𝑆𝑇𝐴𝑅𝑆 • 𝑀𝐼𝑁𝑆𝑈𝑁𝐺

𝑆𝑇𝐴𝑅𝑆 11 ☆

☆ Song recommendation:
"This is me trying" by Taylor Swift

Minho and Felix walked into the house with two big smiles on their faces, and they were so absorbed in their conversation and laughter that they hadn't noticed someone else in the room.

"It looks like you had a great time," Mr. Lee said, crossing his arms, wearing a serious expression, and staring intently at them. "Can you remind me who you said you were going with?"

"With Chan and Jeongin, Father," Minho replied.

"Yes, Father. With Chan and Jeongin," Felix confirmed, although it was clear that their father didn't believe a word of it.

"Of course, that's right. Can you sit here for a moment? The maid will take your suitcases," Mr. Lee told them.

Felix and Minho looked at each other and walked over to where Mr. Lee was sitting, then sat down.

Once they were seated, Mr. Lee took out an envelope and pulled out a stack of printed photos. He then spread them out on the table. They were all photos of the eight boys.

In the car, at the beach, at the house, at the restaurant, at the lookout... In each of them, the eight of them were clearly visible—there were nine photos of them. But then there were seven others where only Jisung and Minho were visible. Minho with his arm around the boy, or the two of them smiling at each other, or sharing a plate of food, or... even sleeping in the room they had chosen.

"So Chan and Jeongin, but here I see four other men. One of them being Mr. Han's son, and he's precisely the one I see closest to my son," Mr. Lee said to Minho. "Tell me, how important is this Han to you? Because if you tell me right now that he's not significant in your life, I'll act as if I haven't seen anything, and you..." he pointed his finger at Minho, "will act as if you've never met him. You will cut off any relationship you have with him and you will never speak to him again. And I will make sure of that myself. So you better answer... what is—"

"He's my partner," Minho interrupted, now looking his father in the eye, which were now wide open. "Han Jisung is my boyfriend, Father. That's why I can't let him go."

"Minho..." his brother said, and he had turned his head so quickly he almost hurt his neck.

"Your... partner...?" he asked and then shook his head and got up from the couch to leave the room.

When his father left and the door slammed, Felix got up to kneel in front of his brother.

He stared at Minho, a mix of disbelief and concern on his face. After a moment of stunned silence, he swallowed hard and took a deep breath.

"Hyung, I can't believe you actually said that," Felix said softly, his voice tinged with worry. He reached out and placed a reassuring hand on Minho's shoulder. "I know things are complicated, but lying to Dad like that... it's a huge risk. What if he finds out the truth?"

Minho looked down, his expression pained. "I know, Felix. I didn't have a choice. Dad would never accept just friends, and if he thought Jisung was more than that, he might be less likely to try to break us apart."

Felix's frown deepened. "I get why you did it, but this is going to make things even more complicated. Dad's not going to just let this slide. We need to figure out a plan to handle this before it spirals out of control."

Felix's concern was palpable. He took a moment to collect his thoughts, then continued, "Look, we need to talk to Ji. He deserves to know what's going on and how things might change. And we need to come up with a strategy to deal with Dad if he pushes harder."