"Happy New Year!" Seungyeon called out cheerfully as she stepped out of the elevator and into the Rose penthouse, carrying a two-year-old Aeri. Jonghyun followed close behind with seven-year-old Ahreum and nine-year-old Junseo. 

Mrs. Gong immediately lit up when she saw her grandchildren, rushing over to give them welcoming hugs. "Junseo, Ahreum," she gushed, pulling each of the into hugs, one-by-one. Junseo hugged her back politely, relieved when she finally let go, then Ahreum threw her arms around her grandmother happily.

"Hi Grandma!" she exclaimed, jumping up and down excitedly. "Happy New Year!"

"Happy New Year to the both of you," she responded with a smile. She then turned to Seungyeon, kissing her on the cheek, "Hello dear, how are you? I'm very happy your family could come." Mrs Gong said that earnestly, as her two other daughters were out-of-the country, spending their holidays in Boracay, Philippines.

"I'm good," she responded, as her mother removed Aeri from her arms. "I'm guessing dad's busy stirring up something delicious in the kitchen."

"Eomoni, it's very nice to see you" Jonghyun addressed his mother-in-law politely, giving Junseo a knowing pat on the back. He knew that his son was less than thrilled to have to spend New Years Eve with just the five of them. He had wanted to spend the holiday at this friend's parents' New Years Eve party, but his mother had insisted that he attended the party at her parents' (his grandparents) party with them. She knew that she wouldn't have heard the end of it from her mother if they had showed up with one less child than expected.

"Jonghyun-ah," she hugged her, shifting a restless Aeri in her arms. She gestured to the group of kids that had congregated not too far away and told Junseo and Ahreum, "Run along and play with the other children you two." She then rushed over to show her youngest grand daughter off to one of her friends, who had just arrived. 

"Okay!" Ahreum replied with a big smile, immediately skipping over to the group of kids. The seven-year-old was already very outgoing and bubbly and never had a problem making friends wherever she went.

Junseo was a different story. He wasn't exactly shy, but he was comfortable in his own group of friends and didn't like to interact with outsiders. "Do I have to?" he asked, looking up at his father with a pleading look.

"Well you don't have to," Jonghyun told his son. "But it looks like there's a view of cool kids over there."

Junseo just shook his head with a chuckle and repeated, "Cool kids? Really Dad?"

He shot him a playful glare. "You know what? I changed my mind," he started with a smirk. "You do have to go over there," he told him, gesturing to the group of kids.

"But---" he tried to protest.

"Go on," Jonghyun interjected, giving Junseo a gentle push in the direction of the kids, who were now lookng over at him expectantly. "Go find a pretty girl to kiss at midnight," he instructed, giving his son a wink.

"Yeobo!" Seungyeon scolded him with a disapproving look, as Junseo reluctantly made his way over to the other children. "He's nine. I'd prefer it if you waited a little longer to corrupt our son."

"I had kissed a girl by the time I was his age," he pointed out.

"He can start kissing girls when he's ready," Seungyeon snapped back

Jonghyun turned to see what their eldest children were upto, smirking at what he saw. He gestured to his son and remarked, "Well, it looks like he's just about ready now." Seungyeon gave her husband a surprised look, before turning to see Junseo talking with a little dark-haired girl who looked to be about his age. From what Jonghyun and Seungyeon could see, the two were being shy towards one another, but they were talking nonetheless. "Our baby's growing up," he commented, putting his arm around his wife.

"Too fast," Seungyeon added with a sad smile. "I'm not yet ready to give his heart to anyone"

He shook his head in amusement, "Of course he goes for the brunette."

She smiled, before grabbing his hand and leading him away, to give Junseo some privacy. "So, what about you?" she asked, once they had stopped walking. "Are you going to find a pretty girl to kiss at midnight?"

"I'm still making my selection actually," Jonghyun retorted with a smirk, pretending to scan the room for women. "There are so many tempting options---"

He was cut off by his wife's hand slapping him on the shoulder. "You'd better be kissing me at midnight," Seungyeon said, grabbing him by the lapels of his suit and pulling him closer to her.

"Don't you worry," he responded, leaning towards her so their lips were almost touching. He lowered his voice and added, "You're always going to be the one I kiss at midnight."

