No, no, no, no, no! From all the people in the world he must bump with, why did it have to be Jihyun's mom? From all the places they could enter to have an early dinner why this one? Why she had to be the owner of this place? And why he had to bump with her while accompanied by Woohyun that was completely unprepared for it?

Myungsoo mental break down was very apparent and the old lady seemed to be in the same state as she looked back at him while Woohyun little eyes darted from on to the other before he warily, and pretty confusedly, brought them back from the shock.

“Daddy?” The boy called warily, eyes darting back and forth quickly.

“Hm, yeah,” Myungsoo came out of his stupor to look at his son and force a smile. “Can you go see if the others are ready? I might have a problem here but I'll try to pay real quick.” He took his card from the wallet and pushed into to Jihyun mom direction.

Woohyun seemed a bit conflicted to leave his parent there alone but ended up getting his cookies real quick and ran towards the bathroom when the lady got Myungsoo's credit card.

“What's his name?” She asked in a low tone and Myungsoo almost snapped right there though he managed to contain the anger he had so he wouldn't bother the other customers.

“Mam, you yelled a lot of to Jihyun, you kicked her out while pregnant, you disappeared without a trace, you hadn't made a single phone call in almost eight years. You didn't even come back for Jihyun funeral and now you dare to ask me what is his name, mam?” Myungsoo hissed with eyes twitching. “Just swipe my credit card, Mam.”

“He is my grandson...” She was about to argue but Myungsoo interrupted her.

“If you cared for him, or at least for Jihyun, you'd have stayed to take care of them, maybe that way she wouldn't have died.” Myungsoo replied gritting his teeth.

“Maybe she wouldn't have died if you hadn't messed with her instead of protecting her!”

Myungsoo shook his head reprovingly while he glared at her. “You didn't know your own daughter, mam, you never knew, you just suffocated your daughter so much she made bad decisions in order to experience a bit of freedom.”

The old lady snorted. “'Freedom'.” She said sarcastically making air quotes. “You did this to her! It's your fault she died!” She accused pointing a finger at him.

“Mine?” Myungsoo furrowed his brows and then snorted. “She was your daughter, it was your duty to instruct, raise and protect her, you can't just toss your responsibility as a mother to other people if you decided to keep her.” He said and watched her nostrils flare in anger.

“Don't come lecture me about responsibility when you hadn't the responsibility to use a .” She hissed.

“Yet I took every other responsibility there was to take, I never left your daughter side, I have never abandoned her when she needed me the most.”

“You know nothing about what I went through” She tried to make an excuse. “You don't know how it is to be betrayed and left with a child, you don't know how it is to be a single parent in Korea, I couldn't do that twice.”

“I don't know?” Myungsoo was the one with the sarcastic tone now. “I learned what betrayal is from you because what you did to Ji was pure betrayal and last time I checked I am a single father and I was left with not only one kid but two because Ji had twins..” He growled as lows as he could, trying to hold himself not to explode out of anger, and for a second the old lady gasped in surprise but he didn't know if it was because he was talking back at her or because she didn't know her daughter had twins, not many people knew that because by the time of Jihyun funeral the twins were fighting for their lives. Woohyun made it, Soohyun didn't have the same luck.

He inhaled and exhaled deeply trying to swipe his card. “Just swipe my credit card, mam, so we can both go on with our lives, my son is waiting for me and I don't run away when he needs me.”

The woman face grew red with anger and she was about to say something when Sungyeol appeared with the two kids in toll while trying to pat his clothes awkwardly.

“I can't believe that despite the bathroom having paper towels you wiped your face in my shirt and your hands on my pants.” Sungyeol complained to Sunggyu - that couldn't help but laugh mischievously at the wet marks of his hands in his brother despite Woohyun fumbling with the package of cookies in his hands nervously – before he looked at his boyfriend. “Your son said you were having problems while paying...” Sungyeol halted his words when he sensed the tense atmosphere between his boyfriend and the old lady in front of him.

“I don't think she accepts my credit card, hyung.” Myungsoo forced himself to say although he was glaring at her.

“Then by all means use mine, you can pay me back later.” He promptly said and started taking his wallet from his pocket but not stopping from looking at the young dad and the old lady.

“Can I get cookies too?” Sunggyu interrupted, totally unaware of what was going through, trying to push one more package of cookies in front of his brother.

“All right Sunggyu.” Sungyeol sighed then grabbed the cookies and put on the counter so he could pay for it too while Myungsoo took he previously received and gave back to his boyfriend. As soon as Sungyeol put the money back into his wallet he offered his credit card to Jihyun mom while Myungsoo placed one his palms up and in front of her, clearly waiting for her to return his, but when she didn't move Sungyeol called her. “Mam?”

Begrudgingly she returned Myungsoo's credit card and he was placed back into his wallet when she smiled brightly at Sungyeol, pretending nothing between her and Myungsoo happened and said. “The cookies will be on the house.”

“Ok..” Sungyeol hesitated only for Myungsoo snort beside him.

“Hypocrite.” He mumbled to himself, though the two other adults could hear him, before turning around and grabbed the two boys by the hand gently. “Let's go wait for hyung in the car.”

