Chapter One 

---

“Kim Jongdae, will get your over here before I harpoon it?” Yixing grumbles loudly as the other male chuckles before making his way through the crowd of people to reach his best friend. Jongdae smiles sheepishly when accidentally elbows a stranger in the stomach. The stranger sends Jongdae a glare before picking up his coffee and taking his leave. Jongdae just sighs in annoyance before turning his face back to the grinning Yixing.

 

Yixing is two year older than Jongdae yet sometimes it seems like Jongdae is the older of the two because of his over protectiveness of the Chinese man.

 

Jongdae had known Yixing since middle school when the latter had just transferred from China and the two of them just clicked, despite the initial language barrier. It might had been the fact that Jongdae jumped in to protect Yixing when some of the latter's Korean classmates were throwing racial slurs and threats at the poor transfer student who could barely understand them.

 

Jongdae ended up with a week suspension for giving three male students black eyes and one broken nose. Jongdae on the other hand had several bruises that took nearly a month to fully heal and ever since that day, Yixing and Jongdae became best friends.

 

Yixing's levelheadedness balanced Jongdae's rash decision making and had gotten the both of them out of rough situations. Especially when Jongdae got angry, he could be almost impossible to be reasoned with, but Yixing always seemed to know what to say to cool the shorter male down.

 

“What is it Yixing? Did some guy try to hit on you again?” Jongdae says biting his lower lip, trying not to laugh at his friend. Yixing is a very attractive guy, with his beautiful smile and cute dimple that made many men and women fall to their knees just by a mere glance at it.

 

Many men and women have tried to “tap that” as Yixing would say and it annoyed the male to no end. In fact, there was not a day that Yixing worked in one of his coffeehouses where no one would attempt to slip him his or her phone number with their money.

 

Yixing also happens to own a small popular chain of coffeehouses in Seoul that have been very successful with the amount of workaholics in today's society while taking online courses to complete his degrees in business and marketing.

 

“Yes! He called me a China doll!” Yixing groans, banging his head on to the wall behind him as Jongdae bursts into laughter. He wants to feel empathic for the latter but Jongdae has had very little experience in the romantic field of life except that one awkward kiss he had shared with a senior in High school during Christmas due to a mistletoe. They both had braces and the kiss was uncomfortable, to say the least.

 

“That is a new one, who told you to be so hot?” Jongdae grins cheekily at his friend, slipping on to one of the stools in front of the coffee counter. He grins when Yixing crinkles his nose in annoyance, throwing a used napkin on to Jongdae's face.

 

“Hey, I'm just stating the obvious.” Jongdae laughs, leaning his head to the right and dodges the attack successfully.

 

“Don't laugh, just wait when it is you.”

 

“It is never going to be me.”

 

“Oh come one Jongdae, you don't know that.” Yixing says softly but Jongdae just shakes his head and shrugs. Yixing claims that Jongdae's lack of love life is caused by his aloof behavior and his issues with commitment, which Jongdae had denied many times but the latter keeps bring it up.

 

Jongdae does not have commitment issues, it is simply because he has never met someone he felt a desire for. Sure, many handsome men had asked him out before but they all were rejected by the short raven haired boy without even a second glance.

 

“Aish, sometimes I wonder if you have a heart in that chest of yours.” Yixing pouts, his lips changing quickly into a soft scowl at his dear friend.

 

Jongdae just merely chortles before sliding off the stool and heads back to making coffee alongside of the other barista, Jessica who nearly bursts into tears of joy at the sight of Jongdae while she deals with the long line of irritable business men and women. Jongdae hums softly under his breath as he pours a fresh batch of a mocha frappacino into a cup, before adding a swirl of white and fluffy whipped cream on top of it.

 

He had decided not to go to college two years ago, against his parents' wishes to help Yixing with his business by becoming a barista with him. His parents were furious, in fact they instructed Jongdae to never return home unless he becomes willing to go to college. Jongdae comes from a long line of doctors, his father is a cardiologist, his mother is a dermatologist, both his grandparents from his father side were brain surgeons. His parents wanted him to continue the Kim line of doctors but Jongdae, at the time did not know if he wanted to follow in their footsteps so he chose to not get a higher education. He had not stepped foot into his own home in two years and has been crashing on Yixing's couch.

