7: FOR LIFE

“No,” Junmyeon says after reading the recommendation letter thoroughly.

            Soohyun drops her shoulder dejectedly upon hearing her brother disagree. “But why?”

            “The music industry is not for you, Soohyun. You won’t survive,” he says as he folds the letter and return it to her.

            Her gaze stays at the letter in her hands. She’s hearing the same thing from Junmyeon that her father always tells her. She can’t even bring herself to look in his eyes right now, because if she does, she knows she will cry in front of him.

            The brother that she misses so much, that she chose to stay in a house full of idols for, is just as ruthless as their father.

            Soohyun chuckles a sob, gripping onto the hem of her shirt as the tears she were trying to suppress betray her. “Am I really that incompetent to all of you?”

            Junmyeon is staring at her, stunned in disbelief to see his sister cries in front of him. He stands up from sitting on the bed and tries to reach for his sister, but she dodges his touch. “I won’t survive, because it’s hard. I’m not as talented as you. That’s all I hear since you left our house—I am incapable of doing what I wanted, so I was forced to take over the company in your place. And what did you do? Nothing! You left me alone to suffer in that ing family! You’re just like your evil father!”

            “Soohyun!” Before Junmyeon can say more to her, she stomps angrily out of the room, slamming the door behind her.

            Sehun is about to go back to his and Junmyeon’s room to check if Soohyun left already when he comes across her in the hallway. Frightened at the sight of an angry and crying Soohyun, he opens whoever’s door on his right and go in hastily to hide. He smiles gawkily at the owner of the room, who is sitting on the bed with a laptop on his lap.

            Zhang Yixing is staring dumbly at him, confused to why the maknae entered the room without knocking and looking so scared. “What’s up?”

            “Uh… just… I missed you, hyung,” he says, timidly.

            Yixing snorts derisively at him. “I was only gone for two weeks, Sehun.”

            Sehun puffs an air dramatically. “Psh, that’s a long time, hyung. Give your favorite dongsae a hug!” Then he runs to him and engulf him in a hug.

            The dinner in the luxury house that night is unusually quiet. The other members are used to Soohyun always goofing around or annoying Baekhyun, but their dinner is wrapped in an eerie silence tonight. Soohyun excuses herself as soon as she finishes her quick meal.

            When she ascends the stairs, Baekhyun sharply turns to Junmyeon. “What happened, hyung?” he catechizes while the other members stay quiet.

            Junmyeon knits his brows at the member. “What do you mean?”

            “Her eyes are swollen! Did she tell you about the…” Baekhyun hesitates to ask their leader about the letter that Soohyun got earlier, thinking maybe the latter isn’t yet to tell her brother about it.

            Junmyeon narrows his eyes at the member. “About the what?” he utters with a sneer. “Stay out of this, Baekhyun.”

            Kyungsoo stands up after drinking his water, then excuses himself quietly out of the crowd. He doesn’t know what Junmyeon has said to his sister, but Kyungsoo knows she’s hurt. She may not be vocal about it, but he knows she’s only staying at their dorm because of her brother. And to hear something hurtful from her brother surely stings a lot more than anything.

            Kyungsoo stands in front of her room’s door silently as he listens to her cry inside for a few minutes. He doesn’t want to defy Junmyeon’s decisions, but as her brother, he has no choice but to respect the leader. After a while, he heard footsteps emerging from the stairs before it reveals a fussy Baekhyun walking towards his direction.

            “Junmyeon hyung told us to stay out of it,” he stops him from knocking on the door.

            “I am staying out of his business, but not hers.” Baekhyun takes another step forward, but Kyungsoo stops him again. “What?” he irks at him.

            “Hers, too.”

            “Kyungsoo, move.”

            Kyungsoo let out a tired sigh. “As much as you want to help, none of us shouldn’t. Intervening in their family matter is out of our hands. Let the siblings deal with each other.”

            Baekhyun purses his lips as he gives the door another glance. Although it took him so many years before he got scouted by his agency, his family never hindered him from achieving his dreams. He had a few bumps along the way, but he braved through it. But Soohyun… she had her dreams at her reach a long time ago. Letting an opportunity slip away surely hurts just as much as being rejected in an audition.

            “But what if she needs someone to—”

            “She needs Junmyeon hyung the most than any of us now,” Kyungsoo cuts him off, promptly.

            Baekhyun knits his brows at him. “Junmyeon hyung doesn’t know what she’s been through.”

            “Well, none of us does. Let her deal with her brother, Baekhyun. Let’s stay out of it,” he glumly says before pushing him away from Soohyun’s door.

            Baekhyun adheres to let the siblings to their matters and stays in his room. But even in his sleep, seeing her eyes swollen earlier still bothers him. He awakes in the middle of the night. According to the digital clock on his bedside table, it’s one o’clock in the morning. He gets up to go out of his room to Soohyun’s room to check on her.

            Instead of knocking, he pushes his ear onto the door to check if she’s still up. To his horror, the second door from him at the right hall opens, revealing Soohyun in a robe, who just comes out of the bathroom, all freshen up. Her gaze narrows on Baekhyun in an odd position against her door. She furrows her brows before walking towards him.

            Baekhyun clumsily straightens up, looking anywhere but her.

            “What are you doing here, Baekhyun?” she says in a soft voice when she neared him. Her fragile tone made Baekhyun sets his eyes on her with worry.

            He gulps as he thinks of a nice excuse for his presence at this ungodly hour. “Uh… I was… uh… thinking of… uh… ah! I was… uh… do you want warm milk?” In his mind, he utters a few curses at himself already.

            “I don’t mind one,” she shrugs.

            “Great! Wait here, I’ll make you one.”

            “I can come with you downstairs,” she sa