The old lady swiped Sungyeol credit card on the machine, glaring at Myungsoo back while he took the kids out and Sungyeol quickly signed on the machine before bowing to her.

“I'm so sorry mam, I don't know what was that.”

“It's ok.” She forced a smile at him and shrugged. “Maybe he is stressed because of the twins.” She offered before she opened her smile and tried to sound calm and caring. “What's their names?”

Sungyeol raised his brows not understanding her because... Myungsoo had been in great mood not only because they talked about an important part of their relationship but because he didn't need to worry about Woohyun having height problems, so there was no way he was stressed today, he could be because his life was generally a turmoil right not but not certainly not because of that. And then he didn't have twins, it was only Woohyun because his sister had passed away and it was only... Oh... she was confusing things.

“They are not twins, the taller one is my brother and...” He was about to explain when something else dawned on him, she said 'twins', how did she know that detail about Myungsoo life? His boyfriend barely talked about his daughter, after all, she passed away a couple of days after her mother and...

He squinted his eyes at her very suspiciously, the only times Myungsoo hadn't been a perfect gentleman in his presence were the times where he was defending Woohyun somehow, and in order for him to act that way something must have happened, that being said it meant that Myungsoo and this old lady definitely knew each other. But then again, Myungsoo born and lived all his life in Incheon and only moved to Seoul this year, that meant the people he knew there must be around his age or at least work with basketball or in their college so that woman knew him from before and if she had a beef with him...

His eyes instantly grew wide as soon as he realized he must be in front of Jihyun mom, the source of all evil (Myungsoo words, not his), the person Myungsoo hated more than Woohyun biological father (despite Myungsoo assuring that he was a too).

Now he definitely understood everything and gosh Myungsoo had been right, why she even used the plural? Myungsoo barely mentioned Woohyun sister because there wasn't many a person could say about someone that only lived a week so if she was talking about twins she was definitely trying to fish information out of him and that only meant: 1 – she was scheming something and wanted to have more info on the two kids (and she didn't even know their names, what kind of woman was that?), or 2 – she didn't know that Soohyun had passed away (which was equally bad considering she abandoned her family, definitely worse than his own mother in his conception).

Sungyeol squinted his eyes at her again while she waited for an answer. Now he hadn't anything to do with Myungsoo family matters, that wasn't definitely his business, but he loved Myungsoo and he started to love Woohyun, he couldn't imagine one without the other and he knew his boyfriend had been very worried about a possibility of that happening and that would certainly break them both. He snorted at her and grabbed his credit card.

“Nice try, but not in this lifetime.” He turned around to go.

_________________________________________

Sungyeol looked at the backseat through the rearview mirror, Sunggyu was all kinds of picky with real food and never want to eat it (despite improving a lot in the last couple of months, but had yet to eat a full bowl) but he had an extra partition on his stomach exclusively for junk food huh? He rolled his eyes at the boy eating his cookies eagerly before he moved his eyes to the maknae beside him, Woohyun seemed in a weird daze and he already squeezed the poor package of cookies so much that Sungyeol would bet there was only crumbles inside of it.

He then looked from the corner of his eyes to his boyfriend. Myungsoo had the biggest poker face of the world and was looking through the window, but, based in past conversations and past happening, he knew the young dad must be dying on the inside, utterly stressed because of that encounter. Sungyeol was dying to reach for him, dying to try to help in any way he could - because when he gave people a try it was something serious, he gave his all – but he couldn't do that in front of the kid.

When they arrived at their apartment building Sungyeol wanted the kids to play together, that way Woohyun would be distracted enough with Sunggyu so he could to forego the pile of papers he should be working on to try to talk to Myungsoo. But then Woohyun declined the offer and said he wanted to take a bath and call his grandparents so Myungsoo made signals for him not to insist and that they would talk later before he and his son entered their apartment.

Woohyun hadn't said anything then, he just took his bath and indeed called his grandparents - to confirm they would be able to come see him perform, he had an exact date now, November 25 and ask if his grandpa would come to study with him and Sunggyu because he was sure his father would be busy.

Myungsoo had already dried his son's hair and moved to the bathroom to take his own bath while Woohyun was talking to his grandpa on the phone, but when he came back, Woohyun was laying comfortably on his bed and under his sheets and waiting to ambush him.

“Who was that ahjuma?” He asked as soon as Myungsoo entered the room. “Why were you mad at her?” He added another question making sure to hug a big part of the sheets against his chest as if saying 'I'm not going anywhere until you tell me'. That was so Jihyun.

Myungsoo heart almost physically dropped and broke in a million pieces right then but after the unexpected meeting today he knew that Woohyun wouldn't drop the subject until he was given a reasonable enough answer that met his own logic. He sighed deeply before going to his bed and inside his bed sheets and looked at his son's eyes.

“Namu-ah...” He said and moved Woohyun bangs out of his forehead. “...remember when you asked me about your grandma and where she was when your mom died?” Woohyun eyes grew big and he nodded, that wasn't exactly what he wanted to hear (and he would usually complain) but that topic interested him. “Remember I told you I didn't know and that it had been a while I last saw her?” He asked and the boy nodded.

