It's been more than a year I have not updated this fic. I was busy with University and wasn't much inspired to be honest. I never meant to write for others, I do it first for myself, but it's true that the lack of interrested people for this story made me think of deleting it. But I couldn't. This fic is the first one I published on AFF. It's my baby. I cannot and will not abandon it because it doesn't draw much interrest. I want to finish it for the few readers that made it until there, and myself. I want to be able to finish this and be proud of my work. So here I am. I hope you'll like it.

He doesn’t know for how long he had been sitting there, but the show he came for just started. The sun slowly rises above the ocean, coloring the sky with shades of orange, pink and purple.  The sound of the water, coming and going on the beach, soothed him. The fresh and salty air that the wind brought invigorating him. Right hand on the ground, he felt the fresh sand beans against his palm. His left hand held the neck of a soju bottle. He raised it at his mouth for the umpteenth time already and took a sip of it, eyes on the horizon.

Contrary to what one might think, the man wasn’t drunk. He drunk for a purpose, drown his pain, and was strangely lucid about it. His eyes were not brain nor misty. Actually, he glanced at the horizon with the hope to glimpse to his heaven, a small fishing island off the coast. He arrived too late in the night or he might say too early in the morning, so he get to a minimarket open all night, bought soju and sat there and drunk, waiting for the first shuttle boat.

AJ arrived first in the Village. Despite the dry cold which frighten to freeze him and his dozen minutes ahead, he waited outside the restaurant, rubbing and blowing on his fingers out of his mittens to keep warm. When the hour of the meeting came, he saw a figure running toward him, hair flying in the wind and sparkling eyes. She wore a short white coat, skinny blue jeans and a pair of boots with fur, a long hobo bag hanging on her shoulder.

"Sorry for making you waiting. The subway was late."

"It’s ok, you’re perfectly in time. Shall we ?" AJ asked, holding the restaurant’s door for her.

"Thank you." she said with a radiant smile when entering.

AJ can help but smile and chuckled a bit. This situation wasn’t that bad after all.

"Welcome to Mastriani, said the butler, advancing towards them. What can I do for you ?"

"A table for two please." requested politely the Korean.

"This way please."

He led them to a table in the middle of the room. AJ almost sighed out relief. He was afraid of ending up in an alcove in the corner of the room like an intimate cocoon. Even if what he was doing was a kind of a date, he didn’t intend to have this kind of relationship with Danielle. He already has Kyuhyun after all. Even if he never experienced this kind of thing with him.

Like the gentleman he was, he helped Danielle remove her coat and sit before doing the same in front of her. A little awkward moment settled between them when they come face to face, each hiding behind the menu but occasionally glancing at the other. When they both caught each other looking in the same time, they burst out laughing and lowered the menus, finally relaxed.

"So, how was your courses this morning ?" Danielle asked.

"Oh you know, always the same routine, he simply answered. And you ?"

"I’m luckier than you, I don’t have class in Saturday morning."

"Actually, I think myself very lucky to study in Columbia. I’ll even study in Sunday if they ask me to !"

AJ laughed, instantly followed by her.

"I feel the same about Julliard, she told him. Singing, dancing… I just do what make me the happiest. I would never complain about it. Even when it’s exhausting, I’m grateful to be in such a school and achieve my dream."

AJ himself felt really grateful and happy to have U-Kiss and being able to pursue his dream. Even if he had passed the auditions of his company because of his family’s lack of money and the necessity to gain it, he never regretted his decision. 

At first it was good for his mother and sister, but after, he realized it was also good for him. It was thanks to his producer he manage to go United States and study in Columbia. It was thanks to the company he met first Paran and then U-Kiss, making friends and, in the second case, another family. And last but not least, it was because of his part in the music industry that he had come to know Kyuhyun.

AJ was stopped in his thoughts by the waiter who came ask if they had made their choices.

"First I’ll take a piece of salmon and leek pie, then Pesto Pasta as main dish. Someone told me it was the house specialty." she said, smiling to AJ.

"For me it will be a cheese soufflé, Pesto Pasta and chocolate fudge."

"Same dissert for me." Danielle said.

"Noted. And for the drinks ?"

"I'll take a strawberry juice."

"A coke for me." AJ said.

The two shut their menus and the waiter took them.

"Add a pitcher of water, please."

"Well sir, it will be done."

While waiting to their order, they discuss about stuff like school, friends and hobbies. Seems like the two have many things in common. They both have a great sense of humor, making them joking and laughing easily with the other, are so-called genius, love music, singing and dancing. When their first dish arrive, they started eating, Danielle her pie and AJ his soufflé. After a few minutes eating and sharing their meal, AJ launched amused glances at Danielle, suppressing a smile.

"What’s wrong ?" asked the girl, noticing it. "Do I have something on my teeth ?"

"No… It’s just… Salmon and leek pie is my brother’s favorite. It makes me think about him, that’s all." he said, giving a nostalgic smile.

"Oh, you didn't tell me you had a brother !" Danielle exclaimed, surprised.

"We haven't open the family topic yet." AJ smiled.

"Let’s do it then. You first, you started it."

"Ok… Hum… We are three kids, two boys and one girl. I’m the eldest."

"The big brother !"

"Yeah… "

"I would have guessed. You look mature, responsible…"

"Thank you." he chuckled. "So there is me, my little sister Na Yung, who is only a year younger than me. She studies law in university. She is brilliant. She works so hard. I think she get her determination from our mother. She is also the pillar of our sibship, because she is in the middle. She has the role of counselor, psychologist, of the mother sometimes… And the last is my brother Taemin. He is only nineteen… Since he is the youngest, my sister and I tend to mothered him a bit, but strangely, he is the one who tend to protect us the most. He is very fierce about the relationships we may have because he didn’t want us to get hurt. Because he loves us that much…"

AJ was actually thinking of the tensions that Kyuhyun described between him and Taemin. AJ was 100% sure his brother would have find the true motive behind all those secrets and make things hard for Kyuhyun. AJ know his brother’s way of thinking well, so why the reverse would not be ?

"Whoa… You seem to love your siblings so much…" Danielle said, really moved.

"I really do. I don’t know how only children are far