The mansion was still the same as Kibum remembered. Huge. Majestic. Filled with expensive furniture and rare art pieces. It has been years since he came back to the house he called as prison. After he left the house to Japan as soon as he finished high school, he never stepped inside it again.

Never had in Kibum’s life he imagined to be back. He didn’t really know, because he rarely visited the company, but now that he decided to be involved, he couldn’t help but to hear the news.

No one really knew why his mother needed to call in sick suddenly, forcing Kibum to take over an important meeting earlier this morning. They thought it was just a usual rest leave, because Kibum’s mom always appeared as a frail, but still elegant, woman, the typical kind of women in the Kim family. They still held this belief their ancestors carried, that the women lived to serve their husband and family. It was a total surprise when Kibum’s mother took over the company, although Kibum’s father definitely was the one who steered her behind the scene. Kibum knew his father had no choices, because he was busy pretending to be a good politician—even now he was busy preparing for running to be a president—while his only son and heir ran away from his responsibilities.

Kibum always thought how his father was such a hypocrite, to pretend to be a supporting politician who cared about every layer of the society, including supporting the legalization of the same marriage ten years ago. Such a big hypocrite because when Kibum came out of closet years ago, he was the first person who beat him up, even before those school bullies disturbed him. Actually it was nothing new, he had been beaten up by his father since forever. Of course, nothing too serious, nowhere could be seen clearly either, because his father always had a reputation to be protected. But sometimes when he got too angry, he lost control. Then Kibum was forced to skip school.

Just like his mother today.

“Young Master,” an old woman greeted him, surprise clearly on her face, as soon as she realized Kibum’s arrival.

“Mrs. Jung,” Kibum smiled at her. She was the head of the mansion’s staff who had been there since Kibum was still a kid. Kibum remembered how she often scolded him when Kibum sneaked away with Minho, but still helped her young master got away with it.

“I thought I would never see you again,” Mrs. Jung said as Kibum gathered her small body in his arms.

“I miss you, Nana,” Kibum whispered his nickname he had for Mrs. Jung everytime they were alone.

“Me too, Key.”

Kibum sighed contentedly, hearing his old nickname for the first time since a long time.

“What brings you here,” Mrs. Jung asked curiously when they let go of each other. “Are you coming back for good?” she asked hopefully.

Smiling sadly, Kibum shook his head. “I just drop by. Is Mother okay?”

Mrs. Jung smile’s fell. “She is in her room. She’s okay. Doctor Song just left. She just…needs a few days to let her...” Mrs. Jung paused hesitantly, but she didn’t need to elaborate more because Kibum understood completely. “Do you want to see her?”

“No,” Kibum said in a heartbeat. “Will you help me to pass this to her?”

“This is her favourite,” Mrs. Jung smiled as she took a box of chocolate from Kibum. “This will definitely cheer her up.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Jung,” Kibum said sincerely. “I must leave now. I should go back to my company.”

“You must be busy. Don’t forget the lunch, okay?” Mrs. Jung hugged Kibum for the last time, which was replied by a tight wrap of Kibum’s arms.

With that, Kibum turned around and left. But before he could, Mrs. Jung’s words stopped him.

“She was very devastated when you’re forced to leave home,” Mrs. Jung said. “But she also always wished that you could leave and never came back.”

“I know,” Kibum answered her.

And he was honest. He knew his mother loved him, and wanted him to be free, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t hurt when she pretended she didn’t see Kibum’s wounds and bruises. That didn’t mean he didn’t feel betrayed when he found out his father broke Nam Woohyun’s hands, his boyfriend at that time, as a threat, that he needed to let go of his dream as a pianist, and her mother, along with everyone in the family, turned into a blind eye. They stopped Kibum to report it, even So Hee—the only cousin he trusted after Changmin left—tried to persuade him to forget it.

But how could he forget, when he was the reason the man he loved had his dream ripped away from him?

The only thing that made Kibum pushed away all those stupid thoughts he had was the promise he made with Woohyun before they parted way, to keep living. And the fact that right now Woohyun was living his life happily abroad as a composer with his little new family, was the thing that made Kibum believe he could be happy too, sometimes in the future.

