finale [fə-ˈna-lē] n. - the concluding event of a sequence

Warning: This is quite a long chapter, so make sure you read this only if you have time to spare.

“Mihyun’s not home?” Luhan asked as he seated himself beside Sehun who had been attempting to read a book for the past hour. After watching Sehun remain on the same page for the past ten minutes, he had decided that he would relieve the younger of the torture and give him a reason to set aside the novel.

“Yeah,” Sehun huffed, unconsciously glancing over at the front door in hopes that she’d return.

“You’re like a puppy,” Luhan cooed, his eyes crinkling into small crescents as he disheveled the front of Sehun’s hair. “Waiting for your master to come back from work, are you?”

Sehun’s eyes narrowed at his Hyung’s teasing, and he swatted him gently away, “Oh Sehun is not a puppy.”

“You know, I was wondering,” Luhan piped up as he stared thoughtfully up into the air, “If you and Mihyun get married, are you going to take her last name or is she going to take yours? Because normally the wife takes the husband’s last name, but Mihyun is clearly the man in this relationship.”

“Hyung I’m going to kill you, I swear to god I will,” Sehun growled under his breath as he shot him a dirty look.

Luhan hummed happily in reply, pretending that he hadn’t heard a single word the other had uttered.

Sehun glanced at him over the top of his book and observed the light expression that was draped across Luhan’s face. “You’ve changed, Hyung,” Sehun smiled lightly. “You’re happier now.”

There was a pause of silence.

“Yeah?” Luhan asked softly. He tilted his head back and gazed up at the ceiling. “Minseok.”

Sehun turned to him with a confused expression, “What?”

“Minseok,” Luhan repeated, his face falling just the slightest at the name. He glanced at Sehun from the corner of his eye, “Before he died, he told me to live my life happily so I won't have any regrets.”

He stretched an arm and waved up at the ceiling as if he could see Minseok himself, “So I am. So when Minseok watches me from up there, he won’t regret giving up his life for me.”

The pair of them fell silent for a few minutes, Luhan’s arm dropping limply back to his side with a quiet thud.

“Were you… were you and Minseok Hyung close?” Sehun asked slowly, glancing quickly at Luhan’s face to gauge his reaction. It was the first time any of them had discussed the older male with Luhan, or at least the first time Sehun had. None of them wanted to reopen wounds that weren’t fully closed, and had been waiting for Luhan to be the first to initiate the conversation.

Luhan pursued his lips thoughtfully before shaking his head, “No, but I guess I have to say that I was the closest to him out of all of you guys. He used to talk to me, you know? Even if I couldn’t respond. He used to tell me about the life he never really had.”

Sehun arched an eyebrow of confusion at his words, “What do you mean?”

Luhan kicked his legs up onto the coffee table in front of him and let out a quiet hum, “I wonder if he’d be okay with me telling you this. He never said that I couldn’t tell anybody, but to be fair, at that time I didn’t speak so I couldn’t tell anybody even if I wanted to.”

He glanced at Sehun out of the corner of his eye and flashed him a smile, “Still, I think he’d be okay with me telling you. He knew how close we were, anyways.”

Sehun stared at him silently, patiently waiting for whenever Luhan was ready.

“Minseok’s parents abandoned him when he was ten years old,” Luhan began, folding his hands together on his lap. “He was sent to an orphanage after that, but he ran away after three years. The place was so overrun with kids that the supervisors wouldn’t have even noticed if he ran for it – that’s what he said, at least. He wandered the streets for a good two years, working odd jobs for shady people, and he’d always move once people got a little too nosey about his background. When he was 15 he began working for a gang; he said the work was dirty but the pay was enough to feed and clothe him.”

“He said he stuck with the gang for a good three years, or at least that’s what he thought – by then he didn’t even really bother to continue to keep track of time. Until there was one job he was assigned to do that he messed up, badly, from how he described it to me. I never knew the details, but it must have been bad enough for them to want to take his life for it,” Luhan continued, examining each of his fingers as he spoke. “He hid out in a ditch from that point on. He said he’d just lie there for hours, and get food from the dumpster nearby. It was right next to a restaurant, so he thought that luck was finally on his side.”

“Can you believe that?” Luhan let out a low, bitter chuckle. “He scored food out of a restaurant dumpster and thought he was the luckiest man alive.”

