Serendipity | SunKi Au

26: Downstairs

It's Saturday morning. One of the two days of the week that Riki can wake up until noon--when his mother allows it. The one day that he can fully rest before having to go to the studio the next.

'So why the fuck am I awake at 7 in the morning,' he thought with a deep frown, glaring at the boy next to him. 

"Where are we going Jake-Hyung?" He whines, stopping his steps 

Jake sighs with a smile, finding the boy rather adorable as he rubs one of his eyes with one of his hands in a fist form, a small pout unconsciously on his lips. He was sulky. And he found it so amusing and above that, adorable. 

"Just keep following me and you'll see," he replies, letting out a quiet giggle before dragging the younger by his wrist. "And for what it's worth I am sorry for having to wake you up so early on a weekend, I know today is the only day that you rest but it was an order," he says, glancing back to give him an apologetic smile which the other accepted by giving him a small smile. 

When Jake turns around, he furrows his eyebrows in confusion. Why would the older get an order to call for him? He didn't have any business with anyone in the house. Especially if that someone was Mr. Kim. He shudders slightly for a second. He hasn't seen Mr. Kim, aka his mother's boss, since he moved to the mansion (besides during Sunoo's birthday) and one thing he was sure of was that he didn't want to encounter him. Not if it was optional, not if it was avoidable.

He stops his steps. "It's not Mr. Kim, right?" He questions nervously, his expression serious as he is unable to not find that scenario scary.

Jake stops too, looking back at him. "What?" He asks with an unbelieving tone, doing his best to stifle a laugh by biting onto his bottom lip.

"It's not funny!"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," the Korean-Australian says between laughs. "It's just that Mr. Kim is a VERY busy man, I've only seen him like thrice since I started working here, you don't have to worry. The last time I saw him was during the young master's birthday. Also, as long as you don't get him mad, as long as you don't defy him, you're going to be completely fine," he explains assuringly, a slight shrug at the end before continuing to walk, Riki doing the same out of reflex. 

"Woah, we're walking down stairs?!" He exclaims, halting dramatically.

Jake sighs, "Yes, Riki."

"YOU'RE GONNA KILL ME, AREN'T YOU?!" 

"Ni-Ki, you should stop hanging out with Park Sunghoon. Look what he has done to you!" He states playfully, dramatically looking down at the floor while shaking his head.

"I'M BEING LOGICAL!"

"THERE IS NOTHING LOGICAL ABOUT YOU SUPPOSING I WANNA KILL YOU!"

"YES, THERE IS!"

"NO THERE IS NOT! FIRST OFF, DO YOU EVEN KNOW WHO I AM?!"

The younger takes a minute to think before smiling sheepishly, "Right, you couldn't even kill that little spider last week so mom had to call for me while you climbed onto one of the chairs, and even when I stepped on it and killed it, you insisted on not getting off because-"

"Okay, okay, we get it," he rolls his eyes. "Let's keep walking," he mumbles as he turns to the front again, walking the flight of stairs.

Riki tries to decipher where exactly they were heading to as he glances from side to side as they go down, the older two steps ahead. There were some paintings on the wall every couple of steps. He admired them. Most were difficult to decipher, he noted. There was a certain one that caught his attention though, one with a boy on his knees inside of a box full of darkness, distress in his face. Outside of the box were butterflies and rainbows and smiles and laughs. It was a roller coaster of emotions that was transmitted through the painting admirably.

"We're here~" Jake sing-songs.

Riki snaps out of his thoughts, just noticing that he had stopped moving while Jake was already at the bottom of the stairs. He runs the rest of the stairs, skipping one or two.

He slows down when he can see what the room looked like, his eyes and mouth widening. A "Wow" unconsciously comes out of his mouth as he looks around. 

"Young master got this room for his 13th birthday, it used to be a normal storage room but he begged his father for months. Mr. Kim wanted the young master to focus on modeling but when he refused to go to three photoshoots in a row, he simply agreed," he explains. "That's the story Mrs. Kang told me," he shrugs with a smile as he looks around as well.

It was a practice room. One wall is covered with a mirror, the wall adjacent had some tables lined up next to each other full of healthy snacks, bottles of water, a coffee machine, cups, juices, etc. A TV was hung in the middle of the wall opposite and a bar speaker hanging right under. There were some plants decorating the room as well, making it not look so dull and boring.

"This is two times bigger than Yuta-senpai's practice room," he mutters to himself, still utterly in awe.

"I'll be leaving now, young master will be here soon."

"So... Sunoo-Hyung was the one that called for me?"

"Obviously," Jake answers with a giggle. "He called me in early before he was even out of his pajamas and asked me to bring you here."

He stays silent for a moment before nodding, "Thanks Hyung," he tells him with a tight-lipped smile.

Jake smiled and waved as he went back up, out of the scene.

Ni-Ki continues to look around, walking every corner in the room in wonder, his lips parted. The room wasn't special, it was like any other practice room that he has been to but in his defense, he always finds practice rooms "cool." Call him dorky but it's something that he has noticed about himself after many years.

His mouth was still dropped open when he hears something from the entrance.

"Close your mouth, something might go in there," the familiar monotonous voice says.

A/N: Happy Valentine's Day everyone! I just posted a Ni-Ki fanfic to celebrate the day if anyone is interested!! Love you all and I hope you enjoyed this chapter!