Seungyeon smirked and was about to lean in for a kiss when somebody cleared their throat, causing her and Jonghyun to break apart. They looked up to see Seungyeon's father standing a few feet away and for some reason, Aeri was in his arms. "I was instructed by your mother to return this to you," he explained, handing the toddler over to his son-in-law. "Apparently your mother can only handle her grand daughter in small doses."

"Abeoji, how are you?" Jonghyun shook hands with his father-in-law, even after being married to Seungyeon for eight years now, he still feels a tad nervous whenever he's near. "I heard you're planning to open a new chain in Shanghai next year?"

"Ah yes, I heard that Korean food is quite popular now in China," Mr. Gong responded with pride. "I better get back to the kitchen, they might need me there."

"Okay, appa. I can wait to taste your specialty," Seungyeon said fondly, giving her father a tight hug.

"Aeri-ah? Are you excited for the fireworks later?" Jonghyun said, looking down at his youngest daughter, who had rested her head on his shoulder.

"She's tired," Seungyeon commented, brushing her daughter's hair out of her face. "Someone's going to be in bed soon."

DING! 

The elevator doors open and out came Yonghwa and Shinhye with their seven-year-old son, Jisoo. 

"How are you guys? Happy New Year!" Seungyeon was excited to see her bestfriend after a long time.

"We're great," Shinhye responded enthusiastically, kissing her on the cheek. "Happy New Year too!"

"Happy New Year, Hyung!" Jonghyun spoke up, extending his hand towards Yonghwa, later grabbing him for a hug. 

"You too. Glad that you can make it." He looked down to the little boy standing to Yonghwa with a small smile, "Anyeong Jisoo, how are you doing?"

"Fine," Jisoo replied softly.

"Jisoo sweetie," Seungyeon started. "Why don't you go find Ahreum? I'm sure she'll be excited to see you." Ever since she and Shinhye had found out that they were having their babies within three months of each other, they had their hearts set on their kids becoming an item some day. Jisoo and Ahreum had been having playdates since before they could walk and had practically grown up together. The two had completely different personalities; Ahreum was outgoing and social, whereas Jisoo was extremely shy.

"Go on son," Yonghwa encouraged him. "Your girlfriend's waiting for you."

"She's not my girlfriend," he responded.

"Not yet anyway," Seungyeon interjected, sharing an excited smile with Shinhye. 

Once Jisoo had joined the rest of the kids, she took Aeri from Jonghyun and went to sit down on the living room couch with Shinhye so they could catch up. "You didn't bring the baby tonight?" she asked, referring to Shinhye and Yonghwa's other son, Changhyun, who had just turned two months.

"Nope, he's with my parents," she replied, reaching over to play with Aeri's dark curls. The toddler was snuggled agianst her mother's chest, apparently not feeling social that night. "He's too young for events like this. Don't want to risk it. It would also be too difficult with all the people and everything. I honestly don't know how you and Jonghyun bring all three of your kids with you, without a nanny at that."

"Well Junseo can occupy himself now and Ahreum's always playing with the other kids so we barely even see her," Seungyeon explained, looking down at Aeri. "So it's just this little one that needs our attention."

"Oh God," Shinhye commented with a roll of her eyes.

"What?"

"It's Woobin and Suzy," she responded, saying Woobin's wife's name in a mocking tone. Like Jonhgyun and Yonghwa, Shinhye never really liked Suzy. Seungyeon couldn't work out whether she just didn't like the woman, or if it was some leftover jealousy she was feeling considering Suzy was married to her ex-boyfriend. Seungyeon tried to remain neutral in Shinhye and Suzy's little feud., considering that she liked Suzy a lot and considered her to be one of her closest friends.

Seungyeon turned to see Woobin and Suzy exiting the elevator and greeting Mr. and Mrs. Gong. She turned back to her friend, "Unnie, be nice."

"That dress makes her look fat," Shinhye commented, taking a sip of her champagne. She knew it was a petty comment, but it made her feel better. 

"She's eight months pregnant," Seungyeon chuckled.

"I know," she grumbled. "I just can't stand the woman."

"Really? I would never have guessed," she retorted sarcastically, nudging her playfully.

