IF YOU WOULD HAVE TOLD Kang Yongnam of half a year ago, that in six months, he would be standing in the kitchen (of a newly opened—and highly successful—restaurant that he owned) trying to keep calm over the fact that his (somewhat—maybe not he hasn't exactly asked her yet) girlfriend (?) who'd he'd met over the phone but not yet in person, was a member of an incredibly popular idol group, he would just blink.
Then contrary to belief he probably would've just nodded because things happen, and you can't control anything really.
Of course he'd refer you to case a, being his sister and his brother-in-law who met in less-than-normal circumstances, one of whom, is and was a famous artist as well.
But he'll be honest and say he didn't know if he'd be able to handle it.
You see, to Yongnam, change is definitely not something very welcomed.
Let me explain.
When Yongnam was six his mother decided to change up how she did things at home. By doing this, everything changed. His mom went to work, his dad went to work and they were left with whomever it was that could take them.
Yongnam became proficient in learning how to cook simple things like kimbap and ramen and stuff that his five year old sister could eat.
However, Yongnam remembers that when this happened, the yelling began.
Of course every family yells, every couple fights.
But the fighting started and the screaming and the sobbing and the breaking (of objects i can promise you) kept coming.
That went on for years.
And then things changed again.
He was eleven and his mother collapsed. She was already a tiny little thing, but she overworked herself. Down to the bone, his grandmother said to his aunt. More than she should've had to. That had been followed by a pointed glare to his father.
(in a way they should be thankful—she collapsed and went to the hospital—where they found a tumor in her brain—one they were able to catch)
And then, by the time he was twelve, and his aunt, his father's new co-worker at his new job, was coming into their lives a little more everyday, his mother wasn't getting well, at least enough to leave the hospital any time soon.
(it was interesting that he didn't notice anything going on between them—his aunt and his father—but now he recognizes the signs—the touches, and the looks and the words and the movement—it doesn't make it okay, everything his father did was not and will not ever be okay—but yongnam knows what to look for now)
And then he'd seen them, his father with his clothes shucked off and his aunt with hers following. It was a change he didn't see coming, one that threw him for a loop. But he was twelve and he knew somewhat about things that some people said and did and he'd asked an older friend of his about it.
He told Ahyoung he found a divorce letter later when she'd ask, and he stuck to that story because his sister didn't need to know what a shit person their father was, at least she didn't back then.
(but that all changed too)
Two months later his mother came home, miraculously recovered. A week later his father gave his mother actual divorce papers, and left with his aunt, his hand in hers. Two weeks later Yongnam woke up to a birthday with a note that began, "Yongnam-ah, happy birthday and I'm sorry." And that was the last real big change he had in his life.
His mother left sometime during the night and Yongnam didn't know what to do because he was fucking twelve—scratch that, he'd just turned thirteen. It was his thirteenth birthday and his father was marrying his aunt, and his mother packed her things and left them, her children, her thirteen year old son and her eleven year old daughter.
(but he'd later find out, his mother left her entire savings to him in an envelope, saying she left them enough for the next year and a half—and that was all yongnam would need—just some time to get a job and save and leave their apartment behind—find something different where ahyoung could live and he could live without being reminded of the shit family they had)
The change was sudden but not unwelcome. Rent cost a lot but Yongnam had already been cooking and cleaning in place of their mother since she got sick and Ahyoung couldn't care less about her parents leaving as long as Yongnam didn't.
("because oppa," she'd said with wide glassy eyes looking up at him as he attempted to brush her hair into pigtails. "i can live without them, i can't live without you though.")
That was the first time he cried since they left because he thought he wasn't good enough, he thought he wasn't doing anything right but he was and she was happy and the weight on his heart lifted because he could do this. He could raise his sister and he could raise himself. He didn't need his parents.
And he still doesn't. He doesn't need anyone, but he has friends, and his sister and that's good, he's good. He's successful, and they're okay.
Change has been happening more and more around him and he's not as opposed to it, he's realized, but this. He like's Tzuyu, he likes her a lot, but this, this is big change, a really big change. He was barely able to handle people stalking their little community for a chance to see Mark, to get pictures of his sister. How is he gonna handle it. He stills. He does know one person who he can ask.
He takes a deep breath and steps through the kitchen to find his hoard of friends still sitting there.
He makes eye contact with Ahyoung and freezes.
"What, what's wrong?" She blinks at him. "Is she okay?"
"...fine." He says, lifting an eyebrow. "Can I ask you a question?"
