12 Dinner & apple pie

Daniel and I were torn from what we were doing to look at Noah casually coming to the kitchen. “Did you finish the song?” Daniel asked the guy who went to the fruit bowl and brought an apple to his mouth.

“Not yet,” Noah answered. “You’re here to help?” the oldest added confusingly, but he got a head shook as an answer. “Then why are you here?” The oldest sang teasingly? I guessed from his smile.

“I apologize for you, Sarah,” The guy spoke before he went out. It was short, but it touched me. He doesn’t look like the kind that’ll apologize. We set the table with many varieties of dishes. The smell lured the guys to the dining room before we could call them.

“Are we having a banquet here?” Liam said, drooling over the table. We overdid it. Daniel kept suggesting dishes and I couldn’t choose from, so we did all. We had fun, and we five guys here sure nothing will go on waste.

“Yeah, it’s a result of hours of work. Sarah made desert too,” Daniel proudly spoke.

“Well, let’s dig in this American-Korean buffet,” Adam took a seat, and everyone followed.

These guys know how to enjoy food. I can see that they liked everything we did. We cooked beef soup and roasted some meat and vegetables. I helped with making tacos and dumplings plus the Korean side-dishes that filed the refrigerator. Having Daniel next to me, acting a chef, made me guess his identity, and I’ll see if I fell on it later.

I saw the bowl that Noah took an apple from, and the apples were shining and looked delicious, so I had the urge to make an apple pie. I asked if the other ingredients are available, and Daniel was delighted to give them to me.

I was sitting across Ethan, and I sent him a smile that made his tense shoulder relax and he started enjoying food. I feel good that one of us after our separation met people that love him. I miss him and his broad smile he gave me before. To those who didn’t get the hints, yeah, I liked Ethan more than a friend. But I couldn’t confess because we’re cousins. And now, I am just glad he's back in my life.

I was enjoying sitting in the dining room, eating, and listening to them talk and laugh about everything. These guys are loud! Even Noah is involved in their conversation. Many won’t imagine a guy who gives the cold, and jerk front can smile genuinely and tenderly with someone but, he did in front of these guys. He has a cute gummy smile. That smile brough me tingles in the stomach.

**

“This apple pie is wicked,” Liam talked with a full mouth. “Glad you liked it. I learned the recipe from my dad’s friend”.

“I am glad that at least you remembered that you learned from your dad’s friend,” Daniel shrugged.

“Uh, what? I don’t understand,” Is he trying to hint on something? “I feel hurt that you don’t remember or even give attention to the words I said,” He dramatically pats on his chest.

“Can you elaborate? Just tell me what you want directly,” I grumbled, and he laughed. The others were listening in the amusement without a word. Wait, Noah had turned to his poker face. I hate eye contact with him, and it just happened this second. I averted my look back to Daniel, waiting for him to talk.

“Okay, I’ll talk. Your stares are killing! What the name of your dad’s friend?” He asked. I thought he’ll talk, not ask.

“I called him uncle Kim, but his name is Kim Jooyong.” “Sarah, he is Daniel’s dad,” Ethan giggled.

So, I was right about a part of it. Daniel is the next heir of Kim’s hotels & restaurants not just a member of them. I never thought that he’s uncle’s son. He wasn’t this handsome.

“So, you’re Kim Seokjin.” “I prefer to go by Daniel for now,” Sure, he has to go by the tradition of not going by his Korean name until he takes over the business. “I don’t get how you forgot this handsome face.” Arrogant much!

“You weren’t handsome at all when we were young. Besides, I didn’t see you since I was 11, how am I supposed to remember you?”

“She has a point, Daniel Hyung,” Liam laughed.