“I have some things to explain to you about that but I worry you might not understand.” He spoke warily and Woohyun got the feeling he was about to hear something he wouldn't like.

“I can understand.” The boy tried to assure his father but it sounded more like he was trying to convince himself.

“U sure buddy?” Myungsoo asked seriously and clearly doubting but Woohyun nodded so he the moment he was dreading was finally happening so he inhaled deeply and tried to organize his thoughts better.

“Your grandmother is a really complication person, I don't understand her very well, I think... I think she didn't like being a mom...” He said and Woohyun gasped. “Your mom used to say that they didn't talk much, only the necessary because more than that meant fights. Your mom couldn't go anywhere, and once she moved beside us and we became friends she used to longly watch from her window dad playing with me and Moonsoo in front of our house because at first, her mom didn't want us to be friends.”

“Why?” The boy asked puzzled but sad.

“I don't know how to explain that very well, I think it has to do with her past... She thought she married a guy but the guy fooled her, and when she got pregnant with your mom the guy ran away from responsibilities and she was left alone to raise Ji. That's when she started to think every man was bad... even me, though I was obviously a kid still.” Myungsoo replied tiredly though there was an obvious tense undertone.

“But, didn't you play with mom a lot?” Woohyun was confused.

“Yes, we were really close.” Myungsoo smiled and patted his son's hair. “We talked to each other a lot in school and sometimes on the way there or on the way back home. Mom and Dad noticed that and started to invite Ji to play, but her mother refused a lot of times which made Ji cry a lot. Then mom tried to talk to her and after a couple of months she accepted to let Ji come over to play though we had to follow a lot of weird rules and Ji always had curfew at 8 PM. I rarely was allowed inside Ji house though and if I did enter, I wasn't allowed anywhere but the living room and Ji mom used to watch me with hawk eyes.” He sighed as he remembered the past.

“Then we started to notice that despite living in a good house, Ji only had the bare minimum, her mother didn't spend on her. She repeated her clothes too often for a normal person, she barely had toys so she was always fascinated by mine, when we were in school she always seemed too hungry and there were a few simple things that your mother never ate until a little bit older.”

“Like what?” The boy asked but Myungsoo could see he was getting sad.

“Like Ice cream.” He stopped talking and looked at the ceiling to think while Woohyun processed what he was talking about until Myungsoo remembered fondly. “The first time your mother ate ice cream was so funny...it seemed the best thing in the world for her, it was like she just had been blessed.”

“Daddy...” Woohyun hesitated, voice full of emotions. “That's so sad.”

“I know.” He sighed and then looked back at his son. “You see, having to raise a kid alone is hard... things like diapers, food, clothes, and toys cost a lot of money and if my parents hadn't helped me with things like that we would be done for because I didn't have age enough to work and if I had, who would look after you while I was working? I couldn't count on my friends so, if hadn't a family this great....” His lips quivered as he gave a pause as he thought about his friend.

“One thing I can say about your grandmother was that she was hardworking, she had two jobs to make a living, so I don't know if she earned so little that she couldn't offer Ji these things or if she simply didn't want to, what I know... is that once our family had her trust and she realized that we were always eager to look after Ji, she got another job and just let Ji stay over during the entire day. That happened on the first school break we had and so the little awkward time Jihyun spent with her mom became almost nothing.”

“Didn't mom get happy to spend the day together?” Woohyun barely made himself heard.

“Very.” Myungsoo assured. “At our home, she had different clothes, she had her own toys, she could eat a lot and different things, and Dad and mom always take turns to spend time with us but...” He hesitated, biting his lips because Woohyun seemed ready to cry. “...it was her mom Namu, despite everything she always hoped that her mom would show her love and would treat her better... she once told me she felt like there was a void in her heart...”

Myungsoo halted his words because he saw Woohyun face contort, they boy tried hard to grit his teeth and control his emotions but his eyes were glistening with tears while his father spoke and now they were slowly running down his face.

“I'm sorry, I didn't want to make you cry.” Myungsoo pulled Woohyun against his body and hugged him tightly before placing a kiss on his head. The boy hid his head in his father chest and quietly began to sob and Myungsoo couldn't help but produce some tears himself. “Don't cry, please, don't cry, your mom wouldn't want that.”

“But... I can't help it.” The boy whimpered against his father chest, voice cracking in the end.

“I know.” Myungsoo hugged him tighter as if Woohyun would disappear in the next second. “But you have to toughen up a bit, buddy, I have a lot to tell you but I know you can't take everything you should know.” He said and kissed his son head again. “And I... I don't want to see you cry... I don't want to see you sad, it breaks my heart.” Myungsoo confessed and his voice cracked a bit.

Myungsoo couldn't believe he was saying the things he was saying, sure he hinted before, but to actually make Woohyun listen to things in a more detailed way... it left him relieved but at the same time his heart was twice heavier after all he didn't like to see the boy this way yet he had to explain him things. They stayed like that for a few minutes, hugging and comforting each other, until Woohyun slightly pushed his body away only to wipe his face and ask.

“The ahjuma we met today...” The boy hesitated but Myungsoo perfectly knew that question and there was no escape anymore.

