#dowon

If he tripped, he stood up. If he scraped his knee, he complained for approximately ten seconds before sprinting off again as if nothing had happened. Auron had long accepted that his younger brother seemed nearly indestructible.

The rest of Auron’s breaks rarely changed either. He spent all of them beside Nanako.

Most days they stood together in a small circle with their closest friends, talking about whatever occupied the school that week. Rumors. Teachers. Exam results. Who had somehow survived difficult assignments and who had clearly not.

The topics changed constantly, but somehow Auron and Nanako always ended up standing close together, occasionally exchanging looks only the two of them fully understood. Without realizing it, they had become nearly inseparable and nobody around them seemed particularly surprised by it anymore.

At home, things looked very different. Age differences had never mattered much inside the Scott household. Even now, despite the years between them, Auron and Corvin spent an absurd amount of time being completely ridiculous together.

Sometimes they wrestled across the couch cushions. Sometimes they argued dramatically over meaningless things. Sometimes they simply laughed until nobody remembered what had even started it.

Auron never seemed to mind. He had always been gentle by nature, endlessly patient in ways most people noticed immediately. And when it came to Corvin, there was very little he would not do.

One evening during dinner, Corvin suddenly looked up from his food. Henry sat nearby while Auron absentmindedly picked at the last few bites on his plate.

Without warning, Corvin spoke.

“You know…”

The room stayed quiet. Corvin looked directly at his older brother.

“I think you're really cool.”

Auron blinked.

Corvin continued eating for another second before casually adding: “When I grow up, I wanna be tall and strong like you.”

The words came so naturally that he barely seemed aware of what he had said. Auron looked at him immediately. There was no teasing response. No embarrassed reaction. Only warmth. The kind that reached his eyes before anything else.

Across the table, Henry quietly watched the moment unfold and somewhere deep inside him, something softened immediately. Because no matter how much children grew, no matter how different they became, seeing one child become someone another looked up to never stopped feeling special.

Several weeks later, another beginning arrived. Early in the morning, Yujin stood in front of Adam Entertainment for her first official day of work. She looked calm. Perhaps even relaxed, but only on the surface. Inside, nervousness moved through her in waves she tried very hard not to show.

Fortunately, that feeling did not last long. Almost instantly she discovered that the people around her were kind, welcoming and surprisingly helpful. Questions never felt inconvenient. Mistakes never felt embarrassing. The atmosphere softened her worries quickly.

By her very first day, she was already invited to participate in an important team meeting where monthly numbers and strategies were discussed. Marketing plans. Idol schedules. Audience reactions. New ideas.

Yujin listened carefully. The entire world felt unfamiliar, but exciting. Very exciting.

Later, during lunch break, she spotted a familiar face. Siyeon. The moment her daughter saw her, her face brightened immediately. The excitement was impossible to miss.

They sat together through the entire break, talking and laughing so much that neither fully noticed how quickly the time passed.

Siyeon looked genuinely happy. Not simply because her mother worked in the same building now, but because Yujin had found something that belonged only to her. Something beyond routines, beyond motherhood, beyond caring for everyone else first. And somehow, seeing that felt important.

That same day became important for someone else too. Corvin had reached another small milestone. He was no longer considered a child. Now, officially, he had become a pre-teen.

Of course, Corvin himself mostly cared about what this meant immediately. More freedom. More independence. More opinions people supposedly had to listen to. And if there was one thing everyone in the Scott household already knew - Corvin had never exactly struggled to make his will known before.

Now, it simply seemed likely that his determination had become even stronger and somehow, everyone suspected the household would notice it very soon.