The city lights flickered across Jae Min's windshield like distant stars. He didn't turn the radio on. The silence suited him better tonight.
He gripped the steering wheel a little tighter than usual, knuckles pale as he pulled into the underground parking of Ares's apartment. His footsteps echoed off concrete as he made his way up, the weight of too many secrets pressing into his spine.
He knocked once.
No response.
He unlocked the door with the spare key Ares had given him years ago back when everything was still clean between them.
The apartment was dark except for the kitchen light, casting long shadows across the open space. Ares was there, still in the same clothes from the boardroom, slumped on the floor with his back against the kitchen counter.
Whiskey sat untouched beside him.
"You look like hell, the same way I left you," Jae Min said quietly.
Ares didn't look up. "Feel worse."
Jae Min crossed the room, then slid down beside him, leaving a respectful distance between them. He rested his arms on his knees.
"I told Mira you're okay," he said eventually.
Ares let out a humourless laugh. "That's generous."
"She was.... quiet. Looked like she'd been fighting herself for hours."
Ares didn't reply.
Jae Min studied him for a moment. "You still care about her?"
"That's the problem," Ares muttered. "I care too much."
Silence fell between them, the kind that only came from years of knowing exactly how not to speak.
After a long moment, Jae Min reached for the bottle, unscrewed the cap, and took a slow sip.
"You think he killed your uncle?"
Ares didn't answer immediately.
"I don't think it. I know it."
Jae Min stiffened but didn't argue.
"You believe me?" Ares asked, finally turning his head toward him.
Jae Min stared straight ahead. "I believe he's capable of it."
Another long pause.
Ares exhaled slowly. "I wanted to run today. After he walked out. I wanted to forget everything. The company. The name. All of it."
"But you didn't."
Ares chuckled, bitter. "No. I stayed. Because I have something to prove."
"To him?"
Ares shook his head. "To myself."
They sat in silence again, city sounds muffled behind thick glass.
Jae Min finally said, almost too softly, "We're both sons of monsters, Ares."
Ares turned to him.
"But maybe that means we don't have to become them."
Ares blinked, as if the thought hadn't occurred to him that way before.
The whiskey burned on its way down, but neither of them complained.
For tonight, they didn't need to be cousins or co-directors or heirs.
They were just two broken men, trying to decide who they were going to be.