And for that reason, he needed to take his father down. Somehow.

This is a mistake was all Minho could think of as he stared at Taemin who was happily sitting and eating his ice cream in front of him, with a bag from the jewel store they visited earlier sat neatly between them on top of the table, contained the rings they had chosen for the wedding.

“What do you mean we will get married next month? It’s only…around two weeks away?” Minho tried to confirm what Taemin just said by asking once again.

“Yes, next month. Why?” Taemin shrugged, acting as if he didn’t understand why Minho was so baffled. No, he wasn’t acting, he clearly didn’t understand and it made Minho was positive that this man was clearly not an ordinary person.

“Why the rush?”

“You know why,” Taemin murmured, not looking at Minho’s eyes, made Minho shut up altogether.

Stupid, Minho cursed himself. Of course he was rushing. He didn’t know when his father would still be there to walk him down the aisle.

“Sorry,” Minho said in a low voice, clearly apologetic.

But Taemin smiled. He smiled as he titled his head a bit, staring at Minho, and said, “If you keep being nice like this, it will be hard for me, Minho.”

“Why?”

“What if I really fall in love with you?”

There was no way to understand this man, Minho thought, ignoring a flip in his heart because there was no way this brat’s flirt affected him in any way.

“But two weeks…how can we prepare a wedding in two weeks?” Minho pointed out the absolute reason why this plan was absurd.

“No worries!” Taemin exclaimed excitedly. “Because I’m such a well-prepared person, I already have some lists of great WOs, along with the plan they had for the wedding. I’ll send it to you as soon as I’m back to the office. You just need to choose from one of them. Easy bitsy!”

Minho couldn’t believe his ears. He had just accepted the proposal and here Taemin was, ready with his WO and wedding plan?

“Really…you…” Minho was speechless. “What if I don’t accept your proposal?”

Taemin shrugged. “No loses for me, except the times I’ve spent to find those WO, which I still need because I obviously still need to get married. I just need to find another groom…maybe I will run to Jongin as he’s the second on my list.”

It was shallow, Minho knew, but he actually felt a little cocky knowing he was the first on Taemin’s list. First. Over the mighty Kim Jongin. Just because…what? Because he was kind, Taemin said?

Minho cleared his throat, trying not to think further over the silly fact, and pointed out another thing they should do, “I still need to tell my family and introduce you formally to them. I also need to properly meet your father to ask for a permission to marry you.”

“I can meet your family a day after tomorrow. Just invite me over for a dinner,” Taemin lightly said.

“Ugh, easy you say that,” Minho groaned, imagining the chaos that would happen the moment he told his father about this marriage plan.

“It will be fun,” Taemin chuckled, and Minho instantly knew Taemin exactly knew what was on Minho’s mind.

“And for my father…” Taemin continued, “He has known you and everything. No need the formality.”

Minho shook his head. “No. If I do this, I want to do it in the right way so I will ask your hand for a marriage in an honorable way. Properly. To your father.”

“You’re such an old school!” Taemin laughed. Minho started to question his decision to marry him because he was worried he would ended up in jail for strangling his own husband, due to too much stress dealing with his annoying attitude.

“But…that’s kind of sweet,” Taemin grinned. “You really will make it hard for me, Minho.”

Minho, once again, ignored Taemin’s sweet talk, no matter every little Taemin’s appreciation of him made his heart skip a bit.

No, you’re the one who will make it hard for me, Lee Taemin.

Smile appeared on Kibum’s face when a certain blonde male appeared from the back office. He rested his cheek on his palm with his elbow supported his hand on the table, enjoying the view of the owner of the café. Jinki was busy talking with his employees, directing them here and there, so Kibum could freely watch him from afar.

Until suddenly Jinki looked at his direction and their eyes met.

Kibum looked down at the split of second, cursing himself. Did I get caught staring at him? Did he see how I smiled stupidly while watching him?

Kibum was ready to bury himself under the ground, to escape, but he had no times because Jinki had already stood there beside his table with his usual gorgeous smile, “Kibum, what are you doing here?”

“Having my late lunch,” Kibum shyly smiled back.

“Why don’t you contact me? I can cook something for you, or accompany you,” Jinki looked at the empty seat in front of Kibum before looking back at the designer, “May I?”