"Sure." She says, tilting her head and pursing her lips. "What's up?"
"How was it, when you went public with him?" He says gesturing towards Mark.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, y-you, you know how I am. You know how I get, how privacy is something that I, I have to have and how I don't like things changing to much, I just," he takes a deep breath.
"Are you okay?" Gikwang frowns, eyebrows furrowing.
He shakes his head. "I like the girl I'm talking too."
"Oh." The two exchange a look, surprised by his straightforwardness and confused as to why he's bringing this up.
He looks around, turning this way and that, to make sure no one is listening to him before he leans in, speaking in front of Mark, Gikwang and Ahyoung. "I just found out, my girl," he flushes but doesn't stop, looking Mark in the eye now. "she's Tzuyu. TWICE's Tzuyu, that's who I've been talking too."
He lets a beat pass and then Gikwang is coughing, something deep from his chest and Mark blinks.
Ahyoung looks at him, completely stoic before she breathes. "The first thing you need to do is make sure you breathe. Don't ignore her because you're freaked out, that won't help. I recommend you stay away from all social media for a day or two and then revisit her as a person first. From there after, however long you want to wait, you can talk to her about how worried you are but avoid the words, fans, company, and anything regarding you being interested in her status. If you want to continue on with her, you also need to avoid mentioning in anyway or implying in anyway, taking a break, breaking up, or ending whatever you two are. If you don't want to continue with her, you need to let her know now, and make sure that you tell her, you will not betray her in anyway, because she told you everything about herself in confidence and you know that. Other than that, it is a normal relationship, she is a normal girl and you will break her heart if you are not careful. Also, I know I said this at the beginning but I'm serious. Don't freak out. If you are serious about her, and I know, it is scary to get serious about someone because the pressure of a normal relationship is a lot, and I know that the pressure of a relationship with someone who's apart of an incredibly big, incredibly popular group adds so much more but as long as you trust her," Ahyoung laughs. "she will protect you. She'll be the one that stops people from saying things to you, the same way this lug over here," she throws a thumb at Mark, who is staring at her with wide eyes. "did for me. So I say this in all honesty, you will be fine."
He takes another shaky deep breath, and nods.
Gikwang releases a breath. "Wow, that was awesome."
"Did you do that with me?" Mark asks.
"No, remember with you I fucked up and ignored you for like a day or something."
"Yeah, but I figured you needed it. You just found out something, really wild. And we weren't even dating."
"That's true." Ahyoung bites her lip. "It was still shitty."
Mark laughs. "Hey, wait," he turns to Yongnam. "Doesn't this mean you have to pay for our honeymoon?"
Yongnam glances at him. "What?"
Mark smirks. "Tzuyu's Taiwanese, and last time I checked, you were going to avoid Taiwanese women. You didn't."
"No that's not—" Yongnam tries but Ahyoung perks up, turning with wide starry eyes towards her brother and he freezes, upper lip rising. His eye twitches and he nods. "Y-yeah. I did say that."
Ahyoung grins, eyes shrinking into crescent moons and Yongnam turns to Mark, glaring as his sister begins to scroll though her phone with Gikwang.
"...fuck you." He whispers.
"Aha," Mark tilts his head. "Young-ah, I'm thinking Barcelona."
Yongnam can feel a headache rising. "Seriously, fuck you."
Mark grins wide, "You're the one that offered." His smug look disappears into a softer one. "Maybe you can bring Tzuyu."
Yongnam chokes back a laugh, turning to eye his sister before he speaks softly. "I don't know if I can handle this."
"It's gonna be hard, but like she said, you'll be fine. But," he shakes his head. "I agree with her, you need to let her go now if you don't want it. And if you can't see it going anywhere, you know."
"...that's just it." Yongnam bites his bottom lip. "I think, well I can see it going all the way."
"Dude, you're not thinking about... marriage are you?"
"I'm not saying I'd propose. It's way too early for that."
There's a pause and silence stretches between the two.
"Honestly speaking though, I can see myself marrying her. Pretty soon on in actually. She's, she's amazing I mean, she's funny and she's sweet. Trust me, it won't happen anytime in the near future. But, if we stay together, I think, nah, I know, she's it."
Mark blinks, the weight of Yongnam's words burning down on him. He nods. "Well then, tell her."
Yongnam stares at him, eyebrow lifting and Mark rolls his eyes.
