Chapter Text
One thing Ten never believed in was love. Romantic, platonic, parental - he never believed in it.
At 23 years of age, he had been with 8 people, men and women, and had a body count of 'no less than 50', according to his college mates. He slept around with as many people as he could from when he was of legal age to enter a club. He was often neglected as the only son of the rich businessman and businesswoman in Thailand, and the cliche goes with him finding affection in other men and women to forget his parents.
Getting into university was easy for him. Although he had a reputation of being the 'school bad boy', he actually cared about his grades and would study for his exams all the time. The fights he'd get into in school, the short haircuts he'd get that highlighted his cheekbones and the leather jacket he never took off? Those were just ornaments to his character. He was actually a softer boy on the inside, yet many people didn't realize that.
He wanted to get into an art-related major, whether it was painting or dancing. But his ankle injury lasted for months and he was not accepted into his dream dance academy. His 'friends' would tell him that he didn't need to go to university to major in art since he had the talent many would wish for (which was a very backhanded compliment, he thinks).
So he decided to apply for universities outside of the country and got accepted into Busan National University as a mechanical engineering major.
His parents weren't happy about his career choice. They thought he deserved to be something better and take less hard work, to become like them - a businessman.
"I don't have an interest in business," Ten had said one day when his butler had given the acceptance letter to his parents. Ten looked up from the ground directly into his dad's eyes with the straightest face he had, "I'm sorry."
"You're sorry? That's all you can say, you're sorry?!" His dad screamed, all grey-haired with a grey suit on ready for work, grandfather glasses on his nose. "What about when I die? Will you be sorry that nobody has taken over the company?"
"That's enough," His mother steps in, pixie cut neatly styled. "Ten, baby, I know you don't see what our plans are for you and we want to fix that."
"Why can't Tern take over the company then?" Ten suggests.
"Tern's a child. She's 15, she knows nothing about how it works-"
"Neither do I! I'm 18, I don't know anything about this industry!" Ten stood up, angry that his parents want to train him like he's a puppy.
His father sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Fine, okay. You wanna leave this family? You don't wanna be the-"
"I never said that," Ten says. "You're twisting my words."
"-company heir? Sure. Go ahead. From the day you go to that university, you are never to sit in our house again."
"Darling-" his mother gasps.
"Quiet. I've had enough of you defending him when we both know how much he destroyed our image." He shoots a look at his wife.
"You're no longer our 'Chittaphon Leechaiyapornkul'. That name will be erased from our family tree, the bloodline, and Tern's kids will never know who you were. You have a month to go to South Korea, live however you want, and all while you aren't part of this family."
Ten smirks, trying his best to hide the shock in his body. "And the money?"
His dad laughs, and Ten remembers comparing it to the joker's laugh. "You aren't part of this family anymore and all you worry about is the money?"
Ten walks to his father, his expression stern and serious more than it has ever been. "You never treated me like a member of this family, anyway. What should the difference be?"
He walks back into his room, slamming the door shut. The first thing he does is open his laptop and looks for the closest plane ticket to South Korea, finding it at 6 am the next day. A few hours later. He books a ticket, first-class too, and starts packing his bags already. That night, right after he'd finished packing, he writes a note and sneaks it into Tern's bedside table right before he heads out of the house at 2 am.
Hello, my apple pie.
I'm sorry you will never hear me say that nickname to you again. No, I won't kill myself. I am a bit of a coward to do that haha. But I am leaving this house. And I'm never coming back. Don't blame this on yourself, it was fully my decision. Except if you listened to the argument I had with our dad earlier, oops! Hahaha I will miss this. I know for sure this will be really big in the media and that there will be many reporters and cameramen on the way out for me, so maybe you will see some photos of me tomorrow on the news and I hope you'll be proud of me!
I want you to show this to your kids once you're older just to show proof of me being your brother. One day, when I myself am married, I will never shut up about you. You will always be my best friend forever, even if we won't ever talk to each other again. I am sorry for leaving you here with such parents, in such a bad environment, but I hope you don't blame me much for this. I will one day find a way to meet you again, even if it takes 50 years and I'm old and wrinkly and maybe on my deathbed. I am always going to love you and you will always be my baby sister. I love you a lot my apple pie.
Love, your older brother Ten.
He goes out of the house with a hat on his head and a mask on his face. The walk to the taxi is longer than it should be, the flashes of the cameras all around his neighbourhood making his sleepy eyes more sensitive to the light. He hears murmurs as he puts in his two suitcases in the back of the taxi, keeping one handbag around his shoulder for his phone and wallet. He tosses his extra house keys onto a bush in his old house.
He gets into the front seat and slams the door shut. "The airport."
"Right on, sir."
The drive to the airport takes barely an hour, and Ten tries to focus on the different places he grew up in to try and copy-paste them in his mind because he knew he will never be back here. He smiles faintly at the sight of his school, the one he graduated from a month ago. The one where he used to use as an escape place from whatever shit happened in his house. The one where he was either feared or adored by the people there. The one where he made most of his friends in that now won't see him ever again.
"Mr Lee? We've arrived, sir."
