Bumsoo smiled fondly at his grandson, hugged him and asked softly. “Save? Save from what, buddy?” the response for that was the boy turning around in his grandpa hold to point at his father.

“From him.” The boy turned to glare at Myungsoo then looked back at his grandpa. “Grandpa, ground him!” He pleaded only for Sonmi and Bumsoo furrow their brows and Moonsoo to sigh, which made Myungsoo to immediately squint his eyes and turned abruptly to talk to his brother.

“You told them what I confided in you?” Myungsoo asked in incredulity, after hiding well his secrets for seven years he thought Moonsoo would keep to himself.

Moonsoo snorted. “No, and it is kinda insulting you're accusing me.” He said so only his brother could hear.

Myungsoo wasn't convinced so he looked suspiciously at his parents. “Then what you're doing here?”

“Can't we visit you and Woohyun?” His mother asked and Myungsoo sighed but moved for his parents to finally enter his apartment, so whatever this was they could talk inside. He didn't think Sungyeol would try to eavesdrop but Sunggyu... he had some doubts.

“Of course you can, it's just... it isn't the best time.” Myungsoo said as his mother passed by him with the box of letters in her hands, and with his father and Woohyun following in toll.

“It is, it is. It is a perfect time to scold him.” Woohyun disagreed as his grandma placed the box of letters in a corner of Myungsoo couch. “He grounded me without any reason and he doesn't let me play with Sunggyu and Sungyeol hyungs.” Woohyun complained as Myungsoo asked with his brother with his eyes what their parents were doing there but as soon Moonsoo shrugged and he registered what his son said he promptly scolded the boy.

“Nam Woohyun!”

“See, he is weird!” The boy pleaded to be believed as his uncle entered the apartment and close the door.

“Woohyun, you know exactly why you're grounded like every other time you ever been grounded.” The younger father replied tiredly.

“But there is no real reason for it!” The boy stomped his little foot in the ground angrily and the elders decided to intervene.

“Then why is he grounded?” Bumsoo asked Myungsoo then addressed his grandson in a cooing tone. “What our Namu did?”

“Nothing! I just wanted to help.” Woohyun used his most innocent voice as his uncle and Sonmi watched everything with attention.

“You questioned my orders, misbehaved and talked back.” Myungsoo said trying to suppress the urge to manifest his annoyance.

“That's not nice behavior Woohyun, your father is right, do you know how many times your uncle was grounded because of that?” Bumsoo said but Woohyun shook his head not accepting what he was listening.

“Hey! I don't have anything to do with that!” Moonsoo complained from his corner.

“Noooo, grandpa, grandpa, this isn't true, he grounded me because he doesn't want me to play with Sunggyu hyung because he fought with Sungyeol hyung, he is taking on us!”

“What?” Myungsoo mother gasped and Woohyun finally making an expression thanking that, finally, somebody understood him. “Wha-what?” His mother stuttered further as she opened her eyes big and opened her jaw low. Why did they fight? As far as she knew her son was head over heels...

As Sonmi was shocked and Bumsoo seemed to be a little surprised too, Myungsoo finally understood they were not there for this. But... if they weren't... then... he didn't even want to think about it, he thought it was better to at least say something that could sidetrack his parents and Woohyun.

“Woohyun, you're allowed to play with Sunggyu when you're not grounded.” Myungsoo said but Woohyun became angry.

“You're lying! You said we had to take a break from them and you keep calling them neighbors when they are our friends, and...”

Myungsoo eye twitched and when he talked his tone was low and menacing.“Nam Woohyun...”

Woohyun scrunched up his face in anger, he knew he would probably be grounded for two whole weeks but he needed to confront his father, besides he knew that with his grandparents there he was probably going to be on his side when they knew what was happening. Unfortunately for the boy, as soon as he opened his mouth, Bumsoo decided to intervene.

“Woohyun, why don't you go to your room for a bit so we can talk to your dad about that?”

“Nooooo, you have to ground him! You're his dad so he has to obey and...” The boy turned his tiny body to his grandfather, already reasoning, when Bumsoo smiled patiently.

“When the kid has their own kids, things don't exactly work like that anymore. But maybe I still can convince him to forget this whole punishment thing, what do you say?” Bumsoo said and winked at Woohyun but the boy was hesitant.

“That is not happening until he behaves.” Myungsoo said dryly as he moved to his couch.

“Woohyun-ah, don't worry, grandma will scold your daddy for you. You know he listens to me, right?” Sonmi butted in and now Woohyun seemed more convinced that he was gonna be helped somehow, though his dad rolled eyes. “Moonsoo, can you keep Woohyun company a bit? I don't want to scare him when I scold his father.”

“Sure.” Moonsoo said and approached his nephew. “Come on buddy, let's hide and talk badly about your dad behind his back.” He said as he offered a hand to the boy and Woohyun grabbed his hand.

