Minseok had a great life. He worked at a place he loved, he had no family issues and he was perfectly comfortable in life. Sure, he was still single, but it's not like he needed any partner yet anyways. Now and then when he was down he could start feeling lonely but other than that he was completely fine with being alone. Besides, he didn't live alone. His sister Minsuh(their parents didn't have the widest fantasy) had been his roommate for a few years now, since her ex dumped her. At that time she was 21, Minseok 23, and she would have jumped in front of a bullet for her boyfriend, but it turned out the feeling hadn't exactly been mutual. Minseok had been in the room when the boyfriend broke up with her, and he'd never forget it. There's no one Minseok hated as much as that bastard. He didn't quite remember his name, maybe it was Lu Tan or Wu Han or whatever, something chinese-ish, he didn't even care. He remembered the face and he hoped he should never see it again.

Other than that, Minseok's life was as perfect as it could be.

But that was about to change, because the one thing that could make his world crumble happened.

Minsuh walked into the kitchen on a rainy thursday evening and spoke words that had to do with that man, words that Minseok never in a million years thought would be said, words he wanted to tear apart and throw away, make unsaid.

"Luhan called me." It was just a whisper, a calm careful whisper, but it felt like a knife stabbing Minseok in the back a thousand times.

Luhan, that was his name, he remembered it now. He didn't want to remember though, he didn't want to hear that 's name ever again, and especially not in such a sentence that his sister just uttered. He had no answer for her, at least no reasonable ones, so he stayed quiet trying to understand. When he barely even reacted, she continued the story much to Minseok's disliking. He had hoped that was it, maybe that she would tell him she didn't answer because who answers the phone when a douchebag calls?

Kim Minsuh, that's who.

"He's been calling since last week so I picked up today, and... we talked. A lot. He's really sorry for what he did, he wouldn't stop apologizing and he even said he couldn't live with himself for it, so-"

"Bull!" Minseok interrupted, unable to sit there and listen to it anymore. The knife kept stabbing, he felt so betrayed. "Complete bull, why would he be sorry? And now all of a sudden? Yeah right" he chuckled dryly. Minsuh looked at him and bit her lip.

"Look, I know you can't trust him, but I'm willing to give a try, because..." She paused for a second and sighed. "Because I know he's not a bad person. I fell in love with him for a reason, Minseok." she said, seriously staring into her brother's eyes and he wanted to believe her, he really did but he couldn't.

"You're right - I can't trust him. Minsuh, it took you months to even leave the house to go grocery shopping after he left you. You can't jump into his arms this easily! He'll just break your heart again." he glared and earned another desperate sigh.

"He can't break my heart because I'm not giving it to him. He didn't even ask for it, okay? Do you even remember the reason he left me?" she asked and Minseok cocked an eyebrow at her, confused because no, he couldn't remember the reason.

"Minseok, he is gay." she sighed, and oh right, he remembered now. It was something he had completely forgot, probably too busy thinking about the breakup itself. But it's true, Luhan did say he was gay, and that he had just found out, so that's why he dumped Minsuh. Minseok had nothing against homouals, hell, he was bi himself and he knew so many of the sort, but the whole thing had been so weird. How does one just all of a sudden find out they're gay?

"Oh right. What was that boy's name again?" Minseok sneered sarcastically, meaning the boy Luhan apparently had cheated on Minsuh with for weeks before he broke up.

"Oh Sehun, but he wasn't a boy. Damnit, why can't you be a little openminded about this, even I am!" she snapped suddenly, maybe she was tired of acting calm for her brother. Maybe she should've kept calm though, because now she really set him off.

"Am I really supposed to be openminded?! Did you lose your freaking memory and mind? That cheated on you for weeks, and then carelessly dumped you for stupid reasons, being really rude to you, leaving you crying on the floor. You spent half a year sulking over that, and now suddenly you accept him back like it's nothing?! Why, why should I be openminded about him? I hate him and i want him gone! Gone gone gone for forever but you have to drag him back into our lives?! What's the matter with you?!"

The room was filled with a thick silence for a while, the siblings staring at eachother intensely.