 

His parents had big dreams for him, because of his voice and his intelligence. He easily remembered numbers and facts that he was taught and had a amazing singing voice. His parents had hoped that he would have been able to attend, Seoul Performing Arts University. It was a private college that offered the best teachers in the country, and a variety of many degrees but one had to possess a talent in one of the arts: Singing, Dancing, Sports, etc.

 

Now that Jongdae had left home, he supposed all the responsibilities of being the generation of the Kim family to be a doctor would land on his younger twin, Chen.

 

Although the two were twins, they could not be more different. Chen is soft-spoken and quiet while Jongdae is assertive and loud. Both of them were incredibly smart but only Jongdae possessed the stunning musical talent while Chen was not musical inclined except in playing the piano.

 

They were different sides of the same coin but Chen has always been the softer of the two. Jongdae sometimes still worries if his younger brother could handle such stress of being the only heir to their family.

 

Jongdae sighs as he sits down on a chair behind the coffee counter, the morning rush had finally ended and he could take a short breather. He grabs one of the freshly made donuts and takes a big bite, trying to shake his mind off his younger brother but grimaces, it was chocolate flavored and Jongdae does not enjoy the taste of chocolate. Frowning, he grabs a napkin and spits the remains into it before tossing it into the trashcan.

 

“Jongdae?” Yixing suddenly hollers loudly, causing half the customers to look up from their laptops before quietly returning to their internet surfing. Jongdae rolls his eyes at his friend's crazy antics, especially since he was only about five feet away from the older.

 

“What is it?”

 

“Phone, it is for you.” Yixing grins childishly before handing the wall phone to Jongdae and skips off to check inventory. These are moments when Jongdae feels like the older of the two.

“Hello?” Jongdae answers curiously, he rarely got calls from people since the only person he communicates with, is Yixing. He toys with the cord connecting the phone to the wall, biting his lip as he awaits for an answer.

 

“Uh... I'm going to hang up now.” He says annoyed when he hears silence on the other hand, it better not be Yixing trying to prank him.

 

“Jongdae...” A whisper comes through the machine, causing the male to freeze.

 

“Chen?”

 

“I need your help... It is a emergency.” Jongdae frowns when he hears Chen's voice breaks slightly, is his brother crying? Which is strange, his brother almost never cries unless it was serious. That is something that had in common.

 

“I'll be right there.”
 

 

Following the address that Chen had told him over the phone, Jongdae hailed a taxi cab and found himself in front of one of Seoul's major hospitals. He had said a hurried goodbye to Yixing who scrambles to help the emotional Jessica with the new lunch rush that seemed to arrive as soon as Jongdae opened the door of the coffeehouse.

 

“Why is Chen here?” Jongdae blinks, his eyes squints slightly up at the hospital sign. It was the hospital specialized in Cancer Treatment and Physical Therapy. From what he remembered, his brother had always been in good health. Even better health than Jongdae himself, and never had signs of any illnesses.

 

His mind clouds with worry as he walks into the hospital, his eyes widens slightly to accustom the bright white walls of the hospital. He never did like the color white, it made him feel uncomfortable.

 

Looking down at the sheet of paper with the room number written in a rush, Jongdae walks towards the Information desk, sighing when he sees there were a good amount of people in front of him. Sighing he pulls out his mp3 player, plugging in his purple earphones and turns the device on. He smiles when one of his favorite bands comes on, it was Mayday Parade's Terrible Things. He did not understand much of the English lyrics but the melody is very beautiful, in Jongdae's opinion.

 

“How may I help you?” A middle age woman says with a plastic smile that causes Jongdae to inwardly cringe at the bogus grin but he forces himself to swallow his discomfort, reaching out to show her the piece of paper.

