Chapter 1: The Door Opens

The dining room hummed with the low murmur of voices and the clink of soju glasses against polished stoneware. Jungkook sat wedged between his older brother, Seokjin, and their cousin, Minho, the heat of their bodies a solid pressure along his arms. The table stretched long and crowded—uncles, grandfather, his father at the head—all of them flushed from the meal, their ties loosened, collars unbuttoned. The women had retreated an hour ago, my mother and aunts disappearing into the guest house with pillows and gossip, leaving behind a house thick with cigar smoke and the particular ease of men left to themselves.