A/N: So I've had this idea since last year during spring break on a trip to San Francisco, and I've been brainstorming and planning this little plot bunny into something big. Hopefully you guys like the first chapter! Reviews, faves, etc. are appreciated!
"You have to pick another university, Hong!" his mother yelled harshly. "I won't allow you to major in art! Art doesn't make good money and you won't go anywhere with that degree!"
Hong sighed in exasperation and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Mom, it's my dream to go to the Art Academy! Only a small percentage can get accepted! And I'm one of them!"
"Why can't you be like your brothers?" his father roared. "Yao's studying to become a doctor and Macau's been accepted into an elite business program!" The old man huffed. "Or even the other children down this block! Viet wants to be an engineer and that Tibetan boy is following Macau's footsteps!"
"But I'm not like them!" Hong cried out, trying his best to defend himself. "I don't want to have a degree that deals with numbers or the lives of other people. That's just not me. I'm artistic, I'm creative, and my imagination is even better than Kiku's! Why can't you just let me be happy with my choice?"
"You don't understand, Hong." Mei's mother shook her head and tsked. "Art is never a good major to go to. Art is just a hobby, it can never make as much money and be successful like a doctor or a engineer can make."
"Come on! This is America!" the seventeen year old groaned. "It's like I don't get my freedom here! I can't be like Yao or Macau! I can't be like Mei or Tai either! I'm just a high school junior! I don't want to think about college or majors or shit like that right now!"
"Watch your mouth," Hong's father growled.
"Morning you all – oh, what's going on here?"
Yao walked into their family store and noticed the uncomfortable atmosphere among his baby brother, their parents, and their uncle and aunt.
Hong tsked and mumbled towards Yao. "They're harassing me about me wanting to go to the Art Academy again." His eldest brother sighed and sat next to him.
"Please, let's just forget this and move on," Yao said softly to the adults. "Customers will be here soon and they'll notice this uncomfortable aura in the shop. It's bad for business."
"Make your brother change his mind!" their mother cried out, frustrated. "He's stubborn and won't choose a successful degree!"
"Mom, it's his choice, not ours," the twenty two year old sighed. "Art isn't a bad field at all. If he wants to change his mind, then he can. He has plenty of time after all."
"I heard Yong Soo has already chosen his career path," Mei's father spat. This caught Hong's attention and he looked at his uncle with narrowed eyes.
"You've talked to him?!" Hong shouted. Yao turned to Hong and hushed at him.
"No, Hong, bad idea. Drop it now."
However, their uncle went on. "I heard it from his father just last night while we were drinking. It seems his son has decided to become a lawyer. He won't make as much money as Yao will be making." The eldest brother rolled his eyes at the remark. "But he will become successful after he finishes law school."
The seventeen year old couldn't keep his silence any longer. "Why do all the adults have to decide for our future?! We know what we're doing, we know how much money this degree or the other degree will make! But why, why can't you all just let us be happy with our choices and do what we love?" He breathed hard and clenched his teeth.
Before his parents spoke again, Hong stood up and cut them off. "I'm going up. Don't bother to call me down." He made his way up the stairs alone.
"Hong, wait!" Yao called out, only to hear a door slam upstairs. He groaned and shut his eyes for a brief second, rubbing his forehead. "Now look what you all done, Hong's going to shut us off again."
"He's disrespectful to his own family! We've given him everything and this is how he repays us!" their father bellowed.
Yao sighed and tried to calm the adults down. "Now, now, he's still only a teenager, and he's only still in high school…"
Hong continued walking upstairs, heading towards the attic their 4 story flat building had. He could hear the continued argument downstairs in the family convenience store, talking nothing but him again. Soon, Macau would be home from the library and join Yao's side and try to keep the peace in the family. Then Tai would come in along with Jean Bao from the pier, and Mei and Kiku would come in after their movie date.
This was such a bad start in the morning.
As soon as he climbed into the attic, he sat on the window still and looked out into the window, watching groups of tourists and Chinese people walking on the streets. He sighed and shook his head, trying to clear his mind from before.