"Don't tell her anything that you're not ready to tell her. She won't force you or pressure you or do anything else. Just, if you know for sure, like 100% that you want to be in a relationship with her. Just tell her that. And make sure she know's its because of her, not because of TWICE."
Yongnam nods, breathing in.
Mark grins suddenly. "And then you can ask her to marry you."
"Fuck off."
Behind Yongnam, Yuju frowns.
🥢
"Hey," Gikwang frowns. "Do you think Kyungri's okay?"
Yongnam frowns turning to look at him. "What d'you mean?"
"I just mean," he scratches his neck and Yongnam notices the red hickies smothering his throat. "I haven't talked to her in a while. It's really just cause she didn't come to Mark's birthday party thing at the restaurant and when has she ever passed up seeing so many celebrities gather in one room?"
There's a pause and Gikwang continues. "Speaking of, I noticed a specific girl group was missing... and that a specific best friend was sulking at the bar because the love of his life was also missin—"
"—shut up." Yongnam threw a pillow at his best friend. "I wasn't sad."
"You were." Gikwang nodded, raising an eyebrow. "You got hella drunk and even told Jinyoung-hyung that you were sad cause you hadn't met your goddess yet."
Yongnam flushed. "Weren't you talking about Kyungri?"
"I mean I was but you never talk to me about your girlfriend and you've been dating her since like April and that was like five months ago..." He trailed off.
"I haven't been dating her for five months, I've been dating her for three."
"Pish posh." Gikwang waved him on with a hand.
"And I mean, we'd finally said we were going to meet and we didn't. It kinda sucked you know."
There's a brief stretch of silence.
"Oh my god." Gikwang's eyebrows furrowed. "You were really sad. Dude, I'm sorry."
Yongnam sighed. "I mean, of course I was. We'd planned to finally meet up and then a last minute schedule comes up and of course we can't. It sucks."
"Dude, that's kinda sad and cute." Gikwang's face goes completely blank for a moment. "I kinda wanna throw up and I kinda wanna squeal."
"The woes of being single huh?"
Gikwang freezes for a split second, something Yongnam barely catches and makes a noise.
(it's not one of agreement nor one of disagreement and yongnam knows gikwang hasn't been telling him something and he doesn't want to press him—but yongnam knows what it is and he just wishes—)
"Hey," a sudden voice cuts into his thought process, and Yongnam turns, seeing his sister standing in his doorway. "Kyungri's coming over later and I have a doctor's appointment tonight like right before that, so will you keep her company?"
Yongnam turns and looks at Gikwang who is staring up at him with wide wide brown eyes. "Wait, what, me? Are you talking to me?"
"Yeah," Ahyoung begins, eyes flickering because she's obviously nervous about asking him. "Gikwang-oppa has work in thirty minutes and you know that."
"Okay so then, you want me, to keep Kyungri company?"
She looks apologetic. "I know, I-I'm sorry, she just, she's having problems with Seunghoon right now and this appointment has been scheduled for months and I can't just ignore it. If I did, something could happen and obviously that would be terrible. And I love Kyungri, I absolutely do, but it would be imperative to my health and my baby and I can't risk that and I'm sure she knows that. But she might get offended, you know how she gets, not wanting to be left alone and all that and I just don't want to—"
"—it's fine." Yongnam manages to get in when Ahyoung sucks in a breath. "I will, I totally will. Don't worry about it. I can be a civil person."
"Really?" She asks, eyebrows raising and cheeks flushing.
"Look," Yongnam's eyebrows furrow. "I know, Kyungri and I don't see eye-to-eye on a lot, and I also know that it's not easy being between the two of us. But I'm not going to be unnecessarily mean to her. I'm not going to bring anything up. I promise."
Ahyoung smiles softly. "Thank you. I'll try to get done as fast as I can."
He nods. "Don't hurry yourself." He grins at his sister. "When is she coming?"
"She'll be here in about a forty-five minutes, and we're leaving right now. But like I said we'll try to be quick." She runs up, kisses him on the cheek and waves goodbye to Gikwang making her way out the door.
"...are you sure it's gonna be okay?" Gikwang speaks softly. "I can miss work. I mean, you two, I know, you're civil with her but you two haven't been alone together since you broke up." He bites his lip. "And with no buffer it might go to shit."
"I don't think it will. The stuff between us, it came from just jealousy ya know. I think, we've moved passed it. I'm with Tzuyu and Kyungri's with Seunghoon."
Gikwang blinks, taken aback by the words his best friend just spoke. "Let's hope." He grins standing looking at the clock. "But I do have to go, gotta go get something to eat," he rubs his stomach and yawns. "Before I go to work."