“Of course,” Kibum said, trying to look cool although inside he screamed in joy.

Kibum cleared his throat to hide his excitement when Jinki comfortably settled in front of him, and tried to be as casual as possible, as he said, “And…I don’t have your number, you know…”

“Ah…” Jinki’s mouth fell before he started to scratch the back of his head in embarrassment, “Right.”

“Then it’s time for us to exchange number,” Jinki pulled out his phone and handed it out to Kibum. Kibum bit back his smile as he took it, noticing Jinki had his picture with Taemin as his wallpaper, with Jinki still had a black hair, and damn! He was gorgeous, Kibum thought.

“I’ll call you to give you my number,” Jinki pressed call after getting back his phone.

After that, both of them proceeded to save each other numbers, but Kibum couldn’t help but staring at Jinki’s phone screen. It seemed like the older guy noticed Kibum’s eyes on his phone, that he suddenly looked up. He frowned, as if asking if there was something wrong in silence. Kibum only shook his head and grinned.

“What?” Jinki questioned him, confused.

“Nothing. Just…” Kibum chuckled. “Why do you save my number as 키범* instead of 기범**?”

*hangul for Keybum

**hangul for Kibum

“I just…” Jinki trailed off, didn’t really know how to explain it. “I just find it’s very clever of you naming your company KEY, because it sound exactly the same as the ‘Ki’ in your name Kibum. Even the hangul is similar. And 키범 is still read as Ki-Bum. So, I find it…unique.”

Kibum blinked a few times, taken aback by Jinki’s explanation. He didn’t expect the older man thought that deep about his name and his company’s name. “Oh, well…Key is my nickname when I was a kid.”

“It’s very meaningful for you? The nickname? That you use it as your company’s name?”

“Key is…” Kibum sighed, “…the alter ego I created. Kim Kibum was an obedient kid under the strict parents. On the other hand, Key was a strong, brave one. But then I realized that I didn’t need an alter ego, that I could be a strong and brave kid too, even as Kim Kibum. But still, Key was my protector at that time, so yes, it’s very meaningful for me.”

When Kibum finished his words, he looked up to see Jinki, but he didn’t expect that look from him. He thought he would get a pity stare, because his life sounded sad. Instead, Jinki looked at him with those unexplainable eyes, like…he was proud of him? Like…he was telling him that he did well for going through his sad life, for being strong.

Kibum shook his head a bit, feeling silly. His feeling for Jinki was being too strong that he thought he started imagining things, a projection of his own feeling. So to convert his stupid thoughts, Kibum tried to converse by asking, “How about you, Hyung? Any history of the name of your café or company?”

“You catch me,” Jinki pouted playfully, and his full lips kind of distracting Kibum. “Honestly, I’m not very creative about name. Taemin named almost all of my dishes,” Jinki laughed, and his laugh wasn’t better than his pout because it sounded too good in Kibum’s ears. “Actually, I took the name of this café from the small bakery my Mom once had. I didn’t really have many memories of my parents, but I could clearly remember the smell of my Mom’s fresh baked pastries as I was sat on the toddler chair, watching my Mom ran around preparing this and that.”

Kibum smiled as soon as he heard that, as he could immediately picture it, little Jinki adorably observed his mother baking. And it brought warmth to Kibum’s chest. A happy family, he imagined.

“That sounds really nice, Hyung,” Kibum told honestly. “Did she run the bakery with your father?”

“No,” Jinki answered curtly, and Kibum thought he imagined things but Jinki seemed a little tense by the mention of his father. But the thought was gone as fast as it came, because Jinki quickly added in a lighter tone, “My father was a surgeon. But it seems I don’t really inherit any of his brainy mind,” Jinki joked.

“Who are you kidding? I know you’re smart, Hyung! You’ve got your PhD at such a young age!”

Jinki shook his head. “Not as smart as Taemin. He got it first, along with his…” Jinki started counted with his fingers, “…certified accountant, his certified auditor, his certified financial analyst, while working with Japan’s financial crimes enforcement as a forensic auditor. Trust me, that guy is a genius and I owe him everything for managing my company’s finance.”