“Well, since we’re talking about remembering stuff and you’re not a stranger to two of our members, I’ll say it.” I darted my eyes to Adam talking. “Years ago, I wrote a song with you.” Me? “Yeah, we studied in the same music school as I already said. One day your teacher came to find me because you were headache. You wanted someone to teach song-writing, and that guy was me.” I flipped back my damaged files from my memory and it was there a tall guy that I don’t remember well his face. I believe I was thirteen. “I was sixteen, and we enjoyed playing together. We made a song that won a competition,” Adam concluded.

“Wait, I remember I wrote a song called “butterfly,” but it wasn’t with someone who goes by his name. Especially not Adam,” I said, confused, and he grinned. I feel that he’s somehow glad that I remembered.

“People who know me through music called me by my mane initials A.W. It was a kid thing, but I avoided many eyes thanks to it,” Adam explained.

The song was awesome to be written by sixteen and thirteen students. We even won a competition with it. Wait, if he was sixteen back then, it means that he’s three years older than me. So, why is he still in high school?

“Is there something wrong?” Daniel asked. I guess my face betrays me these days, showing the transition of my thinking.

“Why are you guys still at high school? Other than Daniel, you said that you only late by one year. I feel stupid that I didn’t think about Ethan’s age. If you all are all older than Ethan, why you still at school? Shouldn’t you be in whatever your families assigned you to do?” I voiced all my questions to them, and their body tensed. The room fell in profound silence. Not literally because they were talking by looking at each other. They had this full conversation that I wasn't part of since they were speaking with their eyes. I felt awkward. I shouldn’t ask; why I did anyway?

I heard Daniel taking a deep breath. “I rather not to tell you everything so you won’t get involved in our mess, but yeah, we’re all older to be in high school. It’s just a cover for us to stay out of the radar. Since I am not fit to be in high school, I applied to be a teacher. I have the talents, so why not,” He finished with a smile postured on his face.

“But people know you. Everyone at school fancies you all. I don’t know the reason, though”.

"You're clearly have been living under a rock," Liam said which made him earn a glare from Ethan.

“We are famous for being a group of producers. We produce music and choreographies for other musicians and dancers. And we even do our own music. The real us, the guys that hold the names of our families, are not known by the outside world. If you search for me or anyone here, you won’t find pictures for us more than the ones when we were little or you won't at all. People believe that I am studying business at Harvard and Noah studying medicine in New York, for example. That’s how we can live our life peacefully. In people’s eyes, we’re rich because we sell good music, which is true by the way, and we want to keep it that way for the time being,” Ethan spoke this time.

Now I am thinking about the reason they’re doing all this. Living as an heir is frustrating. I too, my parents did everything not to be followed by paparazzi, but it looks like there is more than that in it. Daniel says that he won’t tell everything anyway, and I am not that curious to care to know about everything.

“Okay, I am cool with this explanation. Even so, I need at least to know your actual age if you have to meet more than this time,” I said.

“You’re asking only about our ages?” Liam looked confused. “Yeah, I don’t care about the rest. It’s your life.”

They all looked at me like I am an alien, even Noah has changed his poker face and furrowed his brows instead. Were they thinking that I am going to dig in this? I am not a fan and I don’t care who they are and from where their backgrounds. Having Ethan with them shows me they’re not serial killers or drug dealers, and that’s enough for me to associate with them for this week.

“You’re sure are different. Okay, Noah and I are twenty-one years old. Liam is one year younger than Ethan, so he’s nineteen, and the oldest of us is Daniel, who has twenty-four,”. Wah, they're adults. At Daniel's age, I would've been leading my company like a real boss and to extreme success. I nodded at him, and we get back to eat our slices of pie.

“If you finished, follow me to the studio next to my room. I’ll wait for you to hear the demo,” Noah said, standing up. I am still on half of my pie, and I hate to waste food, so I kept eating.

Adam and Ethan excused themselves to I don’t know where. I finished my pie and went to where Noah has sent me. But, no one was at the studio when I came in.

I walked out of the studio and passed by Noah’s room. The one I was in this morning. I heard a sentence that stopped me from my path, and it was Noah yelling:

“You should’ve kept it yourselves.”