"Minseok please..." It was a whisper from her lips, and she looked down while uttering it. "I know what he did. I know, because it still hurts every now and then but I have been taught to judge the sinner, not the sin. Luhan treated me so good before he got those uality issues and I'm willing to try to forgive him. I don't think I can ever get an eased heart if I don't do so, and I have to take the chance when he's obviously willing to try too. He won't break my heart again, I've got my guards up, I promise. But I want to try this, so please let me. I know you're upset, and I know it might feel impossible for you to ever forgive him, but could you at least try to not be mad about it? You don't even need to talk to him at all, but I want to do so myself. Please try to accept that, because I can't stand it when you're mad at me, Minseok..."

When her little speech ended Minseok could hear Minsuh silently cry and he walked up to her wrapping his arms around her. She sobbed into his shirt and let him her back soothingly. Some time later she seemed to be calming down, so he pulled away and wiped her last tears away from her cheeks.

"Okay, okay." he said slowly, flashing a small smile to reassure her. "Just stop crying. I'll try to not get upset over this whole thing. I still hate him, but I'll try to not show it that much. For you."

It wasn't that easy for him to give in, in fact every little inch of him ached and protested as he spoke the words, but when Minsuh started to smile, and it got wider and wider until she threw herself into his arms once again, it made it kind of worth it.

"Thank you thank you thank you thank you" she rambled and Minseok chuckled a bit.

"Look," she said pulling away, "if you want, he doesn't even need to set his foot in this apartment. I could meet him alone somewhere in the town and -"

"No I think I should be there" he interrupted as soon as he heard her. She looked at him skeptically.

"You don't trust me?"

"I trust you tons, it's him I don't trust, okay? He should come here and talk, I promise I won't kick his or anything. Unless he's back to being a jackass." he begged and his sister laughed at that, much to his confusion.

"You couldn't kick his even if you tried" she snorted and he gasped.

"How rude! Why wouldn't I be able to do so?" he questioned, genuinely offended.

"Ya know... it's just that your body is still like what, 16 years old?" she teased and giggled, ignoring the death glare she recieved.

"Yah! Stop making fun of my height! I'm 26 and so is my body, you jerk! Have you even seen my muscles nowadays? If I was you right now I would run because I can prove to you how much I can kick." he threatened, obviously joking but when he took a step towards her she squealed and took off into the living room. He chased her around for a while until they both landed on the couch, out of breath.

"I love you" she smiled and leaned on her brother, who looked at her sweetly.

"I love you too, sis." he whispered and put his arm around her before putting on a movie they could watch together for the rest of the evening.

[---]

The day Luhan was coming over arrived. It was saturday, and since none of them had work Minsuh had told him he could come at any time. So from the moment Minseok woke up he stared at the clock, watching the minutes slowly pass. He almost did nothing else, and you would think he was excited to meet Luhan, but he wasn't. Not in a million years. He just wanted to be prepared all the time because his stupid sister hadn't decided on a specific time like normal people do.

He noticed Minsuh was acting all tense herself, but she had a better reason since her ex who dumped her brutally was about to be in her apartment and talk to her face to face. Of course she was nervous, and even panicking. She ran around dusting the shelves and vaccuuming the floors, as if they were even dirty to begin with. As if Minseok hadn't been cleaning the apartment thouroughly a few days ago, as if he didn't do a daily cleaning round every day. Nothing much, just picking up stuff and putting it where it should be, making the beds, and so forth but still. The apartment was shining, it could even be in the next IKEA catalogue, but he didn't bother telling her that, since he was pretty sure she already knew. He assumed nothing was ever impressive enough when Luhan was coming over. It was as if they invited some king or something, and Minseok snorted at the thought. King, yeah right. If Luhan was a king, Minseok was a pink rabbit with three ears. Which he wasn't, by the way.

When the bell finally rung the clock had just passed one o'clock in the afternoon, and Minseok watched as his sister rushed towards the door just to stand there doing breathing practices and brushing imagined dust off of her clothes until a second ring was heard. That's when she opened the door and greeted the guest. Stepping aside, she let him in and woah. Minseok didn't even recognize him at first, it wasn't just the different haircut and colour, it was everything. The way he dressed, the way he walked, everything. Last time he was around, he was wearing hoodies, snapbacks, he was overall still very teeny at the age of 23. But only three years later, Minseok saw no teen at all in him. He looked all grown up, like he'd become a big businessman who learned how to stand straight and sport a poker face and how to keep himself all neat and serious, no matter what. Maybe that was the case, who was to say, but all the traits that was so him, he didn't seem to have anymore and it scared the shorter boy. He hoped desperately that Luhan would be more like himself in a while, when at least some of the awkwardness would settle. If that could happen. He didn't know why he was hoping for that, as the old Luhan wasn't exactly his favourite person, but something in him just really didn't want things to be different, he just really didn't want a reason he should forgive the man. Maybe his pride was responsible.

