“Jongin, you’ve got a letter. It looks like it might be important,” Kyungsoo said as he closed the front door with his back, flipping through the stack of mail he had retrieved. Jongin stretched his arms above his head, using them to then push himself off the couch, where he had been spending most of his time the last week as classes were out to give students the chance to study for finals the following week. The envelope had his name handwritten in both hangul and English, perking the dark haired male’s curiosity and he settled at the dining room table, gently opening the envelope.

Dear Jongin Kim,

Several months ago we reached out to the top art schools for recommendations of students whom excelled at various forms of art, including but not limited to 2-D art, dance, and sculpting. Among those that were recommended to us, you were selected out of the top five perfect, and thusly we would like to welcome you to our school to teach a two month course.

Should you choose to accept we shall arrange for you to travel here to the United States, all expenses paid, as well as discuss your compensation for joining us.

Please respond by July 1st, by calling xxx-xxx-xxxx or emailing us at [email protected].

We look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,
Karla Johnson

Jongin stared at the letter, face paling a little from the shock, blinking when he was no longer staring at black letters on an off-white piece of paper, looking up to see Kyungsoo reading over the letter, eyes widening a little.

“That… that says what I think it says, doesn’t it?” Jongin asked meekly, Kyungsoo lowering the letter to the table as a proud look entered his eyes and he smiled, pulling Jongin into a hug.

“It says that all your amazing hard word is going to pay off,” he replied, Jongin’s heart thundering in his chest.

Jongin tapped his foot under the table of the restaurant he was meeting Sehun at for lunch, feeling his stomach roll to the point that he was starting to wonder if he was going to actually be able to keep down anything that he ordered. The blond had such a hard time when he and Kyungsoo had gone out of town for their honeymoon, and that had only been for a few days. How was he going to break it to the other that he was going to be gone for two months? He took a deep breath, then a sip of the glass of water their server had placed on the table while he waited, the memory playing back in his mind.

“Jongin-Hyung!” The dark haired male snapped back to attention, eyes focusing on the pair now sitting across from him, Sehun’s hand hanging in the air as if he had been waving it in the older’s face. “You okay? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you space out like that,” Sehun asked, Jongin swallowing hard as he nodded.

“Y-yeah, I’m just…” He trailed off, watching concern enter Sehun’s eyes, running a hand through his hair. “Kyungsoo-Hyung and I are going… to America… for a few… months.” Jongin said slowly. “I was thinking that you could come with us of course. I know that you don’t like staying the night by yourself… There’s this school that apparently I got recommended to when they asked for people in different medias of art, since the school is looking for people to teach a little one term class… I don’t really get why I was picked, I know nothing about teaching but-” Jongin stopped, taking a deep breath after the long ramble and Sehun stared at the other, eyes wide.

“That’s amazing, Jongin!” he exclaimed, Jongin relaxing a little. 

“Do you want to come with us? I talked with Kyungsoo-Hyung, and he didn’t have a problem with it,” Jongin asked, Sehun’s grip on LuHan’s hand tightening a little. “I would hate to leave you alone, I don’t know if I could bring myself to go if I knew you would be.”

“You said… you’d be gone for a few months, right?” Sehun asked, the dark haired male nodding.

“From what the director I talked to said it would be almost three month for the class, but there’s a chance that they may want me to stay for a second term.” Sehun’s tongue swiped over his lower lip and he bit at the inside of it, opening his mouth to speak.

“I don’t know, Jongin. I want to go with you, but I don’t think it would be a good idea. You know that I recently got accepted back into the dance program, and I’ve got a lot of catching up that I have to do if I want to graduate soon… I’m already a term behind and going to America for basically a full term would put me further back.”

“You could always… move back in with me.” The duo turned their attention to the eldest, who offered a sheepish smile to Sehun. “I know it’s only been a couple of months since we started dating again, and we were together for a while before we moved in together the first time but… You’re still welcome to call the apartment your home if you decided that you wanted that again.” Jongin watched the two for a long moment, noticing the hesitation behind Sehun’s eyes before he nodded slowly and Jongin chimed in.

“You don’t have to, Sehun,” he offered, the blond looking back to him, offering a smile and a shrug.

“I told you. Things are better, so I don’t see a reason why I shouldn’t move back in. Besides, there’s no way my job would let me take an undefined amount of time off,” he added, LuHan intertwining their fingers a little tighter.

“I’ll take care of him, Jongin. I’m not… I’m not going to leave again,” LuHan said, looking up from his and Sehun’s hands. “I’m here to stay. I’m done letting my mother try to control my life. I’ve finally decided that if they don’t like the way that I’m living then I don’t need them. They can either accept and support who I am, or they can get out of my life completely. No more blind dates, no more trying to get me to marry someone’s daughter… This is my life. Sehun is my life. And I’m sorry that I managed to let them rule my life to strongly that it caused me to lose all of your trust. I don’t expect to start gaining it back for a year at least. I know I messed up, and I plan to do my best to show you that I’m worthy of your trust again, like I’m trying to show Sehun,” LuHan explained, Sehun giving his hand a small, comforting squeeze. Jongin looked between the two before letting out a soft sigh, nodding.

“If Sehun’s going to place his trust in you… then I guess I should try to as well,” he replied, attempting a smile.