Yongnam nods. "Stop by the restaurant if you have too."
"Oh, it's open?"
"Daniel's running it with Kyungsoo."
"Oh really?"
"Well Daniel's doing the business stuff and making sure it's running smoothly, and Kyungsoo's vying for a head-cook promotion. Wanted to work more to get more experience."
"Ah, that's cool then. I'll probably do that if I'm not lazy enough."
"I'll see you," Yongnam grins wide walking his friend to the door and waving goodbye.
"Don't kill my cousin."
"Hmm, text me in two hours and if I don't respond, she's probably killed me."
🥢
An hour later Kyungri's sitting at the table in the living room and he's sitting on the couch, mindlessly flicking through channels. The room smells like fried chicken, something Kyungri has brought with her.
Initially it had been awkward for him, welcoming a girl he'd been with into the house, especially because he had a girlfriend.
And while he knows he doesn't have to tell her anything he still pulls his phone out, still texts Tzuyu—"kyungri's coming over. it's just gonna be us. just wanted to let you know."
(minutes later he gets a response, "k." followed immediately by, "pls restrain from killing her i can't kiss u if ur in jail"—to which he flushed red, placing his face in his hands)
After that they settled into a silence, one that wasn't too uncomfortable to him if he was being honest.
His attention turns to the TV when he catches sight of the girl he was just thinking about on television.
He watches as his girlfriend (the word still gets his heartbeat up seventy billion miles a second) giggles and jumps around on television. She's laughing, hitting her members and shooting sharp quips at them in response to nearly everything they say.
He grins, lip upturning at the sight of her.
(and then, despite what he said to ahyoung forty minutes earlier—everything went to shit)
"Yongnam." Kyungri's voice floats towards him, pulling him out of his dazed mind. He blinks, eyes leaving Tzuyu's form on the television.
"Yeah?"
Kyungri's staring at him for a few moments, tilting her head and narrowing her eyes slightly. "...where do you think we'd be if we had stayed together?"
At the question, Yongnam visibly flinches. "Uh," he begins, voice gone. "I, uh... what?"
"I mean," She looks down towards the ground. "do you think we would have been happy?"
Yongnam stares at her again, and for a moment, he wants to tell her yes, to tell her everything would've been great, but he can't lie to her. Can't pretend like their relationship had been anything good to either of them for the brief time they were together. So he opens his mouth, and sighs. "No."
At this her head swings towards him.
"I don't think we would've been happy at all." He frowns. "Us, we... we were good together, but as friends, once we got into a relationship, we just... we were toxic Kyungri, we always brought out the worst in each other when we were together. I mean, honestly, we should've known."
"You think we were that bad with each other?" She's asks softly, almost like she doesn't agree.
"Of course we were." Yongnam turns towards her, eyebrow raising. "Kyungri, we couldn't go out without fighting with each other, we were always late to events because we fought about something ridiculous. And everywhere we'd go, you'd think I was flirting with a girl and then you'd randomly flirt with a guy to get back at me."
"Because you did flirt. Don't think I don't remember the stupid concert."
"I asked that girl for directions, literally, she worked in the damn building!"
"I'm sure that's why you were talking to her." She frowned. "I know you just wanted to sleep with anything that moved."
"Kyungri, what the fuck dude." He exhaled. "I never slept with anyone while we were together and you freaking know that. But that's not something you can say right?"
She turned to glare at him. "Are you fucking slut-shaming me right now?"
"No." He rolled his eyes. "I don't care if you have sex, but you're a fucking cheater. We were in a Goddamn relationship. And you cheated. You're not a slut, but you are a cheater."
"That doesn't sound like what you mean."
"Kyungri, God, no. You see this," he gestured between them, standing. "This is one of the reasons, why we didn't fucking work out. You put words in my mouth, and fabricated little things that aren't true."
"One?" She narrowed her eyes. "You have more?"
"God, Kyungri, no, I'm not doing this."
"Yongnam."
"No."
She glared at him. "Is it for something shallow? What? My hips weren't big enough for you? Boobs too small? Was I too much of a fucking whore?"