“Uncle, daddy doesn't want to apologize for making Sungyeol hyung cry.” The boy said loudly, not only for the other three adults to hear but to be sure to annoy his father one more time.

“Really?” Moonsoo faked a gasp and interest. “What did he say?”

“That it was not his fault but I don't believe.” Woohyun said then the door closed behind them, which made both grandparents sigh in relief before looking at their son.

“What was that?” Bumsoo pointed behind him and in direction of Woohyun door as his wife walked to sit beside her son, and unknowingly push Myungsoo laptop charger out of the couch. “Why is he so distressed?” She asked over the noise of the said object falling.

“It's nothing big, I'm just educating him a bit.” Myungsoo tried to dismiss everything as he checked past his mother, but couldn't spot the said object.

“Aish, how were you a lawyer when you're so clueless?” Sonmi asked looking at her husband. “He is grounded and he is upset because he can't play with his friend, but punishments are just like that, we prohibit kids from doing something in order to educate them somehow, you know this, you did that countless of times before.” Myungsoo felt some relief that his mother agreed with him but his father didn't seem like he was on his boat yet.

“Yes, but Woohyun usually listens so well...” Bumsoo was about to argue as he also got close but he was interrupted by his wife.

“I don't know what is happening, but maybe we have more important things here at hand.” She said, which made Myungsoo dread whatever she was going to say next. “What is going on?.”

“Nothing.” Myungsoo bluntly and tiredly lied.

“How it is nothing? Sunggyu called your mother and then Sungyeol called her and then we arrive here and see this?” Bumsoo pointed towards Woohyun door again.

“Wait-what? Did they call you? How? ” The young father was confused.

“Dunno, that's what I wanted to ask you.” Sonmi said kind of annoyed, she hated when people called her whenever she was working.

“I didn't give them your number.” Myungsoo said in all seriousness but still kinda confused though after a few seconds later that transformed in something else. “Why did they call you? They didn't have the right to call you and.. and..” Myungsoo was about to hyperventilate through his complaints when his mother decided to stop.

“I was working when Sunggyu called me and he was whispering so the only thing I could understand was that Woohyun was upset and that we needed to come because nobody knew what to do, but he was caught by Sungyeol and hang up before I could ask what was this about.” Myungsoo raised a brow, what was that? “And Sungyeol called me to apologize about Sunggyu sometime later and said, that the next I came, to ring his doorbell so he could give me back my letters and that's it. I was kinda confused so I asked Moonsoo if he knew anything and he said you were having a hard time lately so we came.”

“They didn't have the right ...” Myungsoo repeated between gritted teeth but then sighed relieved. Ok, whatever Sunggyu wanted to say his mother didn't understand, Sungyeol didn't mention and Moonsoo kept everything they talked to himself so he deemed he was fairly safe. For now. “That has to do with my project, I have roughly 40 days to hand it in or I won't graduate. But I'm stuck and I had to change advisers so... this has been giving me a huge amount of stress. I know Woohyun is upset because he is grounded but my patience is not the best lately so it would be best if he behaved to help me.”

“You changed advisers at this point? Why?”Bumsoo asked crossing his arms and straightening up to show his attention.

“Because....” He sighed once more. “My past adviser was pregnant and she had a placental abruption like Ji had...”

“Oh, dear, how is she? Do you know anything?” Sonmi asked worriedly.

“She and the baby are recovering.” He said, choosing to omit the fact that he was with his professor when it happened and that had shocked him and made him remember things he didn't want to.

“Then, of course, they would ask someone else to help you.” Bumsoo concluded as he scratched his chin. “Is the new adviser good?”

“He is from another department, I don't think he can fully help me, but only time will tell.” He said as he remembered the last conversation he had with Sungyeol

“Well, you can't wait to see, Myungsoo. Do you know how many things you want depend on that?”Sonmi scolded. “Your graduation will open doors for your studies or a job, your stay here and a better education for Woohyun in Seoul, and you can try to establish more friendships and then now you have Sungyeol...”

“Talking about him, why Woohyun said that you fought with him and made him cry?” Bumsoo interrupted to ask then added in a low tone. “I thought you two were hitting off pretty good, what happened?”

“Can we not talk about that?” Myungsoo asked and got up to go to the long forgotten dinner table and try tidying it up nervously.

Sonmi looked at her husband and they shared a knowing look, whatever was stressing Myungsoo the most seemed to be related to whatever fight this was.

“Myungsoo...” His father called softly as the said man moved around. “You kept secrets from us for seven years and that was/is killing you from inside, I see that things are getting worse for you, you're exploding so wouldn't be better to take things off your chest this time? At least that would avoid on taking on Woohyun even if inadvertently.”

Myungsoo stopped what he was doing to think about and his mother decided to give a final push. “Please trust us, we are on your side.” She pleaded.