"Hi" Minseok heard form the boy's lips, followed by some awkward throatclearing. He just gave a nod back though, a very slight one, before they all sat down in the couch, surrounded by a thick silence that no one dared to break at first, until Minsuh sacrificed herself.

"So... how's uh, Sehun?" she asked but immediately regretted it, since the look on Luhan's face hinted that she pobably could've said anything else and it would have been better. So she apologized, several times and Minseok almost rolled his eyes at it, because no matter what she did it should always be that bastard apologizing, not her.

"It's okay, he just... wasn't a keeper. I haven't seen him since New Years." he chuckled, obviously not because he was amused. It sounded heartbroken, and Minseok's first reflex was to feel bad for him, and he hated himself for it right away. Luhan had broken his sister's heart, which means it only serves him right to be heartbroken himself. That's just logic.

Suddenly, the younger boy started to rant.

"Okay, so I know I came here to talk about what happened but I don't know what to say except that I'm sorry, which I really am, but I can't tell you anything else because what happened happened and I can't explain it since there are no reasons for such behaviour. I could tell you I was confused and depressed and scared, because realizing my uality was the hardest thing ever, but it still doesn't cover up for the fact that I said unneccessary things, and I really hurt you. So if you hate me, I can't tell you not to. I deserve it, but at the same time I couldn't go on without talking to you about it. I need to get rid of this incredible guilt, and I don't know how to, but I'm willing to try. You're such a great person, and the two years I dated you were the best years in my life, I'm not lying about that. If I could choose, I would be straight if it meant that I could be with you, but I can't. So my last hope is for us to be friends, but I think I screwed that chance up, so now I just want you to know that I regret what I did."

Minseok watched the scene. He had to admit, there was nothing better Luhan could've said in this situation, and it annoyed him, because he was probably going to win Minsuh back as a friend, and everything would be back in peace again and he could be happy and go on with a perfect life. Karma never worked.

His sister sighed after a long while, looking at her former boyfriend who even seemed to be teary eyed.

"Yeah, I know, Luhan. I don't even know if I'm still upset. I mean, I was furious for a year after you left, but I slowly got over you. And I know you're sorry. It'll take me a while to forgive you completely, but it will happen. Thank you for giving it a shot." she said with a small smile. Luhan widened his eyes at her, obviously shocked that she would forgive him, even if she hadn't already, she said she probably would.

"So freaking easy" Minseok commented dryly, mostly to himself but the other both turned their heads to him. His sister glared but the boy just looked confused.

"It's been three years. Do you expect me to still hate him? It's a waste of energy, especially since he's obviously trying to make things right here." she asked, annoyed.

"I hate him, so I'd have to disagree with you there." he just shrugged and tried to ignore the flinch in Luhan's face. The room was quiet, Minsuh glaring at her brother.

Suddenly the guest stood up, swallowing audibly. He walked to the door, putting his shoes back on.

"I don't think I'm welcome here. Thanks for letting me come over though. If you want, you could call me, Minsuh. Otherwise, maybe I'll see you around some day. Bye." And with those words, he walked out, closing the door after himself.

No one had ever yelled at Minseok like his sister did that day. After scolding him for almost half an hour, she refused to talk to him all day. And maybe, he thought that evening, maybe he had been too harsh. The poor boy actually tried, and maybe it was time for Minseok to stop being so cold. Maybe it was time now, to try to forgive Luhan. For Minsuh.

He decided to sleep on it.

- - - - - - -

When almost the whole Sunday had passed without his sister saying a word to him, Minseok gave up. He'd been thinking about it, and if it would help his sister, maybe he should give Luhan a chance, just a tiny one. So when Minsuh came out to get a plate of food he made half an hour earlier, he opened his mouth.

"Give me his number." he said, sounding a little bit more demanding than he intended.

"What?"

"Please, I'll try to talk to him." he clarified and earned a suspicious face from her.

"About what?" she asked.

"Well, I guess I should apologize for the way I was acting yesterday."