“Yes Namu, it was her, I hadn't seen your grandmother in a long while so I was really surprised that I met her.” He confirmed. “She had never liked me and when she discovered about your mom and I it was a mess...”

“WHERE IS SHE?” Jihyun mother asked enraged, pushing past Myungsoo's tired parents and entering their house.

“Ahra-shi, we literally just arrived home, what is happening? Is Jihyun ok?” Sonmi asked worriedly and the old woman turned around to face them.

“It's 9:30 PM, Jihyun isn't home yet, where is she?!” Ahra hissed, her eyes twitching. “I trust my daughter upon you, don't tell me you two left her alone with... with your son.” She said the last words with a disgusting tone.

“Moonsoo broke an arm and Jihyun and Myungsoo are old enough to be trusted alone....” Bumsoo tried to explain but the neighbor interrupted her.

“YOU WEREN'T SUPPOSED TO DO THAT! They shouldn't be left alone....” Ahra wanted to shout more but just decided to go search for her daughter herself. “NAM JIHYUN, where are you?” She said as she directed herself to the rooms with Sonmi and Bumsoo running after her, she shouldn't be invading their house but it was not like they could end this commotion without handing Jihyun over, but for that, they needed to find the girl first. “You're done for, girl, when you arrive home you'll be locked there, you'll never set your feet here anymore and...” He was in the middle of a threat when she pushed the door of Myungsoo room and froze.

“Calm down Ahra-shi, I don't think...” Bumsoo took the chance that she stopped talking to try to calm her but then he saw what she saw and he and his wife stood there speechless, after that, they didn't think they could change the crazy neighbor mind and save Jihyun skin in any way... after all her craziest fears might just become reality.

What they saw was exactly this: Myungsoo and Jihyun were sleeping squeezed together in his single bed, their son was hugging Jihyun from behind and her hands stayed over his on top of her stomach; there were some sheets loosely placed over their body but it was clear as day that Myungsoo and Jihyun were half because there were clothes scattered all over the floor and there was a used over Myungsoo nightstand as well.

The three adults couldn't believe their eyes and because of that they couldn't speak or move, and it wasn't until Moonsoo came out from the bathroom, shirtless and trying to wrap a plastic bag over his broken arm so he could take a bath, that they snapped back to reality.

“What's with this yelling?” Moonsoo pushed past the adults only to see his brother scrunching up his face while waking up. His brain short-circuited right then because he never imagined he would ever see a scene like this so he did the only thing he could involuntarily do at the time: he fainted.

“Moonsoo!” Sonmi lunged forward to tend to her maknae and because she bumped her shoulder on her way the other lady snapped back to reality as well.

“NAAAAAAAAM JIHYUUUUUUUUUN!” She yelled enraged and Myungsoo fully woke up and slid further from the girl that was waking up in a scare.

“Mom? MOM!” The girl gasped horrified as she recognized her mom while felt her hair being pulled until she was standing properly. “Mom, I can explain!” She said once her mom lets go of her hair, unfortunately, Nam Ahra didn't want to hear.

“I don't want to hear, just dress up!” She hissed and the girl hurried to so what she was told while tears formed in her eyes while her mom turned to talk to Myungsoo's parents. “I can't believe you knew this was happening and were conniving with it.”

“But we didn't know...” Bumsoo was still shocked.

“Mam, I love your daughter.” Myungsoo interrupted, as he finished dressing some shorts. “We have been dating for three months already and...”

When she heard that Sonmi stopped trying to wake her maknae to snap her head towards her eldest, what he was even saying?

“I DON'T WANT TO HEAR YOU, YOU LITTLE PIECE OF !” Ahra finally snapped. “DO YOU REALIZE WHAT YOU HAVE DONE?” She actually stepped towards him to enter his personal space and intimidate him.

“Hey hey hey, you're under my roof, you can't come and cuss at my son like that, at least you could do after all the help we offered with Jihyun.” Bumsoo ran towards them and got in between them so he could protect his son.

The woman snorted with a lot of sarcasm. “Your help was good for nothing, now she is ruined.” Sonmi wanted to join the conversation and say something back but the woman just walked back to a now dressed Jihyun and grabbed her by the arm. “Let's go back home, you'll pack your bags and we're living and restarting somewhere, you'll never set your foot back here.”

“No, Mom, I....” Jihyun tired to argue and briefly looked at Myungsoo that nodded encouragingly. “Mom, please accept us, I love Myungsoo oppa.”

“NEVER.” She growled pushing the girl and now that Moonsoo was waking up Sonmi had to collect his limbs over his belly so the woman and Jihyun could pass beside them and Myungsoo too a second later.

“Wait, mam, I'm being sincere, I love Jihyun, I have nothing but good intentions and...” He tried saying but the woman just turned to glare at him.

“The road to hell is paved with good intentions. And your good intentions mean nothing you piece of , you ruined my daughter.”

“Ahra-shi!” Bumsoo appeared right after complaining. “Don't talk to Myungsoo like that, he is a good kid and if he says he is in love with Jihyun he will treasure her and treat with the respect that I taught him to have.”