“Right... because everyone is on my side, even Woohyun.” Myungsoo said in sarcasm as he turned to look at his parents.

“Well, maybe we aren't on your side yet because we don't know about it. We don't have crystal balls to know what happened and who is wrong and who is right.” Sonmi shrugged and as her son sighed defeated she nudged his knee. “Come on, you don't need to carry all the weight of the world alone. We are your parents, this is one of the things we exist for. And maybe we can advise you too.”

Touché, his mother had a point. The youngest in the room pinched the bridge f his nose for some seconds as his parents waited for something, anything until he mumbled something. “Come close, Woohyun can't hear.”

Bumsoo, that stood farther from them, quickly moved close to put the box of letters on the ground and sit beside his wife and son on the couch. “So?”

“It wasn't just a fight.” Myungsoo said slowly, but before his parents could tilt his head in confusion he explained a little more. “We broke up.”

“Were you two having problems?” Sonmi asked patiently.

“No, actually... everything was great.” Myungsoo said seriously then stretched the corner of his lips but not enough to make a smile. “Until we broke up.”

“Then why? How?” The elders asked at the same time. “I'm confused.” Bumsoo confessed.

“We just... Remember my new adviser?” Myungsoo said as he looked at the ground while his parents tilted their heads in confusion. “It is Sungyeol hyung.” A gasp was heard from both of them. “There is a policy that says we can't have a ual/romantic relationship while there is mentoring involved so we just...”

“Awn, baby!” Sonmi promptly pulled her eldest son for a comforting hug.

“Then finish college and get back together. This is temporary, you just said it is 40 days left.” Bumsoo tried to stay positive.

“Maybe it could be...”Myungsoo gently pushed his mother to look in his father eyes while dropping some sarcasm. “...in a parallel world where we agree and feel the same things. I don't think it will happen in this world.”

“Why are you saying this, hum?”Sonmi asked trying to pat her son's hair.

“Because...” Immediately Myungsoo eyes started to produce tears though he tried his best to contain it. “Because...”

“Awn, come here.” Sonmi pulled him into her chest for another hug and his father rubbed circles in his back.

“Take your time.” The elder man suggested.

“He doesn’t love me.” Myungsoo said between tears into his mother chest while mother and dad looked at each other in worry. And while Bumsoo had a solemn face like he knew something like this would happen, Sonmi mother instincts somehow doubted that.

“Are you sure?” Bumsoo asked. “He told me himself he is not too good with emotions, maybe it was a misunderstanding.”

“I don’t think it was...” Myungsoo stuttered against his mother chest but then pulled away to take a big snuff. “And I just feel like he doesn’t love me.”

“What did he say that made you feel this way?”Sonmi asked softly while her son leaned his back on the couch and fiddled with the hem of his shirt nervously while he thought.

“When we first talked about us…” He took a break to gulp. “He said he was selfish, that he wanted everything so he tried hard to get and keep everything he wanted...”

“I don’t think selfish is really the word because his mother said that he does think about people he cares - like his father or Sungjong, or his cousin - maybe he meant competitive?” Sonmi interrupted to suggest but her husband nudged her ribs, trying to indicate she shouldn’t interrupt the younger.

“He said it was possible, that I should try and I believed him, so I suggested we got together.” The younger then stopped another time to inhale some air and wipe his eyes. “We knew where we were getting into, we knew each other baggage, or I thought I knew...”

“So he wasn’t honest with you?” Sonmi raised a brow.

“He told me he left the gory parts out.” Bumsoo guessed but that wasn’t what his son was referring to.

“He didn’t tell me he was a genius, he didn’t tell me he was finishing a Ph.D.”

“You didn’t know?” Bumsoo blinked.

“You knew?” The young man asked as if betrayed.

“We thought you knew too.” Sonmi replied with some surprise too. “But in my defense, I didn’t know he was finishing a Ph.D., his mother lost track of what he did in college because they grew apart, she thought he was starting another graduation at some point.”

“Have you two broken up because he hid this?” Bumsoo tried to guess and Myungsoo sighed.

“No, not exactly.” Myungsoo confessed. “But he told that I had never asked about what he did in college.”

“Did he said you were a bad boyfriend because of that?” Bumsoo asked with suspicion, he totally could see Sungyeol doing that, and bluntly too.

“No, though I know I was because I offered him a lot but I couldn’t keep my promises with all of these problems that keep appearing.” Myungsoo said sadly and wiped his eyes again before tears fell again.

“But, darling, if he didn’t complain and didn’t say you’re a bad boyfriend, then… how do you know?” Sonmi was becoming confused.

“Because when this situation came up he freaked out and decided everything on his own!” Myungsoo said in frustration. “He barely let me discuss anything… he came up with three solutions in which two of them one us would be in trouble and pressed me to accept the third one because… ‘I’m a genius, I know better’.” Myungsoo mimicked Sungyeol at the end.

