Minseok listened as Baekhyun sweetly hummed along to the tune that came out of the radio.  Baekhyun's feet rested upon the dashboard, and he had rolled the window down in order let the wind pass through his fingers.  Minseok was unsure as to why Baekhyun had rolled the window down when it was freezing outside; but since it was sunny and Baekhyun wore a small smile on his face, Minseok didn't say anything.

Minseok continued to watch as the road sped by underneath his car.  He had both hands on the wheel, but somehow the weight of future confrontations made it hard to think clearly.  He would be back there in a matter of minutes.  How was he going to face anyone?  He was planning on just showing up to his parents' house without prior contact.  He didn't know if his brother would still be living at home.  Minseok's thoughts strayed to Jongin.  Would Jongin be bitter that he was now the successor?  Was Jongin happy?

"What's your family like?" Baekhyun asked, interrupting Minseok's line of thought.

"They're... Well, my parents are meddlesome.  My brother, I haven't talked to him since I left.  He wanted to be a dancer the last time I checked." Minseok replied quietly.

"You haven't spoken to your family since you left.  Hey, why did you leave?" Baekhyun pulled his feet off of the dashboard, turning his body to face Minseok, an indicator that all of his attention was aimed on Minseok's answer.

Minseok paused, unsure of whether or not to tell him everything.  Minseok brought his hand to his face, taking a deep breath before continuing. "I didn't want to inherit my parents' business.  As soon as I made that decision, I knew that it would be harder to resist my parents' insistence that I take it over.  Then, my boyfriend wanted to get more serious, and I wasn't ready and I was afraid." Minseok let the half-truth roll of his tongue smoothly.  Perhaps it was because he'd told himself the same thing over and over.

Baekhyun nodded along, "What a scandalous past you have my friend.  Disinherited and head strong, I like it."

Minseok chuckled and Baekhyun began to notice the shift from the open road to the mansions with long winding driveways and upscale living.  "Wow.  You grew up in luxury."

Minseok took in a deep breath, glancing to his left to see a long drive way with sports cars and luxury sedans lined up.  "Yeah and I ran in the opposite direction."

Baekhyun whistled lowly when Minseok pulled into the driveway of his parents' house.  The three story mansion was fronted by a wide porch with columns supporting the over hang of the house. "I don't think I ever would have left." Baekhyun whispered, taking his feet off the dash to lean forward in order to further examine the house.  The porch railing blended with columns, but everything drew Baekhyun's attention to the stairs that lead to the front door.

Minseok opened his door and paused to look at the house in which he grew up.  It hadn't changed at all; the yard was still immaculate and the mansion's condition only seemed to have improved with time.  It was as though he never left.

He huffed out a breath, allowing a cloud of steam to escape from his mouth.  He went to the back of the car and opened his trunk as Baekhyun got out of the car.  He stared in awe while Minseok pulled their suitcases out of the back of Minseok's car.  He rolled them to where Baekhyun was standing.  "You know I didn't leave because of the sights.  You're not considering the social aspects of living in McMansion land."

Baekhyun grabbed the handle of his suitcase, "Oh, I'm sure."  Baekhyun moved forward, but Minseok stared at the mansion, slightly intimidated.

"Welcome home, Minseok." He whispered to himself as he started towards the door.  Baekhyun stopped at the door, allowing Minseok to do the honors of ringing the doorbell.  Minseok extended his pointer finger, hitting the white button once, unleashing a ding dong from the house.

He took a step back from the door and clasped his hands behind his back.  He froze in a rigid position as the front door swung open to reveal his younger brother with an incredibly shocked expression.  Minseok gave a small smile and stepped in, leaving his brother frozen with his fingers wrapped around the edge of the door.

Minseok walked into the foyer, immediately greeted by a family portrait from several years ago.  The last portrait they'd taken before Minseok practically fled from everything.

Baekhyun followed, bowing to Jongin before accompanying Minseok up the grand staircase.  Baekhyun struggled with his suitcase, silently cursing himself for over-packing.  He almost dropped it when Jongin appeared, wrapping his hand around the handle and carrying it for Baekhyun.

Minseok was greeted by his mother at the top of the stairs.  She, unlike the house, had aged.  Her hair was streaked with silver and the wrinkles around her eyes had deepened.  She resembled Minseok, but her features were somehow sharper, even with her age softening the harshness of youth.

She extended her hand to softly touch Minseok's face.  Minseok didn't respond to her gesture or lean into her touch.  Her gaze flicked to Baekhyun, who had watched the interaction with curiosity.  She looked Minseok up and down once more, "Your room is still the same way as it was when... well, you can just stay there."

Minseok nodded and walked down the hallway.  His door was last on the right. Minseok gripped the door knob, bracing himself for the waves emotions that he'd long kept at bay.  He turned his wrist and pushed forward.  His hand moved to the light switch, remembering it as though he was there just yesterday.  His room was illuminated, and Minseok found that his room was exactly as it was when he left.

