It was as if the world was suddenly put on mute.  

Joon watched as Hyunsik’s mouth moved but he couldn’t hear anything over the thudding of his heart and the sound of his own echoed breathing.  His sight wavered as he tried to focus his gaze on the woman before him.  He felt his arms grow numb and his legs go weak.  

So this was the woman.  Dressed in a black gown with a black laced shawl, she resembled a bringer of death.  And she almost had to Joon all those years ago.  Her hair was chin length and neatly styled to one side.  Around her neck was a string of pearls that faded against the dark of her outfit.  Her gaze was equally black.  And although her face formed a smile, her eyes were like the black winter ice.  Her presence terrified Joon more so than those four men ever could.  It was a different kind of terror; one that could only be found in the far depth of one’s subconscious.  He teetered on his feet as he tried to keep his sense of balance.

“You alright?”

As Seungho’s soft and warm voice cut through the silence, Joon released the breath he had been holding.  He desperately wanted to burrow into Seungho’s chest and close his eyes.

Seungho gripped Joon’s arm to steady him and murmured softly, “You’re really pale… should I excuse us?”

Joon let out a shaky breath and shook his head.  Sound slowly filtered back into his ears.  He heard Hyunsik introducing Cheondoong to Song Bangna beside them.  He felt the discomfort of cold sweat underneath his suit as he tried to straighten up.  Keeping his face carefully blank, he took a deep breath and tried to maintain his composure.  “I’m fine,” he whispered.

“… of our best dancers.  I think he’ll be quite famous once he debuts,” Hyunsik said as Cheondoong bowed at them.  Beaming, Hyunsik gestured to Joon next.  “And this is our recent star, Lee Joon-goon.  He’s quite famous right now with the fashion industry.  His work with Critique has been highly acclaimed…”

Joon’s heart continued to race as stared at Song Bangna.  Would she recognize him?  Could she recognize the grown up boy that she had plotted to kill years ago?  If so, how would she react?  Would she look at him with surprise as Soyun and Sora did?  Or would her face contort to reveal her true inner devil?

But as Song Bangna turned her gaze on him, not a single flicker of recognition flashed through her expression.  She simply smiled and nodded as she looked at him and took in his features.  She was as cool as the winter air and looked at him as if he were any other person.

“Yah,” Hyunsik said, nudging Joon, “Be respectful.”  He eyed Joon with a warning as he looked at him with a forced smile.

Catching on, Joon quickly bowed towards her and said, “Nice to meet you, hwajangnim.”  Again, he was surprised to find his voice steady.

She nodded in response and smiled.  And as Hyunsik moved on to introduce Seungho, her gaze followed and turned away from Joon.

How could this be possible?  Joon watched her as she gazed at Seungho with a similar smile.  She didn’t recognize him at all?  When all the others had been so shocked when they had first seen Joon?  Dongmin, Jin, Soyun, and Sora… they had all been speechless when they first landed eyes on him.  So… why not Song Bangna?  Shouldn’t she be the most shocked?  Shocked to see that he was alive?  Shocked that he was standing before her in a setting such as this?  It didn’t make any sense.

“Seungho is another one of our top talents,” Hyunsik said proudly as Seungho bowed, “He’s a master pianist and a great IT technician.  He can both fix your electronics and woo you with beautiful music!”  Hyunsik grinned as Song Bangna let out a small chuckle.

“Well in that case,” she said, gesturing to the white piano in the middle of the room, “Why not woo us with your music?  It would be a great way to gain everyone’s attention for the welcoming speech.”  She looked at Seungho with a smile.  “How about it, Seungho-goon?” she asked.

Seungho blinked in surprise.  He glanced at Hyunsik quickly.  When Hyunsik nodded at him, he bowed and said, “It would be my pleasure, hwajangnim.”

Equally surprised, Joon watched as Seungho made his way to the stage.  Seungho… played the piano?  He had no idea.  He had never once seen him practice piano at headquarters and had never heard him play.  Joon felt both pleasantly surprised to discover something new about Seungho and strangely upset that he didn’t already know.

As Seungho approached the piano, the pianist finished his song and gestured for Seungho to sit in his place.  Bowing, Seungho took a seat and cracked his fingers.  The guests buzzed on with their conversations without noticing the change in musician.

As Seungho began playing, however, the conversations quickly died as guests turned their heads to look at the handsome young man playing a beautiful rendition of Beethoven’s Appassionata 3^rd movement.  The hall was soon filled with a beautiful melody as Seungho’s fingers danced their way across the keys.  

Joon became entranced by the view before him.  He momentarily forgot about everything and just watched in amazement as Seungho, once again, took his breath away.  He watched Seungho bob his head along with the music through its crescendos.  Joon felt the pit of his stomach suddenly burn with need as he watched Seungho perform.  It was incredibly alluring, despite the innocence of the performance.