“He took that from his mother, definitely.” Sonmi nodded to herself but it wasn’t like Myungsoo paid any attention to that.

“I know we both have goals that depend on this, I know what we individually want to achieve, and I can even recognize that he does actually want to help me to graduate. But...” Myungsoo took a deep breath and looked from his mother to his dad with glassy eyes. “...he made me feel without a say within the relationship, he made me feel like I wasn’t capable of coming up with a solution, he said he never acted as if he superior to me intellectually but right at that moment he did. And when I questioned him if we couldn’t work hard to keep everything we wanted he said we needed to let go of one thing to guarantee the other and that ing hurts!”

As Myungsoo ranted his parents face contorted in ugly scowls, with every word they came to understand their son feelings better and they could only recognize that their son was in a typhoon of bad feelings that Sungyeol (intentionally or not, they didn't know) inflicted on him and boy, giving Myungsoo emotional nature, he messed up big time.

“Because of him I had courage to tell you my 7-years-secret, because of him I wanted to come clean to Woohyun, because of him I had the courage to start a part of my life that I have never cared before, because of him I allowed myself to think love was possible even in my situation … I trusted him my heart and my son- when you know I don’t trust Woohyun to just anyone - I loved him, I gave him my all despite what was happening to me, and then he made me feel like that these efforts were for nothing because our relationship was disposable and easy to let go?”

“Dammit.”Bumsoo hissed.

“Awn.” Myungsoo mother looked at him with some pity as she related what he was saying but then tried inquiring his son more. “Have you told him all of that?

“No, I couldn’t.” Myungsoo admitted as he briefly looked at the ground. “ I tried to convince him not to break up with me, I told him we should just hide everything - and I mean, I’m hiding a secret for 7 years already, I could totally hide our relationship from our college for 40 days - but he said he couldn’t pretend and things couldn’t be the way I wanted. He dodged when I asked about his feelings and just pressured me to make a decision using Woohyun and as if he was not important enough for me….” His lips quivered. “But that’s bull. He was the one that didn’t want to put effort to treasure our relationship, he was fine letting go and was fine with me getting angry so I don’t even know why Woohyun is saying he cried.”

“Maybe he wasn’t fine so he cried.” Bumsoo blurted but with when her son looked at her in disbelief he made sure to mend his words. “But if he made you feel like that then he doesn’t deserve to be fine, in a relationship both people should be able to freely express themselves and discuss things until they reach a common ground. But he is problematic, you knew that.” Bumsoo pointed.

“Yeah, so maybe he was tired of handling me, maybe he was fed up with my problems, maybe he thought I was boring maybe he tricked me all this time and never really wanted something serious, maybe I was just another number..” Myungsoo ranted, trying to find an explanation, as his father frowned, not knowing Myungsoo was referring to the number of lovers Sungyeol tried to have.

Or maybe he wanted to help but was bad handling the situation because he is not a very tactful person even when he is trying to be thoughtful as his mother said countless times before. Sonmi agreed with her husband, maybe because he seemed ashamed when he talked to her over the phone and when he handed back her letters. But, if anything her late friend said in her letters was true, she was sure Sungyeol liked her son enough or else he wouldn’t even bother to try to help Myungsoo somehow, she was sure Sungyeol could simply say no and continue his life with his high IQ to reach his goals.

Instead of voicing that she chose to support her son because if Myungsoo was feeling like crap and that was messing his entire life because her friend son then he was to blame, she knew Sungyeol had troubles but that hardly justified him making her son feel so unworthy.

“Myungsoo,” She called softly to interrupt her son, she didn’t want those thoughts spiraling in his head all the time. “It is no use trying to find ‘why’s’ when you already made a decision.”

“I’m just so… I just want to understand what and where I did wrong for him to treat me like that… it makes me so confused and angry because until we were assigned together I thought everything was fine…” Myungsoo confessed.

“Your mother is right. And maybe this is something you’ll need more thinking to understand but you have to put your graduation first, for you, for Woohyun and, since you don’t want to date him anymore, to get rid of him.” Bumsoo offered. “The sooner you finish, the sooner you don’t have to see him.”

“He is still my neighbor.” Myungsoo snorted. “And sometimes we still meet in the boys' school.”

“Until when your lease is due?” Bumsoo asked.

“January.” Myungsoo sighed tiredly.

“Do you want to move out before that? We could pay the penalty for you if you want to get rid of him.” The elder asked.

“Nooo, where would I go? To Incheon? I don’t want to go back there I want to take care of Woohyun on my own.”

“You can still do that, we could pay another apartment for you here, closer to Woohyun school or from your university so you don’t have to bump with him.” Sonmi shrugged.

