"Yu, let's eat together." When afternoon rehearsal wrapped, Luke walked straight up to Lan Yu with the invitation.

"Huh?" Lan Yu instinctively glanced at Kaede beside him; from Kaede's face alone, it was hard to read what he was thinking. "Just the two of us—Leader-nim and me?" he tried to confirm.

"Would Kaede come too?" Luke turned to him.

Kaede didn't answer, which actually surprised Lan Yu a little—he knew that, for Kaede, silence usually meant yes, even if it read as cold to everyone else.

"Then let's all go," Lan Yu said on his own, since he doubted anyone would take Kaede's non-response as agreement.

"Then let's go together!" Luke beamed, slinging one arm over Lan Yu's shoulder and the other over Kaede Fujiwara's, the three of them suddenly close like old friends.

This guy. Watching Luke wedged between them, Lan Yu wondered—has he always been this carefree?

The dinner spot turned out to be a surprisingly upscale Western place. One glance at the menu and Lan Yu knew this wasn't somewhere ordinary trainees could afford. Even after knowing Kaede for so long, Kaede had rarely taken him anywhere like this.

"Don't worry. Order whatever you want—it's on me tonight," Luke jumped in as soon as he saw Lan Yu scanning the prices, as if afraid he'd put the menu down and bolt.

"I didn't know you liked places like this, Leader-nim." Lan Yu looked around; there wasn't a single dish he could, in good conscience, say "I could pick this up myself," so he obediently set the menu down. "Didn't you say earlier that ramen shop was one you hit all the time?"

"What's the conflict between Western food and ramen?" Luke tilted his head; he clearly didn't get what Lan Yu meant.

Lan Yu was speechless for a beat—he'd forgotten Luke was exactly this kind of person.

"It's because the ribeye here is famous," Kaede Fujiwara put in, and Lan Yu realized that from the door to their seats, the staff's tone hadn't just been warm to Luke; it shifted around Kaede too. At first he'd chalked it up to two handsome guys getting fawned over. Now it felt more like the two of them were regulars here.

"Yeah, yeah—Kaede, you've eaten here too, right? It's good, isn't it? I like the vibe—no random people coming over to bother us," Hearing Kaede pick up the thread, Luke visibly lit up—as if he'd found a kindred spirit—and launched into excited chatter with him.

"But we don't drink," Kaede answered mildly.

"I don't either." Luke shrugged. "Doesn't stop me from liking their ribeye. I can pair it with their orange juice."

"Leader-nim, you don't drink?" That threw Lan Yu a little.

"Nope. You and Kaede don't either, right?" Luke honestly didn't see why Lan Yu was surprised.

"But you're Korean… yeah?" He let the rest go—Luke would get it; to Lan Yu, iced Americanos and soju were just part of being Korean.

"Isn't that a bit of a stereotype?" Luke smiled.

"But you grew up in the States, though… right?" Lan Yu tried to make his concern sound a little more reasonable.

"Which is also a stereotype," Luke laughed, leaving it there.

"So why don't you drink, Leader-nim? Alcohol intolerance?" Put on the spot, Lan Yu fumbled for a follow-up, and even he knew how cliché the question sounded.

Luke just shrugged—as if he honestly couldn't see why it was a question.

"Then how do you say no to parties and hoesik?" Lan Yu couldn't imagine wriggling out of either the American party circuit or Korea's hoesik hell.

"A simple 'I don't want to go'—that's enough, right?"

"…"

"But as far as I know, China has jiuzhuo, right—the whole drinking-table culture?"

"…Yeah."

"Then how do you turn it down, Yu?"

"I… usually just don't respond," Lan Yu stalled, then hurried to add a hedge. "But it's not that over-the-top everywhere in China… I think."

Luke didn't take the lifeline. He turned to Kaede instead. "What about you, Kaede? Why don't you drink?"

Kaede lifted his eyes. "Because I don't like it."

"Japan does the after-work izakaya run too, yeah?"

"No one would dare ask me," Kaede answered Luke without missing a beat, though his gaze stayed on Lan Yu.

Luke faltered, thrown by Kaede's unexpected reply; Lan Yu had to bite back a laugh. True—forget inviting him for drinks; getting Kaede to talk at all is hell-mode.

"So we all don't drink," Luke realized. "Perfect—we can make a habit of eating together!"

"What's the connection between not drinking and grabbing dinner?" Lan Yu asked, baffled.

"At least none of us has to worry about babysitting drunks," Luke shot back.

"That's a reason," Lan Yu deadpanned, "but I think Leader-nim is just looking for excuses to ask us out to eat."

"Do I need an excuse to ask you to eat with me?" Luke tilted his head.

"Fine," Lan Yu gave up. "With you, probably not."

Luke and Kaede worked their knives and forks with practiced ease, cutting the steak into pieces and lifting them to their mouths. Lan Yu, though, wasn't used to this gleaming, polished tableware—and worse, when he sliced off a small bite and put it in his mouth, the metallic scrape of knife and fork skimming his teeth told him plainly: he just couldn't share in the "delicious" Luke was talking about.

"How is it?" Luke watched him try a bite.

"…Mm." Lan Yu searched for the right words. "It's… tender meat?"

"It is. It's very tender."

"…?" Hearing Luke's answer, Lan Yu looked a little puzzled. "Shouldn't I be praising something else?"

"Huh? Why?" Luke asked, puzzled. "You already said it's tender, didn't you?"

"Because at this price… shouldn't 'tender' not be the only compliment?" Lan Yu said, feeling a little sheepish.

"If it doesn't taste good, the price doesn't matter," Luke said.

