Here I Lie // ATEEZ ✔

- 11 -

"Please stop hitting him; he's our son!" the woman shrieks as she descends the winding stairs, her house slippers thumping on the soft carpeted steps. Her nightgown billows around her, making her seem larger than she really is. Her small mouth twists, the wrinkles at the end of her eyes grow deeper and her hands fly to her mouth as she witnesses her husband hitting their second son with his golf club, the few times he has done so. Before this it never lasted more than a few strokes, but this time, her husband is going all out, producing bruises on his son's body like he was a lifeless punching bag. Her husband has never laid a hand on her and is gentle in treating her, but with their two sons, he has decided that he would have to be tough on them so that they will grow up as the sons he wants them to be. However now it seems, their second son is the opposite of everything that he wanted him to be.

"You stay out of this!" her husband roars, lowering down the golf club when his wife crouches over his son, throwing herself so that she will be a shield for him. "Your son is only bringing shame to our family! He doesn't even care for us! All he cares for is his impulsive young blood, thinking that being young would last forever. What do you think you're doing?" he nudges the second son's head with the toe of his golf club. "Ruining my image?"

The second son looks up, but his face remains impartial, unaffected by his father. He has prepared himself for the reaction from him, coming back home to his father fulfilling his expectations as soon as he sees him. He bites his lip, his teeth touching one of the sources of his father's wrath: his new lip piercing. It doesn't stop there, as he itches to touch his new cartilage piercings, his newly-dyed hair, the chain he bought around his neck and the tattoo he had gotten on the flesh near his tailbone. He just recently turned 19, putting on the title as an adult proudly, knowing that he will finally do whatever he wants - which means going against his father's idealistic view of him. He doesn't regret it one bit, for this is his plan all along. Plus, he's very well-versed in what's going to stumble out of his father's mouth next.

"Since you are intent on going against me, leave my house this instant! Why can't you be more like your brother? He always follows my words and he's studying hard so that he can inherit my company one day. Why can't you be more mature like your brother?" he hisses. "You're always a disgrace to our family, playing around and gallivanting with girls."

"I don't go around with girls," he replies, "Who told you that? Did Yoochan say that about me?"

"You will address your brother properly!"

He ignores his father as he rises up from his mother's embrace, standing to face the head of the family, although he's shorter by a few centimetres that he can't level his eyes with the man. Still, he stands rigidly, puffing out his chest to show that he's not intimidated, not scared of the man that has always been rough on him just because he is born a son. He refuses to live in the shadow of his older brother anymore, knowing that his father would always favour the eldest no matter what he does. His acting out is only an excuse for him to finally kick him out of the house.

"Fine, I'll gladly leave this goddamn house if that's what you want. I don't want this mansion, your company, your money or any of your properties! You better watch me, because you don't know when I will come back to stab you in the back. You better watch me, because I will learn to live even without this dysfunctional family."

He catches sight of his brother standing at the entrance of the kitchen; the older is trying to keep a straight face, but it's clear that he's hiding his satisfaction at seeing his younger brother being rebuked. Their relationship as brothers is never established as one that people envy; they are polar opposites, with Yoochan being the nice, obedient older brother while he is the troublemaking younger brother.