“Thank you but I want to be able to pay things on my own. Moving would also demand time I can’t waste and Woohyun wouldn’t like either, he likes here, he likes to have a friend closer.” He reasoned and his parents were thinking he was coming up with excuses but decided not to mention to not upset him.

“Talking about that, how are you going to do? Woohyun and Sunggyu are still best friends right?” Sonmi asked worriedly. “That’s why Woohyun is upset and Sunggyu tried to call me right? Because they are afraid they can’t play anymore.” She concluded.

“I don’t know.” Myungsoo confessed. “I know Sunggyu has nothing to do with this and I really think their friendship is something unique, the kind that, if taken care, it would last for a lifetime, or something like what Ji and I had, but I honestly don’t want Woohyun over there.”

“It makes sense you wouldn’t trust Sungyeol with Woohyun anymore.” Bumsoo nodded but then Myungsoo shook his head.

“Sungyeol hyung treats Woohyun very nicely, he teaches Woohyun piano every Sunday, he taught Woohyun to bake cupcakes, and he teaches him a variety of things that I don’t know, he is very patient when he helps the boys with homework and Woohyun loves his food. They grew on each other and Woohyun likes to spend time with Sungyeol too. I still trust him in this sense.”

“Then Woohyun is too used to spending time over there, but if you try to separate them too bluntly it is obvious Woohyun will be upset.” Bumsoo reasoned.

“This is exactly why I don’t want him there every day, he is too used. I know this is my fault because I let myself become dependent on him for everything, but I don’t want to be dependent on anyone, nor you, nor him. Woohyun is my responsibility and mine only, I need to raise him on my own, and I was only able to see how dependable we were from him once we broke up.”

While Bumsoo nodded in agreement because this part of Myungsoo speech was extremely coherent with the things he had said before he moved out of Incheon or when they talked about Woohyun origins, Sonmi decided to continue talking in her grandson favor.

“But you don’t need to see Sungyeol, you don’t need to depend on him. You said Woohyun goes back and forth whenever he wants, maybe you should restrict that time like after homework and dinner, and before bedtime, or only on weekends, or only allowing Sunggyu to come here.” She suggested. “Can’t you pretend you never grew close or that he is another person so this won’t hurt Woohyunnie?”

“Maybe I can, I don’t know.” Myungsoo sighed. “I’ll think of something when Woohyun starts behaving enough to deserve things.”

“Promise?” Sonmi asked with some hope

“I promise.” Myungsoo slowly nodded.

“But, regarding your project, you can't just... not see him, so maybe these tactics will help in college whenever you have to meet him too.” Bumsoo suggested.

“That is something difficult.” Myungsoo let out a bitter laugh as he looked away and fiddle with his fingers nervously before he changed to change the subject a bit.

“But you can make it! As Moonsoo says, endurance is your thing, right?” Sonmi tried to encourage by grabbing her son hand.

“Just focus on graduating, after you get your diploma we can find another apartment for you with the same price, I don’t know, we’ll figure something out.” Bumsoo assured.

Myungsoo tried to smile but didn’t reply to that, maybe moving to another apartment in Seoul was the best option after he graduated to not see Sungyeol so often. But he didn’t want to think about that now so he decided to change the subject a bit.

“We had the first meeting already and he asked me to fix a bunch of things from my project till Friday, so I guess he will assign some kind of goal for this weekend, but I have a match and I already skipped some training today. Can one of you help me with Woohyun this Saturday please?”

“But we are going to Jeju on Friday and we return on Sunday...” His father wasn’t sure his son would agree for them to take care of woohyun to Jeju.

“I don’t have money for his ticked right now.” Myungsoo said embarrassed.

“Come on, it’s on us.” Bumsoo said, leaning over his wife to nudge Myungsoo knee. “You two would have a break of each other and then you could

“Then fine.” Myungsoo agreed with a tired small smile and a nod. “Just don’t tell him this trip is certain.”

“Then we have to buy a flight ticket and change hotel rooms.” His mother said as elbowed her husband to get off her then she pulled her phone to make these adjustments. “Maybe we can pick Woohyun form school early, what do you think oppa?”

“Yeah, maybe an hour or two earlier so we don’t get stuck in traffic and have some time to rest before the flight.” Bumsoo agreed and after that Myungsoo had enough from that encounter.

“Since we’re done talking, you should hang out with Woohyun since you also came to see him…” He said, getting up to pick his laptop from the coffee table. “... I have to fix some formatting...” Myungsoo snorted. “And do some coloring and…” He lowered the volume of his voice because he was mostly talking to himself so his parents got up and ran each other to woohyun room’s door.

“Namu, we have good news for you!” Sonmi said as soon as she opened the door after an elbow on her husband stomach.

“Really?” The boy eyes lit up when he heard that. “Am I not grounded anymore?” He asked from beside his uncle that held Jihyun diary in his hands, they were probably reading together since Woohyun took to read the diary as a form off feeling better since his father was the one hurting him now.

