"Ok, we will be taking the tram rides up the hill." Junho announced to their tour group of 8 who were all donned in ski wear. He then turned to Yubin. "Noona, you stay behind here. I don't want you to accidentally injure your ankle again."

Still the possessive and protective younger brother he was, Yubin had no objections and accepted Junho's advice.

"I can accompany you down here if you want, baby." Seungheon offered Yubin.

But Yubin shook her head. "You should go with the boys up there. I would go too if not for my slightly fragile ankle now."

"It's ok. I can keep her company." Jessica volunteered. "I'm not good at the high hills anyway. Yubin and I can just ski on the safer lower hills here."

"Yeah. Will and I can hang around here as well." Uncle Yee injected. "We are too old for the high hills anyway."

Satisfied that Yubin had some company at the lower hill, Seungheon agreed to join the boys to the tram ride up the hill. Yubin waved goodbye at the boys as they headed up and caught both Taec and Seungheon waving back at her at the same time. Feeling awkward, she quickly turned and joined Jessica, Uncle Yee and Will to walk  to the lower hill.

Noting her uncle and his partner settling down at a nearby table at a ski cafe, Yubin asked Jessica.

"Do you wanna join them for coffee or do you want to join me for a ski, Jess?"

Jessica was glad Yubin had called her name casually as she had requested from the older girl before. "I'm up for a ski. We can do coffee later." Jessica replied.

"Alright. Let's go." Yubin waved Jessica over towards a less crowded spot at the lower hills.

"You sure your ankle is ok now?" Jessica asked in concern.

"Much better now. Don't worry." Yubin answered. Funny how she was not jealous of Taec's ex-girlfriend like she did when she first heard her name.

"You know something funny.." Jessica said casually. "I asked Taec if you were his older or younger sister and he said older. And I asked by how many years and he said 2 months! I stared at him like he was making fun of me. Haha. Then I remembered he was an orphan and had been living in an adopted family."

"Yeah..we are all not biological siblings but the family bond is as strong as a pillar. I can't live without them." Yubin admitted.

"So what was Taec like as a kid?" Jessica probed. "Was he a trouble-maker?"

Yubin laughed. "Not as much as the oldest in our family. Minjun's the trouble-maker. Believe it or not, Taec was the serious nerd in our family. But he can be fun too when he let us all bully him."

"Seriously? A big guy like him?" Jessica chuckled. "I can't believe that dude can be bullied. Back when I was dating him, I felt more like the one being bullied by him. He was always winning in all our arguments and well, who can beat a legal advisor?"

Jessica then paused as she realized. "Oops, guess I spilled the beans we are not an item now."

Yubin smiled awkwardly as this was not news to her. She believed Taec when he assured her Jess and him were just friends now.

"Was Taec a jackass to you in the past? I hoped not." Yubin asked.

"No..he was the kind of guy who gave you ample warning how not committed he was so you don't go make yourself believe you can change his ways." Jessica added. "I only dated him because he was good company and a good listener. Other than that, I knew well he was never long term boyfriend material."

"I think he often give people the wrong impression of him being a player." Yubin commented as she and Jess started putting on their skis, preparing for their low hill ski.

"Oh no. I never thought of him as a player. I just know he has this wall that is preventing him from being in any serious relationship so far. And that wall was definitely someone he loved strongly." Jessica told Yubin as she put on her ski goggles, getting ready to ski down the hill. "Ready, unnie?"

Yubin just stared at Jessica blankly. Not sure how to react to Jessica's insightful observation of Taec. Before Yubin could response, Jessica had skied down the hill swiftly.

-----

Taec watched his rival in love struggle with putting on the skis and decided to help him.

"Let me." Taec bent down and helped adjust the ski for Seungheon.

"Thanks, I haven't skied in years. I definitely lost some touch." Seungheon admitted as he let Taec helped him. When Taec was done with the skis, he nodded with a friendly smile to acknowledge Seungheon's thanks.

The older man was thankful to Taec but whom he could not describe why he felt a sense of competitive jealousy with this particular brother of Yubin's. Yubin's other brothers were all protective over her and Seungheon was fine with it but this one long-lost brother of hers was just different. Sometimes, he wondered why he felt threatened by this brother-in-law-to-be. Not so much because of the younger man's tall build but how highly intelligent he was that the family had purposely kept him away in London like he was some secret weapon. The most uncomfortable feeling was how Yubin always seemed extremely quiet whenever her other brothers mentioned Taec. But this made Seungheon all the more curious about Taec.

"Seungheon Hyung! You wanna go first?" Wooyoung called over.

"No, you guys go ahead first. I'll go last." Seungheon shook his head. He was worried he might look embarrassing with his lack of skiing skills at the moment.

Wooyoung acknowledged the casino king and skied off, followed swiftly by his 2 younger brothers, Junho and Chansung. Taec was about to ski off too but Seungheon stopped him.

"I'll race you." Seungheon challenged Taec. Seungheon was surprised at himself he even made that challenge, knowing his own ski skills had probably slacken over the years. But somehow his competitive edge got to him.

 "Sure. Why not?"  Taec shrugged as he accepted the challenge.

The 2 men braced themselves as they prepared to race down the hill. On the count of 3, they skied off together. Seungheon was glad that his skills were still there. He skied on the left while Taec took the right. Taec was leading by a few feet and Seungheon started to swerve closer to the lead. Finally Seungheon found himself closer to Taec's lead but was still losing. He noted the finishing line below only about 25metres away and decided on a sharper swerve to the right. Seungheon misjudged the distance and found himself closing in too much on Taec. So much that he bumped heavily into Taec and lost his balance. Seungheon tumbled down the hill but he was not alone as Taec too lost his balance from the impact from Seungheon.

Yubin was at the foot of the hill with the rest of her vacation members when she caught sight of the 2 men falling down the hill. Her heart jumped, worried for the both of them but her reflex action threw her towards the one in the yellow coat. She took off her skis immediately and ran towards the tumbling yellow figure, screaming to him "Taecyeonnie!!"