Chapter Text
Life is unpredictable. Sometimes you have to walk through a field of flowers blossoming in the middle of winter, and other times you crawl through the maze of miseries in the sweet sweet summer day. No matter what your statuses in society may be, hardships and obstacles all come for you at the same way and they can make you crumble to the ground, down on your two knees and beg for a way out. Unless you are Choi Beomgyu, then money will solve any problems you have for you.
But still, Beomgyu does not get why people always watch him with their jaws hung whenever he talks about the life he is living. Exactly what's so special about waking up to a full table of breakfast, dressing up in designers to college, driving different cars just because he feels like it, splurging on a shopping free and treating his friends to a very nice spa in the middle of the day with his black card that indicates he is a huge spender?
Absolutely nothing.
All his life Beomgyu was told to treat himself as an important porcelain piece - hard to perfect, hard to obtain, and the only good use out of it is to admire from a case made of glass. All Beomgyu learn from said metaphor is fragile glass containing fragile clay, which is also very true for him. Beomgyu couldn't count all those porcelain tea sets his parents have obtained over the years, not to mention the ones they inherited from his (still living) grandmother, and dare Beomgyu to let his opinion heard he will definitely tell them they are hoarders. Not for rich people, they count this as valuable investments. Like how his mother collects Birkin bags. Or his dad collecting lung disease from his smoking habit.
Beomgyu sighed for the nothing time while laying on his hammock. It was a nice sunny day but it was not humid - the air was chilly in contrast with the heat from the sun. Ever so often, he dropped his left leg just enough to push the hammock to swing in swift back and forth motion. It is a great shame that he had nothing to do in such nice weather. It would be nice to go watch the sun setting at Han River, and have a nice dinner afterwards. Or he could learn how to make food so he could invite Soobin to eat next time and not be ashamed about burning oil (and the pan along the way) because smartass Beomgyu isn't as smart with food chemistry as he is with other subjects. He chuckled at himself at the memory; Soobin eating burnt omelette with rice, his face grimace and Beomgyu whispering soft sorry after every laughing fit. Soobin's frown did slowly dissolve into a toothy grin so that's still a huge win in Beomgyu's book.
("We could have made ramyeon instead, why do you insist on us eating your shitty omelette?" Soobin muttered under his breath upon finding a cabinet full of noodle packs, and Beomgyu stood there shaking his head, "nostalgia purpose").
"Young master," the maid called for his attention, phone in one hand "Master Taehyun is calling you"
"Tell him I'm busy, please"
"He seems to be in a hurry"
Beomgyu took the phone in annoyance, he may he bored but he also would like not to be interrupted for one afternoon "Shoot"
"SOS, I'm on a date and I think she's ditching me" Taehyun spoke through the phone, his voice calm as ever.
"First of all it's a hyung to you, second why are you calling me for your own karma? You deserve this"
"You are listed as my emergency guardian, come and make my day better. I'm giving you 30 minutes."
"YOU IM-"
Taehyun cut the line before he could finish cussing him out and don't get him wrong, he loves Taehyun to death but sometimes he is just as irritating as Beomgyu himself. And he doesn't like it because he was already so hard to deal with, why would he want to deal with Taehyun too?
Despite acting all tough in spite of Taehyun, Beomgyu still got up and headed back inside the mansion to ready himself anyway. He warned him multiple times that she was not the one for Taehyun, she was only in it for the money, but that's as far as he could go in terms of advice. Taehyun is a younger brother, but not too young - he is an adult who can decide for himself, he is smart and excels in everything he does, but Beomgyu fears that he lacks the street smart to survive in this world full of corruption and deceitfulness (not like he's doing any better, really). Taehyun called for Beomgyu and Beomgyu will definitely go to him because Beomgyu loves and cherishes people like that, he would never desert someone when they need him. Especially not Taehyun, and definitely not Soobin either.
