"Taehyun-ah, do you want to play a game?" Doyoung asked the younger.
"A game?" Young Taehyun repeated, looking up to the boy, his eyes shining with excitement.
"Hide-and-seek, what do you think? Let's start with you hiding, and I'll look for you, okay?"
"But mom and dad said they would be coming back soon," Taehyun replied.
"Aish, a short game won't hurt. I know you feel bored after waiting here," his older brother reasoned as he took the younger by the hand to a playground nearby. "I'll stand here and count to ten. Then I'll come looking for you."
"But—"
Doyoung turned around as he faced the wall with his hands placed over his eyes. "10...9..."
His excitement at the moment pushed out any rational reasons to not play as Taehyun ran and crouched behind a seesaw, his heart thumping loudly against his chest. A game won't do any harm. Plus, it was rare to see Doyoung, his aloof and distant brother, want to play a game with him.
"1...0... Ready or not! Here I come!" He heard his brother call out.
Taehyun squeezed in his corner tighter with his eyes shut firmly.
"Found you!"
Opening his eyes, Taehyun looked up to see the older standing in front of him. Was his hiding spot that easy to find? That was what he thought at the time. Nothing more than that. And a part of him wished they'd end the game there.
"You're so good at seeking," he smiled, his eyes forming crescents at the older in an attempt to be nice to his older brother—since they were in a good mood, he might as well do his best to keep it that way.
"Now it's your turn! You count to 100, and I'll go hide," Doyoung said, bringing Taehyun to the same corner as he did to count.
"100? But you counted to 10 only," Taehyun said.
"It'll be more fun if you counted to 100, wouldn't it? Then you can spend more time looking for me."
Only being a child at the time, Taehyun thought his older brother always knew better than he did. And so, like a fool, he listened as Taehyun turned around and started counting.
"1...2...3...."
With his eyes still closed and his mind still counting, the sound of his brother's heavy footsteps slowly moved away without him even realising. The thuds of his footsteps getting softer and softer until Taehyun could no longer hear them.
And by the time he had counted to 100, his brother was already gone.
Checking his reflection one last time in the mirror, Taehyun let out a heavy sigh, the weight on his chest still there. Even with his unease, he couldn't let it soak his alluring and charismatic appearance.
For the occasion, he chose to go with an entirely white fit based on a royal-prince concept with a white topcoat with golden button flaps connecting the parting of his jacket. He decided to complement it with a simple pair of purely white pants. And the finishing touch was intricate gold linings along the folded lapels of his jacket and the cutting of the coat.
After spraying on some cologne, he reached the white mask on his table: it went well with his outfit with its golden patterns and stitchings.
Heading downstairs, Beomgyu was already there, ready and dressed in the outfit he had picked out the other day.
Losing himself for a moment, Taehyun couldn't help but admire the latter's ethereal appearance, which was almost identical to a prince's. His charming appearance matched, with his royally immaculate fit accentuated the latter's beauty even more. There he was, dressed in a navy blue coat with golden shoulder pads, all pulled together with a pair of white breaches. Like him, Beomgyu had a golden mask to complete his outfit as well. There was a mysterious yet attractive aura being emanated as Taehyun couldn't help but look in awe. It was almost as if he was a painting, drawn and sketched beautifully from a scene in a storybook.
"Do... I look okay?" Beomgyu asked, snapping him from his trance as Taehyun looked up.
"Y-yeah," he stammered before turning away. If it wasn't for his mask covering half of his face, then Beomgyu might've mistaken him for catching a cold.
The crisp evening autumn air embraced the two as they got into the car, Beomgyu starting the engine as they drove away.
A masquerade ball. That was the theme Seri chose to go with for her birthday party this year. Taehyun had to momentarily remind himself why he was even going in the first place. And that was to find who the anonymous sender was.
"Are you sure you want to go there?" Beomgyu asked, worry painted on his face. What happened last night must've stirred unease and fear in both of them.
"I have you, won't I?" Taehyun said, the sound of those words melting away any remaining doubts he had.
"Of course," Beomgyu smiled.
"I'm not sure if Baekhyun and Doyoung will be going there personally or not, but I'm almost positive they will, considering how the letter from last night did state that they'll be there."
"What about Seri? Don't you suspect her?" Beomgyu asked, noticing how Taehyun didn't include his sister in the list of suspects.
"I trust Seri," he said shortly. "Sure, all of them aren't too fond of me, but Seri isn't as bad as the other two. Once when I was 5, Doyoung tried to use a game of hide-and-seek as a ruse to abandon me in a playground," Taehyun sighed, recalling one of the many schemes his devious brother had used to try to get rid of him.
"What happened after that?"
"Mother and father found out what happened and came looking for me. Thankfully, I was only left alone for a few hours—"
"A few hours?" Beomgyu said, baffled.
All Taehyun could do was smile painfully. It honestly saddened him to realise how lightly he could speak of matters like this and still manage a smile on his face. It was almost as if the years of pain and suffering brought from his siblings had numbed him to the point where he couldn't trust anyone anymore.
But that was until he met Beomgyu.