“If your son had any respect, he wouldn't have touched her!” She growled as Jihyun cried, the girl couldn't say anything, she knew, either way, she was ed but if she told the truth things could get way worse.

“We love each other mam!” Myungsoo tried to reason in frustration. “Please accept us, you know me all my life, I'd never harm her.”

“You only love your , like all men do!” She hissed much for the horror of the others. “You'll never see each other again and pray she doesn't get pregnant, or else...” She threatened before she grabbed Jihyun by the hair again and forced out of their home, banging the door loudly after them.

“Myungsoo, what the..., can you explain?” Bumsoo turned to his son stupefied, too shocked to process everything.

Myungsoo bravely walked to his dad and grabbed him by the shoulders. “Dad, Jihyun will not be ok living with her mother anymore, we have to take her out, can she live with us?”The boy pleaded desperately.

“What are you even saying Myungsoo? I love Jihyun but we can't just do that.” Bumsoo gasped

“Then let us marry, I want to marry her! Help me!” He promptly begged but Bumsoo pushed him away.

“Marriage is a serious thing Myungsoo, you said you only started dating Jihyun for three months, how can you ask me that?” The father asked pushing his son away.

“I love her.” Myungsoo insisted.

“And it's ok to love her, I do too, but I won't let you do that.” He sighed. “Let's tend to your brother, tomorrow we will talk to her mother so you can date Jihyun properly.” With that Bumsoo turned around to go back to his wife and his maknae as his eldest son ruffled his hair in desperation.

By the time Myungsoo finished his story Woohyun was already making a crying face again and he practically could read in his son face the question 'why she treated my mom like that?'. He pulled Woohyun against his chest again and patted his back for comfort as he continued the story, at least this part he should finish today.

“The next morning...” He hesitated. “The next morning their house was empty and I didn't see our mom anymore. I was scared, I was deeply worried about her, I tried to call our friends to know if they heard about her, but none of them knew where she was....”

“Daddy, did grandma know about me?” Woohyun asked, his voice a mere broken whisper.

He paused to take a breath in order to try to gather his strength so he would be able to continue the story. “Of course she knew because she appeared at our doorstep three weeks later....”

“Ahra-shi.” Sonmi gasped in surprise as she looked at Ahra and a crying Jihyun that had her head hung low. “Where have you been? We wanted to talk to you about what happened, Myungsoo has been very worried and...” She said opening the door but halted her words when she noticed a luggage beside them. “What is this?” She asked the moment Myungsoo appeared in the living room and got close.

“Ji, Ji, is that you? Where have you been? Are you ok?” He asked as he ran close to the door but he was surprised when Ahra grabbed Jihyun by the arm and pushed her against him.

“Are you satisfied?” Ahra growled angrily at Myungsoo that looked clueless and once he tried to look at Jihyun for an explanation but the girl started to get limp in his arms.

“Ji! Ji! What is happening?” He held her and tried to softly slap her face back to conscience.

“What the...?” Sonmi was about to complain but halted her words when she saw Jihyun in Myungsoo's arms. “Lay her on the couch.” She instructed and ran to help her son while Ahra just moved enough to bring the grayish luggage into the house. “Ji! Ji!” She called before she asked her Myungsoo to bring a piece of cotton wet in alcohol to try to wake her.

Myungsoo quickly ran to the bathroom to do what he was told and Sonmi shook Jihyun one more time before she looked alarmed at her mother. “Is she sick?” She asked worriedly.

“No, just pregnant.” Ahra retorted.

“Pre-pregnant?” Sonmi stuttered as Myungsoo came back running to hold the cotton underneath Jihyun nose and Jihyun mother nodded with an impassive face. “Myungsoo have you heard that?” She asked but Myungsoo just kept waving the cotton under Jihyun nose and the girl was finally starting to wake up to wince. He was completely unbothered which made both mothers pregnant to understand he already knew.

“You already knew?” Ahra eyes twitched in anger while Sonmi looked completely groundless. Never in her wildest dreams she ever thought that Myungsoo one day would get Jihyun pregnant, much less in that age, she knew that their close bond was more like siblings, there was never malice in it, and Myungsoo had never shown any indication he was ready to venture in the love department not with a girl not with a boy.

While a thousand thoughts ran through Sonmi head and she tried to process every one of them Myungsoo turned to finally acknowledge Jihyun mother and speak to her.

“I'll take responsibility, I swear!” He said confidently until he noticed his friend had fully opened her eyes. “Ji, are you ok?” He asked patting her head. The girl didn't say anything, she didn't need to in order for Myungsoo see in her eyes how much sad and desperate she was. “It's ok, it's ok Ji, I'm right here, you know I'll take care of you right?” Jihyun eyes filled with tears and she made an expression as if this wouldn't be enough.

“Ok, they are going to have a baby.” Sonmi finally was able to convince herself after some breaths in and out. “If everyone helps we can do this... they can finish this school year and then we can see how it goes and...” She mumbled quickly before she looked at Jihyun mom that didn't bother to come inside the house that much. “Maybe Jihyun should be homeschooled the next year and..”

“Are you crazy? I don't have money for that and even if I had I would never spend my money on this.” Sonmi was ready to open to say something but the other woman continued.