~

Case updates sent, emails all replied to or forwarded… I called back everyone that I could get a hold of today… That should be everything, Minseok thought, closing out of the several open windows and files on his desktop, selecting the log off icon before stretching his arms over his head, sighing contently. He pulled out his mobile, sending ZiTao a text saying that he would be on his way home in a few moments, earning a quick reply of ZiTao saying he was excited to see him, chuckling a little to himself. He pushed back in his seat, noticing that there were only a couple of others that had stayed as late as he had, collecting his case files and slipping them into his suitcase, yawning a little as he headed towards the time clock to sign out, then to the exit of the building.

“Minseok?” The copper haired male stopped, looking back a few feet to the open door, finding Hakyeon panting a little, giving him a confused look.

“Yes?” he replied, turning to face the older. “Is something wrong? I don’t think I forgot to send anything in,” he added, Hakyeon shaking his head.

“No, no, nothing’s wrong. But can I talk with you in my office?” he asked, Minseok frowning a little though he nodded, following the silver haired male into his office, an uneasy feeling starting in his stomach as the older closed the door behind them. “Please, take a seat,” Hakyeon said, gesturing for Minseok to sit in one of the chairs settled at the desk while he took his own on the other side.

“Are you sure there’s nothing wrong, sir?” Minseok prompted. “Because if I’m honest, I feel like some child being pulled into the principal’s office,” he added, Hakyeon breaking out into laugher.

“Believe me, you’re not in trouble. I know I don’t tend to close the door, I just don’t want any of the others here to become… Jealous.”

“Why would they be jealous?” Minseok asked slowly, Hakyeon pursing his lips for a moment before he leaned forward on the desk.

“Minseok, do you enjoy working here?” The copper haired male hesitated, watching the other’s face for a long moment before he nodded. “Like, really, really like working here? As in you don’t want to leave or try your hand at another profession?”

“Hakyeon, what is this about?” Minseok cut in, the other staring intently at him, pulling a sigh from him. “Yes, I love working here. It can be hard considering the fact that most of the cases, and thus most of the children, we work with are being abused but… I feel like I’m making a difference. Like I’m able to help them, and find a way to give them a life that they wouldn’t have been likely to get without the help that we offer,” he finally replied, and the weirdly serious look on Hakyeon’s face flashed back to his usual smile, and he leaned back in his seat.

“That’s exactly what I was hoping you would say. I knew I made the right decision when I chose you. Well, I guess I wasn’t the only one involved in that choice, the way that Hyungwonnie talked about your day together was indeed something that I viewed as evidence,” he stated, Minseok feeling like he had gained no further insight to what the conversation was about than when he had been pulled into the office and he shook his head, rubbing his face with his hands.

“Sir, you lost me about five minutes ago, and I’m still trying to catch on. The others being jealous of me, my views about my job, and your son… What do those all have to do with anything?” he asked, Hakyeon pulling open one of the drawers of his desk, picking out a file that he placed on the desk- with a slight tilt of his head the copper haired male was able to read his own name on the label before Hakyeon opened it. The printed paper on top of the stack of papers that were kept in the file had several places to sign, initial and date, and Minseok squinted a little to try and skim over the writing.

“I want you to join me, Minseok.”

“Join you in what?” the younger asked, looking up from the file.

“In leading this company.”

“I… Are you leaving?” Minseok asked, Hakyeon shaking his head as he let out a small laugh.

“I don’t think I could leave this place if I tried, I’ve put too much of myself into this place. But… As Hyungwon grows older I want to be able to be there for him more, and that can be hard to do. A lot of the time I spend at home I’m still here mentally because of all the things that I know I need to get done, all the things I need to delegate to others to help as many people as I can.”

“Why not get an assistant?” Minseok asked, earning a shake of Hakyeon’s head.

“I thought about it but… I don’t feel as though an assistant would be able to put their heart into this like I need someone to. I need someone I can trust with everything and anything. I need to know that someone will do what has to be done for this company just as I do… and that is a difficult thing to ask of anyone.”

“So that’s difficult, but asking me to become some kind of… co-owner with you isn’t?” Minseok replied, Hakyeon nodding.

“Exactly. What you told me earlier, about how you view your job-that’s the very same way that I think about this place. And that shows me that you’re who I want to join me.”

“So why make me the same as you? Why not just make me an assistant?”

“Because as an assistant you would still be paid by the hour as you are now. If you become the same as me, then you’ll start earning a salary, which I’m sure would help you in numerous ways. You’ll only have to be here as much as you choose, and you won’t have to be working in depth on twenty or more cases. You’ll have your own hand selected group of workers that you’ll offer cases to just as I look over you and the others now,” Hakyeon continued, Minseok looking down at the file on the desk. “No more staying here past 11 o’clock at night, and then turning around and having to be here at 6 o’clock in the morning. You’ll make your own schedules, and if you don’t feel like coming in one day, you don’t have to. It’d be nice to get a message from you the night before so I know if I have to make sure to be here at some point in the day, but we can figure all that out later. If you decide to accept, that is.”

“Can I… have a couple of days to think it over?” he asked. “And talk about it with ZiTao?” he added, and Hakyeon nodded, closing the file and pushing it closer to Minseok.

“Of course. There is no deadline for this choice. If you tell me no tomorrow and in three months decide that you’ve changed your mind then you’re welcome to step into my office and tell me as much.” Hakyeon replied, Minseok taking the file with a nod of his own head.

“Alright. I’ll let you know my decision once I come to it,” he said, getting up from his seat, giving a bow of his head before making his way out of the building for the evening.