He wiped away a tear fell off his eyes and bite on his inner cheek to hold back a sob, he’s going home with him and he doesn’t want to seem so weak when he didn’t even step in the house yet. He’s just sure of one thing, this is going to be a very long day.

He’s still not sure what to get from this, was he supposed to go back and maybe remember these past years so he can forgive Yunho? He’s sure this isn’t going to happen. He tried while he was still in the hospital to think of any possible reason that made him take Yunho back. But nothing came up. He must’ve been so naïve and stupid that Yunho dared to ask for his forgiveness and he actually accepted.

The brunette clenched his fists on the wheel, he saw Jaejoong wiping his tears with the back of his hands but pretended he didn’t see anything for his own sake. His heart hurt him, every time Jaejoong looks at him, he only sees the hate and anger. The guilt was never buried and he always remembered and felt sorry but Jaejoong tried to make him understand that he was way over that but sill, he couldn’t forgive himself and this Jaejoong doesn’t help him at all.

Once Yunho parked the car he looked at Jaejoong with heavy heart as the younger stared at him blankly, but he needed to say the following so he wouldn’t be surprised when he gets in.

“They live with us, your nieces and nephew.”

Jaejoong’s heart sank further “There are others too?”

The brunette nodded “Eunjung is the oldest, and then Dongwoon, Hyomin and the youngest is Jiyeon. They know you’re coming, they wanted to come and see you earlier but I thought you better see them at home. I didn’t get a chance to tell you this but they... they are attached to us, they look up to us and,” he cleared his throat as he didn’t want to seem offensive “please be nicer to them, I tried to explain to them but they are still kids.”

“Don’t lecture me about my brother’s kids,” Jaejoong hissed under his breath “I know how I can handle them and I would appreciate it if you stayed away from them.”

At this point Yunho decided in the back of his mind that he won’t take whatever Jaejoong says seriously or else he would lose his mind and went further with a bit of a firm tone “The last time Eunjung went back home she was devastated. You didn’t recognize her or even tried to. I know you still need time but these are kids who have no one but us. So please be gentle this time.”

And he didn’t wait for Jaejoong to reply him as he stepped out of the car to take out his bag. He opened the door when Jaejoong didn’t, and kneeled to reach the latter’s eye level.

“Come on, we’re here.”

“I...I...” Jaejoong breathed out heavily as he eyed the house, a house had him and Yunho under the same roof as a family “I don’t want to go in.”

“What?”

The younger tried to reach the door to close it again, but Yunho was standing there in between to stop him as he held back his hands and Jaejoong struggled to free himself “Take me back to the hospital.”

Yunho tried to stop his struggles by tightening his hold but Jaejoong didn’t stop resisting “You asked to be taken home, it is better if you-”

“I don’t want to, I want to go back!”

Realizing how wrong of him to almost drag Jaejoong out in such situation instead of making him feel safe enough to come in by himself, Yunho let go of Jaejoong’s wrist and stepped closer to him, not too close so he wouldn’t invade his personal space yet enough to make him hear his low toned voice “I know this isn’t easy for you but I promise, I will try to make this easy for you. You’re not required to do anything and no one will say anything hurtful to you. No one is going to push you to remember anything or force you to do anything. This is your home Jaejoong, no one will make you feel uncomfortable or don’t belong. This will help you a lot and we will feel better to have you with us again because we missed you so much and we want to make sure you’re alright.” He paused for a second to let Jaejoong think of what he just said, and then leaned further as he didn’t break their eye contact as he was lost with the sad and not sure Jaejoong was, yet he didn’t back off “Do you want to go in now?” and when Jaejoong surrendered and gave him a short nod, he closed the car’s door and stepped ahead of Jaejoong “Then let’s go home.”

