“Here,” said the old man as he placed a mug on the table. Immediately the scent of coffee reached Jongin. It was just a cup of black coffee; nothing about it was extravagant or comparable to Seoul’s finest coffee. Still, Jongin loved it.

“It smells heavenly. Thank you.” The gang leader replied, and both shop owners smiled.

“Don’t you want some lilies today? They are so beautiful this season,” asked the old man out of the blue, causing his wife to sigh.

“Old man, don’t bother our customer.” She nagged at him.

“I was just saying,” her husband argued, “even the favorite food shouldn’t be eaten every day. What’s bad about a change?”

“Leave the young man alone,” she said, slapping his upper arm as a warning.

“Grandma, I was just talking to our customer,” responded the old man with a shrug.

“Don’t mind him. I’ll get you the lavender flowers as usual.” His wife told Jongin, who shook his head.

“Lilies sounds good,” Jongin changed his mind.

Placing the pink flowers on the grave, Jongin smiled. The old man was right. The lilies were beautiful. Jongin’s eyes wandered from the flowers to the shiny golden wings on the gravestone. A leaf had stuck on it. Brushed down the leaf, Jongin cleaned the wings with his handkerchief.

“You’re free now,” he said, knowing he would never get a response from Soo. Never again.

Jongin kept silent for he had nothing to say. How often had he visited this grave? All the things he wanted to say had been said. All the tears he got had been shed. Soo was gone, and he was doomed to live.

“Till death do us part?” Who would have thought his vow would become real? Had he said that at their wedding? Jongin couldn’t even remember the ceremony. Everything seemed so meaningless that day. Soo seemed so meaningless that day. Jongin bit on his lip. He had been a fool. He had been so wrong.

After saying goodbye, Jongin headed to the parking lot. On his way, the gang leader passed by someone whom he wouldn’t have paid much attention to if the man wouldn’t have covered his entire face. The cap and the mask would have been acceptable, but the extra glasses had overdone it all. And what was the deal about that red cap? The red was so bright. That man, did he want to be noticed or not?

Curiosity, or simply a weird feeling in the stomach, made Jongin turn back, following that mysterious man. Jongin clenched his teeth as he saw the man stopped at Soo’s grave. The gang leader hid behind a tree, trying to hear something, but the other man didn’t say a word except for reading out loud the name on the gravestone. His blood boiled even more as that person read his card to Soo. Who gave him permission?

Stepping out of the shadow, Jongin asked. „It’s you, isn’t it? You’re Byun Baekhyun.”

“Kim Jongin,” the man at Soo’s grave turned around, and Jongin couldn’t help but stare at him from head to toes. So this was him, the real Byun Baekhyun? This was the person Soo did everything to protect? This was him?

“Did you follow me?” asked the man as he took off his mask. Jongin frowned, for this person was anything but what he had expected. His face, his body build, even his voice… the one and only Byun Baekhyun was just ordinary, almost too boring for someone who was supposed to be the only heir of the Black Lotus.

“Why am I not surprised that someone like you would visit his own grave?“ Jongin mocked, causing Baekhyun to yell back at him.

“Someone like me? The someone like me means? You think you know something about me?”

“I know you sent him to the front and went hide your , while he was targeted by your power-hungry piece of uncle,” Jongin screamed back, running towards Baekhyun. The gang leader was ready to throw a punch, but Baekhyun was faster. It was Jongin who received a fist.

“And who hid him in the arse end of nowhere? Do you think I didn’t look for him?” Baekhyun shouted at Jongin who was growling because of the sudden attack. Baekhyun smirked in satisfaction, but it didn’t last long for Jongin dragged him to the ground the next second.

Both men on the ground, all dirty and out of control, they both fought and screamed at each other until they were both out of breath. It was unclear who won or who lost, for it wasn’t important anyway. In the end, they both knew it was their fault.

„I remember you,“ Jongin said through his gasps, “we’ve met before.”

“You do?” Baekhyun asked back calmly. For some reason, the fight had calmed them down like this was what they both had needed the whole time.

“You helped us with the handcuff. You saved Soo that time,” Jongin added, pushing himself up from the ground. Baekhyun was also sitting on the grass, not having any strength left to stand up.

“Aren’t you gonna deny being Byun Baekhyun?” Jongin asked.

“What’s the point in doing that? You know the truth already.” Baekhyun confessed, and after a short break, he asked back. “So, will you tell my uncle?”

“What’s the point in doing that? Whether you’re dead or alive, nothing would bring him back.”

By that Baekhyun kept silent. Jongin was right, and he knew that.

“Til the last moment, he did everything to keep your secret. How could I ignore his last wish?” Jongin said. Baekhyun stared at the man next to him. Maybe Soo was right when he said Jongin wasn’t ‘that bad’.

“Why did he do that… for you? Are you his first love or something?” Jongin had been wondered that for a long time. Finally, he got the chance to ask. Yet, by that question, Baekhyun curled his lips, letting out a loud “Ewh”.

“Did you think I was your love rival? Get your head out of your , Kim Jongin. The world doesn't revolve around you.”

“What?” Jongin yelled.

“Calm down. He is my… brother.”

“He was my brother,” Baekhyun corrected himself.

“That’s impossible,” Jongin replied, “Byun Baekhyun is Kim Taeksoo’s only son.”

“That’s true. He was my half-brother,” Baekhyun said, “although he kept saying there was no such thing as “half” of a brother. He insisted on saying ‘brother’ instead of, you know, ‘half-brother.”

“That sounded like something he’d say,” Jongin chuckled. Now everything made sense, all the things Soo did. They made sense now.

“Isn’t it?” Baekhyun laughed in reply until his laughter faded away.

“He was full of love and kindness,” he added while his voice was filling with sudden sadness, “he was too precious for our world.”

Jongin nodded in response.

“Do you sometimes think one of us should have died instead of him?” Baekhyun asked after a short silence.

“Sure. Look at us. We’re dirty, broken, and twisted,” Jongin answered without hesitation, and Baekhyun agreed.

“Then why do good people die while trash like us live on?”

“I’m not a believer, but someone once told me ‘When God decides to pick a flower, he picks the most beautiful one’, and I liked that idea. It was the only way to explain why we’re here and he isn’t,” Jongin told the other. Also, he knew God wouldn’t “pick” him, for he must have his place reserved in hell already.

“Oh, that’s what the quote on the gravestone means? That’s beautiful.” Baekhyun admitted. He wouldn’t have thought Kim Jongin could be so sentimental. As he felt the strength slowly came back to his legs, Baekhyun brushed away the dust on him, standing up.

“I’m leaving the country, so take good care of his grave, brother-in-law,” Baekhyun said, half-joked.

“You’re leaving? Just like that?” Jongin wondered. Wasn’t Byun Baekhyun fighting for his heritage? Shouldn’t he be taking back the Black Lotus?

“I know what you’re thinking, but I’m not taking back the gang,” Baekhyun explained as if he could read Jongin’s mind, “I never wanted to be a part of this world anyway, and as you said, he did everything to give me the chance to start a new life. He wouldn’t forgive me… I wouldn’t forgive myself if I don’t grab this chance.”

“So my uncle can take the gang. Even you can take the gang. I don’t care. Do whatever you want. I’m out. Korea is a Byun-Baekhyun-free-zone,” announced Baekhyun