“Anyways, he didn’t know how long he lived like that, but eventually officials from the Noye house found him and took him in. Said that with a face like that, he’d live a better life becoming somebody’s Noye than to live out in the streets like a bum,” Luhan murmured as he raked through his hair with his thin fingers. “Personally, he said, he didn’t want to have a rebellion. He said that he’d just end up back on the streets, this time with an even bigger price tag on his head.”

Luhan’s hands clenched into tight fists at his side, and his body began to shake as he recalled the painful memory, “That night, that night of the rebellion. He came to me, he came to me and he wrapped his hand around mine to make sure he was still pressing down on the grenade before slipping it carefully out of my hand. He didn’t even say anything, he didn’t explain why he was doing it but I still let him do it.”

Luhan let out a round of forced laughter and scratched the back of his head, “Talking this much after several years of being mute is really tiring, isn’t it?”

“You don’t have to look like that, Hyung,” Sehun spoke up in a low voice.

Luhan froze, glancing nervously over at Sehun, “What do you mean?”

“Minseok Hyung, he wouldn’t be happy to know that you’re forcing away from your grief to pretend to be happy,” Sehun answered thoughtfully. 

Luhan blinked.

And then he cried.

Sehun gazed at the elder with a soft expression, watching as Luhan bawled at the top of his lungs like a child crying for his mother. Luhan was older than him, yes, but Sehun couldn’t help but see him as a child. A child needing to be cared for and watched over and scolded at the right times.

A good fifteen minutes passed by before Luhan’s cries finally died down. As an afterthought, it was kind of embarrassing to cry that loud and recklessly when he was a grown man. He flinched when he heard the sound of a door opening, and inwardly groaned to himself; to make matters worse, the others had been home to hear his tantrum as well.

“It was about time you stopped crying,” Jongin muttered as he rubbed his temples. “No offense Hyung, but you sound like a dying whale.”

Baekhyun slammed his elbow into Jongin’s ribs without even blinking. He turned to Luhan and offered him a kind smile, “I’m glad that you finally released your emotions, Hyung.”

Luhan sniffed, refusing to glance over at the pair.

Baekhyun cleared his throat awkwardly and turned to Sehun with a forced smile, “I uh, wh-when’s Mihyun coming home, Sehun?”

Sehun shrugged in what he hoped was a nonchalant manner before coolly picking his book back up, “How should I know?”

Baekhyun blinked, “Are you trying to look indifferent? Because it’s not working you obvious brat.”

Sehun flushed with embarrassment and threw his book at Baekhyun as his response.

“Yah! You little I’m your hyung!” Baekhyun barked as he dodged the flying object.

“Who are you calling a little ?” Mihyun piped up curiously as she popped into the living room with Jaesuk trailing closely behind her.

“I bet it’s Sehun,” Jaesuk commented.

“Ding ding,” Jongin clapped dully. “You’re right.”

Mihyun took note of the tear tracks that stained Luhan’s cheeks, and she stared questioningly at Sehun. He gave his head a brief shake, signaling not to ask about it for now. She stared at him for a few seconds before mouthing, “Minseok”. He hesitated for a few seconds but nodded his head in confirmation.

Mihyun’s expression lightened, and the corners of her lips curved upwards into a small smile; so he had finally decided to cry for him.

“We brought you guys take out today,” Mihyun announced as she held up the plastic bags containing the dinner for the nigt.

Jongin’s eyes widened with delight and he let out a cry so gleeful Mihyun seriously had to question whether or not it had actually come from him. Chanyeol must have heard Mihyun’s words from the other room as well, because he too let out a happy yelp.

“You guys are offending Jaesuk, you know,” Mihyun frowned teasingly. “Are his meals not good enough for you guys that you’d act like take out is the best thing in the world?”

Jongin shook his head and clapped a hand reassuringly on Jaesuk’s shoulder, “It’s not that, Hyung. It’s just that your meals are very… healthy. And I mean don’t get us wrong, we definitely appreciate our… nutrients, but it’s very, very nice to have food completely drenched in grease and fat sometimes!”

Mihyun hummed in agreement as she opened the boxes of Chinese takeout and fried chicken, “I agree with Jongin.”

Jaesuk looked absolutely appalled with her words, “For whose health do I cook so health conscious for?!”