"Wait, are you serious?" she wondered, shocked, and Minseok nodded, which made her smile a little and tell him the number, so he dialed it and pressed the call button. Minsuh sat down on a kitchen chair with the intention of evesdropping, her brother guessed.

"Hello?" sounded through the phone when it was picked up. Minseok doubted for only a second before replying.

"It's Minseok here."

The line was quiet, only short breaths could be heard and Minseok decided to speak again.

"Listen, it's really hard for me to say this, but I don't really hate you. Not that much, at least."

He didn't know if he was speaking the truth, but he was ready to try to make it the truth, either way.

Again, nothing but breathing.

"We should meet up. There's things I need to sort out with you, face to face. We should umm.. we should get down to the soccer field. We both know where that is, so yeah. Are you busy now?"

"No.." Luhan said, his voice scratchy but it was the first word he had uttered in the whole conversation, so Minseok was happy with it.

"Good, see you there in half an hour?" he asked, getting an approving grunt for an answer. he rolled his eyes and bid his goodbyes before hanging up. Minsuh squealed out of excitement.

"I couldn't ask for a better brother, you know that right?"

"Yeah" he chuckled jokingly before getting a small hug.

The walk to the field took only 20 minutes, but Minseok liked to be early, so he left right away.

Luhan, however, was a few minutes late, and it annoyed him. Every little thing about seeing Luhan walk towards him annoyed him, he couldn't control it. That stupid, perfect  face. No, he thought to himself. Don't ever associate Luhan with that word. He's not  perfect, nuh uh, never in a million years.

"Hey" the other boy greeted when they were face to face. "This field holds memories, remember when we used to-"

"You're late" Minseok interrupted. He didn't want to be reminded of old times, back when he used to adore Luhan. He was a stupid, stupid boy for ever thinking of Luhan in that way. He knew so much better now. Also, how come the man could talk so much now when he seemed mute over the phone?

"Oh? I'm sorry I must've walked slower than I usually do." Luhan shrugged and earned an eyeroll from the shorter man.

"Yeah whatever." Minseok muttered back and sighed audibly. He refused to look at his enemy for more than a second.

"I don't know why you asked me to come here, since you act like I'm carrying a deadly disease or something. I mean it's clear that you don't want to see me at all, so I don't get it. What are we doing here? You don't seem to want to talk but I doubt you wanted to play a game of soccer." Luhan muttered in one breath.

Minseok knew he was right, it was a weird thing to invite Luhan to the field and then not talk to him at all, but the truth was he didn't know what to say. He came down here because he wanted to do something that'd make his sister hate him less, but he didn't know how to act around her ex anymore. It used to be so easy, and one small part of him really wanted that back. In the secret depth of his heart, all he wanted to do was to actually play a friendly game of soccer with the boy, but now he couldn't. He couldn't because the stupid bastard had destroyed everything. Walking out on Minsuh meant walking out on Minseok too, and he supposed that's why he was still so furious even though his sister was close to forgiving. Actually, he wasn't only mad for the sake of his sister,he was mad because Luhan had been a great friend, who betrayed him, and therefore he didn't think he could be close with Luhan ever again, and he knew that somewhere deep down that fact hurt him, it hurt him like hell. He couldn't feel it anymore though. He'd gone numb, covered the hurt with anger and hatred. He'd built up a tough wall and even though the part of himself hidden behind that wall wanted to forgive and love Luhan, it wasn't going to be easy to tear that wall down.

"Why are you staring at me like that?"

Luhan's voice snapped him out of his thoughts and he looked down, slightly embarrassed, which annoyed him. "I'm not staring."

"You did stare, but whatever. If you don't want to tell me, I'm fine with that." His calm voice angered Minseok even more for some reason.

"Don't act like some gentleman! I only came here for the sake of my sister, otherwise I would've never talked to you again. But suddenly she seems to take you back with open arms, even though you don't deserve it. But I'm not going to be that easy to win back so don't even try to be such a kissass."

"I'm not a kissass. If anything you are, you're a kissass for your sister if you only came here for her sake."

Minseok growled at the other boy who dared to smirk  when uttering those words. He absolutely hated when Luhan was right, which was way too often. He would never admit that though, never ever.

"Listen, smartass." Minseok wheezed under his breath, "I'm not staying here anymore. If you want me to ever forgive you, maybe you should start working on not pissing me off. You can come to our apartment now and then if you so desperately want to see my sister, but don't expect me to talk to you at all. Bye."