“What?” Sonmi finally got up and walked back to Ahra. “She is your daughter, you have to help her! She is barely fifteen!” Sonmi said horrified.

“Should have thought about that before opening her legs. I told her over and over that she couldn't get pregnant until she had her own life, but your son shows his , her drops and now there is a baby on the way. I'm not going to raise another child, I will not!” She stated dryly and Jihyun started to cry only for Myungsoo to hug her and try to calm her.

“You don't need to be disrespectful as that in our place Ahra-shi. They are having a baby not offending you.” Sonmi scolded.

“And you don't have to raise our kid, we will, I will take responsibility,” Myungsoo assured.

“And we, as their parents, just have to help them.” Sonmi tried to reason though she knew the other woman was difficult. “Come on, they are fifteen, they have nothing, they can't work, and they won't get a very good job if they don't work, for some years we will have to help them.”

“No, I don't care.” Jihyun mother was already resolute so the only thing she did was push Jihyun luggage towards Sonmi. “You both let this happen so you both deal with.”

“You're kicking her out?” Sonmi gasped shocked as Jihyun started to sob loudly and that only confirmed things, but Ahra didn't add anything on that.

“Raising a kid by herself it's hard, so I'd suggest them to marry.” She said quite nonchalantly. “Your husband is a lawyer, right? He might know what to do to emancipate her.” She took a card out of her pocket and offered to Myungsoo's mom. “I need to wrap up some things so I'm staying in this hotel for the meantime, you have until the end of the month if you want a signature for anything, I don't plan coming back to Incheon.”

“Mom, please! I'm sorry, stay with me, I'm scared.” Jihyun sobbed from Myungsoo's arms in her fewer efforts to have her mother by her side.

“You should have thought about this sooner, I've warned you countless of times.” The woman said coldly only for Jihyun sob uncontrollably even though Myungsoo tried to comfort and that's when Sonmi got the card from Ahra hand with some force.

“You know what? Just go, go away to wherever you want. Jihyun won't be missing anything, you were never a proper mother, you never showed her some love and you know what? I have been filling in because you're a mother but now I can and I will take care properly, she will never even notice you went away.” Sonmi finally expressed some pent-up frustration of almost ten years.

Ahra merely snorted. “Good look with that.”

“You'll get a call from my husband, now, go away you evil monster, get out of my house, we don't need a toxic person like you!” Sonmi yelled enraged.

“That month your mother was devastated.” Myungsoo sighed deeply. “But we talked to my parents and they took her in and from then on Jihyun focused on you and Soohyunie. At first, my parents didn't want us to marry because they thought we were too young, Ji got emancipated we decided to marry to give you a proper family and to make Ji our official family member.”

“Whats-whats ema-eman-?” The boy stuttered between sobs.

“Emancipation is when a parent does not control a child anymore in the sense that the child can start handling life on their own. Your grandmother gave Ji a paper with that kind of permission which basically meant your mother would start to take her own decisions like an adult.” He held Woohyun tighter in his arms before saying sadly. “Not everyone stops seeing their parents when they get emancipated but, in your mom case, it basically meant your grandma cut ties.”

The boy was crying really badly at this point and that broke Myungsoo heart in such tiny little pieces that the similarity to dust was incredible but he knew he had to wrap it up somehow before he had any chance to try to ask what Woohyun felt and wanted to do about it.

“I tried informing your grandma about you, Soohyunnie and your mom through letters that I left with one of your grandma friends yet she never came to see you or their funeral and I...” He paused to swallow a lump that formed in his throat. “I don't think those letters ever reached her but she knew she had a grandchild and never came....”

Myungsoo halted his words there, he couldn't go on talking and he was more than sure that Woohyun couldn't go on listening, there was a limit the kid could take and Myungsoo knew that, even if he didn't mean to break his son's heart, this was painful and Woohyun had to digest that.

It was quite complicated for Woohyun to sleep that night because the boy kept crying uncontrollably. Myungsoo hadn't even the slightest idea if he had any expectations about his grandmother that could be broken so he could only think the boy was crying because of the things his mother went through, and if that was so Myungsoo couldn't even comfort him because he felt the same way about it... every time he thought about the absurd things Jihyun went through he wanted to cry himself.

The next day came before they properly had a rest. Myungsoo raised from his bed early to make breakfast and let Woohyun sleep some time more and the poor boy woke up a little disoriented and with his whole face swollen only to behave dispirited even though Myungsoo tried to spoil on him as much as he could before Sungyeol and Sunggyu knocked on their door.

Talking about the neighbors, it was Sunggyu that knocked on their door in a rather desperate way because Sungyeol got late to wake up but then Woohyun was still eating lazily on his father bedroom and he ran there to speed him up. Only then Myungsoo was able to look in the eyes of the old brother, his lover, Sungyeol. The taller had deep eye circles underneath his eyes and he looked like he didn't catch a wink of sleep.... not that he thought he was any better.

“Hyung...” He was about to ask what happened when Sungyeol raised a hand for him to stop.