“Hmm…” Bangna sudden said, jolting Joon out of his peaceful lull, “He is quite good.”  She smiled as she gazed at Seungho.

Joon suddenly felt a flutter of fear as he watched Bangna’s gaze change from her cold and unfeeling stare to something more… filled with passion.  He wasn’t sure why she suddenly changed… but it unnerved him to think that her gaze was direct at Seungho.  He felt a shudder pass through him as the smile on her face slowly faded.

Turning to Hyunsik, Bangna said softly, “Well then…”  Nodding her head, she made her way to the stage.  The boy, Changwook followed her with a wave at Cheondoong.

Joon wanted to pull on her shawl.  He wanted to grab her by the arms and throw her as far away from Seungho as possible.  But as she made her way to the stage, there was nothing Joon could do but watch as she took the microphone.

Instead of running at her and tackling her to the ground, Joon turned to Cheondoong, who looked like he was still reeling from the introductions.

“Cheondoong…” Joon said nervously.  Before Cheondoong could resume asking him about his relationship with Seungho, he asked, “Who’s the boy?  He seems to be really fond of you…”

Cheondoong shook his head as he watched the boy take his place beside Song Bangna.  “That’s her son,” he muttered, “They came to the bakery a lot… I had no idea.”

Joon’s eyes widened as he quickly looked at the boy.  Changwook, the boy had said when he’d introduced himself to Hyunsik.  Changwook… Jin had mentioned that Song Bangna had a son.  So that was who he was.  Lee Changwook… Joon’s, or rather Lee Changsun’s, step-brother.

Joon took a shaky breath as he looked at the boy.  He certainly resembled his mother there was no mistake about that.  But certain parts of his face were similar to the face Joon saw in the mirror every day.  Was it the soft slant of his eyes?  Or the bridge of his nose?  Maybe it was the two large front teeth?  Whatever it was, Joon could definitely see a bit of himself in the boy.  His step-brother…

As Seungho finished his piece, he stood from his seat and bowed at the crowd as they gave him a loud applause.  With one final bow at Song Bangna, Seungho quickly made his way back to Joon.  Several younger women followed him with their gaze as he returned and nodded to themselves approvingly.  Joon couldn’t help but feel both wowed by the amazing performance and irritable that Seungho drew so much attention.

Seungho exhaled as he took a spot besides Joon.  A sheen of sweat covered his forehead as he his lips nervously.  “Well,” he muttered, “That was nerve wracking…”

“It was quite nice,” Joon murmured, handing him a napkin, “I didn’t know you played.”

“Since I was a kid,” Seungho replied, dabbing at the sweat, “She sort of just… sprung that one on me.  Didn’t expect it at all…”

“Well you played very well,” Joon said with a gentle smile.  With a quick glance towards Cheondoong, who was, again, bickering with Soyun off to the side, Joon added in a whisper, “I really liked… I’ll show you how much later.”

Seungho’s eyebrows shot to his hairline as he turned to look at Joon.  His surprised expression quickly changed into a naughty smile as his lips curved into a smirk.  “Well,” he said, clearing his throat and trying to wipe the grin off his face, “Guess it was worth it then…”

Joon chuckled quietly as his arm brushed Seungho’s.  While his previous anxiety still remained, he felt calmer now.  It was amazing what a small conversation with Seungho could do to calm his nerves.

“By the way,” Seungho muttered under his breath, “What was that about before?  You looked really pale and you were wobbling on your feet…”  He glanced at Joon, his eyes searching Joon’s face with worry.

Joon met his eyes.  He could see the worry in Seungho’s eyes.  He wanted to take that worry away but… could he do it?  Could he tell Seungho of his past?  If he did… how would Seungho react?  Would he stay by Joon’s side knowing that it was dangerous?  Or would he demand that the two of them leave KTA as Jin had requested?

Regardless of how Seungho reacted, Joon had to make a decision.  Should he stay at KTA and continue to put Cheondoong and Seungho at risk?  Or should he leave and disappear quietly on his own?  He already knew what the better choice was but… could he really leave them?  Could he really leave Seungho by himself?

Hyunsik sighed as he relieved himself in the bathroom.  He had been holding it in for the past half an hour as he waited for Song-hwajangnim to finish her speech.  As soon as she stepped off of the stage, he had rushed off to the nearest bathroom.

Washing his hands, he took his glasses off and rubbed his eyes.  He was exhausted; sleep had been difficult the past few days because of all the paperwork that had been slowly building up.  He planned on getting a good night’s sleep tonight…

Drying his hands, Hyunsik exited the bathroom and walked down the hallway.  It was when he heard soft voices did he finally realize that he had turned in the wrong direction.  Before him was a small staffing office with the door ajar.  Soft murmurs came from inside the room.  Mouthing a silent oops, Hyunsik turned around and began walking away when the a few words of the murmured conversation floated to his ear.