 

“It is on this floor, walk down that hallway until you reach the cafeteria and then makes a left. It should be one of the first rooms you see to your left.”

 

“Thank you.” Jongdae smiles lightly, bowing his head slightly in respect. He changes the setting of his mp3 to shuffle, turning the volume up until he could no longer hear the bustling of the crowd around him at one pm in the afternoon. He notices there are a good number of the patients are children and old people. There are little to no adult patients in the ward. His heart aches a little when he notices some of the kids did not have any hair on their head and had to wear a small blue caps to hide their baldness but it was not their disease that caused the ache in Jongdae's chest but the sad and hopeless look in their eyes.

 

No one is too young to be broken...

 

Jongdae sighs as he lowers his head, heading to the room that was written on to the paper. He takes a deep breath and presses his hand to the door handle, and turns the knob. His breath hitches slightly when he pushes the door open and sees his own reflection. Yet it is not him. It is his twin, Chen.

 

Chen looks up from his reading, his eyes brightens when he sees his brother at the doorway. He gently sets his book to his side, before lifting his arms up and beckons Jongdae to come closer.

 

“Jongdae... you came.” Chen says weakly, his voice breaks again as tears pools at the corners of his eyes. Jongdae nods, giving a light grin to his younger twin before pulling a packet of tissue from his pocket. He hands a couple to his brother who takes them gladly. Jongdae frowns slightly, Chen look thinner than he did two years ago, his skin lost it's healthy glow and grew a white and translucent like glue.

 

“It is nice to see you again Jongdae.” A gruff voice surprises Jongdae as he turns to his left and sees his parents. They both look overly distraught except there is a hint of sadness in their demeanor. His parents has not changed at all, both still look rather young and youthful if not for the bags under their eyes.

 

“What is wrong with Chen.” Jongdae chokes out as he stares at his brother who only stares at his hands in silence.

 

“A few months ago, while Chen was leaving school to come home for summer break... he was hit by a car. A drunk driver was driving and he did not see the red light and ends up hitting your brother. Chen manages to live through the accident but he... could no longer walk. At first, my friend the specialist told me that it would be temporary but as time passed, there was no improvement in Chen 's leg...” His father trails off and Chen notices that as his father speaks, his face also seems to age a couple years. His father has always been quite handsome for his age but now he looks a couple years older with the stress wrinkles on his forehead.

 

“....and?”

 

“They say... I might never walk again but there is a chance, and I need to stay here full time to get treatment if I want my legs to fully heal. However, school starts in a couple days and Seoul Performing Arts University requires students to attend full time. If I do not go to school, I would be expelled.” Chen says quickly allowing his voice to trail off until silence fills the room once more. Jongdae stares at his younger brother in shock, his eyes suddenly drawn to the silver wheelchair next to Chen's bed.

 

“You can't expect him to go right?” Jongdae growls angrily at his parents, whom look at him shock.

 

“Of course not but he wants to go.” Jongdae's mother says sadly, resting her head on his father's shoulder, closing them in fatigue. Jongdae turns and looks at his brother, who looks back at him patiently as if waiting for Jongdae to approve of his decision but Jongdae feels quite the opposite.

 

“You need to get treatment Kim Chen. As your older brother, I demand you stay in this bed until you can fully walk again.” Jongdae states with authority as he sits at the edge of his brother's bed.

 

“No please, I don't want to be expelled.” Chen cries, grabbing his pillow and buries his face into it as Jongdae sighs. He forgot that unlike him, Chen has always been afraid of failing even if it was not his fault. He reaches out and ruffles his brother's hair gently, smiling lightly when a pair of red eyes look back at his own.

 

“What do you want me to do about it?” Jongdae sighs, chuckling bitterly to himself. He could never not give Chen what he wanted, even when they fought in the past. Chen is his twin and one of the only people he could never say no to.

 

Chen looks out of the window silently, his hands clutches the white hospital blanket. His eyes void of all happiness, like the eyes Jongdae had seen on the faces of the cancer ridden children outside of Chen's room.

 

“Impersonate me.” The younger finally utters softly.