"Oh great, they're coming over here," Shinhye groaned, drinking the remaining champagne from her glass. Seungyeon just smiled in amusement as Aeri slid off her lap, having started to become a little restless.

"Happy New Year!" Woobin greeted them excitedly as he and Suzy approaced them, hand-in-hand.

"Hey you guys," Suzy added happily.

"Happy New Year to you too," Seungyeon replied with a smile.

"Unco Woobin!" Aeri exclaimed, throwing her arms around Woobin's leg.

He chuckled, picking the grinning toddler up, "Hey curly Aeri, how's it going?"

"What did I say about calling her that?" Seungyeon warned him with a glare.

"Ooop, sorry." Woobin replied, rolling his eyes. "Aeri."

Shinhye gestured to Suzy's rounded stomach and commented, "Not long now until you two will have one of these."

She beamed, rubbing her stomach affectionately, "I can't wait! We're so excited, aren't we baby?" She looked to Woobin and they shared a smile.

"Very," he agreed, setting Aeri back down near Seungyeon. "Where are your husbands?"

"At the bar," Seungyeon told him. "Hopefully my darling husband is bringing me a drink."

Woobin just nodded, "I'm sure he's right on it. Excuse me ladies." He kissed Suzy on the cheek, before making his way over to Jonghyun and Yonghwa.

Suzy sat down beside Seungyeon and started, "So Seungyeon, I really need some baby advice. My due date is so close now and I don't know anything about taking care of a baby." Shinhye rolled her eyes with a sigh.

 

---

 

Across the room, Junseo was still taking with the girl he had just met. He had discovered that her name was Yoonmi. Her parents are in the fashion industry just like his grandmother. She was in town and was starting school at his school after Winter break. 

"So," he started awkwardly. "Uh... maybe I can get you a drink?"

"That would be nice," Yoonmi responded with a smile, smoothing down her pink dress."Lemondae please."

 "Oh-okay," Junseo replied, giving her a smile, before turning and making his way to where his father, Uncle Yonghwa and Uncle Woobin were. 

He tapped his daddy on the arm, "Dad."

Jonghyun looked to his son, "Junseo. How's it going with that girl?"

"What girl?" Yonghwa inquired curiously.

"Apparently my son is becoming quite the ladies man," Jonghyun explained with an amused smirk, finishing off his glass of scotch and setting it down on the bar. Junseo blushed. "By the way, what's her name?"

"Yoonmi," his son replied, looking down at his feet. "Han Yoonmi. She said her parents are fashion designers. Like grandma, Dad."

"Is that her?" Woobin asked, gesturing to a little girl on the other side of the room who kept looking over at them every ten seconds.

Junseo nodded, "That's her." He glanced over at her and their eyes met accidentally, causing him to blush and look away quickly.

Jonghyun looked on, shaking his head. "What was that?" he asked.

His son shrugged.

"You just had the perfect opportunity right there."

"What do you mean?" Junso asked. "By the way, can you get two lemonades from the bar for me Dad?"

Jonghyun nodded, turning to the bartender and asked for two glasses of lemonade. He cleared his throat before setting his hand on his son's shoulder, "Alright Junseo, listen to your father. I know what I'm talking about when it comes to the ladies."

"Here we go," Woobin commented making him and Yonghwa laugh.

Jonghyun glared at them before continuing, "Anyway, I'm going to tell you exactly what to do to make this girl like you."

Junseo gave his father a skeptical look. "This coming from the guy who used the expression 'cool kids'." Woobin and Yonghwa laughed once again, highly amused that Jonghyun just got owned by his nine-year-old son.

"Do you want my advice or not?" Jonghyun asked.

"I'll be fine," the kid responded, retrieving the glasses of lemonade from the bar. "I think she already likes me so we're just going to talk."

"Are you going to ask her out?" Jonghyun asked, sounding more inquisitively.

"Maybe you should take a page out of Uncle Woobin's playbook and invite her over for a game of Scrabble?" Yonghwa suggested. The boy looked confused.

Jonghyun shook his head, "Scrabble? Busan namjas don't need board games to impress our women. Our natural charm does that for us." He smirked and added, "Limos don't exactly hurt either."

"I'm going," Junseo announced, wanting to avoid any further questions about Yoonmi.

"Good luck son," he said, patting him on the back. "You'll be fine. You have my genes working in your favour."