“No, buddy, unfortunately, you’re still grounded.” Bumsoo said forcing a weird smile on his face.

“Noooooooo~” Woohyun ungracefully left his body fall over Moonsoo’s, that grunted, then stomped his little feet on his bed.

“But Myungsoo promised that if you behave until Friday, he will finish your punishment early and we might even be able to take you to spend the weekend in Jeju!” Bumsoo tried to make the boy excited.

“Jeju?” Woohyun perked up interested, he had been there before once and he loved.

“Yes, Jeju!” Sonmi said excitedly as she sat on her grandson’s bed then pushed his little feet until his bumped with her legs and then she pulled his arms and strengthened him up on her lap. “Think about all those seafood dishes we will eat and… this grandma here will try a new restaurant, and they say there is an amazing Heuk Dwaeji there, hum? Hum? What do you say? Will you behave?”

The boy turned to his uncle. “Will you go with Jongie hyung too, uncle?”

“No mandu, we have an essay to do.” Moonsoo said apologetic. “I’m so jealous that you can go.” He added dramatically. “Talking about that, I got to go”. Moonsoo said as he got up

“Already? Uncle Moonsoo!” The boy complained.

“I just came by to see you to get energy for my essay.” The young uncle planted a kiss on his nephew's head as his father sat beside the other two. And as he received a collective goodbye, the young uncle moved to the door but not too fast that he could hear a bit of Woohyun next question.

“Has daddy agreed to apologize to Sungyeol hyung so we can invite him and Sunggyu hyung to Jeju too?” The boy asked innocently and one more time the grandfather smiled sheepishly.

“No, he didn’t agree to that and I think Sungyeol might be busy too because he is going to help your daddy with his studies even though they are fighting, but maybe we can still invite Sunggyu so you can play all weekend together. ” Sonmi suggested and Woohyun perked up again.

“Really? Kyahhhh!” The boy beamed just in time for his uncle to close the door and direct himself to his brother.

“Hyung.” He called as he approached.

“Why the hell this is happening?” Myungsoo mumbled with furrowed brows at the screen then looked up to his brother. “What’s up? Do you want to have a talk too?”

“It would be nice.” Moonsoo said and completed the steps to sit beside his brother on the couch. “What are you doing?”

“Trying to fix these titles, they don’t want to settle with the same style.” Myungsoo explained with a tired sigh, he could totally predict this would trouble him more than he thought.

“Oh, there is a command so it goes kind of automatic.” Moonsoo said and leaned over to press some keys and voilá, Myungsoo had his problem fixed.

“Oh, thank you.” He said in surprise.

“Four years in the university and you never used this command?” Moonsoo asked in mock shock.

“Yah!” Myungsoo hit his shoulder on his brother skinny one and his cheeks heat in embarrassment. “My professors are not that demanding and I never had time and interest to write for publications, so excuse me if I don’t know.”

Moonsoo only chuckled. “I’ll send you a list of commands to make your life easier then, Sungjong made me test and know them by heart and I have to say it saves a lot of time.” The younger smiled and Myungsoo stretched his lips in a thankful smile and after a couple of seconds in silence, both brothers made questions at the same time.

“How is him?” “How are you, hyung?” As Myungsoo sighed for the hundred time today while Moonsoo decided to add another question. “I heard you met with Sungyeol hyung twice, is that true?.”

“Thrice.” Myungsoo corrected. “But not much changed, I’m still angry. And annoyed.”

“Did you explained how you felt to mom and dad or do I have to still keep a secret?” The younger asked carefully.

“Nah, aside from protecting Woohyun, I’m tired of keeping things for myself, that’s why I asked you to come to Incheon with me” Myungsoo explained. “I feel lighted after telling them.”

“What was their reaction?”

“The same as yours, but not as radical.” This time Myungsoo smiled bitterly as his eyes moved to the screen again. “I wish I could tell him to off, but I can’t, can I?”

“I wish I could do that too.” Moonsoo said then rubbed his hands on his face and used a tired tone. “But I can’t when my boyfriend is his brother.”

Myungsoo promptly snapped his eyes back to his brother. “What happened?”

Moonsook too a deep breath before replying. “The obvious hyung, we clearly took sides.”

The elder brother blinked a couple times to register what his brother said before apologizing sincerely. “I don’t want you to fight your boyfriend because of me, Moonsoo, I’m so sorry.”

“We are not exactly fighting.” Moonsoo said carefully and his brother raised a brow at him. “I think Sungjong knows that if he keeps pressuring me to spill what you confided in me, or to talk to you, our relationship will wear out at some point. So now you two are taboo, and things are a little weird.”

“I’m sorry again.” Myungsoo repeated and after a soft slap from his brother he decided to change the subjects.“How is him?”

“With him you mean Namu or perhaps you mean Sungyeol hyung?”