Mihyun let out a soft chuckle at his incredulous expression and nudged him gently with her elbow, “I’m just teasing, Jaesuk.”

“Agashi!” Jaesuk exclaimed.

Mihyun laughed good-naturely and passed around the plastic plates, “Well, I would assume that you guys are hungry, so go ahead and start.”

“With pleasure,” Jongin grinned as he spooned fried rice and chicken onto his plate. The others quickly mimicked his actions, eager to indulge the greasy goodness.

“You guys forgot about me!” Chanyeol’s faint wail sounded from another room.

Baekhyun’s eyes widened in realization and he immediately left the table to get the other, “Sorry Yeol, I forgot all about you!”

“Anyways, why the special dinner?” Jongin asked with a cocked head, his mouth nearly stuffed full with fried chicken.

Mihyun paused for a few seconds, her eyes practically gleaming with triumph, “It’s a celebratory dinner!”

“What are we celebrating? Jongin’s clear lack of table manners?” Sehun snorted, avoiding the drum stick Jongin flung in his direction shortly after.

“Don’t you dare ruin my kitchen!” Jaesuk barked as he quickly went to clean up the mess the pair had created. He whined to himself after seeing the grease stain on his beloved table mats.

“Let Mihyun talk,” Luhan demanded with furrowed eyebrows.

“Thanks Lu,” Mihyun tossed him an appreciative smile. She stared at the other boys who were gazing back at her with anticipation in silence before a wide grin spread across her face. “The case was settled earlier this evening. You are all officially free of your titles as Noyes.”

Her words were met with silence.

A loud thud sounded across the room, caused by Baekhyun who had suddenly let go of Chanyeol. The fallen male had no complaints, however, and could only gaze at Mihyun with shock at the sudden information.

Jongin stared blankly at the drumstick that was in his hand for a few seconds before staring back at Mihyun, “You mean… we’re…. we’re free?”

Mihyun smiled and nodded her head, “Yeah.”

“We’re free,” Baekhyun repeated the words, testing the sound out on his tongue. “We’re free.”

Mihyun laughed and shuffled the front of the boy’s hair, “Yes! You’re free!”

His eyes lit up like Christmas lights, finally processing the meaning behind the simple word. He threw his arms up in the air and laughed gleefully as he wrapped his arms tightly around Chanyeol’s shoulders, “We’re free! Channie, we’re free!”

“So I heard,” Chanyeol grinned in response, his happiness outweighing the pain of the pressure Baekhyun unintentionally pressed onto his wound.

“We’re not… we’re not Noyes anymore,” Jongin murmured slowly, almost in disbelief. “We’re just… we’re just…”

“You’re just humans,” Mihyun finished for him as she took his hands into her own. She beamed at him, “You’re all just regular, untitled, humans.”

The word human never made them feel so alive.

“W-Wait, but what happened?” Baekhyun asked as he hushed down all the excitement. “What did they say exactly?!”

“According to the court ruling, all slaves that escaped from the revolting Seoul Noye house are now entitled as freemen. Those who had been captured by the city officials are also to be released from the prisons and declared free men as well,” Mihyun beamed. “The only downside was that those whom were already sold as Noyes have to remain as such.” She glanced over at Sehun and Luhan and teasingly added, “So I guess you two are still exclusively mine.”

Luhan and Sehun exchanged looks at her words and responded with simultaneous smiles, “We don’t have a problem with that.”

“So everything we worked for paid off,” Chanyeol breathed, closing his eyes to soak in the reality of the moment. “It all paid off, we’re free.”

“Yeah,” Mihyun smiled as she locked gazes with Sehun. “You’re all free.”

“I don’t understand why I have to wear this,” Sehun frowned as he stared down at his suffocating suit. “We already won, right? So it shouldn’t matter if I show up in like a t-shirt, right?”

“Stop complaining,” Mihyun rolled her eyes as she nudged him gently in the ribs. “Sure we won, but that doesn’t mean we can suddenly show up looking like slobs. And if you think you have it bad, you should try wearing these damn high heels every day.”

“I think they should make a law that t-shirts and jeans are just as acceptable as suits,” Sehun muttered under his breath as he attempted to loosen his tie.

“I would second that,” Mihyun nodded in approval. She swatted away his hand, “And stop messing with that.”

“But it’s too tight,” Sehun whined