So after just grabbing his wallet and his favorite pink cardigan, he hopped into his brand new black BMW x7 and left for wherever Mall Taehyun just sent location to his phone. His father doesn't love him, but what he loves is buying cars for Beomgyu because he loves cars but what's the point of buying cool cars if you cannot drive them anyway?
And that is where Beomgyu's collection of cars start.
His dad is living the motto of "if you cannot live your dream, have your children live it" because whatever lifestyle Beomgyu is having it is not what he envisions. His dad wanted to dress himself up in soft shirts that smell like morning spring when he was young but he was poor and it was not appropriate to do it as a salesman so Beomgyu's closet is full of soft cardigans and fluffy sweaters, and unlike other rich kids who dress in black tuxedo every gala, he gets to dress in baby blue sweater with white suspenders and a frizzy beret because they are rich enough to do it and nobody would ever dare say anything about it. However, his dad does have this 'mysterious' side about him (or as everyone calls it tsundere) so his cars are always black. They are all bought in his name so technically Beomgyu only owns black cars, which is a little bit bizarre if we take his soft core closet and mysterious black mob cars into account. Beomgyu eventually grows into them, but sometimes he wishes he could just ride a bike and get out of his house.
Beomgyu reached the destination not very long after (read : exactly 45 minutes later) and he drove up towards the second floor of the parking lot. He had never been here before, the department store was not a luxurious place he usually shops in but it was a nice spot at the far end of the city. Taehyun has always been a somewhat normal person despite how rich he is; he drives a normal white Lexus IS 250, he doesn't mind shopping in indie stores and he always does some kind of volunteer jobs during summer break (Beomgyu was asked a couple of times to join but come on, the heat is scorching and Beomgyu is NOT spending extra money on aestheticians just because of some organizations he can directly donate to), so it shouldn't be a big surprise to him that Taehyun also dated a lot of average people.
Beomgyu left his car and entered through the door, displeased that he had to pull the door by himself. A gust of hot wind hit his face and he winced, this is about to be the worst experience he has at a shopping mall. He navigated the floor for awhile, there seemed to not be any coffee place nearby so he took the escalator down. He was somewhat surprised he was able to blend in with the crowd fairly well because of his home clothes, but part of him is also annoyed that all these people touching him were unaware of how expensive each pieces on his body were.
Eventually, Beomgyu forgot he was there for Taehyun and just roamed around the ground floor by himself. The place is spacious, but the crowd was not huge that it would be overwhelming. At times he could hear the faint music from store speakers playing whatever new pop songs released this week, taking over the charts by storm. It made him think of his brother who is also a well-known producer at a huge entertainment company in South Korea, his brother who taught him how to play basic piano, his brother who would write small songs for him to sing, his brother who suggested he went to a dance academy and learn to dance, his brother who bought him a guitar because he loves soft ballad songs in the summer, and his brother who left home to chase his dream, leaving him to inherit the company instead. Beomgyu tried calling him and every now and then his brother picked his phone up and said very few words to him and left, not just his presence but also a deep scar in his heart. So to shut himself out he stopped listening to music. The vinyl with music his brother compiled for him just there, hidden in the basement along with his guitar because they were oh so painful to gaze upon.
Which was why he was so surprised of the familiar tune outside of the mall, a faint noise of the song his brother always sang him whenever he felt stressful or when he suffered a sleepless night. Lyrics so familiar he swore he recognize them anywhere he goes.
🎶You just call out my name
And you know wherever I am
I'll come runnin'
To see you again🎶
Beomgyu stood still, watch the way the busker sing the song with a smile, his fingers strumming the notes and Beomgyu felt so at peace. For a moment, this is all he ever wanted, back to his brother not having to deal with responsibilities nor expectations of people around him. Tears streamed down his face without him knowing and he just stood there not caring about people staring at him like he was a madman. Or noticed how the busker had finished his song and just stared right back at him.
Beomgyu was too busy wishing to be set free.