"Okay Dad," he nodded, before making his way back over to Yoonmi.

Jonghyun picked up the martini he ordered for Seungyeon from the bar and announced, "I'm going to bring my wife her drink before she kills me."

"Could you take this to Suzy?" Woobin asked, gesturing to the glass of sparkling water he had ordered for her. "I would take it to her myself but I'm kind of trying to keep my distance. She's been having these crazy mood swings lately, you know because of the pregnancy."

"Sure," he responded with a sigh, not particularly happy about having to bring the woman anything. They had never gotten along in the five years that Woobin and Suzy had been together. He picked up her drink and made his way over to the three women seated on the couch. 

"For you, my love," he said,handing Seungyeon her martini.

She smiled and commented, "Such an obedient husband. I didn't even have to ask." She knew that Woobin had told him she wanted a drink, but she couldn't resist making a comment.

"Here," Jonghyun added bluntly, handing the other drink to Suzy.

She took it from him cautiously. "Can I trust that you didn't put any form of poison in my drink?" she asked sweetly.

"I was going to, but I didn't think it would be fair to your innocent offspring," he retorted, gesturing to her stomach.

"How compassionate of you," Suzy responded dryly.

"Mmmm," Jonghyun murmured resting his hand on his wife's shoulder. "Where's Aeri?"

"Mother came to collect her a few minutes ago. Something about wanting to show her to the woman who does the advertising campaings for her designs. She wants her to be the new face of her new children's clothing line," Seungyeon responded. "Have you seen Ahreum lately?"

"Last I saw, she was with Jisoo and a couple of other kids," he told her. "I'm pretty sure that she was recruiting her minions on the staircase."

"Following her mother's footsteps I see," Shinhye interjected.

"We're so proud," Seungyeon gushed. "What about Junseo? How's he doing with that girl?"

"There's a girl?" Suzy asked curiously.

Jonghyun nodded, "Her name is Yoonmi and Junseo seems to be quite smitten by her." He gestured across the room to where they were standing. "They're just over there."

"Aww," Shinhye commented as they observed the two children sitting together in the foyer holding hands.

"Look at them," Seungyeon added with a contented sigh. "That's the sweetest thing I've ever seen."

"You know he didn't even want my advice," Jonhyun told his wife, looking a little offended.

She chuckled, "You're just disappointed that he's actually somewhat of a gentleman, unlike you at that age."

Suzy cleared and pointed out, "I think you spoke too soon." They gave her a confused look, so she gestured towards Junseo and Yoonmi. 

The looked on in surprise as the little girl pulled her hand out of Junseo's with a disgusted expression, before standing up and throwing her drink in his face. Yoonmi stormed off, leaving Junseo sitting in the foyer drenched with lemonade.

Seungyeon gaped at the scene, before turning to Jonghyun with a shocked look. He just smirked and commented, "That's my boy."

"What happened?" Seungyeon asked. "Everything was going so well."

"If he's anything like his father, he probably tried something y on her," Shinhye said, receiving a glare from Jonghyun.

"He's nine, Unnie," she pointed out bluntly, feeling that it was her duty as a mother to defend her baby boy.

"Ssshh!" Suzy shushed them. "He's coming over here!"

The couple gave their son and incredulous look as he approached them, completely covered in lemonaded. "What happened" Jonghyun asked.

"Nothing," Junseo muttered, grabbing a napkin from the coffee table to dry himself off with.

"Why did Yoonmi throw her drink at you?" Shinhye asked him straight out. She was never one for subtlety.

"I don't want to talk about it, Imo," he grumbled, looking down at his wet shirt with a frown.

"Junseo," Seungyeon started, giving her son a look that could scare the toughest of criminals into a confession.

Junseo sighed and admitted, "I tried to kiss her."

"You what?!" Jonghyun and Seungyeon asked in unison.

"Sweetie, you just met the girl," Seungyeon pointed out.

"Exactly," Jonghyun nodded in agreement. "You're supposed to flirt with her, then kiss her." His wife immediately hit his arm, giving him a disapproving look.

"But I thought she liked me," he sighed, tossing the napkin on the coffee table.

Mrs. Gong suddenly approached them out of nowhere, observing her soaking wet grandson in confusion. "What's going on here?" she asked. "Lee Junseo, why are you all wet?"