“I look awful, I know.” He sighed entering his boyfriend apartment. “I stayed up all night grading those essays... I need you to help me put in the car ok?” Myungsoo merely nodded and pinched the bridge of his nose to alleviate stress, which somehow made Sungyeol alert. “What happened? Is it because of his grandma?” He asked only for Myungsoo snap his head up to look at him surprised.

“How do you know?”

Sungyeol shrugged. “You only got in your defensive and aggressive mode when you are defending Woohyun so I made a not so wild guess. It was her, wasn't?” He asked softly and Myungsoo nodded only for Sungyeol to feel guilty, a very rare emotion that he only felt sometimes with Sunggyu, and only sometimes because Sunggyu did deserve a few screams of him in the past. “I shouldn't have brought you there.”

“It was not your fault, I hadn't the means to know... in the end my parents didn't tell me where she was?”

“Did he asked about her? Did you tell him? I mean...” Sungyeol stuttered trying to handle that careful subject carefully.

“Yes, he did... so I told him everything I could about her and ...” He ended up rubbing his hands against his face restlessly.” He cried himself to sleep and barely spoke since he woke up... I don't know what to do.” He confessed as he took his hands from his face to look at the ground and slumped his shoulders.

Sungyeol quickly threw a glance towards the rooms to be sure the boys were occupied before he pulled Myungsoo into a hug. “You'll be fine...Just do what you do every day: stay by his side.” He advised. “Even if he feels bad, sad or happy... just be his side and when you less expect he will open up and you'll be able to help him better.”

“You say you'll not good with people and yet you always advise me.” Myungsoo mumbled hugging Sungyeol back.

“I'm not good with people” Sungyeol ended chuckling a bit embarrassed as he broke their hug. “..but I'm putting effort and that's what Hoya family did to help me so I thought it might work somehow...” He added and then pulled away when they heard a door close and Myungsoo only had the time to offer a small tired smile because next thing they knew one of the boys entered the living room.

“Woohyunnie is upset.” Sunggyu announced and pouted. “Did he do something wrong and got scolded?” He added a question raising one of his brows.

“No, he didn't. He is just confused about something I told him.” Myungsoo told him and Sunggyu made a happy face and his eyes twinkled, he certainly thought Myungsoo told Woohyun about him and Sungyeol hooking up but that happiness was promptly killed by Sungyeol.

“It wasn't what you were thinking.” He said a bit sternly then looked behind Sunggyu to see if Woohyun might come.

“He is showering.” Sunggyu told the adults much for their relief but then he pouted again. “When that will happen?” He asked a bit impatiently only for Sungyeol to shrug, he wasn't in a hurry.

“Sunggyu, Woohyunnie and I are going through some complicated family problems right now...” Myungsoo tried to explain but stop to sigh tiredly and that's when Sungyeol had a genius idea.

“Do you want to play spy? I'll assign a mission for you.” The elder said only for Sunggyu to throw a weird look at him. “Come on, you'll just have to take care of Woohyunnie in school, be there for him if he needs and then at the end of the day you do a complete report for Myungsoo so he can help Woohyunnie out, what do you think?” Sungyeol tried to sound like it would be the most exciting thing in the world but he sounded forced. Thankfully Sunggyu didn't pay any attention to that.

“I'll do my best.” The boy said innocently, adding a fighting hand motion.

_________________________________________

The day was awfully long for both Myungsoo and Sungyeol, the young dad was worried sick and afraid of what Woohyun might be feeling while Sungyeol buried himself in work, damn, he had so many things to grade and just hated he couldn't offer a big help for his neighbors, because at the end he wanted to lean on Myungsoo and wanted Myungsoo to lean on him so they could have what Dongwoo and Hoya or Jongie and Moonsoo had.

While the adults tried to go on with their adult lives the kids went to school and Sunggyu for the first time ever talked to Woohyun without rest, which even made Dongwoo scold him for disrupting class once, but Woohyun just looked like he was trying really hard to understand something but at the end he couldn't. He wrote all the answers to the exercises Dongwoo assigned for them wrong that day, Sunggyu noticed.

Around lunchtime Sunggyu was convinced Woohyun would get better if they played with their friends. Junhyung, Shinhye, Honggyu, Hansol, Jiae and even Soojung were ready to play tag, Sunggyu convinced them, but after lunch, he couldn't see Woohyunnie anywhere. Where was he? He asked himself as a feeling of dread invaded his heart.

“Woohyunnie! Woohyunnie! Woohyunnie! Woohyunnie!” Sunggyu ran through school yelling and even getting a weird glance from some passing teachers.

“I think your student has a problem, again.” One of them patted Dongwoo on the shoulder and the pink haired teacher just sighed and ran after Sunggyu, and was able to stop him when he saw Sunggyu approaching Minggyu not so gently.

“Did you see Woohyunnie?” He asked without any patience.

“He is in the bathroom.” Minggyu replied but his tone had some worry undertone. “I think he is crying.”

“Did you upset him?” Sunggyu got him by the collar and that's when Dongwoo finally arrived pushed them apart.

“What is happening here?” He looked from one boy to the other but this time Minggyu just seemed at loss, so he shrugged. “Sunggyu?” He asked, lightly glaring at the boy but Sunggyu couldn't be bothered by Dongwoo inquisition, he had a mission, to take care of Woohyunnie, and he wouldn't fail on that.