His phone beeped and he pulled it out, looking at the text message he had just received from Yong Soo. He opened it and read the text.
"Walked by your store and saw hyung looking p/o with da Wangs. AA again?"
Hong sighed and felt his heart skip a beat as he texted back his best friend. "Yeah. Uncle Taiwan brought it up again. Mentioned you too." And send.
Yong Soo replied fast. "Dammit. I knew I heard my dad talking to him last night. What'd he say?"
"That you wanted to become a lawyer."
"Damn. I told him to keep that a secret."
Hong's brow furrowed. Yong Soo had wanted to keep being a lawyer a secret? He knew Yong Soo had only told Hong himself, Emil, and Alfred, but he didn't expect Yong Soo to keep that from his family. The teen shrugged and ignored the feeling anyway.
"Well Uncle Taiwan said you're gonna make less money than Yao if you're gonna be a lawyer."
"Ugh. Def gonna hate him now. Adults can't be trusted." Hong lightly smiled at Yong Soo's text. Then he got another from him.
"Anyway is Mei there? I wanna give her something."
Hong bit his lip and groaned. Yong Soo was still not giving up.
Ever since they had been children, Yong Soo had developed a crush on his cousin, Mei-Hua, who was only a year older than the both of them, along with her twin brother Tai. He remembered the day Kiku had first asked Mei out on a date a couple months ago, and they had remained a couple ever since. However, the news of this made Yong Soo into a crying mess and became heartbroken ever since. Even Yao tried to make him snap out of it.
The Chinese teen let out a sad sigh. He had a crush on Yong Soo since middle school, and his best friend had been oblivious about it. It's like that with Mei and Yong Soo too; she doesn't even know he's been madly in love with her since they were all children.
He shook his head with a defeated smile. There's no way Yong Soo would ever fall for his own best friend. That's just a fairy tale. He sent his Korean best friend one last text. "She's on a movie date. G2g."
"I need to do something while I'm up here," he thought blankly. "Might as well go through grandpa's trunk again." He got off from the window sill and walked around, looking for it. After searching around for a couple minutes, he'd finally found it.
"It's been awhile since I've went through Grandpa's old stuff," he mumbled to himself, rummaging through booklets of Chinese Taoist philosophies and Buddhist mantras.
He had been named after his late grandfather, who had passed away when he was only four years old. His grandfather had wanted Hong to be named after him, and so he got his wish. The memories of his grandfather were unrecognizable; it was so long ago.
After going through his grandfather's trunk, he found an old, worn leather bound journal buried underneath stacks of his grandfather's drawings. "I've never seen this before," Hong wondered, picking up the book and dusting the cover. "I wonder what's inside?"
He began to read through the pages, and soon the events of the morning began to fade away as he grew more interest in the mysterious journal.
"Wow, the prince and the princess are twins and their parents are dead. And the princess is secretly in love with one of her two bodyguards. Is this another one of those stupid 'forbidden love' stories?" Hong sighed and continued on.
But when he reached the part of the story that showed the prince having villainous tendencies, the story had stopped. Hong's brow furrowed. "That's weird," he mumbled to himself. "The rest of the book is blank." He flipped through the journal twice, still finding more than half of the journal to be empty.
"Did Grandpa write this and never finished it? No, wait." He looked closer at the handwriting. "This isn't his handwriting, someone wrote this story. But why does he have it with his stuff?"
Hong sighed and decided to put the book back into the trunk, only for it to suddenly glow in his hands. He gasped as the book began to shake and glow even brighter, and he dropped it on the attic floor.
"What the hell?" He shielded his eyes from the bright light.
The book then opened by itself and flipped through the pages where Hong had left off at and another bright white light glowed from that spot.
"What is this?!" he shouted to himself. He could feel the attic room spinning and his feet were being dragged towards the book. The boy looked up for a moment and gasped loudly as he saw a large white portal opening up from the book.
"A-a portal?!" He was getting closer and closer to the portal. "What's going on?!" Then, in a blink of an eye, Hong disappeared into the portal.