For the next few minutes, Jaejoong was quiet while Yunho took the small suitcase out and walked ahead of him while he followed. He didn’t look around, he just kept his gaze focused on the ground. He didn’t want to see anything or anyone actually. He wanted to be left alone. But he knows he has to see his brother’s kids. His heart hurts every time he thinks of him and his beautiful wife.

“Ready?”

“No.” Jaejoong shook his head when Yunho was about to open the door and the later sighed, not knowing what to do to make Jaejoong feel better.

“Just relax and say hi.”

 He grabbed Jaejoong’s hand and pulled him in and was surprised when Jaejoong didn’t struggle or tried to pull his hand back.

“We’re home!” He called out like how he would usually do whenever he’s back and turned to take a look at Jaejoong. It hurt him that he’s not replying him like how he would always, but if this was hard on him then it must be harder on Jaejoong.

“Oh you’re finally back!”

And out of nowhere, Jaejoong found himself surrounded by three girls and one boy with sharp eyes, his brother’s sharp eyes.

“Can we hug him?”

Jaejoong heard the younger one asking Yunho who looked at him as if he was pleading him not to reject the girl’s simple request. He swallowed heavily and looked down, he felt so out of the place.

“Of course you can hug your uncle. His heart is still the same.”

He was expecting one of the kids to step closer and approach him but before any of them does, he was approached by something else.

“What the hell is this!” He screamed once a dog jumped on him out of nowhere and started barking on him.

“Jaejoong this is...” He came in the middle between Jaejoong and the dog while motioning Eunjung to take it away “Eunjung please take Taepoong out” He looked at Jaejoong again when Eunjung disappeared with Taepoong. How could he forget such an important detail “I’m so sorry I forgot about it.”

Jaejoong didn’t look at him, he didn’t look at anyone at all “I want to be left alone please.”

***

Once he finished showing Jaejoong the room, he pointed at the bathroom and tried to give Jaejoong his usual warm smile “You must be really tiered, you can take a shower and change if you want to. I’ll make sure to keep Taepoong out from now on, don’t worry.”

“Wait,” Yunho stopped his steps and turned to look at Jaejoong who was looking at the bed “Do you sleep here too?”

“Where else am I supposed to sleep in?”

Jaejoong glared at him in disgust “You didn’t arrange any room for me to stay in?”

The brunette felt a bang in his chest at how cold Jaejoong was treating him “I didn’t think of that”

“I can’t sleep next to you”

“We don’t have other rooms. Ever since the kids wanted to have their own rooms we had to rearrange everything, we don’t have extra rooms.”

“I won’t sleep in the same place with Yunho.”

Yunho wished Jaejoong would stop saying his name in such manner. A tone he didn’t hear in years.

“I’ll try to arrange something.” And he left without giving Jaejoong any chance to throw any comment at him.

***

He chuckled once his eyes fell on the two on his bed as he took off his coat. Yunho was lying on his back and Jiyeon lying on top of him and the two were in deep slumber. Judging from their position and how the lights were still on and Jiyeon’s coloring book was thrown on the bed, the two fell asleep while playing.

He walked to them and tried to pull the little girl off Yunho and put her in her bed without waking any of the two, but his mission failed when Yunho tightened his hold on her and opened his eyes when he felt the light moves. His gaze softened when he saw Jaejoong smiling at him but frowned when he remembered.

“Is your foot still hurting you?”

“Ah that” Jaejoong smiled sheepishly as he sat on the edge of the bed “I told them not to call you.”

Yunho’ s frown went deeper as he sat straight on the bed slowly while holding Jiyeon “Don’t piss me off more, I’m already upset that you didn’t call me yourself.”

“And say what? It was just boiled water that fell on my foot and not oil. They just gave me a salve for the burn, it’s not that serious.”

The brunette rolled his eyes at Jaejoong, he would always be like this “I’ll take her to her bed and you go change.”

Jaejoong smiled playfully and pressed his lips against Yunho’s cheek before he does what he was told.

By the time Yunho came back, Jaejoong was sittin