"He tried to kiss a girl, mother. And she chuckled her drink in his face," Seungyeon filled in.

She gaped at her grandson, "Junseo! Why on earth would you try to kiss a girl?" You're nine years old."

"Dad tolde me to find a pretty girl to kiss at midnight, so I did." Junseo told her with a shrug.

Jonghyun chuckled nervously as his mother-in-law shot him a glare. "Jonghyun," she scolded him. "How could you corrupt my sweet little grandson like that?!"

"I'm sorry, eomoni. I was just kidding." he responded in his own defence. "I didn't think he would actually do it."

"Well clearly, you thought wrong."

Seungyeon, Shinhye, and Suzy just giggled, obviously enjoying seeing Jonhyun be scolded by the Mrs. Gong. They all stopped lauging when one of the staff approached them.

"Madamme, your granddaughter Aeri is missing."

"You don't know where she is?" Jonghyun asked incredulously. 

Seungyeon immediately stood up from the couch and began to scan the room for her youngest daughter. Not an easy task considering the room was packed with party guests.

"She has to be around here somewhere," the staff pointed out as she also started looking for Aeri.

"She'd better be," Mrs Gong retorted worriedly.

"Don't worry, Seungyeon." Shinhye said as she and Suzy stood up from the couch. "We'll help look for her. We'll find her in no time."

"Thanks," she replied gratefully. "Let's all split up and look for her. Yeobo, take the foyer." Then, she hurried off towards the bar in search of her daughter, calling out, "Aeri-ah! Lee Aeri!"

 

---

 

Jonghyun made his way into the foyer, where he found his eldest daughter sitting on the staircase with five other girls seated in front of her, two or three stairs down. He shook his head at the scene and asked, "Ahreum, have you seen your baby sister?"

"The Queen doesn't speak to commoners," one of Ahreum's "minions" interjected.

"Excuse me?" he retorted.

"It's okay Seyoung, it's just my Daddy," Ahreum insisted, before glancing over at her father. "Last time I saw her, she was with Grandma's secretary."

Jonghyun sighed, "Are you sure you haven't seen her walking around by herself?"

"I'm sure," she replied. "Excuse me Daddy, but I have business to attend to." she added, gesturing for her minions to stand up. "Miyeon decided to wear a pair of horrible brown shoes to the party, so I have to give her a warning."

"She did say that her Mom made her wear them," the shortest minion interjected. 

Ahreum rolled her eyes and snapped back, "Do you want to be replaced?" The little girl immediately shut .

He shook his head and commented, "You girls have fun." He proceeded to continue his search when, Ahreum's voice stopped him.

"Daddy?"

"Yes, sweetie?" Jonhyun asked almost impatiently.

"Can me and my friends go for a ride in the family yacht by ourselves one day?" ashe asked, batting her eyelashes at him sweetly. "It would be so much fun!"

He gave his daughter a look of disbelief and replied simply, "Absolutely not."

Ahreum's face fell and she protested, "But Daddy..."

Unable to refuse his children anything, Jonghyun sighed and told her, "I'll think about it." 

As the little girls rejoiced, he stared towards the cloakroom to see if Aeri wandered in there. He then stopped when the elevator opened and the newly-engaged couple Minhyuk and Krystal stepped out.

"Hyung," Minhyuk greeted him with a smile, giving him a brief hug. "Happy New Year."

"Minhyuk, Krystal, nice to see you," he responded, giving his "sister-in-law" a polite nod.

"Hi Uncle, Hi Aunty!" Ahreum grinned as she skipped over to them, leaving her minions behind.

"Hello there pretty little angel," Minhyuk addressed her, patting her on the head to her annoyance. She grimaced and straightened her headband with a sigh.

"How are you sweetie?" Krystal asked, kissing her on the top of her head.

Ahreum smiled sweetly, "I'm very good. Daddy's going to let me and my friends ride in the yacht by ourselves!"

"Is he now?" Minhyuk asked, giving his bestpal a questioning look.

"I said I would think about it Ahreum," Jonhyun told his daughter, before turning back to the couple.

"Uncle, maybe I could take a ride in your sportscar one day as well?" the little girl asked, putting on a sweet, innocent look.