The walls were the same light blue with large posters of prints placed on the wall across from his bed and above his desk.  His king size bed had the same royal blue sheets and silver pillows.  His journals were still lined up in a row on the shelf above his bed with coffee mugs as book ends.  The bay window that faced the back yard still had a couch space with blue pillows. His bulletin board was to the left of his desk still had all of the photos he'd taken with friends or empty cups of coffee that reminded him of how good that particular brew was.

Minseok took a deep breath and walked to his desk, leaving his luggage next to the doorway.  He sat in his seat, his eyes immediately drawn to the photo booth strip of him and Jongdae that was pinned to board.  Minseok leaned forward and removed the tack, taking the strip down to look at it.

The first box was him and Jongdae doing a peace sign and winking.  The second was when Jongdae decided to kiss his cheek; Minseok's eyes were wide from surprise.  The third frame was of Minseok turning to look at Jongdae whose lips were curved into a sly smile at having achieved his goal. Minseok ran his finger over the final picture.  Minseok had pressed his lips against Jongdae's smiling mouth.

Minseok felt empty, remembering when he was happy with Jongdae.  He remembered just about everything about Jongdae, despite trying his hardest to forget.  When he left, Minseok so desperately wanted to forget the way it felt when Jongdae held his hand, or the way he would absent-mindedly draw patterns on Minseok's arm during a movie.

"I'm apparently sleeping in the same room as you." Baekhyun said, cutting through the emotions swirling around Minseok's head.  Minseok set the strip down and faced his friend.

"Why's that?  We have a perfectly good guest room." Minseok stated.

Baekhyun wheeled his suitcase in behind him, dragging both his and Minseok's in front of his closet door.  He sat on the nook of the bay window, petting the fabric beneath him, "Apparently, it's in use by one of Jongin's friends.  I, for one, was surprised to find that such a massive house only has one spare room."

Minseok sighed, "Well, my parents don't make sense a lot of the time."

"We've been invited to join them for dinner."  Baekhyun stated, crossing his legs while admiring Minseok's room.

"Are we joining them?"  Minseok was leaving it up to Baekhyun.  He might as well start repaying Baekhyun for his favor.

"I wouldn't miss it for the world."

Kim Jongin was baffled.  His brother who hadn't been home for years popped up at the front door.  It might not have been so weird if Minseok ever called home or if he didn't run away.  However, Jongin knew very well that Minseok hated that house.

No, Jongin was clueless as to why on earth Minseok would appear out of thin air.  Jongin didn't know how to feel about it.  On one hand, Minseok had been an amazing older brother, right up until he bailed.  Jongin appreciated that he was taking a stand for himself, but when Minseok left, Jongin was left hurt and his parents expected him to fill Minseok's shoes.

Jongin felt his dream slip through his fingers as his parents pushed him to work for them.  Between school, dancing, and work, Jongin was spread thin.  He knew his parents hoped that he'd stop dancing and focus on becoming the next president of their business.  Despite pressure from his parents, Jongin still practiced.

Jongin didn't know what possibly motivated Minseok's return.  What Jongin did know was that Minseok was back, which meant that news would travel and somehow make it back to Jongdae.

In Jongin's opinion, Jongdae deserved much better than his brother.  That was the other thing about Minseok leaving, Jongin found himself on Jongdae's side of what had to be considered abandonment.  He was still friends with Jongdae, and if he knew that Minseok was back, Jongdae would revert back to square one.  Countless tissues and pints of ice cream had been used to help Jongdae get over it.  He was tentative to date again, but Jongin, Chanyeol, and Yixing had convinced him to go a blind date.  That relationship was newly established and blossoming.  Minseok was the match that burned the house down.

Jongin stared at his phone, wondering if he should be the one to break the news to Jongdae.  He heard a knock at his door.  "Come in."

Chanyeol stepped in, closing the door as soon as he was in the room.  "Two things.  The light is on in your brother's room, and some strange guy is doing karaoke into a hairbrush in the bathroom." Chanyeol reported, jerking his thumb towards the closed door.

"Must be Minseok's friend.  Oh yeah, my brother is back."

Chanyeol's jaw dropped to the floor. "He's... back?  With a boyfriend who dances terribly?"

"Whether or not the short guy is his boyfriend, I don't know, but Minseok is most definitely back."  Jongin met Chanyeol's confused eyes.  Chanyeol's lips formed an 'o' as he tried to find words.

Finally after a few seconds of prolonged struggling, Chanyeol asked him the question that had been on his mind for an hour, "Why?"

Jongin took a deep breath, "We'll have to find out at dinner."

a/n:

hello beloved readers.  I don't know why, but it feels like it's been so long since I updated but it's been a few days.

I pinky swear I tried my hardest to edit.

I'll see you guys in the New Year.  Hope you had a good year.

Inbox me for any clarifications that you feel are needed (but I'm still a little bit setting things up...  oh well,  ILY. bye~)