Ten hums a quick thank you, quickly getting out of the car and opening the trunk. He roughly gets his bags out, earning shy protests from the driver and heads towards the door.
He quickly checks in, showing his passport that was in his hand already and then the clerk gives him his boarding pass. "Thank you for choosing Korean Airlines, have a safe fli-"
But Ten was already in a rush to get out of the country.
The second he arrives, he regrets not learning much Korean except 'yes', 'no' and 'thank you'. He struggles to talk to the people who work at the airport and even more when he comes across the taxis there. Starting to think he should've learnt Korean instead of Chinese and Japanese, he sighs and takes deep breaths to try and not let the tears go out from his eyes.
"Excuse me?" A boy around his age says in broken English.
"Yes?" Ten replies, voice small.
"Uh... I want to... ask. Where is the toilet?" The boy says, glancing down at a notebook that Ten can see is translated from Chinese to English and Korean. He thinks it's cute.
"I'm actually not sure either, but we can try and look for it together because I also need it?" Ten says in Chinese and he melts at the surprised reaction of the boy.
"Oh, thank God you speak Chinese. I was struggling to talk to most of the people here," The boy says and puts his hand out, smiling with dimples. "I'm Kun. I come from China and I came here as an electrical engineering major."
"I'm Ten," Ten says, smiling genuinely for the first time in years as he shakes Kun's hand. "I'm from Thailand. I'm also here as an engineering major, but I do mechanical."
"Oh, that sounds fun," Kun says. They look down at their hands awkwardly before letting go of each other. "I got into BNU. I'm guessing you did too?"
"Yeah," Ten replies, eyes widening up an inch. "What a coincidence."
"Right," Kun says. "Well um- let's go to the dorms?"
They end up asking the dorm room manager for them to be roommates, already sorting the entire situation out. She eyes them suspiciously for a bit, asking them if they were friends that came here together.
"Something like that." Ten says, looking at Kun and back at the woman.
Over the weeks, they get close to each other, telling each other about their families back home.
"My dad and I got in a fight," Ten says, looking down at his hands. He was sitting opposite of Kun on his bed, pillow on his lap. "He... abolished my name from the family."
Kun's eyes widen a bit, quietly playing with the pillowcase. "My dad passed away last year. My mom blames it on me because it was a car accident."
Ten looks up at him, confusion written all over his face. "What? Why would she...?"
Kun sighs, glancing at the window before looking back at Ten with a smile on his face. "She was the one who purposely caused the accident. I was in the car, but I actually had my seatbelt on and didn't fly 20 yards across the air."
Ten scoffs, smiling down pitifully. "It's pathetic. We're pathetic, aren't we?"
"Just two 18-year-olds majoring in engineering, with fucked up families. Yep, we pretty much are."
A few months later, after the first semester ends, they spend Christmas together watching movies, exchanging gifts and baking cookies together. On New Years, when they're invited to a party, Kun had his arm around Ten's shoulder with a can of beer hanging off his hand during the countdown.
"Happy new year!!!!!" Everyone shouts. Ten looks at Kun with stars in his eyes, mouth full of shiny white pearls as Kun mimics him. When Ten lifts himself up on his tiptoes, hands on Kun's shoulder, he kisses Kun while smiling, making it barely a kiss and just the touch of smiles. When they pull away, they laugh, and Ten looks back into Kun's eyes.
"Happy birthday."
Ten has always wanted to tell that story to his kids one day. He's always wanted to adopt, or become a surrogate, ever since he turned 19 and realized he was in love with Kun. They started dating shortly after their kiss happened, deciding it mutually. When they graduated at 22-years-old, they were still going strong - but they couldn't find a job related to engineering.
"There's this one town that's working on a school and they're looking for people to hire," Their chemistry professor, who had been kind to them their entire stay at the university, told them. "Tarajon. It's close to Busan, so you can come here any time if you miss anything here. But, hundreds of years later, many people say when you enter the town, you never go out. Because it's beautiful."
Ten and Kun move to the town a month later. They didn't feel like they were in the city anymore as they stared out at the hills covered with tulips and roses. Upon arriving at the apartment they wanted to rent together, they look around the space. It was huge - to say the least - and the view of the mountains was something Ten can get used to. After signing the contract on the same day, the landlord calls the company associated with this building and brings them a large king-sized bed, a couch and table set for the living room and chairs for the kitchen.
"How much would it be for the entire things you just brought us?" Kun asks.
The landlord laughs in his face. "Oh, no, you don't pay for that. This is part of the rent, don't worry."
And Ten has never felt so grateful for his chemistry teacher before.
When they start training to work at the school, they meet 3 people who they become friends with - Taeyong, Doyoung and Jaehyun. They've always lived in this town and went to school together, Jaehyun being a year younger than the both of them and in his last year of uni. Doyoung and Jaehyun were a couple, but Kun and Ten would have never guessed with how unaffectionate they are to each other. Taeyong was single, but later on they found out he slept around a lot.
And that he does not like men.
"No, I'm not gay," Taeyong said, almost like he'd been offended.
"Oh. Like not at all?" Ten asked. He knew there was something about him.