Sunggyu let his teacher and classmate in the hallway and started running around again, this time to look in the nearest bathroom and Dongwoo felt like he was getting old, where Sunggyu took that stamina from?

“Woohyunnie!” He called once he arrived in the bathroom but he got no reply, he thought he heard a noise but then his teacher entered the bathroom panting.

“Sunggyu...” The pink haired teacher took a deep intake of air. “... what is happening?” He ended up asking but Sunggyu shushed him by placing a finger on his mouth and Dongwoo complied but nothing was heard. “Sunggyu?” He tried again.

“I'm looking for Woohyunnie, I'm worried.” Sunggyu finally explained with an exasperated tone and that's when they both heard a sniff from one of the stalls.

Sunggyu snapped and he wanted just march there and find a way to enter the stall but Dongwoo held him in place. “He is not here, have you looked for him on the playground?” The pink haired teacher asked just for Sunggyu snap his head back at him with a confused expression. “Let's look for him there.” He offered and opened and closed the door.

That was Dongwoo's time to place a finger on his lips for the boy to shut up before he pointed to a particular stall and after a couple of seconds they heard a small whimper from someone that was crying, so he motioned to Sunggyu to accompany him silently. Once they were in front of the stall door, Dongwoo tried holding himself on it to look inside the stall from above while Sunggyu tried to look from underneath the door and the boy almost seemed surprised/scared when he noticed the two heads poking.

“Go away.” He ended up saying and Dongwoo let go from the door to fall on the ground with one leg on each side of Sunggyu body.

“Woohyun, what's happening?” Dongwoo properly knocked on the door and tried to sound coaxing because he simply couldn't get on the floor and pass through the opening between the ground and the door, but Sunggyu could and that's what the boy did – rather quickly if Dongwoo could add.

“Noo.” Woohyun whined and tried to push Sunggyu back but the boy just slapped his friend hands away from his body and properly got up just to engulf the boy in a big hug.

“Woohyunnie, don't cry, I love you.” He said and Woohyun stopped crying for a second, but then, it was Sunggyu his best friend, so a second later he hugged Sunggyu back and finally let everything out.

“Hyung, it hurts.” The boy sobbed.

“Where? Are you hurt?” Dongwoo asked desperately from outside and Sunggyu lifts an arm and unlocked the door for their teacher to enter - but he didn't let go – and after Dongwoo was sure Woohyun wasn't hurt he tried asking another question while patting the boy's head. “Did Minggyu bothered you again?” Woohyun shook his head at that. “Then tell hyung what happened, tell hyung where it hurts, maybe hyung can help you.” He coaxed.

It took a while but Woohyun spilled the beams. He didn't go into details but he sort of explained he was crying because his grandma had been mean to his mother, the things was that Dongwoo had no idea if he was talking about because as far as he knew Woohyun mother was dead and Myungsoo mother was even funny when they met, but what was plain obvious was that Woohyun seemed to have all of his feelings in conflict.

“Hey calm down, ok? If you're too distressed you won't be able to understand yourself.” Dongwoo begged only able to dry Woohyun tears because none of the boys was letting go of their hug. “I think you'll be fine once you rest, so why don't we call your father to pick you up?”

Woohyun ended up nodding slightly and Sunggyu finally broke their hug/patting. “I'll gather our things so we can go.” He said confidently, already an expert on the protocol.

“Not you Sunggyu, you'll have to come back to class later.” Dongwoo stopped the boy that was about to go running do what he said.

“But it is Sungyeol hyung that picks us up.” Sunggyu reasoned and Woohyun seemed he would start to cry all over again over that statement and Dongwoo could only sigh in return.

“I will talk to Hoya so Myungsoo will surely come this time.” He assured. “Go pick his things up and meet us in the nurse office, I'll let you accompany Woohyunnie until his father arrives ok?” Sunggyu nodded and quickly ran off leaving the teacher alone with his friend. “If you're confused and you need more details to be able to understand this situation you can always ask for them right?” The teacher tried to pat the crying boy one more time, not noticing that his advice would be used differently in the near future.

Half an hour later Myungsoo arrived in school looking like he was taking a ride on a hurricane, the young dad was almost hyperventilating too. Once father and son finally saw each other Myungsoo wanted to cry from seeing Woohyun vulnerable stance and swollen face and the moment the boy hugged him tightly he couldn't help but let a tear out and after some minuted he was finally able to than Dongwoo and Sunggyu for their help and took Woohyun home by cab.

The ride was quiet though not silent, Woohyun still whimpered a bit and Myungsoo tried to comfort him while constantly telling him that he was loved and that that old woman never deserved him or his mother.

When they finally arrived at their apartment, Myungsoo took his son to his room and sat him on the bed before asking Woohyun to let all out and tell him what he was feeling. Woohyun hesitated a bit but once he looked up again and actually spoke, his voice came out almost as a whisper and he asked for something Myungsoo never wanted to happen but couldn't deny that it was possible and that he dreads it.

“Daddy, can I meet grandma Nam?”