Myungsoo clicked his tongue in annoyance. “Of course I mean Woohyun.”

“He is fine, his hate won’t last forever and you have to consider that he is the only one totally blind in this so just hang on a bit, our parents are trying to convince him to behave right now.” The younger tried to cheer up his brother and Myungsoo sighed.

“He better, because he has been annoying me saying Sungyeol hyung this and that all the damn time… How will I get over this breakup, if aside seeing him in college, I’m hearing about his good sides 24 hours from my son?”

“That’s difficult.” Moonsoo agreed with a nod and then patted his brother shoulder for comfort.

“Can you believe he keeps telling me to apologize? And now Woohyun is even saying that I made him cry...” Myungsoo asked rhetorically and, with that Moonsoo shifted in his seat only for Myungsoo to find suspicious. “What?”

“He might be annoying you, hyung, but Woohyun is not one to lie. He is not lying.”The young said carefully.

“Right.” Myungsoo laughed as he pushed his laptop on the coffee table and then put his foot beside, assuming a relaxing position only to laugh with sarcasm right after.

“Hyung, I didn’t say anything during the weekend because you were in no condition to hear anything but, after your conversation last Friday, Sungyeol hyung arrived home bawling his eyes out.” Moonsoo waited for some reply from his brother but Myungsoo expression told him that he didn’t trust that information.

He didn’t say anything anymore and Moonsoo also didn’t want to push his brother to try to talk to Sungyeol or anything o they shared a few moments of awkwardness before their parents came out of Woohyun room with him.

“So be sure to do what we told you so we can see each other on the weekend.” Sonmi coaxed.

“Huuuuummm~” Woohyun came across the room wriggling his shoulders in a cute manner, though it expressed how much he disliked whatever he was told and that it was gonna be hard for him to do whatever he agreed to.

“Come on, Namu, you can do it.” Bumsoo ran his fingers on Woohyun hair then pressed a kiss on his forehead. “Now we got to go or else we will arrive late in Incheon.”

“You’re still here Moonsoo?” Sonmi turned her children way to ask and briefly looked at the box of letters on the ground before leaning down to say her goodbyes to her grandson.

“Yeah, but I was already leaving.” He got up then patted his brother's arm. “Bye hyung, if you need anything just call me ok? You’ll get through this, fighting!”

As the younger Kim directed himself to the door, their parents waved at Myungsoo and then followed their youngest in his way out. After that Woohyun let out an insufferable sigh and his dad thought it was better to have another conversation with him to reinforce, in a calmer way, what he wanted.

“Woohyun, come here.” He ordered and his son dragged his feet towards him.

“What?” The boy asked once he sat beside his father and crossed his arms.

“Remember you asked me to always tell you things?”

The boy looked at his father from the corner of his eyes, he was interested but he didn’t want to seem like he was. “Yes.”

“Let me try to explain what is happening again.”

“Are you going to tell me why you and Sungyeol hyung fought?”

“Woohyun...” Myungsoo rubbed both of his hands tiredly over his face before looking at his son's eyes. “... listen, I fought with Sungyeol hyung ok? I did, and I won’t deny this. He said a few stuff that hurt my feelings a lot and, when someone is very hurt, sometimes it takes time to be able to talk and fix things, but sometimes that never happens and people grow apart.”

Woohyun made an upset face. “Can’t you two talk already? Half a week already passed.”

“No, Woohyun I can’t talk to him right now, I’m still hurt and there are other things going on too so I also don’t have the time...”

“Like what?” The boy asked.

“Remember I told you about a job in Incheon?” Myungsoo asked.

“Oh, daddy, please, no!” Woohyun attitude changed drastically and he latched on his father body to beg. “Anything but that.”

Myungsoo got out of Woohyun hands then pulled the boy on his lap and hugged him. “I promised I would try my best to find a job so we could stay, right?” He asked and Woohyun nodded. “ To get a good job I have to study hard and finish college by doing a big project that needs at least 6 months to get ready.”

Woohyun gasped at the amount of time for a single project. “Isn’t that too much?”

Myungsoo smiled. “It seems so, but it is the requirement to finish college.” He took a deep breathe in and out. “The problems I said I’m having in college is because no matter what I do I can’t finish my project, I’m stuck for some time already and my professor got sick so I didn’t have anyone to help me. Aside from this, I have to hand it in soon so this is stressing me a lot… What I mean to say is that I shouldn’t focus on other problems because this one is more important.”

Woohyun pouted and looked down his own lap and Myungsoo continued talking. “ In the end, my fight with Sungyeol hyung will have to wait and you, Woohyun, shouldn’t stress me out by misbehaving because If I keep being stressed I won’t be able to work on my project. And if you don’t behave and end up stressing me more you’re bound to be grounded, and we don’t want that, right? You don’t deserve that because you’re a good boy that helps daddy and eats vegetables, right?”

