Im Kyu Hyun arrived at home ready to explain to Chang Min who Ji Soo was, but when he walked into the house, it was unusually cold and dark. Switching the lights on, he looked around and found nothing.

Usually Chang Min would be sitting on the couch holding a pillow as he watched t.v and waited for him to come home. Then they would eat and he’d have the chance to explain who Ji Soo was.

He closed the door and made his way to the bedroom they shared, but the bed was empty. He sat on the bed and felt it. Looking around, he felt so confused.

First, he found Chang Min eating out, and now he wasn’t home. He pulled out his phone after he took off his jacket. Looking through his contacts, he stopped on Chang Min’s name and dialled it, but it went straight to voicemail.

Kyu Hyun’s nerves got the better of him. ‘Is he upset? Because of Ji Soo? I shouldn’t even be with Ji Soo.’

*

Chang Min walked through the door and kicked his shoes off. He let out a yawn and switched on the lights.

In the living room on the couch, Kyu Hyun was sitting and staring at him.

He caught a fright and jumped back against the wall. “Why are you sitting in the dark?”

“I came home, and you weren’t here,” he said.

“It’s still early. Why are you home?”

“Don’t I live here?” He asked.

Chang Min was slightly confused but nodded his head, saying, “All right, I’ll get dinner started.”

“Haven’t you eaten enough? You had so much sushi and ate so much at the Chinese restaurant as well,” he said as he followed Chang Min with his gaze to the kitchen.

Nodding his head, he said, “Mn, I’m full. It’s for you.”

“Forget it,” Kyu Hyun said, standing up.

Chang Min looked at him, confused. Even if he wasn’t going to eat now, he needed to cook so that he could cook for tomorrow’s breakfast and his lunch or he’d be hungry at work tomorrow.

Kyu Hyun walked up to him at the kitchen island, saying, “About today.”

Chang Min cut him off, saying, “Don’t worry about it. I won’t use your money again.”

Kyu Hyun was so confused. What was he talking about?

“What?” He said.

“Is it not about me going out? I won’t go out again,” he said.

“Chang Min, that’s not what I want to talk about, and that money is for you to use. You can use it as you please,” he said.

“Then what do you want to talk about, Hyung?” He asked.

Kyu Hyun felt dispirited hearing the word ‘Hyung.’ He looked at Chang Min, saying, “We’re not brothers, Chang Min.”

He nodded slowly, saying, “Then what are we?”

Kyu Hyun seemed uncomfortable as he looked at him and asked, “Why didn’t you tell him about us?”

“What is there to say? It’s not like we do anything spouses do? Did you forget we were forced to live together because of my father and no one else? I’ve already accepted things will never be normal between us. We’re two guys living together and you being in a relationship with someone else isn’t new, nor will he be the last,” Chang Min said.

The tension grew in the room as his words dropped. 

Kyu Hyun looked away from him and remained silent. Chang Min started cutting up vegetables for breakfast and for Kyu Hyun’s lunch. 

Kyu Hyun went to the bedroom and lied down on the bed. He looked up in the dark and just couldn’t get over the truth. He had been lying in the same bed as Chang Min for almost a decade now and things were still like this.

Their parents knew they weren’t good together and were just so used to living a lie that it became normal.

He had had so many partners already and didn’t once care about how he would feel, but now it seemed so different that he knew about Ji Soo.

What hurt him was the fact that Chang Min disowned him in front of Ji Soo. He thought he would out their relationship to Ji Soo because he wouldn’t say it, but he called him his brother.

Were they ever brothers?

But were they ever in a relationship?

Could you call them lovers?

Partners?

He didn’t even see him as someone.

He was more of a house servant who attended to all his needs, except sexually and emotionally.

*

Chang Min was in the kitchen thinking things along the same line. All of this started because of him and Kyu Hyun was dragged into it. If he never selfishly experimented all those years ago, he probably would have a better life right now.

He would have been with either a man who loved him or a woman who cherished him, but now, instead, he was living with a man who had gone through so many partners without considering his feelings. 

He moved so far from his home that it was impossible to go visit his family. He wanted to see them so badly and ask them for advice, but he couldn’t. He needed the money to—well; he had it, but that would just raise some flags.

Dealing with his mother-in-law wasn’t worth the headache now that he was living in peace.

After preparing everything, he placed it in the fridge then went to watch t.v. It was time for his favourite drama and he wasn’t going to miss it just to sulk over someone who he didn’t love nor loved him.

*

Two hours later, he took a shower, then went to bed. For the second time tonight, he caught a fright when he switched on the bedside lamp.

Instead of sleeping, Kyu Hyun was sitting up in the darkness. 

He turned to look at Chang Min when he walked in and asked, “Is this the time you come to bed?”

He nodded his head, confused, as he climbed into the bed. “This is around the time you usually get home,” he said.

“I don’t get home this late,” he said.

Chang Min smirked, thinking, ‘You’re only home early because you got caught.’

His phone suddenly dinged. Reaching for it, he looked at it, and it was a message from the messaging app.

Friend: Maybe you should just loosen up more. I don’t know how I would have acted in your situation, and I’m glad I’m not in your shoes. Just take things one step at a time and you’re lucky that you don’t love him. Men think they are always right and now I think it’s your chance to live life, stop drowning in that family’s shadow.

Chang Min smiled, thinking it over, and started typing. He told his friend about his ideas and how he wanted to go back home, but first he needed to find a job so that he didn’t have to rely on Kyu Hyun and his family.

Chang Min placed the phone down after fifteen minutes and said goodnight to him. He switched off the light, then lied down to sleep.

Kyu Hyun’s phone rang, making a noise, and when he saw it was Ji Soo, he switched it off. Usually, he’d rush off to the next room, but now he wasn’t even in the mood to answer his boyfriend’s call.

He looked at Chang Min, who was already snoring, then at the phone on the nightstand, and wondered if he was in a relationship with someone else.

What would he do if he were to meet that person?

Would he be as calm as Chang Min is?