"I think we should ask your mother first," Minhyuk reminded her.

She rolled her eyes, "But Mommy would never approve"

"Alright princess, why don't you go back to your friends? They're looking a little lost without you," Jonghyun told her, pointing towards the direction to the other girls. He then turned back to his friends, "I really can't talk right now, I'm looking for Aeri."

Krystal gave him an alarmed look, "You lost your daughter?"

"I didn't lose her, the staff did," he explained. "Anyway, it doesn't matter. Can you help us look for her?"

"Of course," Krystal insisted, handing her coat and purse to her fiance. "Go check these into the cloakroom, I'll look in the veranda." she instructed.

Minhyuk immediately went to put away their coats and Krystal and Jonghyun continued looking for little Aeri. 

As they entered the living room, they heard Mrs Gong instruct the party to quiet down so she could announce something. "Sorry to interrupt everyone," she said as everybody turned to face her. "We seem to have lost track of my granddaughter, Aeri. She's about two feet tall with brown, wavy hair; dressed in a red sunday dress."

The party guests all began to shake their head and respond that they had not seen her. Mrs Gong paled significantly, feeling extremely guilty for ever taking her eyes off the two-year-old. 

"Still nothing?" Jonghyun asked as he approached his very concerned looking wife.

Seungyeon shook her head, "She's nowhere on this floor. She may be upstairs but I have no idea how she would have gotten up those stairs."

"We'll check up there anyway," he responded starting towards the staircase.

"I've already sent Yonghwa and Shinhye-unnie there," she told him, grabbing him by the arm and pulling him back.

"There's someone under this table!" Mr Gong, announced suddenly, causing Jonghyun and Seungyeon to rush over to him. Jonghyun lifted up the tablecloth to reveal Jisoo, reading a book. Seungyeon sighed in disappointment, beginning to worry about her daughter again.

"What are you doing under there buddy?" Jonghyun asked, gesturing for the boy to come out.

As he crawled out from under the table, he shrugged and responded, "I dont' know. I was bored because Ahreum wouldn't play with me. She says she's too busy running her kingdom."

"Keep looking everyone!" Mr Gong announced, before continuing his search.

Seungyeon gave the little boy a sympathetic look and told him, "I'm sure she'll come and play with you soon. In the mean time, have you seen baby Aeri?"

Jisoo shook his head.

She sighed and was about ot ask Jonghyun where they should look next when a voice announced, "I found her." They turned to see Minhyuk walking into the room carrying a fast-asleep Aeri.

"Thank God," Seungyeon commented as she and her husband rushed over to retrieve their daughter. "Thank you so much Minhyuk," she thanked her bestfriend's fiance as he handed over the small child.

"Where was she?" Jonghyun asked in confusion, kissing Aeri on the head. She still hadn't woken up amongst all the commotion.

Minhyuk gave him a small smile and explained, "I found her in the cloakroom. She was asleep on a pile of coats."

Seungyeon couldn't help but chuckle as she kissed her little girl on the head, "Oh my poor baby. She must have been really sleepy."

"She looked quite comfortable actually, I didn't want to move her," Minhyuk continued, actually letting out a brief laugh. Leave it to little Aeri to melt Kang Minhyuk's heart. 

"You found her!" Mrs Gong exclaimed, rushing over and taking Aeri from her daughter's arms. She hugged her granddaughter tightly, waking her up in the process. "I am so sorry."

"Omma," Seungyeon sobbed as the two-year-old began and her mother both began to cry. "It's not your fault." she said, rubbing the toddler's back and her mother's in attempt to calm them down.

"Mama," she murmured sleepily, reaching for her Seungyeon and Mrs Gong gladly handed her back to her mother.

"Maybe we should take the kids home," Seungyeon said, turning to Jonghyun. "I think our children have caused enough trouble for one night."

"But it's not even midnight yet," he argued, looking down at his watch. "It's barely ten o'clock."

Seungyeon was about to respond when they heard something shattering. She and Jonghyun immediately exchanged a look, instantly knowing that one of their kids had something to do with it.

"Here, give me her." Krystal offered her arms.

As Seungyeon left her daughter under her care, they went right away to the veranda to investigate.