"You were too much of a shitty person!" He exclaimed. "God, Kyungri, d'you not see this? When I dated you I lost contact with nearly all of my friends who were girls because you were obsessive. Do you not remember? You called me every hour to see where I was, you started that rumor about Naeun just because you thought that I liked her, when I didn't. You nearly destroyed that girls internship chances because of that. None of my friends even wanted to see me after that. I lost contact with Sooyoung, Sooyung, the only girl who even remembered what my mom looked like. She was my best friend through everything that happened with my idiotic fucking parents. And she was too damn scared to see me because of the girl I had as a girlfriend." He sighed, taking in a deep breath. "You just don't understand that what you did, wasn't right. I didn't care about all the guy friends you had, and it turned out you'd been screwing two of them by the time the relationship ended. Not to mention, how you treated Ahyoung."
"How I treated her? She's my best friend!"
"You know. God, it's like... like you didn't even fucking care, like you still don't! Listen, Gikwang is my best friend, and Ahyoung is my family. I wanted them both happy, but you had no damn reason telling her that Gikwang liked her. You had no reason to tell her that Gikwang was in love with her. You didn't even fucking care about her happiness. And in the end, you just screwed him over too, it's like, like you think we're all puppets you can control."
"You were just concerned with hers! They could've been happy together! They could've been together, so why didn't you tell them they both liked each other!?"
"We have had this argument for years already, Kyungri. It's because I don't get to choose. It is my sister's love life. She made the decision not to tell Gikwang, just like he did. It's like everyone but you sees that! And honestly, you... you told Ahyoung that shit about Gikwang, the day she was supposed to be with Mark again. You literally fucking screwed her and her boyfriend over. And good going, you know, telling your best friend's secret to her ex-crush, in front of her current boyfriend. Which, let's just bring up the complete disregard for Mark's feelings, because evidently, just because you don't know him that well, suddenly means that you can just omit his existence in this equation. So nice job reducing a guy and his feelings to nothing, just so you can prove a point."
"Well obviously, they needed it." She bit back. "She still had feelings for Gikwang, or else she wouldn't have felt that way. So that's good for him!"
"Felt what way? She was upset you told him in front of Mark, for goodness sake! Not to mention, you freaking let all of GOT7 in on the shitty triangle that was barely a fucking triangle anyway, like... you don't do that shit. And good for Gikwang?" Yongnam stood. "You think that was good, for Gikwang?" He exhaled deeply. "Kyungri, she still chose Mark. So all you did was hurt Gikwang more. He was devastated when all of that happened." He glared. "And before you get all hurt, he was devastated because she found out, devastated that you said something without asking him. He told her that it was the same thing, that they could've been happy together, but that it didn't matter because they'd moved on. I think it's time you do too."
There's a click and the front door is opening and Yongnam's eyes close, because he knows it's Ahyoung.
"...you know what Yongnam?" Kyungri stood, grabbing her bag, and coat. "Screw yourself. You don't have to be such a dick all the time! You're acting like I'm the bad guy all the time but you flirted with any and everything that moved!"
"I never did that Kyungri and you know that! What the hell is wrong with you?"
"Just blame me like you always do. I don't understand," she huffs, "why you're suddenly attacking me like this."
"Y-you asked me why I think we wouldn't work out.!" He closes his eyes turning around, running his hands over his face. "All I did, was tell you the truth." He shook his head as Ahyoung and Mark stepped into view. "But you know what, I think it's best that we don't see each other for a few days."
"Now you're breaking up our friendship?" Kyungri seethed.
"No," He sighed. "I'm trying to salvage what may be left of it."
"...Fuck you douchebag."
And then she turned, pushing past Mark and Ahyoung.
"Kyungri," Ahyoung turned. "Kyungri-ah—"
"—go to your brothers side. We all know that's who you'll side with in the end!"
"Wait, wha—"
Yongnam frowned slipping his hands over his face. "Sorry hyung." He directed towards Mark who was just staring wide eyed at his brother-in-law. "I know it's your birthday and all. You probably didn't want to hear all that."
Mark gives him a small smile. "It's fine." He clasps him on the shoulder. "It's honestly fine."
Ahyoung walks back in and sits down beside Yongnam. She breathes in once and reaches for his hand. "Tell me what happened."
And he does just that.
+ y'all i'm proud of myself lolol i'm finishing this damn story before the summer istg i wanna start posting the other ones that i've written and made solid bases for. but anywho, this chapter was interesting, because i wanted to show yongnam's dynamic and delve a little more into their story with their parents. also fyi the fight between yong and kyungri has been like written since i started the first chapter of this book. any ways thanks for reading, pls drop me a comment on parts u find interesting, funny, sad or terrible. see ya next time on naruto!
- kakashi senpai rules