Begrudgingly the boy nodded then apologized faintly .“I’m sorry.” The boy hugged his dad this time. “I just don’t want to be separated from the hyungs I like.” The boy confessed a bit louder.

“I know. I know.” Myungsoo caressed his son’s soft locks then hugged him back. “I know you’re worried about that but that doesn’t have to happen if you behave right? We just to change the rules a bit so we don’t burden them and they don’t burden us.”
“We’re not a burden.” Woohyun said a bit upset as he pulled away from the hug to look at his daddy. “And they aren’t too.”

“You’re saying this because we got used, they got used too so they can’t see.” Myungsoo stretched his lips in a sad smile. “Once we add some new rules and your punishment ends, everything will return to normal and you’ll be able to play again. Besides your grandparents want to take you on a trip but I told them you’ll only be able to go if you deserve and you’ll only deserve if you behave.”

Woohyun gasped then smiled because now that he heard these trip plans from his father he could believe his grandparents, but then he had some doubts on what Myungsoo had just said before. “Do you promise that?” The boy asked, now making big round eyes.

“Promise what?”

“That everything will return to normal?”

“Yes, Woohyun, I promise that everything will return to normal.” Myungsoo lifted his pinky finger and placed in front of his son. “Do you promise to behave and be more patient with daddy too?” He asked but before he finished Woohyun was already hooking his pinky finger on his.

“But I’ll be able to see Sunggyu hyung outside school right?” The boy asked with hope.

“Yes, Woohyun, you will, if you behave and do everything that daddy asks ok?” Myungsoo replied patiently and kinda relieved that this time he seemed to have passed the message correctly.

“Good, because Sunggyu hyung and I have to rehearse, the festival is coming and we already told everyone that our performance would be the best one.” Woohyun said as he climbed down his father lap.

“Yeah, right, the festival. Are you rehearsing already?” Myungsoo asked curiously because Woohyun hadn’t mentioned that lately.

“Yes, but is kinda hard rehearsing in school only, everybody wants to play with us…” Woohyun let out a breathe that practically said it was hard handling all his popularity between the kids, which made Myungsoo finally chuckle with a hint of amusement after some days.

“And you don’t run away and hide like I do, right?” He asked and Woohyun shrugged with a sheepish smile. “Go get ready to read and sleep, you’ll have a full day tomorrow, right?”

“Yes, Dongwoo hyung said we are doing an experiment tomorrow and I’m partnering up with Sunggyu hyung, it will be so awesome.” Woohyun finally smiled excitedly and then start to move towards his room. Myungsoo already had picked up his laptop in his lap again and was trying to turn on the shutdown screen when Woohyun stopped and talked to him again.

“Daddy?”

“Yes?” Myungsoo raised his head to give his son attention.

“When my festival comes… even if you’re still fighting with Sungyeol hyung and even if he is gonna be there, you’ll still come to see us perform right?”

“Of course, I will, it doesn’t matter for me if he is gonna be there or not, I’m coming to see you.” Myungsoo assured with sincerity, Sungyeol could stay between him and his diploma all he wanted but he would be damned if his presence could ever stop him from enjoying his son performance.

After hearing this Woohyun ran to him again and gave him a tight hug. “ I love you.”

“I love you too.” Myungsoo kissed his head and then pulled away to ask. “Do you want to skip a day in school to watch my performance too? You won’t understand much but I think there is a part you’ll like and we can eat in a fancy restaurant later to celebrate.”

Woohyun smiled a thousand watts smile. “Can I bring my pompons?”

Myungsoo laughed heartily. “Not this time buddy, your presence alone will encourage me enough.”

With that Woohyun smiled one last time and ran to his room, he wanted to sleep soon to wake up soon, he had a lot to talk to Sunggyu tomorrow and the plans had to be changed too.

As for Myungsoo, he watched his son disappear behind his door then remembered he had to fix a bunch of things just because his ex-lover wanted and that immediately ended his little happy moment so he tsked annoyed. Not only he placed little importance in what he was told in the last meaning, but he was also upset that, despite not wanting, he had to think about his ex-lover in one way or another. Yeah, he heard his brother, but he tried to push that information back and bury deep in his head, he hadn’t the luxury of allowing himself to think what that meant now, because not only it wouldn’t change their situation, he would lose time.

As soon as he convinced himself of that, he focused back on trying to turn on his laptop but then figured if it hadn’t by now it only meant his battery died. He looked around the couch and lifted up some pillows in look for his charger until he noticed the plug wire coming out of a box of letters. He promptly grabbed his charger then connected on the wall and the computer before he sat again to get things done while thinking with disbelief how could his mother forget something it was just returned to her.

“He was about to shrug because he could just return when she came to pick up Woohyun on Friday when something occurred to him: what if she left there on purpose so he could read those letters?