There they found a very guilty-looking Ahreum standing beside a pile of shattered ceramic which used to be an expensive vase. Her minions, their son Junseo, and Yoonmi also stood around the big mess, looking extremly worried. 

"What happened here?" Seungyeon demanded, folding her arms across her chest and eyeing each of the children.

When none of the kids answered, Jonghyun asked strongly, "Who did this?"

Yoonmi and Ahreum immediately pointed at each other and exclaimed in unison, "She did!"

"Which one you was it?" he persisted with a sigh.

"She did it Daddy, she's mean!" Ahreum insisted, putting on her best pout and puppy-dog eyes, showing a clear resemblance of his wife when she asks something from him.Jonghyun tried his best not to give in when Seungyeon stepped in, "That's not nice to say Ahreum," she told her daughter. "Tell us what happened, Daddy and Mommy won't get mad."

"It was my fault," Junseo announced.

"You did this?" Jonghyun asked.

He shook his head, "I didn't actually do it, but it was my fault."

"I don't understand."

"I went to Ahreum and told her that Yoonmi poured her drink on me. I wanted her help with getting back at her." Junseo stated, avoiding Yoonmi's harsh glare. "Ahreum and the girls confronted her and they started arguing..." He trailed off, biting his lip nervously.

"And..." Seungyeon said expectantly, not a hint of losing her patience.

"And Ahreum pushded Yoonmi, which made her knock the vase over," he finished.

Seungyeon and her husband didn't want to encourage this type of behavior among their children. They had to be punished. "You should all be ashamed of yourselves," she told the group of children. "Girls make peace with Yoonmi; it's not nice to fight with one another. Yoonmi, next time let the adults know if someone is bothering you, okay?"

"As for you two, Ahreum and Junseo, I'm afraid your mother and I have to punish you."

"But Daddy, " Ahreum whined.

"Lee Ahreum," Seungyeon retorted, trying to ignore her daughter's sad little face. "Don't talk back to your father. And you don't push people, you should know better than that." The little girl huffed, knowing that between her parents, her mother was more difficult to bargain with.

"Girls, Yoonmi, I'll be talking to all of your parents. But first, get back inside and have yourselves some snacks." Seungyeon instructed the children, gesturing towards the living room where the party was taking place. 

"What's our punishment?" Junseo sighed, looking over at Yoonmi apologetically. But she looked away immediatelly, wanting nothing more to do with the boy.

Seungyeon looked at her husband expectanly, not wanting to be the the one to give out the punishment. "I suppose we'll have to ground you," Jonghyun decided with a sigh, looking to his wife for approval. She then nodded in agreement. 

"Nooooo," their kids objected in unison.

"I can't be grounded, I have places to be," Junseo pointed out. "Uncle Yonghwa promised to take me to Busan this weekend!"

"And I'll miss Seyoung's birthday party!" Ahreum added with a sad pout. 

Seungyeon nodded, "That's the point. If you kids didn't do any trouble then you might have not been grounded."

"I'll just tell your uncle Yonghwa you won't be joining him this weekend because your have chores to do," Jonghyun teased his son.

"Fine," Junseo grumbled, storming off into the living room. His sister followed, looking extremely annoyed. 

"I'll tell eomoni that we'll pay to replace the vase," Jonghyun told his wife as their kids hurried out of the room. Seungyeon nodded back.

"They get this from you, you know," she retorted, folding her arms across her chest with a mischievous smirk.

"No aguments here," he agreed.

Seungyeon gave him a surprised look, having expected him to object her statement. After a moment he added, "They're too smart for their own good." making his wife shook her head in agreement.

 

THE END.

---

 

 

Hello everyone!

How is everybody doing?  I hope you're all doing great.

I've been very, very busy these couple of weeks; even prior to publishing this new one-shot of mine. A lot of things had been happening and thank goodness, ALL IS WELL.

My baby's growing up healthy. My marriage is doing joyful as ever. Most importanly, I've been getting a hold on my post-partum stress. 

I hope this new story has made sense and that you all enjoyed it!

And by the way, I am thinking of making  a "book 2" or a sequel rather of "The Roomate" instead of continuing it on the same page. What are your thoughts about that?

Reviews and suggestions are always welcome!

 

Bear hugs and kisses,

 

Cheska Rose :)