He knew he was being unfair, but he couldn't control it. He really couldn't.

He took such long and determined steps away from the scene that you could even call it marching. He wasn't exactly waiting for Luhan to answer him, but it still annoyed him when he heard nothing behind him at all. He stormed all the way home and glared at everything and anything. When he slammed the door after himself in the apartment, Minsuh was there before he even got to take off his shoes.

"Any progress?" she asked hopefully, and he just shrugged.

"Maybe. But I hate that bastard." he muttered, fuming still. After shaking her head at his rough words, she kissed him on the cheek before returning to her room, probably not planning to come out for the rest of the evening. Even though Minseok was still annoyed, he smiled because he knew his sister wasn't as upset with him anymore.

[---]

Minseok noticed his sister really wanted to patch her friendship with Luhan up, because the following week said boy was in their apartment three whole times. Minseok came home from work and found him sitting in the couch laughing with Minsuh. The boys didn't talk to eachother, although he did get some unsure glances from Luhan every now and then, to which he replied with glares. He was still sour over what had been said on the soccer field, even though he knew he may have been the one who created a scene. But he just couldn't help the anger that rose within him everytime he saw that stupid face, everytime he heard that stupid voice. Anger was however not the only feeling that Luhan stirred up, and Minseok absolutely hated that fact. Annoyance, ignorance, hurt, and maybe just a tiny tiny little bit of sadness, but what most scared him was the small flutter he felt deep in his stomach whenever Luhan spoke to him or looked at him. He was never going to admit it to anyone, not even himself, because he did not want to feel it. Once, way way way  back in time, he kind of had a little little crush on the younger boy, but he had to lock those feelings in right away. Luhan was dating his sister for crying out loud, and besides he didn't even like boys. Or so Minseok had thought, but apparently he was wrong. Turns out Luhan did  like boys, but did that mean he liked Minseok? No no no, he liked some Sehun dude who even dumped him. Minseok wondered why. Oh  maybe Luhan figured out that he really actually liked girls? Ha, that would've been fun. Four years to thirty years old and still doesn't know what gender he likes.

Minseok had to physically shake his head hard to get the thought out of his head. He knew that Luhan probably was all settled on being gay now, and he also knew it wasn't fair of him to mock the boy so harshly even if it's in his own mind. However, he also knew it wasn't fair of the bastard to break up with Minsuh so harshly, even if he was gay or whatever.

"So would that be okay?" Minsuh questioned with her head tipped a little to the left. Her brother looked at her, very much confused. It was saturday evening and they were watching some movie together, just the two of them.

"Would what be okay?"

"Oh my god haven't you been listening to anything I just said?!" she exclaimed and Minseok shook his head, embarrassed.

"Not really..."

"Well, I was just saying that my birthday's coming up, and so is the party that we've planned. And I kind of want to invite Luhan..." she said in a way that made it a question. Minseok sighed dramatically.

"Does he have to come? He'd really ruin all my fun..." he protested halfheartedly, as he did not want to start another fight with Minsuh, who'd just started treating him normally again.

"I really want him to... He knows I'm going to have a party and it won't be good to the development of our friendship if I don't invite him. Please?" She was doing her irresistible puppy look and Minseok groaned to himself.

"Fine, he can come. I'll just hang out in uh... well, not around him." he sighed and within a second his sister was all over him, hugging him tight.

"Thank you thank you thank you!" she beamed and Minseok felt a tiny flame in his heart, telling him that he'd done something really good. But he really was worried about the upcoming party. It was hard to avoid someone in a small three-room apartment and he had really been looking forward to his sister's birthday party. All the guys were coming over - Jongin, Kyungsoo, Chanyeol and Jongdae. The four of them all used to go to Minseok's school and when him, his sister and the other four got together, every hour was fun hour. Minseok's friends were his whole life, apart from family. Only lately it's been a little weird being with the guys, because Jongin and Kyungsoo started to develope serious crushes on eachother. It's so obvious in the way they act, but somehow they both have no idea about one another's feelings. It's all very weird, and everyone else was desperate for them to get together already, so that they wouldn't have to deal with this huge awkwardness.

However, it'd be great to meet up with all of them again. It had been a while, and Minseok couldn't wait. He just hoped Luhan wouldn't spoil his whole party feeling...

---

[EDITED!]