"Seri found me, and when mother and father had found out Doyoung was the one behind it, he was punished for weeks. He didn't speak to me for months after that," Taehyun continued. "Baekhyun didn't do much. There's a 7 year age gap between us, so he wasn't the type to give in to such foolish pranks like Doyoung did. But even as a kid, I could sense his subtle hate towards me."
Beomgyu didn't say anything after that, simply listening to him going on and on about the unfortunate childhood he had. Never had a silence been so comfortable and therapeutic to him before. And never would he have found himself opening up about the most closed-off parts to his past.
But he just did to Beomgyu.
And that was what made the latter so special to him.
Upon registering their names in the guestbook, the two made their way towards the hotel's ballroom. Famous for her extravagant parties, Taehyun wasn't too shocked, to say the least, by the venue of his sister's birthday this year either.
A dozen crystal chandeliers spiralled down from the muraled ceilings. Rich, wine-red curtains tucked neatly by the glass panels displayed on the towering ballroom walls, showcasing the hotel's garden by the night canvas outside. Golden light suffused across the room, giving it a warm touch. By the back of the large hall stood a grand flight of carpeted stairs.
Conversations of guests and the wheeling of food carts by waiters filled the hall, setting off a lively mood. By the edges of the hall laid long banquet tables, overflowing with delicacies served as the guests' main and dessert courses like Mediterranean Shrimp Kabobs and Dark Chocolate Ganache Tarts.
It was hard to recognise anyone here, with Seri's guests following the theme of a Masked Ball.
It seems like finding the anonymous sender would be harder than I thought, Taehyun thought to himself, barely able to hear his own voice with the filtered out cacophony of ongoing chatters in the background.
"Taehyun darling! You made it!" Seri's voice called out from behind as Taehyun turned around to see his sister, who he also barely recognised at first sight.
She was wearing a black diamond mermaid dress that hugged every curve of her doll-like frame perfectly, with a fishnet cape of a train trailing behind her with every step she took. The lower part of her dress was purely black silk, catching the shine of the light. It contrasted heavily with the upper segment of her outfit, which was made of fabric and lace. Even with half of her face covered by her obnoxious, black-feathered mask, her aura and beauty was evident simply from the way she carried herself into the room.
"Happy Birthday, Seri," Taehyun said as Beomgyu bowed down to the latter.
"Oh, and who's this?" She asked with a smile, motioning towards Beomgyu.
"My bodyguard," Taehyun replied curtly.
"He looks pretty handsome. I guess you really do have taste in men," Seri bantered, beaming at Beomgyu, who smiled awkwardly back.
Taehyun couldn't stifle a frown as he interjected between the two. "By the way, is Doyoung and Baekhyun coming?"
Before Seri could deliver an answer, a masked man dressed in a suit came from behind the two, holding a tablet with Doyoung's face on it.
"Mr Kang Doyoung is unable to attend your party, Ms Kang. He would like to deliver his wishes through a video call," he said, holding the iPad up.
"After generously offering you a spot at the most sought-after party in the whole of Seoul, you didn't even bother showing up?" Seri sighed, shaking her head dismissively.
"I had an appointment scheduled tonight. My apologies."
Taehyun saw his sister not bother to hide a frown, as if she too knew that was a made-up excuse not to see his siblings. But what bothered him even more was the fact that Doyoung, his prime suspect, didn't intend to join Seri's party at all.
Is Doyoung really not the one behind all this? Or was it all a plan not to show up to make him think that he isn't to be suspected?
Taehyun honestly didn't know.
"I've sent my gift to your house. Happy Birthday, Seri," Doyoung said solemnly before ending a call.
"What a party-pooper," Seri said bitterly before turning to Taehyun. "You were saying?"
"I was wondering if Baekhyun or Doyoung is going to come," he replied.
"I was expecting Doyoung to come, but he didn't. Baekhyun informed me earlier that he's busy tonight. Why do you ask, though?"
The mention of both of his brothers not attending Seri's party just clicked in on Taehyun. Then it was definitely a reverse psychology play from them not coming to make him take them out of his list of suspects.
"Seri, I have something I need to tell you—"
"Ms Kang Seri, Mr Kim Ji-Hoon and Ms Seoyeon, the reporters of the Times Daily, are here. You are to go greet them right now," said the masked man, who Taehyun deduced to be Seri's manager.
"Taehyun, would it be okay if we talk later?" Seri asked.
"Of course," he replied. Seri flashed a smile back at him and Beomgyu before following the masked man through the sea of guests entering the hall.
"You're going to tell her about it?" Asked Beomgyu.
"Yes, I believe she'll be able to help me," Taehyun said, missing the latter's subtle look of doubt.
It was pretty crowded, with people scattered across the hall like ants in a colony. So untintentionally brushing shoulders against a stranger didn't shock Taehyun too much, but he could've sworn he felt a swift force gliding behind him.
He turned around. No one was there.
However, on the floor laid an envelope, sealed with red wax.
Opening the letter, Taehyun took the card out, its material similar to all his other warning letters before this as he gave it a read with an uneasy heart. In a large formal font printed across the card were the words:
Let's play a game of hide-and-seek, shall we? Count to 100, and I'll be waiting for you to catch me.
[A/N: sorry if I've missed a couple of updates, school has been hectic lately ><]