"Isn't it a waste if something that expensive doesn't feel special?"

"It's fine—I'm paying tonight. No waste," Luke said.

"Paying doesn't make it less of a waste," Lan Yu muttered.

"Hmm? Yu, do you not like it? If not, we can try a different place next time," Luke said, scratching his head.

"He's just not used to this kind of place," Kaede answered for him before Lan Yu could speak.

"Huh? Is that so?" Luke was a little taken aback when he heard that.

"It just… makes me feel stiff, I guess," Lan Yu tried to explain.

"Then how about we skip this place next time, yeah?"

"We can pick somewhere a little less pricey…," Lan Yu said, embarrassed.

"Kaede, where do you two usually eat?" Luke turned to him with the question.

"The company cafeteria," Kaede said.

"…Huh?" That wasn't the answer Luke was expecting. He turned to Lan Yu, looking for confirmation.

"Now that you mention it… yeah," Lan Yu said after thinking it through. Since they'd met, they'd been training nonstop. Most days, all three meals were at the company cafeteria; and on rare breaks, unless they felt a real urge, they mostly made do there too.

"No wonder the dongsaengs keep saying they aren't close with you, huh." Luke said, lifting a wine glass of orange juice to his lips—Lan Yu knew the focus shouldn't be here, but it was hard not to be bothered by orange juice in a wine glass in a place like this.

"Yeah. Felt like everyone was using jokes to say what they really thought today," Lan Yu said, a little abashed. "Maybe I should actually make time to hang out with the members."

"Then start with me—your leader—how about it?" Luke steered it back, volunteering himself.

"We can, sure," Lan Yu let out a helpless laugh. "But why are you so set on eating with me?"

"Maybe we're alike in some ways."

"Hm?" That wasn't what Lan Yu expected. Come to think of it, it wasn't just Lan Yu. Everyone around them had left Luke's background largely unexamined. He was the last one the company picked up, and almost as soon as he was in, he was pushing open the door to the pre-debut training room—a fast track if there ever was one. People slapped a "has connections" label on him and, rather than digging into what that really implied, chose not to pry. At first, one or two did complain—privately or even to his face—but most read the room and kept quiet. Those who spoke up didn't get what they wanted; instead, their names were crossed off the reserve list, one after another. Everyone else stayed silent about that, too. The truth was, they didn't have the chops to go the distance anyway; they'd just run into the wrong moment.

So what kind of person was Luke, really?

Lan Yu found himself wondering.

"So—are you going to tell us your story now?" he asked, testing the water.

"Yu, what about you? Will you tell your story?" Luke asked, looking at Lan Yu; then he turned to Kaede. "And you, Kaede?"

"So this dinner's a truth circle now?" Lan Yu joked.

"That wasn't my intention," Luke smiled, eyes half-closed.

"Then what did you want to ask?" Kaede picked up.

"Mm—" Luke looked from one to the other. "I was wondering how you two met."

Another answer Lan Yu hadn't expected.

"Why do you want to know that?" Kaede asked, cool.

"Is it something I'm not allowed to know?"

"At the very least, it's something you don't need to know," Kaede said.

Feeling the air tighten, Lan Yu cut in. "I don't know why you're curious, Leader-nim, but if you want our secret, shouldn't you tell me one of yours first?"

"…," Luke went quiet for a few seconds.

That should be enough to muddle through, Lan Yu thought.

"I'm the MEG CEO's illegitimate son," Luke said.

"What—?" Lan Yu couldn't believe what he'd heard. His hand trembled; the rim of his cup clicked against the saucer—a crisp clink in the sudden silence. Staring at Luke, he couldn't find a trace on his face of someone who'd just said that.

"I see," Kaede said evenly.

"So Kaede already knew, huh," Luke said, looking at him.

"I only more or less guessed," Kaede said, sipping his coffee unhurriedly.

"…? Why does it feel like I'm the only one here who didn't know?" Lan Yu shifted in his seat, unable to settle; he couldn't quite process what he'd just heard.

Luke glanced at him and smiled. "No. I don't know how Kaede found out, but aside from the MEG CEO and my mother, no one should know."

"niisan…?" Lan Yu looked to Kaede.

"…" Kaede sipped his coffee in silence. "I'm not certain of it. I've just heard some stories about the MEG CEO's affairs and put two and two together."

"So Kaede's got good intel, huh." Luke laughed.

"…" Lan Yu stared wordlessly at Luke keeping it light. "If no one else knows, is it really okay to just tell us like this?"

"Hm?" Luke looked back at him. "Didn't Yu want a secret? This is my biggest one."

"…If it's your biggest secret, can you just tell us?"

"Will you tell anyone else, Yu?"

"…No."

"And you, Kaede?" Luke turned to him.

"No." Kaede didn't even lift an eyelid as he drank his coffee.

"Then we're fine. No one else will know—so what's the harm in saying it?"

"…Why do you trust us like that?"

"Then—" Luke's eyes sharpened on Lan Yu. "Why does Yu trust me not to talk about you two?"

"I don't think those two things are on the same level…"

"True. If your thing got out, it'd probably wreck the entire group."

"…I'm not saying ours is more important." Lan Yu sometimes struggled to keep up with Luke's train of thought. "Leader-nim, aren't you worried this will affect you?"

"As an illegitimate child, wasn't I marked from birth?" Even with Lan Yu watching his face, it was hard to tell what Luke felt as he said it.

"It isn't your fault," Kaede said, looking at him.

"Maybe." Luke shrugged, lifting his wine glass; the orange juice hung in thin rings along the inside. "Looks like we've been walking on water since debut."

"…" No one picked that up.