If only Kibum didn’t know Taemin was his little brother, he would definitely got jealous hearing how Jinki talked about Taemin with so much admiration. Thank God, they’re brothers, or the competition wouldn’t be very easy.

“A finance maniac with a marketing freak,” Kibum sighed, remembering the marriage proposal his best friend got from Taemin.

“Are you talking about Minho?”

Kibum nodded as he sipped the last bit of his drink.

“So…” Jinki started. “What does he think of Taemin?”

“Honestly?”

“Honestly.”

“He kind of…” Kibum thought, trying to find the right and less offending word for describing Minho’s opinion about Taemin. “He said Taemin was a little unique.”

Jinki laughed as if he was expecting it. “Taemin is very weird, isn’t he? Annoyed the hell out of you.”

“Well, from I heard from Minho, he’s quite a handful.”

“It’s okay, you can just say he’s irritating,” Jinki chuckled. “Well…Taemin may come out a bit manipulative sometimes, but really…he’s actually a very kind and caring person.”

“Unfortunately Minho didn’t think twice and just straight up rejecting him,” Kibum sighed. “Maybe if he spends times with him…you think he will change his mind?”

“He does!”

A happy exclaim startled Jinki and Kibum. Kibum turned around finding Minho and Taemin walked side by side and eventually stopped right on their table. Minho and Taemin, he repeated. Didn’t Minho act like he will kill Taemin if he met him again?

“Hyung, we’re getting married in two weeks!” Taemin happily announced it to Jinki.

And without thinking, Kibum shouted at Minho, “YOU WHAT?”

Minho instantly bowed and apologized to the other customers, with Jinki followed his actions.

“I told you to stop shouting in public,” Minho scolded.

“You expect me to react calmly after hearing you’re getting married? In two weeks?” Kibum scolded back. “With Lee Taemin, on top of it. I thought you hated him,” Kibum added, whispering as low as possible so Jinki and Taemin couldn’t hear him.

“I’ll explain later,” Minho whispered back.

“You two are really going to get married?” Jinki cut off the best friends bickering whisper.

“Yes, Hyung!” Taemin was the only one who was handling this situation excitedly.

“Yes, Jinki-ssi, as Taemin said,” Minho politely answered. Jinki was still Taemin’s older brother after all, he needed to be polite to his soon to be brother-in-law.

“Aw, c’mon. You should call him Hyung too!” Taemin told Minho. “He will be your brother-in-law in two weeks, right?”

“Yes, you can call me ‘Hyung’, Minho,” Jinki said.

“Okay…Hyung.”

“And Kibum-ssi, can I call you Hyung?” Taemin looked at Kibum’s sweetly, made the older guy taken aback. Why was suddenly this guy acting so close with him? But anyway, he just nodded, but still feeling a little overwhelmed by the hyper, cheery attitude of Taemin. Maybe this guy was too happy that Minho finally agreed to marry him, Kibum thought.

“And Hyung…” Taemin still had the same sweet smile on his face. “Minho said you’re a very amazing designer. So we talked and thought…maybe you can help us with the suits for the wedding?”

“I didn’t!” Minho denied it right away, his big eyes went bigger as he was being glared by Kibum whose mind was a mess, processing his best friend was getting married and the request of making suits for the reception only in two weeks? “I just say that you own LilFre and…”

“I think I have a lot to talk with Minho,” Kibum smiled as sweetly as Taemin did. “If you’ll excuse us…”

Minho sighed and he didn’t know how many times he had sighed that day.

Choi Minho, you’re really making a big mistake.

Short update :')

Anyway, you know that evil old man in that usual K-Drama who has so much powers? Yes, Kibum's father is like that. If you think Minho's father is evil, trust me, Kibum's father is more than evil.

Despite heavy topic at the start, honestly I kept smiling writing this chapter because of flirty Taemin, pure Minho, warm Jinki and swooned Kibum.

I desperately want to write fluff, so I plan to write some fluff one shot. I have the outline ready, all the scenes are laid out in my head, but then I lack one thing: times! So I guess I just pour out my desire of writing fluff here. I hope it's not too cringy :")

I really wish I can update again tomorrow. I'll try ;)

XOXO