Taeyong had sighed, taking the glasses off of his face. "I. Am. Not. Gay. It's not a bad thing, I just... love women." He takes a bite from Doyoung's apple, making him whine.
"Okay, sorry," Ten says. Kun puts a protective arm on his thigh, letting it linger as he stares at Taeyong menacingly.
"Work on your tone before speaking like that next time, yeah?" He says to Taeyong, making him freeze. Nobody says anything about the tension between them, watching Jaehyun's hair bounce as he took steps towards the table with coffee in a tray.
"Hey," he happily says, like a golden retriever would. He looks around the table, noticing how Kun was looking at Taeyong with something in his eyes and how Ten was avoiding eye contact with everyone. "What's going on?"
"We're going home," Ten says, getting up from the table and Kun follows. "It's nice to meet you guys, but we have some things to buy for our house tomorrow, so we need to be home early. Bye, hope to see you soon."
When they're out of the cafe, Doyoung scolds Taeyong.
"You always have to mention the fact that you're not gay and insist on it so much that you seem homophobic. Can't you try and be, I don't know, normal for once?" Doyoung says. Taeyong looks at him with a mouthful of apple.
"I'm not being homophobic, it's just the truth," He says, muffled from all the goddamn apples. "Besides, why would he care if I were gay or if I wasn't? It's between me and myself, anyway."
"Maybe he has some bad experience with heterosexual people like you, and wants to try avoiding them?" Doyoung states more than suggest. He sighs, leaning back into his chair. "You're gonna apologize for this tomorrow. Try and be more thoughtful next time."
So he apologizes and they make up. When they start working at the school, they're 24, and Taeyong starts dating a gorgeous woman who was also a teacher at their school - Joy.
After many, many, many hangouts and many, many, many parties, Ten and Kun realize just how amazing life had progressed, together. From weird relationships with their parents to living their life at 30 years old now, they were happy together. Happier than ever.
But Ten wants a baby. He really, really, really wanted a baby. Something, the only thing in the universe, that Kun couldn't give him - a small, toothless creature that doesn't know how to walk on its legs.
Now, after 10 years of living in this town, Ten decides he wants out.
-
BONUS!!!!!!!! [although this is a bonus, it's an important part in the story so please read!]
Boa fixes her dress, dark purple and flowing just below her knees, and sighs before ringing the doorbell.
The butler - a new one, apparently - opens the door with a smile on his face. "Miss Kwon," he says, opening the door wider and ushering her with his hand to, "come in."
She gives a tight-lipped smile, nodding her head and entering the house.
"May I take your coat?" He says. She smiles and gives him the coat, holding her bag the entire time as she is met with the scene of her brother walking into the room.
"Welcome back," Joonhyun says. His voice is low but terrifying, reminding her of all the times he's used that voice when he's mad. "We missed you."
"You said you wanted to talk about something?" Boa says her first words in this house. "Over dinner?"
"Ah, yes of course," Joonhyun replies. He smiles an awful lot for a man who has a stick up his ass. "Take a seat. Bianca is preparing the food now. Your favourite - shrimps."
"Thank you," She quietly replies as she sits down at the seat she always sat on. Her brother walked and sat on the king-styled seat, the one he always sits on.
"You're most welcome."
"So, um..." Boa was starting to feel impatient. "Can you please talk to me about the situation that you want to talk about?"
He chuckles, low and almost mocking. "The news is..." He stops to thank one of the maids for bringing the salad. "...very juicy. I'm sure you'd like it more over a nice dish of shrimps and sauteed veggies, with peanut sauce."
He remembers. He remembers Boa's favourite dish of all time and the fucking condiments with it. Something is not right.
"Thank you, but I don't have much time here." Boa politely says.
"Oh," her brother feigns disappointment. "Oh, well, in that case, I guess we'll get right in the story."
Boa feels anxious, her heart beating quickly and deep into her stomach.
Joonhyun sighs, clasping his hands together and putting them right above his lips. "I heard our nephew has a... boyfriend-"
"Don't talk about him."
He looks at Boa, shocked. "Oh. Darling, this entire dinner is about him. But, it's not something bad."
"What can be happening with him and his boyfriend to make you think about them?"
"I heard he's a Seo."
"...So?"
"Boa," He says, almost threateningly. "He's one of those Seos."
"What? What type of-" And then she finally understands. Her eyes widen, similar to her mouth, and she exhales shakily as she looks up at him. "There is no way."
"I'm sorry to be the one saying this," He says. "But recently, I had a meeting with our former manager. Jinsuk, you remember him? He works for Seo now. Told me Seo's son went to live in Tarajon, and I remember his name. Johnny. Youngho. It made sense, didn't it? Johnny and Taeyong dating, Johnny being no other than Seo's son - it's crazy."
"But... but he can't be dating one of those Seos, he can't-"
"Is his name Johnny? Is he Korean? Did he move in the town 8 months ago?"
She stays silent, a confirmation to his questions.
"I'm sorry you had to find out this way, Boa, I really am." He says. She says nothing, eating the shrimps with a monotonic face. "You should go after you finish your meal."
He gets up, leaving her alone at the dining table, rethinking her decisions and of a way she can tell Taeyong.