“…that boy…” came a low toned female voice, “…what did you say his name was again?”

“Lee Joon, hwajangnim,” came a man’s nervous voice.  Hyunsik was almost positive it was Kim Dongmin.  And he had said hwajangnim… so the female voice belonged to Song Bangna?

“Lee… Joon?” she said quietly, her voice filled with confusion, “Are you sure?  There’s too much of a resemblance…”

“I noticed too,” Dongmin replied, his voice carrying clearly into the hallway, “I was suspicious too at first.”

“If the boy lived, I expect he would look something like this Lee Joon boy,” Bangna said, her voice edgy and low, “How do we know he’s not?”

“I questioned him,” Dongmin said quickly, “He has a family.  He answered so when I asked…”

There was a brief moment of silence before Bangna replied, “He did not recognize me today; that I found strange…”

“He didn’t recognize me either,” Dongmin said, “And he didn’t recognize either Soyun or Sora.  I’m very sure that he is not Lee Changsun.”

“Even if that’s the case,” Bangna sighed, “Keep your eye on him and report to me his activities.  I want to be sure…”

“Yes,” Dongmin replied, “But… hwajangnim… I’m only asking as a just in case but… what if… what if he is?”

Again, there was a moment of silence before Bangna replied in a steely voice, “Then we take out the garbage for good this time… no more mistakes.”

Hearing their footsteps moving towards the door, Hyunsik quickly dove back inside the bathroom.  His heart raced as he peeked through the door crack and watched Song Bangna and Dongmin walk past him.  Sighing in relief, he leaned against the bathroom wall and furrowed his brows.

What were the two talking about?  It had something to do with Lee Joon.  Dongmin had been acting strange from the first day he’d laid eyes on Joon… had he been talking about that one visit?  And who was this Lee Changsun characters?  The name sounded familiar…

Taking a deep breath, Hyunsik stepped outside and wiped his expression clean of his confusion.  Whatever they were talking about, he would figure it out later at home.  In the meantime, he had to keep an eye on his boys.  Yongjae had been missing since the start; Hyunsik had seen him flitting around from circle to circle trying to impress and introduce himself to people.  And Joon… he had looked quite pale just before the speech.  

Sighing, Hyunsik walked into the hall and scratched his head.  These boys were going to be the death of him…

Seungho stumbled into the dorm with Joon closely behind him.  He was exhausted.  The rest of the night had gone as similarly as it had begun.  After the speech, people came buzzing over to them with sparkles in their eyes.  They had bombarded the boys with questions and had left Hyunsik their contact information.

According to Hyunsik, this happened every year.  Every time KTA brought their new promising talents to the fundraiser, they would get swarmed with attention.  Seungho only wished he’d been told that before he’d agreed to go.  After fielding through questions and his unexpected piano performance, he wanted to give up the shower and go to bed.  Except…

He turned to watch Joon kick off his shoes and hang up his winter jacket.  Joon shrugged out of his suit blazer and tossed it onto a chair.  Seungho his lips when Joon sighed and sat down on his bed.  It was true Seungho was exhausted, but he was still looking forward to what Joon had promised earlier…

Spotting his gaze, Joon looked up at him and smiled.  “You look… more tired than usual,” he said, standing and shuffling over to where Seungho was leaning against the wall, “Your dark circles are darker and more circular than ever.”  He leaned in and placed a soft kiss on Seungho’s eyes.

“Hmm…” Seungho sighed, wrapping his arms around Joon’s waist, “That’s not where I want my kiss.”  Reaching up, he positioned Joon’s face and leaned in for a real kiss.  He felt Joon relax against him and cup his face.  “So...” Seungho murmured as placed kiss after kiss on Joon’s soft lips, “Weren’t you going to show me something?”

“Something?” Joon murmured against the onslaught of kisses.  He stepped forward and pushed his body against Seungho’s as he smiled sneakily.

“Something about how much you liked my performance…” Seungho said, trailing kisses along his jaw and neck.

“I thought you were tired,” Joon said as Seungho tugged on his shirt.

Seungho scoffed and nuzzled his face into Joon’s collarbone.  “I’m never too tired for this,” he said softly, subbing his cheek against Joon’s neck.

Joon laughed and pulled away.  “We should shower,” he said, walking away towards the closet.  Soon he began discarding his clothes and pulling out his pajamas.

Seungho sighed and followed suit.  “I was hoping we could skip the shower and get right to it,” he complained as he shrugged out of his own blazer.

Joon looked at him in surprise and said, “Who said we can’t do both?”  With a naughty of his head, he pulled off his underwear and walked to the shower in his birthday suit.

Seungho blinked as he heard the sound of the shower come on.  Suddenly… he wasn’t so tired anymore.

Author's note:

Sorry, another inexplicit shower scene XD  I promise there will be more later!  

goon - polite term to address a younger male